February 16
TEXAS----impending execution
Coble execution on for Feb. 28 after Texas high court denies stay----Billie
Wayne Coble was sentenced to death in the 1989 killings of his wife’s parents
and brother in Axtell.
Triple murderer Billie Wayne Coble is likely headed for the execution chamber
at month’s end after the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals this week rejected his
request for a stay of execution.
In a 3-page order issued Thursday, Texas’ highest criminal court found that
Coble’s application was an abuse of the writ process and declined to halt his
scheduled Feb. 28 execution.
Coble, 70, was convicted of capital murder and twice was sentenced to die in
the 1989 slayings of his brother-in-law, Waco police Sgt. Bobby Vicha, and
Vicha’s parents, Robert and Zelda Vicha, at their homes in Axtell. He has had
several stays of execution over the years.
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Coble in October, which paved the
way for 54th State District Judge Matt Johnson to set his execution date. Court
officials say they expect a similar outcome should Coble file an 11th-hour
request for a stay of execution through the federal court system.
Coble refused to leave the courtroom holding cell at a hearing in October at
which Johnson set his death date, telling deputies he had a right not to leave
his cell.
Upset at the failure of his 3rd marriage, Coble killed the Vichas, tied up four
children and kidnapped his estranged wife, Karen Vicha Coble. He drove her to
Bosque County, where he said he was going to rape and kill her, but before he
could carry out the threat, he had a wreck during a high-speed chase with
authorities.
J.R. Vicha, a Waco attorney and former prosecutor who was 11 at the time, was
one of the children Coble tied up, along with three of Karen Vicha’s children.
Vicha, Bobby Vicha’s son, and other family members have said they have grown
impatient waiting almost 30 years for Coble’s execution.
“The Court of Criminal Appeals did the right thing denying the claims and not
issuing a stay,” J.R. Vicha said. “These are the same issues that have already
been ruled on many times. Hopefully, the federal courts will make the same
determination and (Gov.) Greg Abbott will turn down his request for judicial
clemency and we can get this done on the 28th.”
Coble spent 17 years on death row before his death sentence was overturned and
he was awarded a new punishment trial because of changes in the special issues
posed to jurors trying to determine whether the death penalty or a life
sentence is more appropriate.
(source: Waco Tribune-Herald)
***********************************
Executions under Greg Abbott, Jan. 21, 2015-present----41
Executions in Texas: Dec. 7, 1982----present-----559
Abbott#--------scheduled execution date-----name------------Tx. #
42---------Feb. 28----------------Billy Wayne Coble-------560
43---------Mar. 28----------------Patrick Murphy----------561
44---------Apr. 11----------------Mark Robertson----------562
45---------Apr. 24----------------John King---------------563
46---------May 2------------------Dexter Johnson----------564
47---------Sept. 4-----------------Billy Crutsinger----------565
(sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin)
*******************************
USA----countdown to nation's 1500th execution
With the execution of Dominique Ray in Alabama on February 7, the USA has now
executed 1,492 condemned individuals since the death penalty was relegalized on
July 2, 1976 in the US Supreme Court Gregg v Georgia decision. Gary Gilmore was
the 1st person executed, in Utah, on January 17, 1977. Below is a list of
scheduled executions as the nation approaches a terrible milestone of 1500
executions in the modern era.
NOTE: The list is likely to change over the coming months as new execution
dates are added and possible stays of execution occur.
1493-------Feb. 28------------Billy Coble----------------Texas
1494-------Mar. 28------------Patrick Murphy------------Texas
1495-------Apr. 11------------Mark Robertson------------Texas
1496-------Apr. 24------------John King------------------Texas
1497-------May 2--------------Dexter Johnson------------Texas
1498-------May 16-------------Donnie Johnson-----------Tennessee
1499-------May 29-------------Cleveland Jackson--------Ohio
1500-------July 10--------------Kareem Jackson----------Ohio
1501-------Aug. 14-------------Gregory Lott---------------Ohio
(source: Rick Halperin)
PENNSYLVANIA:
Judge appoints Philadelphia attorney to represent Tharp in death penalty case
In her quest to avoid the death penalty for the starvation death of her
7-year-old daughter, Michelle Tharp will now be represented by a Philadelphia
lawyer.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary definition of “Philadelphia lawyer” says the
term “dates back to the colonial period, when our legal system was in its
infancy and lawyers had to be especially astute.”
Washington County Judge John DiSalle appointed Michael Wiseman of Philadelphia,
former member of the federal community defender office, capital habeas corpus
unit to handle Tharp’s case.
Taxpayers will be responsible for a $150-per-hour fee to represent Tharp in the
death penalty phase that the state Supreme Court ordered5 years ago.
In a conference call Friday afternoon in open court, Wiseman accepted the
appointment and hourly fee, but balked at a $7,500 cap.
DiSalle said there are exceptions to the rule regarding the cap.
To give Wiseman the ability to familiarize himself with the case, DiSalle told
him and Assistant District Attorney John Friedmann he expects to convene a
status conference in May.
Tharp, 50, an inmate at SCI-Muncy, Lycoming County, was not present in
Washington County Court Friday.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld Tharp’s 1st-degree murder conviction
obtained in 2000, but ordered a new penalty phase because it found her public
defender was ineffective.
James J. McHugh Jr., first assistant defender in the Defender Association of
Philadelphia appealed a ruling last year in which President Judge Katherine B.
Emery refused to unilaterally reduce Tharp’s death sentence to life
imprisonment and ordered a jury to be empaneled to decide Tharp’s fate.
Tharp’s daughter, Tausha Lanham, lived for 7 years in Burgettstown and weighed
less than 12 pounds when she died. Tharp and her boyfriend at the time, Douglas
Bittinger, reported her missing April 18, 1998, at a Steubenville mall, but
police said they dumped her body along a road in Follansbee, W.Va.
Tharp claimed to have fed Tausha the day before she died. A medical examiner
testified the girl had not eaten for several days, suffered from malnutrition
and her teeth were worn from grinding, common in juvenile starvation cases.
In argument before the president judge, Tharp’s lawyers pegged their client’s
intelligence quotient of 71 on a scale where 100 is considered normal, as well
as outlining the abuse and abandonment she had suffered. They said Tharp sought
medical attention for the prematurely born Tausha, whose condition mystified
doctors.
Bittinger, 46, the father of Tharp’s fourth child, was sentenced to 15 to 30
years in prison after pleading guilty to criminal homicide, endangering the
welfare of a child and abuse of a corpse. Prosecutors said Bittinger’s crime
was failing to prevent Tharp’s abuse of Tausha, and he testified against Tharp
at her trial.
Bittinger is no longer listed among Pennsylvania’s prison population and the
last entry in a court database was the forwarding of a docket sheet July 9 by
Washington County Clerk of Courts Frank Scandale at the request to the state
Board of Probation and Parole.
(source: Observer-Reporter)
********************************
Jury convicts Carlisle man of American Legion murder, death penalty now on the
table
After deliberating more than 13 hours Cumberland County jury Friday afternoon
convicted Robert “Rocky” Anderson Jr. of 1st-degree murder for a fatal June
2016 shooting inside the Haines-Stackfield American Legion post in Carlisle.
Starting Saturday morning, that same jury will hear arguments on whether
Anderson, 41, should receive a death sentence for that crime.
Anderson’s murder conviction came despite defense attorney Heidi Eakin’s
argument that Carlisle police didn’t prove Anderson killed Daniel “DJ” Harris.
Senior Assistant District Attorney Kimberly Metzger argued that Anderson killed
Harris during a long-running and violent feud between their families.
The jurors, who looked drawn and tired after weighing Anderson’s guilt or
innocence over a three-day span, also convicted him of illegally possessing a
firearm and reckless endangerment.
The lead investigators in the case Detective Sergeant Daniel Freedman and
Officer Jeffrey Kurtz, contended that Anderson walked into the legion on West
Penn Street early on June 11, 2016 and shot Harris 8 times as Harris sat in a
booth.
Witnesses were uncooperative, police said. The murder weapon was recovered 3
month after the killing in the trunk of a car driven by a Philadelphia man.
That gun had been stolen in Carlisle in 2015 by a cousin and nephew of
Anderson, investigators said.
Eakin argued, unsuccessfully, that police focused on Anderson and ignored other
possible suspects, including the Philly man.
Anderson smiled as sheriff’s deputies removed his handcuffs before the jury
entered the courtroom to render its decision. He did the same after the
verdicts were announced.
President Judge Edward E. Guido said the death penalty phase of the trial will
commence Saturday morning. That phase, where the jury will determine only
whether a death sentence should be applied, will be argued by Metzger and
another of Anderson’s attorneys, Michael Palermo.
Metzger will argue regarding aggravating factors in support of executing
Anderson. Palermo will argue for mitigating factors against putting his client
to death.
(source: pennlive.com)
NORTH CAROLINA:
Poll: Death penalty less popular in North Carolina----Majority believe capital
punishment flawed
A majority of North Carolinians would prefer a replacement for capital
punishment, according to a poll by Public Policy Polling.
Attitudes about the death penalty are changing in North Carolina.
According to a poll by Public Policy Polling – the 1st large-scale survey on
capital punishment in the state – a majority of residents believe the death
penalty is prone to mistakes and should be replaced.
The poll of 501 voters across the state, conducted last week by Public Policy
Polling, comes as a capital trial begins in Wake County. It is the 1st
comprehensive statewide survey of death penalty views in North Carolina.
Death penalty sentences are becoming rare in North Carolina as juries have sent
just one defendant to death row since 2014. Of those polled, 47 % voted for
President Donald Trump in 2016 and 45 % for Hillary Clinton.
“I was stunned when I saw these numbers,” said David Weiss, a capital defense
attorney at the Center for Death Penalty Litigation in Durham. “70 % of people
believe an innocent person has likely been executed in North Carolina. Almost
60 % believe that racial bias affects who is sentenced to death in our state.
With these kinds of serious concerns about the death penalty, it’s
inconceivable that North Carolina could execute anyone or even continue to
sentence people to death.”
The poll results revealed:
• 57 % of respondents believe racial bias likely influences who is sentenced to
death.
• More than 70 % said defendants should have the right to bring forward
evidence of racial discrimination in capital trials and jury selection, the
core premise of the Racial Justice Act, which allows defendants to use evidence
of racial discrimination in capital cases to earn reduced sentences.
• 70 % believe it is likely that an innocent person has been executed in North
Carolina.
• 61 % said they believe the courts should reexamine the death sentences of
prisoners who were tried before a series of legal reforms were enacted to
protect defendants’ rights and ensure fair trials. More than 3/4 of death row
prisoners were sentenced before the reforms.
• When given a choice between the death penalty and a maximum sentence of life
without parole, more than 50 % of voters said they favor life without parole,
while 44 % favor the death penalty.
No one has been executed in North Carolina since 2006. Since then, 5 death row
inmates have been exonerated, more than 2 dozen were removed from death row
after the courts found serious errors in their cases, and a statewide study
found that black jurors are systematically removed from capital juries,
violating defendants’ right to be judged by a fair cross section of the
community.
“The capital punishment system has so many problems that the public has lost
faith in it,” said Weiss, who is among several attorneys spearheading statewide
litigation about racial bias and the lethal injection process. “And after 12
years without executions, North Carolinians have seen that we can maintain
public safety without the death penalty.”
A 2018 report revealed that more than3/4 of the state’s 140 death row inmates
were sentenced before a series of reforms that are now considered essential to
fair trials, including qualified capital defense lawyers, defendants’ access to
all evidence in the prosecution’s files and the creation of protocols to
prevent false confessions and mistaken identification.
(source: Charlotte Post)
FLORIDA:
Walton County Death Row inmates.
DC Number: 135997
Name: COZZIE, STEVEN A
Race: WHITE
Sex: MALE
Birth Date: 06/26/1989
Initial Receipt Date: 10/18/2013
Current Facility: FLORIDA STATE PRISON
Current Custody: MAXIMUM
Current Release Date: DEATH SENTENCE
Courtney Wilkes was a bright, happy high schooler in June 2011 when she arrived
in Seagrove Beach to spend a week vacationing with her parents, sister and
brother.
On June 16, Steven Cozzie, who the Wilkeses had seen hanging around Beachcrest
condominium where they were staying, asked Courtney Wilkes to take a walk with
him. Seeing the enthusiasm on Courtneyís face, her mother allowed her to go.<
At the secluded Cassine Gardens nature trail nearby, Cozzie turned on Wilkes,
throwing his shirt around her neck and choking her. He then dragged her limp
body 75 feet into the dry cypress swamp, where he raped her and then beat her
to death with a heavy piece of lumber.
A Walton County jury decided on June 20, 2013, Cozzie should die for the murder
of Wilkes.
----
DC Number: P29305
Name: DAVIS, BARRY T JR
Race: BLACK
Sex: MALE
Birth Date: 12/29/1985
Initial Receipt Date: 08/31/2015
Current Facility: FLORIDA STATE PRISON
Current Custody: MAXIMUM
Current Release Date: PENDING
Barry Davis never flinched when Circuit Court Judge Kelvin Wells sentenced him
to die on Aug. 25, 2015 for the murders of John Gregory Hughes and Hiedi
Rhodes.
He even smirked a little at the 40 or so who had come to see the sentencing as
he left the courtroom. The crowd included Hughes and Rhodes family members,
friends, law enforcement officers and even some of the jurors who had convicted
Davis and recommended he be put to death.
Rhodes family members said they were ìvery satisfiedî with the judgeís
decision.
"Even though that man is going to lose his life, it's not going to make up for
everything he's done," said Cesaire Rhodes, Hiedi's mother. "He's ruined our
family, he's ruined Gregís family, he's ruined his own family and it's all
going to come to naught. Itís never going to be over for us."
Jurors found Davis guilty of the May 7, 2012, killing of Hughes and Rhodes on
May 18 following a 3 week trial.
Prosecutor Bobby Elmore, who had no bodies with which to try his case for
murder, relied on bank account records, cellphone records and lack of contact
with friends and family to argue the fact that the very social Hughes and
Rhodes had not simply run off. His case was bolstered by the sometimes spotty
testimony of Tiffani Steward, Davisí girlfriend and the only witness to the
killings.
After lying on a couple of occasions, Steward admitted she had returned from a
trip to the store with Rhodes to find Hughes beaten and unconscious. She would
testify in court that she saw Davis attack Rhodes and strangle her, then
watched as he tied both Hughesí and Rhodesí hands and submerged their heads in
a bathtub full of water.
At the death penalty phase of the trial, the 7 women and 5 men of the jury
recommended by a 9-3 vote that Davis die.
----
DC Number: 324342
Name: GUARDADO, JESSE
Race: WHITE
Sex: MALE
Birth Date: 06/05/1962
Initial Receipt Date: 02/15/1991
Current Facility: UNION C.I.
Current Custody: MAXIMUM
Current Release Date: DEATH SENTENCE
From the Supreme Court of Florida:
Jesse Guardado was indicted on charges of murder in the first degree and
robbery with a weapon based on events occurring on or about September 13, 2004,
in Walton County, Florida.
Guardado had known the victim of the present crimes, 75-year-old Jackie Malone,
since 2003, and had rented places to live from her. Guardado had been a guest
in her home, including a few overnight stays when he was between rentals. He
received assistance from Ms. Malone on numerous occasions including financial
assistance, and she had assisted him in getting the job with the local water
treatment plant which he held at the time of the crime. Guardado knew certain
things about Ms. Malone, including the fact that she kept some money on hand in
her wallet.
On the day in question, September 13, 2004, Guardado wanted to get high and
continue his recent crack cocaine binge. Desperate for money to fix his truck
and obtain drugs, Guardado decided to rob a local grocery store. His attempted
robbery with a knife was thwarted by one of the employees. Still desperate for
money, Guardado decided to rob and murder Ms. Malone that night because she
lived in a secluded area and because she would open her home to him based on
their prior trusting relationship.
Guardado arranged to drive his girlfriend’s vehicle to work for the night
shift. He generally maintained a change of clothes in his girlfriend’s car
because of the nature of his work at the treatment plant. On this occasion he
made sure there were clothes in the car because a hurricane was due to make
landfall in a few days. In addition to leaving clothes in the car, Guardado
armed himself with a metal "breaker bar."
----
DC Number: D40377
Name: MCCOY, THOMAS F
Race: WHITE
Sex: MALE
Birth Date: 09/01/1966
Initial Receipt Date: 11/19/2010
Current Facility: OUT OF DEPT. CUSTODY BY COURT ORDER
Current Custody: MAXIMUM
Current Release Date: DEATH SENTENCE
On April 10, 2009, Thomas Ford McCoy, bitter that he could not get his job back
at the Coca-Cola Bottling Co. in Valparaiso, called in a report of a
malfunctioning vending machine at Northwest Florida State College's Chautauqua
Center in DeFuniak Springs. When repairman Curtis Brown arrived to fix the
machine, he was gunned down by McCoy, who then went on the run and was arrested
more than a week later in Tampa after a shootout with police at a hotel.
McCoy pleaded guilty to premeditated murder. He was sentenced to death.
"The human life at stake was considered in this decision, but based on the
cruel, calculated manner of the premeditated murder of Curtis Brown, the
defendant is sentenced to death," Walton County Circuit Court Judge Kelvin
Wells said.
----
DC Number: 220267
Name: SUGGS, ERNEST D
Race: WHITE
Sex: MALE
Birth Date: 08/08/1955
Initial Receipt Date: 07/15/1992
Current Facility: UNION C.I.
Current Custody: MAXIMUM
Current Release Date: DEATH SENTENCE
Ernest Suggs was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of Pauline
Casey.
Pauline Casey worked at the Teddy Bear Bar in Walton County. On 08/06/90, the
bar was found unlocked and cash was missing. Furthermore, Caseyís purse, keys,
and car were found at the bar, but the victim was not.
Ray Hamilton, a neighbor of Casey's, reported to police that Casey and a
customer, who he did not recognize, were playing pool when he left. The police
were put on alert looking for the man and the manís car that matched Hamilton's
description.
Ernest Suggs was pulled over based on the description of the car. Suggs
permitted police to search his home and car. They found $170 in small bills,
hand and fingerprints belonging to Casey in Suggs' car, and blood that matched
the victimís blood on a shirt belonging to Suggs.
In the bay behind Suggsí residence, the police also found a key to the bar and
a beer mug similar to the beer mugs at the Teddy Bear Bar. The police matched
Suggsí tire tracks from his automobile to tracks found on a local dirt road. In
a search of this area, police found Caseyís body a short distance from the road
on which the tire tracks were found. She was stabbed twice in the neck and once
in the back. Suggs was arrested after the discovery of Casey's body. Ernest
Suggs asserted that he had been framed for the murder of Casey.
----
DC Number: 936283
Name: WHITTON, GARY R
Race: WHITE
Sex: MALE
Birth Date: 02/04/1959
Initial Receipt Date: 09/10/1992
Current Facility: UNION C.I.
Current Custody: MAXIMUM
Current Release Date: DEATH SENTENCE
Gary Whitton met his victim, James Mauldin, through an alcohol treatment
program in Pensacola. After they were released they would sometimes bump into
one another at AA meetings.
On Oct. 7, 1990 Mauldin spent the night at Whitton’s home after drinking. The
next day they drove to a Destin bank so Mauldin withdraw money, but he needed
his passbook, which he didn’t have. They returned the next day and Whitton
helped Mauldin fill out a form to close his account and collect the money, as
Mauldin was too druink to do it himself.
They checked into a hotel. A clerk noticed discrepancies in the information.
The clerk also noticed Whitton’s car arriving at the hotel later that night,
then leaving. The next day, Mauldin’s body was found.
He had numerous injuries, including a fractured skull and stab wounds to the
shoulder, neck, cheek, scalp, back and heart.
Police were alerted to Whitton by the hotel clerk. While he was being
questioned, lawmen searched his home and found incriminating evidence like
bloody boots that matched Mauldin’t blood type. Bloodstains were also found in
Whitton’s car.
2 inmates testified at Whitton’s trial that he confessed to killing Mauldin for
his money and was afraid the other man would testify against him if he was
arrested and put on trial.
(source: Northwest Florida Daily News)
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