March 1
OHIO----new death sentence:
Arron Lawson receives death penalty in Ohio quadruple murder case
A 3-judge panel has handed down a death sentence for a man who was found guilty
in a quadruple murder case in Lawrence County, Ohio.
The judges made the ruling Thursday in the case of Arron Lawson.
Lawson has been found guilty in the shooting to deaths of Stacey Holston, her
8-year-old son, Devin Holston, Stacey’s mother, Tammie, and Donald Mcguire, all
of Pedro, Ohio, at their home 2 years ago.
Lawson addressed the court.
“Thank you for giving me a fair and honest trial, and I thank the prosecution
for doing the right job," Lawson said. "I don’t hold it against them.
Truthfully, I voted for them."
Prosecutor Brigham Anderson said the last time someone was sentenced to death
in Lawrence County was in the 1960s.
(source: WVAH news)
KENTUCKY:
E’town man indicted for 2 killings
A week after police say Shadrach Peeler opened fire on four people at two
Elizabethtown locations, he was indicted by a Hardin County grand jury on
numerous charges — including 2 that could carry the death penalty.
Peeler, 35, of Elizabethtown is being held in lieu of a $2 million cash bond in
the Hardin County Detention Center. He is accused of shooting Cherie Turner,
34, to death last Thursday on West Warfield Street. Police said he then went to
a convenience store on North Miles Street, killing store co-owner Subash “Su”
Ghale, 40, and injuring two others inside and outside of the store.
Elizabethtown police have said Turner and Peeler lived together on West
Warfield Street. He was arrested shortly after police were called to the
convenience store around 11:30 p.m.
Whether the death penalty is sought in the case is a decision to be made by the
Hardin County Commonwealth Attorney’s Office. It is eligible under a Kentucky
Revised Statute that reads, “The offender’s acts or acts of killing were
intentional and resulted in multiple deaths.”
Peeler also is accused of shooting and injuring Prayash Baniya, 31, of
Elizabethtown, a store employee and close friend of Ghale, and Nadia Browne,
34, of Elizabethtown.
Baniya remains hospitalized at University Hospital in Louisville in critical,
but stable condition. He was shot multiple times including in the neck. Browne
was shot in a leg and has been released from the hospital.
Peeler, a convicted felon, also was indicted on one count of 1st-degree
assault; 1 count of 2nd-degree assault; tampering with physical evidence;
possession of a handgun by a convicted felon and resisting arrest.
If the death penalty is not sought, Peeler faces 20 to 50 years or life in
prison, if convicted, on the 2 murder charges.
Timmy Puckett, a friend of Ghale, previously said he had spent time running
convenience stores near Boston and Detroit and often worked up to 15 hours a
day at the local store. Ghale and Baniya met near Detroit, Puckett said, and
were from Nepal in southern Asia.
The store is now open after days of having a memorial in front of the front
doors with flowers, balloons and notes.
(source: The News Enterprise)
IOWA:
Death Penalty Bill Emerges in Iowa Senate
A bill that would re-establish the death penalty in Iowa has emerged in the
Iowa SENATE, but it’s unlikely to become law.
House Speaker Linda Upmeyer of Clear Lake doesn’t sense a death penalty bill is
a priority for her fellow Republicans in the House.
Another wrinkle in this year’s debate is an announcement last August from the
head of the Catholic Church. Pope Francis said the death penalty is
“inadmissible” and it’s the goal of the church to abolish capital punishment
worldwide. Tom Chapman of the Iowa Catholic Conference says priests are talking
about the issue in their parishes.
20 Republicans in the Iowa SENATE are co-sponsoring a bill to impose the death
penalty on those found guilty of kidnapping, raping and killing a child. It
takes the support of 26 senators to pass a bill. Iowa abolished the death
penalty 54 years ago.
(source: WNZX news)
IDAHO:
Trial date set for McQueen in relation to Lovin's death
Marlin McQueen pled not guilty to 1 felony count of 1st degree murder in
district court before Judge Mitchell Brown today, Feb. 28. Accordingly, Judge
Brown set a jury trial for July 15, 2019.
McQueen faces the death penalty or up to life in prison if convicted. The state
has 60 days to determine whether or not the death penalty will be sought.
The most lenient sentence he can receive if convicted is a 10-year sentence and
$15,000 fine.
Further proceedings in the case have been scheduled for April 25 and pre-trial
conferences for June 2.
Judge Brown continued the $1 million bond set upon McQueen's Jan. 28 arrest in
the stabbing death of Willie Lovin, Jr. on Jan. 26. McQueen had attended a
party hosted by Lovin in Lovin's home on Jan. 25. Lovin was reported deceased
in his own home at about 2 p.m. Jan. 26, by a friend who also attended the
party.
Family members of both McQueen and Lovin attended the arraignment today, some
of who expressed surprise at the plea. He was remanded to the custody of the
Franklin County Sheriff’s Department and returned to Cache County Jail where he
has been incarcerated since his arrest.
(source: The Herald Journal)
ARIZONA:
Former Adelaide woman facing death penalty in US forced to hand prosecutors her
DNA
An Australian woman has been ordered by a US court to hand over her DNA to
prosecutors who allege she murdered her young stepdaughter.
Former Adelaide resident Lisa Cunningham faces the death penalty in Phoenix,
Arizona, after being charged with the first-degree murder and neglect of
seven-year-old stepdaughter Sanaa, who died in February, 2017.
The 44-year-old's husband, Germayne Cunningham — a former police detective and
the father of Sanaa — is also charged with her murder.
The couple have pleaded not guilty to all 11 charges.
Overnight, they appeared in the Maricopa County Court, which ordered the couple
provide prosecutors with DNA, despite their objection to the application.
The court was told prosecutors had planned to have the case agent at court to
obtain the DNA evidence from the accused, but he was involved in a car crash on
the way to court.
"He's trying to send someone else from the Goodyear Police Department in case
the court does grant our request to obtain a buccal [oral] swab," prosecutors
said.
"We're hoping they will be here today.
"If not, Your Honour, and assuming you grant our request, we'll have to
coordinate with defence counsel in order to take that sample."
Judge Michael Kemp said he had reviewed the submissions on the application for
the DNA evidence.
"I am going to grant the motion to take the sample," Judge Kemp said.
He confirmed the 2020 trial date before setting another trial management
conference for May.
An autopsy found that Sanaa's cause of death was sepsis related to a chest
infection, an abscess in her right foot and multiple skin ulcers.
It was also noted that she had an unspecific schizophrenia spectrum disorder.
Court documents allege the couple shut Sanaa in their backyard, laundry and
garage, forced her to sleep outside, restrained her with cable ties and failed
to seek medical care.
Last December, Ms Cunningham's lawyer, Eric Kessler told the media that his
client was trying to get clarification about exactly what she did that
"constitutes the child abuse that is at issue with respect to the homicide
charge".
He also said he would meet with the Australian consulate to try and secure
funding for her defence.
(source: abc.net.au)
NEVADA:
Lawmakers propose ending death penalty, citing costs
2 Democratic state lawmakers proposing an end to capital punishment are
pointing to costly appeals and court-ordered postponements of a lethal
injection case that ended last month when the inmate killed himself.
“It’s a burden to taxpayers,” said state Sen. James Ohrenschall, who is
sponsoring the bill with Assemblyman Ozzie Fumo. The two lawmakers separately
backed similar measures that failed in 2017.
“Folks committing heat-of-passion crimes or calculated crimes don’t look at a
state sentencing structure,” Ohrenschall said. “Bottom line, I don’t believe it
has proved to be a deterrent.”
The law would add Nevada to the list of 20 states and the District of Columbia
that ban capital punishment.
? “In effect, we don’t have the death penalty in Nevada,” Fumo said. “This just
codifies it.”
The state hasn’t carried out an execution since 2006, and the two lawmakers
pointed to court challenges that twice stopped scheduled executions of Scott
Raymond Dozier.
“We’ve seen the drug companies go to court to block their products from being
used, and win,” Ohrenschall said.
Fumo is a Las Vegas defense attorney who has represented death row inmates. He
estimated the average cost of mandatory appeals for death row inmates at
$500,000, and said the state spends a billion “warehousing” people in jails and
prisons before, during and after death penalty trials.
“If we can reduce the cost, that money can go to teacher salaries,” he said.
The lawmakers said they hope new Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak, who said during
last year’s campaign that he supports the death penalty “in extreme cases,”
might reconsider.
“I think Gov. Sisolak realizes we have problems with capital punishment in
Nevada with the economics, the cost and the lack of deterrent to crime,”
Ohrenschall said.
Sisolak’s spokeswoman, Helen Kalla, said late Tuesday the governor is aware of
the bill and will follow the debate in the Legislature. Kalla did not say if
Sisolak would sign the measure if it passes.
Nevada has 77 inmates on death row awaiting appeals, according to the state
Department of Corrections. No executions are currently scheduled.
Dozier, a twice-convicted killer, gave up his appeals in 2016 and volunteered
to die, but a series of court fights postponed his execution. He was found dead
last month at Ely State Prison. His death was ruled a suicide.
His death ended several lawsuits without a court ruling on whether Nevada’s
plan to use a never-tried combination of drugs — including high doses of the
powerful opioid fentanyl and a muscle paralyzing agent — would cause an
unconstitutionally cruel and inhumane death.
The state Supreme Court has given a pharmaceutical company a March 1 deadline
to say why its challenge of the use of its product in a Nevada execution still
matters.
Both Ohrenschall and Fumo noted that inmates sentenced to life without parole
are not later eligible for reduced sentences.
“In Nevada, that means you leave prison in a pine box,” said Fumo. “To my
clients, the worst punishment would be life without the possibility of parole.”
(source: The Eureka Sentinel)
CALIFORNIA:
Death Penalties Upheld In 3 Day Killing Spree----They wreaked havoc on LA
County for 90 days, indiscriminately killing people, shooting at people, trying
to kill police: DA
The California Supreme Court Thursday upheld the convictions and death
sentences of 2 gang members for a 90-day crime spree that included 4 murders --
including 3 in Baldwin Park -- and ended after 1 of them holed up in a Santa
Monica Pier arcade with hostages and fired at police.
The state's highest court rejected the defense's contention that there were
errors in the trial of Oswaldo Amezcua and Joseph Flores, including the trial
court's acquiescence in the defendants' refusal to allow their attorneys to
present any mitigating evidence or arguments on their behalf in the trial's
penalty phase, in which jurors ultimately recommended in March 2005 that the 2
be sentenced to death.
"The record clearly demonstrates defendants' objective in this case. The court
engaged in extensive and careful colloquy with defendants and their counsel to
ensure that each defendant understood the stakes involved in pursuing his
choice," Justice Carol A. Corrigan wrote on behalf of the panel in its 63-page
ruling.
The opinion noted that Amezcua -- when queried while in jail about his mission
-- replied, "To kill as much people as I could."
Amezcua and Flores were convicted of 1st-degree murder for the 2000 slayings of
John Luis Diaz on April 11; Arturo Madrigal on May 25; and George Orlando
Flores and Luis George Reyes on June 19.
3 of the men were killed in Baldwin Park, while Reyes was murdered in Ontario.
Jurors found true the special circumstance allegations of multiple murders and
murder during a drive-by shooting.
Amezcua and Flores also were convicted of numerous other charges, including
attempted murder, shooting at an inhabited dwelling, arson, 2nd- degree robbery
and possession of a firearm by a felon.
The pair's crime spree began on April 3, 2000, after they were released from
state prison, where they had served time for armed robbery.
"They wreaked havoc on Los Angeles County for a 90-day period of time,
indiscriminately killing people, shooting at people, trying to kill police
officers, shooting police officers," Deputy District Attorney Darren Levine
said.
The prosecutor said the 2 were on a "streak of death and destruction until they
were apprehended on the pier," where Amezcua staged a July 4, 2000, standoff
with police at the Playland Arcade.
3 Santa Monica police officers were wounded during the 4th of July shootout
with Amezcua, who had taken people inside the arcade as hostages and began
releasing them after a few hours. He surrendered about 5 hours later.
Flores was wrestled to the ground and taken into custody shortly before Amezcua
ran into the arcade.
Santa Monica police had gone to the arcade based on a tip from San Bernardino
County sheriff's deputies, who were looking for the two. Amezcua and Flores,
who were initially accused of 3 murders, acted as their own lawyers for some
time and confessed to additional crimes while meeting with Levine about the
case, the prosecutor said.
"When we went out and investigated those murders, there was corroboration, so
they were charged with 5 murders," he said.
They were acquitted of a 5th murder count, which stemmed from the June 7, 2000,
slaying of a fellow gang member, who was gunned down as he answered the door of
his Victorville home.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert J. Perry sentenced the 2 to death in
April 2005, saying then that Amezcua and Flores treated the "shootings and
killings as sport." He called the murders "unprovoked and demonstrated an
extreme indifference and callous disregard for human life."
Amezcua -- who asked to address the court at his sentencing -- said he loved
his family and then proceeded to celebrate his gang affiliation, calling
himself a "soldier" who chose his "profession."He said the justice system
turned the jurors into killers and added that he would "offer no lame attempts
to apologize" for his crimes.
(source: patch.com)
USA:
Judge denies retrial request for federal death row inmate
An Oklahoma man's new trial request for a 1999 federal murder conviction and
death sentence in Arkansas has been denied, with the judge saying he doesn't
have jurisdiction while noting that evidence presented by attorneys "is
reasonably likely" to have led to a different sentence.
Danny Lee, 46, of Yukon, was convicted and sentenced to die for the 1996 deaths
of gun dealer William Mueller, his wife, Nancy Mueller and her 8-year-old
daughter, Sarah Powell, of Russellville and stealing guns and cash in a plot to
establish a whites-only nation in the Pacific Northwest.
? Chevie Kehoe, 46, of Colville, Washington, was also convicted of murder in
the case and was sentenced to life in prison, though prosecutors called Kehoe
the ringleader and also sought the death penalty for him.
Tuesday's order by U.S. District Judge Leon Holmes said that because the
request is the third by Lee, it requires federal appeals court authorization,
which has not been requested.
Lee's attorneys, assistant federal public defenders Morris Moon and George
Kouros, did not return phone calls for comment Wednesday.
The defense attorneys said in their September motion for a new trial that
recently discovered documents show a 1990 murder charge against Lee, who was 17
at the time, was not reduced to a robbery charge, as said by prosecutors during
the sentencing phase of his 1999 trial, but dismissed for a lack of evidence.
Holmes' 20-page order notes that prosecutors, in seeking the death penalty,
told jurors that Lee had received a "gift" when the murder charge in Oklahoma
City was reduced.
"Assuming that the Oklahoma state court held at a preliminary hearing that the
evidence was insufficient to establish probable cause that Lee was guilty of
murdering Joey Wavra, that evidence is material," Holmes wrote. "In light of
the government's reliance on the Wavra murder during sentencing it is
reasonably likely that ... the outcome at sentencing would have been
different."
The new trial request does not say when the documents were discovered, but
includes a September 1991 request for attorney fees by Kenneth Watson, the
attorney for Lee, who was known at the time as Daniel Graham.
"Court finds crime of Murder I not established by evidence," according to the
request. "Court recommends a dismissal of Murder I charges and state consider
refiling on charge of Robbery I."
Watson, now a retired state judge, did not immediately return a phone call for
comment.
Lee's cousin was later convicted of killing Wavra and sentenced to life in
prison.
(source: thenewstribune)
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