Feb. 18
TEXAS----impending execution
Texas death row inmate's lawyers cite new evidence in push for for re-trial
---- Rodney Reed's lawyers have filed an appeal citing multiple problems with
his conviction and urging a stay and a re-trial - as execution looms just weeks
away
The alarm was raised around dawn on 23 April 1996 when Stacey Stites failed to
show up for her 3.30am shift as a produce stocker at a supermarket in Bastrop,
near Austin, Texas.
That afternoon, the 19-year-old's body was discovered by the side of a country
road on the outskirts of town. Nearby was a belt that appeared to have been
used to strangle her, less than 3 weeks before her wedding day.
Rodney Reed was convicted of her murder and is scheduled to be executed on 5
March. His attorneys say they have new evidence that proves his innocence, the
latest twist in an 18-year legal process his supporters believe is laden with
errors, racism and corruption.
Last Thursday, 3 weeks before Reed was set to die by lethal injection in the
Texas state penitentiary, his lawyers filed an appeal to the state's criminal
appeals court citing multiple problems with his conviction and urging a stay of
execution and a re-trial.
"3 of the most experienced and well-regarded forensic pathologists in the
country ... have re-evaluated the case and determined that Mr Reed's guilt is
medically and scientifically impossible,' they write, in response to a lower
court's decision in November to deny new DNA testing of evidence including 2
beer cans found near the body.
That same month the US supreme court declined to review Reed's case.
'I don't believe'
Anti-death penalty advocates and Reed's backers gathered at a Quaker meeting
house in Austin on Sunday to show solidarity with the 47-year-old on death row.
Among them was Stites' cousin Heather Stobbs. She said that while her family is
split, she is convinced Reed is innocent and made contact with his relatives
last year after researching the case.
"I don't believe, and I have other family members that don't believe, Rodney
has anything to do with this," she said. "I think that [the case against him]
was taking advantage of that he's black and it kind of sensationalised
everything."
Reed was a black man having an affair in a small Texas town with a white woman
who was engaged to a white police officer. Reed's brother, Rodrick, said that
at the time it was "pretty rough" to be a black man living in the area. He said
that after his brother's arrest, "I was pretty much blackballed in the county,
got fired from my job, couldn't get a job in Bastrop, period, for years. A lot
of people looked at me as if I had leprosy or something. They were programmed
to believe that my brother did it. They were led astray."
He believes the investigation was botched and that the trial was a miscarriage
of justice, in part because officials were too willing to believe in the guilt
of a black man rather than an alternative suspect: Stites' fiance, the police
officer.
"It took years for the truth to finally start coming out - other evidence,
other witnesses, other things to start showing up. And then people started
saying, 'Wait a minute, something's wrong here.' But in the beginning they took
it as the gospel. Now 18 years later they see it was nothing but a big sham,"
he said.
Jury unconvinced of affair as a defence
Last week's court filing alleges that suspicion should fall on Stites' fiance,
Jimmy Fennell. No longer a police officer, Fennell is in prison for kidnapping
and sexually assaulting a woman while he was on duty in 2007. Investigators
originally viewed him as a suspect but decided it was logistically impossible
for him to have committed the crime. Reed's defence disputes that, arguing that
there was no thorough investigation of whether Fennell had an accomplice,
potentially one within the police department.
Months after the killing, police turned to Reed. His DNA was on and inside
Stites' body. Police found a match because of a previous, unrelated, allegation
of sexual assault against him. And when questioned about Stites, he initially
claimed not to know her.
Timing and DNA analysis were crucial to the state's case. Prosecutors said that
Stites was killed in the early hours of 23 April. The jury heard expert
testimony that this indicated she had been sexually assaulted around the time
of her murder, because of an incorrect assertion that sperm can only remain
intact after intercourse for about 24 hours.
Reed's court-appointed attorneys failed to effectively challenge this view,
which seemed to fit the prosecution's argument that Reed had intercepted Stites
as she drove to work from the home in Giddings she shared with Fennell, then
raped and killed her.
But in 2012, the key medical expert, Roberto Bayardo, said that the prosecution
had misinterpreted his testimony in several ways, including his analysis of the
timing.
"My estimate of time of death ... should not have been used at trial as an
accurate statement of when ... Stites died," the former medical examiner told
the Austin Chronicle.
In addition, the filing states, the science presented in the original trial was
faulty. The new forensic pathologists - Michael Baden, Werner Spitz and LeRoy
Riddick - "conclude that Ms Stites was actually murdered before midnight on
April 22, 1996 and that she was placed in the location and position where she
was found at least 4 hours after the murder."
That timeframe would place Stites at home with Fennell when she died, Reed's
lawyers contend.
At trial in 1998 the jury were not convinced by Reed's defence: that he and
Stites were having a secret relationship that, because it was interracial,
might have caused a scandal if word got out. And the interpretation of the DNA
evidence contradicted his claim that he had not had sex with Stites since about
2 days before she died.
Federal and state appeals courts have repeatedly affirmed the original verdict
and not been persuaded of the credibility of witnesses who testified that they
knew about the affair, but Reed's attorneys say that 2 new witness have come
forward to confirm that Reed and Stites were seeing each other and that her
relationship with Fennell was strained and she feared his violent temper.
Sister Helen Prejean, a longtime anti-death penalty activist, said at the
Quaker meeting on Sunday that Reed's conviction is "one of the most outrageous"
she has ever seen.
"It's riddled with almost, I think, every mistake that could be made in the
justice system. And of course a black man paid for it," she said.
(source: The Guardian)
PENNSYLVANIA:
Lawyers cite moratorium, say no death penalty for guilty man
Lawyers for a man convicted of strangling 2 people during a 2002 robbery have
asked a judge to bar jurors from considering the death penalty because
Pennsylvania's governor has declared a moratorium.
The penalty phase of Hugo Selenski's capital murder trial is scheduled to open
Tuesday, 4 days after Gov. Tom Wolf declared a moratorium on the death penalty
in Pennsylvania.
Selenski's attorneys filed a motion Tuesday asking Luzerne County Common Pleas
Judge Fred Pierantoni III to remove the death penalty as a sentencing option.
Selenski was convicted last week of 2 counts of 1st-degree murder in the deaths
of pharmacist Michael Kerkowski and his girlfriend, Tammy Fassett.
Police found the victims' bodies, along with 3 other sets of human remains, on
Selenski's property north of Wilkes-Barre in 2003.
(source: Associated Press)
********************
Halting death penalty diminishes justice
The Saturday front-page story, concerning Gov. Wolf's halt to justice being
administered, is but one reason I did not believe he is qualified to hold
office.
Each time wise benefactors such as him intervene in the legal system, the
family and friends of victims and their right to see justice carried out are
diminished. They are but an afterthought to folks of the liberal ilk in their
quest to impose wisdom on us, the great unwashed.
While I do not wish any ill to anyone, I believe I am not alone when wondering
if their benevolence would be as strong if someone close to them was brutally
assaulted and harmed.
Mark Porcaro
Lower Mount Bethel Township
(source: Letter to the Editor, Morning Call)
**************************
Amnesty International USA Responds to Pennsylvania Death Penalty Moratorium
Amnesty International USA executive director Steven W. Hawkins issued the
following response after Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf announced today that he is
issuing a moratorium on the death penalty in his state:
"Amnesty International USA welcomes Gov. Wolf's decision to halt executions.
The world is moving away from this cruel and barbaric punishment, and today,
the state of Pennsylvania just got a bit closer to doing the same. Pennsylvania
is now moving toward the national consensus that the death penalty is broken,
costly and needs to be abolished. The United States cannot truly be a global
leader in human rights while the death penalty remains the law of the land."
(source: Amnesty International; AI is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning global
movement of more than 7 million people in over 150 countries who campaign for a
world where human rights are enjoyed by all. The organization investigates and
exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public, and works to protect people
wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied.
VIRGINIA:
Hiding the details of lethal injection
It has to be one of the creepiest bills ever considered by the General
Assembly.
Senate Bill 1393, sponsored by Sen. Richard Saslaw (D-Fairfax), would drop a
veil of secrecy over how Virginia executes prisoners by lethal injection. Its
backers, including Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D), are pushing it against a backdrop
of global politics and questions of morality.
Virginia is among 32 states that allow capital punishment. Since 1982, it has
killed 110 prisoners, either by lethal injection or in the electric chair.
The preferred method is lethal injection. In the process, a doomed prisoner is
strapped in a gurney and given a series of 3 shots. 1 is to anesthetize;
another is to paralyze; and the 3rd is to stop his or her heart from beating.
In some states, 1 drug may be used. Usually, there are witnesses to the
execution, including members of the news media.
But Saslaw wants to start hiding crucial aspects of the gruesome practice. His
bill would make information about lethal drugs and the companies that make or
compound them exempt under the state Freedom of Information Act.
There are persistent national shortages of drugs used in the death process.
According to The New Yorker, the sole U.S. manufacturer of sodium thiopental
stopped making the key, killer drug in 2011. Death penalty states looked to
European manufacturers, but the European Union, which crusades against capital
punishment, forbids European drug companies to export it if it will be used in
executions.
(source: Opinion, Peter Galuszka, Washington Post)
FLORIDA:
Florida halts executions until Supreme Court considers controversial
drug----Appeal to be heard from Okla. inmates in case citing signs of pain
during execution
Florida's highest court put executions on hold Tuesday while the U.S. Supreme
Court decides whether use of a controversial general anesthetic constitutes
"cruel and unusual" punishment of condemned killers.
The state Supreme Court stopped the execution of Jerry William Correll next
week because the Supreme Court recently agreed to hear a challenge some
Oklahoma inmates brought against use of midazolam hydrochloride as the 1st of 3
drugs used in lethal injections. Florida uses essentially the same formula, the
court said in a 5-2 ruling.
The state switched to midazolam as an anesthetic in 2013 when some foreign drug
manufacturers quit supplying other drugs previously used in executions. The
Department of Corrections said 11 lethal injections have been carried out with
midazolam in Florida since then.
Florida courts have approved midazolam, but the nation's highest court agreed
Jan. 23 to hear an appeal by 21 Oklahoma inmates in a case citing prolonged
executions and signs of pain reported in that state, Arizona and Ohio.
Chief Justice Jorge Labarga wrote that if the nation's highest court rules in
favor of the prisoners, "then Florida's precedent approving the use of
midazolam and the current Florida 3-drug protocol will be subject to serious
doubt as to its continued viability."
Justices Charles Canady and Ricky Polston dissented, saying Florida should
proceed with Correll's execution unless the U.S. Supreme Court stays it. Canady
wrote that a stay in another state does not automatically require one in
Florida, and that agreeing to review Oklahoma's use of the drug means the
justices will forbid it.
Canady said Oklahoma agreed to postpone 3 pending executions, while Florida has
not agreed to suspend lethal injections. Correll, scheduled to die Feb. 26, was
the only Florida inmate with an active death warrant.
He also noted that lower federal courts have approved Oklahoma's use of the
drug and said it is "purely speculative" whether the Supreme Court will reverse
them.
Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center in
Washington, said the Supreme Court appeal is a toss-up.
"They might affirm it," Dieter said. "But it would be terrible to go ahead with
an execution when the person's life or death depends solely on his having a
date between the Supreme Court agreeing to hear the case and its decision in
that case."
Correll was convicted of the 1985 murders of his ex-wife, 5-year-old daughter
and former mother-in-law and sister-in-law.
(source: CBC news)
ALABAMA:
Pool of more than 100 jurors summoned for Lisa Graham death-penalty trial
The parking lot was overflowing and so was the courtroom Tuesday as more than
100 prospective jurors were summoned for the second Russell County capital
murder trial of Lisa Graham, accused of hiring a family worker to kill her
daughter in 2007.
Lee County Circuit Court Judge Jacob Walker III divided the pool roughly in
1/2, 1st having jurors whose last names started with the letters A through J
come in as a group to convey any excuses they had for not serving, then hearing
from those whose last names began with the letters K through Z.
Walker is presiding at the trial because Russell County Judge George Greene
declared the 1st proceeding in 2012 a mistrial, saying he could not continue to
hear the case because of his failing health. Green retired from the bench
before he died Jan. 1, 2014.
Walker took the case after other Russell County judges recused themselves.
Attorneys expect to spend the rest of this week questioning potential jurors.
Because it's a capital case, jurors must be "death qualified," meaning they may
not be so morally opposed to the death penalty that they could not impose it,
nor so in favor of execution they could not consider the option of life in
prison.
Testimony in Graham's trial is to begin Monday. District Attorney Ken Davis has
said he expects to call about 30 witnesses and may need 7 to 8 days to present
the prosecution's case.
Judge Walker this week also may hold a suppression hearing on evidence Davis
said shows Graham through her fellow Russell County jail inmates tried to slip
notes to Kenneth Walker, the man she's accused of hiring to kill her daughter.
Graham offered Walton $10,000 if he promised to "leave her out of the
equation," Davis said.
Graham's attorney Margaret Young Brown has objected to admitting such evidence,
arguing Greene already had ruled it inadmissible. Davis said Graham is getting
a new trial with a new judge, so "all issues are new."
20-year-old Stephanie Shea Graham's body was found July 5, 2007, on Bowden Road
between U.S. 431 and Alabama 165 near Pittsview. She had 6 bullet wounds in the
head and torso, authorities said.
Investigators said Walton, the last person seen with her, confessed to the
homicide. After pleading guilty June 14, 2012, Walton was sentenced to life in
prison with possible parole.
Authorities allege Lisa Graham wanted her daughter dead because she was
frustrated by Shea Graham's drug use, and feared the daughter would jump bail
on charges she faced in a drive-by shooting in Columbus.
(source: Ledger-Enquirer)
OHIO:
Jury convicts Church, must decide on death penalty
A jury convicted Hager Church on Tuesday after more than 5 hours of
deliberations for setting a fire that killed 2 people in 2009 in a crime that
may have gone unnoticed if not for Church talking about it in prison.
The jury of 8 men and 4 women will return Wednesday morning to begin the 2nd
phase of the trial to decide whether Church should receive the death penalty.
The jury also can choose the option of life in prison.
While Church's team of lawyers presented no closing argument and did little to
challenge the strong evidence by the prosecution, it's expected his lawyers
will mount a big fight to try to save his life.
Church, 30, showed no reaction as the verdicts were read.
During her closing argument Tuesday, Assistant Allen County Prosecutor Jana
Emerick carefully walked the jury through the charges of 2 counts of aggravated
murder and one count of aggravated arson with three specifications that carry
the chance for the death penalty.
She told jurors the clear confession Church made to a police investigator
admitting to killing Massie "Tina" Flint, 45, and Rex Hall, 54, on June 14,
2009, by setting a house fire at 262 S. Pine St., matched all the evidence.
'Hager Church indicated to Detective [Steve] Stechschulte that Hager Church
needed to get something off his chest, which was the terrible crimes he
committed in 2009," Emerick said. "You heard the confession."
A coroner testified Flint had head injuries that matched Church's statement
that he beat her in the head with a pipe wrench. Church also knew intimate
details of the crime scene including the location of where the fire started in
the home, and where the bodies were found, information only the killer would
know, Emerick said.
"If he was just making that up, even if he knew there was a fire, of course
like numerous people did, Hager Church would have no way of knowing where that
fire was started," Emerick said. "All the evidence from fire investigation
supports Hager Church's confession in every way."
On top of that, he wrote a letter of confession before investigators knew about
the crime and he drew a detailed map of the crime scene, Emerick said. Church
wrote the letter and drew the map in November 2012, more than 3 years after a
Lima fire investigator ruled the fire accidental.
Emerick carefully covered the death penalty specifications including how Church
burned down the house to try to cover up the crime and that he killed 2 or more
people in the course of conduct that was similar.
The jury found Church not guilty on 1 of the specifications on Hall's death as
it relates to a course of conduct of killing people. No reason was given but
Hall's death was somewhat different in the fact he was a man and Church did not
beat him in the head. The jury still convicted Church of purposefully killing
Hall.
The conduct for which the jury found Church guilty, as it relates to
specifications necessary for a potential death sentence, included killing Deb
Henderson just over a year later by beating her to death with a hammer. Church
was sentenced to life in prison with no chance for release for that crime after
pleading guilty to aggravated murder.
The final death penalty specification accuses Church of committed the crimes as
the principal offender. Emerick said that was not disputed because he did not
have an accomplice.
(source: limaohio.com)
***********************
State pursues death penalty in Cambridge murder
Guernsey County Prosecutor Daniel Padden said he's "absolutely" pushing for the
death penalty in the Adam Burris murder case.
The sentencing phase began Tuesday morning with a 3-judge panel hearing
testimony from Burris' family, Padden said. A 3-judge panel is mandated in all
state cases involving a capital punishment specification. They will determine
whether to pursue capital punishment, life in prison without parole, or
something else.
Burris, 33, pleaded guilty last month to 5 felonies - kidnapping, theft of a
motor vehicle, attempted rape, aggravated robbery, and aggravated murder - in
connection with the December 2013 murder of 26-year-old Kayla Thompson. Burris'
attorney moved to dismiss capital specifications, but the judges denied that
request.
"We're pursuing the death penalty," Padden said. "This was initially indicted
as a death penalty case, and we just feel that's what's appropriate."
Thompson, a pizza delivery driver and mother of 2, was reported missing around
2 p.m. Dec. 26, 2013, after she failed to return from Burris' home. A sheriff's
deputy responded to Thompson's last delivery on McPherson Avenue and spoke with
a woman there who said Burris left driving a pizza delivery vehicle.
Deputies used Burris' cellphone to track him, and Ohio State Highway Patrol
troopers stopped him in the delivery vehicle on Interstate 70 in Guernsey
County around 7:15 p.m. Burris eventually led detectives to Thompson's body
near a boat ramp at Dillon State Park.
Padden said the kidnapping and murder are thought to have occurred at the
McPherson Avenue address. A competency evaluation was conducted last year, and
Burris was deemed fit to stand trial.
The 3-judge panel is composed of Judge David Ellwood, of Guernsey County; Judge
Linton Lewis, of Perry County; and Judge Kelly Cottrill, of Muskingum County.
The sentencing phase is set to continue Thursday, and should conclude by Friday
afternoon, Padden said.
(source: Zanesville Times Recorder)
INDIANA:
Indiana bill could impose death penalty for school shootings
Indiana lawmakers are moving forward with a proposal that could impose the
death penalty for school shootings.
The bill's in response to last year's deadly shooting at Purdue.
It would allow prosecutors to seek the death penalty or life in prison without
parole for murders that happen inside schools.
That includes universities and colleges.
The prosecutor in the Purdue case told lawmakers Tuesday he was shocked to
learn he couldn't seek the death penalty for the gunman.
"Unfortunately as we learned from the case in Lafayette this individual
researched the actual punishment and made a decision that 30 years was worth it
10 so it begs the question what if he knew the death penalty or life without
parole was facing him?," said Pat Harrington, the Tippecanoe County Prosecutor.
The measure still has to pass the full Indiana House and Senate.
(source: WSBT TV news)
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