Oct. 3
ARIZONA:
Death penalty murder case slowly making progress
It's been more than a year since the body of 8-year-old Bella Grogan-Cannella
was found about a mile from her Bullhead City home.
She had been strangled to death and her partially clad body was buried in a
shallow grave in a wash.
Her mom, stepfather and his mother were arrested on drug charges a couple of
weeks following the child's murder. Tania Grogan was sentenced to 5 years in
prison last week for charges related to selling methamphetamine. Stepfather
Ralph Folster was sentenced to 20 years last May on drug charges, and
grandmother Freddie Nicholson is on probation for possessing drug
paraphernalia.
Meanwhile, the death penalty case against the man accused of killing
Grogan-Cannella continues to wend its way through the courtroom of Mohave
County Superior Court Judge Lee Jantzen.
Justin James Rector, 27, was back in court on Wednesday for a status update on
his pending trial, which is scheduled to begin in a year.
Jantzen said he would issue rulings by the end of the week on 11 of many
requests made by defense attorneys Gerald Gavin and Ron Gilleo. They and
prosecutor Greg McPhillips requested Jantzen schedule a so-called law and
motion day for them to argue the merits of the myriad documents, which range
from a request Jantzen move the trial outside of Mohave County to asking the
judge to rule the death penalty unconstitutional. Other documents of note
include a request that Rector be provided a laptop computer with unfettered
access in his jail cell in order to review the case against him in private, and
one that requests Rector be allowed to wear civilian clothing and appear to be
unrestrained at all of his hearings, not just at trial, and that the jail
personnel also wear civilian clothing.
Jantzen intimated he has made up his mind on some of them.
"I don't think, on some of these, that I need to hear evidence," said Jantzen.
Although he did note the flurry of defense filings has been heavy. "They keep
coming and they haven't stopped coming," said Jantzen.
"Digging into this file has been very difficult," he said, noting he's already
working weekends to address his other cases and that he has a "rough draft" to
his rulings on nearly a dozen of the requests filed by Gavin and Gilleo.
McPhillips voiced concerns regarding the need to have Rector, 27, examined by a
psychiatrist, which is generally required in death penalty cases unless the
defendant and his or her attorneys refuse. The idea is to look not only at his
overall mental health, but specifically his state of mind when he allegedly
killed Grogan-Cannella.
Gavin said he and Gilleo would request the exam at some point in the future,
but not before they gather as much documentation on Rector's mental health
history as possible.
"It's essential for us to provide this in order to make the correct diagnosis,"
said Gavin.
Getting that information, however, has been difficult, with some entities
saying they have no information on treating Rector and others dragging their
feet.
"We're trying to not threaten people with subpoenas," he said, but he assured
the judge Rector would submit to the exam.
Gavin also asked Jantzen to schedule a "Chronis" hearing, which would give him
and Gilleo the opportunity to challenge the probable cause of the state's
alleged aggravating circumstances that make Rector eligible for the death
penalty.
Such "aggravators" could be accepted if Rector has a prior felony conviction,
if it is determined the crime was cruel, heinous or depraved, or cold and
calculating.
Jantzen assured attorneys on all sides that he would file his rulings on 11 of
the requests. He set Rector's next status hearing for Dec. 9.
(source: Kingman Daily Miner)
CALIFORNIA:
COS rapist accused of killing 3
A Lemoore man accused of kidnapping and raping a College of the Sequoias
student in 1980 will be tried for stabbing to death 2 woman, 1 pregnant, that
same year.
Ventura County Sheriff's officials announced this week that Wilson Chouest, 63,
was arrested while in prison after DNA connected him the slayings of women in
the city of Delano and in Ventura County just days apart, in the summer of
1980.
But in all the 35 years since, law enforcement hasn't managed to identify the 2
women, and nobody has come forward to identify them. So Ventura County
sheriff's officials say they're hoping social media and press coverage will
help put names to the faces of these women.
Autopsies revealed that both women had also previously given birth, meaning
they likely have family somewhere.
Chouest will be tried on all 3 murders - including the one in Delano - in
Ventura County. He was arraigned on 3 murder charges, making him eligible for
the death penalty.
Chouest was serving a life sentence for robbing and kidnapping 2 COS students
in Visalia in 1980, which occurred just before the slayings. He raped 1 of
those women, Ventura Sheriff's Sgt. Denise Sliva said. Though sentenced to life
in prison, he's eligible for parole in 2017.
"This is a very important case. We have 2 women who have gone unidentified for
more than 35 years," the sergeant said. "There's a family searching for their
mother somewhere."
The woman found in Kern County died of multiple stab wounds and is described as
Hispanic or Native American in her early 30s. She was wearing a pink shirt with
blue jeans and white socks when she was killed. She had a tattoo on her upper
arm that said, "Shirley," "Love you" and "Seattle."
She had another on her lower arm said "Mother" and "I Love you," Ventura County
officials said.
Delano police said in a statement that they believe her name may be "Rebecca"
or "Becky Ochoa."
One of the slain Ventura County women is described as Hispanic, in her 20s with
black hair that had the ends bleached. She was wearing a white, short-sleeved
shirt; red, corduroy pants; and had no tattoos or other identifying marks. She
had extensive dental work and was 5 months pregnant with a male fetus,
sheriff's officials report.
"This is an example of dedicated police work and the benefits of modern
technology used to connect the dots of a 35-year-old cold case," said Visalia
Sgt. Damon Maurice. "Hopefully, making the public aware of these cases and the
victims will give families closure and bring justice."
(source: Visalia Times-Delta)
USA:
John Kasich on How to Reduce Mass Shootings: More Death Penalty----But most
shooters kill themselves.
Ohio Governor John Kasich told reporters in New Hampshire on Friday that he
considers the death penalty and long prison sentences a better approach than
gun control when it comes to reducing the number of mass shootings.
Kasich, who voted for a federal assault weapons ban as a Republican congressman
2 decades ago, demurred when asked what steps Washington should take in the
wake of the Thursday massacre at Umpquah Community College in Oregon that left
10 people dead. "I don't believe that gun control would stop this," he told a
scrum of journalists after a town hall in Goffstown, during which the subject
did not come up.
Kasich continued:
I think they have very tough gun laws in that state. The fact is that more and
more people believe that they should be able to defend themselves. And if take
guns away from people who are law-abiding the people who are going to cause
these horrible things are still gonna have them. I don't agree with that. That
is not - you know I favor, in Ohio, the death penalty. I favor long prison
sentences.That's the way I would go.
When a reporter asked him what specifically he would do to curb mass shootings
as president, Kasich said it wouldn't be his responsibility. "I don't think any
president can stop mass shootings," he said. "And again I think that all of
these places that are soft targets need to be hardened. My own state, as I've
said, it's frustrating to see some school districts not taking it seriously.
These are terrible tragedies and we need to find out more about who this person
is. If this person's had mental illness they should never have had a weapon.
That's the rules."
In an earlier interview with NBC News, Kasich offered a clearer idea of what he
means by hardening "soft targets." He said he wants all schools, including
universities, to implement warning systems that would allow them to go into
"lockdown" mode if there is a campus threat.
Kasich's emphasis on the death penalty is curious given that more than half of
the perpetrators of mass shootings over the last three decades took their own
lives. The number goes up if you count "suicide by cop" - that is, those
instances when a shooter was killed by law enforcement.
Moreover, Ohio's death penalty process is notoriously flawed. Last spring, a
federal judge placed a 7-month moratorium on all executions in the state after
a lethal injection left a convicted killer writhing on his deathbed for 25
minutes. On Thursday, an Ohio court struck down an inmate's death sentence,
citing flaws in the state case.
(source: Mother Jones)
*****************
The Death Penalty Has a Gender Bias
At 12:21 a.m. ET on Wednesday, September 30, Kelly Gissendaner became the 16th
woman executed in the United States since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the
death penalty in 1976. The Georgia woman was sentenced to death in 1998 for
convincing her boyfriend to shoot her husband and was the first woman in 70
years to be executed in that state. However, in these same 39 years, the United
States has executed 1,399 men. Even death row shows a gender bias, where of the
3,035 people on death row, only 54 of them are women. Why is it so rare for a
woman to be put to death?
A quick background on the death penalty would include the fact that there are
31 states that still provide this punishment. However, the South tends to use
the punishment more frequently, with Texas and Oklahoma alone accounting for
640 of the 1,415 executions since 1976. On average, women account for 10 % of
the arrests for murder. However, as the legal process moves towards death row,
the % of women decreases significantly. Only 1.1 % of women are eventually
executed, including the execution this week of Gissendaner. So what accounts
for this drastic difference in the number of women executed?
Let's break down the main arguments:
Argument #1: Women Commit Fewer Murders Than Men
One argument is that men commit more murders and death penalty-worthy crimes
than women. The numbers back this theory, with men at fault for 90 % of the
15,094 murders committed in 2010 (the most recent year for which the FBI has
data). What the numbers do not take into account is the fact that not all
murders are considered eligible to face the death penalty. Additionally, how
the murder was committed (not to get too graphic) also plays a role in
sentencing. The factors that go into how a person gets the death penalty tends
to favor women (which I will explain more below).
Even with these numbers, this argument is flawed. When the statistics are
adjusted for the larger number of murders by men, women are still sentenced to
death at a lower rate.
Argument #2: We Live in A Chivalrous Society
With the fact that we still need feminism to gain basic equality in the United
States, there's no question that we still live in a very paternalistic society.
But is this belief that men need to "protect" women impacting whether they
receive the death penalty?
Death Penalty Information Center Executive Director Richard Dieter told
Business Insider that it's as simple as the fact that, when it comes to
murderers, "'[j]urors just see women differently than men.'"
It's often the idea that women were acting under the influence of others or are
emotionally fragile, and therefore shouldn't be held as accountable as men.
Business Insider quotes Ohio Northern University Law Professor Victor Streib as
saying, "'It's just easier to convince a jury that women suffer from emotional
distress or other emotional problems more than men.'"
This belief of the sad, weak woman leads into the third argument as to why so
few women receive the death penalty.
Argument #3: The Evil Woman Theory
According to some researchers, it's only the women who fall into certain
categories that "gain" the protection from chivalry. The women who benefit are
the feminine, docile, mothering, and chaste women (also, likely white and
heterosexual). It is the un-ladylike, aggressive, or sexually promiscuous women
who jurors see as more of a "threat" to society.
Gissendaner is a perfect example of this theory in action. She falls under the
"un-ladylike" and "sexually promiscuous" umbrella, since she was having an
affair and had her then-boyfriend kill her husband.
While the 2nd 2 arguments may not be as false as the first one, they still
don't fully explain why so few women are ever put to death. The main reason is
much less interesting, but all the more important.
Argument #4: Men are sentenced to death more than women because of how the
statutes are written and how the circumstances around the crimes are weighed.
I know, boring, right?
But think about it - who was eligible to be elected to state legislatures for
most of our country's history? Old (mostly white) men.
Therefore, who likely wrote the statutes for murder? Old, white men.
Who decided which factors would favor someone getting the death penalty (called
"aggravating factors") and which would count towards them not getting it
(called "mitigating factors")? Old, white men.
So, it makes sense that the statutes are written with the male belief as to
what crimes are worse and when factors should point towards the death penalty.
Although the list of specific factors can vary by state, most states include as
aggravating factors the potential future dangerousness of a defendant, their
prior history of violence, whether the murder was during the commission of
another felony, and their criminal record. Common mitigating factors can
include whether the defendant was under extreme emotional or mental
disturbance, whether they were under the control of someone else, their "good"
character, and their family background. Since previous histories of violence
and criminal records play heavily in favor of getting the death penalty, these
factors also favor women. Women murderers generally do not have much (if any)
history of violence or criminal records.
Most states that still practice capital punishment also do not have the killing
of an intimate partner or a child as an aggravating favor. Yet, these are
exactly the types of murders that women are most likely to commit according to
Professor Elizabeth Rappaport of the University of New Mexico Law School.
According to a study by the NIH, 60 % of the murders committed by women were
against a family member or intimate partner, compared with only 20 % of men.
Look again at the case that started this article -- Kelly Gissendaner had her
then-boyfriend kill her husband.
It seems that men find the idea of killing a stranger more horrific (or at
least an affront to their manhood) than the thought of killing someone they
know. In 80 % of the murders committed by men, their victims were either
strangers or someone they barely knew. A study conducted in South Carolina
found that murders committed against strangers were 6 times more likely to get
the death penalty. This lends support to the theory that murders against
strangers tend to favor men receiving the death penalty.
Further supporting this is the research that found that the types of murders
that most often receive the death penalty (murder for gain, murder while
resisting law enforcement or an especially cruel murder), do not include
murdering someone the person knew or lived with.
The truth behind why so many women are not executed may not be terribly "sexy"
or interesting, but it is still important. The United States is one of only a
small number of nations that continues to practice the death penalty. Even
worse, the Washington Post reported that the United States has five more
executions over the next week. With all of this, plus the Pope's recent visit
and remarks against the death penalty, now is the time to take a stand against
capital punishment.
(source: Amanda Oliver, Huffington Post)
****************
Answering Death With Life
Kelly was on my mind Tuesday night as I fell asleep. I woke up yesterday
devastated to learn that none of her appeals had saved her life. While hope
resurfaced when the execution of Richard Glossip was stayed for 37 days, I
still pray, knowing that only his method of execution, not his possible
innocence, is being considered. I pray for Alfredo Prieto, who may die today
despite arguments that he is intellectually disabled. And with a full and heavy
heart, I also pray for Kimber Edwards, scheduled to die later this week for a
crime of which he may also be innocent.
The death penalty must be abolished. Period. I am furious that no concern is
shown for the possibility of innocence. I am disheartened that indefinite
imprisonment with treatment is not considered sufficient for someone mentally
ill. I am devastated that no mercy is shown to the contrite and repentant. But
I also want the death penalty gone for those who are intellectually competent,
remorseless, and guilty. It is a crime and an abomination. Far from deterring
evil, it produces and perpetuates evil. There is no place for it in the world
that Jesus Christ is rebuilding on a foundation of love.
While arguments will always be made for and against the death penalty's
deterrence of murder, I believe that the greatest deterrence of murder, and the
greatest testimony to the worth of every human life, is the abolition of the
death penalty in all of its forms. Faith tells me this. The science of mimetic
theory tells me this. And my aching for peace compels me to strive, against all
of my pressing doubts, for a world that operates on compassion.
No one is born a murderer. Murderers are formed in a world of violence. They
develop in an interconnected web of life that links them with all of us, and
the violence they wield takes root in a society that, despite its protests to
the contrary, makes it clear every day that it does not consider all life
sacred.
No human being has the right to judge any life irredeemable. All of our hands
are bloody. This is what Jesus taught us by his life, death, and resurrection:
that we are all entangled in a sacrificial system dependent on victims and
enemies, a system that will devour us all if we continue on the trajectory of
vengeance and retribution. The only way out is forgiveness. Put to death by
religious and government authorities, Jesus exposed our wrath and our fear, but
also the depths to which Love will go to heal us and save us from this hell of
our own making. Jesus is not our only victim; rather, he became our victim to
show us what we do to all of our victims. His resurrection ripped a hole in the
foundation of the world built on violence, exposing it as the graveyard of the
victims who upheld civilization by their deaths. Those who argue in favor of
the death penalty say that it keeps the balance of justice in tact, but Jesus
forever disrupted that balance (which was never as stable as we would like to
believe) when we killed the innocent and he pardoned the guilty. We all spilled
his blood, and the blood of so many others, and we have all been forgiven. At
least for those who profess Christ, as do so many in Georgia, Oklahoma,
Virginia, Missouri, and throughout the nation, there is a clear mandate to
forgive as we have been forgiven.
When there is so much for which we must be forgiven, we cannot rely on our
terribly imperfect judgment, or the judgment of the state, when it comes to
deeming someone else unforgivable. We need so much mercy because we are apt to
be so wrong so often. We live on land stolen from its native inhabitants. The
American economy was built on torturous slave labor. Racism and sexism and
homophobia destroy lives. Our tax dollars fund the largest killing machine in
the world. We often hurt people even when we have the best of intentions, and
we can all name a time we have hurt someone deliberately. We are desperate for
mercy. Forgiveness and reconciliation are as crucial to life as the very air we
breathe.
What does this have to do with the death penalty? Jesus equates anger with
murder. We know that to varying degrees we have participated in acts that have
diminished life. We know that we play active roles in systems that destroy
life. We are guilty of the murder of Jesus not simply through direct acts of
killing, but through infinite small cuts of cruelty, dehumanization, and
indifference. These small acts together build systems of selfishness and
sacrifice that keep the world running right over its victims. None of us are
without sin, and none of us have the moral authority to cast stones.
The death penalty, like any other murder, is the product of a violent world. It
is the contagion of vengeance enshrined in law. It is judgment pronounced by a
state blind to its own need for mercy. And when we are blind to our own need
for mercy, we are also blind to the harm we do to others. When we fail to show
mercy, we fail to be transformed by the mercy available to us. The death
penalty perpetuates violence by eroding the souls of those who enforce and
execute it, deepening the morass of cruelty that consumes us.
The only cure to the contagion of violence is mercy. Abolition of the death
penalty is an act of mercy that overpowers violence. It makes a clear
declaration that no evil is strong enough to overshadow the image of God
implanted within each of us. What stronger way could there be to rebuke death
than with affirmation of life?
Abolition of the death penalty cannot be confined to the criminal justice
system. People are condemned to death by war and diversion of resources, by
apathy and greed. We must cease all killing, by abolishing the death penalty
and war replacing them with methods of conflict resolution that aim to respect
human dignity above all. And we must reinforce human dignity by reorienting our
policy goals from concentration of wealth and power toward distribution of
resources and services. Such a reorientation could not be confined to our
policies but must take root in our hearts and transform our actions. Just as
moment to moment acts of cruelty build systems of sacrifice, moment to moment
acts of empathy build systems of compassion. We must continue to turn from
instincts that return violence for violence and follow the one who met cruelty
with forgiveness, pain with healing, hate with love. With every such act of
mercy and kindness, we build up life for others and immerse ourselves deeper
into the abundant life we receive in Jesus.
Building up life, building up a world of mercy, building up the kingdom of God,
is the best way to deter the violent crimes that the death penalty can only
compound. The best way to honor the victims of violent crime is to help build a
world in which no one else will be victimized. Those who kill are in need of
healing, not death. We have already received the answer to death when Jesus
poured upon us an abundance of mercy and love. To spread this healing to a
violent world desperate for grace, we must go and do likewise.
(source: Lindsey Paris-Lopez, patheos.com)
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