SALEM, Ore. ( AP) — Haunted by regret for allowing two men to be executed more than a decade ago, Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber now says it’ll never happen again on his watch.
Calling Oregon’s death penalty scheme “ compromised and inequitable,” the Democratic governor said Tuesday he’ll issue a reprieve to a twice-convicted murderer who was scheduled to die by lethal injection in two weeks. He said he’d do the same for any other condemned inmates facing execution during his tenure in office.
“ I simply cannot participate once again in something that I believe to be morally wrong,” the governor said in uncharacteristically emotional remarks during a news conference in his office.
“It is time for this state to consider a different approach,” he said.
Death penalty proponents quickly criticized the decision, saying the governor is usurping the will of voters who have supported capital punishment.
Kitzhaber’s decision halts the execution of 49-year-old Gary Haugen, who had disregarded advice from his lawyers and asked to waive his remaining appeals in protest of a justice system he views as unjust and vindictive. Haugen, who was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Dec. 6, is one of 37 inmates on Oregon’s death row.
Haugen was serving a life sentence for fatally bludgeoning his former girlfriend’s mother, Mary Archer, when he was sentenced to death for the 2003 killing of fellow inmate David Polin, who had 84 stab wounds and a crushed skull.
Oregon has executed two men since voters reinstated the death penalty in 1984.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
