In California, The state legislature approved state Sen. Nancy Skinner’s bill, SB 254, which would restore news media access to California prisons. The bill would also open access to prisons for state legislators and other state officials and improve policymakers’ ability to conduct effective oversight. “News media play a vital role in providing information to the public and policymakers about how our government operates. California used to allow the news media much greater access to state prisons so the public could be informed about prison conditions. But for the past three decades, California prisons have been among the least transparent in the nation,” Skinner stated on her website. It’s now up to Gov. Newsom to sign it.
South Carolina executed Freddie Owens (who changed his name to Khalil Allah) on Friday, the state’s first execution after a 13-year pause caused by the state’s inability to obtain lethal injection drugs until now. Allah was sentenced to death for the killing of Greenville convenience store clerk Irene Graves in 1997. His execution was the 14th in the U.S. this year. Four more executions are scheduled this week in Texas, Missouri, Alabama, and Oklahoma, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Seven more executions are scheduled this year, with Alabama and Texas each planning to kill two more, DPIC reports.
In Pennsylvania, prosecutors announced they will seek the death penalty in the case of a 30-year-old woman accused of killing a friend’s newborn baby and injuring his twin brother, the New York Post reports Nicole Virzi, a California resident, is facing charges of homicide, aggravated assault, and child endangerment. Pennsylvania has a moratorium on the death penalty, and Gov. Josh Shapiro has said he won’t sign a death warrant while he’s in office.
In Indiana, the state supreme court set an execution date for Joseph E. Corcoran for December 18. If it proceeds, it will be Indiana’s first execution since 2009, the Indiana Lawyer reports. Corcoran was convicted and sentenced to death for the killing of four people in 1997 and has exhausted his appeals. Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb reinstated executions in June, announcing that the Indiana Department of Correction had obtained the lethal injection drug pentobarbital, according to Indiana Lawyer.
