[Lamplighter]

On Nov 22, 2011 Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber announced that the
execution of convicted killer, Gary Haugen, will not go on as scheduled
and no more executions will happen while he is in office.

NY Times
3/15/13

Kitzhaber: state Supreme Court loss won't make him OK execution

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Gov. John Kitzhaber said Friday that he won't OK
the execution of death-row inmate Gary Haugen,
even if the Oregon Supreme Court rules that he can't force
the inmate to accept a reprieve.

Haugen, a two-time murderer, wants to be executed,
but the governor has blocked it on moral grounds.
The high court heard arguments in the standoff Thursday
and was expected to issue a ruling by year's end.<snip>

In the 1990s, during his first stint as governor, Kitzhaber twice answered "No"
to the question of whether there was a reason to stop an execution,
decisions he says he has come to regret.
"I do not think the state is better off, safer or more just because we made those decisions," he said.<snip>

He said that governors generally get a call from the warden shortly before executions,
asking whether there is a reason an execution should not take place.
"If they call me, I will say 'Yes, there is a reason this execution should not be carried out.'"
It was unclear what the warden would do next.

"What he did to me was not an act of grace; it's not a gift," Haugen said.
"He used a reprieve to sit back and to nullify my ability to exercise my constitutional rights."
Asked for a response, Kitzhaber said:
"I have no response to Gary Haugen; this isn't really about Gary Haugen.
It's about the larger policy of capital punishment in the state of Oregon. "