Sept. 4
TEXAS----impending execution
Texas set to execute Billy Crutsinger in Fort Worth slayings of 2 elderly
women----Crutsinger has pushed to stop his execution based on claims of bad
lawyering during his trial and in the appellate process.
In 2003, an 89-year-old woman and her 71-year-old daughter were stabbed to
death in their Fort Worth home. On Wednesday, Texas plans to execute Billy
Crutsinger for the crime.
Crutsinger, now 64, was sentenced to death for the home robbery and slayings of
Pearl Magouirk and her daughter, Patricia Syren. The two women were found two
days after their murders, and police tracked Crutsinger to a Galveston bar
using Syren’s credit card, according to court records.
In Tarrant County, Assistant Criminal District Attorney and lead prosecutor
Michele Hartmann said Tuesday the loss of the mother and daughter “is still
felt deeply by their family and the Fort Worth community.” Unless his execution
is stopped by the U.S. Supreme Court or delayed by Gov. Greg Abbott, Crutsinger
will be put to death after 6 p.m. in Huntsville.
After the murders, Crutsinger was arrested — albeit illegally — after he didn’t
identify himself to police in Galveston. He consented to a DNA swab that linked
him to the crime scene and confessed to the murders while in custody, the
records state.
A judge ruled that police were not justified in arresting Crutsinger on the
spot for credit card abuse because they didn’t have a warrant, and he didn’t
commit the crime of failure to identify himself before his arrest. Still,
despite the illegal arrest, the judge found his confession and DNA sample were
admissible evidence in court because the police conduct was not “purposeful or
flagrant,” and there was probable cause for his arrest, just not a warrant.
During his nearly 16 years on death row, Crutsinger has appealed his sentence
arguing against the legal validity of his confession and DNA sample. But more
recently, he has pointed to his lawyers’ failings.
Crutsinger has argued that his trial lawyer failed to adequately investigate
mitigating factors that could have swayed the jury to hand down a sentence of
life in prison instead of execution. Specifically, he claims the attorney
overlooked evidence of mental impairment caused by alcohol addiction, head
trauma, depression and low intelligence, according to a recent federal district
court ruling.
His current lawyer, Lydia Brandt, has also knocked his state appellate lawyer —
claiming his incompetence and the courts’ refusal to grant investigatory
funding has kept Crutsinger from any meaningful appeals process. She noted that
a judge in another capital case found Crutsinger’s state appellate lawyer
“sloppy” and lacking professionalism, and that his filings were “poorly done
and of minimal assistance to the court,” according to Crutsinger’s petition.
“The State of Texas denied Mr. Crutsinger his initial right to one full and
fair opportunity to present his claims concerning violations of his fundamental
constitutional rights,” Brandt wrote in a final appeal to the U.S. Supreme
Court last week.
Brandt did not respond to The Texas Tribune on Tuesday.
The federal courts, as well as the Texas Criminal Court of Appeals, have so far
rejected his arguments. U.S. District Court Judge Terry Means ruled last month
that despite a lack of funding for Crutsinger to investigate it, Means fully
addressed the merits of the ineffective counsel claim and found it was without
merit. He referred to trial records that revealed the lawyer presenting
multiple witnesses at the phase of trial where jurors weigh questions that lead
to life in prison or death, including prison officers who testified to his good
behavior and family members who described his grief and issues with drinking.
According to the testimony of his ex-wife and wife at the time of trial,
Crutsinger had lost a newborn daughter; his toddler son to drowning; his
teenage son to lymphoma; his brother from illness; his father, who was hit by a
car; and his sister, who was killed in a car crash in which he was driving.
“The assertions that the denial of funding precluded a true merits review and
that trial counsel's representation was egregious, border on frivolous,” Means
wrote in a ruling last month. “... His conclusion that trial counsel failed to
explore his alcoholism, his ‘personality change’ after a single drink, his
history of domestic violence and abuse, and his repeated losses of significant
friends and relatives, is completely false.”
Earlier rulings in Crutsinger’s case from the federal district court and the
5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals have been highlighted by the U.S. Supreme
Court, though, when pointing out that the appellate court overly limited
investigatory funding. Although the courts reexamined the case and still denied
funding and declined to reopen the case for further review, one appellate judge
split from his court’s ruling.
Judge James Graves on the 5th Circuit court said last week he would stop
Wednesday’s execution. He said earlier that Means’ ruling on the merits of
Crutsinger’s claim came before he had any funds to further investigate the
issue, so it was not yet developed for such a ruling.
“The court concluded that Crutsinger must prove his claim of ineffective
assistance of counsel to be able to establish that ‘investigative, expert, or
other services are reasonably necessary’ to then be able to prove his claim of
ineffective assistance of counsel,” Graves wrote in a dissent in July. “Such a
circular application is illogical ... . A defendant who has already proven his
claim of ineffective assistance of counsel would have no need for additional
investigative, expert, or other services.”
Without intervention, Crutsinger will become the 5th person executed in Texas
this year and the 14th in the country. There are 10 other Texas executions
scheduled through December.
(source: The Texas Tribune)
***********************
Texas inmate set to be executed for killing 2 women in 2003
A Texas death row inmate is set to be executed Wednesday for fatally stabbing
an 89-year-old woman and her daughter more than 16 years ago in their Fort
Worth home.
Billy Jack Crutsinger, 64, is scheduled to receive a lethal injection Wednesday
evening for the 2003 killings of Pearl Magouirk and her 71-year-old daughter
Patricia Syren. Authorities say Crutsinger killed the women then stole Syren's
car and credit card. He was arrested 3 days later at a bar in Galveston, more
than 300 miles (480 kilometers) away.
Crutsinger's appellate attorney has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stop his
execution, alleging his previous lawyer had a long history of incompetence in
death penalty cases.
"The jury heard nothing from the defense that provided an explanation about the
disease of alcoholism in relation to the offense conduct," including "a history
of domestic violence and abuse, and repeated losses of significant friends and
relatives," Lydia Brandt, Crutsinger's current attorney, wrote in her one of
her Supreme Court petitions.
At trial, prosecutor Michele Hartmann told jurors that Crutsinger's actions had
nothing to do with alcohol but were the result of "evil."
Brandt also argued that lower courts have wrongly denied Crutsinger funding to
investigate competency and mental health claims that were not sufficiently
reviewed by prior attorneys.
Lower appeals courts and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles have declined
to stop the execution. If it happens, Crutsinger would be the 14th inmate put
to death this year in the U.S. and the 5th in Texas.
Friends and family described Magouirk, known as "R.D.," as an avid gardener.
Syren volunteered as a receptionist at her church. Both women were retired and
lived together.
Crutsinger had been "spiraling downward much of his adult life." He had three
failed marriages and a propensity for violence when he drank, according to a
report by a forensic psychologist hired by his trial attorneys.
In the months before the slayings, Crutsinger became homeless and increasingly
desperate after his wife kicked him out and his mother, who had enabled his
behavior, stopped helping him, according to the report.
Crutsinger offered to do some work for Magouirk and Syren in their home, but
when he realized they didn't have enough work to give him much financial
relief, he flew into an alcoholic rage, the report said.
"All of his anger at being left to fend for himself and of having his safety
net taken from him was then brought to bear on the victims," according to the
report.
Magouirk was stabbed at least 7 times while her daughter was stabbed at least 9
times.
DNA evidence tied Crutsinger to the killings and he confessed to the crime.
In an email, Brandt described Crutsinger's previous appellate lawyer, Richard
Alley, as a "great word processor" who cut and pasted "worthless" legal
arguments from other cases and who was removed from another death row inmate's
case and had been suspended from practicing in federal court.
Brandt alleges Alley performed similar shoddy work in at least 6 other death
penalty cases. 4 of those inmates have been executed. An attorney for former
death row inmate Bobby Woods also alleged incompetent work by Alley before
Woods was executed in 2009.
In 2006, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals removed Alley from its list of
lawyers eligible to represent death row inmates in their appeals.
Alley died in 2017.
"I do the best I possibly can on all these cases," Alley told the Austin
American-Statesman in a 2006 story that was part of a series that looked at bad
work by court-appointed attorneys in death penalty appeals.
The Texas Attorney General's Office called Crutsinger's allegations against
Alley "speculative" because he had not identified any claim that Alley should
have raised but did not. The attorney general's office also said Crutsinger's
case has received an "extensive review" during his appeals process.
(source: Associated Press)
********************************
Greg Abbott backs “expedited executions” for mass shooters after Odessa
shooting----The governor tweeted Monday night that Texas is “working on a
legislative package” and that “expedited executions for mass murderers would be
a nice addition.”
After the 2nd Texas mass shooting in a month, Gov. Greg Abbott tweeted Monday
night that “we’re working on a legislative package right now” and that
“expedited executions for mass murderers would be a nice addition.”
Details, however, were scarce. A spokesman for Abbott said Tuesday morning that
he hadn’t spoken to the governor since the tweet was posted and had no more
immediate information. The Legislature doesn’t convene again until 2021. Abbott
would need to call a special session to pass legislation before then — a move
he showed reluctance to make after a mass shooting in El Paso last month.
Abbott’s tweet linked to an article in The Blaze on the U.S. Department of
Justice drafting legislation to speed up executions of people who commit mass
murder; that article attributed the news to Bloomberg. In Texas, the average
time spent on death row is almost 11 years, according to the Texas Department
of Criminal Justice. The more than 200 people on death row have been there an
average of nearly 16 years.
The Texas death penalty appellate process winds through both state and federal
courts. Speeding up that process for mass shootings would lead to inconsistency
and an uneven justice system, said Amanda Marzullo, the executive director of
Texas Defender Service, which represents death-sentenced appellants and
advocates for death penalty reform.
“Texas already has an appellate process that is much faster than the rest of
the country,” she said. “Accelerating this process would only run the risk of
further constitutional violations or that an innocent person is executed.”
Marzullo also said the death penalty has not been shown to be a deterrent to
murder in any case, let alone in mass attacks where many killers say they
expect to die.
Of Texas’ four high-profile mass shootings in the last 2 years, 2 of the
shooters were killed in the immediate aftermath of their attacks. Abbott’s
tweet came 2 days after a gunman killed seven people and wounded 22 others
while driving through Odessa and Midland. The shooting ended when police shot
and killed the gunman.
A gunman in Sutherland Springs killed himself in 2017 after leaving a church
where he killed 26 people. The suspect in the El Paso shooting is in county
jail, but he said in a racist manifesto published just before the massacre that
he expected to be killed that day.
In the aftermath of the El Paso shooting, Abbott convened a commission of
lawmakers, activists and law enforcement to discuss possible responses. The
Texas Safety Commission had 2 meetings last month, and Abbott indicated that
the group plans to issue a report with recommendations. Meanwhile, Texas House
Speaker Dennis Bonnen and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick announced Tuesday that they
would each form select committees on mass violence prevention and community
safety. Committee members and issues they'd be asked to study will be made
public next week, the 2 Republican leaders said.
“The heinous tragedies like those that occurred in El Paso, Midland, and Odessa
have become all too common in our state, and such a serious epidemic of
violence should be met with meaningful solutions,” Bonnen said. “These
committees have difficult, important work before them, and the solutions they
come up with will provide a roadmap for the Legislature’s work over the interim
and in the next session.”
But during last week’s closed-door meeting, Abbott told a survivor of the El
Paso shooting, which left 22 dead and more than 2 dozen wounded, that he wasn’t
calling lawmakers back for a special session to address gun violence. The
survivor, Chris Grant, told The Texas Tribune that the governor told him during
the meeting that a special session is “a long process.”
Abbott tweeted earlier Monday that the gunman in Saturday’s mass shooting in
Midland and Odessa had previously failed a gun purchase background check and
did not go through a background check to buy the gun used in Saturday’s
incident.
Abbott’s tweet did not say why the shooter didn’t pass the background check or
how he obtained the rifle he used to kill 7 people and injure 22 others —
including a state trooper and 2 police officers. The gunman died after a
shootout with police outside a Midland movie theater. Abbott also cited the
shooter’s criminal history.
“We must keep guns out of criminals’ hands,” he tweeted.
(source: The Texas Tribune)
NORTH CAROLINA:
Members of Exonerated Five reflect on ‘criminal system of injustice’ in Monday
talk
As a child, Yusef Salaam skateboarded and wanted to make a difference by
becoming a hip-hop artist. Raymond Santana kept up with the latest fashion and
was still exploring a world of future options.
That all changed when, at the ages of 15 and 14 respectively, Salaam and
Santana, along with three other boys, were accused of crimes they did not
commit. Formerly referred to as the Central Park 5, this group is now known as
the Exonerated 5.
At an event at Page Auditorium moderated by Mark Anthony Neal, James B. Duke
professor of African and African American studies, the two spoke of their
story’s connection to racial bias, the flawed criminal justice system and the
media’s role in both. They described their story as one of personal evolution,
resilience and even love.
“We were survivors of the criminal system of injustice,” Salaam said, referring
to the social stigma associated with what was revealed as a wrongful
conviction.
The 5 teenagers—Anton McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana
and Korey Wise—were arrested in connection with the attack of Trisha Meili, who
was raped and beaten while jogging in Central Park in New York City. She was
hurt so badly that she spent 12 days in a coma and woke up with no memory of
the assault.
The 5 confessed after hours of interrogation from police, and they became the
center of a storm of media coverage. The suspects were described as a “Wolf
Pack.” Now-President Donald Trump took out newspaper advertisements that
declared “Bring Back the Death Penalty, Bring Back Our Police!”
Santana spoke to the way in which this biased media coverage led the public to
conclude the 5 were guilty.
“They just painted these pictures,” Santana said of the news media. He noted
that they seized on facts like Salaam’s possession of a ninja star medallion to
spin “stories to make it look bad in the public eye, which in turn made the
people turn their backs on us because they thought that we were guilty, and if
they didn’t think we were guilty of rape then we were guilty of something.”
This, he said, made it “easy for the courts to convict us.”
Salaam said that the New York Police Department, including homicide detectives
who had at least 20 years of experience, must have known that the 5 were not
guilty.
However, the police told the media that the five were with a gang of teenagers
who were assaulting people in Central Park that evening, or “wilding.”
“They knew that these stories were false, and then they sent this information
to the media,” Salaam said. “The media then should have done its due diligence
and said, ‘Okay, I’m going to fact check this stuff.’”
The accused and their families personally experienced the public outcry. Salaam
brought to the talk a copy of a letter he received that said God would punish
them for the assault.
The 5 were tried, convicted and sentenced in 1990 to six to 13 years in prison.
12 years later, the men were exonerated when serial rapist Matias Reyes
confessed that he had assaulted Meili. Afterwards, the Exonerated Five sued the
New York City government and settled for $41 million.
The men were featured in a 2012 Ken Burns documentary and a 2019 Netflix
miniseries directed by Ava DuVernay, who coined the term “Exonerated Five.” For
Salaam, the films allowed the five to tell their stories in a way that the
public had never previously heard.
“Folks had never heard our voices until [Burns’s] film came out,” he said. “And
then we had our voices back.”
Despite the positive media coverage, scars from the false conviction remain.
Santana described the lingering fear that someone would try to attack him who
believed that he was guilty of Meili’s assault.
“I think about it every day,” he said. “That stuff constantly plays out in my
mind… What if somebody did that? How would I react? How would I respond to it?
Suppose I’m with my daughter at the time. You’ve got to think about those
scenarios, just to be prepared.”
There are still deep flaws in the U.S. criminal justice system, Salaam said.
“This is not new,” he said. “This is a continuation of a system that has been
looking at black and brown bodies as collateral damage for centuries.”
Salaam highlighted the issue of privatized prisons, saying that “they’ve got a
cell waiting for each and every one of us.” He compared incarceration to
slavery, noting that the Thirteenth Amendment, which banned slavery, made an
exception for criminals.
He also noted that “The New Jim Crow,” Michelle Alexander’s book about mass
incarceration, has been banned in prisons.
The men said that the challenges they have faced helped shape them into the
people they are today, despite the havoc that their conviction wreaked on their
lives and the problems that remain with the justice system.
“Many years ago, someone actually said, ‘If you could go back and you could
change anything, would you change it?’ And I had to think about it, and then my
answer was, ‘No,’” Santana said. “Because going through this process, it has
made me the man I am today. And I’m proud of that man.”
Indeed, both men have made a name for themselves in the years since their
exoneration. Salaam has become a public speaker and proponent for criminal
justice reform. Santana never forgot his childhood dreams and started a fashion
line called Park Madison NYC, donating part of the proceeds to the Innocence
Project—a nonprofit that works to exonerate the wrongly convicted. One of the
shirts features the first names of the Exonerated 5.
Salaam said that the five’s experience serves as a reminder of what people are
capable of, even in the most difficult of circumstances.
“The Central Park jogger case is actually a love story between God and his
people,” he said. “With us, what was so beautiful about what happened, I think,
even in prison we got college degrees… If we were in a place that is called the
belly of the beast, imagine what you can do as a free person.”
(source: dukechronicle.com)
OHIO:
Death penalty does more harm than good for victim’s son
I lost my father two years ago to a brutal and senseless murder. The man who
took his life, Thomas Knuff, was recently sentenced to death. Knuff took my dad
from me and robbed the two of us of invaluable time together. It’s impossible
to describe the depths of my pain or how to cope with what’s happened to me,
but I know that Knuff’s death sentence will not provide healing to me. As
someone with a very close connection to the death penalty, I appreciate Ohio
House Speaker Larry Householder’s recent comments about his waning support of
the death penalty.
It may be surprising to hear that I am opposed to the death penalty given that
I lost a loved one to such brutality. However, when you look at how the death
penalty impacts victims’ families, it makes complete sense.
My father was killed more than 2 years ago, and Knuff was just sentenced to
death. Still, our journey with his case is only just beginning. Because the
death penalty is irreversible and a life is on the line, the U.S. Supreme Court
has mandated a complex process. These procedures are attempts to reduce the
risk of mistakes — given that more than 165 innocent people have been released
from death rows, I’d say they are more than necessary. But this is torturous to
families like mine who become trapped in legal limbo.
It’s typical that capital cases can take upward of 15 years to weave through
the system, which means constantly reopening the wound of my father’s death at
hearings and appeals. Though nothing will ever fully heal the pain of losing my
father, it would certainly be easier for me to focus on my grief and healing
without being ensnared in this process.
This complex process does more than divert the attention of families like mine
trapped in the system. It also diverts millions of dollars that could instead
benefit all victims. Speaker Householder is right to mention cost as one of the
reasons he’s losing support for the death penalty.
Every dollar we pour into the death penalty is a dollar we aren’t investing in
services for victims or helping to stop violent crime from occurring initially.
A study of Summit County examined initial trial costs of 2 aggravated murder
cases in 2017, one with a death specification and one without. Both defendants
were tried around the same time, but the result was that the county spent 10
times more on the death case than the nondeath case. The legislature has never
done an in-depth cost analysis of the death penalty. If these are the numbers
for just one county, I can’t imagine what the numbers for the entire state
would be.
All this money, and Ohio has nothing to show for it. A common misconception is
that the death penalty system acts as a deterrent, preventing future murders.
However, studies have shown repeatedly that it really makes no difference
statistically whether a state has a death penalty or not.
The death penalty shifts attention and resources from people who really need
it: the victims’ families. Instead of spending money on a death sentence, the
state needs to discuss and fund ways for people like me to heal. I’m very
fortunate to have a job with wonderful insurance and a great support system of
family and friends. But this isn’t just about me. There were 103 homicides just
in Columbus in 2018, and most survivors might not be as fortunate as me. They
shouldn’t be forced to go through this impossible healing process without
specialized grief counseling or ongoing support.
In some respects, we were “lucky.” For families in unsolved murders there is
the added pain of never learning what happened to their loved ones. We need to
prioritize cold cases. With the death penalty on the books countless law
enforcement hours are spent chasing a handful of executions instead of solving
more cases. This leaves offenders on the streets and victims’ families aching
for answers.
Our state has tunnel vision toward ending a life and not focusing on those
whose lives continue. This has to change. I’m hopeful to see leaders like
Speaker Householder state their waning support for this system. I’m confident
that the state will start to see the harm the death penalty does to victims’
families and will realize the time and resources spent on seeking death could
be better used to improve the lives left behind after such a devastating loss.
(source: Opinion; Jonathan Mann’s father was murdered 2 years ago in Parma, and
his father’s killer was recently sentenced to death----Columbus Dispatch)
TENNESSEE:
Abdur’Rahman’s Death Sentence Vacated Months Before Scheduled Execution ----
Judge agrees that 1987 trial was marred by racial discrimination in jury
selection
Abu-Ali Abdur’Rahman was led into a Nashville courtroom on Aug. 28 wearing
shackles and a beige Tennessee Department of Correction uniform. It was the
same uniform 5 men have worn as they were led into Tennessee’s execution
chamber since the revival of the state’s death penalty last year.
Abdur’Rahman’s own execution was scheduled for April 16, 2020.
But he’s been closer to death before.
On April 8, 2002 — 25 years after he was sentenced to death by a Nashville jury
for his role in the killing of Patrick Daniels and attack on Norma Jean Norman
during a robbery — Abdur’Rahman was on death watch. He was sitting in a small
cell next to the execution chamber — within 2 days of his execution date — when
the Supreme Court of the United States issued a stay. A little more than a year
later, he came within 12 days of execution before he was spared by a stay from
the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He knows a feeling of
relief that few people can imagine.
Only more so now.
On that morning in Nashville Criminal Court just last week, Abdur’Rahman’s
attorney Bradley MacLean spent more than 30 minutes detailing evidence of
prosecutorial misconduct — highlighted by racial discrimination during jury
selection — in the 1987 trial. Then-ADA John Zimmermann, MacLean said, used
racist stereotypes as a pretext to strike prospective African American jurors.
He also highlighted how Zimmermann — who is still a prosecutor in Rutherford
County — suppressed evidence the defense was entitled to see.
When he rose to speak, Davidson County District Attorney Glenn Funk would not
defend Zimmermann’s conduct. Although there was no question of Abdur’Rahman’s
guilt, Funk said, “Overt racial bias has no place in the justice system.” He
added: “The pursuit of justice is incompatible with deception. Prosecutors must
never be dishonest to or mislead defense attorneys, courts or juries.”
To that end, Funk told the court that he was submitting a proposed order that
would vacate Abdur’Rahman’s death sentence and have him serve a life sentence
instead (consecutive to 3 other life sentences). 2 days later, Criminal Court
Judge Monte Watkins signed off on the agreement removing Abdur’Rahman from
death row.
There were others in the courtroom last week too. Katrina and Shawanna Norman
were sitting in the front row, 32 years after they’d cowered in their bedroom
at ages 8 and 9, as their stepfather was stabbed to death. Their mother, Norma
Jean Norman, later came crawling into their bedroom with a knife in her back.
Tears streamed down their faces as Funk recounted these details to the
courtroom last week, but days later they too felt relief.
“I hate going to the mailbox, especially when we see something from the
district attorney’s office,” Katrina says. “I’m just glad that it’s finally
over.”
Their mother has forgiven Abdur’Rahman, and while Katrina and Shawanna don’t
necessarily share that feeling, the 2 women say they believed justice had been
served.
“The scars that she has, they’ve healed,” Shawanna says of her mother. “But
she’s never going to forget what happened that night. We’re never going to
forget what happened that night.”
For many years, she says, she and her sister wouldn’t even keep knives of any
kind in their homes. The memories of that “night of horror” have never left
them, Shawanna says, recalling the way she and her sister had huddled in their
bed, shaking so hard with fear that the bed frame knocked against the wall. And
while they’re happy to see Abdur’Rahman held responsible for his crime, they
place much of the blame for these traumatic legal aftershocks at Zimmermann’s
feet. Shawanna told reporters he should be disbarred.
Seated only feet from the Norman sisters in court last week was Linda Manning,
a Vanderbilt professor who has been visiting Abdur’Rahman on death row for 19
years. When Manning first met Abdur’Rahman, his attorneys believed he would be
executed within six months. He had no visitors at the time and no family coming
to see him.
“I thought to myself, nobody should have to travel that road alone, and I can
do anything for six months,” Manning tells the Scene. “And here we are 19 years
later.”
Manning knew Abdur’Rahman in 2002 when he was taken to death watch, a place he
will never go again. From now on, when she goes to visit a man she says has
become family, she won’t be going to death row.
(source: nashvillescene.com)
ARKANSAS:
Rare death-penalty trial looms in Little Rock----Case against man accused in
slayings of mom, 2 kids is 1st in 8 years by John Lynch
"Get off my mama!!"
Those were the last words of 5-year-old A'Laylaih Fisher as she ran to the room
where her mother and little brother were being stabbed to death, according to 1
of the 2 men accused of killing her.
The girl, who loved reading and baking with her 4-year-old brother, Elijah
Fisher, died with him and their mother, 24-year-old Mariah Cunningham, in a
bedroom at their home at Rosewood Apartments, 6600 Lancaster Road, in Little
Rock.
Cunningham's 78-year-old grandmother found their bodies three weeks before
Christmas in 2017. The woman had gone to the apartment to check on the family,
concerned because the children weren't in school and Cunningham wasn't
answering the phone.
Investigators believe Cunningham and her children had been dead about two days
when their bodies were found. Police reported finding bleach smeared on the
bodies, and a steak knife believed to have been used in the killings was
discovered in the bathtub.
Cunningham was a mother of 3 who was attending the University of
Arkansas-Pulaski Tech. Family members remembered Elijah for how much he loved
his toy toolbox and building blocks as well as spending time with his 2
sisters. The other sister, age 8, was not home when the rest of her family was
killed.
Next month, on Oct. 16, 26-year-old Michael Ivory Collins of Colorado will face
the death penalty at trial before Circuit Judge Herb Wright on charges of
capital murder and aggravated robbery, the 1st time in 8 years Pulaski County
prosecutors have sought execution.
They are seeking a life sentence on the charges for his co-defendant
half-brother William Burnelle Alexander, 23, of Little Rock, whose trial has
yet to be scheduled.
The brothers also face capital murder charges over accusations they're
responsible for the July 2017 slaying of 64-year-old Billie "Candy Man"
Thornton, a small-time drug dealer who had once been a neighbor of Alexander.
Court filings show suspicion for the family's killing quickly fell first on
Collins, who had lived with Cunningham recently but had moved out after about a
week.
Cunningham's boyfriend, who was in jail on a gun charge, told detectives that
if anyone had done something to the mother of three it would be Collins because
he regularly robbed people and that's the kind of thing he would do.
Collins' mother told detectives that he had suddenly shown up at her North
Little Rock home 2 days before the bodies were discovered.
Denise Alexander said it was the 1st time she'd seen Collins since he was 13,
when he arrived at her apartment to clean up and change clothes before leaving
to stay with an aunt in Chicago.
U.S. marshals arrested him 2 days later in Chicago on a federal probation
violation warrant. At the time, federal authorities in Colorado had been
looking for Collins for about 5 months over accusations he had violated his
probation on a 2014 conviction for being a felon in possession of a firearm by
moving without telling his probation officer and not participating in required
counseling.
He also was wanted because police in the Denver suburb of Greenwood Village had
named him a suspect in a June 2017, gun-related threatening case. He'd been
released from prison 2 months earlier, in April 2017, after serving about three
months in prison.
Among Collins' belongings seized by federal authorities were some clothes that
appeared to have dried blood on them. DNA testing on his black Adidas shoes by
the Arkansas Crime Laboratory turned up blood from Cunningham and her children,
and Collins was arrested in their deaths Jan. 8, 2018, court filings show.
Questioned by Little Rock detectives Terry McDaniel and Matt Hoffine, Collins
said he knew Cunningham and that she'd given him a key to her home during the
week he lived with her.
Collins said he'd left town by Greyhound bus two days before the bodies were
found, saying he was frustrated because he couldn't find work in Little Rock
because he was a convicted felon.
Asked whether he'd been inside the apartment after Cunningham and the children
were killed, Collins replied "No" and said there would be no reason for her
blood to be on him. He then ended the interview and asked for a lawyer.
'WRONG PLACE, WRONG TIME'
It wasn't until 2 days after Christmas 2017 that William Alexander came to the
attention of police as a suspect. Investigators received a tip that Alexander
and his brother were part of a "robbing crew" and that Alexander was said to
have stolen a TV and X-Box video game console from the Cunningham home, court
filings show.
"I ain't' do nothing wrong. I was at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Guarantee," Alexander told detectives McDaniel and Wade Niehouse during
questioning on the same day his brother was arrested.
The 27-minute taped interview, which ended with Alexander's arrest, begins with
Alexander telling detectives that he was outside the Cunningham apartment
smoking a cigarette when the woman and children arrived. The recording was
played in court at an evidentiary hearing in July.
He said he briefly spoke with Cunningham before she went inside. Then, on the
spur of the moment, seeing she'd left her keys in the car door, Alexander said
he drove off with the vehicle -- not stealing it but borrowing it -- and
planned to have someone return it to her later. Only, he ended up abandoning
the car a short while later at Autumn Park Apartments, 43 Warren Drive, and
walking home. The car's power-steering was broken, which made it hard to drive,
he said.
Acknowledging that he and his brother planned to steal from Cunningham,
Alexander said the visit to her apartment had been his brother's idea but that
he went along because "I thought it was easy money."
He said he didn't know what had happened until he saw news reports about the
killings 2 days later and police started coming by the house looking for
Collins.
But told by detectives they had surveillance video that showed him getting into
the car several minutes after Cunningham and the children walked into the
apartment, Alexander asks for a break in the interview so he can talk to his
wife.
The recording starts again a minute later, and Alexander's story changes. He
said he could tell what his brother's plans were as they waited at Cunningham's
apartment.
“I think he waiting for somebody like to be in there or some s---, man,” he
told detectives. “A robbery. And then I’m thinking, like, ‘f--- it, I’m broke,’
” Alexander said. “The first thing that come to my mind, man, she come up in
the house. And my brother always got gloves on. You know … this is crazy he
always got gloves on like don’t matter what”
'SCREAMING'
Alexander also described how Cunningham told him that she had finally saved up
enough money to bail her boyfriend out of the Pulaski County jail, where he'd
been held about 5 weeks. Alexander said he was following Cunningham and her
children into the apartment when the screaming started.
"All I hear was screaming ... and my brother was stabbing her ass ... the mama.
Somebody's fighting for their life. That's what it sounded like," he said,
describing how the sight and sound of it froze him in place.
But not 5-year-old A'Laylaih.
"The little girl, I'm following her. I'm trying to see what she'd fixing to
do," Alexander said. Then she run back there, [yelling] 'get off my mama, get
off my mama.' I was just sitting there looking."
Alexander said the next thing he heard was his brother go into the bathroom,
wash up and drop something metallic into the bathtub.
Alexander said he went into the bedroom where the bodies were and took the
woman's TV -- which he later learned didn't work -- and an X-Box. He assured
detectives that he did not have to step over the bodies to take the
electronics.
"This whole time, I'm thinking that I'm broke," he said. "I ain't trying to
leave with nothing."
Alexander said he drove away in Cunningham's car, dropping Collins off at the
older man's request at the Greyhound bus station.
Alexander said he couldn't explain why his brother would kill the woman and
children, describing their deaths as unforgivable and that he also could not be
forgiven for watching what happened.
"I should have took off running. Or I should have just never went," Alexander
said. "Something told me not to [go], but I just needed the [money.]"
According to police testimony, Alexander's story is somewhat at odds with the
physical evidence. He told investigators that A'Laylaih was stabbed in the
bedroom with her mother, but police found the girl's blood on the living room
floor. Investigators also found blood smears where the TV and XBox had been in
the bedroom.
Surveillance video shows Cunningham and her children entering their apartment
then someone walking out carrying something about 20 minutes later. The person
puts the items into the car and then walks back into the apartment. A few
minutes later, the car is seen leaving.
Alexander told the judge at a recent court hearing that he intended to go to
trial and would not accept a plea deal.
(source: arkansasonline.com)
CALIFORNIA----new death sentence
Palm Springs Cop Killer Sentenced To Death ---- Veteran Officer Jose Gilbert
"Gil" Vega, 63, and his partner, rookie Officer Lesley Zerebny, 27, were gunned
down in 2016.
A convicted felon who killed 2 Palm Springs police officers responding to a
domestic disturbance at his mother's home was sentenced to death Friday.
A jury in May deliberated less than 2 hours before recommending capital
punishment for 29-year-old John Hernandez Felix, who gunned down veteran
Officer Jose Gilbert "Gil" Vega, 63, and his partner, rookie Officer Lesley
Zerebny, 27.
The same jury earlier convicted Felix of 2 counts of 1st-degree murder and
found true special circumstance allegations of killing peace officers and
taking multiple lives.
Following an hours-long sentencing hearing at the Larson Justice Center in
Indio, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Anthony Villalobos affirmed the
jury's findings and imposed the death penalty.
The officers were killed Oct. 8, 2016, as they stood outside the Felix family
home in the 2700 block of Cypress Avenue in Palm Springs.
Vega was killed just months before he was set to retire after 3 decades of
service. Zerebny had been with the department for 18 months and had just
returned to duty following maternity leave, having given birth to a daughter,
Cora, 4 months earlier.
Deputy District Attorney Manny Bustamante told jurors during the trial that
Felix fired 21 shots from an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle inside his family's home
as police stood outside. He said Felix carried out an intentional "ambush" on
police, who had been called to the home 37 times previously due to his erratic
behavior.
Defense attorney John Dolan unsuccessfully argued that at worst, his client was
guilty of voluntary manslaughter. While conceding that Felix's actions were
"horrible," Dolan argued his client's auditory processing disorder and intense
emotions -- combined with methamphetamine use -- created a "perfect storm" of
irrational decision-making.
Vega and Zerebny were the first Palm Springs police officers killed in the line
of duty since Jan. 1, 1962, when Officer Lyle Wayne Larrabee died during a
vehicle pursuit. The only other death in the department was that of Officer
Gale Gene Eldridge, who was fatally shot on Jan. 18, 1961, while investigating
an armed robbery.
(source: patch.com)
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