Sept 15
OHIO:
New twist in Ohio death penalty
Vicki Williams of Lima believes Cleveland Jackson showed little regard for her
daughter, Leneshia, when he killed her in 2002. As for his death sentence, the
only thing she sees as being “cruel and unusual punishment” are the 17 years
she’s waited for his execution.
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with her on Wednesday. It said a
federal judge in Dayton was wrong when he ruled in January that Ohio’s
execution protocol was cruel because it created a sensation of drowning.
Now the big question is what will Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine do? He delayed
executions following the Dayton judge’s ruling, saying “Ohio is not going to
execute someone under my watch when a federal judge has found it to be cruel
and unusual punishment.” That’s no longer a factor.
(source: limaohio.com)
***********************
Death penalty hearing scheduled for 1985 murder of Boy Scout
A federal appeals court will hear oral arguments later this year about whether
an Ohio man should be executed for the torture, rape and murder of a
12-year-old Boy Scout.
Danny Lee Hill was sentenced to death for the 1985 slaying of Raymond Fife.
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in February 2018 ruled Hill shouldn't be
executed because he showed signs of being intellectually disabled.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which unanimously
agreed the 6th Circuit should reconsider the case saying in making its ruling
it had relied extensively on a case decided after Hill was sentenced to death.
The Supreme Court in 2002 ruled that executing people with intellectual
disabilities is unconstitutional.
Oral arguments are scheduled for Dec. 5.
(source: Associated Press)
NEVADA:
Nevada Inmate Released From Prison After 33 Years on Death Row
Paul Browning was released from Ely State Prison on Wednesday after spending 33
years on death row. Browning, 63, was convicted of murder and sentenced to
death for the 1985 stabbing of Las Vegas jeweler Hugo Elsen, The Las Vegas
Review-Journal reports. 33 years later, he was freed due to a 2017 opinion from
the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that found “a mixture of disturbing
prosecutorial misconduct and woefully inadequate assistance of counsel” led to
“extreme malfunctions” at his murder trial. District Judge Douglas Herndon
dismissed the murder conviction, but Browning, who has always maintained his
innocence, stayed behind bars because prosecutors asked to postpone the ruling
to appeal the decision with the Nevada Supreme Court. Browning was able to walk
free on Wednesday after Herndon lifted the hold. “I just want to find a little
bit of peace after coming through all this madness,” he told the
Review-Journal.
(source: thedailybeast.com)
US MILITARY:
Green Beret charged with murdering suspected Taliban bomb-maker will finally
get his day in court
Nearly a decade after he allegedly murdered an unarmed Afghan civilian during a
2010 deployment, the case of Army Maj. Matthew Golsteyn is finally going to
trial.
In February 2010, Golsteyn allegedly executed an Afghan villager who an Afghan
tribal leader had identified as bomb-maker who had killed two Marines earlier
that month. According to the Washington Post, Golsteyn and two other soldiers
later exhumed the victim's remains and burned them.
But while Army documents indicated that Golsteyn had admitted during a 2011 CIA
polygraph test that he'd killed the man, it took 8 years and 2 separate Army
investigations to actually bring the decorated Special Forces officer to trial.
Following the 2011 polygraph, Army Criminal Investigative Command opened an
investigation into Golsteyn's alleged admission, which civilian lawyer Philip
Stackhouse dismissed as a "fantasy," per Army Times. The Army closed its
investigation in 2013, and the polygraph only became public knowledge in 2015.
In December 2018, the Army officially charged Golsteyn with murder. But days
later. President Donald Trump announced on Twitter that he planned on reviewing
Golsteyn's case.
"At the request of many, I will be reviewing the case of a 'U.S. Military
hero,' Major Matt Golsteyn, who is charged with murder," Trump wrote. "He could
face the death penalty from our own government after he admitted to killing a
Terrorist bomb maker while overseas."
Trump's announcement appeared to come in reaction to a segment by Fox & Friends
host Pete Hegseth that asked whether the Army was "betraying Maj. Matthew
Golsteyn."
"A decorated war hero who fought for our country overseas, now a suspected war
criminal," Hegseth said in opening the segment. "Former Green Beret Maj. Matt
Golsteyn could face the death penalty from our own government after he admitted
to killing a Taliban bomb maker while overseas in 2010."
Indeed, Golsteyn claimed during a February 2019 interview with Hegseth that he
had "conducted an ambush" when he engaged the unarmed target.
"Over these years, what the Army – particularly this time, the United States
Army Special Operations Command – seems to be intent on doing is characterizing
an ambush as murder," Golsteyn said. "What Army special operators and regular
Army, like infantry soldiers, have done over the last 15 years, those routine
combat actions are now being characterized as murder."
(source: taskandpurpose.com)
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