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Arizona death-row inmate sues Brewer May. 10, 2012 11:54 AM Associated Press Lawyers for an Arizona death-row inmate set for execution next week have sued Gov. Jan Brewer and the state's clemency board, arguing that three newly appointed board members were picked to ensure that no recommendations for clemency in high-profile or controversial cases land on the governor's desk. In a filing in Maricopa County Superior Court late Wednesday, attorneys for inmate Samuel Villegas Lopez ask Judge Joseph Kreamer to declare the new board members' appointment null and void so the interview process can begin anew. He also asks her to delay the execution until the matter is resolved. Arguments in the lawsuit are set for Monday, two days before Lopez's scheduled execution. The lawsuit, written by defense attorneys Julie Hall and Denise Young, says that the selection committee for the Arizona Board of Executive Clemency questioned potential board members about how they would vote on controversial or high-profile cases. "They resulted in a board designed to not forward recommendations to the governor in high-profile or controversial cases," Hall and Young wrote. Brewer overhauled the board last month, a move that her spokesman Matt Benson said at the time was designed to "bring fresh insight and fresh blood" to the board. Benson said Thursday that the lawsuit is without merit. "The Board of Executive Clemency and selection committee for the Board of Executive Clemency have each acted in accordance with the law," he said in a statement. He did not respond to a request for answers to more specific questions about the allegations. In the lawsuit, Hall and Young write that the board's selection committee met behind closed doors and improperly discussed matters that should have been open to the public, that the new board members are unqualified, and that one of them has a conflict of interest because he's the executive director of the Arizona Police Association "and has a financial interest in individuals who are witnesses in the cases which come before the board." On top of that, the lawsuit said the new members did not undergo a four-week course before beginning their new duties under Arizona law. The lawsuit also points out that even though longtime board Chairman Duane Belcher had reapplied for his position, the selection committee declined to even interview him "though he had served the state for 20 years under both Republican and Democratic governors" and was well-respected by prosecutors, defense attorneys and victims. Instead, they appointed current Chairman Jesse Hernandez, who most recently was the outreach and government affairs director for Republican Rep. David Schweikert and founded the Arizona Latino Republican Association. Hernandez also was the chairman of Patriots for Pearce, a political action committee for former Arizona Sen. Russell Pearce, who lost his seat in a November recall election. The closest connection to law enforcement or corrections on Hernandez's resume, submitted to the selection committee, was that he served overseas with the U.S. Army's Military Police Corps. Hernandez did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday. He told The Associated Press earlier this week that he and the other two new board members didn't have to finish the four-week training process before beginning their duties. "We just have to start the training process," he said. "We are within the law." Wednesday's lawsuit comes on the heels of what was supposed to be a hearing by the clemency board about whether Lopez deserves mercy from his upcoming execution. Lopez was convicted of raping, robbing and stabbing a 59-year-old woman to death in her Phoenix apartment on Oct. 29, 1986, after what court records described as a "terrible and prolonged struggle." His attorneys argue that Lopez has brain damage and had a difficult childhood during which he "grew up in constant terror," hunger and poverty, and began inhaling paint and glue at a young age. They argue that Lopez's attorneys at the time never informed the trial judge of those details, and that if the judge had known about them, he never would have gotten the death penalty. The clemency board hearing instead focused on the qualifications of the new board members themselves, with Lopez's attorney Kelley Henry telling the board that it did not have the authority to make a decision in the matter because its new members were improperly appointed and unqualified. Henry walked out of the hearing. Hernandez said that the board wanted to give Lopez a fair hearing. "But (his lawyers) decided to exit the process," he said. "I presume it was a legal maneuver on their part to buy Mr. Lopez time." In the lawsuit, Lopez's attorneys called the Monday hearing a "sham." "Since the (board) appointments were null and void, Mr. Lopez cannot obtain clemency in Arizona," they wrote. "Mr. Lopez literally cannot access the process. Accordingly, Mr. Lopez was denied his right to seek clemency before a full, fair and legally constituted board in violation of the Arizona Constitution." |