Bill offers inmates death option Prisoners sentenced...

Bill offers inmates death option Prisoners sentenced to life without parole could petition a court for the death penalty under a bill filed by Sen. John Waterman, R-Shelburn. The bill would allow inmates sentenced to more than 200 years in prison or to life without parole a one-time chance to ask a judge to allow them to die. The inmate would have to undergo a psychiatric review, prove that he is mentally competent and appear before a judge. If granted, the prisoner could choose to halt the voluntary death sentence at any time. Waterman said the bill stems from two cases he knows of where inmates wanted death instead of lifetime incarceration. They were both told they wouldn't get the death penalty and then killed fellow inmates in prison to get what they wanted. "We're having more and more violent offenders come in with longer terms," Waterman said. "I'm worried that, eventually, they will kill a guard. One case Waterman cites is that of Robert "Detroit" Smith, who was sentenced to the Wabash Correctional Facility in Carlisle, Ind., for 146 years. Waterman said Smith requested the death penalty, but was told he wasn't eligible. He threatened to kill another inmate to get it, Waterman said. He later made good on that promise, killing fellow inmate Michael Wedmore. According to a death penalty Web site maintained by the Clark County, Ind., prosecutor's office, Smith threatened that if he didn't get the death penalty, he'd go after a guard next, and "I will butcher him." Smith wrote his own plea agreement, sentencing himself to death, and he was executed by lethal injection on Jan. 29, 1998. Waterman also gave the Evansville Courier & Press a letter from Scott Nicholson, an inmate at Miami Correctional Facility in Bunker Hill, Ind. Nicholson was sentenced in 1998 to serve until about 2016 for several counts, including armed robbery and criminal confinement. In a Dec. 28 letter to Waterman, he writes that he killed another inmate and will kill again if not given the death penalty. The letter, signed by Scott Nicholson, reads: "I murdered a man on Dec. 11th, 2003, at (Miami Correctional Facility), in cold premeditated blood, now I call on you to have the prosecutor of Miami County, in city of Peru, to sign a plea agreement for the death penalty to be carried out ASAP or him and you will be a accessory to the next murder of which I promise you will happened if I'm not sentenced to die." Waterman said he realizes Senate Bill 492 will be controversial. If offered, he said he thought about 12 inmates might apply immediately. The bill has been assigned to the Senate Judiciary Committee for review.