Feb . 2



TEXAS----impending execution

Death Watch: "An Intentional Smothering"----Tilon Carter says he never meant to kill James Tomlin


Tilon Carter faces execution on Tuesday, Feb. 7, after 10 years on death row. The 37-year-old was convicted of capital murder in a Tarrant County court in 2006 for the capital murder of James Eldon Tomlin.

In April 2004, Carter and his girlfriend, Leketha Allen, robbed Tomlin, an 89-year-old retired veteran with jars of cash stashed throughout his home. Carter taped Tomlin's hands and legs together and covered his mouth with duct tape before the couple ransacked the house and stole $6,000 and a shotgun. Tomlin's daughter discovered her father's body that day. An autopsy indicated Tomlin had been beaten and smothered, and died of positional asphyxiation.

Carter admitted before his trial that he planned to rob Tomlin, though he maintained that he did not mean to kill him. The Tarrant County medical examiner testified that it wasn't exactly clear how Tomlin suffocated. The position and restraints were "consistent" with positional asphyxiation, but marks on the victim's lips "indicated an intentional smothering." Carter's history of misdemeanors and armed robbery made it easy for prosecutors to convince the jury that he was a career criminal. Carter pleaded not guilty. Jurors disagreed and sentenced him to death. Allen accepted a plea for 25 years in prison. She's eligible for parole this year.

Carter's appeals have hinged on arguments that his trial attorneys failed to offer contradicting testimony regarding the cause and manner of Tomlin's death, thereby violating his Sixth Amendment right to effective counsel. Attorneys have also focused on the court's alleged failure to prove the death penalty was warranted (as opposed to life in prison), and that state law pertaining to a jury's right to know is in fact a violation of the Eighth and 14th amendments. Those appeals have all failed - most recently, last March, at the U.S. Supreme Court.

On Nov. 2, 2016, Carter's appellate attorney Robin Norris requested permission from a federal court to withdraw as Carter's attorney - at Carter's request. Norris wrote: "All judicial avenues for review of Mr. Carter's capital murder conviction and death sentence have been exhausted." What remained were procedural filings for clemency and commutation to the governor and state Board of Pardons and Paroles. Those, Norris suggested, could be taken over by new counsel. The court has not yet responded.

Carter is expected to be the 2rd Texan executed this year. John Ramirez's execution, scheduled for today (Feb. 2), was stayed in a Corpus Christi federal court on Tuesday. Attorney Gregory Gardner, who played a crucial role in the stay of Kosoul Chanthakoummane's execution last month, took over Ramirez's case Jan. 27. Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos wrote in her order that "the short time remaining before Ramirez's execution" meant that the substitution of counsel "could only be given effect through a stay."

Last week, despite newly discovered forensic evidence, and proof that Dallas County prosecutors falsified evidence to secure a conviction, the Supreme Court denied Terry Edwards' last-minute appeal. He was executed Jan. 26 at 10:17pm, nearly 4 hours after his scheduled court-ordered time of death.

(source: Austin Chronicle)

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Executions under Greg Abbott, Jan. 21, 2015-present----22

Executions in Texas: Dec. 7, 1982----present-----540

Abbott#--------scheduled execution date-----name------------Tx. #

23---------February 7---------------Tilon Carter----------541

24---------March 7------------------Rolando Ruiz----------542

25---------March 14-----------------James Bigby-----------543

26---------April 12-----------------Paul Storey-----------544

27---------June 28------------------Steven Long-----------545

28---------July 19-----------------Kosoul Chanthakoummane---546

(sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin)






FLORIDA:

Waffle House killer to get chance to get off death row


The death row inmate who marched 3 employees of a Davie Waffle House into a freezer, ordered them to their knees and shot them as they begged for their lives will get another chance to fight for his own, the Florida Supreme Court decided.

Gerhard Hojan, now 41, was found guilty in 2005 of murdering Christina Delarosa, 17, and Willie Absolu, 28, during a robbery at the restaurant. A 3rd employee, Barbara Nunn, survived a shot to the head.

The state's high court ruled that Hojan is entitled to a new sentencing hearing because Florida's process for implementing the death penalty at the time was unconstitutional. The jury that convicted Hojan recommended execution by a vote of 9 to 3. Last year, the court ruled that death penalty recommendations had to be unanimous.

Hojan's was 1 of more than 200 cases statewide where the Supreme Court ruled a defendant on death row could be entitled to a new sentencing hearing. Florida currently has no system in place for imposing a death sentence, so Broward prosecutors can either wait until a new law is passed and upheld or agree to sentence Hojan to life in prison.

Assistant Broward State Attorney Carolyn McCann, who is in charge of the office's special projects division, said prosecutors will continue to pursue the death penalty against Hojan.

"They haven't issued their final mandate in this case, and I have reason to believe the Florida Attorney General's Office will ask for a rehearing," she said. "This is a case that really, in my mind, cries out for the death penalty. It was an execution."

The sentencing judge in the case characterized Hojan's actions a deliberate ruthlessness.

"There can be no doubt that the victims suffered immeasurable fear and terror at the hands of Gerhard Hojan," Broward Circuit Judge Paul Backman said while imposing the death sentence in August 2005.

Hojan and his roommate, Jimmy Mickel, had a 4 a.m. breakfast at the Waffle House on March 11, 2002, and followed it up by forcing the three employees to hand over their money, according to trial testimony. Mickel had worked at the restaurant before, as a cook, and knew his way around the floor.

"He's going to kill us," Nunn told Delarosa, her fellow waitress, and Absolu, the cook at the restaurant.

Absolu put his arm around the two women to reassure them it would all be OK. "No," Nunn insisted. "I know them by name."

Hojan ordered them into the freezer and told them to get on their knees. Delarosa, an aspiring nurse and mother of an infant child, was terrified, wondering aloud if she would ever see her baby again, Nunn testified.

When the shooting started, Delarosa tried to hide under a storage rack. Hojan found her and shot her twice as she screamed for her baby, Kyle.

Nunn managed to survive, crawling to a nearby gas station for help. She was able to identify the defendants and testify about the murders. Efforts to reach her Wednesday were unsuccessful.

Mickel is serving 5 life sentences for his role in the crimes, but he was acquitted of murder charges after jurors determined Hojan was solely responsible for the deaths.

(source: Sun-Sentinel)

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Death Sentence Overturned for Convicted Murderer


The death sentence for a man convicted of a gruesome murder in Washington County has been overturned.

In 2015, Zachary Woods was convicted and sentenced to death in the killing of 66-year-old James Shores in April of 2014.

Today, the Florida Supreme Court announced that, as a result of a lack of evidence, Wood is being taken off of death row and will serve life without parole instead.

In a statement responding to the announcement, State Attorney Glenn Hess says, "We thought we did an excellent job in this case establishing the aggravating factors that would warrant the imposition of the death penalty. The jury unanimously agreed and recommended a sentence of 12-0 for death. However, the Supreme Court has ruled otherwise."

(source: mypanhandle.com)






MISSISSIPPI:

Bill: Execution by gas, firing squad would be allowed


If Mississippi's current method of execution, lethal injection, is ruled unconstitutional, the state would have the further options of nitrogen gas, firing squad and electrocution to carry out the state's death penalty under House Bill 638.

The bill survived Tuesday's deadline to be reported out of committee. It awaits action in the full House.

House Judiciary B Chairman Andy Gipson, R-Braxton, said the bill has the support of Gov. Phil Bryant and Attorney General Jim Hood.

"It's a death penalty bill," Gipson said.

The bill says if the current method of execution is held unconstitutional by a court or is otherwise unavailable, then the sentence of death shall be carried out by nitrogen hypoxia.

If lethal injection and nitrogen hypoxia are ruled unconstitutional or are unavailable, then the sentence of death would be carried out by firing squad.

Then, if the other above methods are ruled unconstitutional or for some reason are unavailable, the final method of carrying out an execution would be done by electrocution.

Since Mississippi joined the Union in 1817, several forms of execution have been used. Hanging was the 1st form of execution used in Mississippi, according to the Mississippi Department of Corrections. The state continued to execute prisoners sentenced to die by hanging until Oct. 11, 1940, when Hilton Fortenberry, convicted of capital murder in Jefferson Davis County, became the 1st prisoner to be executed in the electric chair. Between 1940 and Feb. 5, 1952, the old oak electric chair was moved from county to county to conduct executions. During the 12-year span, 75 prisoners were executed in the Magnolia State for offenses punishable by death.

In 1954, the gas chamber was installed at the Mississippi State Penitentiary, according to MDOC. It replaced the electric chair, which is on display at the Mississippi Law Enforcement Training Academy. Gearald A. Gallego became the 1st prisoner to be executed by lethal gas on March 3, 1955. During the course of the next 34 years, 35 death row inmates were executed in the gas chamber. Leo Edwards became the last person to be executed in the gas chamber at the Mississippi State Penitentiary on June 21, 1989.

On July 1, 1984, the Mississippi legislature partially amended lethal gas as the state's form of execution. The amendment provided that individuals who committed capital punishment crimes after the effective date of the new law and who were subsequently sentenced to death thereafter would be executed by lethal injection. On March 18, 1998, the Mississippi legislature amended the manner of execution by finally removing the provision of lethal gas as the alternate form of execution.

House Bill 638, filed by Rep. Robert Foster, R-Hernando, said it was requested by the attorney general's office.

The last time Mississippi executed a death row inmate was 2012. Since then, a federal lawsuit over the drug protocol used in executions, combined with motions before the state Supreme Court, have left a question mark as to when the next execution might occur in a state where 17 death row inmates have died by lethal injection since 2002.

Hood said recently he expects an execution could occur later this year in Mississippi.

If the bill passes and is signed into law, it would become effective immediately.

(source: Hattiesburg American)

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Convicted killer asks MS Supreme Court to overturn death sentence


Timothy Evans was sentenced to death in 2013 for the capital murder of 70-year-old Wenda Lafern Holling. Wednesday, the Mississippi Supreme Court will consider a request from Evans to overturn his death sentence.

Mobile users can watch the oral arguments live here: http://bit.ly/2khqD3f

Evans admitted to investigators he strangled Holling to death on the afternoon of Jan. 2, 2010. The next day, he loaded her body into the trunk of her car and drove to a wooded area in Harrison County. Evans said he dumped Holling's body in the woods and then went to the store to buy beer and cigarettes.

Attorneys representing Evans argued he was under the influence of drugs and alcohol when he killed Holling. Investigators said Evans had been renting a room in Holling's home in the Kiln at the time of her death.

During his trial, investigators played a confession tape Evans recorded shortly after his arrest. In the tape, Evans detailed how he sat on Holling's chest and strangled her to death.

(source: WLOX news)






TENNESSEE:

Death row inmate dies of natural causes in Nashville prison


A death row inmate and convicted murderer died of natural causes at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville Monday, according to the Tennessee Department of Corrections.

Walter L. Caruthers was convicted of Robbery with a Deadly Weapon, Aggravated Kidnapping, and Murder in Knox County.

He was sentenced to death on February 8, 1983.

On October 11, 1980, Caruthers and an accomplice, Reginald Watkins, picked up the victims, Wilhelmina Stahl and her brother, George Stahl, in Ohio.

They were hitchhiking to Georgia but Caruthers and Watkins drove the Stahls to a vacant lot in Knoxville, robbed them at gunpoint, then forced them into the trunk of the car.

Following that, Ms. Stahl was raped. The men then drove the Stahls to a remote lakeside location where Ms. Stahl was killed.

Mr. Stahl was hit in the head with a rock, and shot behind the left ear with a .32 caliber pistol, stabbed multiple times in the throat. Ruthers and Watkins attempted to throw him in the lake, but Mr. Stahl survived.

(source: WVLT news)






OHIO:

Jury selection begins Friday in death penalty trial of Robert Seman


The death penalty case of Robert Seman will begin in 2 days.

He's the man accused of setting the deadly fire that killed 10-year-old Corinne Gump and her grandparents William and Judith Schmidt at their Youngstown home in 2015.

There are currently 159 people who remain in the jury pool and Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Judge Maureen Sweeney says while jurors will begin filling out juror questionaires on Friday, the court will begin questioning individual jurors next Tuesday.

In late developments the defense wants to try and question a burn expert by Skype.

Also someone has now come forward with cell phone video from Walgreens that could allegedly shed new light on the case.

It's unclear what that video shows but you may remember Seman allegedly went to Walgreens to buy make-up to cover-up burns from the deadly fire shortly after it happened.

Sources say it could take 3 weeks to a month to select a jury and another month for the trial itself

(source: WFMJ news)


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