[Deathpenalty] death penalty news-----TEXAS, GA., KAN., WYO., OHIO

[Rick Halperin]

Oct. 28



TEXAS:

Killer of 7-year-old girl to die Tuesday in Texas


A former plumbling supply salesman convicted of snatching a 7-year-old
girl from his neighborhood outside Houston then strangling and raping her
and hiding her body in his attic was headed to the Texas death chamber
Tuesday.

Eric Nenno, 47, confessed to the abduction and attack on Nicole Benton 2
days after she disappeared from her dad's birthday party almost 14 years
ago. Then he led officers to her remains in his home in Hockley, about 35
miles northwest of Houston.

"It's a parent's worst nightmare," Joan Huffman, the Harris County
assistant district attorney who prosecuted Nenno at his 1996 trial,
recalled. "Mr. Nenno was an evil person."

Nenno would be the 13th Texas inmate executed this year and the fourth
this month in the nation's most active death penalty state. Another
execution is scheduled for Thursday.

Nenno's appeals were exhausted and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles
voted unanimously against commuting his sentence to life.

In a recent interview from death row, Nenno took responsibility for the
girl's death and said he was prepared to die.

"My salvation is secure," he told The Associated Press. "I know where I'm
going when this is all over."

Asked where that would be, he replied: "Heaven."

Nenno, born in Olean, N.Y., went to high school in nearby Smethport, Pa.,
then joined the Navy, where his attorneys said he was exposed to toxic
chemicals during a four-year duty tour that left him brain damaged.

Nenno, however, said nothing could excuse his crime.

"I can't apologize enough," he said.

He lured the girl from his front yard into his house by telling her he
needed to retrieve a guitar so he could join her father's band playing at
the birthday celebration down the street. Once inside, he attacked her,
strangled her to keep her quiet, then raped her at least twice after she
was dead.

Police investigating her disappearance knocked on his door and when his
nervousness attracted their attention, deputies had him accompany them to
a command post.

Under questioning, Nenno said he thought the girl had been abducted, raped
and murdered. Asked what kind of person he thought might do such a thing,
he replied: "Someone like me."

"I was not cognizant I had committed the crime," he said from death row.
"I had blacked out the memory."

He took a polygraph and underwent additional questioning.

"Things kind of fell apart," recalled Anthony Osso, Nenno's trial lawyer.

"I think she's still in the attic," Nenno told detectives.

In his confession, Nenno said he'd been having sexual fantasies involving
young girls for most of his adult life.

"There was no evidence to suggest he ever acted on those fantasies," Osso
said. "But for the most part, when you confess to elements of an offense,
you make it much easier for the state. His statement led them to the body.
He himself took them to it."

>From death row, Nenno said he was addicted to pornography and had been
drinking the day of the slaying.

"During the years that I have been imprisoned, I have often thought about
the devastating grief and pain I caused Nicole Benton, her family, and her
friends," he wrote in the clemency petition rejected by the parole board.
"There is no excuse nor rationale which would be sufficient to justify
this heinous act of violence perpetrated by me."

Osso said he believed Nenno's remorse was sincere.

"It's a sad case for all involved," he said. "It ripped apart Nicole
Benton's family, and they were genuinely nice people. I don't think
anybody could ever grasp the horror of that situation."

Huffman said she remembered questioning a medical examiner at Nenno's
trial about the girl's fatal injuries.

"That had to be one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life," she
said. "The family, they were right in back of me on the front row. I could
hear them quietly crying. Some of the jurors were crying. It was
heart-wrenching.

"She had been strangled and brutally raped and then she was raped again
after she was dead. That's what the evidence showed. How could anyone sit
in a courtroom and listen to testimony that that had happened to their 7
year-old child?"

On Thursday, Gregory Wright, 42, was set to follow Nenno to the death
chamber. Wright was a homeless man convicted of taking part in the fatal
stabbing of Donna Duncan Vick, a sympathetic Dallas County woman who had
given him food, shelter and money. Another six Texas prisoners have
execution dates for November.

(source: Associated Press)






GEORGIA:

Nichols' defense rests----Jury expected to begin deliberating next week


Brian Nichols rested his insanity defense Monday without taking the
witness stand to convince jurors in his murder trial that he is not in his
right mind.

His mother testified for 2 days about what she described as signs that her
son had become deranged from the spring of 2004 to March 11, 2005, when he
went on shooting rampage at the Fulton County Courthouse where he was on
trial for rape.

Lead prosecuting attorney Kellie Hill told Superior Court Judge James
Bodiford that the state would spend 3 days calling witness to rebut a
psychologist's claim that Nichols suffers from a delusional disorder that
made him think he was leading a "slave rebellion" against the justice
system. The jury is expected to start deliberating next week after about 6
weeks of trial.

On Monday, prosecutors sought to rip apart the testimony of a key defense
witness  the defendants mother, Claritha Nichols - who testified to some
of the more bizarre elements of the trial, including a scheme to use rap
artists such as Snoop Dogg to mount a public-relations campaign in support
of her son.

She testified powerfully, and, at times tearfully, how she feared her son
had lost his mind when he was accused of raping his former girlfriend in
August of 2004. She said he became deranged when his mind continued to
deteriorate while he was in the Fulton County jail awaiting trial.

She said she loved his former girlfriend "like a daughter." By the time of
the rape trial 7 months later, she was worried her son's mind had become
so addled he might have plans to take a hostage in the courtroom.

A tear ran down her cheek as she recalled getting the text message that
her son had escaped and killed four people: Barnes, court reporter Julie
Ann Brandau, deputy Hoyt Teasley, and U.S. Customs agent David Wilhelm.

She read from e-mails in which she wrote she wish her son had died in the
attacks, and that would have been the wisest choice for him." She said now
she regrets the comments, but she was distraught. "It was the absolutely
worse feeling I've ever had in my life," she said.

Prosecutor Hill played a tape of jailhouse phone conversations between
Nichols and her son discussing a rap PR campaign to rally support around
her accused killer son, in which she asked him if he had any ideas for the
message he wanted sent out to the masses.

"They're used to treating us like dogs and kicking us and watching us tuck
our tails between our legs in submission," Brian Nichols read from a
prepared statement to his mother. "But even the most domesticated and
trained dogs when constantly kicked will eventually turn around and bite
your ass."

On the tape, Claritha laughed. "I need to write that in my journal today,"
she said, then cautioned her son that he tone down his rhetoric to sound
more intelligent and sophisticated.

She told Hill the conversation wasn't serious, at least not to her, and
she did nothing to follow up on the scheme. Instead, she was just trying
to appease a son she considered mentally ill.

"He'd just go off on a tangent and be totally crazy," she testified.

"And this was one of those - I was just trying to humor him so he wouldn't
become agitated."

(source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution)






KANSAS:

Jury begins deliberating sentence for Robinson


A Sedgwick County jury has begun sentencing deliberations for Elgin
Robinson in the killing of a 14-year-old girl who was nine months pregnant
with his baby.

Closing arguments wrapped up shortly before 10:30 a.m. Tuesday and the
case went to the jury, which will recommend Robinson receive either the
death penalty or life in prison. Jurors must vote unanimously for the
death penalty, otherwise Robinson will be sentenced to life in prison.

Robinson was convicted last week of killing Chelsea Brooks in 2006.
Prosecutors say Robinson paid a friend to kill the girl because the
22-year-old Wichita man was afraid of being charged with raping a minor.

(source: Associated Press)

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

Jury To Deliberate Robinson's Fate


Deputy District Attorney Kevin O'Connor begins his closing arguments.

He asks jurors, "If the murder of Chelsea Brooks is not worthy of the
death penalty, then what is?"

O'Connor says the state has overwhelmingly shown jurors in the first phase
of Robinson's trial that he hired 2 men to kill the pregnant teenager.
What's more, he says the death was especially heinous and cruel.

Murder-for-hire is a capital offense in the state of Kansas, as is the
killing of a witness in an upcoming criminal case. O'Connor says Robinson
had Brooks killed specifically to avoid facing child rape charges.

O'Connor tells jurors he doesn't want them to make their decision based on
emotions they have about this case. He wants them to impose the death
penalty based on their cold, hard review of the facts of the case as they
apply to the law at hand.

O'Connor tells jurors: "Mercy? You can grant him mercy if you want. You
can grant him the same mercy he granted Chelsea Brooks."

A few minutes later, he says: "This is about punishment. This is not about
sending a message to others out there. This is about the appropriate
punishment for the murder of Chelsea Brooks."

*********

Jury instructions are underway. Judge Ben Burgess is explaining to jurors
what they can and cannot consider during their deliberations.

When jury instructions end, prosecutors and defense attorneys will begin
their closing arguments. Each side has been given 30 minutes to present
their final statements to jurors.

Prosecutors will ask jurors to recommend the death penalty; defense
attorneys will ask jurors to impose life in prison without the possibility
of parole.

When closing arguments end, the jury will begin its delilberations.

********

Elgin Robinson could learn his fate today.

One week after jurors found him guilty of capital murder for the 2006
killing of pregnant 14-year-old Chelsea Brooks, those same jurors will
decide whether he lives or dies for the crime.

Defense attorneys spent the last two days calling witnesses on Robinson's
behalf. They included a former teacher, a mentor at Wichita's Boys & Girls
Club, Robinson's parents and grandmother. The witnesses each explained to
jurors factors in Robinson's life that were beyond his control, such as
his broken and sometimes violent home. Robinson's parents showed little
outward emotion as they asked jurors to please spare their son's life.

Robinson did not take the stand in his own defense during this phase of
his trial.

Co-defendant Everett Gentry is serving life with a chance for parole after
25 years. Because he was a minor when the crime occurred, he could not be
sentenced to death or life in prison without parole. In exchange for his
confession and testimony against Theodore Burnett and Elgin Robinson, he
was given a chance for parole at 25 years instead of the 40 years.
Prosecutors say it's unlikely he'll get out in 25 years.

Theodore Burnett was convicted at trial this spring, based largely on the
testimony of Everett Gentry. Though a jury found him guilty in an
unanimous verdict, that same jury was unable to agree unanimously on the
death penalty. Burnett is now serving life without parole.

In Kansas, jurors must weigh aggravating factors against mitigating
factors when deciding on the death penalty.

Aggravating factors are reasons for the death penalty, such as the motive
or heinousness of the crime. In Robinson's case, murder-for-hire and
murder to prevent a witness from testifying in an upcoming trial are
reasons for capital murder.

Mitigating factors are reasons for life in prison. Mitigating factors
often speak to the defendant's character and past. A defendant can also
ask for the jury to show mercy.

If the aggravating factors outweigh the mitigating factors, and jurors
agree unanimously on death, then that will be the sentence given.

However, if the mitigating factors outweigh the aggravating factors, or if
only one juror dissents and refuses to agree to the death penalty, then
the sentence is automatically commuted to life in prison without the
possibility of parole.

There are only about a dozen people awaiting a death sentence in Kansas,
all men. The death penalty was re-instated in 1994, but nobody has been
executed since then. Every death sentence is automatically subject to a
review by the Kansas Supreme Court. The appeals process can take years.

The method of execution in Kansas is lethal injection. There is no "Death
Row" in Kansas. Instead, prisoners are held in administrative segregation
in El Dorado. Administrative segregation is essentially solitary
confinement. Inmates in this area are allowed one hour outside of their
cell to exercise or shower. During this time, they are kept alone and away
from all other inmates. The other 23 hours are spent in a cell with no
contact.

The state's death chamber is located at the Lansing Correctional Facility.
It has never been used. The last execution in Kansas was carried out by
hanging in 1965.

(source: KAKE News)






WYOMING:

Attorneys seek to delay Eaton execution


Lawyers for Wyoming's lone death row inmate have asked the state supreme
court to delay his scheduled Dec. 19 execution.

Dale Wayne Eaton was sentenced to death 4 years ago in the 1988
kidnapping, rape and murder of Lisa Marie Kimmell.

The state Public Defender's Office filed papers on Friday asking the
Wyoming Supreme Court to block the execution. The office also plans to ask
the federal courts to intervene.

Kimmell was 18 years old when she disappeared while driving from Colorado
to Cody. Fisherman found her body dumped in the North Platte River.

(source: Associated Press)






OHIO:

Tenney murder case enters penalty phase


The jury will likely begin deliberating early this afternoon whether
Bennie Adams should get a life or death sentence for the 1985 murder of
Gina Tenney, said Lou DeFabio, Adams lead defense lawyer.

The hearing in the penalty phase of Adams' trial begins at 9 a.m. before
Judge Timothy E. Franken of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

The same jurors who convicted Adams on Wednesday of killing Gina Tenney
return today to hear testimony in the penalty phase. As they were earlier,
the jurors will once again be sequestered in a hotel during any overnight
breaks in their deliberations.

The jurors found Adams guilty of the Dec. 29, 1985, aggravated murder of
Tenney with a death-penalty specification.

The frozen body of Tenney, a 19-year-old Youngstown State University
student who was Adams Ohio Avenue duplex neighbor, was found floating in
the Mahoning River near West Avenue the day after her strangulation death.

The cold case was reopened after several years with a DNA match.

After the judge gives the jurors preliminary instructions, the prosecution
and defense will make opening statements, and the prosecution will
introduce the trial exhibits into evidence.

The prosecution has not submitted a witness list, but the defense plans to
call 6 witnesses to make its case that the 51-year-old Adams' life should
be spared.

Those witnesses will include Jack Mumma and Patricia Olsen, who were
Adams' teachers while he was in prison for 18 years for the rape of a
Boardman woman. Adams was their aide.

Other witnesses will be Adams' mother, Lula, 71, of East LaClede Avenue;
Adams' daughter, Trush Charlton, 32, of Hollywood Avenue; and Charltons
mother, Lowrine Charlton, 51, of Shields Road, Boardman.

Also scheduled to testify is Adams' parole officer, Robert OMalley.

Once the witnesses finish testifying, closing arguments will be made by
the prosecution and defense, followed by a rebuttal from the prosecution,
and the judge will give jurors their final instructions before they begin
deliberating.

Adams may make a sworn statement, an unsworn statement or no statement at
today's hearing.

If Adams makes an unsworn statement, the prosecution may not comment on
it, except to tell the jury that the statement is unsworn and not
cross-examined, and that the other witnesses made sworn statements, the
judge ruled.

The jury may recommend 25 years to life in prison, 30 to life, life
without parole or the death penalty.

Judge Franken has told jurors they must choose the sentence they think is
appropriate and assume it will be carried out.

The judge will later impose the sentence, but he cannot impose death if
the jury recommends life.

(source: Youngstown Vindicator)