April 2
NEW YORK:
Death row survivor to keynote Bona’s 159th Commencement----Dick Kearns, Fr. Joe
Nangle will also be honored May 19
Anthony Ray Hinton will deliver the keynote address May 19 at St. Bonaventure
University’s 159th Commencement ceremony, almost 4 years after he left an
indelible impression on the class about to graduate.
Hinton was released from prison in April 2015 after spending 30 years on
Alabama’s death row for a crime he did not commit.
Hinton came to campus just 6 months later to represent author Bryan Stevenson,
who wrote “Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption,” the 2015-16 All
Bonaventure Reads selection. ABR is a book, chosen annually, that all freshmen
read the summer before starting classes at St. Bonaventure.
Those students, now this year’s graduating class, were so moved by Hinton’s
message of forgiveness and redemption that they submitted a petition with more
than 100 signatures asking the university’s Honorary Degree Committee and
President Dennis R. DePerro, Ed.D., to consider Hinton as the Commencement
speaker.
Hinton will receive an honorary doctorate. Also receiving honorary degrees May
19 will be Father Joseph Nangle and Dick Kearns, Class of 1972.
“Just Mercy” explores inequity in the U.S. criminal justice system and focuses
mainly on the work of the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), of which Hinton is
now an employee. He serves as EJI’s community educator and travels nationally
and internationally to speak about his experience and as an advocate for prison
reform.
One of the longest-serving death row prisoners in Alabama history and among the
longest-serving condemned prisoners to be freed after presenting evidence of
innocence, Hinton is the 152nd person exonerated from death row since 1983.
30 years ago, Hinton was arrested and charged with 2 capital murders based
solely on the assertion that a revolver taken from his mother’s home was the
gun used in both murders and in a third uncharged crime.
EJI attorneys engaged three of the nation’s top firearms examiners, who
testified in 2002 that the revolver could not be matched to crime evidence.
State prosecutors never questioned the new findings but nonetheless refused to
re-examine the case or concede error.
After 12 more years of litigation, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the lower
courts, and a new trial was granted. The judge finally dismissed the charges
after prosecutors said that scientists at the Alabama Department of Forensic
Sciences tested the evidence and confirmed that the crime bullets could not be
matched to the Hinton weapon.
Since his release, Hinton has spoken at dozens of universities and conferences.
His inspirational memoir, “The Sun Does Shine, How I Found Life and Freedom on
Death Row,” was released in March 2018.
Kearns is a veteran executive of the insurance industry and served as chief
administrative officer of Zurich Insurance Group in Switzerland.
A longtime benefactor of the university, Kearns is a former member of the St.
Bonaventure Board of Trustees and a recipient of the university’s Gaudete Medal
and Alumnus of the Year Award.
Kearns and his wife, Maureen, sponsor the annual Kearns Global Business Lecture
Series in connection with the School of Business.
(source: Olean Times Herald)
PENNSYLVANIA:
The empty threat of Pennsylvania’s death penalty
An empty threat might seem like a good middle ground.
It could give all the weight of a hefty penalty without any of the
responsibility for the follow-through. It could seem strong while not actually
being prepared to show strength.
The reality is that it is a frustrated mother telling her kids she will turn
this car right around even when she knows she can’t.
That is the death penalty.
In Pennsylvania, capital punishment is a toothless guard dog that runs around
the yard barking and growling, but only as far as its leash will stretch. That
dog has been chained to the porch for a long time, and everyone knows it.
Since 1985, there have been 8 governors. Together they or their administrators
signed 467 death warrants — many of them repeats for offenders who were stayed
and stayed and stayed.
In 34 years, only 3 executions occurred. 2 happened in 1995. The last was in
1999. All were authorized by Gov. Tom Ridge, who signed 220 warrants in less
than 8 years.
But in 20 years, there has been no further activity. Gov. Tom Wolf instituted a
moratorium in 2015 and will not sign warrants himself, delegating that
responsibility to Secretary of Corrections John Wetzel.
So why do we still pursue the death penalty? It demands more of our juries. It
ties up our courts and eats up resources while the condemned inmate grows old
in a cage that costs more per year than other jail cells because of death row
policies.
This is not a moral judgment about execution. There are good reasons to be for
it or against it. There are moral arguments, not to mention theological,
sociological, political and legal ones.
But what is the good reason to continue feeding fuel into a machine we have not
used in 20 years? A study on the effectiveness of the death penalty in
Pennsylvania was delivered last year, but the moratorium stands until the
Legislature takes some action.
We could wait for someone else to figure it out, but since the federal
government has only used the death penalty 3 times since 1988, that doesn’t
seem likely.
So that just leaves the legislators to decide whether Pennsylvania is a death
penalty state or not, or if we continue to occupy the weird middle ground of
empty threats and toothless dogs.
(source: Editorial, Tribune-Review)
NORTH CAROLINA:
Death Penalty Will Be Sought In Catawba County Murder Case
The State will seek the death penalty in the double murder case against
62-year-old Warren Lee Raymond Sr., of Catawba. Prosecutors made the
announcement of their intention to proceed with the case as a capital matter
during Catawba County Superior Court on Monday (April 1).
Raymond is charged with 2 counts of 1st-degree murder in the September 13,
2018, deaths of his wife, 55-year-old Barbara Jean Parker Raymond, and his son,
30-year-old Warren Lee Raymond Jr.
Events leading to Raymond's arrest began just before 5 p.m. September 13 when
Catawba Police and Catawba County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to a call for
service regarding a cardiac arrest at an address on N.C. Highway 10 East in
Catawba. Raymond was found in the residence with 2 victims. Both victims were
deceased when Officers arrived.
Raymond was taken into custody and questioned. The N.C. State Bureau of
Investigation was called in to assist with the investigation. S.B.I. Agents
charged Raymond with murder early the morning of September 14.
Raymond is being held at the Catawba County Detention Facility under no bond.
His next District Court date is listed for July 8. The case remains under
investigation by the Catawba Police Department and the North Carolina State
Bureau of Investigation.
(source: WHKY news)
*****************
Gruesome details revealed during Newport man's death penalty trial
Prosecutors detailed a grizzly scene Monday morning as a Newport man faces the
death penalty in connection to a Morehead City woman's 2016 murder.
28-year-old David Godwin, of Newport, sat with his head down, staring at the
table in front of him, as the prosecution read their opening statement.
Godwin is standing trial for beating, strangling, stabbing and dismembering
37-year-old Wendy Tamagne on July 4, 2016.
Tamagne was recently divorced at the time of her death and living at Country
Club Apartments, which is where her dismembered body was found on July 5.
Police said Tamagne and Godwin knew each other and this was not a random act,
but Godwin's defense team states something different.
“It’s a case about genetic mental conditions," defense lawyers said in their
opening statement.
Godwin was "born mentally damaged to parents who had mental disorders" --
moving to seven different homes before he was 9 months old and later being
adopted by the Godwin family.
Godwin's defense team stated Tamagne's murder was not premeditated or
intentional, but rather the result of genetics, trauma in his early childhood,
lifelong mental illnesses and a strong anti-depressant drug mixed with alcohol.
Godwin and Tamagne were good friends and drinking buddies, defense lawyers
said. According to people who knew the pair, Tamagne and Godwin were seen
fighting at a bar a few days before her remains were discovered.
The last night anyone but Godwin saw Tamagne alive was on July 3 at George's
Bar in Morehead City.
At that point in Godwin's life, his defense team said he was not working, not
going to school, living at home and spending 20 hours a day on the internet.
Over 30 people sat silent in the courtroom as both sides' statements were read;
Godwin sinking further into his chair with each sentence spoken.
Tamagne's mother, Jill, was the one who told authorities something was wrong.
The mother and daughter spoke often and when Jill was getting no response, each
unanswered text sparked a growing concern. Jill was among those in the
courtroom Monday.
On July 5, Jill asked for a welfare check. When officers arrived to check on
Tamagne, they instead found a bloody knife and a smashed cell phone on a table
in the living room.
Upon further investigation, authorities found a blood-soaked bed and Tamagne’s
dead cat in the trash can, covered by Tamagne’s now-empty wallet.
Authorities then opened several trash bags and found Tamagne's remains.
According to reports, Godwin's fingerprints were found all over the apartment
and he was even seen buying a hacksaw at Lowe's on July 4 -- something Godwin
admitted to doing through his defense lawyer.
The causes of death were ruled repeated blunt force trauma to the head, manual
strangulation and a deep stab wound to the torso. According to an autopsy
report, it's likely that Tamagne was straddled and punched repeatedly in the
head. No defensive wounds were found on her body. Several post-mortem wounds
were found but NewsChannel 12 will not release details due to their explicit
nature.
At this point in the opening statement, a member of the defense's team was seen
rubbing Godwin's back.
Defense lawyers said Godwin struggled with mania and claims Godwin doesn’t
remember much about the night Tamagne was killed, but “knew he must have done
it." Godwin said he woke up naked around 9 a.m. and sensed something was wrong.
“This is not a ‘Who done it?’ This is a ‘Why did this happen?,’” Godwin's
lawyer said. Defense lawyers say alcohol was a contributing factor, mixed with
a bipolar condition, the night Tamagne was murdered.
Prosecutors say after Godwin killed Tamagne, he drove her truck to Clayton,
North Carolina, left the windows down, keys in the seat and walked 20 miles to
a bus stop in Raleigh.
Godwin bought a ticket under the name "Justin Mann," using the last name of
Tamagne's boyfriend at the time. He dumped his cellphone and boarded a
Greyhound bus to Oregon where he later turned himself in to authorities on July
8.
When he eventually turned himself in, Godwin told them where to find the truck.
When they found his cellphone, prosecutors say all previous searches had been
erased but 2: “1st degree murder in North Carolina” and "death penalty in North
Carolina."
Godwin's trial is expected to last around 2 weeks. The 1st part of the trial
will focus on whether or not the jury thinks he's guilty. The 2nd part will
focus on if he gets life in prison or the death penalty.
(source: WCTI news)
SOUTH CAROLINA:
Killing of USC college student raises pressure to pursue death penalty
As South Carolina comes to grips with the recent kidnapping and killing of a
college student, the case could provide one of the first high-profile tests for
the new top prosecutor in Richland County, where experts say convincing juries
to sentence someone to death can be more difficult than in other parts of the
state.
The State Law Enforcement Division revealed Monday that 21-year-old University
of South Carolina student Samantha Josephson died of multiple sharp force
injuries after she mistakenly got into a car that she thought was her Uber
ride. She suffered wounds from her head to her feet, according to the arrest
warrant.
Josephson’s death stunned the college community and made national news,
prompting many on social media to immediately call for 24-year-old suspect
Nathaniel Rowland, facing murder and kidnapping charges, to receive the death
penalty. His court appearance is April 22, the 5th Circuit Solicitor’s office
said.
Byron Gipson took over the 5th Circuit Solicitor’s office, which covers
Richland and Kershaw counties, earlier this year after ousting embattled
incumbent Dan Johnson in a Democratic primary.
Gipson told The Post and Courier on Monday that it’s too early to say how he’ll
pursue sentencing in Josephson’s death, but in general he said he is open to
considering the death penalty.
“It is a penalty that is still enforced in this state,” Gipson said. “So on a
case-by-case basis, if the case merits us looking into it, I would be doing a
disservice to the citizens of the Fifth Circuit if I didn’t look at it. It’s
something we’ve got to consider.”
But if he does end up choosing to pursue the death penalty, the argument may
face a difficult path in Columbia.
State Sen. Dick Harpootlian, who was 5th Circuit solicitor in the 1990s, said
Richland County juries tend be a more skeptical audience for death penalty
cases than some other areas of the state, due in part to the county’s
relatively liberal political leanings.
“Is it impossible? No,” Harpootlian said. “Are they tougher to convince to give
the death penalty than perhaps Lexington County or Greenville County or York
County? Absolutely. But there are cases that are so egregious that a Richland
County jury will sentence somebody to death.”
Of the 36 inmates on death row in South Carolina, just one of those cases was
prosecuted in Richland County, the state’s 2nd most populated county. That
inmate, Quincy Jovan Allen, was convicted of 2 killings a month apart in 2002.
What will be key to a potential death sentence in Richland County, Harpootlian
said, will be a strongly argued case with direct evidence.
“You’ve got to have a strong case and you’ve got to present it in the right
way,” Harpootlian said. “It is not an easy task.”
Some Columbia-area lawmakers oppose the death penalty in all cases out of
principle. State Rep. Seth Rose, a lawyer whose district includes the Five
Points neighborhood where the early Friday morning abduction occurred, said he
is “not a fan” of capital punishment.
“There are a lot of disgusting acts that take place across the United States,”
said Rose, D-Columbia. “Life without parole is certainly on the table, but I
don’t advocate or support the death penalty.”
State Rep. Todd Rutherford, a former assistant 5th Circuit solicitor, said it
is “way too early” to determine whether the death penalty would be the right
sentence to pursue in the Rowland case.
“Feelings are high right now and people are upset, as they should be,” said
Rutherford, D-Columbia. “But as we take a look at it and figure out what to do
with it, I’m positive that the solicitor’s going to make the right decision.”
While Rutherford said the death penalty may be appropriate in some cases, he
agreed with Harpootlian that juries in the state’s capital county may be a hard
crowd to sell on the sentence.
“I’m not a bloodthirsty, hang-em-high kind of guy, and I don’t think Richland
County is either,” Rutherford said.
South Carolina has not executed any death row inmates since 2011, as they all
still have appeals pending. But even if an inmate exhausted all appeals, the
state would be unable to execute them due to the lack of access to the
necessary drugs for a lethal injection.
Under pressure from activists who oppose the death penalty, companies that make
lethal injection drugs have stopped openly selling them, and South Carolina’s
previous batch has expired.
Lawmakers have spent the past few years considering ways to get around that
issue, including giving authorities the ability to execute death row inmates by
electric chair or a firing squad.
The state Senate passed a bill to make that change in January, and state Rep.
Eddie Tallon, R-Spartanburg, said he plans to push for a hearing on it in the
House in the coming weeks. Tallon said Josephson’s murder could reinvigorate
efforts to ensure that the state can follow through on death sentences.
“Legislation can get momentum when something as emotional as this happens,”
Tallon said.
(source: postandcourier.com)
ALABAMA----impending execution
Stay sought in April 11 execution of Christopher Lee Price
An attorney for Alabama death row inmate Christopher Lee Price, scheduled for
execution April 11, has filed an emergency motion challenging the means of
execution.
Price has long been an opponent of the state’s lethal injection protocol,
having attempted to block it as far back as 2014. The motion filed Friday in
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama by Aaron M. Katz takes
a 2-pronged approach: It argues that the state’s lethal injection protocol,
which it plans to use on Price, violates the Eighth Amendment because it
carries risk of causing severe pain. And it argues that the state’s refusal to
use a new nitrogen hypoxia method in this case denies him the equal protection
promised by the 14th Amendment.
The issue of nitrogen hypoxia takes Price and the state into unexplored
territory.
In 2018, Gov. Kay Ivey signed a bill giving inmates the option to choose
execution by nitrogen. Nitrogen doesn't kill directly, but causes asphyxiation
by preventing a person from taking in oxygen. Other states have approved the
method in principle, but none has used it. More importantly, Alabama has yet to
show that it has developed a protocol for carrying out a nitrogen hypoxia
execution.
Katz has argued that the Department of Corrections allowed some inmates to
choose nitrogen hypoxia in a manner that was "completely arbitrary" and that
the state has "created 2 classes of death row inmates."
In a filing in early March, Alabama Department of Corrections officials said
Price had been given a chance to choose nitrogen.
In that filing, state officials said that Price and his attorneys had attempted
"to portray the ADOC as engaging in cloak-and dagger dealings with a select few
inmates, the reality is far more mundane. When Alabama added nitrogen hypoxia
to its list of statutorily approved methods of execution in 2018, all inmates
whose death sentences were final as of June 1, 2018, were given a 30-day period
from that date to elect nitrogen hypoxia. All death row inmates at Holman
Correctional Facility, including Price, were given a copy of an election form,
and 48 Alabama inmates made a timely election. Price did not."
Price was convicted in the 1991 robbery and stabbing of Bill Lynn, a minister
killed outside his home in the Bazemore community northwest of Jasper 3 days
before Christmas. He was convicted in 1993.
(source: al.com)
LOUISIANA:
Talking death penalty in Louisiana on the Discover Lafayette podcast: Attorney,
prison ministry talk about their experiences working with inmates
Tommy Guilbeau and Jim Lambert work with people who have been accused or
convicted of committing crimes. The 2 spoke with Jan Swift of the Along with
fellow attorney, Paul Hebert, they will be speak on behalf of the Friends of
the Humanities at the Hilliard Art Museum’s Lunch and Learn Series at noon
Friday in conjunction with the exhibition "Slavery, The Prison Industrial
Complex."
Guilbeau, a prominent criminal lawyer who has handled seven death penalty
cases, witnessed the execution of one of his clients, Dalton Prejean. Lambert
for years has been involved with Kairos Prison Ministry, whose mission is to
“share the transforming love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ to impact the
hearts and lives of incarcerated persons and their families, so as to assist
them in becoming loving and productive citizens of their communities."
While Angola has welcomed Kairos for 25 years, it was only in February 2018
that the Louisiana Department of Corrections allowed death row to be exposed to
the loving message of Kairos. Lambert has been meeting with 10 death row
inmates on a spiritual basis at Angola on behalf of Kairos since last February.
(source: theadvocate.com)
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