Feb. 27
TEXAS:
Murder suspect wears shock device at hearing
Crime lab testing and security measures were discussed at a hearing Friday for
a Texas prison inmate accused of beating a correctional officer to death at the
Barry Telford Unit in New Boston in 2015.
The state is seeking the death penalty for Billy Joel Tracy, 39, in the July
15, 2015, murder of Timothy Davison, a 47-year-old correctional officer with
less than a year on the job. The case has been set for monthly pretrial
hearings by 102nd District Judge Bobby Lockhart in advance of jury selection,
which is scheduled to begin in September.
At a hearing at the Bowie County courthouse Friday, Assistant District Attorney
Kelley Crisp and Tracy's lead defense attorney, Mac Cobb of Mount Pleasant,
Texas, discussed compliance with state law in death penalty cases concerning
the testing of forensic evidence, such as DNA.
Crisp said the state, defense, and Lockhart met Feb. 17 at the district
attorney's office with officials from the state's crime lab to discuss what
must be tested. Crisp said she and Cobb agree they are in compliance with
relevant Texas death penalty statutes.
Cobb addressed security measures in place Friday for Tracy that have been
absent at earlier hearings. Additional personnel from the Texas Department of
Criminal Justice were on hand and Tracy was outfitted with a device capable of
delivering an electric shock via remote control.
At a hearing in January during which the court addressed motions from Tracy
expressing dissatisfaction with Cobb, Tracy told the court that he could just
assault Cobb if he wanted to make sure he was off the case. After discussing
his options with Lockhart, Tracy agreed to continue with Cobb as his lead
defender.
Cobb said he did not request the additional security. Crisp said her office was
unaware of any changes until Friday's court hearing. Lockhart has repeatedly
declined to interfere with or question the procedures and policies of TDCJ. Why
TDCJ implemented the additional security Friday remains publicly unknown.
In a prior hearing, Lockhart promised Tracy he would allow him to speak if he
chose. Tracy declined the offer Friday.
Tracy's trial may be more about determining punishment than whether or not he
is guilty. The alleged capital murder is reportedly preserved on video
surveillance footage from multiple angles.
Davison was walking Tracy back to his cell in administrative segregation from
an hour of recreation in a prison day room when Tracy allegedly slipped a hand
free of its cuff and attacked, according to a TDCJ critical incident report.
After knocking Davison to the floor, Tracy grabbed Davison's metal tray slot
bar and wielded it like a baseball bat to beat him before tossing Davison down
a flight of stairs. The alleged assault was over in less than 2 minutes.
Before locking himself back into his cell, where Tracy had allegedly already
packed his belongings in expectation of a transfer, Tracy allegedly threw the
bar at an approaching group of guards and doused the air with Davison's pepper
spray. Tray slot bars, which were only being used at a few Texas prisons in
2015 and which have reportedly been phased out in favor of less dangerous,
retrofitted equipment, were used to manipulate the rectangular openings in cell
doors to allow the passing of meal trays, for example.
Tracy, 38, has a long history of violence both in and out of prison. He began
serving two life sentences assessed in Rockwall County in August 1998, nearly
18 years ago. Tracy was convicted of attacking a 16-year-old girl and of
assaulting a police officer who attempted to take him into custody. Tracy has
received additional sentences of 45 and 10 years for attacking guards at other
Texas prisons.
"Offender Tracy had 49 major disciplinary convictions on file to include
attempted escape, possession of contraband, possession of a weapon (multiple),
staff assault with a weapon (multiple), offender assault with a weapon
(multiple), tampering with a locking mechanism, refusing to obey orders, and
creating a disturbance. His last major disciplinary was on April 22, 2014, for
attempted escape," the report states.
If found guilty of capital murder in Davison's death, a jury will have 2
sentencing options: life without the possibility of parole or death by lethal
injection. Tracy's next pretrial hearing is March 17.
(source: Texarkana Gazette)
******************************
Inmate pleads guilty for Huntsville correctional officer's death
A man on trial for the death of a Texas Department of Criminal Justice
correctional officer has pleaded guilty to capital murder.
In 2007, John Ray Falk Jr. exchanged gunfire with officer Susan Canfield during
an attempted escape.
Canfield, who was on horseback, was killed after she was thrown from the horse.
Falk was later caught, along with another inmate who was executed in 2013 for
his role in the escape attempt.
Falk's trial is being held at the Angelina County Courthouse in Lufkin.
It was moved on a change of venue request.
A jury will now decide if Falk will face life in prison of the death penalty.
(source: KBTX news)
PENNSYLVANIA:
Judge to hear death penalty case
A judge rather than a jury will hear the death penalty case against a Cambria
County man in his girlfriend's stabbing death.
The (Johnstown) Tribune-Democrat reported that public defenders for David Leon
Johnson, 37, requested the nonjury proceeding in Cambria County, and the
commonwealth agreed.
District Attorney Kelly Callihan cited costs concerns, since jurors in capital
cases are typically sequestered and housed in hotels to prevent outside
influences.
Judge Patrick Kiniry will hear the case beginning March 9.
If he convicts Johnson of 1st-degree murder, he must then decide whether to
impose capital punishment or life without parole.
Authorities allege that Johnson stabbed Allison Vaughn, 30, 3 times and
strangled her in March 2015 for refusing to let him withdraw money from her
bank account to buy drugs.
(source: Associated Press)
VIRGINIA:
Prosecution firm on death penalty in Ronald Hamilton trial
Lawyers for Ronald Hamilton are working frantically to keep the former Army
staff sergeant off death row, as the 1-year anniversary of the shooting he is
accused of committing draws near.
Prince William County Police have charged the 33-year-old with a series of
crimes, including capital murder and 1st-degree murder, alleging that he shot
and killed his 29-year-old wife, Crystal, at the couple's home on Lashmere
Court in Woodbridge last February. Then, investigators believe he shot 3 police
officers who responded to her 911 call for help, killing Officer Ashley Guindon
and injuring Officers Jesse Hempen and David McKeown.
With a lengthy trial set for June, court documents show that Hamilton seems
willing to admit his guilt, in exchange for Commonwealth's Attorney Paul Ebert
agreeing to take the death penalty off the table. But prosecutors have so far
been unwilling to consider that offer, pressing ahead with what could someday
prove to be Prince William's 1st execution since 2010.
"Mr. Hamilton has offered to enter a guilty plea and to take a lengthy
sentence, but the reality is that we're not at a point where that offer has
moved forward with the other side," Edward Ungvarsky, an attorney for Hamilton
with the state's capital defense program, told Prince William Circuit Court
Judge Steven Smith in a Jan. 3 hearing. "While Mr. Hamilton acknowledges that
he did the shooting, he also recognizes there are the possibilities of legal
defenses."
Neither Ebert nor Hamilton's attorneys responded to requests for comment on the
status of the case. The defense did file a 159-page motion asking that Smith
strike the death penalty due to its historical "failure to deter violence,' but
prosecutors argued that Virginia's Supreme Court has upheld capital punishment
"innumerable times over a period of decades," and Smith denied the request Feb.
13.
But if the case does eventually proceed to trial, then Hamilton's attorneys
have filed a flurry of motions to improve their client's odds before a jury.
Though prosecutors claimed in previous filings that Hamilton admitted his guilt
to police officers, his attorneys are pressing forward with the argument that
he wasn't mentally fit to waive his constitutional rights when he made those
confessions.
Chiefly, they argue that Hamilton suffered "traumatic experiences" during his 2
yearlong tours of duty in Iraq and "suffers from mental health problems." The
attorneys also question whether police ever appropriately delivered a "Miranda
warning" to Hamilton, notifying him of his rights to counsel and against
self-incrimination.
Smith ruled on Feb. 8 to appoint a psychologist to evaluate Hamilton's mental
state, though the results of that work are forthcoming.
Hamilton's attorneys were less successful in getting a yearlong delay in when
the case will actually go to trial. They were pressing that Smith move the case
to June 2018, with Ungvarsky claiming that the matter is "extraordinarily
complicated."
Ungvarsky alleged in a Jan. 3 hearing that Hamilton's attorneys "still haven't
gotten all his Army records," and they're still missing a large number of
discovery files from prosecutors as well.
"We can't just get ready in the next few months," Ungvarsky said. "We want a
trial in which we're able to put our best foot forward in a zealous, efficient,
diligent, constitutionally effective way to save his life."
But Ebert countered that he's aware of "no discovery issues" on his end, and
Smith denied Ungvarsky's request, claiming the decision "puts pressure on both
sides."
Moving forward, Hamilton's lawyers are renewing their efforts to bar the
prosecution from using at trial any recordings of his calls during his stay in
the Prince William-Manassas Regional Adult Detention Center.
The attorneys argue that Hamilton's discussed sensitive subjects like his
faith, "the care of his son," his "despair and frustration at being kept in
solitary confinement 23 hours per day" and his "deep regret and remorse" over
the shooting, and using those calls as evidence would violate Hamilton's First
and Fourth Amendment rights.
But judges have repeatedly denied similar arguments, prosecutors note, and they
allege that there is a long-held standard of a "diminished expectation of
privacy for inmates in a jail or prison facility."
Hamilton's lawyers are also asking Smith to suppress their client's statements
to a mental health worker while he was incarcerated.
They expressed dismay in a motion that the prosecution managed to gain access
to the sort of information they believe is protected under federal healthcare
law, claiming that the Adult Detention Center "either intentionally broke the
law when it provided those records to the commonwealth or the commonwealth
obtained those records through improper back channels." Prosecutors have yet to
file a response to those claims.
Smith is currently set to hear arguments on the last 2 motions March 8 in
circuit court.
(source: insidenova.com)
ALABAMA:
Let juries make the final call on capital sentences
Imagine you're an Alabama judge - don your robe, grab your gavel and go sit in
the big chair at the bench.
You've presided over a trial in which a defendant has been convicted in a
particularly heinous capital murder case. The same jury that rendered that
verdict also has given its recommendation for the defendant's punishment: life
in prison without parole.
Alone among your peers in the U.S. judiciary, you can accept that
recommendation or send the defendant to death row. It's your call.
You also must, to keep your job, regularly face the voters in a state whose
ballot-casters are particularly cranky about crime. They generally want to lock
criminals up and not just throw away the key but grind it into dust (confirmed
by our bulging prisons), and are as adamant as the Red Queen in "Alice in
Wonderland" about capital punishment.
What's going to be your motivation: justice or self-preservation?
Since 1976, according to the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama
judges have rejected a jury's recommendation for life without parole in 112
capital cases, and in all but 11 have levied death sentences. The last
defendant put to death in Alabama had his sentence changed by a judge after the
jury voted to send him to prison for life.
We can't climb into those judges' heads, past or present, and know exactly what
they were thinking. They may sincerely have believed the defendants in question
deserved society's ultimate penalty for their actions.
However, the question of death sentences being handed down for political
reasons or to satisfy public opinion simply can't be erased from this scenario.
That has fueled a push in the Legislature to take away judges' option to reject
a jury's sentencing recommendation.
The Senate overwhelmingly - the margin was 30-1 - passed a bill to do that. A
companion bill has cleared a House committee. We hope the Legislature puts
together a consensus bill that becomes law.
Support for the change is bipartisan - this isn't a Democratic vs. Republican
or liberal vs. conservative situation.
We doubt anyone would speak on the record, but the Senate bill's sponsor, Sen.
Dick Brewbaker, R-Montgomery, said judges he's spoken to have almost
universally told him (a.) they wish the override option would go away and (b.)
they have felt public and political pressure to impose death sentences.
We're sure there will be shrieks about being "soft on crime." We don't see how
that's the case when defendants have been convicted and the only question is
their punishment. Given what we said about the mood toward criminals in this
state, we expect Alabama juries to continue recommending a lot of death
sentences.
The thing is, those sentences, just like the resolution of guilt vs. innocence,
will be decided by the defendant's peers, not by one individual with people
breathing down his or her neck.
(source: Editorial, Gadsden Times)
OHIO:
Long execution process is wrong
DEAR EDITOR:
I read in today's edition of the Tribune that a federal court will review the
constitutionality of Ohio's execution policy.
In my opinion, this lengthy, drawn-out legal process is exactly what's wrong
with our legal system today. The question is whether the sedative Midazolam is
powerful enough to put inmates into a deep state of unconsciousness before two
other drugs will paralyze them and subsequently stop their hearts. These
inmates have been charged with the heinous, unconscionable charges like rape
and murder.
Why is there even any question of whether or not they will feel any pain during
this process? What about the victims and the excruciating pain they must have
endured before death finally claimed them? What about their rights? I couldn't
care less how much pain or suffering the inmates endure. The state says it has
the capability of performing these executions now and "should" be permitted to
so.
Failing to enforce the death penalty is bad for this state and every other
state that has failed to do so due to "legal ramifications."
ROBERT JOHNSON
Warren
(source: Letter to the Editor, Tribune-Chronicle)
UTAH:
State sanctioned murder
Capital punishment, as anything other than a self-defense measure, is beyond
the pale of humanity and into that of barbarism, the most egregious aspect
being the abdication of our most fundamental human right. It is a supreme
presumption on the part of the state to assume power over the life and death of
its citizens. By what dispensation?
Laws reflect the character of society, and the death penalty is nothing more
than state-sanctioned murder. Its use as a deterrence for crime is of
questionable efficacy and dubious probity. It is a sad comment on our society
to seek vengeance under the guise of deterrence. As with other practices of
dubious morality down through the ages, human society often chooses to hide
behind God. But it is a human act carried out on behalf of the people.
Human judgment is fraught with error, and there is no reprieve from death.
Incarceration obviates any concerns for safety, allows for recourse and serves
the demands of justice. One possible justification for the death penalty would
be for use as a legal gambit in plea bargaining, but this, too, is morally
indefensible. Think twice before empowering the state to take life.
The only legitimate justification for capital punishment is self-defense - and
that has been rendered unnecessary.
Kent Jackson Fetzer
Salt Lake City
(source: Letter to the Editor, Salt Lake Tribune)
NEVADA:
Lawmakers introduce bill to end death penalty
Assemblyman James Ohrenschall and Sen. Tick Segerblom, both Las Vegas
Democrats, on Friday introduced Assembly Bill 237, which would abolish capital
punishment in Nevada.
If enacted, the bill will set life without the possibility of parole as the
maximum punishment for crime. In doing so, any current sentences to death would
be commuted to life without parole.
When asked to provide some background for the bill, co-sponsor Segerblom said
it was submitted not only from a moral standpoint, but as a matter of
practicality.
"It's costing the state millions of dollars to try to kill people, when in fact
the system does not allow you to kill people," he said. "The fact is that given
the way the process works, the number of appeals, no one is going to be
executed in Nevada in our lifetime.
"Meanwhile, to try to execute somebody, the cost for prosecution doubles, you
have to hire twice as many lawyers, a psychiatrist, and the legal fees just go
from there."
According to 2016 statistics provided by the Death Penalty Information Center,
Nevada had 80 inmates on death row in Ely but the last execution was in April
of 2006. This high number can be attributed to 2 principle factors. The 1st is
a lack of availability of lethal injection drugs. After the 2015 session
allocated $860,000 for a new, ADA-compliant execution chamber, the state could
not find a pharmaceutical company to supply the necessary drugs out of the 247
that were asked for proposals.
Many pharmaceutical companies have steered away from production of lethal
injection drugs because of a series of lawsuits within the last 15 years,
questioning not only the legality of the death penalty, but protocols for
lethal injection and ethics of supplying the drug.
The 2nd reason is the unlimited appeals allowed upon being sentenced to death.
Because Nevada Revised Statute does not enumerate a limit on appeals of an
execution sentencing, the 12 individuals executed since 1979 have all been
voluntarily executed. All other inmates have spent the remainder of their lives
on death row submitting appeals.
With the strong Democratic majority in the Legislature, leadership is confident
they will see the bill through to the desk of Gov. Brian Sandoval.
The Republican caucus declined to comment on the bill at this time. The bill
was assigned to the Assembly Committee on Judiciary, where it will be heard
within the coming weeks.
(source: Elko Free Press)
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