July 8 TEXAS: Sara Hickman to perform at Cathedral of Hope The popular Austin-based singer and songwriter is part of a tour aimed at creating dialog about the death penalty in Texas. Here's a press release: Dallas, Texas - July 7, 2008 -The Cathedral of Hope will welcome singer-songwriter Sara Hickman as its special guest musician for its 9 and 11 a.m. services on Sunday, July 20, 2008. The services are free and open to all. At 7:30 p.m. that evening, Hickman will present "Music for Life: Sharing Conversations on the Death Penalty" sponsored by Hope for Peace & Justice and the Dallas Peace Center. Tickets are $15 for adults and $5 for students and are available at www.h4pj.org. Cathedral of Hope is located at 5910 Cedar Springs; Dallas, Texas 75235. Sara Hickman is an Austin, Texas-based singer, songwriter and speaker who has recorded 14 albums. In October 2007, in cooperation with the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, Hickman launched "Music for Life: Sharing Conversations on the Death Penalty," a 12-month tour of Texas cities that seeks to raise the dialogue on the death penalty in Texas. Joining Hickman in Dallas is John Cook, Mayor of El Paso, Texas, who joined the tour in April. He will sing and play guitar. All opinions on the death penalty are welcomed and encouraged to attend. "I'm someone who wants to start a dialogue," Hickman said. "That's all. I want to get Texas talking about the death penalty because we are the state with the greatest number of executions, yet no one wants to talk about what it means. I hope you will come out and join me, to ask questions, to meet family members of murder victims, to meet family members of those executed on death row. Come hear music and get involved at the same time. This isn't easy. In fact, it's scary. But the conversation must begin, and I hope it begins with you and me." The Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (TCADP) is a grassroots Texas organization comprised of individuals and groups who work to end the death penalty in all cases, everywhere. TCADP is an inclusive organization composed of human rights activists; death row prisoners and their families; crime victims and their families; persons working within the criminal justice system; and concerned citizens opposed to capital punishment. The Cathedral of Hope, a congregation of the United Church of Christ based in Dallas, Texas, is the world's largest liberal Christian church with a primary outreach to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. Local and national church ministries, outreach programs, pastoral counseling, Internet (www.cathedralofhope.com) and television media touch thousands of lives each day. (source: Dallas Morning News) ****************** Jury learns of cop killer's criminal past during sentencing hearing A jury this morning continued to learn more the criminal past of a man convicted of fatally shooting a police officer after a car chase in Dallas. The same jury that convicted Mr. Ruiz last month will consider whether he should serve life with no parole opportunity or receive the death penalty. In an effort to show the jury why Mr. Ruiz deserves to die for fatally shooting Dallas Police Senior Cpl. Mark Nix in March 2007, prosecutors presented more of Mr. Ruiz's past. A Dallas police officer testified Tuesday morning that Mr. Ruiz led him on a high-speed chase from Deep Ellum into South Dallas in November 2004 before wrecking his car. Mr. Ruiz attempted to run, but did not get far, Dallas Police Officer Jerry Poston said. Afterward Mr. Ruiz was arrested and his car searched. Inside police found a silver and black .25 millimeter handgun. The 2004 chase that Officer Poston described sounded similar to the one in which Cpl. Nix was shot. In the 2007 shooting involving Cpl. Nix, Mr. Ruiz led police on a high-speed car chase, then crashed. But instead of running as he did before, he hid in the car and fired one shot through the window, striking Cpl. Nix in the chest. Cpl. Nix died from the injury. (source: Dallas Morning News) ************************** Arlington killer given new execution date----Execution scheduled for Tarrant inmate An Arlington killer whose date with the executioner was delayed last fall while the U.S. Supreme Court considered the constitutionality of the lethal injection process will head to the Huntsville death house next month unless the courts intervene again. Heliberto Chi, condemned for the March 2001 shooting death of clothing store manager Armand Paliotta during an after-hours robbery, would be the first inmate from Tarrant County to be executed since the Supreme Court ruled in April that the 3-drug protocol used in lethal injections does not violate the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Chi, 29, is scheduled to die Aug. 7. A native of Honduras, Chi had once worked at the K&G Mens Superstore in southwest Arlington and arrived at the store after 9 p.m. on the night of the killing, saying that he was looking for his wallet. Workers allowed him inside, where he pulled out a .357 revolver to carry out a robbery, according to news accounts and court testimony. Before leaving, he shot Paliotta, 56, and employee Adrian Riojas in the back. Paliotta was mortally wounded but Riojas survived and testified against Chi. The gunman and his getaway driver, Hugo Alejandro Sierra, fled and split up. Chi was arrested in Los Angeles after eluding police for six weeks. Sierra was apprehended separately and is now serving a life sentence for his role in the killing. When Chi was facing an Oct. 3, 2007, death date, his lawyers attempted to argue that their client was never told of his right under an international treaty to speak with a representative of his home country before being questioned by Arlington police. The Supreme Court rejected the argument and his execution appeared to be imminent. But he was among dozens of inmates nationwide who were spared when the high court agreed to review the question of whether the inmates subjected to lethal injection experience excruciating pain that is masked by a drug that paralyzes the body. An assistant to Arlington lawyer Wes Ball, who has represented Chi during his trial and appeals, said it is uncertain what steps might be taken on the inmates behalf before the execution date. Since the Supreme Court allowed executions to resume, only 1 has been carried out in Texas. However, 14 Texas inmates, including Chi, have been given death dates, and 9 of them are scheduled to be carried out in the next 6 weeks. The widow of Chis victim, Acela Paliotta, told the Star-Telegram in October that she and her two sons have kept Paliottas memory alive since the day of the murder. "As long as we are alive, he will continue to live," she said at the time. She declined to be interviewed Monday. (source: Fort Worth Star-Telegram) ******************************* Conviction upheld for El Campo man on death row----Federal court rejects bid in which man argued his lawyer mistakenly let Fort Bend jurors see evidence barred from trial The conviction and sentence of a former oilfield worker condemned for a fatal stabbing during what was described as a "shopping" trip to rob illegal immigrants was upheld Monday by a federal appeals court. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected arguments from Samuel Bustamante, of El Campo, who contended his trial attorney mistakenly allowed jurors during deliberations to see an incriminating written statement that had not been allowed into evidence during his trial in Fort Bend County. The jury decided Bustamante, now 38, should die for the January 1998 slaying of Rafael Alvarado, 27. Alvarado was stabbed at least 10 times after he was picked up by Bustamante and three friends in Rosenberg. In his appeal to the New Orleans-based 5th Circuit, Bustamante argued the statement police took from his brother, Bill, prejudiced jurors because they learned from it that he had "gone shopping" before and had told his brother he intended to rob someone. Bill Bustamante, charged with murder in another case, had refused to testify. Prosecutors had attempted to have the statement read into testimony by a police officer, but the trial judge refused. Samuel Bustamante contended his trial lawyers were deficient because they didn't inspect the exhibits before they were given to the jury and failed to recognize an improper exhibit was among them. Bustamante's lawyers didn't dispute he killed Alvarado but insisted the victim wasn't robbed, meaning it shouldn't be a capital offense punishable by death. The appeals court, in its ruling, said "overwhelming evidence" showed Bustamante intended to rob the victim during the murder. "Bustamante's own confession provided damning evidence of his intent to rob," the court said. 2 items carried the same exhibit number 107, one of them the statement not allowed into evidence and the other a chart or graph that was admitted properly. Jurors inspecting evidence at the trial in 2001 discovered the statement and sent a note to the judge, who then questioned them individually. 3 jurors said they had read at least portions of the statement and nine said they heard at least some of it read aloud. All 12 said they could disregard the statement if the judge instructed them to do so. State District Judge Thomas Culver III gave them that instruction and denied a mistrial request from Bustamante's lawyers. Alvarado was attacked while riding in the back of a pickup truck. He apparently managed to climb from the moving truck as it drove down a deserted road and his body was found the next morning. He still had his money and his jewelry. Alvarado had been offered a ride by Bustamante and his companions some time after 2 a.m., outside a bar in Rosenberg, southwest of Houston. Their scheme was to pick up illegal immigrants after the bars closed and rob them. Court records show Alvarado, a construction worker living in Richmond, was singled out because his clothes were in good condition and he was wearing gold jewelry. Court records did not indicate his immigration status. Bustamante and his brother also were charged with the murder a month later of a homeless man in Wharton County. Bill Bustamante agreed to a plea bargain in that case and went to prison for 40 years. Samuel Bustamante had a previous record for forgery in North Carolina, where he served 6 months of a 1-year prison term. He received 5 years in Wharton County for burglary, was released on parole but returned with a 4-year term for possession of a prohibited weapon. He was paroled from that conviction in 1991. (source: Associated Press)
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS
Rick Halperin Tue, 8 Jul 2008 16:53:10 -0500 (Central Daylight Time)
- [Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS Rick Halperin
- [Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS Rick Halperin
- [Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS Rick Halperin
- [Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS Rick Halperin
- [Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS Rick Halperin
- [Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS Rick Halperin
- [Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS Rick Halperin
- [Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS Rick Halperin
- [Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS Rick Halperin
- [Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS Rick Halperin
- [Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS Rick Halperin
- [Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS Rick Halperin
- [Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS Rick Halperin
- [Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS Rick Halperin
- [Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS Rick Halperin
- [Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS Rick Halperin
- [Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS Rick Halperin
- [Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS Rick Halperin
- [Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS Rick Halperin
- [Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS Rick Halperin
- [Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS Rick Halperin