Wilmington, Del (by Sean O'Sullivan/The News Journal) -- 

(updated at 3pm)

Judge delays 'voluntary' execution

By SEAN O'SULLIVAN/The (Wilmington, Del.) News Journal

WILMINGTON, Del. -- A federal judge has delayed Friday's execution of a man who volunteered to waive appeals to speed his own death.

U.S. Chief District Judge Gregory M. Sleet ordered a stay Wednesday to give himself more time to review last-minute paperwork that the Delaware Federal Public Defender's office filed on behalf of the convicted killer's sister seeking to halt the lethal injection.

"I simply have not had the time to consider this important matter," Sleet said.

Shannon M. Johnson was scheduled to become the 16th person the state of Delaware has executed since 1992. He was sentenced to death in 2008 for the slaying of Cameron Hamlin but in February 2010 decided to stop his appeals, only the fifth person in the modern history of the state's death penalty to do so.

Superior Court Judge M. Jane Brady granted his request to die last month after holding a four-day competency hearing.

A typical death penalty case takes 15 years to work through the appeals process, said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center.

Vandrick Hamlin, Cameron's father, was in Sleet's courtroom for the informal proceeding Wednesday and seemed stunned by the ruling.

"I'm disappointed," he said outside the courtroom.

Despite Johnson's professed willingness to die for his crimes -- and the fact he has not expressed any regret for the September 2006 slaying of Cameron Hamlin -- some still fervently oppose Johnson's execution.

Some, like Sally Milbury-Steen, executive director of the religious peace group Delaware Pacem in Terris, consider the execution to be state-assisted suicide.

The fact that Johnson has volunteered "doesn't make the death penalty any more palatable and doesn't give legitimacy to it," she said. "What is wrong is wrong. Why should the state be in this business of killing people?"

Early on Sept. 24, 2006, Johnson came across his former girlfriend -- the mother of his child -- as she sat in a car with Cameron Hamlin, 26, an aspiring musician she had just started dating, according to court records and testimony. After a brief exchange, Johnson abruptly pulled out a gun and began firing, killing Hamlin.

The woman escaped but Johnson stalked her for several weeks before shooting her outside her apartment Nov. 10, 2006, fleeing only after his gun jammed. She survived the attack.

After his arrest, prosecutors say Johnson tried to hire someone to kill his former girlfriend.

Of the 885 executions carried out since 1976 when the U.S. reinstated the death penalty, 105 have been volunteers, including four in Delaware. And those volunteers -- like people who commit suicide -- were disproportionately white males with a history of mental illness and, in some cases, substance abuse disorders, Cornell University law Professor John H. Blume found in his 2005 study "Killing the Willing."

Johnson, however, does not meet the characteristics of the typical "volunteer" described in Blume's study. Johnson is black and despite federal public defenders' assertions of mental illness, no expert at last month's competency hearing testified that Johnson suffers from mental illness or substance-abuse disorders, Deputy Attorney General Paul R. Wallace said.

While Sleet put a hold on the execution, he did put the case on an accelerated schedule requiring that all parties submit briefs to him by Friday and hearing oral arguments at 10 a.m. Monday.

(original story)

By SEAN O'SULLIVAN The (Wilmington, Del.) News Journal

WILMINGTON, Del. -- On Friday, Shannon M. Johnson is scheduled to become the 16th person executed by the state of Delaware since 1992.

The 28-year-old will also become the fifth death row inmate in the modern history of the state's death penalty to "volunteer" for execution by waiving all his remaining appeals.

Despite Johnson's professed willingness to die for his crimes -- and the fact he has not expressed any remorse or regret for the September 2006 slaying of Cameron Hamlin -- there are some who still fervently oppose his execution.

Just because Johnson goes willingly doesn't mean the execution is justified, say death penalty opponents and academics.

Prosecutors, death penalty supporters and Johnson's attorney argue, however, that Johnson should be allowed -- and has a right under the law -- to make the choice to speed his execution by lethal injection. It has been deemed by the judicial system to be the appropriate punishment, Deputy Attorney General Paul R. Wallace said.

The Delaware Federal Public Defender's Office filed a brief last weekend, on behalf of Johnson's sister, seeking to stop the execution and override Johnson's choice by arguing Johnson is not competent to waive his appeals.

U.S. District Court Chief Judge Gregory M. Sleet is slated to hold a hearing on the petition Wednesday.

A number of groups that oppose the death penalty, including the Repeal Project of the American Civil Liberties Union of Delaware, plan a series of demonstrations and vigils Thursday, in the hours leading up to the execution.

Some, like Sally Milbury-Steen, executive director of Delaware Pacem in Terris, consider the execution to be state-assisted suicide. The fact that Johnson has volunteered "doesn't make the death penalty any more palatable and doesn't give legitimacy to it," she said. "What is wrong is wrong. Why should the state be in this business of killing people?"

Others express concerns more specific to the Johnson case.

Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, said it was commendable that a Delaware judge held a four-day hearing to make sure Johnson was surrendering his rights willingly.

"But I still question the merits of the case," he said.

A typical death penalty case takes 15 years to work through the adversarial appeals process.

"The danger here is the inmate controls the situation," Dieter said, adding the death penalty "is not about what the inmate wants, it is about what the justice system wants."

Kathleen MacRae, of the Delaware chapter of the ACLU, said although Johnson went through a competency review, "the bar for competency is very low."

"I don't feel it is the role of the state to kill someone because they want to be killed," she said.

Early on Sept. 24, 2006, according to court records and testimony, Johnson came across his former girlfriend -- the mother of his child -- as she sat in a car with Cameron Hamlin, 26, an aspiring musician she had just started dating. After a brief exchange, Johnson abruptly pulled out a gun and began firing, killing Hamlin.

The woman escaped but Johnson stalked her for several weeks before shooting her outside her apartment on Nov. 10, 2006, fleeing only after his gun jammed. She survived the attack.

Prosecutors said that after his arrest, Johnson tried to hire someone to kill his former girlfriend.

Johnson was convicted of first-degree murder in 2008, after telling the jury deciding his fate that he did not fear death and to "hurry up because I'm tired of sitting in this courtroom."

At the conclusion of the automatic appeal of his death sentence, Johnson said in February 2010 that he wanted to waive all further appeals. Following a lengthy process, which included an attempt to intervene by the Delaware Federal Defender's Office even though Johnson had his own attorney, state Superior Court Judge M. Jane Brady ruled last month that Johnson is competent. She allowed him to waive his appeals, then set an execution date.

Cornell Law Professor John H. Blume, in his 2005 study "Killing the Willing," argues that death row inmates who volunteer to be executed share many of the same characteristics as those who commit suicide in the "free world."

Of the 885 executions carried out since 1976 -- when the U.S. reinstated the death penalty -- 105 were volunteers. And those volunteers -- like people who commit suicide -- were disproportionately white males with a history of mental illness and, in some cases, substance abuse disorders, he found.

Johnson, however, does not meet the characteristics of the typical "volunteer" described in Blume's study, Wallace said. Johnson is black and, despite the assertions of mental illness by federal public defenders, no expert at the competency hearing testified that Johnson suffers from mental illness or substance abuse disorders, he said.

Vandrick Hamlin, the father of Cameron Hamlin, said it does not matter to him if Johnson goes willingly or not.

"The way I feel is he was going to die anyway," he said. "I don't care. ... He did me a favor by doing that."