Oct. 19
PENNSYLVANIA:
Death penalty vacated in 32-year-old Montgomery County murder case
A convicted killer, who for 26 years has awaited execution for the murder of a
Bucks County man, had his death sentence overturned last week.
Montgomery County Judge Wendy Demchick-Alloy issued the order vacating the
capital punishment a jury handed to Thomas James Meadows for the 1984 killing
of James Hayes of Ottsville. However, Meadows will never get out of prison
since he will serve a life sentence without parole.
The removal of the death penalty is part of an agreement reached by the county
district attorney's office, Meadows and his defense lawyers. In return for the
judge vacating the sentence, the now 69-year-old Meadows has agreed to drop all
legal challenges of the sentence and also agreed not to file any additional
appeals.
The killing occurred on March 30, 1984, in Cheltenham, where the married Hayes
was sharing an apartment with Amber Cintron, a woman with whom Hayes allegedly
was having an affair, and her 2 children, according to news accounts.
Meadows reportedly demanded money, but Hayes instead gave Meadows what Hayes
claimed was $15,000 worth of marijuana.
Meadows then shot Hayes, whose hands were tied behind him, "execution-style" in
the back of the head, according to news accounts. Meadows also shot Cintron
twice in the leg before fleeing.
Meadows remained on the lam for about 6 years before he was taken into custody.
A jury convicted Meadows of 1st-degree murder in July 1990, directing that he
be put to death.
Meadows and his lawyers have been seeking to have that sentence overturned
since that time.
(source: The Intelligencer)
GEORGIA----execution
Georgia executes Atlanta cop killer Gregory Lawler
Gregory Paul Lawler, 63, has been executed for murdering an Atlanta police
officer 19 years ago.
Lawler was pronounced dead at 11:49 p.m. Wednesday at the Georgia Diagnostic
and Classification Prison near Jackson, where the state's death chamber is
located.
The United States Supreme Court denied a stay of execution shortly after 11
p.m., clearing the way for Lawler to get a needle filled with a fatal dose of
the sedative pentobarbital.
The lethal injection had been slated for 7 p.m., but executions are routinely
delayed by last-gasp legal appeals. The Georgia Supreme Court announced
Wednesday evening that it had denied late defense requests to halt the
execution. And the state Board of Pardons and Paroles rejected a clemency
request Tuesday that focused on Lawler's recently diagnosed autism.
Lawler was convicted of murdering John "Rick" Sowa, a 28-year-old Atlanta
policeman, and wounding Sowa's partner, Pat Cocciolone, on Oct. 12, 1997, just
moments after the 2 officers walked Lawler's intoxicated girlfriend to the
front door of the apartment they shared.
Sowa and Cocciolone were sent to investigate a report of a man hitting a woman
behind a business near the intersection of Lindbergh Drive and Piedmont Avenue.
They found Lawler trying to pull his girlfriend, Donna Rodgers, who was drunk,
to her feet. After Lawler walked away, Sowa and Cocciolone drove Rodgers home.
Lawler greeted the officers at the door with obscenities and told them to
leave. When Sowa tried to stop Lawler from closing the door, Lawler grabbed an
AR-15 loaded with armor-piercing bullets and fired at the fleeing officers.
Sowa was shot dead a few feet away. Cocciolone, gravely wounded, managed to
call for help.
Both were wearing bullet-proof vests. Their guns were still holstered.
Lawler spent much of the day Wednesday visiting his brother, Gerald, at the
prison. At 3 p.m. he was given a physical and was then served his last meal.
Prison officials said he ate all of it.
Lawler becomes the 7th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in
Georgia, and the 67th overall since the state resumed capital punishment in
1983. The 7th execution in Georgia is the most carried out in a single year in
that state since the death penalty was re-instated by the US Supreme Court on
July 2, 1976.
Lawler becomes the 17th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the
USA and the 1439th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17,
1977.
(sources: Atlanta Journal Constitution & Rick Halperin)
USA:
Judge considering moving man's 2nd death penalty trial
A federal judge is considering moving the 2nd death penalty trial of a Vermont
man charged in the 2000 abduction and killing of a North Clarendon woman, but
the judge isn't going to let the attorneys keep secret their request to move
the trial.
Lawyers representing 36-year-old Donald Fell asked that their request be sealed
in order to prevent what they called "reiteration of the press coverage."
Judge Geoffrey Crawford rejected their request Wednesday.
Fell's lawyers commissioned a survey and reviewed more than 630 newspaper
articles to support their effort to move Fell's 2nd death penalty trial to a
different location.
Fell is charged with killing 53-year-old Terry King after abducting her when
she arrived for work.
Fell's 2005 conviction was overturned due to juror misconduct.
(source: Associated Press)
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