Execution delay has caused 'profound and unfathomable' distress to victim's family

This week's delay in the execution of Albert G. Brown Jr. has caused the family of the woman he raped and strangled "profound and unfathomable" distress.

In an e-mail Thursday to the Riverside Press-Enterprise, Karen Jordan Brown wrote that "the appeals process in California has proven to be nothing more than a never-ending war of attrition against justice and the rights of victims and their families."

Jordan Brown’s sister, Susan Jordan, 15, was abducted by Albert Brown, who is not related, in 1980 while she walked to Arlington High School in Riverside. Albert Brown then raped and strangled the girl.

He has been on death row since his conviction in 1982 and was scheduled to be put to death Thursday in what would have been California’s first execution in five years.

The execution was put on hold Wednesday, after a week of legal wrangling between Albert Brown’s attorney and the state attorney general’s office over whether a lethal injection should be administered.

At issue was whether the drug used in the lethal injection was about to expire three hours before it was to be used on Albert Brown.

The California Supreme Court faulted the state for seeking to carry out the sentence so close to the drug's expiration date, saying it "contributed to circumstances incompatible with the orderly resolution" of legal issues surrounding the death penalty.

A spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said the agency was seeking fresh supplies of the drug.

Riverside County Dist. Atty. Rod Pacheco, whose office prosecuted Albert Brown, described the postponement as a tragedy for the victim's family.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who rejected a clemency request, said the execution would be rescheduled once the court challenges were resolved.

In her e-mail to the Press-Enterprise, Jordan Brown wrote that the events of the last week have "only tempered our convictions in favor of capital punishment."

-- Sam Quinones

Comments

[shadowpark]

This judge should be disbarred he is taking a personal vendetta against the family of the victim!!
Simply disgusting have they not suffered enough?
How can we get him disbarred the people need to have recourse against these crooked judges!!

[Astonished]

Victims and their families should never be put through this much torture! It takes far too long to put an end to these wastes of breath! Instead of delaying the government should be facilitating these sentences. As it is now, no death row inmate has anything to worry about because they'll die of old age before our justice system gets the balls to actually carry out the sentence. Maybe the victims and their families should start suing the government for cruel and unusual punishment for each delay!

[SteveC]

What a bad joke the system is. I see "Gangland" on TV and I wonder why we keep these people alive to exist in "the system" and to effectively run the prisons. Now I read about this murderer's crime and conviction and now 30 years later all these supposedly 'smart people' who run the system can't figure out how to kill this scum? How tough is it, really? Kill him by giving him an overdose of heroin. Happens every day on the streets. Done. Simple, and it allows us to put to some good use some of what has been seized from the drug pushers. Repeat as necessary.

[T]

If we didn't offer the possibility of the death penalty and simply banished this guy to a cell for the rest of his life, we wouldn't have to put the family through this rollercoaster ride, and everyone would save a lot of time, money (yes, money!), and heartache in the process.

Like it or not, we need checks and balances and safeguards in order to MAINTAIN justice. By taking capital punishment out of the equation altogether, we can arrive at that justice much more swiftly.

[olin24]

Where in this article do you, shadowpark, perceive that the judge is crooked and has ill will toward the victim's family? One thing is to disagree with the judgement, another is to make baseless accusations- unless, of course, you have personal knowledge of the matter

[Mary Grant]

I agree with the victims' families.

Rape/murder victims are revictimized by of a ditch digging legal system that appears to enjoy seeing who dies first--the perpetrators or their victims.

Albert Browns victims are dead. The victims' families are in "profound and unfathomable" distress.

Now, the legal justice system wants to see if the victims families will live long enough to see justice carried through?

No words can express my gratitude to the victims' families for speaking out and exposing this travesty/tragedy of justice despite their overwhelming grief as victims too.

I'm inspired by their strenght to live and expose these atrocities.

[Rey]

Albert G. Brown Jr raped and strangled the girl and he's be doing the same to the legal system for 28 years.

[joe]

Use bullets, they don't expire. After hearing what this animal did to that young innocent girl, he TRUELY deserves for society to send him to his maker and there, he will be judged!..

[lana]

The article starts off calling his victim a "women" -- ehem.... she was 15 year old - a minor - a child. Out of respect for the victim and her family get the article right. He kidnapped, raped and strangled a child.

[david paul]

agreed...let's recall this judge...what a lame excuse. what if this rapist and murderer hurts a little while they stick the needle in...in fact, i hope he feels some of the pain that all the victims here are feeling...not only the dead victim but the living victims of our corrupt and disfunctional judicial system! we should just go back to firing squad, hangman, or the ever justifiable gas chamber and electric chair...we must put the fear of god into these criminals that there crimes will be punished...quickly not in 20 years!

[DM]

Is Michael Morales next?

[Guest]

Society does not ask much of us. We're pretty much free to do as we choose. However, a "JUST" society would say, "IF YOU TORTURE, RAPE, AND KILL OUR CHILDREN, YOU WILL PAY WITH YOUR LIFE!!! This kind of society shows that it MEANS BUSINESS!!! When will California show that it MEANS BUSINESS when it comes to these kinds of SAVAGE SLAYINGS? Capital punishment IS NOT about deterrence, revenge, being bloodthirsty, or being cost-effective. CAPITAL PUNISHMENT IS ABOUT PUNISHMENT FOR MURDER!!! Life in prison IS NOT a punishment for this type of crime!!!

[shadowpark]

olin your and idiot if you don't think its personal that this judge didn't give a fig about the family this ruling has a clear agenda in mind he is grand standing for his own personal gain, Then you have no idea how the federal judgeship system works it is a joke! They {the judges} should have specified terms and be subject to a recall it has become a political position that wields way to much power this needs to end!!

[George]

the judge doesn't care about the victims. put the judge and this monster in the prison yard with a gang carrying shanks end of story.

[kgoddess]

I have a solution...he strangled the girl, so hang him.

[Lori]

Its really sad that all you people seem so blood thirsty and that you feel that in order to be happy someone has to die. The sadness of losing a son or daughter can NEVER be replace why don't you people put things in perceptive. The law will go on and this man might or not die but this family will always be sad and suffer because their loved one is gone. Its ridiculous to think that one man dying will make it better. California laws need to be fixed why don't you all work for change them maybe this man would be death already or in an insane asylum which is where he belongs. Lets fix California laws, lets use this as an example that there is a horrible problem with our laws. Lets try and prevent this from happening to someone else. Lets vote, let do something to change things

[curtis takahashi]

put this person to deAth save the family and the tax payers the money to keep this person alive just give him 80mg of kcl so whAT if may burn going in the girl had pain why ARE we feeling sorry for these dirt bags let the suffer pain the did not give the people they killed A choice.end this matter now other state do it right Away

[curtis takahashi]

forget the death penalty call it medical reasearch you took a life, have the drug companies pay to house them and medicAL studies AND sugery studies to sAVE LIFES of people that are a use to the country