08-05-2012
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http://www.rawstory.com, By Paul Harris
Convicted murderer Gary Haugen has rejected clemency of Oregon governor John Kitzhaber, and says he wants to die
America’s emotional debate over the role of the death penalty has taken a strange new twist after a convicted killer has been granted the legal right to insist on his right to be executed.
Oregon death row inmate Gary Haugen, who was found guilty of murdering his girlfriend’s mother and also another prisoner, says he still wants to die – despite a reprieve by anti-death penalty Oregon governor John Kitzhaber.
Now a court has granted Haugen, 49, the right to reject Kitzhaber’s clemency move, which was issued just weeks before he was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection last December.
Kitzhaber had vowed that no death sentences would be carried out in Oregon while he was in office.
