death penalty news--IDAHO

[Rick Halperin <rhalperi@post.cis.smu.edu>]

Tuesday, May 12, 1998--



IDAHO:

In Boise, condemned killer Maxwell "Mad Max" Hoffman is mentally 
competent and can forego further appeals so he can be executed, U.S. 
District U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill has ruled.

"In the final analysis, the petitioner has concluded that he would prefer 
to have his sentence of death carried out rather than live on death row 
under the conditions of confinement that currently exist," Winmill wrote 
in his ruling handed down Friday.

"Max said he's lived like that for 10 years, and that's enough," 
appellate attorney Charles Peterso said Friday.

Hoffman, 40, was convicted in 1989 of the revenge slaying of Nampa Police 
drug informant Denise Williams 2 years earlier.  Williams, 28, 
disappeared in September 1987, 8 days after helping police arrest Hoffman 
associate Richard Holmes.

Williams' body was found in the Owyhee County desert nearly a year after 
her disappearance.  Holmes was allegedly the police "snitch" on the
Williams case, and a month after the body was found, Holmes was killed 
during a prison riot by fellow inmate Rodney "Shorty" Araiza.

Although several death row inmates have at times raised the possibility 
of ending appeals so they could be executed, only double-murderer Keith
Eugene Wells has seen the procedure through.  Wells died by lethal 
injection on Jan. 6, 1994, for beating a couple to death in a Boise bar 
nearly 4 years earlier.

Last June, Hoffman filed a petition with the 3rd District Court, saying 
he no longer could stand the guilt he feels for the murder.

On Feb. 27, he filed a motion to dismiss counsel, drop all further 
appeals and vacate his stay of execution.  And he requested an injunction 
that would prevent filing any documents without his consent.

Hoffman said he was tired of living under the confinement of death row, 
which caused him back pain, prevented him from gaining access to
educational materials to remedy his illiteracy and denied him a 
vegetarian diet.

The court called for a psychological evaluation to determine his 
competency to waive his right to an attorney, and said it had no 
jurisdiction to change the conditions of Hoffman's confinement.

Psychologist Craig Beaver interviewed Hoffman and testified that while 
he suffered from depression, he was not actively psychotic and understood 
his legal circumstances.

Winmill said Hoffman understands dropping his appeal could result in his 
death within a matter of weeks or months.

"The conditions on death row are inherently difficult, but they have not 
been shown to be unconstitutional," Winmill wrote.  "His decision
between these two alternatives is not irrational."

(source:  Associated Press)





Rick Halperin
AI-Texas

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