Ohio House holds first hearing for new nitrogen gas death penalty method

House lawmakers have begun hearings on a controversial new execution method known as nitrogen hypoxia. The protocol, used in Alabama for the first time recently, subjects a prisoner to a high concentration of nitrogen which causes them to eventually suffocate. Right now, four states explicitly allow nitrogen hypoxia and four other allow for “lethal gas” generally. Outside of Ohio, Nebraska lawmakers are considering the approach as well.

In its initial hearing, Reps. Brian Stewart, R-Ashville, and Phil Plummer, R-Dayton, presented the proposal as procedural update rather than a wholesale change. Currently there are almost 200 people on death row in Ohio, but executions have been on hold since 2018.

“We have a situation today where for six years, we have refused to carry out capital punishment — in violation of the law,” Stewart argued. “It is the law. And until this body votes to do something different, then we need to give (the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections) the tools to carry out these sentences.”

“Plan B”

For the most part, Stewart sought to downplay the additional execution method. He cited an example of an inmate requesting nitrogen hypoxia, and defense attorneys arguing they believed the process is “humane” and “completely painless.”

The inclusion of nitrogen hypoxia, Stewart argued, is a way to break up the backlog. Assuming lethal injection is available, death row inmates could select the method of their choice, and in the event that lethal injection drugs are unavailable, nitrogen hypoxia would allow executions to continue.

“In our view nitrogen hypoxia is a plan B,” Stewart described. “It is a set of suspenders to go along with the belt. It would be preferable to continue using lethal injection, but we need to do something.”

Stewart and Plummer presented their idea as a value-neutral response to a stated lack of lethal injection drugs. “Despite his decision to delay the executions,” Plummer said, “Governor DeWine has indicated that the legislature could address this issue by authorizing an alternative method.”

Stewart dismissed criticism of Alabama’s “botched” nitrogen hypoxia execution as death penalty abolitionists speaking in sensational terms. An AP reporter who viewed the execution described Kenneth Smith thrashing and gasping as prison officials administered the gas. Stewart acknowledged their bill isn’t likely to change the minds of people who already oppose the death penalty.

“Respectfully, though, I think there’s another bill for that,” Stewart said, referring to measures in the Ohio House and Senate that would abolish the death penalty.

“This bill is saying we have the law that we have, and until we change it, we need to find a way to carry out what juries have already imposed,” he said.

Pushback

While some inmates may have requested nitrogen hypoxia and some defense attorneys have looked favorably on the protocol, it’s acceptance isn’t universal. The American Veterinary Medical Association, for instance, OK’d the procedure under some circumstances for euthanasia of chickens, turkeys and pigs. For all other mammals, though, the panel warned it’s inappropriate and likely to cause distress.s

“Now, if we’re going to use gas, which, frankly, our veterinarians will not use on our animals, why would we use that on human beings?” state Rep. Michele Grim, D-Toledo, asked.

Stewart argued it’s “vastly more humane” than the violence that put inmates on death row in the first place. He added that in countries where assisted suicide is legal, nitrogen hypoxia is one of the approaches people use.

State Rep. Bill Seitz, R-Cincinnati, meanwhile, said the problem with Ohio’s capital punishment system is the length of time it takes to pursue appeals. “That is the problem in a nutshell,” he said, “plus the unavailability of the three-drug injection.” But he noted if the U.S. Supreme Court hasn’t explicitly blessed the protocol, the proposal might just lead to more appeals.

“To my knowledge,” he said, “the United States Supreme Court has only signed off on hanging, electric chair, firing squad, and lethal drug injection as being constitutional — don’t violate the Eighth Amendment.”

“I believe what you’re saying about nitrogen hypoxia,” Seitz added, “but it hasn’t yet been blessed, if you will.”

Stewart argued the likelihood of nitrogen hypoxia passing muster in the court is high, but added their preferred method remains lethal injection. Notably, nothing about the long and complex appeals process unique to death penalty cases will change under Stewart and Plummer’s measure.

This article originally appeared in the Ohio Capital Journal on April 18th, 2024.

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DeSantis OKs bills halting police civilian oversight, stopping bystanders from getting close

BY: JACKIE LLANOS 

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed two bills Friday morning that would prohibit civilian oversight boards from investigating police misconduct and stop people from getting too close to first responders doing their jobs.

The governor received both bills (HB 601 and SB 184) on Wednesday and held the signing ceremony on Friday in the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office in St. Augustine. During the ceremony, DeSantis portrayed the bills as efforts to protect law enforcement officers from people who wanted to abuse them publicly.

“They’re not free to use law enforcement as political piñatas,” DeSantis said, referring to the civilian police oversight boards. “They’re not free to create false narratives. They’re not free to try to make it miserable to live or to work in uniform, and these things are highly political.”

In Florida, there are 21 such boards and half of them were formed since the protests over the murder of George Floyd in the summer of 2020, according to a 2022 report. The boards are in cities including Miami, Tallahassee, Orlando, and Tampa.

Under HB 601, which will go into effect on July 1, the boards won’t be able to investigate complaints against law enforcement officers or correctional officers. Instead, sheriffs or chiefs of police will have the power to appoint overnight boards composed of three to seven members.

Equal Ground, a social justice organization aimed at protecting the rights of Black Floridians, bashed DeSantis’ approval of the bill.

“By banning independent citizen review boards, Gov. Ron DeSantis and legislators in Tallahassee are once again taking away the freedom of countless Floridians, whose voices are being silenced and whose safety is now at risk,” wrote Genesis Robinson, interim executive director of the group, in a statement.

He continued: “We know that civilian review boards are often the last line of defense for Black people to hold rogue law enforcement officials accountable for misconduct. Disbanding police review boards contradicts the ongoing efforts to reform policing practices and address systemic issues within law enforcement.”

But DeSantis and the main sponsor of the bill, Republican Rep. Wyman Duggan of Duval County, insisted that the law wouldn’t abolish the boards and that they could still discuss law enforcement policies.

“What they cannot do is use them as a vehicle to persecute our law enforcement officers, which to many of these organizations is the only utility that they think that organization has. So, when you hear people saying that these boards and commissions are being prohibited or abolished, that’s not true,” Duggan said during the bill signing.

However, the oversight boards can’t subpoena witnesses and documents, and none have any actual disciplinary power.

Protest

During the legislative session, HB 601 prompted a protest from activists infuriated with the move to strip civilian oversight boards of their power, of which the activists said the boards had little to begin with.

The other bill DeSantis signed Friday prohibits people from getting within 25 feet of a first responder “engaged in the lawful performance of a legal duty” if the first responder has warned the person to stay away. The infraction would be a misdemeanor. SB184 also garnered backlash from groups such as the First Amendment Foundation, which called the bill blatantly unconstitutional in a statement Thursday.

“We appreciate the importance of protecting first responders but are concerned that the bill prevents citizens from going near or filming first responders within 25 feet if told not to approach,” the First Amendment Foundation wrote. “This bill would undermine citizen journalists and could allow for undocumented police misconduct.”

This article originally appeared in the Florida Phoenix on April 12th, 2024.

See additional posts about civilian review boards in Florida:

Civilian boards overseeing police in FL are in jeopardy and could be dissolved, 1/22/2024

FL activists protest proposal that would abolish civilian review boards, 2/22/2024

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‘Tough-on-crime’ policies are back in some places that had reimagined criminal justice

BY: AMANDA HERNÁNDEZ

Several states are considering or have already enacted legislation undoing more progressive policies.

Fueled by public outrage over the 2020 murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer and other high-profile incidents of police violence, a seismic shift swept across the United States shortly afterward, with a wave of initiatives aimed at reining in police powers and reimagining criminal-legal systems.

Yet less than half a decade later, political leaders from coast to coast are embracing a return to “tough-on-crime” policies, often undoing the changes of recent years.

Advocates to Gov. Moore: Veto juvenile justice measures

Respective committees from each chamber must now review some of the differences in House Bill 814 and Senate Bill 744 such as when the legislation goes into effect, specific diversionary programs for children ages 10 to 12, and who would serve on a Commission on Juvenile Justice Reform and Emerging and Best Practices.

If lawmakers pass the legislation with what advocates call “regressive provisions,” then Gov. Wes Moore (D) should veto the bills when they come to his desk, the advocates said Thursday.

Legislature approves $26M in spending during crime session. Here’s where the money’s going.

By Greg Larose

It was difficult for lawmakers and fiscal experts to pinpoint an exact cost of the stricter crime prevention measures Republican Gov. Jeff Landry called on the Louisiana Legislature to approve during a special session on criminal justice policy that concluded Thursday. 

Just how many more people will be incarcerated and how much longer they will stay in prison as a result of the new laws is a moving target, meaning so is the price tag.   

But what we do know is that legislators approved nearly $26 million in spending in an  appropriations bill authored by Rep. Jack McFarland, R-Jonesboro, the top budget architect in the Louisiana House. He and other GOP members of the Legislature countered arguments from Democrats that the unforeseen cost of higher incarceration rates won’t be justified. 

Death penalty on trial as Racial Justice Act hearing begins

By Kelan Lyons

In 1968, days after the Ku Klux Klan marched through Black neighborhoods in Benson following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., five young Black adolescents tried to burn down the Klan’s meeting hall in the Johnston County town. The fire did not travel past the doorway. The boys, all of whom were between the ages of 16 and 20 and did not have criminal records, were each given 12 years of imprisonment and hard labor, harsher than the sentences meted out to white defendants who were found guilty of similar crimes in the county.

Michigan State Police releases independent report on racial bias, ACLU calls it ‘concerning’

BY: KEN COLEMAN 

The Michigan State Police (MSP) has released an independent report centered on the issue of whether it has carried out racially discriminatory policing practices.

In a news release, MSP said that “racial disparities observed in the traffic enforcement activities of Michigan State Police troopers do not appear to be the result of widespread discriminatory policing practices.” 

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Michigan has argued that African Americans have been stopped disproportionately by state troopers. The group pushed for the external review.

The 18-month independent evaluation report conducted by the CNA Corp. was released in December. It came after MSP announced in January 2022 a five-point plan to address racial disparities in its traffic stops. 

“As a law enforcement agency, we are committed to fair and equitable policing,” stated Col. James Grady, MSP director, who is African American. “Although previous research conducted by the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University has identified the presence of racial and ethnic disparities in MSP traffic stops, the reasons for such disparities remain unknown.

“Discriminatory behavior is not an acceptable practice within this agency and anyone engaging in it will be addressed through training, discipline or termination, dependent on the circumstances of the incident. Today, as always, we reaffirm our commitment to the highest standards of anti-discrimination education and training and always look to serve Michigan to the best of our ability.” 

To assess the department’s traffic enforcement policies and programs, CNA studied document reviews, targeted interviews, focus groups, ride-alongs and quantitative data analysis. MSP commissioned as part of its five-point plan announced in January 2022 to address racial disparities in its traffic stops. 

Mark Fancher, staff attorney for the Racial Justice Project of the ACLU of Michigan, told the Advance that MSP has some “cultural, systemic features of the agency that lead to discriminatory outcomes.” 

“We find the conclusions very concerning, if not alarming,” he said. 

However, Fancher did point out the ACLU was “pleased” that MSP agreed to have the independent review carried out. 

“The report validates many of the conclusions that we reached on our own, and identifies some specific problems that make it possible for MSP to try and address them in an effective way,” Fancher added. 

The report includes 54 findings and associated recommendations. Among them emphasize policies and programs that require greater attention and improvement.

Key findings of the independent evaluation: 

• MSP has a defined, comprehensive hiring process for applicants. 
• MSP has consistently emphasized a written commitment to recruiting a diverse workforce in its strategic plans and recruiting strategy, but the department can improve on its followthrough and accountability for such commitments. 
• As part of recruit training, MSP provides eight hours of implicit bias training, six hours of ethics training, and 15 hours of a cultural diversity speaker series. 
• Disparities exist in graduation and attrition rates by demographics. 
• MSP has made tangible efforts to institute recruiting and hiring practices that reduce barriers to applying for the trooper position.
• MSP has several policies that provide guidance to troopers to ensure constitutional and bias-free policing. 
• MSP’s policies on traffic enforcement do not sufficiently recognize the community being served nor provide sufficient guidance on the use of discretion. 
• MSP has recently delivered two trainings on bias and policing, one that was not well received and a more recent one that was well received. 
• MSP does not provide sufficient training on the use of discretion, particularly with the concept of “going beyond the stop.” 
• Supervisors do not sufficiently manage where and how troopers patrol, leading to disproportionate “congregation in high-population areas with greater minority populations.” 
• MSP now takes a more systematic approach to provide training and address identified gaps. 

On Friday, MSP issued a statement that the “employee-led African American Employee Resource Group (AAERG), one of the department’s commitments to diversity” that has been highlighted in a new video series celebrating Black History Month.

“Being part of and leading the AAERG is a source of gratitude for me,” said Sgt. DiJon Ware, AAERG co-chair. “It not only instills a sense of belonging but also nurtures inclusivity, fosters a supportive community and encourages diverse perspectives, thereby enriching the workplace culture. Over the past year, we’ve educated both our members and allies about African American culture and we’ve proactively forged connections within our communities through various outreach events across the state.”

This article originally appeared in Michigan Advance on February 21st, 2021. 

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Bill to make juvenile crime records public advances to Louisiana House

By: RICHARD A. WEBSTER, VERITE 

Juvenile crime once again took center stage at the State Capitol as a bill that would publicize the confidential court records of young people accused of crimes moved forward to the Louisiana State House.

The Administration of Criminal Justice Committee approved the proposed legislation 13-1 Wednesday, just one day after a Senate committee greenlit a bill that would lower the age teens can be tried as adults from 18 to 17.

House Bill 1 by Rep. Tony Bacala, R-Prairieville, would create a “Truth and Transparency” program to require clerks of court to provide public electronic access to some criminal court records of teenagers accused of serious crimes, including their names.

The public information would include but not be limited to the name of the defendant, arrest details, custody or bail decisions, and court dates, among other facts associated with the case.

Most youth criminal case records are currently confidential in Louisiana.

A similar bill introduced last year by Rep. Debbie Villio was dogged by accusations of racism as it proposed a two-year pilot program focusing on three majority-Black parishes: Caddo, East Baton Rouge and Orleans. Last year’s bill passed the House but ultimately died in the Senate; the bill lacked funding to enable parishes to implement the initiative. Bacala said his new bill will be funded through a fee collected by the Louisiana Clerks Remote Access Authority.

The juvenile records bill was introduced as part of a special session on crime called by Gov. Jeff Landry that started this week and will run through March 6. The newly elected governor made juvenile crime a key issue throughout his campaign and during a speech he gave Monday to open the session.

“These juveniles are not innocent children any longer; they are hardened criminals,” Landry said during his comments before the Legislature. “They violently attack our citizens, our law enforcement officers, and even our juvenile correction officers without hesitation.”

During the debate on Bacala’s bill, supporters of the measure included the mothers and grandmothers of crime victims who were fatally shot or left permanently disabled. Sheralyn Price, whose son Brandon “Boogie B” Montrell was shot to death in 2022, pushed back against those who voiced concerns about privacy.

“If your kid’s name is splattered all over the internet, you won’t have to pick out a casket. You won’t have to plan a funeral,” Price told committee members. “My child is dead. … I buried him in the last gift I gave him for Christmas, his Saints jersey.”

In 2019, Darrelle Scott, was shot and paralyzed by 13-year-old Lynell Reynolds, who was later found guilty and sentenced to remain in state custody until the age of 21. Scott’s grandmother, Dorothy White, told lawmakers that making the public aware of the extensive criminal histories of juveniles might spare someone from suffering the same fate as Scott.

“We must hold these juveniles accountable,” White said during Wednesday’s hearing. “This is not about Black and white. It’s not about Democrats and Republicans. It’s about our lives, our safety. We have to go out and tell the public. We need to put the names out. We need the faces out.”

Opponents of Bacala’s bill warned that the goal of the criminal justice system is to rehabilitate juveniles. The bill’s critics argued that publicizing the names of young defendants, especially of those later found to be innocent, will make it harder, if not impossible for them to get a job, housing, or even go to college.

“For juveniles who are adjudicated and are not convicted, that has an extremely serious impact on them in their future,” said Sarah Whittington, an attorney with the Justice and Accountability Center. “It is not the same as losing a child. It is not the same as losing a family member. I am not making that correlation. But it will follow that child forever.”

Others noted that the law already requires the courts and district attorneys to provide information to victims and their families, but in many cases they are failing to do so. Instead of passing legislation that might harm children, the state should ensure that prosecutors are following the existing law, said Natalie Sharp, an investigator with the Promise of Justice Initiative.

“I recently spoke with a person whose brother was shot and killed in the 1990s. They never even knew that an arrest had been made, let alone that someone had been incarcerated for decades,” Sharp said. “The prosecutor never took the time to speak with them.”

Despite later voting in favor of Bacala’s proposal, Rep. Alonzo Knox, D-New Orleans, said the bill would not prevent or deter crime. Knox warned that publicizing the names of youths suspected of shooting or killing someone could lead to retaliation, causing “chaos in the streets.”

“I think that’s an unintended consequence, that many of my colleagues sitting up here don’t know and realize about our community,” Knox said, referring to the majority-white committee. “And when I say our community, let me specify and be clear if there’s any doubt: in my Black community, in my district of New Orleans. When this goes out, and someone’s actually not guilty, we’re going to have some serious unintended consequences.”

Bacala defended his bill as being about one thing: transparency.

“If I have a son or daughter who’s murdered, and someone is arrested who happens to be a juvenile, should I have the ability to see what’s happening with the case?” Bacala said.

Ashley Hamilton, director of policy with the Louisiana Center for Children’s Rights, rejected Bacala’s argument, saying the public’s money would be better spent on programs helping disadvantaged children who might resort to violence.

Hamilton told the committee members she spoke from experience, noting that yesterday would have been her sister’s 31st birthday.

In 2021, Hamilton’s sister was murdered. Knowing the killer’s identity has not brought her family any comfort, Hamilton said.

“What does bring me comfort is being in a community, with organizations … working tooth and nail with limited resources to ensure disadvantaged children have the support they need to prevent things like this from happening, and to build healthy and productive adults. Any money we have, put it there.”

Rep. Joy Walters, D-Shreveport, was the lone vote against the bill.

This article originally appeared in Verite on February 22nd, 2024. 

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FL activists protest proposal that would abolish civilian review boards

The measure is strongly supported by law enforcement

Three dozen activists gathered in front of the old Capitol building in Tallahassee on Tuesday, registering their displeasure against a measure that would ban cities and counties from forming civilian police oversight boards and dissolve already-existing boards.

Similar bills in the House (HB 601) and Senate (SB 576) have been moving through committee hearings and likely will be voted on by both chambers. If approved, the bills will go to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ desk. If he were to sign the measure, all 21 currently existing citizens review boards would be dissolved in Florida. 

“Civilian oversight works,” said Michael Sampson, with the Jacksonville Community Action Committee. “Civilian oversight makes it so that officers have to understand that if they do something crazy, it’s going to be the public looking at them…if they take away our right to even have oversight review over what police do, what else are they coming for? This is the stripping of our democratic right to control how our communities are policed.”

There are more than 150 civilian oversight agencies across the country, according to a National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement report published in 2021.  Of the 21 organizations in Florida. half of them were formed since the protests over the death of George Floyd in the summer of 2020, according to a 2022 report.

The protest Tuesday was organized by Students for Democratic Society.

“We saw civilian review boards pop up in Lakeland, Florida, ” said Sampson. “That is not known as a bastion of left-wing activism.”

Activists in Florida have complained that civilian review boards lack teeth because they don’t have subpoena witnesses and documents, and none have any actual disciplinary power. “They don’t want police review boards that have any power,” said Wells Todd with Take Em Down Jax, a group involved with bringing down Confederate monuments in Jacksonville. “They don’t want those. So it’s time to seriously fight back.” 

But Jacksonville Republican Wyman Duggan, the sponsor of the bill in the House, has said there is a need for the proposal because there are no “uniform standards” among the 21 different police oversight agencies across Florida.

He was called out specifically by a couple of the protesters on Tuesday.

“Shame on politicians like Wyman Duggan, who attack police accountability. Who say that it’s too much for us to have the barest limits democracy in the state of Florida,” said Delilah Pierre, with the Tallahassee Community Action Committee. “Community oversight is the smallest, barest first step to preventing the atrocities and the casualties that we’ve seen from policing in Florida and the United States of America.”

The Senate version of the bill (SB 576) is being sponsored by Hernando County Republican Blaise Ingoglia.  It also says that a county sheriff may establish a civilian oversight board to review the policies and procedures of his or her office and its subdivisions. It could range between three and seven members appointed by the local sheriff.

The cities in Florida that currently have citizens review boards are:  Bradenton, Daytona Beach, Delray Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Fort Pierce, Gainesville, Key West, Kissimmee, Lakeland, Miami, North Miami, North Miami Beach, Ocoee, Orlando, Pensacola, St. Petersburg, Tallahassee, Tampa, West Palm Beach and Winter Haven.

This article originally appeared in the Florida Phoenix on February20th, 2024.

See additional posts about Florida:

DeSantis signs law prohibiting the homeless from sleeping in public spaces

Civilian boards overseeing police in FL are in jeopardy and could be dissolved

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New sheriff in town: Gov. Jeff Landry ready to reverse Edwards’ criminal justice policy

BY: PIPER HUTCHINSON - FEBRUARY 19, 2024 

Longer sentences, more executions and harsher penalties for juveniles. These are among the proposals Gov. Jeff Landry wants the Republican-supermajority Louisiana Legislature to approve in a special session on crime. 

The self-styled, tough-on-crime GOP governor also wants to allow people to carry concealed firearms without a permit, place more police in New Orleans, expanded immunity for law enforcement and provide more public access to juvenile records. 

In his speech Monday to lawmakers to start the session, Landry said he’s thinking of victims. 

“Today, I ask you to place the voices of the tired, the weary and the broken-hearted victims of crime in this state above the irresponsible rhetoric that is destroying our quality of life,” Landry said. 

The governor’s requests, and others from far-right lawmakers, amount to a near-complete rollback of Louisiana’s 2017 criminal justice overhaul under former Gov. John Bel Edwards. That bipartisan effort was meant to save the state money by reducing its nation-leading incarceration rate, shortening non-violent criminal sentences and providing flexibility on parole. 

Landry opposed those measures as attorney general and is seizing his first opportunity as governor to roll back the changes. 

“As attorney general, I warned that the goal of criminal justice reform should not be about letting people out of jail, but how to keep people from going to jail,” Landry said. “Those warnings went unheeded.” 

Edwards’ criminal justice reinvestment initiative resulted in the state spending millions less on incarceration and using some of that money for crime victim services. The proposals from Landry and Republican legislators could undo those savings and perhaps cost the state additional money. 

A proposal that Rep. Debbie Villio, R-Kenner, a former prosecutor, has submitted would effectively eliminate parole in Louisiana, except for groups from whom it is constitutionally required — including those sentenced to life terms as juveniles. 

Villio’s House Bill 9 could cost the state more than $14 million annually, according to a fiscal note generated by the Legislative Fiscal Office. 

Landry said fiscal impact shouldn’t be the deciding factor for lawmakers. 

“While many say focus on the cost, I say focus on the cost to society. I say focus on the cost to our citizens in loss of property, in the disruption of their lives and in the irreparable tragedy of losing a loved one,” the governor said. 

In the audience for Landry’s speech at the State Capitol were victims of violent crime, relatives of murder victims and law enforcement leaders. The governor told the Legislature these three groups represent his priorities.

“The propensity of some to signal their virtuous compassion for criminals has become a liberal custom to many, without forethought of the consequences to society and the danger it creates in our neighborhoods and homes,” Landry said. 

While the governor insisted criminal justice reform should be about preventing crime, he offered few proposals addressing this aim.  

“Every proposal that his team has put forward is reactive. None of it will help to reduce crime and keep our community safe,” House Democratic Caucus Chair Rep. Matthew Willard said at a press conference after Landry’s speech. 

“If we want to talk about addressing crime, we need to talk about mental health, substance use disorder, reentry programs and eliminating barriers for kids coming home from prison so that they can successfully reintegrate into society,” Willard added. 

Democrats noted none of their members were consulted in putting together the call for the special session, resulting in an agenda in which few bipartisan measures will even be discussed. 

Along with a lack of bipartisanship came a lack of transparency, Democrats argued — despite Landry’s overtures toward openness in his speech. 

“The lack of transparency in our criminal justice system is unacceptable,” Landry said. 

House Republicans moved to suspend the rules on each of their proposals, allowing them to be heard in committee the next day. Despite Democratic objection, Republicans used their supermajority to fast-track the bills. That means the public will have less time to process a serious policy proposal, Rep. Denise Marcelle, D-Baton Rouge, said. 

The Landry-backed bill to expand the methods by which Louisiana executes people also limits transparency. 

House Bill 6, by Rep. Nicholas Muscarello, R-Hammond, would add electrocution and nitrogen gas inhalation to the acceptable methods of execution. It also shields all records related to the execution, including which companies provide execution drugs and how much they cost, from public disclosure. If anybody were to leak those records, they could face jail time. 

Louisiana banned use of the electric chair in 1991, when it was last used, in favor of lethal injection.  

Landry’s vision of transparency involves public access to juvenile justice records that are typically shielded to protect minors’ right to privacy. 

“Our transparency legislation will allow people to access this information and provide online access to the data from our criminal and juvenile courts,” Landry said. “Through this simple and common-sense measure, we hope to ease the suffering of victims, offer more transparency in the legal process, and find better solutions to our crime problem.” 

Democrats say the proposal would punish children who commit offenses well into their adulthood. 

“We don’t want to penalize juveniles by having those records public and having them exposed as adults for something that they did in childhood,” Rep. Edmond Jordan, D-Baton Rouge, said. 

This article originally appeared in Louisiana Illuminator on February 19th, 2023. 

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