2 g TIIUHSUAV, DtXliMBIilt 5, l3 MEDI'OflD MAIL TniBUNK, MLDFOHD, OREGON
Brown Contends That Courts Have Repealed Capital Punishment
By WEBSTER K. NOLAN
United Press International
SAN QUENTIN, Calif. IUPI)
, The state of California, which ; legislators who have opposed
almost every year executes . capital punishment have at
more criminals than any other I tempted to pass laws making
state in the Union, has sent; the death penalty illegal. The
only one person to Die
chamber this year.
neither California law nor the i At 8:30 every morning, guards a special death row recreation
state constitution provides for. ! march down the double row, ( room ; they can play ping pong,
I For the past 30 years, state , awakening the men and handing '. checkers, scrabble and other
The death of James Abner
Bentley on Jan. 23 was the
500th execution at San Qucntin
Prison. It happened in a stale
where an average of eight per
sons die in the gas chamber
annually: and it happened in a
prison where 44 men currently
live on Death Row.
In early November, Gov. Ed
mund G. Brown, long an out
spoken foe of the death pen
ally, commented on Ihese un
usual statistics.
"It's a situation," he said.
"that really means capital
matter has been debated eith
er in committee or on the
floors of the senate and the as
sembly 19 times.
It has failed of passage 19
limes.
Routine Continues
Yel, while judges sit in sol
emn contemplation, listening to
(he pleas of attorneys for their
condemned clients, and while
legislators in Sacramento argue
about the pros and cons of cap
ital punishment, the dreary rou
tine on death row continues.
Despite attempts at compro
mise, such as establishing a
them their breakfasts. At 10:30, games; or they can visit a li
the convicts are permitted to brary which has been set up
leave their cells for three and for their exclusive use adjacent
a half hours. to their cell block.
They can walch television in ' The men are allowed to study
punishment has been repealed i moratorium or abolishing capital I
by the courts. I think fve i punislimcnt except in certain '
granted only two commutations cases.
Capitol Memo
By Zan Stark
jk Oregon Faces
kijl Fiscal Hangover
this year, and all the rest have
been stays by either the Su
preme Court, the circuit court
or the stale courts."
Three days afler Brown made
his statement, the U.S. Supreme
Court granted a stay of execu
tion to Harold A. Spencer, six
days before his date with death.
Then, within 10 days, the high
court followed its action with
two more stays, both for men
scheduled to die in December.
Grow In Number
During the past year, in a
stale where the arguments for
and againsl capital punishment
oflen rise to fever pitch, there
have been so many stays of ex
ecutions that prison officials
have had bookkeeping prob
lems in maintaining an accu
rate count.
The situation has created, in
effect, a backdoor moratorium
on the death penalty, one that
Dcspilc parades of eminent i SALEM (UPI) The special
wilnesses, such as Episcopal , sess:on of the legislature enact-
Bishoi) James A. Pike, former
San Qucntin Warden Clinton Duf
fy, State Attorney General Stan
ley Mosk.
Despite 1 o f I y rhetoric.
Brown: "A barbaric custom, our
modern equivalent of the Roman
circus, (lie lurid and emotional
atmosphere in which society
must render its most awesome
judgment life or dealh (or
one of its citizens."
State Sen. Donald L. Grunsky,
a vigorous opponent of abolition:
"Let's stop worrying so much
about these fiends, these killers,
these sex maniacs and start
worring about their victims and
their families."
Despite attempts at drama
ed the economy moves demand
ed by the voters' Oct. 15 tax
referendum.
The result could be a $40 mil
lion fiscal hangover.
That may be the amount of
new revenue needed during the
1DH5-67 biennium just to main
lain the austerity level of state
services now in effect.
Even if you eliminate all cap
ital construction for state insti
tutions and higher education
that has been planned for, or
postponed to the next biennium,
revenues may be $20 million
short of what will be needed.
By junking capital construc
tion, chopping basic school aid
and trimming general fund
in their cells or read newspapers
and magazines. A few have
taken up painting as a hobby.
Others are content to write let
ters, listen on earphones to the
prison radio or talk to convicts
in neighboring cells.
At 2 p.m., a combined din
ner supper is served. The din
ner consists of the same kind
of food served to the other 4,400
inmates at the prison, but the
condemned men receive larger
portions. The supper, which the
convicts are advised to save un
til evening, is generally com
prised of fruit and sandwiches.
The lights never go out on
death row. But most of the men
retire at about 10 p.m. All
that remains in the silence are
the 44 sleeping prisoners, a ser
geant in charge and two gun
rail officers, each armed with
a rifle and a sidearm.
In a state where several ex
ecutions have attracted national
and international headlines
(Barbara Graham, Burton Ab
bott, Caryl Chessman and Eliz
abeth "Ma" Duncan), none of
the present condemned convicts
has achieved widespread notori
ety. May Claim Attention
But some of the cases may
yet come into nationwide prom
inence: Paul Kern lmbler, a 45-year-old
truck driver who was con
victed of the 1961 murder of a
Los Angeles grocer during a
holdup, received a stay of ex
ecution when one of the witness
es at his trial repudiated his own
testimony.
Joseph B. Morse, a 19-year-old
San Diego youth, who
beat his mother to death with a
rock and then fatally bludceoned
his young sister with a baseball
bat. The nature of his crimes
and his youth may become con
troversial factors in future hear
ings. John F. Vlahovich, Donald
G. Franklin and Joseph Rosoto,
convicted as partners in crime
in connection with the 1959 slay
ing of a southern California bar
owner. The men were sentenced
as conspirators not murderers
and the actual killer has nev
er been caught. A primary sus
pect has been cleared by a vol
untary lie detector test, and in
addition, serious questions have
been raised about the reliabili
ty of testimony in their trial.
Clyde Bates and Manuel
Chavez have attracted some at
tention because they have been
on dealh row for more than six
years. They were sentenced to
die for throwing a gasoline
bomb into a Los Angeles tavern
after the bartender refused to
serve them. Six persons were
killed.
Double Killers
Several of the men on death
row are double killers. Others
are rape-slayers and still others
killed during the course of a
holdup (including Harold Spen
cer, who murdered a taxi cab
driver while robbing him of
$4.81) .
The latest effort to revise the
capital punishment statutes
came this year. The bill, intro
duced by McMillan, called for
a four-year moratorium on the
death penalty except in cases
involving double killings, kidnap
murders, slaying of law enforce
ment officers and killing in pri
son. The assembly passed I h e
measure by a close vote. But
the Senate Governmental Effi
ciency Committee killed a sim
ilar bill. A proposal to put the
issue to the voters did not even
receive a formal hearing.
Unless Brown decides to call
a special session, the issue will
not come before the legislature
until at least 1965.
On Death Row
Meanwhile, the population on
Death Row grows. At San Quen
tin, 44 men are waiting; and
at Corona Institution for Wom
en, California's only other con
demned prisoner, double-slayer
Iva Kroeger, is waiting.
Whatever their crime, they
all know they still will have
their day in court.
If the past 10 months of court
actions have any significance,
this means they all have a
chance, perhaps a good chance,
to escape death in the tempo
arily out-of-use gas chamber.
i ailtiir.,, knlifnlc I Un Inrticl ,i turn
A .-.l...l. ....... I m'tn.. M,. Mill. II, "hV,,V-J " . H . . U . U . I.
m.n.Y i-, durj ,ne spccja sussjon
proposed this year to televise a ,dorscd ,he
governor's program
; Li La Ul hi LA ,f W ,$-yj
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CALIFORNIA
STATE PRISON
SAN QUENTIN
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to slice the stale's $401 million
general fund budget to about
$360 million.
Lawmakers also had to dip
into next biennium's income for
an additional $12 million to keep
the reduced budget in the black.
The $12 million, added to $8
million of one-shot revenues ap
proved during the regular ses
sion, means that through book
keeping changes, $20 million of
income that normally would
have been collected during the
1965-67 biennium has been moved
ahead to help ease the bite this
biennium.
This "rob Peter to pay Paul"
move simply means the state's
income will be $20 million short
next biennium.
Legislative Fiscal Officer Ken
neth Bragg estimated the slate's
revenues next biennium may be
about $370 million.
He estimated a $411 million
general fund budget would be
needed just to maintain cut-back
services.
This means the 19G3 legisla
ture will start off more than
$40 million short of what it
needs to help keep Ihe stale's
books m the black.
Brace: is uuick to point out
there are many variables that
could change this picture, fed
eral income tax cuts could in
crease Ihe state's tax revenues.
Further delay of building pro
jects could case spending re
quirements. But the inescapable fact re
mains that normal increases in
population at state institutions,
schools, colleges and universi
ties will demand more spending.
Lawmakers will be spending
much of their time between now
and the next legislative session
trying to find an answer.
It seems Ihere mav be no
way to avoid having to raise
additional revenue.
Taxpayers arc going to have
lo begin thinking now about
such unhappy possibilities as
sales and cigarette taxes, and
revision of Ihe slate's personal
income tax laws.
While the Oct. 15 referendum
resulted in economy, another
tax referendum in quick order
could result in fiscal disaster
for Oregon.
FAMOUS PRISON Convict author Caryl
Chessman (top) is shown behind bars of
prison cell in this picture taken from n scene
in motion picture titled "Justice and Caryl
Chessman." Bottom picture shows entrance
to the famous California Slate Prison. it'PI
Scientists Exchange
Research Findings
EUGENE Eleven visiting
scientists from Oregon, Wash
ington. Arizona, Hawaii, and Al
berta will exchange recent re
search findings in three panel
discussions Dec. 6 and 7 on the
University of Oregon campus.
The occasion will be the re
gional meeting of the Division
of Comparative Endocrinology
of the American Society of Zo
ologists lo be held at the Erb
Memorial Student Union.
The panel participants will
d i s c u s s neurosecretions and
neurohumoral effects in verte
brates, problems in vertebrate
endocrinology, and invertebrate
hormones and iieurohumors.
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