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Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Ind. Courts - More on Gov. Daniels' commutation of Baird's death sentence

Updating yesterday's ILB entry, there are a number of stories and editorials today on Gov. Daniels' action yesterday.

The Evansville Courier& Press has a Mike Smith AP story here, and an editorial here that concludes: "We commend Daniels for having the courage to do what he believed to be right."

The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette has a comprehensive story here by Niki Kelly, and an editorial here. Some quotes:

Hoosiers have become accustomed to Gov. Mitch Daniels making politically bold decisions, but his action Monday was the most important yet: He commuted the sentence of a mentally ill killer from death to life in prison without parole.

Daniels’ move to commute Arthur Baird’s death sentence was surprising for the conservative Republican governor, particularly considering that neither the state parole board nor the Indiana Supreme Court was willing to stop Baird’s scheduled execution on Wednesday. * * *

Daniels’ statement explaining his decision made it difficult to determine how much of a role Baird’s mental illness played in the governor’s decision. On the one hand, Daniels noted that “Indiana Supreme Court Justice Ted Boehm recently wrote that Mr. Baird is ‘insane in the ordinary sense of the word.’ It is difficult to find reasons not to agree.” But on the other hand, he added: “However, I reach today’s decision without substituting my judgment for others on the ambiguous issue of Mr. Baird’s degree of insanity.”

Instead, Daniels based his decision on the fact that most members of the victims’ family and members of the jury believe life without parole is a more appropriate sentence, one not available to jurors until 1994, after Baird was convicted and sentenced.

Daniels’ decision highlights severe problems in a faulty death penalty process, not the least of which was the willingness of Indiana’s highest court and parole board to execute an obviously mentally ill man. While this page would have preferred that Daniels emphatically denounce executing mentally ill criminals, he still reached the right decision. And he should be commended.

Leslie Stedman Weidenbener of the Louisville Courier Journal has this story today. Some quotes:
With his decision, Daniels rejected a recommendation from the Indiana Parole Board that he should deny Baird's request for clemency. The board voted 3-1, despite opinions from three psychiatrists that Baird is mentally ill.

The board's chairman, Raymond Rizzo, has said he believed Baird was pretending to be mentally ill. Another member has said Baird had "played an elaborate game of deceit."

The Indiana Supreme Court ruled 3-2 last week that Baird was competent to be executed.

But Dr. Philip Coons, a professor emeritus of psychiatry at Indiana University School of Medicine, examined Baird for the defense and testified that Baird is delusional and did not believe he killed his family.

Coons said yesterday that he is "delighted" by the governor's decision to commute Baird's sentence. He said the General Assembly should follow with a law prohibiting the death sentence for people who are mentally ill.

Already, Coons said, the U.S. Supreme Court has forbidden the death penalty for people with mental retardation and for anyone younger than 18.

"Basically they've done that because children and teenagers and the mentally retarded don't have the cognitive ability to have good judgment, to make good choices," Coons said. "The same is true of the severely mentally ill."

But although Daniels mentioned Coons' [sic.] mental status in his written statement, he did not use it to justify his decision.

"Courts recognized Mr. Baird as suffering from mental illness at the time he committed the murders, and Indiana Supreme Court Justice Ted Boehm recently wrote that Mr. Baird is 'insane in the ordinary sense of the word.' It is difficult to find reasons not to agree," Daniels wrote.

"However," he continued, "I reached today's decision without substituting my judgment for others on the ambiguous issue of Mr. Baird's degree of insanity. To me, it suffices to note that, had the sentence of life without parole been available in 1987, the jury and the state would have imposed it with the support of the victims' families."

This is the second time in just over a year that an Indiana governor has commuted a death sentence.

Last summer, then-Gov. Joe Kernan commuted the death sentence of Darnell Williams of Gary seven days before he was to be executed for the 1986 murders of a Lake County couple.

Kernan's action followed a unanimous recommendation from the Indiana Parole Board that the governor grant Williams' request for life without parole.

Kernan said then that a number of factors led to his decision, including Williams' low IQ and the fact that the man with whom he committed the crime will not be executed.

The Williams case was the first time an Indiana governor had a commuted a death sentence in 48 years, a period that included a short moratorium on the death penalty.

In the last week of his term, Kernan also commuted the sentence of Michael Daniels, who was convicted in 1979 of killing a man who was shoveling snow in Indianapolis. Kernan cited Daniels' diminished mental capacity.

The Indianapolis Star has a story by Kevin Corcoran. Some quotes:
House Speaker Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, said whether mentally ill killers should be executed is a "quickly evolving" area of law that deserves the legislature's attention.

"This wasn't even an issue 20 years ago. You didn't even think about it," Bosma said. "Today, we look at people with mental health issues differently." * * *

Baird's is only the third case in which an Indiana governor has commuted a death sentence in nearly 50 years. Former Gov. Joe Kernan commuted two sentences during his 16 months in office. Baird would have been the fifth inmate executed since Daniels took office in January. * * *

Daniels' staff said he carefully reviewed evidence and listened to oral reports in his Statehouse office before making his decision. He watched videotape of Baird's interview before the Parole Board, focusing on Baird's statements about how God would turn back the hands of time to before the murders occurred. Daniels read -- and reread -- Baird's initial statements to police, as well as incoherent messages Baird had written.

"To some extent, that provided a window into Mr. Baird's mind at the time of the crime," said Steve Schultz, the governor's chief counsel. "It seems pretty clear the crimes wouldn't have occurred but for Mr. Baird's insanity."

In his statement, Daniels cited "unusual, probably unique" circumstances for calling off the execution. Daniels noted life in prison was not an option for jurors in Montgomery County to consider when Baird was sentenced to death; the option is available as an alternative in capital punishment cases now.

"The unanimous sentiment expressed by family members at the time of the trial and years later demonstrates that they believed life without parole was the most appropriate penalty for Mr. Baird," Daniels stated in his decision. "All members of the jury whose views are known also indicate that, had life without parole been an alternative available to them, they would have imposed it instead of the death penalty."

Because of his severe mental illness, Baird had rejected a term of years at the time of his trial that essentially would have kept him in prison for life, Daniels also noted.

"Courts recognized Mr. Baird as suffering from mental illness at the time he committed the murders, and Indiana Supreme Court Justice Ted Boehm recently wrote that Mr. Baird is 'insane in the ordinary sense of the word.' It is difficult to find reasons not to agree," Daniels stated. "However, I reached today's decision without substituting my judgment for others on the ambiguous issue of Mr. Baird's degree of insanity. To me, it suffices to note that, had the sentence of life without parole been available in 1987, the jury and the State would have imposed it with the support of the victims' families."

The Star has an editorial that begins: "Sparing Arthur Baird's life has broad justification even if the governor went for the narrow."

Posted by Marcia Oddi on August 30, 2005 08:07 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts