[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----N.C., ALA., OKLA., UTAH, CALIF., USA
April 6 NORTH CAROLINA: Death penalty hearing set for Craig Hicks, accused in Chapel Hill shooting of 3 Muslims Prosecutors will go before a Durham County Superior Court judge on Monday to begin laying out their case for pursuing the death penalty against Craig Stephen Hicks. Hicks, 43, turned himself in to Chatham County law enforcement officers on Feb. 10, less than an hour after Chapel Hill police found Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23; Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, 21; and Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19, dead inside a condominium on the eastern edge of town. Investigators contend Hicks, a neighbor of Deah Barakat and his wife, Yusor, shot and killed the couple and her sister amid a long-simmering parking dispute. As news spread quickly and globally on social media about the violent deaths of the 3 college-aged Muslims, questions grew about whether the motive for the killings was religious bias. The New York Times reported in February that photos taken the day after the shootings showed that none of the cars that Barakat, his wife or her sister used was parked in Hicks' assigned space. Federal investigators are conducting an inquiry into whether case evidence supports federal hate-crime charges, which are very specific and difficult to prove. In such cases, where religious bias is alleged, the religion of the victims must be the predominant motivating factor for the crimes for a successful prosecution, legal scholars say. On Monday, Durham County District Attorney Roger Echols will be asked to provide some details of the case so Judge Orlando Hudson can decide whether capital punishment could be an option if first-degree murder convictions are won. Though Durham prosecutors often push for the death penalty as an option, few Durham juries have been asked in recent years to consider capital punishment. Prosecutors often use the possibility of death to negotiate pleas that avoid the cost, time and emotional strain of a trial. None of the 149 North Carolina inmates currently on death row was convicted in Durham. Accused, victims were neighbors The homicides happened at Finley Forest, a complex in a sliver of Durham County that falls within Chapel Hill city limits. Hicks, an unemployed community college student, lived in a 2nd-story unit at 270 Summerwalk Circle. His wife of 7 years owned the condominium when they married. Inside, he had a stash of guns that police seized during their investigation, according to search warrants. In 2013, Barakat's father bought 272 Summerwalk Circle, a ground-level unit on the north side of the building where Hicks lived, so his son, a dental student at the UNC-Chapel Hill, could live and study there while in school. After a wedding in Raleigh on Dec. 27, Barakat and his new bride made the condominium their home. Razan, the younger sister of Yusor, had driven from Raleigh to Chapel Hill the afternoon of the shootings for a dinner date with the 2. Notes on parking Family of the couple said they had taken steps early in the year to appease their angry neighbor, who often patrolled the parking lot with a gun in a holster on his hip. Search warrants from the case show that Hicks kept pictures and detailed notes on parking activity in the condominium complex. It's unclear what else investigators have discovered in the computers and phones seized in the hours and days after the killings. Since his arrest, Hicks has been in Central Prison in Raleigh, where jailers can keep him isolated from others and in what they describe as safe-keeping. Family, friends and strangers inspired by the community-mindedness of the victims have worked since their deaths to honor their legacies with numerous charitable efforts. (source: newsobserver.com) ALABAMA: Attorney for freed former death row inmate says Alabama needs conviction integrity units Prosecutors are not using the word exoneration to describe former Alabama death row inmate Anthony Ray Hinton's release Friday. But others, including his attorney, are calling it just that. Hinton on Friday became the 152nd former death row inmate listed on the Death Penalty Information Center's website that catalogs wrongful convictions. He is the 6th former Alabama death row inmate listed on the website that has documented exonerations back to 1973. Bryan Stevenson, the executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative who represented Hinton, said the one thing he hopes comes out of Hinton's exoneration is for Alabama prosecutors to join the growing trend of states starting conviction integrity units, which review or investigate claims of innocence. The Maryland-based Center for Prosecutor Integrity stated in a paper in December that there are 16 conviction integrity units located in 12 states and the District of Columbia established since 2007. Processes for determining what cases will be reviewed differ among the units. Alabama is not among
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----N.C., ALA., OKLA.
Aug. 25 NORTH CAROLINA: Arrest made in death of Sanford woman found in Cary apartment In Cary, a local man was arrested late Saturday night and charged with murder in the death of Wendy Jean Johnson. Daniel Scott Remington, 36, was taken into custody in Fayetteville and was being held without bond in the Wake County Detention Center. He was arrested several hours after the Cary Police Department named him as the suspect in Johnson's death. Fayetteville police reportedly found Remington's vehicle and tracked him down with a dog when he attempted to flee. We hope this arrest brings some measure of closure to Ms. Johnson's family, and we appreciate the efforts of all those involved in bringing the suspect into custody so quickly, Cary Police Capt. Randall Rhyne said in a written statement. Johnson, a 58-year-old Sanford woman, was found mortally wounded at the Hyde Park apartment complex around 11 p.m. Friday. She was taken to Duke University Medical Center but died of her injuries. Remington, who lives on Gooseneck Drive, could face the death penalty if convicted of murder. He has a history of brushes with the law in Wake, Durham, Chatham, Lee and Cumberland counties, including convictions for felony breaking and entering, felony larceny and felony possession of cocaine. (source: News Observer) ALABAMA: Capital murder trial of Dothan man begins Monday Jury selection is scheduled to begin Monday in the capital murder trial of a Dothan man who police believe killed another man 8 years ago for money and drugs. Marcus Dantrell Rivers, 27, is charged with capital murder in the shooting death of Patrick Dixon, who police say was shot in the course of a robbery April 19, 2006. The shooting happened near the intersection of Hamilton Street and Third Avenue in Dothan. It also left a second man wounded from the gunfire. Rivers faces other felony charges related to the incident. Rivers' case has lingered for several years and has been the subject of several court actions. 2 other men were charged in connection with the shooting death of Dixon. Everett Morton was convicted of capital murder and initially sentenced to death, but an appeals court reversed the sentence after determining the judge should have given the jury a charge for the lesser included offense of felony murder. Morton received life in prison without parole. Michael James pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 30 years. Earlier this year, Circuit Judge Michael Conaway ruled Rivers is ineligible for the death penalty because he is mentally retarded. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that a mentally retarded person can't be subject to the death penalty because it would be considered cruel and unusual punishment. Rivers can only receive a sentence of life in prison without parole if convicted of capital murder. Police believe Rivers was the trigger man in the shooting. Rivers gave a statement to police the day after the shooting. Rivers' attorneys filed a motion to suppress the statement, claiming he did not have the mental capacity to waive his Miranda rights. The motion was denied. Rivers is represented by Dothan attorneys Derek Yarbrough and Shaun McGhee. Yarbrough applied for youthful offender status on behalf of Rivers, who was 19 at the time of the shooting, but Conaway denied the application. (source: Dothan Eagle) OKLAHOMA: ACLU challenges Oklahoma over first amendment violation in executionThe Guardian and the Oklahoma Observer join ACLU in arguing the state acted unconstitutionally by drawing a screen during Clayton Lockett execution The secrecy imposed by the state of Oklahoma over the botched execution of Clayton Lockett is being challenged in a federal court as a violation of first amendment press freedoms. In a lawsuit lodged with the US district court for the western district of Oklahoma on Monday, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) argues the state acted unconstitutionally by drawing a screen between the death chamber and the observation room before he was declared dead. The ACLU is joined as plaintiffs in the lawsuit by the Guardian, the Oklahoma Observer and journalist Katie Fretland, who was one of the reporters in the observation room for the Lockett execution and filed for both outlets. The lawsuit calls on the court to ban Oklahoma from denying reporters meaningful, uninterrupted and unedited access to the entire execution procedure. The state of Oklahoma violated the first amendment, which guarantees the right of the press to witness executions so the public can be informed about the government's actions and hold it accountable. The death penalty represents the most powerful exercise of government authority ??? the need for public oversight is as critical at the execution stage as it is during trial, said the ACLU's staff attorney Lee Rowland. The lawsuit argues that observers should have been granted an
