July 24
USA (VERMONT):
Judge orders new trial in Fell case
Citing egregious juror misconduct, a federal judge Thursday ordered a new trial
in the case of Donald Fell, the man sentenced to death in 2005 for kidnapping
and killing a North Clarendon grandmother.
"The court finds that Fell has shown juror misconduct and that this misconduct
violated his constitutional right to an impartial jury," U.S. District Court
Judge William K. Sessions wrote in a 93-page decision released Thursday
afternoon. "Fell is therefore entitled to a new trial."
Fell has been on death row at a federal penitentiary in Indiana since shortly
after a jury found him guilty of kidnapping Terri King as she was arriving for
work at a Rutland supermarket on Nov. 27, 2000 and then beating her to death in
New York as she prayed for her life.
Fell sidekick Robert Lee was also charged in the case, but committed suicide in
jail before his case was tried.
Sessions based the decision to order a new trial on evidence unearthed by
Fell's lawyers regarding the behavior of a single juror, identified as Juror
143 in court papers, during the trial and later, when questioned about his
conduct.
Sessions wrote that the actions of 2 other jurors targeted by Fell's lawyers
did not taint their role in the case.
According to court documents filed by Fell's lawyers over the last two years,
Juror 143 secretly traveled to Rutland during the trial to look at the crime
scenes, told a 3rd party about what he saw and shared his observations with the
jury panel. He also failed to tell the court about what he had done.
"Juror 143's brazen disobedience, dishonesty, and unwillingness to decide the
case based upon the evidence presented at trial demonstrate a partiality that
would have resulted in his eviction from the panel during trial, and now
invalidates Fell's conviction," Sessions wrote.
The decision caught both prosecutors and Fell's defense team by surprise.
Lewis Liman, the lawyer who masterminded the effort to win a new trial for Fell
by raising jury misconduct claims, said late Thursday afternoon he was pleased
with the ruling but had not yet studied it in full.
"We are extremely gratified by the Court's decision to grant Mr. Fell a new
trial," Liman said in a statement provided the Burlington Free Press. He
declined further comment.
Vermont U.S. Attorney Tristram Coffin also was clipped in his comments.
"We are studying the ruling by Judge Sessions and are assessing our options at
this time," Coffin said.
(source: Burlington Free Press)
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Let's debate the death penalty, not the drugs
The execution of Joseph Rudolph Wood has once again ignited the debate over
lethal injection.
Wood was administered the cocktail of lethal of drugs Wednesday just before 2
p.m., but wasn't pronounced dead until nearly 4 p.m. The whole thing lasted
nearly two hours, and the manner in which Wood died was denounced by many in
the media who were watching as cruel and inhumane. Many said that Wood seemed
to gasp for air hundreds of times and thus deduced that he was suffering.
These reporters are not doctors, nor do they have any formal training in the
ways that humans experience death. Ever seen someone die of natural causes?
What did that look like?
Wood's attorneys had argued in the weeks leading up to the execution that
because Arizona doesn't officially say what drugs it uses to kill the
condemned, nor admit to the source or manufacturer of them, that they shouldn't
be used. Keep in mind, they didn't push for a more humane method that SHOULD be
used, so their real endgame was simply staying the execution for THEIR client.
The victim's family, not surprisingly, said they didn't think Wood suffered.
Jeannie Brown, daughter of one of Wood's murder victims, said he appeared to be
snoring and that he deserved what he had coming. I'll leave it to you to decide
if she really means she thinks it was painless, or she hopes it was painful
because Wood shot her father and sister as they pled for their lives in 1989 in
Tucson.
Now the state will have to investigate the medical nature of Wood's death and
issue a report about whether or not he suffered.
Most death penalty supporters likely don't care if the condemned suffers a bit,
considering his crime. Most opponents don't think the death penalty should be
used under ANY circumstances, so the supposed debate about the "cruelty" of
various methods is just a ruse.
Bottom line, you either think the state should be in the business of executing
people or you don't. Let's debate that, instead of the drugs the state uses to
do it.
(source: Karie Dozier, KTAR news)
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