[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, N.H., GA., FLA., ALA., OHIO
May 9 TEXAS: Court upholds capital murder conviction and death sentence for Joseph Colone A Texas court has upheld the capital murder conviction and death sentence for a man who killed a mother and daughter. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled Wednesday and denied the appeal of Joseph Colone. In July of 2010, Colone shot and killed 41-year-old Mary Goodman and her 16-year-old daughter, Briana, at their home on Hartel Street in south Beaumont. Mary Goodman had identified Colone as the man who robbed a Beaumont game room in June of 2010. Prosecutors say he murdered Goodman to prevent her from testifying against him in that robbery and killed Briana because she was also at the home. A jury in May 2017 decided Colone should receive the death penalty for the capital murder conviction and Judge Raquel West sentenced him to death. Colone appealed, claiming among other things, the judge should have granted him a change of venue due to publicity about the case. The appeals court ruled against Colone in each of the points of error he contends took place. (source: KFDM news) *** Texas House OKs bill to ban death penalty for those with severe mental illnessUnder the measure, defendants who have active psychotic symptoms of certain mental illnesses at the time of the crime would be ineligible for capital punishment. But the bill's author believes death penalty proponents may keep it from passing on a necessary final vote later this week. For the 2nd time in 2 weeks, the Texas House moved to change death penalty law. On Wednesday, the chamber tentatively passed a measure that would prohibit handing down a death sentence to someone with a severe mental illness, like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. House Bill 1936 by state Rep. Toni Rose, D-Dallas, would let capital murder defendants present evidence at trial that they were severely mentally ill at the time of the crime. If the jury agrees, the defendant would be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole if found guilty. The measure passed on a quick voice vote with no discussion after being delayed several times in the last week. The bill will come up again this week for a final, recorded vote. If passed, it would then go to the Senate. But Rose doesn't expect her colleagues in the lower chamber to approve it on that necessary final vote later this week, the Austin American-Statesman reported Wednesday night. She told the paper she expects it to face opposition from Republican proponents of the death penalty. Rose’s bill would allow defendants with mental illness to be ineligible for the death penalty if they had schizophrenia, a schizoaffective disorder, or a bipolar disorder, and, at the time of the crime, had active psychotic symptoms that impaired the defendant’s rationality or understanding of the consequences of their actions. Rose brought a similar bill to the Legislature in 2017, but it never made it to the House floor for debate. Last Monday, the House moved to create a pretrial process for determining if a capital murder defendant had an intellectual disability and, therefore, would be constitutionally ineligible for execution. Another bill was passed last month to clarify juror instructions in death penalty cases. Neither of those bills have made it out of Senate committees yet. There is currently no law that restricts issuing a death sentence for mentally ill defendants, but the U.S. Supreme Court has held that inmates must be able to understand that they are about to be put to death — and why — to actually carry out executions. The most well-known inmate with mental illness is Scott Panetti, a diagnosed schizophrenic who killed his wife’s parents in 1992 and has lived on Texas’ death row for nearly a quarter century. At his trial, Panetti — who represented himself — dressed as a cowboy and tried to call witnesses such as the Pope, John F. Kennedy and Jesus Christ. (source: The Texas Tribune) * Death penalty bill faces uncertain vote in House Though the Texas House gave preliminary approval Wednesday to a bill that would deem people convicted of capital murder ineligible for the death penalty if a jury finds that they have a severe mental illness, the bill’s author expects it to fail on final passage Thursday. The House must approve bills on two separate days, and Rep. Toni Rose, D-Dallas, says House Bill 1936 will run up against Republicans who support the death penalty in its second vote. Rose slid it by her colleagues Wednesday, she said, as the bill came to the floor as many members returned from lunch. Under HB 1936, defendants could ask the jury during the sentencing phase to provide a separate determination on whether the defendant had schizophrenia, a schizoaffective disorder or a bipolar disorder at the time of the murder. Those who are found guilty and to have one of the illnesses to
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TENN., ARK., NEB., ARIZ., CALIF.
May 9 TENNESSEEimpending execution As execution date approaches for TN man convicted of murder, efforts to halt it increase The religious community and people against the death penalty are calling on Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to stop the scheduled execution of Don Johnson. He is scheduled to be executed next week. In 1985, Johnson was convicted in Shelby County of killing his then wife Connie. Johnson is scheduled to die May 16, that is unless the governor intervenes. Johnson has been sitting on death row since his conviction in 1985. Several execution dates have come and gone since then. Those against the death penalty hope this execution doesn't happen. Johnson is asking Lee for clemency, that he remain in prison, but his life be spared. Over the past three decades, Johnson says he has accepted responsibility for what happened and has found God. While in prison, he has become a Seventh-day Adventist minister. He spends his days on death row ministering to other inmates in the prison and on death row. Johnsons daughter is also asking that her father not be executed, saying she has forgiven him. Religious organizations are also stepping in. The Catholic church sent a letter to Governor Lee asking Johnson's life be sparred. A statement from the Catholic Diocese said in part, "Johnson's transformation of life only supports the process of our justice system and offender rehabilitation." "I would plead with Governor Lee. I think he is a man of faith and is concerned with justice and he has the authority to stop this," said Rev. Amy Howe. Howe is a board member of Tennesseans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. She is also asking the governor to spare Johnson’s life. Not everyone is asking that Johnson's life be sparred. His son and other family members support the execution moving forward. The Local I-Teams Jeni Diprizio has been chosen a media witness, should the execution move forward. She will be filing several stories between now and the end of next week. (source: localmemphis.com) *** Their father killed their mother. Now, the siblings disagree on whether he should be executed. Sometimes, you can start in the same home — in this case, a house in Covington, Tennessee — and end up different places. Jason Johnson and Cynthia Vaughn grew up together. In 1984, the 2 siblings lost both their parents: Their mother, Connie Johnson, they lost to murder. They lost their father, who had adopted Vaughn when he married Connie, when he was condemned to death row for that murder. Today, days before their father is expected to be executed for the killings, the siblings couldn't be further apart. Jason Johnson, 38, plans to see his father executed on May 16, “not to see him die,” he said, “just to see my family actually have some closure.” Cynthia Vaughn, Jason Johnson's half-sister, wants her adoptive father to live. She’s even begged the governor for mercy. Donnie Johnson, investigators revealed, had shoved a plastic trash bag down his wife’s throat, suffocating her to death, and left her body in a mall parking lot just weeks before Christmas. At the time, Jason Johnson was 4 and Vaughn was 7. Afterward, they went to live with an aunt, but have since grown apart. Donnie Johnson, who now goes by Don, converted to Christianity behind bars, his attorneys wrote in an application for clemency filed in March. The man who admits to killing his wife is now an elder in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. But Jason Johnson believes his father’s story of redemption is all a con. “He’s an evil human being. He can talk Christianity and all that,” he said. “That is all my father is. That’s all he’s ever been, is a con man.” Donnie Johnson: He killed his wife in 1984. Here's a timeline of the crime. Don Johnson himself acknowledges that he has been a con man: His attorneys said so in his petition for clemency. But the petition also said he was transformed. And Vaughn said she believes that transformation. The petition for clemency hinges on how Vaughn, who declined through her father’s attorneys to speak to reporters, has forgiven her father. “Over these past few years, Don has become one of my last connections to my mother, and his execution will not feel like justice to me,” Vaughn wrote in an opinion piece for The Tennessean. “It will feel like losing my mother all over again.” Vaughn remembered more of what happened after they moved in with an aunt, Jason Johnson said — but he said he remembers growing up and being made fun of because his father had killed his mother. Despite his childhood, Jason Johnson wants people to know that he turned out alright: He runs equipment for a construction company in Alabama and has two children. He was happily married for 16 years until his wife passed away in February.How siblings arrived at opposing conclusions For Vaughn, it was a 2012 meeting with her
