Feb. 13 NEW MEXICO: San Juan County resources feel the pinch of death penalty sentences The high costs of the years-long appeals process in death penalty cases cited by critics seeking to repeal capital punishment disproportionately affect San Juan County, the home of the only 2 men awaiting execution in New Mexico. San Juan County District Attorney's Office resources are devoted to addressing the complex appeals of the homegrown death row convicts for secondary appeals hearings held in local branches of the state courts. Robert Fry, of Farmington, and Timothy Allen, of Bloomfield, are seeking to stop death sentences claiming personal rights were overlooked in criminal and appeals court proceedings. Allen was sentenced to death in 1995 for the murder and rape of a teen girl. In the pending appeal, Allen claims he was ineffectively served by a lawyer at trial. Fry was sentenced to death in 2000 after being convicted for 4 1st-degree murders. The man in a new appeal alleges the trial judge was biased, and that his 1st appeals court attorney was ineffective. Six hearings on the 2 men's death penalty appeals were heard by judges in San Juan County in 2008, often requiring nearly full-time commitment of a local prosecutor prior to hearing dates, the District Attorney's Office said. "There are times when it redirects a significant amount of resources," Chief Deputy District Attorney Dustin O'Brien said. "In a death penalty case, the resources and the quality of the defense cause us to have to expend more time and energy for the most part, than other defendants'" appeals. While the continued need for local legal work on the death penalty appeals draws one prosecutor away from pending county criminal cases, the added work isn't an extraordinary burden, O'Brien said. The state Attorney General's Office also assists with the secondary appeals process. "In both cases, our office saw fit to pursue those punishments. In doing that, we understood and took on the future expense in time and money to see it through," O'Brien said. Since 1976, 1 person in New Mexico was executed. 4 death row inmates after conviction in the state were found innocent. A repeal of the death penalty in New Mexico was passed by the state House of Representatives on Wednesday. The measure now will go to state Senate committees next week to determine if it will be considered by that body. Similar legislation was passed by the state House in 2005 and 2007 and killed both times by the Senate. If passed by the Senate and approved by the governor, the new death penalty law would not automatically commute the sentences of Fry and Allen. The appeals of both Fry and Allen would continue through state and federal courts because the legislation is not retroactive. Sen. Steve Neville, R-Aztec, said although the cost of the death penalty process is a significant concern, the threat that death is a punishment for criminal behavior is a valuable tool to deter crime. Citing that factor, Neville said he likely would oppose the repealed death penalty. "It is hitting San Juan County disproportionately because we do have both of them currently there. (But) I think there is somebody in the state of New Mexico that's alive today, probably more than one, because the death penalty made someone hesitate just long enough to change their mind," Neville said. "You can't put dollar figures on that." State Sen. Bill Sharer, R-Farmington, did not return calls for comment Thursday. Claiming high upfront legal costs in death penalty cases outweighs the average $35,000 paid by the state each year to incarcerate convicts, said Viki Elkey, executive director of the New Mexico Coalition to Repeal the Death Penalty. She said the bill shouldn't be a partisan issue. "Frankly, it's bad public policy and it doesn't work," she said. "We know that the Public Defenders (Department) alone would save several million per year." (source: The Daily Times) MISSOURI: Coalition pushes for death-penalty ban in Missouri Several groups opposed to the death penalty will travel to the Missouri Capitol Wednesday to urge support for a bill that would place a moratorium on Missouris death penalty. Some 48 inmates are scheduled to be executed in Missouri. The bill would create a statewide commission that would examine whether all prosecutors use similar criteria in seeking the death penalty and whether defendants receive adequate counsel.The commission also would look at whether alternatives to the death penalty exist that ensure public safety and whether the condemned share particular demographics, such as race, ethnicity, age, and mental capacity. Representatives from Moratorium Now!, Missouri Catholic Conference and the American Civil Liberties Union will advocate for passage of the legislation. "Catholic teaching challenges us to examine why we turn to the death penalty," said Jude Huntz, Director of Human Rights for the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City ~ St. Joseph. "To take a human life even when that person is guilty is awesome and tragic. Our position is rooted in the belief that human life is sacred and that every person has a duty to protect life at all stages and in all circumstances." Missouri resumed the death penalty in 1989. Since that time, the state has put to death 66 inmates and currently ranks 5th in the nation in the rate of executions by population. (source: PrimeBuzz) ***************** Groups hold anti-death penalty events Opponents of Missouri's death penalty plan a speaking tour of people with a personal interest in executions. Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty says its so-called Road Trip for Justice will start Sunday in St. Joseph and end Feb. 21 in St. Louis. It also will stop in Springfield, Joplin, Jefferson City, Columbia and Cape Girardeau. Speakers include former condemned prisoners who later were exonerated; a murdered woman's daughter; and the mother of a condemned Missouri man whose case spurred a since-lifted moratorium on the state's death penalty. Also, a group called Moratorium Now! plans a rally Wednesday in Jefferson City and will lobby legislators to stall executions pending a review of the state's death penalty. --- Road Trip schedule: Feb. 15, 3 p.m., Missouri Western State University, St. Joseph Feb. 16, 7 p.m., Drury University, Springfield Feb. 17, 7 p.m., Missouri Southern State University, Joplin Feb. 18, 10 a.m., State Capitol, Jefferson City Feb. 19, 7 p.m., First Christian Church, Columbia Feb. 20, 7 p.m., Southeast Missouri University, Cape Girardeau Feb. 21, 3 p.m., Friendly Temple Missionary Baptist Church, St. Louis Feb. 21, 7 p.m., First Unitarian Church, St. Louis (source: Associated Press) WASHINGTON: Convicted killer Dwayne Woods gets execution stay A court has issued a stay of execution for Washington inmate Dwayne Woods, convicted of 2 counts of aggravated 1st-degree murder for the April 1996 slayings of Telisha Shaver and Jade Moore in Spokane County. The U.S. District Court of Eastern Washington has issued a stay of execution for Washington inmate Dwayne Woods. Woods had been scheduled to die March 20 at the Washington state Penitentiary in Walla Walla. But Woods has appealed, and Judge Lonny Suko issued a stay today while the appeal works its way through the courts. Woods was convicted of 2 counts of aggravated 1st-degree murder for the April 1996 slayings of Telisha Shaver and Jade Moore in Spokane County. During his trial, Woods did not admit to the killings, but asked jurors to sentence him to death. Another Washington inmate, Cal Coburn Brown, is scheduled to be executed in a separate case on March 13. (source: Associated Press) LOUISIANA: Convicted child killer wants new trial, no death penalty----Terrance Carter's attorneys don't want death penalty imposed Attorneys for the Coushatta man convicted of killing a 5-year-old by dousing him with gasoline and setting him afire want a new trial and to bar the imposition of the death penalty. The motions filed on behalf of Terrance Carter, 29, were to be heard Thursday in Red River District Court in Many. But District Judge Lewis Sams rescheduled the hearing, tentatively for Feb. 27, to give defense attorneys more time to submit information in their quest for another trial. Attorney Elton Richey Jr. told the court he only received verification at 7:30 a.m. Thursday the Louisiana Indigent Defense Board would provide funding for expert witnesses to testify on Carter's behalf. The delay, one of many that have postponed Carter's formal sentencing to the death penalty, drew criticism from former Red River District Attorney Bill Jones, who headed up prosecution of Carter in September. Jones, who retired last month, objected to the continuance and blamed the director of the state's Indigent Defense Board for "driving this train." Jones said the delays would continue as long as the court allowed it. He urged Sams to tell the director he "doesn't control the purse strings." Sams agreed and told Richey and co-counsel Julie Kilborne to have their documents supporting the request for a new trial submitted by Feb. 26. A hearing will be held at 10 a.m. Feb. 27 provided Jones needs no additional time to respond. If so, Sams set a March 11 hearing date. Depending on the outcome of the hearings, Carter will be sentenced on that date or March 13. "I want to get this over with," Jones said after court recessed. Carter, wearing an orange jumpsuit and with his hands handcuffed to his waist and shackles on his feet, shuffled into and out of the courtroom without saying a word. 4 Louisiana Corrections Department guards stayed near him or stood at the doorways. Carter acknowledged his mother, Irma Carter, who sat in the courtroom. But neither spoke as Carter was escorted out. A jury of Lincoln Parish residents in late September convicted Carter of kidnapping and first-degree murder in connection with death in July 2006 of Corinthian Houston. Carter abducted the 5-year-old son of his ex-girlfriend from the child's grandmother's residence in Natchitoches, drove him to an abandoned house in Coushatta, tied him to a chair with an electrical cord, poured gasoline on him and lit a match. The boy suffered 3rd- and 4th-degree burns over 54 % of his body and likely died within a minute, authorities have said. Carter's attorneys cite the following reasons for a new trial: "The verdicts of guilt and death were contrary to the law and the evidence; rulings of the court show prejudicial error; the trial was undermined by errors or defects not known to the defense prior to the verdict; new and material evidence, not previously available despite due diligence, has been discovered since trial and would probably have changed the verdicts; and the ends of justice would be served by ordering a new trial." Among their many arguments is a dispute with the state's rebuttal witness, forensic psychiatrist Richard Williams, who testified that Carter has a narcissistic disorder but does not suffer from a mental disease or defect. The motion filed by Richey and co-counsel Daryl Gold states that expert testimony is expected to establish that Williams' testimony was "incorrect and misleading to the jury." "There is no basis in Louisiana law or forensic psychiatry for the distinction that Dr. Williams presented to the jury," the motion states. Richey and Gold assert Carter's ingestion of alcohol and Ziprasidone would have impacted Carter's ability to form the specific intent to kill Corinthian. At trial, Carter recalled putting out the flames on Corinthian's body. But when asked if he killed the child, he consistently answered, "Not consciously." Carter's attorneys also argue that imposing the death penalty "would plainly violate the prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment of the state and federal constitutions." (source: Shreveport Times) _______________________________________________ DeathPenalty mailing list DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty Search the Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/deathpenalty@lists.washlaw.edu/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A free service of WashLaw http://washlaw.edu (785)670.1088 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
