February 21
TEXAS----impending execution Death Watch: Flawed Testimony Cited to Challenge
Death Sentence----Billie Coble challenges 2nd death sentence
Billie Coble, 70, has already evaded death once. In 2007, the U.S. 5th Court of
Appeals granted him a punishment-phase retrial, but he once again was sentenced
to death for killing his father-in-law, mother-in-law, and brother-in-law (Waco
police Sgt. Bobby Vicha) in 1989 – an extreme response to his failing marriage.
Now, unless the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles approves Coble's clemency
request or the U.S. Supreme Court grants his not-yet-filed final appeal, Coble
will face execution on Thursday, Feb. 28.
His death date was set soon after SCOTUS denied his last appeal in October
2018. Earlier this month, Coble, a Vietnam veteran, filed both an appeal and a
stay request in the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, arguing that his counsel
"improperly overrode his Sixth Amendment right to determine the objective of
his defense" and that his death sentence is based on the false testimony of
state's witness A.P. Merillat – a claim Coble made in prior appeals after the
2008 retrial, which the CCA dismissed then. On Feb. 14, the state's highest
criminal court again denied both pleas, claiming Coble failed to show how a
recent Louisiana case applied to his situation and calling his appeal an "abuse
of writ."
Coble, who's received several stays during almost 30 years on death row, was
granted his retrial after the 5CA ruled that the special instructions given to
the jury during the punishment phase of his original trial were likely to have
"precluded the jury from giving meaningful consideration and effect to Coble's
mitigating evidence." Coble's appeals of his 2nd death sentence cited testimony
from 2 unreliable witnesses – Merillat and Dr. Richard Coons, who testified
that Coble would be a future danger using the "same unscientific off-the-cuff,
ad hoc 'junk science'" as during his 1st trial. Coble alleges Merillat has no
credentials and "essentially a high-school education," and based his
"'methodology' on a hearsay anecdote of prison violence, presented demonstrably
false testimony, and harbored extreme bias against the defense." Though Coble
also kidnapped his estranged wife Karen Vicha after killing her family and
threatened to rape her before he was caught, he had no prison disciplinary
record for the 18 years before his retrial – which, the appeal argues, showed
that he would not be a future danger. Additionally, the 600-page 2013 appeal
claimed Merillat's "unreliable testimony has led to at least 2 reversals in
death penalty cases for false testimony," and he has since been "forced to
remove himself from the prosecutorial expert roster." SCOTUS denied this appeal
in October.
On Monday, Feb. 18, Coble's lawyer A. Richard Ellis told the Chronicle a final
appeal will be filed in the Supreme Court later this week. Without a
last-minute stay, Coble will be the 2nd Texas death row inmate executed in
2019.
(soruce: Austin Chronicle)
******************
After Texas' 2nd Supreme Court loss in a death penalty case, reform bill lands
key GOP support
The chairs of 2 House committees signed on as joint authors of a bill that
would set the method of determining if a capital murder defendant is
intellectually disabled and therefore ineligible for execution.
The 86th Legislature runs from Jan. 8 to May 27. From the state budget to
health care to education policy — and the politics behind it all — we focus on
what Texans need to know about the biennial legislative session.
One day after the U.S. Supreme Court once again invalidated a Texas death
sentence and bashed the state’s highest criminal court for its method of
determining intellectual disability in death penalty cases, 2 key Republican
lawmakers have signed on to a Democrat’s bill that would create a uniform
process.
On Wednesday, state Reps. James White and Jeff Leach became joint authors to
Rep. Senfronia Thompson’s House Bill 1139, which would establish a pretrial
procedure to determine if a capital murder defendant is intellectually disabled
and therefore ineligible for the death penalty. White chairs the House
Corrections Committee, and Leach leads the House Judiciary and Civil
Jurisprudence Committee.
“We’ve got to get to work here,” White, from Hillister, told The Texas Tribune
after adding his name to the bill. “The Supreme Court — not once, but twice —
stated that what we’re doing is not constitutional.”
In 2002, the Supreme Court ruled that executing people with intellectual
disabilities was unconstitutional, but states were left to come up with their
own methods of defining the condition. The Texas Legislature hasn’t taken
action, instead putting the issue on individual courts, which have implemented
varied methods for deciding the crucial question of whether a person should be
spared from execution.
Often, prosecutors simply don’t seek the death penalty when there is a credible
claim of intellectual disability. Other times, juries are told to weigh the
issue after convicting someone of capital murder — when they’re deciding during
a trial’s punishment phase between life in prison or death.
As filed, Thompson’s bill, which already had joint authors in Democratic Reps.
Joe Moody of El Paso and Armando Walle of Houston and matches a bill by state
Sen. Borris Miles, D-Houston, would allow a capital murder defendant to request
a hearing to determine intellectual disability before trial. If a judge
determined the defendant was intellectually disabled — defined as having a low
IQ with deficits in practical and social skills since youth — the death penalty
would be taken off the table and the defendant would receive an automatic life
sentence without the possibility of parole if convicted.
Advocates and the bipartisan group of lawmakers argue that a legislative change
is necessary after recent rulings put Texas at odds with the U.S. Supreme
Court.
For years, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the top criminal court in the
state, has begged lawmakers to set up a uniform process. But without movement
from the Capitol, the Texas court established its process of determining
intellectual disability in late appeals of those set for execution. The test
relied on decades-old medical standards and a controversial set of questions
the judges imposed, including how well an inmate could lie.
The Supreme Court ruled the test unconstitutional in 2017 in the case of Bobby
Moore, a man sentenced to death nearly 40 years ago in a Houston robbery and
murder. A majority of the justices said the Texas court's questions advanced
stereotypes. Moore’s case was sent back to Texas, where the Court of Criminal
Appeals said it would use current medical standards in its decision but again
ruled Moore was not disabled, despite briefings from the prosecutor in his case
agreeing Moore had a disability.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court knocked the Court of Criminal Appeals again
without a hearing, saying the lower court’s decision-making process included
many of the same flaws as before. This time, the justices said plainly that
Moore had shown he was intellectually disabled — making him ineligible for
execution.
Leach, from Plano, said Tuesday’s ruling added fuel to his already-pending
decision to sign on to Thompson’s bill. Leach has become a rare Republican
critic of Texas death penalty practices — fighting to stop multiple executions
and saying he would consider a moratorium on the death penalty. On Wednesday,
he told the Tribune that the intellectual disability bill as filed may not be
perfect, but it needs a legislative discussion.
“This is a crucial issue for our state," he said. “And conservatives,
Republicans, should not be afraid to engage in this discussion on the front
lines.”
(soruce: The Texas Tribune)
********************
Roberts Sides With Liberals in Death Penalty Case
Chief Justice John Roberts joined the 4 liberal justices on the Supreme Court
in rebuking a lower court for failing to follow their instructions when a case
involving whether a man sentenced to death was mentally incompetent or not when
the high court remanded it back for new proceedings.
For the 2nd time in as many weeks, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. has sided
with liberal Supreme Court justices to disagree with how lower courts have
interpreted Supreme Court precedent.
On Tuesday, Roberts was pointed in saying the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
has “misapplied” a 2017 ruling that instructed that court to reconsider its
analysis of whether death row inmate Bobby James Moore was intellectually
disabled, and thus ineligible for execution.
“On remand, the court repeated the same errors that this court previously
condemned,” Roberts wrote, concurring in the majority’s finding Tuesday that
Moore “is a person with intellectual disability.”…
The Texas court’s review of Moore “did not pass muster under this court’s
analysis last time,” Roberts wrote in a separate opinion. “It still doesn’t.”
Interestingly, when the case first went up to the Supreme Court, Roberts was in
the minority in ruling against the defendant. So did he change his mind? No. He
just believes, as he should, that the decision he disagreed with is the
controlling precedent and the lower courts are bound to abide by it whether he
agrees with it or not. That’s a chief justice taking a position that is not
driven by ideology but by a proper understanding of the role of precedent and
the job of the lower courts to apply it properly.
(source: patheos.com)
NEW HAMPSHIRE:
Death penalty repeal clears committee in 11-6 vote
The latest attempt to repeal the death penalty in New Hampshire cleared its 1st
hurdle on Wednesday, as the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee
voted 11-6 to recommend the bill, HB 455, to the full House.
The issue has never broken along party lines, and the committee vote was no
exception, as Democrat Andrew O’Hearne of Claremont voted with five
Republicans, while Republicans David Welch of Kingston and Scott Wallace of
Danville voted with the Democrats.
Much of the debate echoed the hours of testimony heard in a well-attended
public hearing on Tuesday, as some representatives on the committee attempted
to reconcile their position on abortion with their position on the death
penalty.
“Now I’ve resolved my positions,” said Welch, who chaired Criminal Justice
under Republican majorities. “I’m consistently pro-life and will not vote for
the death penalty.”
Republicans Jody McNally, Dennis Green and Dave Testerman all accused the
Democrats who support abortion rights as being hypocritical in their opposition
to the death penalty.
“Children being born are innocent. Criminals on death row are not innocent,”
said Green. “To me they are no different than a rattle snake, and you can never
change a rattle snake. I have no problem with putting someone to death. Yes,
they can prove years ago that someone was on death row and found evidence it
was not him, but today, they can find it much faster.”
Testerman framed the issue in a similar way.
“What bothers me is a lot of people who are for repeal of the death penalty are
pro-abortion advocates. I don’t understand how they can be pro-abortion and
vote against the death penalty. For me it’s the same thing. As a father, I
would want retribution if someone killed one of my children.”
Supporters of the repeal effort cited many of the same arguments heard at
Tuesday’s public hearing on the bill, which Rep. Linda Harriott-Gathright,
D-Nashua, described as “pretty profound.”
“This is the only law we have in New Hampshire that is 100 percent about
retribution,” said Rep. David Meuse, D-Portsmouth.
“It’s about revenge; it’s about the state essentially condoning the murder of
one individual for the murder of another, and I don’t believe our state or
federal government should be in the business of murdering its citizens, no
matter what they’ve done.”
Gov. Chris Sununu said on Wednesday that he plans to veto any repeal measure if
it lands on his desk, just as he did last year.
“I stand with police and I stand with victims,” he said.
The House vote on the bill could come as early as Feb. 27, after which it will
move over to the Senate if it passes.
(source: Union Leader)
PENNSYLVANIA:
Another flawed case: Pa’s death penalty is broken and lawmakers need to abolish
it
Why does Pennsylvania even bother having a death penalty anymore?
There’s another reason to ask that question this week with news that, because
of prosecutorial misconduct and ineffective counsel, a Philadelphia judge has
vacated the death sentence of Orlando Maisonet, who was convicted in the murder
of a pizza shop owner and a reported snitch decades ago, The Philadelphia
Inquirer reports.
Maisonet, who was once featured on ‘America’s Most Wanted,’ had his conviction
in the death of pizza shop owner Ignacio Slafman overturned in 2005. And last
week, after 28 years on death row, Common Pleas Court Judge J. Scott vacated
the conviction in the death of that snitch, Jorge Figueroa. This means Maisonet
will either have to be retried or released, the newspaper reported.
And in the wake of the decision, a Boston College law professor says there
might have to be a review of all the cases handled by the late Roger King, who,
under the tenure of former District Attorney Lynne Abraham, was famed for
obtaining more capital convictions than any other prosecutor, the Inquirer also
reported.
The decision in Maisonet’s case comes just about 2 months after the
Pennsylvania Supreme Court vacated the death sentence of Terrance Williams, of
Philadelphia, on the grounds that prosecutors had withheld key evidence that
Williams had been sexually assaulted by his victim, a church deacon named Amos
Norwood, as a youth.
Williams was re-sentenced to life without parole and continues to appeal his
1st-degree murder conviction, according to The York Daily Record.
And that decision came after a capital inmate from Schuylkill County named
Ronald Champney was resentenced last August to 10 to 20 years in prison under
the terms of plea deal where he pleaded no contest to lesser charges, according
to the Death Penalty Information Center.
All told, Pennsylvania’s death row population has fallen, largely because of
reversals and resentencings, by 100 people over the last 16 years, going from
247 inmates in April 2002 to 142 inmates with these most recent instances.
In all, 170 Pennsylvania death-row prisoners have overturned their convictions
or death sentences in state or federal post-conviction proceedings and
Pennsylvania’s state courts have reversed an additional 100 death sentences on
direct appeal, according to Death Penalty Information Center data. More than 97
% of the state’s death row inmates have been resentenced to life or less or
acquitted, according to the DPIC data.
At the same time, however, prosecutors across Pennsylvania have continued to
pursue the death penalty and the state Corrections Department has continued to
sign execution warrants for convicted inmates, most recently for a York County
man, who has a scheduled execution date of March 8, The York Dispatch reported.
Both the sentences and warrants, however, are symbolic and effectively
meaningless. Pennsylvania has executed just 3 people in the last 6 decades. The
last one came in 1999 with the execution of Philadelphia torture-killer Gary
Heidnik at Rockview State Prison in Centre County.
In 2015, shortly after taking office, Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf imposed a
moratorium on executions that remains in place 4 years later.
Last year, a death penalty study panel, authorized under a 2011 state Senate
resolution, released its long-awaited report on the state of capital punishment
in Pennsylvania.
It reinforced what most already know: That the death penalty is unnecessarily
expensive, unevenly applied, and unfairly influenced by such factors as
geography.
The sprawling and deeply troubling 280-page document also noted, according to
The Philadelphia Inquirer “the high number of people with intellectual
disability and mental illness on death row — populations that are
constitutionally protected from capital punishment. And it found the punishment
had been unevenly applied, affected by factors like the race of the victim and
the county where the crime occurred.”
The report’s authors concluded that “neither judicial economy nor fairness is
served when the more than 97 5 of cases in which death sentences are converted
to life sentences or less leave death row only after post-conviction review.”
So, again, why – apart from the optics of appearing tough on crime – does
Pennsylvania even have a death penalty on its books?
30 of 50 states currently have a death penalty statute on the books. Most of
Pennsylvania’s neighboring states, with the exception of Ohio, have abolished
the death penalty.
With the new “Clean Slate” law and other reforms over the last few years,
Pennsylvania has emerged as a national model for criminal justice reform That
push has united both progressives, who make the traditional social justice
arguments about needlessly punitive sentences, and fiscal conservatives, such
as Americans for Prosperity, who have come at it from the economic side of the
ledger. There is a similar push waiting to be made on capital punishment.
Yet in the face of mounting evidence that Pennsylvania’s death penalty is
irretrievably broken, state lawmakers, who fix or repeal ineffective laws all
the time, have remained content to let the machinery of death rumble
pointlessly and ineffectively on its way.
If they’re really serious about criminal justice reform, this year should be
the year that Pennsylvania lawmakers give society’s ultimate sanction the
serious rethink it deserves.
Even better, they should just repeal it, and get it over with.
(source: John Micek, Capital-Star)
DELAWARE:
Judge holds hearing in case overturning death penalty
A murder suspect whose case led to Delaware's death penalty being overturned by
the state Supreme Court is facing sentencing after pleading guilty to
manslaughter.
29-year-old Benjamin Rauf of Westerlo, New York, was to be sentenced Thursday
after pleading guilty earlier this month to manslaughter and possession of a
firearm during the commission of a felony. He faces between 5 and 50 years in
prison.
Rauf was charged in the 2015 drug-related killing of Shazim Uppal of Hockessin,
a fellow Temple University law school graduate.
Prosecutors had planned to seek the death penalty against Rauf. A judge put the
case on hold and sought a state Supreme Court opinion on Delaware's death
penalty after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling regarding Florida's death penalty
statute, which was similar to Delaware's.
(source: Associated Press)
NORTH CAROLINA:
Jury finds man guilty of Raleigh double murder, setting up potential death
penalty
A jury found Seaga Gillard guilty of 2 counts of 1st-degree murder Wednesday,
setting up a decision on whether he will be executed for the killings.
The Wake Forest man had been charged in the 2016 slaying of April Holland and
Dwayne Garvey at the former America’s Best Value Inn near Crabtree Valley Mall.
The punishment phase of the trial is expected to begin next week.
North Carolina has not executed an inmate since 2006, and no death sentence has
been imposed statewide for more than 2 years.
Evidence against Gillard, 31, spooled out over a week’s testimony, much of
which centered on hotel surveillance video.
Jurors watched two men, who prosecutors identified as Gillard and co-defendant
Brandon Hill, in the hallway outside room 202, where Holland had advertised her
services as a prostitute. It was also where her lover Garvey banged on the door
after the two men arrived, obviously agitated.
Police witnesses said the video clip showed Gillard firing 7 shots at Garvey
outside the door, matching the number of shell casings found on the floor.
Shortly after, a detective pointed out to jurors, Gillard appeared from inside
room 202 and raised his arm twice with the gun recoil. Holland was discovered
with 2 bullet wounds to the chest and head, along with 2 shell casings, an
unwrapped condom and $140 cash found in the room.
2 other women testified they were sexually assaulted by Gillard and Hill on
separate occasions, and a police detective said the woman were both working as
prostitutes who advertised online.
Images from the hotel video were circulated through the media, which led to
identifications for Gillard and an associate named “B.” Police later
interviewed Kara Lambe, who told them she was working as a prostitute when a
man who called himself Carlos picked her up at home in Randolph County and
drove her to Wake Forest.
Lambe said Gillard forced her into prostitution in a Raleigh hotel and
collected the money, though jurors did not hear this due to a legal order that
limited her testimony. But they did hear her testify that she learned Carlos’
real name, Gillard, when she saw his ID on a table, and that he carried a gun
he called “Lemon Squeeze.” Lambe said Gillard put the gun to her mouth, ordered
her to show her teeth and threatened that her blood would be all over the
walls.
Gillard’s attorneys did not present any evidence in the guilt-or-innocence
phase of the trial. Much of the case’s attention has centered on whether
Gillard will receive the death penalty sought by prosecutors, an increasing
rarity statewide.
(source: newsobserver.com)
FLORIDA:
Florida man faces execution for killing 2 women in 2015
A Florida man faces the death penalty for fatally stabbing 2 women.
The Ledger reports that a Polk County jury unanimously recommended execution
Monday for 39-year-old Michael Gordon. A judge will make the final decision.
Gordon was convicted of 1st-degree murder last week.
Authorities say Gordon, Terrell Williams, Devonere McCune and Jovan Lamb robbed
an Auburndale pawn shop in January 2015. McCune was arrested after a shootout
with police.
Responding deputies went to a nearby home and found the bodies of 72-year-old
Patricia Moran and her 51-year-old daughter Deborah Royal. Authorities say
Williams, Gordon and Lamb were arrested after trying to flee in the victims'
car.
Williams was convicted of felony murder and sentenced to life in prison.
Lamb and McCune are awaiting trial.
(source: Associated Press)
_______________________________________________
A service courtesy of Washburn University School of Law www.washburnlaw.edu
DeathPenalty mailing list
DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu
http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty
Unsubscribe: http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/options/deathpenalty
