DEATH ROW JOKE: GARY HAUGEN THE PRISON KILLER

Last year on this day (22 November 2011), Oregon governor John Kitzhaber announced a moratorium on executions in Oregon, canceling a planned execution and ordering a review of the death penalty system in the state. You would have expected most Death Row inmates to be relief as they got more years to live. However, one Death Row inmate was not happy at all, he wanted to be executed and he did not get his wish.

Who is Gary Haugen?

Gary 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 in Oregon.

Quotes:

1. Monday 26 September 2011
On Tuesday, a judge in Salem, Ore., will hold a competency hearing for convicted killer Gary Haugen.
Haugen wants to waive all his appeals to the death sentence and proceed to execution. But his former lawyers have raised questions about his mental competency. Haugen spoke to a reporter by phone from prison. The widow of one of the people Haugen is convicted of murdering responded in a separate interview.

Gary Haugen has been in jail for 30 years. He arrived when he was 19 – after murdering his girlfriend's mother. Four years ago, he was moved from the prison's general population to death row for killing a fellow inmate. He says one reason he wants to be executed is to end his time on death row.

"Hey, it's hell. Be away from your family, be away from your loved ones. Watch all your people die while you sit in this little nine-by-eight cage. The difference between the row and population is that you're stuck with the same 30 some odd people in the same spot for however many years you're on the row fighting," Haugen said.

Haugen's day starts at about 5:30 in the morning. He'll have breakfast, then perhaps do some orderly work sweeping or mopping. Then he'll read, watch TV, listen to music or lift weights. He's allowed outside for an hour each day. But he used to be able to spend more time outdoors, when he was in the prison's general population.

"You can actually be out under the stars at a certain point of the year like right now for a time being. Whereas on the row, you never see the stars," Haugen said.

'Competency to die'

That's his physical existence. But since waiving his appeals, it's his mental competency that people want to know about.

Haugen says he's completely competent. And that he's had so many psychological evaluations now he knows all the doctor's questions, and the answers. He's particularly angry at his former lawyers for raising the question in the first place.

"Competency to die. Competency to. You know. They say if you argue against taking the test. If you argue against incompetency then you're incompetent. So you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't.," Haugen said.

Haugen is a big guy, 6-foot 3-inches, with a huge chest. And sitting across from him at court, his prison garb doesn't cover the tattoos on his neck, face and arms.

Haugen admits to being depressed, saying anybody who isn't depressed on death row has real problems. He also says he takes two medications – Klonopin and Neurontin – which he says help him sleep and control his mood. Manufacturers say they're also prescribed to control seizures, to relieve pain and to calm panic attacks.

But the question is whether the medication effects his ability to make an important decision – like waiving his appeals.

"No. It might slow it down sometime, might make me think about it a little harder if anything. But what it does is it affects my mood and just makes me. Most of the things that go on around here is like water of a duck's back. I just, it doesn't even bother me," Haugen said.

http://www.kplu.org/post/oregon-murderer-explains-why-he-wants-be-executed

Convicted killer Gary Haugen leaves Marion County courthouse after a hearing in Salem, Ore., in May 2011.

2. Condemned Inmate Rips Ore. Gov. for Execution Halt

SALEM, Ore. November 27, 2011 (AP)

A condemned inmate who was scheduled to be executed next month is slamming Gov. John Kitzhaber for giving him a reprieve, saying the governor didn't have the guts to carry out the execution.

Two-time murderer Gary Haugen had voluntarily given up his legal challenges, saying he wants to be executed in protest of a criminal justice system he views as broken. But Kitzhaber on Tuesday said he won't allow anyone to be executed while he is in office, calling Oregon's death penalty scheme "compromised and inequitable."

But in a telephone interview with the Statesman Journal ( http://stjr.nl/tSY0qo ) on Friday, Haugen mocked Kitzhaber.

"I feel he's a paper cowboy," he said. "He couldn't pull the trigger."

Haugen's criticism reverses his earlier praise of Kitzhaber's decision during an interview with The Oregonian. He told the Portland newspaper that Kitzhaber cited some of the same criticism of the death penalty that Haugen has raised.

After further reflection, Haugen said he came to the conclusion that the governor "basically pulled a coward's move" by acting on his personal beliefs instead of carrying out the will of Oregon voters, who reinstated the death penalty in 1984.

Haugen said he learned of the reprieve when he was summoned from an outdoor exercise break at the state penitentiary and allowed to read the governor's statement.

Kitzhaber called Oregon's death penalty system "a perversion of justice," saying the state only executes people who volunteer. Since capital punishment was legalized 27 years ago, only two people have been executed. Both of them, like Haugen, waived their legal challenges.

Kitzhaber encouraged "all Oregonians to engage in the long overdue debate that this important issue deserves" and said he would ask lawmakers to consider potential reforms during the 2013 legislative session.

The 49-year-old inmate said he plans to ask lawyers about possible legal action to fight Kitzhaber's temporary reprieve, which lasts until the governor leaves office. A Marion County judge had twice signed a death warrant ordering Haugen's execution. The first was reversed when the state Supreme Court intervened; the second was overruled by Kitzhaber two weeks before the Dec. 6 execution.

"I'm going to have to get with some serious legal experts and figure out really if he can do this," Haugen said. "I think there's got to be some constitutional violations. Man, this is definitely cruel and unusual punishment. You don't bring a guy to the table twice and then just stop it." http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/condemned-inmate-rips-ore-gov-execution-halt-15033749

The decision has prompted Haugen, 49, to label the governor a coward, saying Mr Kitzhaber didn't have the guts to put him to death.

"I'm going to have to get with some serious legal experts and figure out really if he can do this," Haugen said. "I think there's got to be some constitutional violations. Man, this is definitely cruel and unusual punishment. You don't bring a guy to the table twice and then just stop it." [Monday 28 November 2011]

The Associated Press - Gary Haugen is led into the Marion County Courthouse on Friday 7 October 2011.

Oregon Supreme Court to hear Haugen appeal

5:50 AM, Oct 23, 2012

Written by

Peter Wong

Statesman Journal

Timeline

Key events in Gary Haugen’s current case:
May 18, 2011: A Marion County judge authorized the execution of death-row inmate Haugen, clearing the way for Oregon’s first execution since 1997. Haugen and another inmate landed on death row in 2007, when both were convicted of killing a third inmate at the Oregon State Penitentiary. During the court hearing, Haugen fired his two attorneys and blasted their attempts to delay his execution.
June 29, 2011: The Oregon Supreme Court ordered the execution of Haugen called off, temporarily, until because of questions about Haugen’s mental competency.
July 6, 2011: The Marion County judge who previously authorized Haugen’s execution said in a letter to the Oregon Supreme Court that he “reluctantly” was carrying out its directive to put the execution on hold, pending a Haugen mental competency hearing.
July 14, 2011: A Marion County judge granted a request from Haugen for new attorneys. Haugen eventually gets Harrison Latto of Portland.
Oct. 7, 2011: A Marion County judge cleared the way for the execution of Haugen, deeming him mentally competent to drop his appeals and legally sane to be put to death. Date is set for Dec. 6.
Nov. 21, 2011: A divided Oregon Supreme Court rejected a petition filed by an anti-death penalty legal center seeking a new mental competency hearing of Haugen.
Nov. 22, 2011: Gov. John Kitzhaber issued reprieve for Haugen, vowed no executions while he is governor.
March 2012: Haugen sued to block reprieve.
April 18: Haugen appeared in Marion County Circuit Court for largely procedural hearing. The matter is eventually converted to a civil suit by Haugen against Kitzhaber.
July 24: Judge Timothy Alexander, assigned from Washington County, heard arguments on whether Haugen can reject the reprieve.
Aug. 3: Alexander ruled in Haugen’s favor, allowing new execution date to be set. But Judicial Department officials said new date-setting in Marion County Circuit Court must await conclusion of civil lawsuit.
Sept. 11: Kitzhaber filed appeal with Oregon Supreme Court; both sides urge high court to take case and bypass Court of Appeals
Oct. 22: Oregon Supreme Court agreed to hear appeal on March 14 at University of Oregon law school

The Oregon Supreme Court has agreed to hear whether convicted murderer Gary Haugen can refuse Gov. John Kitzhaber’s reprieve of his death sentence.

Oral arguments are scheduled at 10:30 a.m. March 14 at the University of Oregon law school in Eugene. The court normally hears arguments annually at each of the state’s three law schools.

The seven justices will hear arguments on a single point: Whether someone such as Haugen has to accept a reprieve offered by the governor under the Oregon Constitution for it to be effective.

Lawyers for both sides will submit written arguments, known as briefs, before March 14.

The court will have two new justices by then. One is David Brewer, a Court of Appeals judge who has been elected already. The other will be either Richard Baldwin, a Multnomah County circuit judge, or Portland lawyer Nena Cook, hinging on the Nov. 6 election.

The court announced its decision to hear the appeal in a news release without further comment.

The court will hear an appeal filed Sept. 11 by Kitzhaber, who lost the first round Aug. 3 in Marion County Circuit Court, where an out-of-county judge decided that Haugen had the right to refuse the reprieve despite the governor’s clemency authority.

Kitzhaber issued the reprieve on Nov. 22, 2011, two weeks before Haugen was scheduled to be executed at the Oregon State Penitentiary. Haugen had waived further legal appeals and has said he wants to die.

Haugen sued Kitzhaber, arguing that unlike a pardon or commutation, he had a right to refuse a reprieve.

The decision by Judge Timothy Alexander, a retired Washington County judge who since has died, set the execution back on track. However, a second date for an execution cannot proceed in Marion County Circuit Court until the current civil lawsuit is concluded.

The Supreme Court hearing will bypass the Court of Appeals.

Assistant Attorney General Tim Sylwester will represent the governor, and Portland lawyer Harrison Latto will represent Haugen. Because it is an appellate proceeding, Haugen would not be present, as he was for a hearing in Marion County Circuit Court on July 24.

Both sides had requested that the high court accept the case.

Haugen, now 50, was serving a life sentence for a 1981 conviction for the murder of his former girlfriend’s mother. While in prison, he murdered another inmate in 2003, and he was convicted of aggravated murder in 2007.

Aggravated murder is the only crime punishable under Oregon’s death penalty, which voters reinstated in 1984. Only two men have been executed since then, during Kitzhaber’s first term in 1996 and 1997, and both had waived appeals.

As of mid-2011, the Department of Corrections listed 36 men and one woman on death row. Kitzhaber has vowed there will be no executions while he is governor, but the reprieve applies only to Haugen.

pwong@Statesman Journal.com, (503) 399-6745 or www.twitter.com/capitolwong

http://www.statesmanjournal.com/article/20121023/NEWS/310230027/

Please see these two of my previous posts when I commented on Oregon’s death penalty:

MY ANSWERS TO SOME OF THE 50 QUESTIONS! = http://soldierexecutionerprolifer2008.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/my-answers-to-some-of-50-questions.html

OREGON’S DEATH PENALTY HALT IMMORAL AND WRONG =
http://soldierexecutionerprolifer2008.blogspot.com.au/2012/06/oregons-death-penalty-halt-immoral-and.html