May 2
OHIO:
Dean death penalty appeal to be heard Tuesday
A Springfield man sentenced to death in 2011 is appealing his case to the Ohio
Supreme Court, and is scheduled to argue that case Tuesday.
Jason Dean, 40, contends his sentence was out of proportion to his role in a
4-day crime spree that ended in a murder.
Dean was convicted in 2011 on 13 charges that included aggravated murder,
attempted murder and aggravated robbery. Prosecutors have said Dean was the
ringleader of a series of crimes in which then 16-year-old Joshua Wade shot and
killed Titus Arnold during a robbery attempt. Arnold was a youth counselor who
was robbed of $6 as he was leaving work.
Court records show oral arguments are scheduled in the Ohio Supreme Court
Tuesday. Dean's attorneys couldn't be reached for comment Friday.
Dean's attorneys argued that, among other errors, prosecutors had little
evidence that the crimes were calculated. They argue that evidence was based
solely on testimony from Dean's former girlfriend, who also admitted she "lied
repeatedly to the police about the facts of the case."
They also argued Dean's sentence was out of proportion, because Wade, who
killed Titus, only received a life sentence.
But prosecutors countered as a juvenile, Wade was ineligible for the death
penalty, and the sentencing options for the 2 cases "are fundamentally
different."
That argument is the crux of the case, said Andy Wilson, Clark County
prosecutor. But he compared the case to the D.C. sniper case, in which John
Allen Muhammad convinced a juvenile to commit a series of shootings across
Virginia and Maryland in 2002. Muhammed was put to death, while the juvenile
was sentenced to life in prison.
"Jason Dean is the one who's responsible," Wilson said. "He's the one who
provided the weapons. He's the one who provided the vehicles. He's the one who
provided the motive. He's the one who took this kid under his wing and he
pointed a gun into the chest of Titus Arnold and squeezed the trigger and it
misfired. Had it not jammed, he actually would have been the trigger man."
Court records show Dean and Wade were also accused of other crimes, including a
shooting at a convenience store and a drive-by shooting on Dibert Avenue.
Prosecutors said during the drive-by, several people, including a pregnant
woman and a 1-year-old girl, were nearly killed.
Wade was convicted in the case and sentenced to life in 2006. Dean was
sentenced to death that same year, but the conviction was overturned in 2010
after the Ohio Supreme Court determined Clark County Judge Douglas Rastatter
made rulings and statements during the trial that prevented Dean from having a
fair hearing.
Dean was sentenced to death again after an additional hearing in 2011, but the
appeal from his attorneys cites 15 errors as grounds to overturn the death
sentence.
Dean's attorneys also argued there should have been separate trials for each of
the significant incidents. Instead, prosecutors pulled the incidents into a
single case to secure a death sentence, they argued.
"As a result, the prosecution was able to secure Dean's conviction and death
sentence by burying the jurors with an avalanche of bad facts, rather that by
distinctly proving each charged offense," Dean's attorneys wrote in their
appeal.
But prosecutors argued in their rebuttal that Ohio law favors joining the cases
when proper, and Dean's crimes were committed as part of a "course of conduct
over a period of several days."
"Here, the three shooting incidents were specifically alleged to be part of a
'course of conduct' that involved the 'purposeful killing of or attempt to kill
2 or more persons,'" prosecutors argued. "So, without doubt, the claims were
properly joined."
Court records show both sides will have 30 minutes to present their case
Tuesday.
(source: Springfield News Sun)
KANSAS:
US Supreme Court's death penalty reviews lead Kansas court to delay case from
sheriff's death
Kansas' highest court has halted its review of the capital murder case stemming
from a sheriff's death because the U.S. Supreme Court is reviewing other death
penalty cases from the state.
The Kansas Supreme Court issued an order this week stopping proceedings in the
case of Scott Cheever. He was sentenced to die for the 2005 shooting of
Greenwood County Sheriff Matt Samuels during a drug raid.
The Kansas court said both sides agreed the delay is appropriate because U.S.
Supreme Court decisions in other cases could apply to Cheever's case.
The nation's highest court has agreed to review Kansas Supreme Court rulings
last year that overturned death sentences for 3 men. They included brothers
Jonathan and Reginald Carr, who faced lethal injection over 4 killings in
Wichita in 2000.
(source: Associated Press)
*************
Change of venue sought in F. Glenn Miller Jr. trial for Jewish center killings
Attorneys for F. Glenn Miller Jr., accused of killing 3 people outside Jewish
facilities in Overland Park last year, on Thursday filed 21 motions as they
prepare for what could be Johnson County's 1st death penalty trial in more than
a decade.
The battle for F. Glenn Miller Jr.'s life has begun in earnest.
Attorneys for the accused killer of 3 people outside Jewish facilities in
Overland Park last year on Thursday filed 21 motions as they prepare for what
could be Johnson County's 1st death penalty trial in more than a decade.
Among the motions is a request for a change of venue because of extensive
pretrial publicity in the case.
Other defense motions cover issues including how jurors should be chosen, how
police collected evidence and how courtroom spectators should behave.
Miller, 74, also known as Frazier Glenn Cross Jr., is scheduled to go to trial
beginning Aug. 17. Attorneys have estimated that trial could last 6 weeks.
He is charged with capital murder in the shooting deaths of William Corporon,
Reat Underwood and Terri LaManno on April 13 last year.
Corporon, 69, and Underwood, his 14-year-old grandson, were killed outside the
Jewish Community Center. LaManno, 53, was killed a few minutes later outside
the Village Shalom care center.
Miller, an avowed white supremacist and anti-Semite from southern Missouri, has
stated publicly that he was trying to kill Jews. None of his victims was
Jewish.
He has repeatedly stated in court hearings that he wants the opportunity to
explain in open court the reasons for his actions, and 1 of Thursday's motions
asked that he be given that chance.
Capital trials are conducted in 2 phases. If a defendant is convicted in the
guilt phase, a 2nd penalty phase is held to determine whether the sentence will
be life in prison or death.
In their motions Thursday, Miller's attorneys asked that he be given the chance
to address jurors in the penalty phase without being put under oath or subject
to cross-examination.
The defense also is requesting that jurors not be shown gruesome crime scene
photos or photos of the victims before they were killed.
Another motion also seeks to have potential jurors questioned by attorneys
individually. The defense also wants prosecutors to be precluded from striking
potential jurors because of their religious views on the death penalty.
A hearing is scheduled for May 14 to begin taking up the motions.
(source: kansascity.com)
OKLAHOMA:
Manufacturer asks Oklahoma to return execution drugs
The Illinois-based manufacturer of a drug used in Oklahoma's lethal injection
process is asking the state to return any supplies it may have obtained and not
to use its products to execute prisoners.
In a letter to Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, drug manufacturer Akorn
also said it was taking steps to ensure that the sedative midazolam is no
longer made available to states for use in executions. The company said the
painkiller hydromorphone, which Oklahoma doesn't use, also won't be available.
"If your prisons have purchased Akorn products directly or indirectly for use
in capital punishment we ask that you immediately return our products for a
full refund," Akorn's general counsel, Joseph Bonaccorsi, wrote in the March 4
letter.
Bonaccorsi and a company spokesman did not immediately return phone messages
seeking comment Thursday.
Akorn is one of several manufacturers of midazolam, a common surgical sedative
that Oklahoma began using last year as the 1st in a 3-drug lethal injection
protocol.
It is not clear whether Oklahoma obtained its midazolam from Akorn. State
officials are prohibited from revealing the source.
Pruitt spokesman Aaron Cooper referred all questions about the drug to the
Department of Corrections, which is responsible for obtaining the drugs used in
executions.
Corrections spokeswoman Terri Watkins said the department had obtained the
drugs necessary to carry out 3 executions that have been delayed while the U.S.
Supreme Court considers whether the use of midazolam is appropriate for
executions. She declined to comment further.
During oral arguments before the nation's highest court on Wednesday, an
attorney representing the inmates argued midazolam is ineffective in preventing
searing pain from 1 of the other drugs used in the process.
Death penalty states like Oklahoma have been forced to find alternative drugs
to use for executions because of opposition to the death penalty from drug
manufacturers. During oral arguments on Wednesday that lasted for more than an
hour, conservative Justice Samuel Alito said death penalty opponents are waging
a "guerrilla war" against executions by working to limit the supply of more
effective drugs.
(source: KOCO news)
*****************
Death Row Inmate Likely To Die By Nitrogen Gas ---- Richard Glossip would be
the 1st American to be executed by nitrogen gas, although lawyers are expected
to mount challenges.
A death row inmate is likely to become the 1st American scheduled to die using
nitrogen gas, even if he wins a case at the US Supreme Court.
Richard Glossip and 2 other prisoners are appealing against the use of a
controversial lethal injection drug.
But even if the court rules in their favour, the state of Oklahoma is already
making alternative plans to execute them.
The Supreme Court was told last week that Midazolam is not a powerful enough
anaesthetic to render prisoners unconscious, before 2 other drugs are injected
to kill them.
There have been several instances of prisoners taking longer than expected to
die.
Robert Dunham, the executive director of the Death Penalty Information Centre,
told Sky News: "You've got inmates who are conscious, you've got inmates who
are gasping.
"One description is that an inmate was flopping around like a fish against the
restraints.
"That's someone who is clearly experiencing high levels of pain and we know
that the lethal drug is akin to being burned from the inside out."
That point was taken up by Justice Elena Kagan while questioning Oklahoma's
Solicitor General in court.
"It's like being burned alive," Justice Kagan said.
"We've actually talked about being burned at the stake, and everybody agrees
that that's cruel and unusual punishment.
"So suppose that we said, we're going to burn you at the stake, but before we
do, we're going to use an anaesthetic of completely unknown properties and
unknown effects.
"Maybe you won't feel it, maybe you will. We just can't tell. And you think
that that would be okay?"
The 9 justices who sit on America's highest court appear to be split on the
issue. They will make a ruling in June and it's expected to be close.
But conservative justices like Samuel Alito are known to be firmly in favour of
the death penalty, and appeared to object to this case even being heard.
"This Court has held that the death penalty is constitutional," Justice Alito
said.
"Those who oppose the death penalty are free to try to persuade legislatures to
abolish the death penalty. Some of those efforts have been successful.
"They're free to ask this court to overrule the death penalty.
"But until that occurs, is it appropriate for the judiciary to countenance what
amounts to a guerrilla war against the death penalty which consists of efforts
to make it impossible for the States to obtain drugs that could be used to
carry out capital punishment with little, if any, pain?"
Oklahoma's Attorney General Scott Pruitt told reporters outside the court: "The
state of Oklahoma, since the late 1970s, was the state that gave birth, gave
life to the lethal injection process, as the most humane way to carry out
capital punishment."
Although Glossip was the main petitioner who was listed in the court documents,
his name was only heard when the case was introduced.
He was never mentioned again. He spoke to Sky News from death row in Oklahoma
State Penitentiary.
"If it's so humane then you have to explain what happened to the guy in Ohio
who suffered.
"You have to explain what happened to the guy in Arizona who suffered for 2
hours.
"You have to account for (Clayton) Lockett here in Oklahoma who suffered for 45
minutes. If it's so humane why did those people suffer for so long."
Last month the Governor of Oklahoma signed a law which allows death row
prisoners to be executed with nitrogen gas if lethal injection drugs are not
available.
Glossip would be the 1st American to be executed using this method, although
lawyers are expected to mount legal challenges before the sentence is carried
out.
(source: Sky News)
NEBRASKA:
Payment to members of Beatrice 6 advanced by Legislature----State settles for
$300,000 with last of Beatrice 6
The state of Nebraska has settled a lawsuit with a Lincoln woman who spent 5
years in prison for her role in a Beatrice woman's rape and murder.
Senators made points about DNA testing and the death penalty Friday before
advancing a bill that would make payments to people for claims against the
state.
Those claims, advanced to a second round of consideration, included 3 by
members of the so-called Beatrice 6, for wrongful conviction in the 1985 rape
and murder of Helen Wilson in her Beatrice apartment.
James Dean, Ada Joann Taylor and Debra Shelden would be awarded claims of about
$1.15 million total under the Nebraska Wrongful Conviction Act.
Others in the Beatrice 6 received money from the state in claims paid in 2011.
"It's not a bill that we all want to pay," said Sen. Dave Bloomfield of
Hoskins. "It's simply one of those bills that has to be paid."
Omaha Sen. Ernie Chambers, who introduced a bill (LB268) that would repeal
Nebraska's death penalty, said in the cases of Dean, Taylor and Shelden, the
death penalty -- used to threaten and intimidate the defendants -- did not
serve the interest of justice. It resulted, instead, in people pleading guilty
or no contest to crimes they knew nothing about.
As a result, he said, the state is now paying the last of a $2 million debt
that doesn't come close to doing justice, Chambers said.
Those who want to keep the death penalty want to continue to allow cops to lie
and badger mentally ill people until they plead guilty, Chambers said.
Consideration of new DNA evidence is what helped free the Beatrice 6. Lincoln
Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks' DNA bill (LB245) that would lengthen the time limit,
from three to five years, during which new evidence can be considered after
conviction, passed recently and was signed by the governor.
"That's part of being smart on crime and not necessarily tough on crime," she
said. "We have to be able to let people who are wrongfully incarcerated to be
able to have a chance to plead their case."
Total payout for Dean, who served 5 years and nearly 5 months, would be about
$320,000 and for Taylor, who served 19 years and nearly 8 months, would be
about $534,000.
Debra Shelden, who served 4 years and nearly 9 months, would be paid $300,000.
Each has already received $50,000.
In 1989, a jury convicted Joseph White of the 1985 sexual assault and murder of
Wilson. He was the only 1 of the 6 defendants who refused to plead guilty to
reduced charges to avoid the threat of the electric chair.
Also included in the claims bill is a settlement on a racial discrimination
lawsuit involving 5 black Nebraska State Penitentiary guards who said they were
subjected to race-based harassment and retaliation at work from other prison
employees.
Their lawsuit was originally dismissed in 2012 by U.S. District Judge Richard
Kopf, who said they hadn't met the demanding standard for a hostile work
environment set by case law.
Last year, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals sent the case back for trial, and
it was settled last summer. About $777,000 would be paid out to the claimants
-- Jaryl Ellis, Michael Hunter, Paul Zeiger, Tiffany Johnson and Aaron Delaney
-- and their attorneys at Keating O'Gara law firm.
(source: Lincoln Journal Star)
CALIFORNIA:
Pulling the plug on death penalty
It's come down to this: Death penalty foes who have consistently done
everything they can to block California from executing those on death row now
want the death penalty declared unconstitutional because the state doesn't put
them to death quick enough. They argue lingering on death row for an uncertain
execution is cruel and inhumane punishment.
In Nebraska, the legislature wants to do away with the death penalty because it
costs $3 million to put someone on death row in that state compared to $1.1
million for life without parole.
The argument goes like this: Think of what the state could do with the money
they save.
But remember one thing: Life in prison doesn't mean life in prison in
California. Such prisoners are paroled all the time including a number who got
a 2nd chance to kill someone else and ended up on death row.
Then there is life without parole. While no inmate who has received life
without parole has ever been paroled, there needs to be ironclad guarantees
that the state will rigorously defend any constitutional challenges to such
sentences.
In the past, constitutional officers from the governor to the attorney general
have been less than faithful about defending and implementing the death penalty
despite voters having spoken clearly on the subject at the ballot box numerous
times as well as the United States Supreme Court weighing in.
It is not a leap in logic to believe those currently against the death penalty
would shift all of their efforts to chipping away at life without parole
sentences should they succeed in getting the death penalty off the table in
California.
The main question should be whether the death penalty is effective at deterring
future murders. The answer is a resounding "yes."
There have been 114 death row inmates in California that have died since the
death penalty was re-instituted in 1978. 14 were executed, 24 committed
suicide, 1 was shot to death during a riot in a prison yard, another had a
heart attack after being pepper sprayed, 2 drug overdosed, and the rest were of
natural causes.
There are still more than 750 death row inmates.
So with only 14 executions out of 100 deaths, how could the death penalty be
considered a success?
Those who are against it argue the death penalty's existence doesn't deter
people from murder others. True, but the point is those convicted and sentenced
to death don't kill again meaning the death penalty has successfully prevented
future murders. Whether they are executed, kill themselves, overdose, or die of
natural causes they are were warehoused in such a manner not to continue
killing.
If you think this is wrapped logic, guess again. Raymond Edward Steele passed
away last month on San Quentin's death row. He was 67. The preliminary
indications are he succumbed to natural causes.
Steele was on death row for the 1988 stabbing murder of Leann Thuman, a
mentally disabled woman.
But here's an inconvenient truth. It wasn't Steele's 1st rodeo as a hardcore
criminal and murderer. He was previously convicted of raping a woman who lived
next door to his aunt as well as for stabbing to death his 15-year-old
babysitter who he plunged a knife into 8 times.
Steele's road to death row isn't unlike the 750 plus folks he leaves behind. A
number of them had murdered before and were sentenced to prison - sometimes
life with parole - and got out and murdered again. Some are serial killers.
Others the evidence is so overwhelming and their methods of killing are so
heinous that they make terrorists seem like choir boys in comparison.
An average Joe has a hard time understanding how the criminal justice system
can find an individual guilty of the vicious rape of a woman as well as the
stabbing death of a teen girl - 2 separate incidents - and then basically allow
him to return to society so he can prey on others.
The threshold for a death penalty conviction is so high not because of the fact
the person ultimately is supposed to be put to death for their crimes but it is
because of the crime they commit.
Frankly, I have no problem with serial killers and child rapists/murders being
sentenced to life without parole providing they are housed in the general
prison population. If there are no extreme penalties for extreme crimes then
there should be no extreme accommodations such as solitary confinement for
those earning convictions in such cases. Certainly death penalty opponents
could agree with that.
I will gladly change my position on the death penalty and support life without
parole providing those individuals convicted share cells with other life
without parole convicts and receive no special treatment designed to separate
them from the general population.
That's not blood thirsty. It's being reasonable.
If you want to take away the ultimate penalty for heinous crimes by arguing the
costs don't justify it then you have to deliver to make sure the cost of
housing such convicts is in line with other prisoners.
Fair is fair.
(source: Dennis Wyatt, Executive Editor--Manteca Bulletin)
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