March 31
KANSAS:
High court may reinstate death penalty
The nation's highest court agreed Monday to hear Kansas' appeal seeking to
reinstate death sentences for 2 brothers convicted of robbing and forcing 4
people engage in sex acts before being shot to death naked in a Wichita soccer
field in 2000.
The U.S. Supreme Court also agreed to review a separate Kansas Supreme Court
decision overturning the death sentence of a man convicted of killing a couple
in Great Bend in 2004.
The justices said they will review the Kansas high court's rulings that threw
out the sentences of Jonathan and Reginald Carr and Sidney Gleason. The Kansas
court hasn't upheld a death sentence since a new capital punishment law was
enacted in 1994. The state's last executions, by hanging, took place in 1965.
The U.S. Supreme Court will consider instructions given to jurors in the
sentencing phase of capital trials about evidence favorable to the defendants,
as well as whether sentencing the Carr brothers together violated their rights.
Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett said the Carr case is "important
to us, important to the victims, important to this community. In terms of legal
importance, well, I guess that is in the eye of the beholder. The U.S. Supreme
Court obviously thought it merited their attention."
But Sarah Johnson, an attorney with the state capital appellate defender's
office who represents Gleason and Jonathan Carr, said they were "honestly a
little surprised" that the court agreed to hear the cases.
"We don't think this is an issue that really is worthy of the U.S. Supreme
Court's time and attention, but we are confident that once they get into it
they will recognize that the Kansas Supreme Court acted well within its
discretion," Johnson said.
The Kansas Supreme Court in July upheld one conviction of capital murder with
respect to the Carr brothers, but overturned their death sentences. That same
month, the court also upheld Gleason's conviction, but reversed his death
sentence.
"We have carefully analyzed the opinions of the Kansas Supreme Court and we do
not believe they have correctly applied the U.S. Constitution," Kansas Attorney
General Derek Schmidt said in a written statement. "I am encouraged the U.S.
Supreme Court has agreed to review the cases."
The brothers broke into a Wichita home in December 2000 and forced the 5 people
there to have sex with each other and later to withdraw money from ATMs. The 2
women were raped repeatedly before all 5 were taken to a snow-covered soccer
field and shot. 4 of them - 29-year-old Aaron Sander, 27-year-old Brad Heyka,
26-year-old Jason Befort and 25-year-old Heather Muller - died. 1 woman
survived a gunshot wound to the head and ran naked through the snow to seek
help.
Gleason was convicted for in the 2004 murders of Mikiala Martinez and her
boyfriend, Darren Wornkey. She was a potential witness against Gleason in an
earlier crime.
The cases will be argued in Washington in the fall.
(source: Hutchinson News)
CALIFORNIA:
California's death row faces no-vacancy situation
California's death row, the largest in the nation with newly condemned inmates
added to the system every month but no one executed in almost a decade, has
filled virtually to capacity as the state seeks money to build more cells for
them.
As of last week, a total of 708 male inmates were confined to death row at San
Quentin State Prison north of San Francisco, the only penitentiary authorized
under state law to house men who are sentenced to death.
That tally represents 18 more than the prison is already budgeted to handle and
just 7 fewer than its absolute maximum capacity, Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation spokeswoman Terry Thornton said on Monday.
Another 23 condemned California inmates are being housed elsewhere under
special circumstances - about 1/2 on "out-to-court status" and the rest under
long-term medical care or serving other sentences in other jurisdictions, she
said.
If those inmates were to suddenly return to San Quentin, "they would be out of
room," Thornton said.
One factor has been California's failure to execute anyone since 2006, even as
the courts continue to sentence a growing number of convicted killers to death.
San Quentin anticipates a net increase of 13 death row inmates per year, based
on a 6-year annual average of 20 new arrivals partially offset by condemned
prisoners who either die while incarcerated or have their sentences overturned.
In recent months, according to the corrections department, San Quentin has
averaged at least 2 new death row arrivals a month.
To deal with the crisis, California Governor Jerry Brown has asked state
lawmakers to approve $3.2 million in special funding to furnish San Quentin
with 97 additional death row cells.
Thornton said she did not know of any contingency plans for accommodating new
arrivals if the number of condemned inmates suddenly exceeds space available.
Capital punishment has come under mounting criticism in California, where a
federal judge ruled last year that the state's system for administering the
death penalty is so long and drawn-out that it amounts to cruel and unusual
punishment and is thus unconstitutional.
Another 20 condemned women are housed at a prison in Chowchilla, bringing
California's total death row population to 751 - by far the largest of any
state. Florida ranks No. 2, with just over 400 condemned inmates as of last
October, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
(source: Reuters)
******************
California's Death Row, The Nation's Largest, Runs Out Of Room
The country's largest death row has run out of room.
As NPR member station KCRW reports, that's because a legal fight has meant that
the state has not put an inmate to death in nearly a decade, leaving more than
750 of them on death row in the state.
KCRW reports:
"Gov. Jerry Brown is asking the Legislature for more than $3 million to open
100 new cells for condemned men at San Quentin Prison. The request is included
in Brown's $113 billion budget proposal.
"The governor says prison officials should use cells that are opening up as
lower level inmates are released under a new law passed by state voters last
year. The majority of the money would go to increase staff, since condemned
inmates require more security.
"The capital punishment system has been in limbo since a court invalidated the
state's three-drug lethal injection system nearly a decade ago. No new
protocols have been developed."
The Los Angeles Times reports that San Quentin's death row, which can
accommodate 715 inmates, is currently just below capacity. But at the moment,
23 other death row inmates are scattered across the California prison system.
The Times adds:
"The governor's budget proposal anticipates an average of 20 new arrivals on
death row yearly. He proposes putting them in 97 cells on the 1st 2 tiers of
the 5-tier South Block. A small portion of the funding would go to beef up
security, including modifying showers so condemned inmates can be shackled as
they bathe. The majority of the money would be spent to increase staff, and the
expansion would begin in July.
"'Based on the critical nature of the bed shortage, it is not feasible to delay
the approval and implementation of this proposal,' the governor's budget
document states. If expansion is delayed, 'San Quentin would not have beds to
accommodate the condemned should any return from court, outside medical
facilities, or if SQ receives any newly condemned inmates.'"
(source: npr.org)
WASHINGTON:
Judge won't delay Carnation killer's penalty-phase trial
A judge on Monday denied a motion by the defense team for convicted killer
Joseph McEnroe to delay the penalty phase of his trial that will determine if
he is sentenced to life in prison or the death penalty for killing 6 people in
Carnation in 2007.
Defense attorney William Prestia asked King County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey
Ramsdell to give them more time to prepare for the penalty phase trial, which
is scheduled to begin Tuesday. Prestia said he and co-counsel Leo Hamaji needed
more time to interview the 7 witnesses who will be called by the state.
Ramsdell denied their motion as well as a second to exclude the 7 witnesses
from taking the stand.
The 7 witnesses - friends and family of the 6 victims - will be calledto the
stand by Senior Deputy Prosecutor Scott O'Toole after O'Toole and the defense
give opening statements Tuesday morning. The jury will also view a memorial
video of the 6 victims.
Last Wednesday, McEnroe, 36, was convicted of killing his former girlfriend's
parents, Wayne and Judy Anderson; her brother and sister-in-law, Scott and
Erica Anderson, and the younger couple's children, Olivia, 5, and Nathan, 3.
Jurors deliberated for about a day and a half before finding him guilty of
6-counts of aggravated 1st-degree murder.
McEnroe is also expected to take the witness stand during the penalty phase of
his trial. The defense is also expected to call his friends and family to
testify on his behalf in hopes of winning leniency from the jury.
If the jury determines there are not enough mitigating factors to warrant a
sentence of life in prison, McEnroe will be sentenced to death.
If the jury decides on a death sentence, McEnroe will be the 1st person
condemned to death in King County since 2010, when Conner Schierman was
convicted of killing a Kirkland family of 4.
(source: Seattle Times)
USA:
Prosecution rests its case against Boston Marathon bomber----Boy's clothing
shown as prosecution rests case against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev
Prosecutors rested their case against Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev
on Monday after jurors in his federal death penalty trial saw gruesome autopsy
photos and heard a medical examiner describe the devastating injuries suffered
by an 8-year-old boy killed in the 2013 terror attack.
But Tsarnaev's lawyers began their defense by quickly trying to show that his
older brother was the mastermind of the plan to detonate pressure-cooker bombs
near the finish line of the famous race.
One of the first witnesses called by the defense was a data analyst who said
Tsarnaev's cellphone was being used in southeastern
Massachusetts - where he was attending college - while pressure cookers were
being purchased north of Boston more than 2 months before the bombing. The
analyst also testified that large quantities of BBs were purchased a little
over a month before the attack in 2 Walmart stores in New Hampshire, at a time
when Tsarnaev's cellphone was again being used near UMass-Dartmouth.
The defense has made it clear from the 1st day of testimony on March 4 - when
his lawyer admitted he participated in the bombings - that their strategy is
not to win an acquittal but to save Tsarnaev from the death penalty by arguing
that his brother, Tamerlan, was largely responsible for the bombings.
Prosecutors ended their case on an emotional note. At least three jurors cried
and wiped their eyes with tissues as they looked at photos of 8-year-old Martin
Richard, who went to watch the marathon with his parents and siblings on April
15, 2013, and was killed when the 2nd of 2 bombs exploded near the finish line.
The boy's parents watched somberly from the 2nd row of the courtroom. Bill
Richard kept his arm around the shoulder of his wife, Denise, throughout the
testimony.
Dr. Henry Nields, chief medical examiner for Massachusetts, said Martin
received injuries to virtually every part of his body, including lacerations of
his liver, left kidney and spleen, broken bones and 3rd-degree burns. His
stomach was also ruptured.
Nields said he removed small nails, metal pellets, fragments of wood and black
plastic from the boy's wounds. He also displayed the blood-stained, shredded
clothing that Martin was wearing when the bomb exploded.
2 other people were killed and more than 260 were injured in the bombings.
Prosecutors believe the brothers were seeking retaliation against the U.S. for
wars in Muslim countries.
The 1st defense witness was Michelle Gamble, an FBI field photographer who
testified earlier Monday for prosecutors, describing various photos and a video
showing the scene of the 2nd blast both before and shortly after the
explosions.
In one of the photos, Martin Richard, his sister and several other children
stand on a metal barricade. Tsarnaev appears to be just a few feet behind
Martin and his sister.
While cross-examining Gamble, Tsarnaev's lawyers showed other photographs with
several people in between Tsarnaev and the children, an apparent attempt to
show that Tsarnaev didn't purposefully target them with the bomb.
When the defense called Gamble as its first witness, Tsarnaev's lawyer, Miriam
Conrad, asked her about a book titled "Wiring" that was found during a search
of the Tsarnaev family's apartment in Cambridge. Gamble said the book was found
under the living room couch.
Tsarnaev's lawyers have tried to show that he was not living in the apartment
when the bombings occurred because he was attending college. Tamerlan Tsarnaev,
26, was living in the apartment with his wife and their young daughter.
During their case, prosecutors presented heart-wrenching testimony from
survivors who lost legs in the bombings. A string of first responders described
a chaotic mix of smoke, blood and screams just after the bombs went off.
The defense will try to show that Tamerlan Tsarnaev was more culpable in the
attack and in the killing 3 days later of Massachusetts Institute of Technology
police Officer Sean Collier.
The defense case is expected to be relatively short. Once that is complete,
jurors will deliberate on whether Tsarnaev is guilty of the 30 federal charges
against him related to the bombing, the killing of Massachusetts Institute of
Technology police Officer Sean Collier 3 days later and a violent confrontation
with police in Watertown.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed during the Watertown confrontation. Dzhokhar
Tsarnaev, then 19, was found more than 18 hours later hiding in a boat parked
in a yard.
If the jury convicts Tsarnaev - an event that may be a foregone conclusion
because of his admitted guilt - the trial will move on to the 2nd phase, when
the same jury will hear more evidence to decide whether Tsarnaev should be put
to death or should spend the rest of his life in prison.
During this 2nd phase of the trial, Tsarnaev's lawyers will present evidence of
factors they believe mitigate his crimes, such as his age at the time and the
influence of his older brother. The Tsarnaevs - ethnic Chechens - lived in the
former Soviet Republic of Kyrgyzstan and the volatile Dagestan region of Russia
before moving to the U.S. with their parents and 2 sisters about a decade
before the bombings.
Prosecutors will present evidence of aggravating factors, such as the brutality
of the attack and the death of a child, to argue that Tsarnaev should be
executed.
(source: WCVB news)
*************
Aurora theater shooting trial: James Holmes' parents speak against death
penalty for mentally ill
With less than a month until opening statements in the Aurora movie theater
shooting trial, the suspect's parents are speaking out against the death
penalty.
Bob and Arlene Holmes recently spoke to the Del Mar Times in California - their
first interview since the shooting that left 12 dead and 70 others injured in
July of 2012.
James Holmes' parents said they feel guilty for not recognizing their son was
mentally ill and needed treatment.
However, they say their son was never violent.
"We never owned a gun," Arlene Holmes said. "[He] showed no interest in guns."
Arlene Holmes added, "Because so many people like to blame the parents if a
child is mentally ill, we have to reaffirm to ourselves every day that we were
good parents and good people, and this still happened anyway."
Now they hope their son's life can be spared through a plea deal with
prosecutors.
"I do not know why you want to pursue execution of a mentally ill man," Arlene
Holmes said about the prosecutors. "But I pray for you, so that you will find
peace in your life. I pray you will change your mind. Please stop this quest
for death so you may focus on those who are alive."
Arlene Holmes spoke to the Times about a prayer book she wrote, called "When
The Focus Shifts: The Prayer Book of Arlene Holmes."
The book is available now and Arlene Holmes said the proceeds will be donated
to mental health services, not to her son's case.
In the book she prays for the victims daily - and by name.
Caren Teves, whose son Alex was killed in the theater, called Arlene Holmes'
words an "insult to our son's memory and to our family," Yahoo News reported.
"I struggle to understand how this individual could possibly pray for, by name,
the thousands upon thousands of innocent people who continue to be directly
impacted by her son's evil, premeditated acts," she told Yahoo News.
Teves called the book "nothing more than a calculated attempt to influence
members of the jury."
"Almost 3 years after Alex was executed in that theater, she has never even
extended the decent act of a simple apology," Yahoo News quoted Teves as
saying.
(source: thedenverchannel.com)
***************
Death penalty complication: Pharmacists group discourages providing execution
drugs
The American Pharmacists Assn. on Monday adopted a policy that discourages its
members from providing death penalty drugs.
The new guidelines could make it tough for death penalty states such as Texas
that have been looking at made-to-order execution drugs from compounding
pharmacies as the answer to a nationwide shortage of execution drugs.
The association's governing body approved the policy at a meeting in San Diego.
The group lacks the legal authority to bar compounding pharmacies from selling
execution drugs. But its policies set ethical standards followed by
pharmacists, just as the American Medical Assn. does for doctors.
Prisons have had to buy made-to-order execution drugs from compounding
pharmacies in recent years because the pharmaceutical companies they used to
buy their drugs from refuse to sell them for use in lethal injections after
coming under pressure from death penalty opponents.
But now the compounded version is also difficult to come by, with most
pharmacists reluctant to expose themselves to possible harassment by people who
oppose the death penalty.
Texas' prison agency scrambled this month to find a supplier to replenish its
inventory, then found a supply from a compounded pharmacy it would not
identify. Also this month, an execution in Georgia was postponed when prison
authorities questioned the appearance of the compounded pentobarbital they
planned to use.
After a troubling use of a 2-drug method last year, Ohio said it would use
compounded versions of either pentobarbital or sodium thiopental in the future,
though it doesn't have supplies of either drug and hasn't said how it will
obtain them. All executions scheduled this year were pushed to 2016 to give the
state more time to find the drugs.
Others states are turning to alternative methods.
Tennessee has approved the use of the electric chair if lethal-injection drugs
aren't available, and Utah has reinstated the firing squad as a backup method
if it can't obtain the drugs. Oklahoma is considering legislation that would
make it the 1st state to allow the use of nitrogen gas as an execution method.
(source: Associated Press)
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