June 15
NEW HAMPSHIRE:
Prosecutors: Gary Lee Sampson can get fair shot in Boston
Convicted spree killer Gary Lee Sampson's bid to move his September
death-penalty sentencing retrial out of Boston is a lost cause, given the
example set by the recently concluded trial of Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar
Tsarnaev, federal prosecutors contend.
Lawyers for the 55-year-old Sampson filed the motion for a change of venue
under seal. U.S. District Court Judge Mark L. Wolf yesterday ordered them to
submit a redacted version, noting, "There is a presumption of public access to
the documents on which judicial decisions are made." A hearing to address
relocating Sampson's sentencing retrial is scheduled for Wednesday.
Prosecutors note that Sampson's 3 murders occurred 14 years ago next month. And
they argue in their opposition papers before Wolf, "The press coverage of this
case, while significant, is not close to being of the same magnitude as the
press converage that" swirled around marathon bomber Tsarnaev's case. Convicted
and ordered executed by a local jury, Tsarnaev, 21, will be formally sentenced
to death June 24.
A prior jury sentenced Sampson to die in 2003, after he pleaded guilty to
carjacking, torturing and murdering Philip McCloskey, 69, and Jonathan Rizzo,
19, before he fled to New Hampshire in Rizzo???s car and murdered Robert
Whitney, 58, in a cottage on Lake Winnipesaukee. His sentence was overturned in
2011 after an investigation revealed one juror lied about her family???s
criminal history during the selection process.
(source: Boston Herald)
NORTH CAROLINA:
The governor's pardon: Harsh lessons from an unjust case
The celebration can't help but be mixed with sadness - and anger. Half-brothers
Henry McCollum and Leon Brown were pardoned by Gov. Pat McCrory recently after
being exonerated and released from prison last September. But that was after
spending 30 years - the bulk of their young lives - in prison.
McCollum was the longest-serving inmate on North Carolina's death row, The News
& Observer of Raleigh reported.
The half-brothers are entitled to compensation from the state that could go as
high as $750,000 each; $50,000 for each year they were imprisoned.
In September 1983, McCollum, who was then 19, and Brown, 15, were wrongly
convicted of the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl who had been found in a
field in Robeson County. There was no physical evidence to link them to the
crime. The brothers were scared teenagers with low IQs who were coerced by
police into confessing, according to defense attorneys.
Some physical evidence linked to the crime was tested last year as part of an
investigation by the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission. It pointed to
a man who is already serving a life sentence for a subsequent rape and murder.
It was on the strength of that evidence that the brothers were exonerated.
McCollum is now 51. Brown is 47. They're not familiar with cell phones or
computers. They say they're having a hard time adjusting to life outside of
prison. They feel shame because they can't help their families pay bills,
according to news accounts.
They deserve all the compensation the state can provide.
Many will see lessons in the exoneration of 2 innocent men who were wrongfully
convicted. Some will see it as a sign that the death penalty should be
abolished before innocent parties are executed, if they haven't been already.
Some will say that the sentences reveal serious cracks in a flawed system -
especially when it comes to coerced confessions.
Some may claim, as then-N.C. House Speaker Thom Tillis did last September, that
the vindication is a sign that the system works - it just takes too long.
That conclusion is a perversion of the facts. The case should never have gone
to court in the first place. And its conclusion took far too long.
"We're very happy that the governor reached this decision, but not at all
surprised," Ken Rose, a lawyer who represented McCollum for 20 years, told The
Associated Press. "None of us have any doubt that they are innocent. And
finally the state has acknowledged actual innocence."
But he sounded an important cautionary note: "If we continue executions, we are
going to be executing some innocent people on death row."
We've long called for the reform of the death penalty in North Carolina. The
pursuit and administration of it has too many "ifs" to feel reasonably secure
in its execution. The human cost of getting it wrong is too high to bear.
(source: Editorial, Winston-Salem Journal)
FLORIDA----death row inmate suicide
Florida death row inmate commits suicide
Gregory David Larkin, a 41-year-old death row inmate, was found dead in his
cell at Florida State Prison in Bradford County on the morning of May 27.
Prison officials listed the cause of death as asphyxiation but did not provide
further details.
Larkin's trial was a travesty of justice, in which he was allowed to represent
himself despite showing signs of serious mental illness, in what his lawyer
later called a "state-assisted suicide."
Larkin was arrested and later convicted of the 2009 murders of his parents,
Richard and Myra. Prosecutors allege that Larkin bludgeoned his parents to
death in April of that year. Larkin was arrested weeks later at a hotel near
the Jacksonville international airport. He claimed to have been in Mexico at
the time of the murders.
His parents' stolen vehicle was also found at the hotel, and he was initially
charged only with theft. 2 weeks later, prosecutors charged him with murder
after bloody clothes of Larkin's were found to match his parents' DNA.
The alleged motive for the crime was anger over his parents' decision to sell a
dive and kayak business that they had owned in Costa Rica and that Larkin
managed for them. The business had been doing poorly in recent years.
Over the course of the next 2 1/2 years at various pre-trial hearings, Larkin
repeatedly displayed paranoid, delusional behavior. At a hearing in November
2009 Larkin sought to discharge his public defender, Brian Morrissey, for
ineffective assistance. Larkin alleged that his attorney had secretly recorded
conversations with him to aid the prosecutors, concealed a secret "2nd
indictment" made by another judge, and waived his right to a speedy trial
without his consent. After refuting his client's claims under oath the judge in
the case asked Larkin if he wished to represent himself, but the defendant
chose to continue to retain the attorney he had just accused of conspiring with
the prosecution.
In July 2010, Larkin retained private counsel but subsequently dismissed it in
September 2011. During a series of hearings throughout 2011 and 2012, Larkin
sought to represent himself. Though his competency and understanding of the
charges against him were repeatedly called into question, Larkin was eventually
allowed to represent himself.
When his trial commenced in January 2012, Larkin refused to participate in jury
selection. As a result, multiple jurors were struck from the pool by the state
and the court who were in opposition to the death penalty. Larkin called only 4
witnesses in his defense - friends and neighbors of his parents who could not
conclusively state when they last saw his parents alive. Larkin refused to
testify on his own behalf and was convicted by the 12-member jury.
Larkin again refused representation for the sentencing phase of his trial.
Morrissey, who had been appointed as Larkins' stand-by public defender, sought
to have his clients' mental state evaluated, saying that the court's decision
to allow him to represent himself could be considered state-assisted suicide.
The state granted Morrissey's request.
Dr. William Meadows, a forensic psychologist, conducted a series of tests on
Larkin. He stated that Larkin's "understanding of the adversarial nature of
legal proceedings, his capacity to disclose pertinent facts to counsel, and his
capacity to testify relevantly and coherently were unacceptable." Furthermore
Dr. Meadows concluded that Larkin met the "provisional DSM-IV-TR [Diagnostic
and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders] diagnostic criteria for a
delusional disorder" and was thus "incompetent to proceed," according to
Florida state Supreme Court documents.
The trial judge attacked Dr. Meadows' conclusions and ordered a 2nd evaluation.
The subsequent evaluation by Dr. Alan Waldman found Larkin "competent to
proceed" but added that Larkin suffered from a "Personality Disorder Not
Otherwise Specified." A 3rd doctor supported Waldmans' conclusions.
During the sentencing phase of his trial, Larkin called no mitigating witnesses
and did not make any statements or testify on his own behalf. The state allowed
Morrissey to call Dr. Meadows to the stand where he repeated his previous
diagnoses. On March 15, 2012, Larkin was sentenced to death. The Florida state
Supreme Court subsequently upheld Larkin's conviction.
Larkin is the 4th inmate on Florida's death row to commit suicide since 2000. A
study published in the Journal of Forensic Sciences in 2002 showed that the
suicide rate of death row inmates between 1976 and 1999 was 113 per 100,000 -
10 times the rate of suicide in the United States as a whole and 6 times the
rate of suicide in the general US prison population.
(sourece: World Socialist Web Site)
MISSOURI:
Death penalty sought for man accused of killing couple from Sherwood
Missouri prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty for a 35-year-old man
serving life sentences in 6 Illinois slayings and who is also accused in an
Arkansas couple's 2008 killing.
Prosecutors in Jefferson County south of St. Louis filed notice on June 8 of
their intent to press for Nicholas Sheley's execution if he's convicted in the
Festus, Missouri, killings of Jill and Tom Estes of Sherwood.
Sheley was serving 6 life sentences at Pontiac Correctional Center for a string
of killings that began in his Illinois hometown of Sterling. 4 victims were
bludgeoned with a hammer.
He was extradited in February to Missouri, which unlike Illinois has the death
penalty.
Sheley's St. Louis-based public defender could not be reached for comment late
Friday.
(source: Associated Press)
NEVADA:
Accused rapist, killer due in court before death penalty trial
Accused rapist and killer Bryan Clay is due in Eighth District Court on Monday
morning, more than 3 years after a grisly north valley home invasion that
killed a mother and her 10-year-old daughter and nearly killed the woman's
husband as well as injuring 1 of his sons.
The court visit, scheduled for 8:30 a.m., is a status check to make sure all is
in order before the scheduled start of the trial, set for June 22 at 1 p.m.
before Judge Jessie Walsh.
Clay is accused of bludgeoning to death Yadira Martinez and her 10-year-old
daughter, Karla, whose bodies were found April 16, 2014, in their Las Vegas
home. Both mother and daughter had been sexually assaulted during the attacks,
which also left Arturo Martinez-Sanchez with severe head injuries, according to
police reports.
Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson has said his office will seek the
death penalty if Clay is convicted.
The killings rocked much of the valley, especially because Arturo and his sons
survived more than a day in the home before one of his son's told his brother
to go to school and get help. The killings were not reported until the child
could get to Hoggard Elementary School to tell staff that his mother and sister
were dead.
In June 2014, a grand jury indicted Clay on 10 felony charges, including 2
counts of murder with use of a deadly weapon. Metro Police arrested Clay in
late April after DNA tied him to the crimes.
Arturo, a religious man, has since remarried. He has said several times that he
has forgiven Clay for his actions.
(source: KSNV news)
UTAH:
Majority of Utahns Think Child Sex Trafficking Should be Punishable by the
Death Penalty
Most Utahns agree with Rep. Paul Ray's proposal to make child sex trafficking a
capital offense.
A new UtahPolicy.com survey finds 68% of Utah voters want to impose the death
penalty for people convicted of child sex trafficking. Nearly a majority (48%)
strongly agree with the idea. 28% oppose the plan. Just 3% are undecided.
Ray (R-Clearfield) was behind the measure to bring back the firing squad as a
method of execution in Utah. That bill passed during the 2015 session after
sparking global outrage.
Ray has said in numerous interviews that he hopes to bring his current proposal
to an interim committee for consideration sometime this summer.
Support for the plan breaks sharply along partisan lines. A majority of
Democrats (53%) oppose the idea while Republicans overwhelmingly favor capital
punishment (76%) for child sex trafficking. Independent voters also are big
supporters of the proposal as 68% say they are in favor.
Every single religious demographic in our survey favors Ray's idea.
- 72% of very active members of the LDS Church say they like the plan
- 82% of somewhat active Mormons are in favor
- 65% of inactive Mormons express support for the idea
- 80% of Catholics favor the plan
- 76% of Protestants back the idea
- Even 67% of those who subscribe to no religion say they are in favor of Ray's
proposal.
The survey was conducted June 2-8, 2015 among 601 registered Utah voters. It
has a margin of error of +/- 4%.
(source: policy.com)
USA:
Death Penalty Is The Ultimate Corrupt, Big Government Program - OpEd By Ron
Paul
Nebraska's legislature recently made headlines when it ended the state's death
penalty. Many found it odd that a conservatives-dominated legislature would
support ending capital punishment, since conservative politicians have
traditionally supported the death penalty. However, an increasing number of
conservatives are realizing that the death penalty is inconsistent with both
fiscal and social conservatism. These conservatives are joining with
libertarians and liberals in a growing anti-death penalty coalition.
It is hard to find a more wasteful and inefficient government program than the
death penalty. New Hampshire recently spent over $4 million dollars prosecuting
just 2 death penalty cases, while Jasper County in Texas raised property taxes
by 7 % in order to pay for 1 death penalty case! A Duke University study found
that replacing North Carolina's death penalty would save taxpayers
approximately $22 million dollars in just 2 years.
Death penalty cases are expensive because sentencing someone to death requires
2 trials. The 1st trial determines the accused person's guilt, while the 2nd
trial determines if the convicted individual "deserves" the death penalty. A
death sentence is typically followed by years of appeals, and sometimes the
entire case is retried.
Despite all the time and money spent to ensure that no one is wrongly executed,
the system is hardly foolproof. Since 1973, 1 out of every 10 individuals
sentenced to death has been released from death row because of evidence
discovered after conviction.
The increased use of DNA evidence has made it easier to clear the innocent and
identify the guilty. However, DNA evidence is not a 100 % guarantee of an
accurate verdict. DNA evidence is often mishandled or even falsified.
Furthermore, DNA evidence is available in only 5 to 10 % of criminal cases. It
is not surprising that the government wastes so much time and money on such a
flawed system. After all, corruption, waste, and incompetence are common
features of government programs ranging from Obamacare to the TSA to public
schools to the post office. Given the long history of government failures, why
should anyone, especially conservatives who claim to be the biggest skeptics of
government, think it is a good idea to entrust government with the power over
life and death?
Death penalty supporters try to claim the moral high ground by claiming that
the death penalty deters crime. But, if the death penalty is an effective
deterrent, why do jurisdictions without the death penalty have a lower crime
rate than jurisdictions with the death penalty? And why did a 2009 survey find
that the majority of American police chiefs consider the death penalty the
least effective way to reduce violent crime?
As strong as the practical arguments against the death penalty are, the moral
case is much stronger. Since it is impossible to develop an error-free death
penalty system, those who support the death penalty are embracing the idea that
the government should be able to execute innocent people for the "greater
good." The idea that the government should be able to force individuals to
sacrifice their right to life for imaginary gains in personal safety is even
more dangerous to liberty than the idea that the government should be able to
force individuals to sacrifice their property rights for imaginary gains in
economic security.
Opposition to allowing the government to take life is also part of a consistent
pro-life position. Thus, those of any ideology who oppose abortion or
preemptive war should also oppose the death penalty. Until the death penalty is
abolished, we will have neither a free nor a moral society.
(source: This article was published by the RonPaul
Institute----eurasiareview.com)
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