Aug. 19
NEBRASKA:
Nebraska senators: Death penalty study validates repeal vote
Nebraska senators who voted to abolish the death penalty say a recent analysis
of the program's costs validates their argument that it's wasteful and
ineffective.
The death penalty opposition group, Retain a Just Nebraska, released a letter
Thursday praising the study, which says capital punishment costs the state an
estimated $14.6 million annually. The letter was signed by 27 senators who
voted to repeal the death penalty, including Speaker of the Legislature Galen
Hadley.
Sen. Colby Coash, of Lincoln, a leading Republican opponent of capital
punishment, says the 2015 vote to end the death penalty eliminated a wasteful
government program that hasn't worked for decades.
The Nebraska attorney general's office has disputed parts of the study, but
conservative Creighton University economist Ernie Goss says he stands by his
work.
(source: KETV news)
****************
Economist defends $14.6M estimate on cost of death penalty in Nebraska
Economist Ernie Goss defends his study that estimates the death penalty costs
Nebraska $14.6 million annually in face of criticism from Attorney General Doug
Peterson.
Goss released the study Monday during a news conference held by Retain A Just
Nebraska, a group working to uphold the legislature's repeal of the death
penalty.
Goss actually calls his cost estimate of more than $14 million conservative.
"I think I've done a good job on this. I am very confident of the results. I
stand behind those results," Goss tells reporters during a news conference in
Lincoln Thursday.
Goss says he includes all the data he used to reach his conclusion in the
report, which is available both on his website and the website operated by
Retain A Just Nebraska.
Goss dismisses Attorney General Peterson's contention that he "grossly
overstated" the cost of capital punishment.
"I think if anything I am on the low side, but as I said I am confident of
these results, statistically speaking and that's what economists do," according
to Goss. "We don't speak anything else, but statistics."
(source: Nebraska Radio Network)
NEW MEXICO:
Why New Mexico wants to restore the death penalty ---- The governor of New
Mexico is citing the recent high-profile killings of police officers in her
state and elsewhere as a reason to bring back the death penalty.
New Mexico's governor is reframing the death penalty debate as the proper
response to recent police killings, including 1 officer killed Friday in her
own state.
This response to police killings bucks a national trend as many states and
courts are backing away from the death penalty, in part due to practical
constraints on cost and the drugs used in capital punishment. In New Mexico,
the push for its return faces opposition from Democrats, which have the
majority in the state legislature.
But Republican Gov. Susanna Martinez said the shooting of a police officer in
Hatch, N.M., on Friday, as well as several police killings elsewhere in the
nation, prove the punishment is needed to deter society's grossest crimes, Dan
Boyd reported for the Albuquerque Journal.
"People need to ask themselves, if the man who ambushed and killed 5 police
officers in Dallas had lived, would he deserve the ultimate penalty," Governor
Martinez said Wednesday in a prepared statement. "How about the heartless
violent criminals who killed Officer Jose Chavez in Hatch and left his children
without their brave and selfless dad? Do they deserve the ultimate penalty?
Absolutely. Because a society that fails to adequately protect and defend those
who protect all of us is a society that will be undone and unsafe."
New Mexico repealed the death penalty in 2009, and Wednesday's announcement
marked the 1st time the governor had brought up the issue since it failed to
pass a Democratic legislature in 2011.
Third Judicial District Attorney Mark D'Antonio, whose office filed a murder
charge against Officer Chavez' killers, said such crimes could be a good reason
to discuss the death penalty again.
"The death penalty should be the last resort for the worst of the worst and in
certain situations like for cop-killers," he said in a statement.
The new argument goes up against recent struggles even in generally
conservative states to carry out executions, as one company after another has
refused to sell its drugs to states for lethal injection, as the Christian
Science Monitor's Patrik Jonsson wrote:
Public opinion - as shown in polls as well as the frequency of death penalty
convictions - has shifted. 56 % of Americans favored capital punishment in
2015, but that's down from 78 % just 20 years ago, according to the Pew
Research Center.
Last year, the US saw only 49 death sentences imposed, a 33 percent drop from
the previous year, and down from a peak of 315 in 1996. 2/3 of last year's
death sentences came from juries in only 2 % of US counties, according to the
Death Penalty Information Center.
A death penalty proposal has received similar framing in Illinois, where
Republican state Rep. Mark Batinick wants the killing of first responders to be
punishable by death, the Illinois News Network reported. Illinois abolished its
death penalty in 2011.
"These are the people that put themselves in harm's way to protect us," he has
said. "They run into wherever the danger is, and right now I feel like they
don???t necessarily feel like we have their back and we're protecting them."
But Robert Dunham for the Death Penalty Information Center said the measure is
unlikely to move forward, noting that Louisiana and Texas both have a death
penalty already.
The representative cited the ambush and killings of police in Baton Rouge, La.,
and Dallas as giving people a new reason to support the death penalty.
"I think if you look at the incidents that have happened recently and then what
the effects of those incidents are after the fact, maybe people will just start
changing their mind," he said, according to the Illinois News Network.
(source: Christian Science Monitor)
*********************
Catholic Bishops Of New Mexico Renounce Governor's Call to Reinstate Death
Penalty
The Catholic Bishops of New Mexico applauded the State Legislature for the
progress that was made when we ended the morally untenable practice of the
death penalty on March 18, 2009. This repeal of the death penalty was a
milestone, moving New Mexico from a culture of violence to a culture of peace,
justice, and love.
We, the Catholic Bishops of New Mexico, in one voice, once again echo the
teaching of the Church that life is sacred. There is one seamless teaching on
God???s gift of life that must be protected from birth to natural death. It is
always tragic and sad when a member of the community is murdered. These
senseless acts must be prevented by calling for systemic change in society
beginning with our youngest children. Crime can be prevented, and this is done
by an investment in social capital.
The State created life in prison without the possibility of parole. This
renders a perpetrator harmless to society.
Catechism of the Catholic Church 2267
"If, instead, bloodless means are sufficient to defend against the aggressor
and to protect the safety of persons, public authority should limit itself to
such means, because they better correspond to the concrete conditions of the
common good and are more in conformity to the dignity of the human person."
"Today, in fact, given the means at the State's disposal to effectively repress
crime by rendering inoffensive the one who has committed it, without depriving
him definitively of the possibility of redeeming himself, cases of absolute
necessity for suppression of the offender today...are very rare, if not
practically non-existent." [John Paul II, Evangelium vitea 56.]
We join Pope Francis in his continued call to end the practice of the death
penalty. Pope Benedict and St. Pope John Paul II both worked diligently to end
the death penalty throughout the world. The trend in the United States has now
been to abandon the use of the death penalty. In the last five years, five
states have passed legislation to repeal their death penalty law.
We oppose Governor Susana Martinez' plan to reinstate the death penalty and
call on the Legislature to reject the legislation.--ENDM
Most Rev. John C. Wester Most Rev. James Wall Most Rev. Oscar Cantu
Archbishop of Santa Fe Bishop of Gallup Bishop of Las Cruces
(source: krwg.org)
*********************
Lawmakers to weigh costs of reinstating death penalty
The "ultimate penalty," as Gov. Susana Martinez has called it, does not come
cheap.
The high cost and slow process of prosecuting capital cases likely will be
central to the debate over reinstating the death penalty after Martinez's
announcement this week that she will push to restore capital punishment during
the 2017 legislative session.
New Mexico used the death penalty sparingly during the period when it was last
legal, handing down about a dozen death sentences and executing one inmate
between 1979 and 2009, when lawmakers and Gov. Bill Richardson abolished it.
Analyzing the costs of capital punishment, legislative staffers in 2009 wrote,
"New Mexico does not receive much return on its death penalty investment."
The report said fewer than 1/4 of all capital prosecutions in the state led to
a prisoner on death row. Fewer than 1/2 of the cases led to a death sentence,
and 68 % of those were overturned on appeal.
Death penalty cases require heightened standards for defense attorneys, the
report said, with at least 2 lawyers at each stage of the proceedings,
trial-level litigation and mandatory appeals. Jury selection is particularly
long and arduous in such cases, the report added, costing at least 4 times as
much as other 1st-degree murder cases.
The only person executed in New Mexico between 1979 and 2009 was Terry D.
Clark, who was put to death in 2001 for the rape and murder of a 9-year-old
Roswell girl in 1986. The state brought in 2 "execution experts" from the Texas
prison system for Clark's execution, the 1st in New Mexico since 1960.
"There is only a 4.5 % chance that any multi-million dollar death penalty
prosecution will ever end in an execution in New Mexico," the legislative
report said.
It's also unclear whether the state could navigate the logistical hurdles to
carrying out an execution.
The state's prison system does not have a supply of the drugs typically used to
carry out lethal injections, according to Alex Sanchez, deputy secretary for
administrative support at the Corrections Department.
Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, said
finding the necessary drugs now could be complicated, with major pharmaceutical
companies and many pharmacies refusing to sell their products for use in
executions.
"That narrows who you can get the drugs from. The fear has been that executions
are likely to be even more unsafe and even more prone to being botched if the
drugs are obtained from compounding pharmacies," Dunham said, referring to the
drug-manufacturing companies that have become the last resort for states in
short supply of pharmaceuticals required for executions.
2 men sentenced to death in New Mexico prior to 2009 are still on death row.
Timothy Allen was sentenced to death in 1995 for kidnapping, attempting to rape
and then killing a 17-year-old Flora Vista girl.
Robert Fry was sentenced to death in 2002 for the murder of Betty Lee, a
36-year-old Shiprock woman. He also is serving life sentences for the 1996
killings of Farmington residents Joseph Fleming, 25, and Matthew Trecker, 18,
as well as the 1998 murder of 41-year-old Donald Tsosie of Ganado, Ariz.
Fry and Allen are incarcerated in the same tightly controlled conditions
designated for inmates sentenced to life without the possibility of parole - a
sentence that replaced the death penalty when it was abolished. No one is
currently serving such a sentence in a New Mexico prison.
Sanchez said the New Mexico Corrections Department would be capable of carrying
out an execution and that reinstating the death penalty would change little for
the state's prison system. "There would be no difference in housing, no
difference in treatment," she said. "It would just be a matter of carrying out
the execution."
But the cases of Fry and Allen illustrate the long process of carrying out a
death sentence. Lawyers representing the men went before the New Mexico Supreme
Court as recently as 2014, asking the state's highest judicial body stop their
executions in light of the death penalty's abolition.
Their cases are still pending, and the Law Office of the Public Defender
recently asked the state Supreme Court to authorize additional funding to pay
the men's lawyers.
"Capital punishment is clearly a very expensive process. It adds costs for law
enforcement, for prosecution, for the courts, and it adds tremendous costs to
provide effective assistance of counsel," said Chief Public Defender Bennett
Baur.
Death penalty cases require specialized skills, he said.
Baur also noted that state agencies are facing budget cuts. Public defenders,
as well as prosecutors and others in the criminal justice system, would be
forced to do more with less if capital punishment were reinstated, he said.
"In the time of flat budgets - or worse - there are things you cannot do," he
said. "There are cases that cannot be prosecuted and cases that cannot be
defended."
The political prospects of reinstating the death penalty remain unclear and are
likely to shift with the outcome of the Nov. 8 general election.
The New Mexican contacted several state lawmakers to ask if they would sponsor
legislation to restore capital punishment. Only 1, Republican Rep. Andy Nunez
of Hatch, responded.
Nunez, who represents the district in Southern New Mexico where a police
officer was gunned down last week, said Thursday he will sponsor a bill to
reinstate the death penalty if Martinez asks him.
"I agree with her," Nunez said. "My wife's not for it, but I am."
Martinez did not specify Wednesday how broadly she believes the death penalty
should be applied. But her comments signaled she is interested in at least
allowing capital punishment for the murders of children and law enforcement
officers. She mentioned slain Hatch Police Department Officer Jose Chavez in
her remarks.
Nunez said such a scope is appropriate. While he supported repealing the death
penalty in 2009, Nunez said Thursday he feels he was "misled."
He thought the death penalty would be replaced with a sentence of life without
parole, he said, but with no one receiving such a sentence, he suggested that
inmates who might have qualified for the death penalty when it was legal might
now be receiving sentences allowing their eventual release.
Asked if the state can afford to undertake executions and the accompanying
lengthy court battles, Nunez said: "They can afford that better than setting
them in prison."
(source: Santa Fe New Mexican)
COLORADO:
Prosecutors consider seeking death penalty against man accused of fatally
stabbing son ---- Brandon Johnson is accused of stabbing his 6-year-old son to
death
The case against an Arapahoe County man accused of stabbing his 6-year-old son
to death has been delayed as prosecutors decide whether they will seek the
death penalty.
On Thursday, Brandon Johnson, 27, appeared in Arapahoe County District Court
where he withdrew a guilty plea in the murder case. The plea withdrawal resets
a deadline for when the 18th Judicial District Attorney must decide whether to
try it as a capital punishment case.
District Attorney George Brauchler said a decision has not been made, but
Colorado law would allow the death penalty because the case involves the death
of a child younger than 12.
A new arraignment for Johnson has been set for Oct. 25. Prosecutors would have
60 days from then to decide. The delay also gives defense attorney Stephen
McCrohan time to prepare a mitigating report in an effort to develop an
argument against the death penalty.
Prosecutors on Thursday also added an 8th charge to Johnson's case - 1st-degree
murder after deliberation.
Johnson appeared in court and answered questions by nodding his head for "yes"
or "no" as Chief Judge Carlos Samour Jr. asked him questions. Johnson has a
tracheal tube and cannot speak when it is in place, but the judge agreed head
nods would be an acceptable alternative to asking Johnson to remove the tube in
court.
Johnson suffered the throat injury after allegedly turning the knife on himself
in the incident.
The Arapahoe County Sheriff???s Office was called to an apartment on the 7500
block of East Harvard Avenue at 5 a.m. on Feb. 10 after a woman reported that
she had been sexually assaulted.
The woman told deputies that her domestic partner had assaulted her at
knifepoint, according to previous reports from the Arapahoe County Sheriff's
Office.
When deputies entered the apartment, they found 6-year-old Riley Johnson dead
from stab wounds, and a 2-year-old boy who was unharmed.
Brandon Johnson also was bleeding from stab wounds, and the sheriff's office
has said they were self-inflicted. Johnson spent several days in a hospital for
treatment before he was booked into the Arapahoe County Detention Center.
The woman, who was the mother of the 2-year-old child, was treated and released
at a hospital.
The tragedy was compounded when a deputy headed to the scene was critically
injured in a car crash near East Iliff Avenue and South Valentia Street. Deputy
Bill Foreman Jr. was hospitalized after he was extricated from his car.
(source: Denver Post)
IDAHO:
Prosecutors plan to pursue death penalty for Erik Ohlson
Teton County Deputy Prosecutor Chris Lundberg confirmed Thursday they plan to
pursue the death penalty for Erik Ohlson. Ohlson faces 2 felony counts of 1st
degree murder for shooting and killing Jennifer Nalley and her unborn child.
"After consulting with the family they are in favor of us pursuing that and so
kind of weighing all those factors we believe it's the right course of justice
in action in this case," said Lundberg.
Ohlson appeared in court last Friday for his preliminary hearing. His next
court appearance is Sept. 6th. This date may change because Ohlson's lawyers
have asked to disqualify judge Gregory Moeller.
In court Friday, prosecutors played a jail interview with Erik Ohlson and a
detective. Ohlson admitted to shooting Jennifer Nalley in the interview.
(source: KIDK news)
CALIFORNIA:
Ex-Con Could Face Death Penalty in Shooting-Robbery Case
An ex-con accused of involvement in a daytime home-invasion robbery in San
Carlos in which a resident was fatally shot must stand trial on murder and
other charges that could lead to the death penalty, a judge ruled Thursday.
Elliott Scott Grizzle, 45, is accused of being one of several armed intruders
who broke into a home on Tommy Drive on May 11, tied up 2 men and shot and
killed 33-year-old Brent Alan Adler after he arrived at the residence.
A roommate testified that the robbers questioned Adler about marijuana and
money when he came home.
Another roommate - who was tied up and placed face down on the floor - told
police he heard Adler struggling with the intruders near the front door and
then heard gunshots.
Adler was found in the driveway. He was shot 3 times.
The roommates who were tied up said there were at least 3 and probably 4 or 5
robbers in the home, San Diego police Detective Tim Norris testified. He said
Adler and another roommate were under investigation for drug dealing.
Authorities allege Grizzle's DNA was found on a beer bottle in the home, a drug
pipe, a lighter and a glove found in the street outside the residence.
Judge Frederic Link found that enough evidence was presented at Grizzle's
preliminary hearing for him to proceed to trial on charges of murder, robbery,
burglary and being a felon in possession of a firearm, with special
circumstance allegations of murder during a robbery and murder during a
burglary.
District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis has yet to decide whether Grizzle will face
the death penalty or life in prison without parole if he's convicted.
A Superior Court arraignment is scheduled Sept. 1.
(source: timesofsandiego.com)
****************
Death Penalty on the Initiative Plan
One reviewer found Celine's "Death on the Installment Plan" the story of "a
gloomy, disillusioned doctor who views medicine cynically and is irritated by
his patients."
That's about how voters are going to look at yet another decision tossed to
them about the death penalty in California. Although there are two related
initiatives on the November 8 ballot, under state law, if both initiatives
pass, the one with the most votes wins.
Proposition 62 ends the death penalty in California (not the federal death
penalty). By contrast, Proposition 66 speeds up the court process under which
convicted killers start walking the Green Mile. Due to appeals of existing
cases in federal court, the last execution was in 2006, 10 years ago, of a fine
specimen of human being called Clarence Ray Allen. Already in prison for
murder, he organized the murders of three people outside the prison.
But as is usual in California, there are complications within the complications
of initiatives. For those favoring the death penalty, largely conservatives,
Republicans and law enforcement, the main problem is the state is unlikely to
elect a governor ever again who supports the death penalty, meaning death
sentences would be commuted before the needle was jabbed into any killer's arm.
Of the declared candidates, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom long has opposed the death
penalty and endorsed Prop. 62. Treasurer John Chiang, according to the
Sacramento Bee, has not taken a position yet: "Chiang has positions on 4 of 17
measures. Chiang said though a spokesman that he expects to take positions on
'many others' in the months to come." I suspect he'll come out against the
death penalty to preclude support going to his anti-death penalty opponents
from wealthy liberal donors.
Although he hasn't announced yet if he's running for governor, former Los
Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa backed Proposition 34, the 2012 initiative
that would have repealed the death penalty, but failed 52 % to 48 %.
For those against the death penalty, largely liberals and Democrats, there also
are complications. Although their beloved President Obama has found the death
penalty "deeply troubling," he also has backed it. And although he might do so
before leaving office in 6 months, so far he has not commuted the death
sentence handed down for convicted Boston Marathon terrorist Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
And Democratic presidential nominee for Hillary Clinton still backs the death
penalty, although she's troubled by racial differences in executions in some
states.
Then there's the argument for Prop. 62 by actor Mike Farrell, who sponsored the
measure: "Because of all the problems with the death penalty, not a single
person has been executed here in the last 10 years. Nonetheless, Californians
continue to pay for it in many ways. Whether you look at the death penalty from
a taxpayer, a criminal justice or a civil rights perspective, what is clear is
that it fails in every respect."
That's going to be a major argument: That dumping death-row inmates back into
the general population of inmates would save money, up to $150 million a year.
But will those inmates, all of them killers, start killing other inmates? Will
they, like Allen, direct murders outside the prison? What do they have to lose?
And even if the death penalty is not carried out ever again, is keeping it on
the books still a deterrent to potential murderers, who tend to be low IQ and
don't know the positions of potential governors on the death penalty?
Those backing Prop. 62 also tend, like Newsom, to favor Proposition 63 and
other gun control initiatives and laws. Supposedly these laws will prevent mass
shootings and other murders. But the real problem, as gun scholar John Lott has
detailed, is gun-free zones. Psychos and other criminals always will be able to
get guns and ammo. But they can be deterred, and if necessary stopped, if
law-abiding citizens nearby are armed.
That is, the real way to reduce killings by guns is for armed people themselves
to apply the death penalty, or be ready to - immediately, on the spot.
(source: John Seiler is a former Editorial Writer at the Orange County
Register----KECT news)
*******************
Poll shows gains in support to retain the state's death penalty
With surveys showing declining public support for capital punishment, opponents
of the death penalty in California have expressed confidence in repealing it at
the ballot box in November, after narrowly falling short four years ago. But a
new poll released Thursday suggests voters may not go along.
The poll by the Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley, conducted
online among a statewide sampling of more than 1,500 registered voters, found
Proposition 62, which would replace the death penalty with a sentence of life
in prison without parole, trailing 54.9 % to 49.1 %. The measure was opposed by
majorities of both women and men, by all age levels except those between 25 and
34, and by all racial and ethnic groups except black voters, who were 60
percent in favor of the proposition.
The poll listed the margin of error at 4 % points.
The same poll found overwhelming support - 75.7 % - for a rival measure, Prop.
66, that would seek to speed up executions by setting tight deadlines for court
rulings, placing some limits on appeals and requiring many more defense lawyers
to take capital cases.
That finding may have been influenced, however, by the vague wording of the
survey question, which asked voters only whether they would want to "streamline
procedures in death-penalty cases to speed up resolution of those cases," and
did not mention further details of the measure. The poll said strong majorities
of both Democrats and Republicans favored the proposal.
A statewide Field Poll in January which asked respondents whether they would
prefer to "take steps to speed up the execution process" or to repeal the death
penalty found 48 % in favor of a speedup, 47 % for a repeal and the rest
undecided.
The UC Berkeley pollsters tried to write "brief and fair summaries" of the 2
measures but didn't yet have access to state elections officials??? ballot
descriptions of the initiatives when the poll was conducted between June 29 and
July 18, said Ethan Rarick, associate director of the Institute of Governmental
Studies.
Still, the latest poll raises some doubt about whether Californians are ready
to abolish capital punishment. A proponent of the prosecutor-backed measure to
speed up executions expressed satisfaction with the results.
"Voters have made it clear time and time again that they want the death penalty
in California for the most vicious of killers," said Jeff Flint, campaign
manager for No on 62 and Yes on 66. "They know the current system needs to be
fixed to end the decades of appeals that bog down the system."
Jacob Hay, spokesman for the pro-Prop. 62 campaign, said the polling numbers
were "totally unreliable" because the questions left out details that voters
will see on their ballots, including a state estimate of $150 million in annual
savings from abolition of the death penalty. Ana Zamora, campaign manager for
No on 66, said the pollsters misstated the contents of that initiative.
"Californians are deeply concerned about the possibility of executing an
innocent person," Zamora said. "Prop. 66 will greatly increase this risk by
removing fundamental legal safeguards."
Voters approved the current death penalty law in 1978, expanding a measure that
had been enacted a year earlier, over Gov. Jerry Brown's veto. A measure to
repeal it was defeated in 2012 by a 52 to 48 % ratio. Most polls since then, in
California and nationwide, have shown declines in support for capital
punishment.
California has the nation'slargest death row, with nearly 750 prisoners. The
state's last execution was in January 2006, and the law has been on hold since
then because of court rulings finding flaws in the lethal injection process and
staff training.
(source: sfgate.com)
USA:
Senator praises 'law and order' Trump for demanding death penalty for innocent
teens
One of the few senators to wholeheartedly back GOP presidential candidate
Donald Trump praised the nominee as a "law and order" candidate for paying for
an ad calling for the death penalty of 5 young men in their mid-teens who were
wrongfully accused of raping a woman.
In an interview caught by Buzzfeed, southern Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) lauded
Trump for his speech aimed at the African-American community Tuesday night in
Wisconsin.
"That speech was great, and Trump has always been this way," Sessions told the
hosts of the Matt & Aunie radio show.
"He bought an ad - people say he wasn???t a conservative - but he bought an ad
20 years ago in the New York Times calling for the death penalty," he
continued. "How many people in New York, that liberal bastion, were willing to
do something like that? So he believes in law and order and he has the strength
and will to make this country safer."
Sessions was referring to an ad Trump took out in the New York Times over 20
years ago, with a bold headline reading "Bring the death penalty back!" aimed
at the 5 young black and Hispanic men who were accused of raping a white woman
who came to be known as the "Central Park jogger."
All of the young men were later exonerated by the city of New York after
serving time in prison, and were recipients of a payout in the millions for
their wrongful conviction.
Upon news of the settlement, Trump jumped back into the fray again, calling the
payout, "a disgrace."
(source: buzzfeed.com)
*********************
Fell seeks to bar evidence from 2nd death penalty trial
A man facing a 2nd federal death penalty trial for the 2000 abduction and
murder of a supermarket worker is seeking to exclude evidence used in his 1st
trial.
The Rutland Herald reports that prosecution and defense witnesses will testify
Monday about the validity of expert analysis of crime scene evidence in the
case of Donald Fell.
Fell was convicted and sentenced to death in 2005 for the murder of Terry King,
but his conviction was overturned.
Fell's trial is slated for February 2017. He has challenged blood, DNA and
other evidence and testimony originally presented in his 2005 trial.
The challenge requires a judge to determine which experts can testify based on
the scientific nature of their testimony. Experts will present their findings
on Monday.
(source: Associated Press)
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