Oregon death row inmate Gary Haugen, who was scheduled to be executed next month and who had voluntarily refused any further appeals on his behalf, called Gov. John Kitzhaber a coward for declaring a moratorium on the death penalty during the remainder of his term in office.
Kitzhaber is morally opposed to the death penalty.
There are only eight condemned inmates on Oregon’s death row and some of them have been there for over 20 years. Only two inmates have been executed since Oregon voters reinstated capital punishment in 1984, and both of them, like Haugen, refused to appeal their sentences.
Haugen, who was convicted of two murders, told a reporter for the Oregonian that the governor didn’t have the guts to put him to death. “I feel he's a paper cowboy,” he said. “He couldn't pull the trigger.” Haugen concluded that the governor “basically pulled a coward's move” by acting on his personal beliefs instead of carrying out the will of Oregon voters.
I would add that Kitzhaber not only refuses to carry out the will of the voters, but he also refuses to carry out the decision of a jury and the law of his state.
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