- Target:
- Governor Oregon John Kitzhaber
- Region:
- International
- Website:
- www.amnesty.org
The prisoner condemned to death has been released
The first execution in Oregon since 1997, and only the third in this US state since 1962, looks set to be scheduled for 6 December. Questions remain about the mental competence of the condemned prisoner, who has chosen to give up his appeals against his death sentence.
Oregon has carried out two executions since judicial killing resumed in the USA in 1977 – one in 1996 and one in 1997. Both were of inmates who had given up appeals against their death sentences. Now Gary Haugen, a 49-year-old man, is expected to receive an execution date of 6 December after waiving his appeals.
He and Jason Van Brumwell were sentenced to death in 2007 for the murder of fellow inmate David Polin in Oregon State Penitentiary in 2003. At the time of the murder, Gary Haugen was serving a life sentence after being convicted in 1981 of the murder earlier that year of his former girlfriend’s mother.
On automatic appeal in 2010, the state Supreme Court affirmed his conviction and death sentence. Since then Gary Haugen has said he wants to drop any further appeals.
- Express concern that the State of Oregon looks set to conduct its first execution in 14 years;
- Express concern that Gary Haugen has been found competent for execution by a judge who did not hear testimony from a neuropsychologist who has come to the opposite conclusion;
- Note the growing concern in the USA about the death penalty, the isolation of the USA on this punishment, and the international calls for a worldwide moratorium on executions;
- Urge the governor to oppose his state taking this negative step, to support a moratorium on executions in Oregon, and to do all he can to prevent any executions, including that of Gary Haugen.
The STOP New capital punishment in Oregon petition to Governor Oregon John Kitzhaber was written by Mariacarmela Ribecco and is in the category Human Rights at GoPetition.