Feb. 7
TEXAS:
New punishment trial begins for convicted murderer Stanley Griffin
Convicted murderer Stanley Lamar Griffin returned Tuesday to a Brazos County
courtroom where a second jury will hear punishment testimony to decide his fate
-- a hearing that comes almost 6 years after he was sentenced to death for
killing a single mother and injuring her son.
The retrial for the punishment phase was ordered in 2016 by the state's highest
court after deciding that the slaying of the 29-year-old College Station woman
and the attack on her 9-year-old son didn't meet the standard required for a
death penalty case.
The jurors heard Tuesday from 14 witnesses called by the prosecution, many of
whom testified about Griffin's tendency toward aggression and violence. Among
them was Jodie Piacente, whom Griffin was convicted of attacking in 1990. He
served 13 years of a 20-year sentence in prison for the crime before moving to
the Bryan-College Station area.
Griffin was arrested in September 2010 after authorities found Jennifer Marie
Hailey dead in her apartment off Pedernales Drive. Her son knew the suspect and
identified him by name to police later that morning; DNA evidence tied Griffin
to the crime scene, according to testimony in the 1st trial.
In that 2012 trial, Griffin was found guilty of capital murder in the
strangling death of Hailey and for choking and stabbing her son with a garden
trowel after killing her. That ruling was overturned when the Texas Court of
Criminal Appeals voted 6-3 that there was not enough evidence to prove capital
murder.
Such a conviction requires the state to prove that Griffin killed a person
while also committing another felony, such as kidnapping, robbery, aggravated
sexual assault, arson or burglary. Capital cases don't allow for aggravated
assaults, injury to a child or attempted murder as the secondary crime.
Prosecutors argued in the 1st trial that Griffin had effectively kidnapped the
boy by ordering him to his room.
The sentencing retrial will determine how long Griffin will spend in prison.
The 52-year-old faces between 5 years to life in prison.
Brazos County First Assistant District Attorney Brian Baker told jurors in his
opening statement that they would be seeking the maximum sentence -- life
behind bars.
"We're going to ask you [the jury] to protect anyone and everyone in this man's
path," said Baker, outlining decades of consistent violent behavior exhibited
by Griffin.
Griffin's defense declined to make an opening statement, reserving the right to
do so after the state wraps up its case.
Piacente, who was the 1st to testify Tuesday, said she first met Griffin in
Webster, Texas, as a neighbor and acquaintance of her then-boyfriend. Shortly
after that boyfriend moved out of the apartment where she and her 2 children
lived, Piacente said she was awakened in the middle of the night to find
Griffin standing over her. She said he told her he noticed her door was open
and came inside to make sure everything was OK.
As she was walking him out, Piacente said Griffin went to the kitchen, and she
noticed the living room window had been shattered. Piacente said he returned
with a knife, which she managed to knock away before he began to choke her.
After a struggle, and with the assistance of her son, who distracted Griffin,
Piacente was able to escape and alert police to the attack.
The 10-woman, 3-man jury -- 1 is an alternate -- also heard from Andrea
Calixte, whom Griffin dated for the more than 5 years leading up to Hailey's
death, and her son, Jordan Maupin, with whom Griffin often clashed.
During the several years of their on-and-off relationship, Calixte said there
were several instances of verbal abuse and a few physical altercations -- 1 of
which resulted in a broken tooth and cut lip after she said Griffin pushed her
down and she fell into a clay pot. Griffin was arrested and served several
months in jail for the offense, after which Calixte said she was convinced to
give him another chance.
Calixte said Griffin told her on multiple occasions during the relationship
that he would kill both her and her children if she ever left him.
Maupin, who was a teen at the time Griffin and his mother were in a
relationship, said in his testimony he had an adversarial relationship with
Griffin. He testified that Griffin was frequently verbally -- and occasionally
physically -- abusive toward him. In what he said was Griffin's first instance
of violence toward him, Maupin said the man choked him and briefly lifted him
off the ground by his neck. Maupin said he tried to tell his mother about the
abuse, but it was dismissed at the time; Calixte testified that she does not
remember being told of any violent incidents until later in the relationship.
Eventually, Calixte said she was able to save up enough money to rent her own
apartment without Griffin's knowledge, and get herself and children away from
him in the months leading up to Hailey's slaying.
3 corrections officers who worked at the Huntsville prison while Griffin was an
inmate in the mid to late '90s, a Brazos County Sheriff's deputy who has
assisted in his transport from the jail to the courthouse, and 1 of his parole
officers from the mid-2000s, also testified Tuesday to his illicit and often
violent behavior, as well as what Baker described as the man's many
opportunities to reform.
Examples cited included Griffin's verbal sexual harassment of a corrections
officer and the sheriff's deputy, both of whom are women; his propositioning of
another corrections officer to smuggle in cigarettes and drugs; and an instance
of Griffin fighting with other inmates.
During the parole officer's testimony, she and the state prosecutors walked
through criminal offenses -- including arrests for assault involving family
violence and interfering with an emergency call to authorities -- for which his
parole was not revoked and he was given another shot at probation.
Jurors also heard testimony from the first officer who arrived on scene after
the crime, Hailey's co-worker and best friend at the time -- with whom Griffin
lived for more than a week after his split with Calixte -- and Hailey's oldest
brother, Jason Hailey, who was the 1st person to find the victim and her son
before police arrived.
Testimony resumes at 8:30 a.m. today in District Judge Steve Smith's courtroom
at the Brazos County Courthouse, 300 E. 26th St. Hailey's now-teenage son is
expected to be among those who take the stand.
(source: The Eagle)
PENNSYLVANIA:
Trial to begin for accused killer of St. Clair police officer
Opening statements in the capital murder trial of a New Florence man charged
with killing St. Clair police Officer Lloyd Reed in 2015 will begin Thursday
morning.
A jury of 6 men and 6 women, along with 4 alternates, were empaneled Tuesday
afternoon to hear evidence in the case against Ray A. Shetler Jr., 33, who
could face the death penalty if convicted of 1st-degree murder.
Shetler is accused of gunning down Reed, 54, of Somerset County on Nov. 28,
2015, as he responded to a domestic call from Shetler's girlfriend.
Westmoreland County Judge Meagan Bilik-DeFazio said a potential winter storm
predicted to hit the region overnight and into Wednesday prompted her to push
back the start of the trial until Thursday.
Jury selection was completed Tuesday after prosecutors and defense attorney
Mark Daffner questioned prospective panelists for a 2nd day. 8 jurors were
chosen Monday.
The final 4 jurors and 4 alternates were selected from a new pool of 75
prospective panelists called to court Tuesday.
Opening statements and testimony will start Thursday.
District Attorney John Peck said weather and scheduling issues are likely to
postpone until Friday a planned trip to take jurors to the murder scene on
Ligonier Street as well as a location near the Conemaugh River where Shetler is
accused of discarding the suspected gun he used in the shooting.
Peck has cited the fact that Reed was shot in the line of duty as the
aggravating circumstance making the case eligible for the death penalty.
The trial is expected to take about 2 weeks.
(source: triblive.com)
GEORGIA:
He faces the death penalty for killing 2 cops. Is it because they were white?
Though it is more than a year from going to trial, the death penalty case
against a Peach County electrician accused of gunning down a pair of sheriff's
deputies there took an interesting and unusual turn this week.
The alleged killer's defense team raised questions - be they valid in this case
or not - about violent crime, race and how it is that prosecutors deem it
necessary to seek the ultimate punishment for murderers in some cases and not
in others.
In Macon alone - where prosecutors have seldom pursued capital punishment in
the last 3 decades - since the beginning of 2013, of the 100 or so homicide
victims, more than 80 have been black. None of those cases has generated a
death-penalty prosecution.
Only 1 Bibb case - the 2012 slaying of legal secretary Gail Spencer, a white
woman - led the DA's office to seek the death penalty against 2 of her killers.
The pair later pleaded guilty and were sentenced to life without parole. The
other case in the Macon circuit that has prompted death-penalty prosecution is
the one at hand, in which Peach sheriff's deputies Daryl Smallwood and Patrick
Sondron were attacked on Nov. 6, 2016.
As pretrial proceedings in Fort Valley wound down late Monday afternoon, one of
the lawyers for Ralph Stanley Elrod Jr., the man who allegedly shot and fatally
wounded Smallwood and Sondron in his yard on the outskirts of Byron, called
Macon Judicial Circuit District Attorney David Cooke to the stand.
By then, defense lawyers in the case, which is set to go on trial in the spring
of next year, had begun winding down their arguments in a string of pretrial
motions. Their arguments, part of the oft-arduous, necessary and
sometimes-years-long process of making sure a capital case is ready for trial,
centered on a number of matters. Some were routine. Others were not.
On Monday, Elrod's defense team spent more than half an hour citing 65 murder
indictments in cases that Cooke's offices in Peach, Crawford and Bibb counties
have sought since January 2013, when Cooke became the DA. The victims in those
cases were mostly black people.
When Cooke was called to the stand to presumably answer questions about the
apparent disparity, the state objected to having him testify.
"This was sprung on me at the last minute, without any notice," Cooke told
Judge Edgar W. Ennis Jr.
When proceedings resumed about midday Tuesday, prosecutors again balked at
having Cooke testify. They argued that he cannot be compelled to testify in the
matter or be forced to defend a decision to pursue capital punishment, and that
the reasons for seeking death in Elrod's case are akin to others in which cops
were attacked and killed in "unprovoked, cold-blooded" assaults.
Prosecutors also cited one of the statutory aggravating circumstances that
allow the state to seek the death penalty, that being the slaying of police
officers in the line of duty.
Hogue, however, insisted that, at least in part, "this case is based on the
race of the victims."
"I've got over 50 other indictments which also had statutory aggravating
circumstances, but for which he did not seek the death penalty," Hogue went on.
"Might (the reason) be the race of the victim?"
Hogue said that 'in no way" was he suggesting that Cooke should seek the death
penalty more often.
"We're happy that he seeks it as seldom as he does," Hogue said.
He also said the defense team was in no way diminishing "the worth of those 2
police officers" with their argument.
"We say," Hogue said, "that it's unconstitutional to value the lives of any
victims in a murder case more or less than others."
The judge will likely rule on the motions when hearings resume in early April.
(source: macon.com)
FLORIDA----impending execution
Florida Supreme Court denies stay of student killer's execution
The Florida Supreme Court on Tuesday unanimously rejected a request for a stay
of the Feb. 22 execution of death row inmate Eric Scott Branch, who was
convicted of murdering a University of West Florida student in 1993.
Branch's attorneys filed the request for a stay last week as they appealed an
issue to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Florida Supreme Court did not detail its reasons for denying the stay in a
1-sentence order.
Branch was sentenced to death in the sexual assault and murder of student Susan
Morris.
Gov. Rick Scott last month scheduled Branch's execution for Feb. 22.
The request for a stay involved an issue related to a 2016 U.S. Supreme Court
ruling in a case known as Hurst v. Florida.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruling found Florida's death-penalty sentencing system
was unconstitutional because it gave too much authority to judges, instead of
juries.
A subsequent Florida Supreme Court ruling said juries must unanimously agree on
critical findings before judges can impose death sentences and must unanimously
recommend the death penalty.
But the Florida Supreme Court made the new sentencing requirements apply to
cases since June 2002.
That is when the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling known as Ring v. Arizona
that was a premise for striking down Florida's death-penalty sentencing system
in 2016.
Branch and dozens of other death row inmates who were sentenced to death before
the Ring decision argued that the new unanimity requirements should also apply
retroactively to their cases.
But the Florida Supreme Court has rejected those arguments. In seeking the stay
of execution, Branch's attorneys wrote that the U.S. Supreme Court "will be
inundated in the coming months" with challenges to the Florida Supreme Court's
refusal to apply the new sentencing requirements to inmates such as Branch.
Meanwhile, Branch's attorneys have sought a stay on other legal issues but were
turned down last week by an Escambia County circuit judge.
They appealed that decision Monday to the Florida Supreme Court.
(source: news4jax.com)
***********************
Bill to expand the number of retroactive death penalty cases advances
A proposal to expand the number of prisoners on death row who could have their
sentences reviewed by a jury was approved by a Senate committee Tuesday.
The issue dates back to early 2016, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that
Florida's death penalty was unconstitutional, as it allowed judges to make the
final decision on sending a prison to death row. The Supreme Court had ruled
similarly in an Arizona case in 2002.
That ruling compelled the Legislature to rewrite its sentencing laws, with the
current law now requiring a unanimous jury verdict for the state to impose a
death sentence.
The question following the high court's decision was how many of the several
hundred people on death row in Florida would be able to appeal their sentences.
The Florida Supreme Court answered that question in December of 2016, when it
ruled 6-1 that death sentences finalized before that June 2002 U.S. Supreme
Court decision on the Arizona case would remain in effect.
Former Justice James Perry was the lone dissenter, writing that all death row
inmates should have their sentences changed to life in prison. Justice Barbara
Pariente agreed with Perry that the ruling should apply retroactively to all
death row inmates, but said they should be entitled only to a rehearing, not
guaranteed a lesser sentence, the Miami Herald reported.
The proposal from Ocoee Democrat Randolph Bracy (SB 870) would do just that.
"It's just a matter of justice," Bracy told Fernandina Beach Republican Aaron
Bean when asked why the need for a law after the Supreme Court had weighed in
already.
Bracy, the chairman of the Criminal Justice Committee, added that the June 24,
2002 cutoff date for death sentence reviews was arbitrary. "I think they should
have the right to get a sentence reviewed again, just as the ones after that
date are able to," he told Bean.
Adding his voice in support of the bill was St. Petersburg Republican Jeff
Brandes, who said it the right and fair thing to do.
While the bill now advances in the Senate, it has yet to get a sponsor in the
House.
(source: Florida Politics)
ALABAMA:
Capital murder trial starts for suspect in 2015 crime spree, co-defendant
pleads guilty
A jury will spend the next several days listening to witnesses and attorneys as
they determine the fate of Cortez Mitchell.
The 19-year-old is one of 4 young men police say gunned down Antonio Hernandez,
27, and Joshua Davis, 25. During their crime spree, police say they also
committed multiple armed robberies. Mitchell, as well as Amani Goodwin, Cedric
Cowan, and Joseph Cowan were arrested in May 2015, all charged with 11
felonies, including capital murder.
The 4 were between ages 16-20 at the time of the violent acts, and have all
been denied youthful offender status.
Mitchell's trial was first to be scheduled, starting Monday. He pleaded not
guilty by reason of mental defect. During his youthful offender hearing, a
psychologist testified his IQ was 70 and he has the mental capacity of a
12-year-old.
1 of the co-defendants has accepted a plea deal.
Amani Goodwin entered a guilty plea to 2 counts of felony murder and 3 counts
of 1st degree robbery.Goodwin was sentenced to life sentences on each felony
murder count and 20 years for each robbery count. All sentences will run
concurrently.
If convicted by jury, Goodwin would not be eligible for parole. Due to the
court accepting his plea deal, he will be eligible for parole in the future.
In exchange for the pleas, he has to testify against the co-defendants, Cortez
Mitchell and brothers Joseph and Cedric Cowan. The trials for the Cowan
brothers, who will be tried separately, have not yet been scheduled.
Prosecutors say if Joseph Cowan is convicted, they will pursue the death
penalty. He's the only one eligible for the death penalty because he was 20 at
the time of the killings while the others were minors.
(source: WHNT news)
MISSISSIPPI:
Death penalty vacated in 2005 capital murder case
A Mooreville man has spent the last 2 months in the Lee County Jail, waiting to
see if he will return to the death row at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at
Parchman, his home for the past decade.
William Matthew Wilson, 37, pleaded guilty to capital murder in the death of
his girlfriend's 2-year-old daughter and was sentenced to death in May 2007 by
Circuit Court Judge Thomas Gardner.
In December 2017, special appointed judge Larry Roberts granted Wilson's
petition for post-conviction relief in Lee County Circuit Court and threw out
the death sentence, citing ineffective counsel. The guilty plea and conviction
stand.
District Attorney John Weddle is now trying to decide whether to present the
case to a jury to reconsider the death penalty. Without a new sentencing
hearing, Wilson will be sentenced by default to life without parole.
"We expect to make a decision in the next week or so," Weddle said. "We
wouldn't have to try the case again, since he pleaded. But we would have to
collect a lot of information and present it to a jury before they could make a
decision."
Wilson was brought to Lee County 2 months ago when the case returned to circuit
court. He will remain in the county jail until the case is settled.
One thing the DA has to consider is whether or not the special judge would
preside over a new sentencing hearing. Since the PCR petition alleged
ineffective counsel by local attorneys, the local judges recused themselves.
Wilson admitted to authorities that Malorie Conlee, 2, would not stop crying on
the night of April 28, 2005. He punched the child in the head with his fist 3
times. Even though the child was unresponsive and "didn't look right," Wilson
did not seek medical attention for the child for more than 8 hours.
The guilty plea and death sentence were upheld by the state supreme court on
direct appeal in 2009.
In his PCR petition in circuit court, Wilson argued that his public defenders
William Bristow and James P. Johnstone rarely talked with him about his case.
"Trial counsel failed to visit or otherwise properly communicate with Mr.
Wilson ion any significant manner during the approximately 18 months leading up
to his first attempt to plead guilty to the charge of capital murder," Judge
Roberts wrote in his December 2017 judgement.
The judge said the attorneys also failed to prepare for the penalty phase and
had no experts to testify as to mitigating factors to keep Wilson from being
sentenced to death.
"Most telling, however, is the trial counsel's failure to have researched the
sentencing history of Judge Gardner in similar situations where a jury had been
waived in the penalty phase of a capital case," Roberts wrote.
Gardner presided over 2 similar cases and sentenced both to death. 1 of
Wilson's attorneys was on the legal team of 1 of the previous cases but never
explained Gardner's history to Wilson.
(source: Daily Journal)
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