June 30
FLORIDA:
Man faces death penalty for abducting, fatally stabbing nanny
The Orlando Sentinel reports that 55-year-old Scott Edward Nelson was found
guilty Friday of 1st-degree murder.
Prosecutors say Nelson forced his way into a Winter Park home in September
2017.
He tied up 56-year-old Jennifer Lynn Fulford and put her in the trunk of her
own car. He used an ATM to steal $300 from her account. Investigators say
Nelson stabbed Fulford several times in a vacant lot outside Orlando.
Fulford's body was found several days later, and Nelson was arrested in
Jacksonville several days after that.
Nelson testified in his own defense. He blamed his probation officer for
causing him to get fired and needing to steal to survive.
(source: Associated Press)
UTAH:
Former prosecutor: MacKenzie Lueck's accused killer could face death penalty if
convicted
The man who is accused of killing University of Utah student MacKenzie Lueck
could face the death penalty if convicted of the charges he is being held on.
Prosecutors are currently reviewing the police case against Ayoola Ajayi, 31,
who was arrested on suspicion of aggravated murder, aggravated kidnapping,
obstruction of justice, and desecration of a body.
“A good prosecutor is not only looking at ‘did he kill MacKenzie,' but, if he
did kill her, under what circumstances did he do so,” former prosecutor, now
criminal defense attorney Kent Morgan told 2News.
The next step for Ajayi will be an initial appearance in court, at which time
he could announce he has hired a defense attorney or could ask the court to
appoint a public defender.
Ajayi will eventually face an arraignment hearing, at which time prosecutors
would have a 60-day window to decide if they wanted to pursue the death
penalty.
If prosecutors do pursue the death penalty, Ajayi would need an attorney
qualified for capital cases under what is known as "Rule 8" of Utah criminal
procedures.
Morgan estimates there are approximately a dozen attorneys in the state who are
qualified to handle death penalty cases.
“It’s not a traffic ticket, it’s not a misdemeanor, this is aggravated murder,”
Morgan said.
Court records reveal some of the case investigators have built against Ajayi.
According to a probable cause statement filed Friday, cell phone records put
Ajayi with Lueck at Hatch Park in North Salt Lake on the night she disappeared.
Forensic investigators determined DNA from human flesh found in the backyard of
Ajayi's home matched Lueck, police said in a press conference Friday.
Police also say Ajayi lied to them about knowing Lueck or ever meeting her.
Morgan says the burden of proof will be steep to convict Ajayi of aggravated
murder.
“Aggravated murder requires that you follow all of the statutory requirements
and have something in addition to the intentional killing of another,” he said.
The state statute lays out the requirements for aggravated murder charges.
Similar aggravating factors are required for a charge of aggravated kidnapping,
on which Ajayi is also being held.
It’s anticipated prosecutors will formally file charges against Ajayi in court
early next week.
(source: KUTV news)
OREGON:
Oregon votes to substantially narrow use of death penalty
Oregon will substantially narrow the use of the death penalty by limiting
qualifying crimes.
The Senate overwhelmingly voted Saturday to restrict capital punishment to
apply to terrorist acts that kill 2 or more people. Killing police officers and
kids younger than 14 also applies. Lawmakers cannot introduce an outright ban
on capital punishment without sending the measure to the ballot box.
Voters approved adding the death penalty to the Oregon Constitution in 1984.
The measure now heads to the Gov. Kate Brown who extended a 2011 moratorium on
using the death penalty.
The state Department of Corrections says there were 30 people on death row as
of Jan. 1, 2019. The last execution was in 1997.
(source: Associated Press)
USA:
On this day, Supreme Court temporarily finds death penalty unconstitutional
On June 29, 1972, the Court decided in a complicated ruling, Furman v. Georgia,
that the application of the death penalty in 3 cases was unconstitutional. The
Court would clarify that ruling in a later case in 1976, putting the death
penalty back on the books under different circumstances.
The debate over whether the death penalty constitutes cruel and unusual
punishment dates back to the Founding Fathers. The Constitution’s Eighth
Amendment states that, “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive
fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.”
In 1789, during the debate over the Bill of Rights in the First Congress, one
argument was over the extent of the death penalty. Samuel Livermore of New
Hampshire proposed that “it is sometimes necessary to hang a man, villains
often deserve whipping, and perhaps having their ears cut off.”
“But are we in the future to be prevented from inflicting these punishments
because they are cruel? If a more lenient mode of correcting vice and deterring
others from the commission of it would be invented, it would be very prudent in
the Legislature to adopt it; but until we have some security that this will be
done, we ought not to be restrained from making necessary laws by any
declaration of this kind,” Livermore said.
The First Congress adopted a more moderate view when it proposed the Eighth
Amendment for ratification in the Bill of Rights. It was also concerned about
the use of harsh punishments in an arbitrary and disproportionate way.
The Supreme Court initially considered these factors as they would have applied
in the Founders’ time. In 1878, the Court ruled in Wilkerson v. Utah that death
by firing squad was permissible, but it agreed that old English practices of
execution where prisoners were “emboweled alive, beheaded, and quartered,”
publicly dissected and burned alive were unconstitutional.
Then in 1910, the Court broadened its criteria in Weems v. United States, which
wasn’t a capital punishment case but still dealt with cruel and unusual
punishment. The Justices referenced an earlier death-sentence case, In re
Kemmler from 1890, which held that the first use of the electric chair was
constitutional under the 8th and 14th Amendments. Later, the Court ruled that
it was permissible to execute a person with the electric chair, for a second
time, after a first attempt failed.
However, in 1972 the Court changed direction in Furman v. Georgia, when, in a
very complicated ruling, a split 5-4 Court decided the death penalty
application was unconstitutional in three cases.
(source: Yahoo News, June 29)
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