Albert Greenwood Brown
Encyclopedia
Albert Greenwood Brown, Jr. (born August 18, 1954) is an American
convicted of sexual molestation of a minor
, two counts of rape
, and the murder
of an adolescent in Riverside, California
. He was scheduled to die by lethal injection
at 9 p.m. on September 30, 2010 in California's first use of capital punishment
after the lifting of a court-ordered moratorium
. The use of lethal injection had been suspended in the state since February 2006 because of objections of cruel and unusual punishment
due to shortcomings of the facilities and procedures previously in use at San Quentin State Prison
. Brown's lawyers appealed to block their client's execution, with the execution initially planned to be carried out in a new facility at the prison that is certified to utilize either a single or three-drug protocol.
The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals
ordered U.S. District Judge Jeremy D. Fogel
to review the case, noting that the execution date may have been influenced by the fact that the prison's inventory of sodium thiopental
, one of the drugs required for lethal injection, would expire
on October 1, 2010. Judge Fogel halted the execution to permit time to review whether the new injection procedures addressed previous objections. On September 29, 2010, the Supreme Court of California
unanimously denied an appeal by the state to proceed by the end of the month. Brown's execution has since been delayed because the prison's supply of the lethal injection drug expired. The manufacturer of sodium thiopental stated that new supplies would not be available until 2011.
with his father's family that reportedly saw to it that "every kid went to college". According a Tulare Western High School yearbook, he was to be part of the class of 1972. However, he was expelled from school after he accidentally fired a gun that he had brought on campus and grazed another student in the head. He joined the United States Marine Corps
, but was brought to court-martial
and discharged in 1975 for being absent without leave. He moved to Riverside, California
to live with his divorced mother and was soon charged with molesting an 11-year-old girl. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years probation
.
On an early morning in 1976, Brown broke into a home in Riverside and hid in a closet until all of the residents had left. When a 14-year-old girl returned from a paper route to go to school, he choked her unconscious and raped her in her mother's room. Brown pleaded guilty to charges of rape with force on May 4, 1978 and was sentenced to state prison. He was parole
d on June 14, 1980 and found work cleaning and preparing new cars for sale at Rubidoux Motors in Riverside County
.
in Riverside. He had been posing as a jogger on the route. After dragging her to an orange grove
, Brown raped her and strangled her to death with her own shoelace and took her identification cards and school books. Susan's mother Angelina Jordan, who coincidentally left her car to be serviced at Brown's workplace, Rubidoux Motors, went to the school to search for Susan after her younger sister Karen and younger brother James returned home without her. After finding the family's number in a phone book, Brown called Angelina Jordan from a payphone
at around 7:30 p.m. to tell her where he left her daughter's body. According to court documents, he said: "Hello, Mrs. Jordan, Susie isn't home from school yet, is she? You will never see your daughter again. You can find her body on the corner of Victoria and Gibson." Susan's body was found after Brown repeatedly made calls to the Riverside Police Department
and the Jordan residence. One of Brown's subsequent calls was recorded by a police officer.
service station. During a search of Brown's home on November 7, police found Susan's books, a newspaper article about the case, and a Riverside telephone directory
in which the page opposite the listing for the Jordan family was folded. Brown was discovered to have been late to work on the day she disappeared. A jogging suit stained with blood and semen
was found in his locker at the employee coffee shop. Brown's shoes were matched to footprints from the crime scene.
On February 4, 1982, a Riverside County jury convicted Brown of first-degree murder with the special circumstance of rape. During sentencing hearings, his defense attorney argued that Brown was remorseful and presented evidence of psychiatric problems, including sexual dysfunction
. Brown claimed that he was physically abused by his aunt as a child and spanked
by his mother. His mother denied abusing Brown, but claimed that her son was out buying milk at the time of the murder. The surviving victim of the 1976 rape case testified against him. The jury deliberated for less than three hours on February 19 and sentenced Brown to death. On March 2, 1982, he was placed on death row
at San Quentin State Prison
in San Quentin, California
.
In 1985, Brown's sentence was overturned by the California Supreme Court
and reinstated by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1987. Brown's defense filed a motion of habeas corpus
to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals
, arguing that he received ineffective counsel at his trial and that his sentence was a cruel and unusual punishment
that violated the 8th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution
. On September 19, 2007, Judge Michael Daly Hawkins
denied Brown's appeal and upheld lower court rulings.
sought a death warrant for Brown. Riverside County judge Roger Luebs initially set Brown's execution for 12:01 a.m. on September 29, 2010. On August 31, prison warden Vince Cullen personally walked to Brown's cell to read the death warrant to him.
Brown is the first inmate scheduled to be executed in a newly built facility at San Quentin State Prison. It had undergone a $853,000 renovation that quadrupled its size after U.S. District Court Judge Jeremy D. Fogel
blocked the February 2006 execution of convicted murderer Michael Morales
because of complaints about lethal injection procedures within the previous chamber. Four separate phones were installed with individual red warning lights in the event of a call from the Governor of California
, the California Attorney General
, the warden, or the U.S. Supreme Court. The facility has been set up to utilize a protocol of a three-drug combination of sodium thiopental
, pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride
or a single injection of sodium thiopental in which the dose is increased from 3 to 5 grams to make it lethal by itself. Brown was examined by the prison staff to check that his veins were healthy enough for the injection process. He ordered a last meal
of steak and onion rings. The premises were also wired with speakers so that his last words could be broadcast.
, which he stated would have been considered if Brown selected a single injection and the prison refused to carry it out. In the absence of a decision, the prison defaulted to preparing the three-drug protocol. According to Lt. Sam Robinson of San Quentin State Prison, the gas chamber
is still fully functional and available if required.
On September 27, Marin County
judge Verna Adams denied a defense request to stop the execution. An appeal for clemency was forwarded to California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
. Prosecutor Rod Pacheco wrote to Schwarzenegger urging him not to intervene. The governor refused Brown's request to commute the sentence
to life imprisonment
without parole, but delayed the execution to 9 p.m. on September 30 to provide appeals courts more time to review the case. Brown alleged that he suffered child abuse
that should have been brought up at his trial. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ordered Fogel to revisit the case because California law specified that the inmate should only choose between the gas chamber
and lethal injection
, not the drugs themselves. Fogel admitted his offer to Brown was "ill-advised" and halted the execution to permit time to determine whether the new injection procedures addressed defense arguments of cruel and unusual punishment
. The appeals court also noted that the prison's supply of sodium thiopental, a drug required for lethal injection, was expiring
on October 1. A state appeal to resume the execution by 7 p.m. on September 30 was unanimously denied by the California Supreme Court. California and other states have run short of the drug because the manufacturer Hospira
is unable to meet demand at least until January 2011 because of raw material supply issues. State attorney general Jerry Brown
(no relation) recommended halting execution proceedings until necessary supplies were secured. His office stated that a new date would be scheduled as soon as legally possible.
On October 6, 2010, the state attorney general's office notified Judge Fogel in a court filing that the state had obtained enough sodium thiopental for up to four more executions. Scott Kernan of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
called the Arizona Department of Corrections
"life savers" for providing 12 grams of the drug after the Texas Department of Criminal Justice
denied a similar request. The state of California spent $36,415 to acquire an additional 521 grams of sodium thiopental from Archimedes Pharma of Great Britain to last through 2014. Fogel stated that he understood the state would request a new execution date no earlier than 30 days after court hearings, which are expected in 2011. Susan Louise Jordan's sister Karen criticized the distress to her family caused by the delays: "The appeals process in California has proven to be nothing more than a never-ending war of attrition against justice and the rights of victims and their families."
and Meg Whitman
for the 2010 California gubernatorial election
to succeed retiring governor Schwarzenegger. The office of state attorney general Jerry Brown pushed to resume capital punishment following the adoption of new regulations in California. Republican
nominee Meg Whitman claimed: "None of this squares with Jerry Brown's record." The Democratic
campaign of Jerry Brown, who pledged to "enforce the laws" of California, denied any connection between the case and the election. Prosecutor Rod Pacheco, who supported Whitman, said that it would be unfair to accuse Jerry Brown of using the execution for political gain as they never discussed the case. Jerry Brown was quoted as saying "Albert Greenwood Brown Jr. deserves everything that he has coming to him in regards to due process. I have no doubt that his execution will be carried out fastidiously and in a timely manner." Jerry Brown won the election in November 2010.
People of the United States
The people of the United States, also known as simply Americans or American people, are the inhabitants or citizens of the United States. The United States is a multi-ethnic nation, home to people of different ethnic and national backgrounds...
convicted of sexual molestation of a minor
Minor (law)
In law, a minor is a person under a certain age — the age of majority — which legally demarcates childhood from adulthood; the age depends upon jurisdiction and application, but is typically 18...
, two counts of rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
, and the murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
of an adolescent in Riverside, California
Riverside, California
Riverside is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, and the county seat of the eponymous county. Named for its location beside the Santa Ana River, it is the largest city in the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario metropolitan area of Southern California, 4th largest inland California...
. He was scheduled to die by lethal injection
Lethal injection
Lethal injection is the practice of injecting a person with a fatal dose of drugs for the express purpose of causing the immediate death of the subject. The main application for this procedure is capital punishment, but the term may also be applied in a broad sense to euthanasia and suicide...
at 9 p.m. on September 30, 2010 in California's first use of capital punishment
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
after the lifting of a court-ordered moratorium
Moratorium (law)
A moratorium is a delay or suspension of an activity or a law. In a legal context, it may refer to the temporary suspension of a law to allow a legal challenge to be carried out....
. The use of lethal injection had been suspended in the state since February 2006 because of objections of cruel and unusual punishment
Cruel and unusual punishment
Cruel and unusual punishment is a phrase describing criminal punishment which is considered unacceptable due to the suffering or humiliation it inflicts on the condemned person...
due to shortcomings of the facilities and procedures previously in use at San Quentin State Prison
San Quentin State Prison
San Quentin State Prison is a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison for men in unincorporated San Quentin, Marin County, California, United States. Opened in July 1852, it is the oldest prison in the state. California's only death row for male inmates, the largest...
. Brown's lawyers appealed to block their client's execution, with the execution initially planned to be carried out in a new facility at the prison that is certified to utilize either a single or three-drug protocol.
The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit is a U.S. federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:* District of Alaska* District of Arizona...
ordered U.S. District Judge Jeremy D. Fogel
Jeremy D. Fogel
Jeremy Don Fogel is a former United States federal judge for the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. An appointee of President Bill Clinton, Fogel previously was a judge for the municipal court and superior court of Santa Clara County, California from 1981 to 1998...
to review the case, noting that the execution date may have been influenced by the fact that the prison's inventory of sodium thiopental
Sodium thiopental
Sodium thiopental, better known as Sodium Pentothal , thiopental, thiopentone sodium, or Trapanal , is a rapid-onset short-acting barbiturate general anaesthetic...
, one of the drugs required for lethal injection, would expire
Shelf life
Shelf life is the length of time that food, drink, medicine, chemicals, and many other perishable items are given before they are considered unsuitable for sale, use, or consumption...
on October 1, 2010. Judge Fogel halted the execution to permit time to review whether the new injection procedures addressed previous objections. On September 29, 2010, the Supreme Court of California
Supreme Court of California
The Supreme Court of California is the highest state court in California. It is headquartered in San Francisco and regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sacramento. Its decisions are binding on all other California state courts.-Composition:...
unanimously denied an appeal by the state to proceed by the end of the month. Brown's execution has since been delayed because the prison's supply of the lethal injection drug expired. The manufacturer of sodium thiopental stated that new supplies would not be available until 2011.
Background
Brown grew up in Tulare, CaliforniaTulare, California
Tulare is a city in Tulare County, California, United States. The population was 59,278 at the 2010 census.Just eight miles south of Visalia, it is part of the Census Bureau's designation of the Visalia Metropolitan Area. The city is named for the currently dry Tulare Lake, once the largest...
with his father's family that reportedly saw to it that "every kid went to college". According a Tulare Western High School yearbook, he was to be part of the class of 1972. However, he was expelled from school after he accidentally fired a gun that he had brought on campus and grazed another student in the head. He joined the United States Marine Corps
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
, but was brought to court-martial
Court-martial
A court-martial is a military court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the armed forces subject to military law, and, if the defendant is found guilty, to decide upon punishment.Most militaries maintain a court-martial system to try cases in which a breach of...
and discharged in 1975 for being absent without leave. He moved to Riverside, California
Riverside, California
Riverside is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, and the county seat of the eponymous county. Named for its location beside the Santa Ana River, it is the largest city in the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario metropolitan area of Southern California, 4th largest inland California...
to live with his divorced mother and was soon charged with molesting an 11-year-old girl. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years probation
Probation
Probation literally means testing of behaviour or abilities. In a legal sense, an offender on probation is ordered to follow certain conditions set forth by the court, often under the supervision of a probation officer...
.
On an early morning in 1976, Brown broke into a home in Riverside and hid in a closet until all of the residents had left. When a 14-year-old girl returned from a paper route to go to school, he choked her unconscious and raped her in her mother's room. Brown pleaded guilty to charges of rape with force on May 4, 1978 and was sentenced to state prison. He was parole
Parole
Parole may have different meanings depending on the field and judiciary system. All of the meanings originated from the French parole . Following its use in late-resurrected Anglo-French chivalric practice, the term became associated with the release of prisoners based on prisoners giving their...
d on June 14, 1980 and found work cleaning and preparing new cars for sale at Rubidoux Motors in Riverside County
Riverside County, California
Riverside County is a county in the U.S. state of California. One of 58 California counties, it covers in the southern part of the state, and stretches from Orange County to the Colorado River, which forms the state border with Arizona. The county derives its name from the city of Riverside,...
.
Death of Susan Louise Jordan
On the morning of October 28, 1980, Brown abducted 15-year-old Susan Louise Jordan while she was on her way to Arlington High SchoolArlington High School (Riverside, California)
Arlington High School is a public high school in Riverside, California, United States.-History:Founded in 1973, Arlington is one of 5 comprehensive high schools in Riverside Unified School District...
in Riverside. He had been posing as a jogger on the route. After dragging her to an orange grove
Orange Grove
-Music:* Orange Grove , a Dutch/Antillean reggae band-Australia:* Orange Grove, Western Australia* The Orange Grove affair, a political scandal-United States:...
, Brown raped her and strangled her to death with her own shoelace and took her identification cards and school books. Susan's mother Angelina Jordan, who coincidentally left her car to be serviced at Brown's workplace, Rubidoux Motors, went to the school to search for Susan after her younger sister Karen and younger brother James returned home without her. After finding the family's number in a phone book, Brown called Angelina Jordan from a payphone
Payphone
A payphone or pay phone is a public telephone, often located in a phone booth or a privacy hood, with pre-payment by inserting money , a credit or debit card, or a telephone card....
at around 7:30 p.m. to tell her where he left her daughter's body. According to court documents, he said: "Hello, Mrs. Jordan, Susie isn't home from school yet, is she? You will never see your daughter again. You can find her body on the corner of Victoria and Gibson." Susan's body was found after Brown repeatedly made calls to the Riverside Police Department
Riverside police department
The Riverside Police Department is the law enforcement agency responsible for the city of Riverside, California.-History:The Riverside Police Department was founded in 1896 and has grown from a small frontier town police force to a large metropolitan police department with over 409 sworn police...
and the Jordan residence. One of Brown's subsequent calls was recorded by a police officer.
Arrest and investigation
Brown was arrested on November 6, 1980 after three witnesses came forward to identify him and his Pontiac Trans Am with a Rubidoux Motors paper plate near the site of the murder. Susan's identification cards were found in a phone booth at a nearby TexacoTexaco
Texaco is the name of an American oil retail brand. Its flagship product is its fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owns the Havoline motor oil brand....
service station. During a search of Brown's home on November 7, police found Susan's books, a newspaper article about the case, and a Riverside telephone directory
Telephone directory
A telephone directory is a listing of telephone subscribers in a geographical area or subscribers to services provided by the organization that publishes the directory...
in which the page opposite the listing for the Jordan family was folded. Brown was discovered to have been late to work on the day she disappeared. A jogging suit stained with blood and semen
Semen
Semen is an organic fluid, also known as seminal fluid, that may contain spermatozoa. It is secreted by the gonads and other sexual organs of male or hermaphroditic animals and can fertilize female ova...
was found in his locker at the employee coffee shop. Brown's shoes were matched to footprints from the crime scene.
Murder trial and appeals
Sexual dysfunction
Sexual dysfunction or sexual malfunction refers to a difficulty experienced by an individual or a couple during any stage of a normal sexual activity, including desire, arousal or orgasm....
. Brown claimed that he was physically abused by his aunt as a child and spanked
Spanking
Spanking refers to the act of striking the buttocks of another person to cause temporary pain without producing physical injury. It generally involves one person striking the buttocks of another person with an open hand. When an open hand is used, spanking is referred to in some countries as...
by his mother. His mother denied abusing Brown, but claimed that her son was out buying milk at the time of the murder. The surviving victim of the 1976 rape case testified against him. The jury deliberated for less than three hours on February 19 and sentenced Brown to death. On March 2, 1982, he was placed on death row
Death row
Death row signifies the place, often a section of a prison, that houses individuals awaiting execution. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of awaiting execution , even in places where no special facility or separate unit for condemned inmates exists.After individuals are found...
at San Quentin State Prison
San Quentin State Prison
San Quentin State Prison is a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison for men in unincorporated San Quentin, Marin County, California, United States. Opened in July 1852, it is the oldest prison in the state. California's only death row for male inmates, the largest...
in San Quentin, California
San Quentin, California
San Quentin is a small unincorporated community in Marin County, California. It is located west of Point San Quentin, at an elevation of 30 feet ....
.
In 1985, Brown's sentence was overturned by the California Supreme Court
Supreme Court of California
The Supreme Court of California is the highest state court in California. It is headquartered in San Francisco and regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sacramento. Its decisions are binding on all other California state courts.-Composition:...
and reinstated by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1987. Brown's defense filed a motion of habeas corpus
Habeas corpus
is a writ, or legal action, through which a prisoner can be released from unlawful detention. The remedy can be sought by the prisoner or by another person coming to his aid. Habeas corpus originated in the English legal system, but it is now available in many nations...
to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit is a U.S. federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:* District of Alaska* District of Arizona...
, arguing that he received ineffective counsel at his trial and that his sentence was a cruel and unusual punishment
Cruel and unusual punishment
Cruel and unusual punishment is a phrase describing criminal punishment which is considered unacceptable due to the suffering or humiliation it inflicts on the condemned person...
that violated the 8th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution
Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution is the part of the United States Bill of Rights which prohibits the federal government from imposing excessive bail, excessive fines or cruel and unusual punishments. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that this amendment's Cruel and Unusual...
. On September 19, 2007, Judge Michael Daly Hawkins
Michael Daly Hawkins
Michael Daly Hawkins serves as a senior judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and is resident in Phoenix, Arizona at the Sandra Day O'Connor United States Courthouse.- Early life and education :...
denied Brown's appeal and upheld lower court rulings.
Execution proceedings
On August 29, 2010, a California court lifted a statewide injunction against capital punishment with the certification of new lethal injection procedures. On the next day, Riverside County District Attorney Rod PachecoRod Pacheco
Rodric Anthony Pacheco , usually known as Rod Pacheco, is an American politician. He served in the Riverside County District Attorney's Office as a Deputy District Attorney, Chief Deputy District Attorney, Assistant District Attorney and then as District Attorney from 2007-2010 in Riverside County,...
sought a death warrant for Brown. Riverside County judge Roger Luebs initially set Brown's execution for 12:01 a.m. on September 29, 2010. On August 31, prison warden Vince Cullen personally walked to Brown's cell to read the death warrant to him.
Brown is the first inmate scheduled to be executed in a newly built facility at San Quentin State Prison. It had undergone a $853,000 renovation that quadrupled its size after U.S. District Court Judge Jeremy D. Fogel
Jeremy D. Fogel
Jeremy Don Fogel is a former United States federal judge for the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. An appointee of President Bill Clinton, Fogel previously was a judge for the municipal court and superior court of Santa Clara County, California from 1981 to 1998...
blocked the February 2006 execution of convicted murderer Michael Morales
Michael Morales
Michael Angelo Morales is a convicted murderer who was scheduled to be executed by the State of California at 7:30 p.m. on February 21, 2006...
because of complaints about lethal injection procedures within the previous chamber. Four separate phones were installed with individual red warning lights in the event of a call from the Governor of California
Governor of California
The Governor of California is the chief executive of the California state government, whose responsibilities include making annual State of the State addresses to the California State Legislature, submitting the budget, and ensuring that state laws are enforced...
, the California Attorney General
California Attorney General
The California Attorney General is the State Attorney General of California. The officer's duty is to ensure that "the laws of the state are uniformly and adequately enforced" The Attorney General carries out the responsibilities of the office through the California Department of Justice.The...
, the warden, or the U.S. Supreme Court. The facility has been set up to utilize a protocol of a three-drug combination of sodium thiopental
Sodium thiopental
Sodium thiopental, better known as Sodium Pentothal , thiopental, thiopentone sodium, or Trapanal , is a rapid-onset short-acting barbiturate general anaesthetic...
, pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride
Potassium chloride
The chemical compound potassium chloride is a metal halide salt composed of potassium and chlorine. In its pure state, it is odorless and has a white or colorless vitreous crystal appearance, with a crystal structure that cleaves easily in three directions. Potassium chloride crystals are...
or a single injection of sodium thiopental in which the dose is increased from 3 to 5 grams to make it lethal by itself. Brown was examined by the prison staff to check that his veins were healthy enough for the injection process. He ordered a last meal
Last meal
The last meal is a customary part of a condemned prisoner's last day. Often, the day of, or before, the appointed time of execution, the prisoner receives a last meal, as well as religious rites, if they desire. In the United States, inmates generally may not ask for an alcoholic drink...
of steak and onion rings. The premises were also wired with speakers so that his last words could be broadcast.
Last minute appeals
Judge Fogel, whose 2006 ruling had halted executions in California, gave Brown until September 26 to decide on a method of execution, including the new lethal injection protocols. Brown refused to make a selection. Defense attorney John Grele described Brown as "a simple man with obvious neuropsychological deficits" who is unprepared to make such a decision. Arguing that forcing him to decide on the manner of his death is "unconstitutionally medieval," Brown's defense team asked the judge to reconsider allowing the execution to proceed. Fogel declined to issue a stay of executionStay of execution
A stay of execution is a court order to temporarily suspend the execution of a court judgment or other court order. The word "execution" does not necessarily mean the death penalty; it refers to the imposition of whatever judgment is being stayed....
, which he stated would have been considered if Brown selected a single injection and the prison refused to carry it out. In the absence of a decision, the prison defaulted to preparing the three-drug protocol. According to Lt. Sam Robinson of San Quentin State Prison, the gas chamber
Gas chamber
A gas chamber is an apparatus for killing humans or animals with gas, consisting of a sealed chamber into which a poisonous or asphyxiant gas is introduced. The most commonly used poisonous agent is hydrogen cyanide; carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide have also been used...
is still fully functional and available if required.
On September 27, Marin County
Marin County, California
Marin County is a county located in the North San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. As of 2010, the population was 252,409. The county seat is San Rafael and the largest employer is the county government. Marin County is well...
judge Verna Adams denied a defense request to stop the execution. An appeal for clemency was forwarded to California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
. Prosecutor Rod Pacheco wrote to Schwarzenegger urging him not to intervene. The governor refused Brown's request to commute the sentence
Commutation of sentence
Commutation of sentence involves the reduction of legal penalties, especially in terms of imprisonment. Unlike a pardon, a commutation does not nullify the conviction and is often conditional. Clemency is a similar term, meaning the lessening of the penalty of the crime without forgiving the crime...
to life imprisonment
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...
without parole, but delayed the execution to 9 p.m. on September 30 to provide appeals courts more time to review the case. Brown alleged that he suffered child abuse
Child abuse
Child abuse is the physical, sexual, emotional mistreatment, or neglect of a child. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Children And Families define child maltreatment as any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or...
that should have been brought up at his trial. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ordered Fogel to revisit the case because California law specified that the inmate should only choose between the gas chamber
Gas chamber
A gas chamber is an apparatus for killing humans or animals with gas, consisting of a sealed chamber into which a poisonous or asphyxiant gas is introduced. The most commonly used poisonous agent is hydrogen cyanide; carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide have also been used...
and lethal injection
Lethal injection
Lethal injection is the practice of injecting a person with a fatal dose of drugs for the express purpose of causing the immediate death of the subject. The main application for this procedure is capital punishment, but the term may also be applied in a broad sense to euthanasia and suicide...
, not the drugs themselves. Fogel admitted his offer to Brown was "ill-advised" and halted the execution to permit time to determine whether the new injection procedures addressed defense arguments of cruel and unusual punishment
Cruel and unusual punishment
Cruel and unusual punishment is a phrase describing criminal punishment which is considered unacceptable due to the suffering or humiliation it inflicts on the condemned person...
. The appeals court also noted that the prison's supply of sodium thiopental, a drug required for lethal injection, was expiring
Shelf life
Shelf life is the length of time that food, drink, medicine, chemicals, and many other perishable items are given before they are considered unsuitable for sale, use, or consumption...
on October 1. A state appeal to resume the execution by 7 p.m. on September 30 was unanimously denied by the California Supreme Court. California and other states have run short of the drug because the manufacturer Hospira
Hospira
Hospira, Inc. is a U.S.-based global pharmaceutical and medical device company with headquarters in Lake Forest, Illinois. It has approximately 14,000 employees. Hospira is the world's largest producer of generic injectable pharmaceuticals, manufacturing generic acute-care and oncology...
is unable to meet demand at least until January 2011 because of raw material supply issues. State attorney general Jerry Brown
Jerry Brown
Edmund Gerald "Jerry" Brown, Jr. is an American politician. Brown served as the 34th Governor of California , and is currently serving as the 39th California Governor...
(no relation) recommended halting execution proceedings until necessary supplies were secured. His office stated that a new date would be scheduled as soon as legally possible.
On October 6, 2010, the state attorney general's office notified Judge Fogel in a court filing that the state had obtained enough sodium thiopental for up to four more executions. Scott Kernan of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is responsible for the operation of the California state prison and parole systems. CDC&R is the second largest law enforcement or police agency in the United States behind the New York City Police Department which employs approximately...
called the Arizona Department of Corrections
Arizona Department of Corrections
The Arizona Department of Corrections is in charge of the incarceration of inmates in 10 prisons in the U.S. state of Arizona. As of April 2009, the ADC manages over 40,191 imprisoned inmates and over 7,216 inmates who have been paroled or that are statutorily released. ADC is also in involved in...
"life savers" for providing 12 grams of the drug after the Texas Department of Criminal Justice
Texas Department of Criminal Justice
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice is a department of the government of the state of Texas. The TDCJ is responsible for statewide criminal justice for adult offenders, including managing offenders in state prisons, state jails and private correctional facilities, funding and certain...
denied a similar request. The state of California spent $36,415 to acquire an additional 521 grams of sodium thiopental from Archimedes Pharma of Great Britain to last through 2014. Fogel stated that he understood the state would request a new execution date no earlier than 30 days after court hearings, which are expected in 2011. Susan Louise Jordan's sister Karen criticized the distress to her family caused by the delays: "The appeals process in California has proven to be nothing more than a never-ending war of attrition against justice and the rights of victims and their families."
Politicization of the execution
Albert Greenwood Brown's lawyers blamed the move to execute their client on the tight race between Jerry BrownJerry Brown
Edmund Gerald "Jerry" Brown, Jr. is an American politician. Brown served as the 34th Governor of California , and is currently serving as the 39th California Governor...
and Meg Whitman
Meg Whitman
Margaret Cushing "Meg" Whitman is an American business executive. She is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Hewlett-Packard. A native of Long Island, New York, she is a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Business School...
for the 2010 California gubernatorial election
California gubernatorial election, 2010
The 2010 California gubernatorial election was held November 2, 2010 to elect the Governor of California. The primary elections were held on June 8, 2010. Because constitutional office holders in California are prohibited from serving more than two terms in the same office since 1990, incumbent...
to succeed retiring governor Schwarzenegger. The office of state attorney general Jerry Brown pushed to resume capital punishment following the adoption of new regulations in California. Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
nominee Meg Whitman claimed: "None of this squares with Jerry Brown's record." The Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
campaign of Jerry Brown, who pledged to "enforce the laws" of California, denied any connection between the case and the election. Prosecutor Rod Pacheco, who supported Whitman, said that it would be unfair to accuse Jerry Brown of using the execution for political gain as they never discussed the case. Jerry Brown was quoted as saying "Albert Greenwood Brown Jr. deserves everything that he has coming to him in regards to due process. I have no doubt that his execution will be carried out fastidiously and in a timely manner." Jerry Brown won the election in November 2010.
See also
- Capital punishment debateCapital punishment debateThe use of capital punishment, frequently known as the death penalty, is highly controversial.-Retribution:Supporters of the death penalty argued that death penalty is morally justified when applied in murder especially with aggravating elements such as multiple homicide, child murder, torture...
- Capital punishment in CaliforniaCapital punishment in CaliforniaCapital punishment is a legal form of punishment in the U.S. state of California. The first recorded execution in the area that is now California took place on April 11, 1878 when four Native Americans were shot in San Diego County for conspiracy to commit murder. These were the first of 709...
- Capital punishment in the United StatesCapital punishment in the United StatesCapital punishment in the United States, in practice, applies only for aggravated murder and more rarely for felony murder. Capital punishment was a penalty at common law, for many felonies, and was enforced in all of the American colonies prior to the Declaration of Independence...
- John David DutyJohn David DutyJohn David Duty was an American who was executed in Oklahoma for first-degree murder. According to the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, he is the first person in the United States to have been put to death with pentobarbital...
External links
- The People v. Albert Greenwood Brown, Jr.; 726 P.2d 516 – Supreme Court of CaliforniaSupreme Court of CaliforniaThe Supreme Court of California is the highest state court in California. It is headquartered in San Francisco and regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sacramento. Its decisions are binding on all other California state courts.-Composition:...
(December 5, 1985) - Albert Greenwood Brown v. Steven W. Ornoski, Warden; No. 05-99008 – U.S. 9th Circuit Court of AppealsUnited States Court of Appeals for the Ninth CircuitThe United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit is a U.S. federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:* District of Alaska* District of Arizona...
(June 14, 2007) - Reprieve for Albert Greenwood Brown, Jr. – Governor Arnold SchwarzeneggerArnold SchwarzeneggerArnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
(expired on September 29, 2010)