Jan. 26
OHIO:
Prosecutors to ask for death penalty against adult murder suspects
The Licking County Prosecutor's Office will be pursuing the death penalty for
the 1st time in more than a decade against 2 men charged with the aggravated
murder of another Newark man.
Licking County Prosecutor Bill Hayes said prosecutors will likely present the
case to a grand jury next week for indictment.
If the grand jury approves the death penalty specifications, the cases against
21-year-old Dustin Lehoe and 20-year-old Tyler Ocasio would be the 1st capital
indictments in Licking County since 2007.
Licking County last sentenced someone to death row in 2005, when Roland Davis
was convicted of the aggravated murder of 86-year-old Elizabeth Sheeler.
Iradell Crumpton was indicted on a death penalty specification in 2007, but he
was later sentenced to 45 years to life in prison.
Hayes said the cases against Lehoe and Ocasio would qualify under Ohio law for
the death penalty.
"These are a couple of bad actors," he said.
The pair are accused, along with 15-year-old Jaden Osborn and 16-year-old Dylan
Warren, of going to 70 Cherry Street around 2:45 a.m. Saturday and kicking open
a door.
Court records show Lehoe and Ocasio are suspected of going into a basement of
the home where 48-year-old David Barcus was staying and attempting to rob him,
fatally shooting him in the process.
Under Ohio law, if a homicide occurs while another felony is being committed,
such as an armed robbery, the death penalty can be imposed.
Osborn and Warren would not be eligible for the death penalty because they are
juveniles.
Prosecutors are seeking to try the 2 as adults and a probable cause hearing to
determine if the cases could be moved to Common Pleas Court will be held in
March.
Osborn and Warren are both being held at the Multi-County Juvenile Detention
Facility in Lancaster, pending future hearings.
Ocasio and Lehoe are being held in the Licking County Justice Center in lieu of
$1 million bond each. Their cases are expected to be presented to the grand
jury next week.
(source: newarkadvocate.com)
TENNESSEE----female may face death penalty
Sherra Wright Could Face Death Penalty If Convicted Of Murdering Lorenzen
Wright
The ex-wife of former Memphis Tiger and Grizzlies basketball star Lorenzen
Wright could face the death penalty if convicted of her ex-husband's murder.
Sherra Wright is accused of killing Lorenzen Wright in 2010 with suspected
co-conspirator Billy Ray Turner. Authorities indicted and arrested Sherra
Wright last month in Riverside County, California, and after she waived
extradition, authorities brought her to Shelby County Saturday.
The prosecutor leading this case said pursuing the death penalty for Sherra
Wright is under consideration. This as she finalizes her legal team in the
coming weeks.
"I could have never fathomed that in a million years, I would have never
thought she would have been a suspect," says Montae Nevels, a friend of
Lorenzen Wright's.
In an orange jumpsuit, Sherra Wright's presence Thursday seemed surreal to
friends and family of the ex-husband she's accused of killing.
"It is a shock to everybody in the community, it's a shock to the family," says
Nevels. "Sherra is a suspect, we are not saying Sherra is guilty, that's the
court's decision, but we are just here wanting justice for the family."
Wright is accused of plotting and attempting to kill Lorenzen beginning in
April 2010, and then having a role in his actual murder in July 2010 in Shelby
County.
"Of course, people fuss and fight, but I never thought it would have gotten to
this particular point," says Nevels.
For prosecutors, Wright's appearance Thursday begins a new chapter, weeks after
the more 7-year cold case of Lorenzen's murder ended with her arrest.
"This is the case that's obviously been in the media and been in the forefront
of a lot of people's minds," says Paul Hagerman with the Shelby County District
Attorney's Office. And as for the death penalty? "It's still under
consideration, I'll say that."
For Wright's defense team, she's expected to be represented by 2 high-profile
Memphis attorney families: Ballin and Farese.
"There a number of legal hurdles that have to be met before a death penalty can
be sought," says Blake Ballin.
"Anytime you have a case where the victim is a well-known celebrity or a
well-known person in the community, you know, the main thing, main challenge is
making sure the truth is out there," says Steve Farese, Jr.
"She's concerned about her children, most of her concern is about the
children," says Ballin.
"She's doing as well as you could expect someone to be doing given the
situation that she's been in," says Farese, Sr. "She's been accused of
something she didn't do."
Billy Ray Turner is also accused in the murder of Lorenzen Wright, and once
attended the same church with Sherra Wright. He is scheduled in court Monday.
Sherra Wright is next scheduled in court February 26th.
(source: localmemphis.com)
ARKANSAS:
Lawyer Says Inmate Ineligible for Death Penalty----Lawyers for the state of
Arkansas say 2 men who won temporary stays during a flurry of executions last
spring never reached the minimum standards necessary to trigger aid from mental
health professionals throughout their trials.
Lawyers for the state of Arkansas say 2 men who won temporary stays during a
flurry of executions last spring never reached the minimum standards necessary
to trigger aid from mental health professionals throughout their trials.
Attorneys for Bruce Ward and Don Davis went before the state Supreme Court on
Thursday to argue independent psychiatrists should have reviewed their files
and helped develop trial strategies. In their questioning, justices said Ward
wasn't fully cooperative when doctors assessed him and that Davis appeared to
have received a level of assistance that went beyond what was required.
The court last April stopped Ward's and Davis' executions so it could review
what level of assistance was required. At the time, the U.S. Supreme Court was
looking at a similar case from Alabama. Lawyers for Arkansas and the inmates
differed Thursday on what it meant for Arkansas' death row cases.
(source: Associated Press)
******************
Arkansas judge barred from hearing death penalty cases sees 'unseemly
timing'----Ruling by state's justices, the defendants in judge's suit, added to
their defense
An attorney for Pulaski County Judge Wendell Griffen said the Arkansas Supreme
Court acted with "unseemly timing" by issuing a ruling last week that the
court's attorneys cited just days later in support of their request to dismiss
Griffen's federal lawsuit against the justices.
Michael Laux is representing Griffen in the judge's ongoing federal lawsuit,
which accuses the Supreme Court of violating Griffen's rights when it stripped
the judge of all death penalty-related cases last spring after Griffen appeared
at the center of an anti-death penalty protest in front of the Governor's
Mansion.
In an email to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on Wednesday morning, Laux said he
was concerned with the timing of a brief filed by the Supreme Court's lawyers,
who are asking a federal judge to dismiss that lawsuit.
According to Laux, on Jan. 16, attorneys for the justices asked for permission
to reply to Laux's final brief in the case, in which Laux had argued that the
state waived its sovereign immunity from lawsuits through provisions in the
Religious Freedom Restoration Act (Griffen has said his demonstration was
because of his religious briefs).
Laux said he agreed to allow the state to respond "as a courtesy" Jan. 17. Then
on Jan. 18, in an unrelated case, a split majority of the high court issued a
decision declaring legislative waivers of sovereign immunity unconstitutional.
That ruling, which overturned 20 years of precedent, was cited in a single
sentence at the end of the court's 30-page reply to Laux's brief, which
attorneys for the justices filed in federal court Tuesday.
"It only leads one to believe it was part of a grand scheme," Laux said.
Neither attorneys for the justices nor Chief Justice Dan Kemp, who wrote the
court's majority decision last week, responded to requests for comment
Wednesday.
Laux said he is deliberating with other lawyers on his team whether to file an
additional reply to the court's most recent brief. Otherwise, he said the case
is fully briefed before U.S. District Court Judge James Moody Jr.
(source: arkansasonline.com)
MINNESOTA:
Global opera hit 'Dead Man Walking' finally gets Minnesota premiere----After 60
productions across 5 continents, the popular piece finally lands in Minnesota
this weekend.
It's been 20 years since composer Jake Heggie hatched the idea for "Dead Man
Walking" with playwright Terrence McNally over lunch in San Francisco.
"It was my 1st big opera," said Heggie, speaking by phone from his home in the
Bay Area. "The librettist had never done a libretto. The director had never
directed an opera. There were a lot of first-timers involved."
Most contemporary operas land a handful of performances before disappearing
from the radar. Not "Dead Man Walking." Since its 2000 premiere at San
Francisco Opera, the piece has amassed nearly 60 productions across five
continents, making it the most performed contemporary opera of the 21st
century. Minnesota Opera presides over the Twin Cities premiere Saturday at
Ordway Music Theater.
"I knew from the moment we started that we had something special," Heggie said.
"I was on fire with it, because I was telling a very compelling, electrifying
story."
"Dead Man Walking" is based on the real-life experiences of Sister Helen
Prejean, the Roman Catholic nun whose 1993 book about counseling death row
inmates inspired the 1995 movie (starring Sean Penn and Susan Sarandon) in
addition to Heggie's opera.
The story's international appeal, said Minnesota Opera President Ryan Taylor,
probably has more to do with Sister Helen than the opera's central character,
inmate Joseph de Rocher.
Dead Man Walking
What: Minnesota Opera presents Jake Heggie and Terrence McNally's hit opera.
When: 7:30 p.m. Sat., 2 p.m. Sun, 7:30 p.m. Tue., 7:30 p.m. Thu., 8 p.m. next
Sat.
Where: Ordway Music Theater, 345 Washington St., St. Paul.
Tickets: $25-$200; 612-333-6669 or mnopera.org
"Today we're all about doing easy things, in short bursts of information," said
Taylor. "Sister Helen doesn't have all the answers, but she is willing to put
herself in a space of uncertainty and make very difficult choices in order to
do the right thing."
Another reason for the opera's success, continued Taylor, is Heggie's eclectic
music incorporating the unmistakably American sounds of jazz, rock, gospel and
folk.
"Jake took the best bits of each," said Taylor, "in order to craft a score that
is so evocative of the story's time and place."
No preaching here
Heggie contends that "Dead Man Walking" isn't an anti-death-penalty opera,
though the execution of its central character is certainly a harrowing moment.
"I am ashamed to say, when I started writing the opera I was rather ambivalent
about the death penalty, like a lot of people," Heggie said. "I was even afraid
to see the movie when it first came out, because I didn't want to be persuaded
to have sympathy for someone who did something so heinous."
Immersing himself in Sister Helen's story changed all that. "I went into 'Dead
Man Walking' very naive, but I eventually felt very passionate about it. I
realized how asleep I was. We have no idea about the ripple effects of our
actions as a society - on the parents and families involved."
Still, Heggie insists that "Dead Man Walking" is more about raising complicated
questions than giving neat, definitive answers.
"The opera doesn't take a deliberate stance one way or the other," he said. "I
like art that challenges me, that draws me in to consider new perspectives."
The fact that "Dead Man Walking" engages with issues other than the death
penalty - including the prison system, trauma, the possibility of forgiveness -
helps to explain the opera's popularity in countries such as Germany, Australia
and South Africa, where capital punishment was long ago abolished.
"What surprised me was that this very American work, with very American
vernacular and musical sound, appeals so much in other countries," said Heggie.
"Who could have imagined that?"
Canadian import
Minnesota Opera will present a production 1st seen last year at Vancouver
Opera, with Canadian director Joel Ivany in town to oversee the Twin Cities
revival.
Like Heggie, Ivany doesn't see "Dead Man Walking" as an opera with a narrowly
anti-death-penalty message. He sees broader themes relating to crime and
punishment.
"There are people in this world who do bad things. Can they ever be redeemed?
Or do we as a society just open a door, throw all the bad in there and close
it? Do we have the power within ourselves to forgive?"
These "big societal issues," as Ivany put it, influence the production's dark,
looming set designs by Erhard Rom. The claustrophobic interiors, cut with
images of incarceration, were central to the production's success in a country
where the death penalty was abolished in 1976.
Heggie has traveled the world to see dozens of "Dead Man Walking" stagings. He
views the Ivany production as a "really bold and fascinating" interpretation,
"right up there" with the best he has seen.
And although Twin Cities audiences have waited 18 years to see "Dead Man
Walking," Taylor believes the opera could hardly have arrived at a better time.
"Everyone would acknowledge that there are very deep divides in our country's
dialogue at the minute. You have to be on one side or the other, and you can't
be uncertain, or you'll be run over by someone with a very strong, loud
opinion.
"'Dead Man Walking' is one of those pieces that encourage conversation in a
respectful way, to really think about your own beliefs," Taylor said. "It just
says stop and think, and consider the other side for a moment."
(source: Terry Blain, Minneapolis Star Tribune)
OKLAHOMA:
Man charged in Logan County deputy's murder expected in court----Prosecutors
are seeking the death penalty
A man accused of killing a Logan County sheriff's deputy is excepted back in
the courtroom.
Nathan LeForce is charged with 1st degree murder. Prosecutors are seeking the
death penalty.
Authorities said LeForce killed deputy David Wade by shooting him 4 times at
close range, while he was serving an eviction notice. And that's why they are
seeking the death penalty.
LeForce has been charged with 1st-degree murder, larceny of motor vehicle after
a former felony conviction and 1st-degree armed robbery after a former felony
conviction. He was appointed a special defense team that handles death penalty
cases.
LeForce is excepted in court Thursday.
(source: KOCO news)
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