[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----USA, ILL., VA., CALIF.

[Rick Halperin]

Nov. 22



USA----female federal death row inmate

U.S. Supreme Court denies review of Forest City woman's death sentence


The U.S. Supreme Court denied a petition Wednesday to review convictions
and sentences against Angela Johnson, 44, of Forest City, for aiding and
abetting the drug-related murders of five people in 1993.

She was convicted of 10 counts of murder in furtherance of a drug
conspiracy and continuing criminal enterprise on May 24, 2005. The jury
determined Johnson should be executed on 8 of the 10 counts involving the
premeditated murder of 2 sisters, ages 6 and 10, the girls' mother and
Johnson's former boyfriend.

The murders occurred in the summer and fall of 1993, and the victims were
buried in shallow graves in rural Cerro Gordo County.

She also received a life sentence for her role in the murder of the 5th
victim, a federal witness.

Johnson's death sentence was the 1st in more than 50 years that a woman
has been sentenced to death in federal court.

Johnson appealed her convictions to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals,
which affirmed her convictions and the death penalty. The Supreme Court
denied Johnson's petition in a two-sentence order.

An execution date for Johnson is pending her petition for post-conviction
relief, which she has one year to file.

(source: Gazette Online, IA)


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


Abolishing the Death Penalty in the Era of Hope


The outcome of the election for President, and for state and local
legislators, not only demonstrates how much Americans want change. It
confirms Americans' commitment to our fundamental values of equality and
fairness. It gives me reason to hope that we will soon see the end of the
death penalty. The American public simply cannot maintain the death
penalty and be true to these deeply held values. There are too many
instances of innocent men and women being sentenced to death, of people of
color, both defendants and victims, being treated more harshly, and dealt
with as if they were expendable.

This is why New Jersey abolished the death penalty in 2007, and why we
fully expect other states will follow.

Americans can't square our values of what is right and lawful with the
operation of the death penalty in practice. As we learn more about it,
support for the death penalty has dropped over the years, to 63%. Support
declines even further when we learn about alternatives to the death
penalty, and are given the opportunity to choose life rather than death.

With the current economic downturn, all government programs -- including
the death penalty -- should and will be evaluated on whether they deliver
on their promises and whether the "benefits" they confer are worth the
cost. Measured against this stricter standard, the death penalty comes up
short. Having failed to deliver on the promise of accurately selecting
only the guilty to receive the punishment, it also fails miserably at
being cost efficient, and worse, it siphons precious resources from
helping crime victims heal and move on with their lives, or preventing the
tragedy of murder from occurring in the first place.

Americans would be appalled to discover how much of their tax dollars
support the flawed, ineffective death penalty system. For example, it
costs Florida $51 million a year to enforce the death penalty above what
it would cost to sentence 1st degree murderers to life in prison without
parole. Imagine how that money could be spent on better ways to ensure
public safety, such as hiring and training more police to protect our
neighborhoods, and enabling them to purchase the equipment they need to do
so, such as updated patrol cars, and more efficient information technology
systems,

As newly elected and incumbent state legislators take their seats in
statehouses next year, they should remember that constituents expect them
to provide leadership and creative thinking on a range of social problems,
including criminal justice reform and the death penalty. To paraphrase one
commentator's post-election analysis, Americans want a more pragmatic and
concrete approach to our nation's problems, not rhetoric and symbolic nods
in that direction.

An honest assessment of the problems associated with the death penalty is
long overdue. The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty and its
more than 100 affiliates looks forward to engaging state legislators in a
reasoned, thoughtful discussion about capital punishment and its
alternatives.

(source: Diann Rust-Tierney is the Executive Director of the National
Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty; Huffington Post)





ILLINOIS:

Young Guilty of Killing Buffalo Grove Couple


The jury for the double murder trial of Robert Young split its guilty
verdicts Friday, Nov. 21, convicting Young of 1st-degree murder for the
fatal stabbing of Sharmaine Gregory, a 42-year-old mother with 3 sons, and
2nd-degree murder for the slaying of her boyfriend, Catonis Jones, in
Buffalo Grove.

Had the jury convicted former Arlington Heights resident Young, 32, of
1st-degree murder for both deaths, he would be eligible for the death
penalty, the attorneys said. By splitting the charges, capital punishment
is no longer a possibility.

Instead the sentencing range for Young's crimes is between 20 and 60 years
and possibly longer, depending on his criminal history, Assistant State's
Attorney Marilyn Hite-Ross said Friday at the Cook County Courthouse in
Rolling Meadows. Young's sentencing date is Dec. 11.

Gregory's brother, Tyrone Gregory, said he was pleased Young was found
guilty of 1st-degree murder for his sister's death. "It makes my family
happy," Tyrone Gregory said.

Sharmaine Gregory's sons are between the ages of 16 and 23 now.

The jurors apparently decided there was no justification for the brutal
2006 murder of Gregory, who was stabbed more than 45 times in the
apartment on the 800 block of Trace Drive she shared with Jones.

Gregory said his sister helped care for Jones, who was weak from dialysis
treatments he received three times a week. "She was just living there
taking care of Tony (Jones) and got killed for no reason," Tyrone Gregory
said.

Sharmaine "Cookie" Gregory was in another room when a fight broke out
between Young and Jones over drugs and money on Dec. 14, 2006. The 2 men
had been smoking crack cocaine and marijuana together throughout the
night, witnesses said.

Judge Thomas Fecarotta Jr. told the jurors before they began their
deliberations Friday afternoon that if they believed mitigating factors
contributed to the force Young used on Jones or Gregory, they could find
him guilty of the lesser offense of 2nd-degree murder.

Young's lawyer, Assistant Public Defender Jim Mullenix, argued Friday
afternoon that the mitigating factor for Young repeatedly stabbing both
Jones and Gregory was Young was in a sudden passion provoked by Jones
stabbing him first, and Young felt deadly force was necessary to defend
himself.

"Intense rage overtook his mind and overtook his actions," Mullenix said.

Hite-Ross said Young's claim of self-defense was fiction. "Their bodies
will tell you how they died," Hite-Ross said. Gregory and Jones' bodies
were found lying face down, with their throats cut.

A medical examiner testified that Jones was stabbed about 60 times, mostly
on his neck and back. He was found in the living room. Gregory was lying
in a nearby hallway with her arms over her head when firefighters found
the couple Dec. 15.

Jurors saw a police videotape, which -- in addition to the blood-stained
bodies -- showed blood-stained walls, carpeting and several knives, some
with broken handles and blades.

Young's only injuries were some cuts on his thumb and the palms of his
hands, which did not require stitches.

Witnesses said Young was angry with Jones because he did not want them
both to be dealing drugs in the same area. Jones and Young lived in
adjacent apartment complexes on the Buffalo Grove-Arlington Heights
border.

Prosecutors claim Young pulled a knife out of his pocket and began
stabbing Jones and then turned on Gregory who had been sleeping in another
room.

In a recorded interview with police, Young said Jones swung a knife at him
first, cutting his thumb. Young said he grabbed a knife off a table in the
living room to defend himself from Jones' attack.

(source: Wheeling Countryside)

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

Wrongfully imprisoned man says death row is 'a hate crime'


Former death row inmate Gordon "Randy" Steidl addressed a crowd at
Illinois College's Sibert Theatre sporting a pin on his lapel, stating
"The death penalty is a hate crime."

Mr. Steidl, 57, of rural Charleston, spent 17 years behind bars, 12 on
death row, before his release from an Illinois prison in May 2004.

The previous year, a federal court judge determined that he had been
wrongfully convicted in the 1986 deaths of newlyweds Dyke and Karen Rhoads
of Paris, in Edgar County.

Mr. Steidl, then 35, said he did not know either of the victims but
cooperated fully with the police and provided a corroborated alibi for the
night of the murders. To his surprise, he and his friend, Herbert
Whitlock, were later arrested, tried, convicted and sentenced within 97
days. Mr. Steidl received the death penalty and Mr. Whitlock, a life
sentence.

Since the 1987 conviction, two primary witnesses recanted their stories,
and state authorities concluded police botched the investigation. It also
was determined a private attorney, whom Mr. Steidl paid $35,000 to
represent him, had provided ineffective legal counsel.

Mr. Steidl was the 18th person to be freed because of a wrongful
conviction after serving time on the state's death row since Illinois
reinstated the death penalty in 1977.

Mr. Steidl, who now resides in rural Charleston, is a member of Witness to
Innocence, a group spearheaded by former death row prisoners who have been
exonerated and released from prison and who are actively engaged in the
fight to end the death penalty.

"If it had not been for those types of individuals I surely would have
been executed to this very day," Mr. Steidl said.

IC student group Progressive Action Coalition sponsored the event as part
of National Death Penalty Awareness Month.

Mr. Steidl hopes those listening to his speech "come away with the idea
that capital punishment is not punishment," he said in a Journal-Courier
interview before the event. "The death penalty is nothing more than a hate
crime. It's a form of revenge.

"If you really want to punish somebody you lock them up for the their rest
of their life with no hope for parole. That's real punishment," he added.

Mr. Steidl's death sentence was later commuted to a life sentence, and he
spent 5 more years in prison before he was released.

"As harsh as death row was, I found a life sentence was far harsher," Mr.
Steidl said. "You no longer had a cell to yourself. It was constant
turmoil, and you had to watch your back a thousand times more than you did
on death row. To me, a life a sentence was a passive death sentence."

In the audience were Bill Clutter, an investigator for the Downstate
Illinois Innocence Project, and Springfield attorney Michael Metnick.

It was Mr. Clutter's investigation, as a private investigator working with
Mr. Metnick, that led to both Mr. Steidl, and his co-defendant, Mr.
Whitlock, being freed. Mr. Whitlock was released in January 2007, after
being imprisoned nearly 21 years, when his conviction and life sentence
were overturned by Illinois' 4th District Court of Appeals.

Mr. Metnick first got involved in Mr. Steidl's case in 1991 and worked,
without pay, for 13 years to prove his innocence.

"As I explored and examined the case it became very evident and clear to
me that he was not guilty of the offense, that he was innocent," Mr.
Metnick said.

In his 12 years on death row, Mr. Steidl said he watched 12 people walk to
the execution chamber.

"I'm one of the very fortunate," Mr. Steidl said. "We don't know how many
have actually been executed who did not have proper legal counsel at trial
and during the appeals process."

(source: My Journal Courier)






VIRGINIA:

Suspect in 2-Year-Old Killing of Sisters Reaches Court


The man accused of killing 2 Emporia, Va., sisters made his 1st court
appearance Friday for arraignment on 2 counts of 1st-degree murder.

If convicted, William Curtis Futrell, 34, of Franklin, Va., could face the
death penalty, said District Judge Thomas Newbern.

Futrell was charged with slaying Nellie Bradley, 71, and Dorothy Hobbs,
74, whose bodies were found Aug. 4, 2006, outside Murfreesboro, N.C. He
was arrested in Franklin on Thursday.

During Futrell's arraignment, which lasted about a minute, his responses
to Newbern's questions were nearly inaudible, but he requested a
court-appointed attorney. A probable cause hearing was scheduled for Dec.
2, and he will be held without bond at the Hertford County Jail.

Futrell was slightly more vocal during the walk from the jail to the
courthouse. He told reporters he didn't know what to say because he had
nothing to do with the deaths. When asked how he felt when he was arrested
and charged, he said, "I was in tears."

Hertford County Sheriff Juan Vaughan Sr. said Friday that DNA and other
evidence will prove the case against Futrell. Vaughan said earlier that
investigators were led to Futrell by evidence initially collected and a
break in the case Wednesday. He gave few details, including possible
motive.

Vaughan said Futrell's DNA was collected in May and that on Wednesday he
learned that the DNA matched evidence gathered during the investigation.

The sheriff said he was relieved when the arrest was made but added that
authorities continue the investigation and that there could be more
charges and arrests.

Futrell has a criminal record in North Carolina and Virginia that includes
assault and larceny, according to court and police records in Bertie,
Hertford and Northampton counties in North Carolina and the city of
Franklin and Southampton County in Virginia.

His most recent conviction was in Northampton County, N.C., on felony
larceny of a vehicle, said sheriff's Capt. Daryl Harmon, who investigated
the case.

A public works employee had left a county-owned truck unattended at the
courthouse in January, he said, and Futrell was found with the vehicle in
Rich Square, N.C., west of Hertford County. Harmon said he was arrested
and given a suspended sentence in April with 18 months probation.

On Aug. 4, 2006, a passer-by found the bodies of Bradley and Hobbs along a
dirt road about a mile outside of Murfreesboro, just over the Virginia
state line. The sisters had been stabbed and stripped nearly naked.

Deputies located their missing car about 15 miles away in Southampton
County and found blood in its trunk. A year later, authorities had
gathered evidence and an FBI behavioral profile, but little else.

An important clue came from the forensic investigation of the abandoned
vehicle, where a third person's DNA and a bloody palm print were
discovered, Vaughan said. No keys were found with the vehicle, and Vaughan
said in a 2007 interview that the suspect might have planned to return to
the car.

A year after the killings, Vaughan said he was still working hard on the
case but had little new information. He has stayed in close contact with
the sisters' family and delivered news of the arrest to the family at a
restaurant in Courtland, Va., on Thursday.

"I don't think I ever knew the real meaning of being thankful until this
happened," Linda Tuck, Hobbs' and Bradley's younger sister, said in an
e-mail Friday.

Tuck said she does not like to talk about their deaths or think about what
they went through, but she has spent the past 2 days taking phone calls,
greeting visitors and talking to reporters.

"I know that people are sick and tired of looking at me and hearing what I
have to say," she said in her e-mail. "But I made up my mind that this is
something that I can do to repay Dot and Nellie for all of the things that
they did for me when I was a child."

The family will gather at the family farm in Emporia this Thanksgiving,
just as they do every Sunday for lunch. "Until we lost Dot and Nellie,"
Tuck said, "I'm not sure I really realized how precious our family was to
me."

(source: Virginian-Pilot)



CALIFORNIA:

Ailing Manson follower transferred to Chowchilla facility


Susan Atkins, the imprisoned Charles Manson follower hospitalized in
Riverside County earlier this year after she was diagnosed with brain
cancer, has been transferred to the Central California Women's Facility in
Chowchilla.

Atkins was in stable condition. She has been at the Chowchilla facility,
which has a skilled nursing facility, since Sept. 24, said California
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokeswoman Terry Thornton.

Atkins, 60, failed in July to obtain a compassionate release that could
have allowed her to die outside prison. The state Board of Parole in July
declined to refer the issue to Atkins' sentencing court after hearing
about 2 dozen witnesses, including relatives of both Atkins and her
victims.

A Los Angeles County judge denied a similar petition about a week later.
Atkins' doctors and prison officials had recommended the release. One of
her attorneys said Atkins' condition was such that even if she obtained
the release, it was unlikely she would leave her hospital room.

In mid-July, it was estimated that Atkins' medical care had cost the state
$1.15 million. Additionally, guarding her had cost $308,000, according to
the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Atkins was convicted of killing 8 people during a murder spree in the
summer of 1969, most them over Aug. 8-9, when she and other members of
Manson's group invaded homes and slaughtered their victims.

One them was actress Sharon Tate, 8 months pregnant, who begged Atkins to
spare the life of her child before Atkins stabbed her to death.

After the slaying, Atkins tasted her victim's blood and used it to scrawl
"PIG" on the front door of the Benedict Canyon home Tate shared with her
husband, director Roman Polanski, who was away at the time. 4 others died
at the home that night.

One night after the Tate massacre, members of the Manson Family killed
grocery executive Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary, in their home in
the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles.

Atkins was not present at the LaBianca slayings, but she was convicted as
a conspirator in the murders. Atkins also was convicted for her
participation in the July 1969 slaying of musician Gary Hinman.

Atkins is California's longest-serving female prisoner. She spent decades
incarcerated at the California Institution for Women in Chino.

Atkins was sentenced to death in 1971. The California Supreme Court
overturned the death penalty in 1972, and Atkins' sentence was converted
to life in prison. She has been denied parole more than a dozen times.

She was hospitalized March 18 at the Riverside County Regional Medical
Center in Moreno Valley, her attorney, Eric Lampel, said in July. He said
a tumor had been removed from her brain, but doctors could not get all of
it. At the time, she was diagnosed with only 2 or 3 months to live.

(source: Press Enterprise)

COLORADO:

Catholic leaders criticize Obama's "anti-life agenda"


What's the deal with Catholic leaders from Colorado? The Colorado
Independents Ernest Luning pointed out on Friday that Cardinal James
Francis Stafford, formerly archbishop in Denver, accused President-elect
Barack Obama for having an apolcalyptic "anti-life agenda."

Month ago Denvers current archbishop, Charles Chaput,called Obama the
"most committed" abortion-rights candidate since Roe v. Wade. And let's
not forget Bishop Michael Sheridan of Colorado Sprinigs, who in the past
extended the no-Communion threat to voters who pulled the lever for any
candidate who supports abortion rights, stem-cell research, euthanasia or
gay marriage.

4 years ago, Sheridan made his mark as having issued the strongest
pronouncement yet from a Catholic leader in the United States over a
debate about politics and how Catholic voters should cast their ballots.
CBS News reported that previous warnings denouncing mostly Democratic
candidates and those who support a woman's right to choose were limited to
the candidates themselves.

Sheridan's position was widely criticized for its inconsistencies.

As blogger Jeff Miller, known as the Curt Jester, noted after Sheridan's
pronouncement, "Curiously, the Bishop does not support denying Holy
Communion to Catholics who vote for candidates who support the death
penalty, torture, or unjust war."

(source: The Colorado Independent)