[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., ALA., N.J.

[Rick Halperin]

Dec. 6



TEXAS:

2 Cherokee County Men Lose Death Sentence Appeals


2 Cherokee County men convicted of capital murder have failed to get their
appeals approved in the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

Beunka Adams, 24, and Richard Aaron Cobb, 22, received death sentences in
2004 for the shooting death of Kenneth Vandever, a mentally challenged
man, in 2002.

Adams and Cobb were convicted of kidnapping Vandever and 2 women from the
BDJ convenience store in Rusk just after midnight on Sept. 2, 2002. After
robbing the store, the men drove the 3 to a remote pea patch on Cherokee
County Road 2434. The men put Vandever and one of the women into the trunk
and Cobb stood over them with a shotgun while Adams raped the other woman
in the field. Then, the men made all 3 kneel in the field and shot them
1-by-1 from behind. Vandever was shot first, in the back. One of the
women, who was raped, was shot in her upper left shoulder. The other woman
fell down and pretended to have been shot; but, during testimony, she said
Adams drew near and stuck the gun near her head, asking, "Are you dead?"

She flinched as Adams prepared to fire, and she sustained a graze and
powder wounds to her mouth.

Assuming the 3 were dead, the men left the scene. They were arrested a few
hours later in Jacksonville.

Testimony showed Cobb was the one who fired the shot that killed Vandever,
who was a customer at the store when the robbery and kidnapping took
place. Vandever, who was 37 when he was killed, had suffered brain damage
in a car accident while in college.

The women, both employees at the convenience store, survived their
injuries and ran to nearby homes to call police. Both of the women
testified against Adams and Cobb in their criminal trials in 2004.

After their convictions, Adams and Cobb filed writs of habeus corpus to
appeal their convictions, but the writs were denied by Texas' highest
criminal appeals court. The men may still pursue appeals through federal
courts. Neither of them has an execution date yet.

(source: Tyler Morning Telegraph)






FLORIDA:

2 smugglers won't face death penalty in Martin County


Federal prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty against 2 men
accused of causing the deaths of three illegal immigrants while trying to
smuggle them to Jupiter Island last year, according to court documents.

No reason behind the decision is stated in court papers filed by the U.S.
Attorney's Office, and the prosecutor assigned to the case couldn't be
reached for comment Wednesday.

Had prosecutors decided to pursue execution, it would have required
approval of the U.S. Attorney General. Not seeking death means the case
can be brought to trial sooner.

Capt. Rickey Thompson, 41, and mate Leon Brice Johnson, 39, together face
30 federal counts, including alien smuggling resulting in death,
first-degree murder, conspiracy and drug charges. Their trial is
tentatively set for March, and they still face up to life in prison on
some of the charges.

Thompson and Brice were arrested in December 2006 after their speedboat
crashed in rough seas off Jupiter Island while smuggling a group of
illegal immigrants in from the Bahamas. Authorities discovered the body of
Nigel Warren, a Jamaican citizen, in the surf. Other illegal immigrants
from Jamaica, Haiti and Romania told authorities he was forced into the
water at gunpoint, despite being unable to swim.

Investigators said it was not the 1st time one of the pair's smuggling
trips ended in death.

In August 2006, the 2 men allegedly caused the deaths of Roselyne Lubin
and Alnert Charles, both Haitian citizens, who were suspected of being
forced off the boat near Jupiter Island in a similar manner as Warren. The
surviving illegal immigrants picked Thompson and Johnson out of a photo
line-up, but the 2 were not caught until December, when the Martin County
Sheriff's Office caught them trying to get into a taxi a day after the
boat crash.

The men also face federal drug charges after investigators found a
kilogram of cocaine and 83 pounds of marijuana on the boat in December, as
well as 12 kilograms of cocaine that were dumped along with the illegal
immigrants in August.

Defense attorney Michael Gary Smith, who represents Johnson, said the
government's decision was not unexpected, but declined to discuss details
of the case.

Thompson's attorney could not be reached for comment.

After prosecutors announced their decision not to seek death, the judge
dismissed 2 attorneys appointed to assist the defense if the government
sought execution.

(source: Vero Beach Press-Journal)






ALABAMA:

Top court holds off Arthur's execution


For the 3rd time since he was sent to death row in 1983, convicted killer
Tommy Arthur was spared from execution Wednesday.

The U.S. Supreme Court issued a stay in the execution just over 24 hours
before Arthur was scheduled to die by lethal injection.

The stay was granted just before 4 p.m. Wednesday and was based on a
petition by Arthur's attorney that challenges Alabama's method of
execution by lethal injection. The Supreme Court has already stated it is
reviewing a Kentucky challenge on the procedure.

Clay Crenshaw, head of the Alabama Attorney General's Capital Litigation
section, said Wednesday's action puts everything on hold until the
Kentucky case is decided. He said the issue will be addressed by the U.S.
Supreme Court in early 2008, and it's likely Arthur won't face execution
again until next summer.

The 65-year-old Arthur was convicted three times in connection with the
1982 murder-for-hire scheme to kill Troy Wicker, of Muscle Shoals.

Wednesday's action marks the 3rd time Arthur's execution has been stayed.
The most recent reprieve came Sept. 27, when Alabama Gov. Bob Riley
postponed the execution for 45 days so the state could review its
execution procedure. He also was granted a stay in 2001.

Riley said earlier Wednesday that he had no intention of staying the
execution this time.

Arthur's daughter, Sherrie Arthur Stone, was at the state prison in Atmore
preparing to spend most of today with her father.

She said she was trying to mentally prepare herself for the scheduled
execution.

"It's very draining," she said. "We thought this was going to happen, but
there was still doubt and hope that it wouldn't."

She said she had been optimistic all day that the Supreme Court would
postpone the execution. "I was assuming the worst and hoping for the
best," she said.

Wicker was killed in 1982, shot once in the eye. His widow, Judy, pleaded
guilty to murder. She said she paid Arthur $10,000 to kill her husband.

Crenshaw said he and other prosecutors nationwide will be keeping a close
eye on the Kentucky case.

"If (the case) is decided in favor of the state (of Kentucky), then (the
Supreme Court) could be denying a lot of stays across the country,"
Crenshaw said.

Stone said while the case remains in limbo, it will give her and her
father's attorneys more time to work to get tests done on DNA evidence
found at the scene. DNA testing did not exist in 1982 and evidence found
was never tested.

"We are going to use this time to focus on the real issue in this case,
testing of the DNA evidence," she said.

(source: Times Daily)

***********************

Innocent people can be convicted: Cruel executions are deplorable.


I have read in many sources that sometimes innocent people are convicted
of murder because of the lack of lawyers and lack of money to try
defendants justly. Surely, executions of innocent people are intolerable.

Carole Dumas -- Jasper

*************************** Wrong to support death penalty:


No "just" in Alabama justice. In fact, all we have is "ice." And perhaps
that term is more apropos since it seems ice water runs through the veins
of those who reign over our state's criminal justice system. While the
innate frailty of the human condition might be used to explain some of
their sordid actions with regard to Death Row inmates, the larger fault
lies with their fervid pursuit of their own perceived self-interest and
the public deception necessary to perpetuate those ends. Even though the
death penalty is an oxymoron, these politicians cannot afford to appear
soft on crime and must convince the citizenry we need to kill killers to
protect society and "bring closure."

Recent cases highlight this perverse politic: plans to execute a dying
cancer victim with a few months to live; refusal to order DNA testing to
determine guilt or innocence; the persistence in trying to execute an
inmate while appeals affecting his case are still in adjudication.

Where is their shame? Elected officials should act based on the overriding
public interest rather than their own - this concept predates the Common
Era.

Christ was crucified because selfish leaders feared losing their status
and power. Yes, there are some things worth a bit more than just getting
re-elected.

Robert L. Baldwin, M.D. -- Birmingham

(source: Letters to the Editor, Birmingham News)






NEW JERSEY:

Death penalty spurs action among clergy


The Rev. Luigi Zanotto remembers how he felt the moment he heard that
former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was hanged.

It was nearly a year ago, but today Zanotto vividly remembers his
overwhelming sadness, feeling like a part of him was killed.

"We killed Saddam Hussein because he killed a lot of people. What was our
reaction? We took the same way to resolve the problem. So what is the
difference? We are no better than Saddam Hussein," said Zanotto, a Comboni
Missionaries representative to the United Nations and Superior of the
Montclair Comboni Mission Center.

"If we are to be better, we have to take a different way."

The Catholic priest was 1 of 4 Montclair clergy members among 550
religious leaders throughout New Jersey who participated in a
letter-writing campaign calling on state lawmakers to abolish the death
penalty.

The Rev. Charles Ortman of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at
Montclair, the Rev. Barbara Prince of First Congregational Church and
Rabbi Elliott Tepperman of Bnai Keshet Reconstructionist Synagogue also
partici-pated in the move last week, organized by the New Jerseyans for
Alternatives to the Death Penalty (NJADP) state-wide organization.

The initiative comes as the state Senate will vote Monday on a bipartisan
bill that would replace New Jersey's death penalty with life imprisonment
without any possibility of parole. A state Assembly committee will also
con-sider legislation on Monday.

The letter was dated Nov. 27 and sent to all 120 members of the state
Legislature, requesting that Senate Bill 171 and Assembly Bill 795 be
enacted into law.

"Religious leaders are very involved with the issue, and wanted a way of
expressing their shared beliefs. This has very much been a church
basement, community center, grassroots effort, and the faith community has
very much been the backbone of that effort for years," said NJADP Director
Celeste Fitzgerald.

"Rather than citing specific religious teachings, and rather than spelling
out the many ways in which the death penalty fails us legally, morally,
socially and economically, we want simply to agree with the New Jersey
Death Penalty Study Commission in its findings that the death penalty is
not in the best interests of our state, our justice system or the safety
of our people," the letter stated.

The financial savings associated with repealing the death penalty could be
used toward assisting homicide survivors, the letter stated.

Since 1983, the death penalty has cost New Jersey taxpayers an additional
$253 million, according to a 2005 study conducted by the New Jersey Policy
Perspective.

"Every time you seek the death penalty, there are 2 trials, a guilt phase
and a penalty phase. Those extra costs are incurred even when the jury
rejects the death penalty or if the sentence is someday reversed,"
Fitzgerald ex-plained, noting that those extra costs could rise into the
millions of dollars per trial.

"I dont think it is only about money, but certainly more expensive to go
through the appeals process. There is a great deal of uncertainty since we
implemented the death penalty but have not used it," stated Gov. Jon
Corzine, who has made his opposition to the death penalty clear throughout
his political career.

Ortman said that, when the letter was brought to his attention, he had no
doubts about putting his name on it.

Ortman said the death penalty is too often carried out with a lack of
fairness and bias. "It's a continuation of racism, ethnicism and
classism," Ortman said.

"When we execute our criminals, we are doing nothing short of murder," he
said. "The death penalty is wrong, and I dont want my state doing that in
my name, and I dont want my country doing that in my name."

The death penalty is challenging from a spiritual point of view, said
Tepperman, who is the rabbi at Bnai Keshet and also president of the
Montclair Clergy Association.

"All life is a reflection of God," Tepperman said. "Who are we as humans
to reduce God's reflection on earth by ending somebody's life?"

Prince, acting co-pastor of First Congregational Church, a congregation of
the United Church of Christ, said the death penalty goes against her
faith.

"Forgiveness does not mean 'what you did was okay.' It means, 'I recognize
what you did but you still matter as a person.' There is always
transformation possible."

She noted her reasons for taking part in the NJADP campaign: "My faith, my
denomination and my own personal beliefs and my own conscience is what
motivated me to sign it."

Prince, who sometimes discusses the death penalty from the pulpit, said,
"I would rather have one guilty person live than an innocent person die."

Some congregations in Montclair show their support to abolish the death
penalty in other ways.

Last month, St. Peter Claver R.C. Church hosted a public discussion led by
Sister Helen Prejean, the author of "Dead Man Walking," who is known for
her crusades to end the death penalty.

The Rev. Anthony Lionelli of Our Lady of Mount Carmel R.C. Church, said,
"Only God should have to make the decision of life or death. If they are
found innocent, you can't bring them back to life. Where there is life,
there is hope."

The Trenton- and Chatham-based NJADP, which was formed and founded in 1999
by Lorry Post, whose daughter was murdered in 1988, draws strong support
from throughout Montclair, Fitzgerald said.

Some religious leaders in the township, however, maintain that the death
penalty is just.

The Rev. Clenard Childress, pastor of The New Calvary Baptist Deliverance
Outreach Church, said he supports the death penalty "in theory." But
Childress acknowledged, "Our system is so flawed it should unquestionably
be stopped at this present time."

Childress said that a "disproportionate number of minorities" are
convicted without substantial evidence and are condemned to die unjustly.

"When you willfully and discriminately take a person's life, undoubtedly
you should pay the penalty of your own. That's the basis, the theory, of
the death penalty. It's derived from the Judeo-Christian ethic," Childress
said.

New Jersey has not carried out the death penalty since it was reinstated
in 1982. The last execution in New Jersey occurred on Jan. 22, 1963.

For Zanotto, he feels that it's time to make a change.

"Society will be better when we turn the law from a tooth for a tooth, and
an eye for an eye."

(source: Montclair Times)