KIRKPATRICK EXECUTION OBSERVERS SELECTED.Byline: The Associated Press The California Department of Corrections named the news organizations Friday that will provide media witnesses for the execution of double-murderer William Kirkpatrick Jr., who is scheduled to die by lethal injection Jan. 26 at San Quentin State Prison San Quentin State Prison is located on 432 acres (1.7 km²) on Point Quentin in Marin County, California, United States, north of San Francisco. San Quentin State Prison was opened in July 1852, and is the oldest prison in California. . The newspapers are the Los Angeles Daily News The Daily News of Los Angeles, also known as the Los Angeles Daily News, is the second largest circulating daily newspaper of Los Angeles, California. It is published by the Los Angeles Newspaper Group, which owns eight other Southern California newspapers , Los Angeles Times Los Angeles Times Morning daily newspaper. Established in 1881, it was purchased and incorporated in 1884 by Harrison Gray Otis (1837–1917) under The Times-Mirror Co. (the hyphen was later dropped from the name). , San Diego Union-Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle The San Francisco Chronicle was founded in 1865 as The Daily Dramatic Chronicle by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young.[2] The paper grew along with San Francisco to become the largest circulation newspaper on the West Coast of the , Sacramento Bee and Oakland Tribune. The Associated Press and United Press International wire services also were selected to send representatives. The San Francisco Examiner The San Francisco Examiner is a U.S. daily newspaper. It has been published continuously in San Francisco, California, since the late 19th Century. History 19th century The beginning of the Examiner is a topic of some controversy. is considering legal action to be allowed to send a media witness for the execution. "We're very disappointed," said Sharon Rosenhause, managing editor of news at the Examiner. She said the newspaper's lawyer has spoken to the Department of Corrections. "We feel that we have a very compelling reason to be included." Rosenhause added that the Examiner is the dominant afternoon newspaper in the state. Four television stations - including representatives from ABC, CBS, CNN and NBC - will be allowed representatives, the Department of Corrections statement said. Four radio representatives also will be present. Kirkpatrick was convicted of the Sept. 17, 1983, execution-style slayings of two people who worked at a Burbank Taco Bell where he had previously been employed. He was sentenced to death Aug. 14, 1984. The newspaper selection is expected to be controversial with other newspapers, since it does not comply with a redefined selection process from the California Society of Newspaper Editors. In addition to the Examiner, the San Jose Mercury News The San Jose Mercury News is the major daily newspaper in San Jose, California and Silicon Valley. The paper is owned by MediaNews Group. Its headquarters and printing plant are located in North San Jose next to the Nimitz Freeway (Interstate 880). was not included. Nor were the Marin County Independent-Journal or Contra Costa Times The Contra Costa Times is a daily newspaper based in Walnut Creek, California. The paper serves Contra Costa and eastern Alameda counties, in the eastern part of the San Francisco Bay Area. , which are near San Quentin. The CSNE has asked that other newspapers be included and also requested that UPI be dropped from the media list. The Examiner and the CSNE both opposed the selection process in 1992 when Robert Alton Harris was executed for the 1978 murders of two San Diego teen-agers. The Examiner went to court and received a court order to include a witness at the Harris execution. In the Kirkpatrick case, the state Supreme Court upheld his death sentence in 1994 and the U.S. Supreme Court denied review last March. |
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