Oct. 25
GEORGIA:
Atlanta Man Faces Death Penalty for 2009 Murder of Boxing Champ --- Vernon
Forrest was shot 5 times in the back by robber, says DA.
A jury began hearing testimony Tuesday to determine whether an Atlanta man
should face the death penalty for the 2009 murder of boxing champion Vernon
Forrest.
On Monday, the jury found Charmon Sinkfield guilty of murder, felony murder,
armed robbery, aggravated assault and related gun charges, Fulton County
District Attorney Paul L. Howard Jr. said in a statement. Fulton County Deputy
Chief Judge Alford Dempsey Jr. is presiding over Sinkfield's trial.
In his statement, Howard described how the crime occurred:
On July 25, 2009, Vernon Forrest was driving a car accompanied by his
10-year-old godson when he pulled his vehicle into a Southwest Atlanta gas
station to put air in his tire. After Forrest stepped out of his vehicle, he
was robbed by 3 men.
One of the men, Demario Ware, stole Forrest's championship ring and watch at
gunpoint. Forrest gave chase, but lost sight of Ware as he escaped into a
nearby apartment complex on McDaniel Street.
The 2nd assailant, Jquante Crews, drove Ware away from the scene.
Forrest then encountered the 3rd robber, Charmon Sinkfield. "As he turned to
walk away, Sinkfield shot Forrest 7 times," Howard said. "A number of the shots
were fired as Sinkfield stood over the victim's body."
(source: patch.com)
ALABAMA:
Next to die, death row inmate Tommy Arthur begs Alabama governor: 'Halt all
executions'
Alabama death row inmate Tommy Arthur, spared execution 6 times since he was
convicted in the 1982 contract killing of a man, is asking the governor to stay
his Nov. 3 execution because he says he is an innocent man.
Meanwhile, his attorneys are seeking a stay of execution with a federal appeals
court.
"Governor Bentley please immediately place a moratorium on all executions and
contact United States Justice System and request they investigate Alabama's
entire capital punishment procedure, arrests, trials, appeals," Arthur states
in a handwritten letter to the governor last week.
The letter was first sent by Arthur to AL.com, which forwarded it -- along with
a second earlier letter to a federal judge -- to Bentley's press secretary.
Bentley's chief legal adviser, David B. Byrne, Jr., stated in a letter Monday
morning to AL.com that he had reviewed the letters and would bring them to
Bentley's attention at his briefing on Friday. "The Governor has always felt
that a clemency petition is the most difficult decision he makes as Governor,"
Byrne wrote.
Bentley has not stayed an execution during his 2 terms.
The Alabama Supreme Court set Tommy Arthur's execution (his seventh date) for
Nov. 3 at Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore and Ronald Bert Smith's for
Dec. 8.
Arthur, 74, has been convicted and sentenced to death 3 separate times for the
1982 slaying of Muscle Shoals resident Troy Wicker. Prosecutors said that
Wicker's wife, Judy Wicker, hired Arthur to kill her husband. She was convicted
for her role and served 10 years of a life sentence in prison.
Arthur had been convicted previously in another murder and was on release to
community corrections when the Wicker murder occurred. The victims in both
murders were killed with a gunshot through the right eye, according to court
records.
In his letter Arthur asks Bentley to use his executive power to not only stay
his execution but to order a full Rule 32 hearing "in a court room where my
attorneys can put witnesses under oath in front of a judge."
A Rule 32 petition is a way for a defendant to ask a trial judge to set aside
his or her conviction.
"I've never in 33 plus years on death row never had a full state Rule 32
hearing in court," Arthur claims in his letter.
Arthur, however, did have a Rule 32 hearing to consider his claims that another
Holman Correctional Facility inmate, Bobby Ray Gilbert, had committed the crime
and to have DNA testing of evidence.
After a hearing in 2008 with multiple witnesses and DNA evidence, Jefferson
County Circuit Judge Teresa Pulliam wrote that the evidence showed Arthur
collaborated with Gilbert to make up the story and that the two men "have
defrauded this Court."
The DNA evidence didn't establish that Judy Wicker had any sexual relations
with Gilbert, which was a claim made by Arthur and Gilbert, the judge ruled.
Arthur, in a recent interview with Al.com maintains he and Gilbert did not make
up the story.
Among his other statements in his letter to Bentley, Arthur claims that:
--Setting his execution date less than a week before the national election is
an attempt to hide his "murder."
--Testimony from Judy Wicker was inconsistent on whether he was involved in the
killing.
--"Governor Bentley there is no time limit in charging a person with a capital
crime. How on earth can there be a time limit on proving innocence and a fair
trial?," Arthur writes.
Arthur had 6 previous execution dates set by the Alabama Supreme Court: 2001,
twice in 2007, 2008, 2012 and 2015. Several were stayed within days or hours of
the executions.
Arthur writes that the Attorney General's office "hollars" that he has had
three trials. But he says his trial lawyers were low paid, he had no detectives
to locate witnesses and evidence, and there was no testing of evidence by his
defense team at the time of the 1st trial.
Arthur wants testing on all evidence still in possession of the state. He
claims that prosecutors have misplaced or destroyed evidence and that a hair
from a black man was never tested. He says Judy Wicker originally claimed a
black man had beat and raped her and killed her husband.
"Please Governor Bentley sir grant my humble pleas afore stated. I am not
asking you to set me free nor a pardon nor a lesser sentence. All Im begging
you for is plain justice. The opportunity in court to prove my innocence,"
Arthur writes.
If the Alabama Supreme Court agrees to set an execution date, it would the
seventh time Tommy Arthur has faced execution.
Arthur's attorneys have filed an appeal and stay of execution request to the
11th Circuit Court of Appeals.
The appeal is of U.S. District Court Judge Keith Watkin's ruling that dismissed
Arthur's lawsuit over Alabama's new lethal injection method. The appeal
challenges Watkins' interpretation of the U.S. Supreme Court's 2015 ruling in
Glossip v. Gross out of Oklahoma, which affirmed that a death row inmate must
present and prove the availability of a feasible alternative to challenge their
method of execution on the basis of the Eighth Amendment protecting against
cruel and unusual punishment.
Arthur had suggested several alternative methods of execution, including the
firing squad and a drug the state says it can't get. Arthur's appeal states
Watkins erred in his interpretation of Glossip's available-alternative
provision.
Arthur's attorney, Suhana S. Han, on Friday filed a motion asking U.S. District
Court Judge Keith Watkins to reconsider his Oct. 5 order that denied Arthur the
chance to argue the firing squad as a feasible alternative to the state's
3-drug lethal injection method.
The Alabama Attorney General's Office, however, believes the judge got it right
and is asking the appeals court to throw out Arthur's appeal and let the 7th
planned execution proceed.
"As for the 6 previous settings, Arthur has manipulated the State and federal
court systems to escape the imposition of justice, even going so far as to use
perjured testimony to seek a reprieve," the Attorney General's Office argues.
"Arthur's abusive litigation tactics have harmed already the public's interest,
and granting a stay would only add insult to injury."
(source: al.com)
NEBRASKA:
Beatrice 6 victim speaks out against death penalty
"I was threatened with the death penalty and told I'd be the 1st woman on death
row in Nebraska"
The woman who was told she would be the 1st female on Nebraska's death row, and
served nearly 20 years in prison for a crime she was later proved to have
nothing to do with, said Tuesday she is speaking out against the death penalty.
"I spent 19 years, 7 months, and 26 days in prison for a murder I did not
commit. After my arrest, I was threatened with the death penalty and told I'd
be the 1st woman on death row in Nebraska nearly every day that I was in the
Gage County jail until I agreed to plead guilty," said JoAnn Taylor.
"I want to share my story so Nebraskans understand that wrongful convictions
happen here. I'm proof of that fact. An innocent person can be executed. Using
the threat of execution to coerce a confession happens in Nebraska and it is
wrong. The threat of the death penalty increases the odds that innocent people
will end up in prison," she said.
"I am speaking out to Retain the end of executions in Nebraska because I want
to make sure that what happened to me doesn't happen to anyone else," Taylor
said.
Also appearing at Tuesday's news conference were Lincoln attorneys Jeffry
Patterson, Bob Bartle and Herb Friedman, who represented 5 of the individuals
collectively known as the Beatrice 6.
"Our clients were convicted of a murder they did not commit. This past June, a
jury heard evidence about what caused our clients to be wrongly convicted, and
heard about everything our clients lost when they were sent to prison. This
evidence lead the jury to award our clients over $28.1 million dollars,"
Patterson said.
"It was compensation to right the wrong of the worst miscarriage of justice in
Nebraska history. But even that much money can't replace the human cost of
their wrongful convictions," he said.
"Imagine your life between the ages of 25 and 45 being ripped away from you.
During those years, you start careers, get married, buy a home, have children
and watch your kids grow into adults, help your kids go through school, see
them graduate high school, go on to college, and even marry and start their own
families. All of that was stolen from Joseph White, Tom Winslow and JoAnn
Taylor when they were sentenced to no less than 40 years in prison for a crime
they did not commit," Patterson said.
"I also want to share my story because I want Nebraskans to see the human cost
of the death penalty. I lost everything when I was convicted of a crime I did
not commit. I was taken away from my 14-month old baby in the middle of the
night," Taylor said.
"When I was convicted, I was forced to give my baby son up for adoption. I
didn't see my son again until last December, when we finally met in Omaha --
26 years after I was taken away from him in the middle of the night," Taylor
said.
"If law enforcement tells you the threat of the death penalty helps to obtain
guilty pleas, ask yourself, is what happened with JoAnn the kind of guilty plea
we want to have? Threatening suspects with execution may resolve cases, but is
it the kind of resolution we can afford? A resolution where 6 innocent people
serve 77 years in prison for a crime they didn't commit," Patterson asked.
"Money cannot possibly make up for the human costs of a wrongful conviction.
This is why it is so important for us as a society to do everything possible to
avoid putting anyone in prison for a crime they did not commit," he said.
"I want Nebraskans to know what the human costs are of wrongful convictions.
It's a mother losing her son. I can never get back my son's 1st day of school -
his 1st bike - his 1st prom date - all of that was lost for both of us. The
human cost of using the threat of execution to coerce a guilty plea is a
grandmother who has never seen her grandchildren. This price is too high to
pay. Nebraska is better off without the death penalty," Taylor said.
(source: 1011now.com)
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