[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, TENN., ARK., MO., NEB., NEV.
Oct. 1 OHIOexecution date moved Governor delays execution of Lima murderer Convicted Lima murderer Cleveland R. Jackson’s date with Ohio’s lethal injection gurney has again been delayed, this time for more than a year. Gov. Mike DeWine on Monday cited a disciplinary complaint filed against Jackson’s former attorneys as he issued another reprieve for the man who, with half-brother Jeronique Cunningham, opened fire 17 years ago on a crowded apartment kitchen in a robbery. 2 died — Jayla Grant, 3, and Leneshia Williams, 17. He faces execution for Ms. Williams’ death but is serving life in prison without parole for Ms. Grant’s murder. The execution, previously set for Nov. 13, has been postponed until Jan. 13, 2021.The move by the Republican governor follows a disciplinary complaint that was made public on Friday against the attorneys who previously represented Jackson, 41. The attorneys have been accused of all but abandoning him, leading to the appointment of new counsel. A news release from Mr. DeWine’s office also cited the state Department of Rehabilitation and Correction’s continuing difficulties in obtaining the drugs it wants to use as part of its three-drug protocol. The governor previously had cited a federal court’s ruling in which the magistrate judge expressed his opinion that Ohio’s lethal injection protocol amounts to unconstitutionally cruel and unusual punishment. But that Dayton magistrate judge never issued an order to postpone an execution, and the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals recently overturned his decision in which he registered his opinion. Although they’ve each tried to blame the other for firing the gun, Jackson and Cunningham were both convicted of corralling eight people into an apartment kitchen on Jan. 3, 2002, robbing them, and then opening fire at close range. The next person scheduled to be executed at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville is James Galen Hanna, convicted of stabbing his cellmate, Peter Copas, in the eye and bludgeoning him with a sock containing a padlock in 1997. Hanna was serving a life sentence in the Lebanon Correctional Institution at the time for the 1978 murder of a clerk in a West Toledo convenience store. He is scheduled for execution Dec. 11. (source: Toledo Blade) TENNESSEE: Tennessee governor hands-off as AG moves for more executions Tennessee's governor is refraining from weighing in on the attorney general's request to schedule executions for 9 death-row prisoners and restore a 10th inmate's death sentence. Republican Gov. Bill Lee said Thursday that it is Attorney General Herbert Slatery's prerogative to request the execution dates and to challenge a court's decision commuting an inmate's death sentence to life in prison. Lee said he and Slatery haven't discussed the decisions. If Slatery's 2 moves are successful, Lee would have to decide 12 separate times whether to spare the life of a prisoner on death row: 2 other executions have already been scheduled. Tennessee, which performed three executions last year, was second only to Texas, which carried out 13. Most states have been moving away from the death penalty. "The Supreme Court and the attorney general make determinations about executions ... and how that process unfolds," Lee told reporters Thursday. "So I will let that process ... play out. That's their responsibility." As a 2018 gubernatorial candidate, Lee touted his Christian faith and highlighted his participation in inmate-mentoring programs. Last week, Slatery announced he would challenge a Nashville criminal court's decision to commute the death sentence of black inmate Abu-Ali Abdur'Rahman's to life in prison after concerns were raised that racism tainted the jury selection pool. Slatery argued in his appeal that the court's order "circumvented established legal procedures." He also asked the state Supreme Court to set execution dates for 9 death row prisoners. Tennessee has executed five people since August 2018, including three by electrocution — an option for inmates convicted of crimes before January 1999. Two of the executions have taken place since Lee took office. In those cases, the governor denied each of the inmates' requests for clemency. In Tennessee, the attorney general can request execution dates once juries have delivered death sentences and inmates have exhausted their three-tier appeals process in state courts and the U.S. Supreme Court. The state Supreme Court then schedules the executions. Lee is expected to reveal a slate of criminal justice reform proposals for the upcoming legislative session in January, but changes to the death penalty are not expected to be among them. Asked Thursday if he thought the death penalty law should be changed, the governor replied, "That's a decision for the people of Tennessee and the Legislature. The death penalty is appropriate for those
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, TENN., MO., OKLA., WYO., USA
August 22 OHIO: Ohio's Republican House speaker says he's 'less and less supportive' of the death penalty Amid concerns about finding a constitutional execution drug, Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder says he's "less and less supportive" of the death penalty. "I'm probably like most Ohioans. There was a time that I was extremely supportive of the death penalty," Householder told reporters Tuesday. "But as time's gone on, I've become less and less supportive." Householder cited the high cost of executing death row inmates and the inability to find execution drugs as 2 reasons for his shifting support. The cost of the death penalty is about $3 million per inmate when you factor in appeals and court battles, a 2016 Susquehanna University study found. "It's just becoming more and more difficult to do and it's more and more expensive," he said. Ohio's executions are on hold while prison officials come up with an option that passes constitutional muster. So far, nothing has been proposed. Householder, along with Ohio Senate President Larry Obhof, will control how the debate on the future of the death penalty moves forward. Right now, Householder said he's waiting on Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine for a viable solution to execute prisoners. What isn't a solution? A recent proposal from Rep. Scott Wiggam, R-Wooster, to use fentanyl seized from police in state executions. Householder agreed with DeWine and addiction professionals that the proposal is problematic. "I felt that I might have some issues with that constitutionally," Householder said. "I don't know that you can take a drug that's been seized in an illegal seizure and use that." (source: cincinnati.com) * Canton man waiting 35 years for execution of dad’s killer‘It would be like the end of a chapter going back to when I was a little kid,’ Matt Rowan says of execution of his father’s killer. Matt Rowan walked up to the gravesite of the father he never knew. Standing at his tombstone, the 41-year-old Canton man didn’t reflect on memories of his dad, Herbert M. Rowan III. The son doesn’t have any, and most photos of him were lost in a fire. The elder Rowan was murdered in 1984, when Matt was 6. All that’s left for Rowan are his mother’s stories about his dad. Most tangible is the grave marker he visits at Forest Hill Cemetery, inscribed with his father’s name, the identical dates of his birth and death and a notation for his service in the U.S. Navy. It’s just hard not knowing who your dad was and what he looked like,” Rowan said. He lost that opportunity when David A. Sneed robbed and shot Herbert Rowan, then 26, in the fall of 1984 before ordering his accomplice to shoot Rowan in the head a 2nd time. The weighted body was dumped over a bridge into Nimishillen Creek. Sneed was convicted in 1986 of aggravated murder and aggravated robbery in Rowan’s death. Roughly 35 years later, the son seeks what he hopes is a degree of closure: Sneed’s execution. “It would be like the end of a chapter going back to when I was a little kid,” he said while standing in the the cemetery on an overcast morning recently. But he says the planned execution has brought him only more frustration. Sneed, 57, had been scheduled to die a year ago before it was delayed. He’s now set for execution Dec. 9, 2020, according to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. The son expects another postponement. “Every time I get my hopes up ... it gets pushed to the back-burner again, and it’s going to keep getting pushed back.” Fred Scott, a Stark County assistant prosecutor, agrees. “The (execution) date is meaningless,” he said. “Everybody’s in a holding pattern until the legislature approves either a protocol for the drugs (used for lethal injection) or a new method,” said Scott, who heads the criminal division of the prosecutor’s office. Ohio’s last execution, of Robert Van Hook, occurred in July 2018. There are 24 inmates scheduled for execution through 2024, according to state records. Besides Sneed, four other Stark County defendants are on death row: John Gillard, Edward Lang III, Michael D. Scott and James Mammone. Only Sneed has an execution date, and a Stark County defendant hasn’t been executed for 65 years. Gillard was convicted in 1985, one year earlier than Sneed. Scott was convicted in 2000; Lang, 2007; and Mammone, 2010. Scott, citing the uncertainty of the death penalty in Ohio, said the Stark County Prosecutor’s Office hasn’t requested an execution date for Scott, even though he has gone through the state and federal appeals process. Death penalty in limbo Ohio’s inability to obtain drugs for lethal injection has delayed scheduled executions, Gov. Mike DeWine said last month. The Republican said state prison officials are finding it impossible to line up any company willing to supply drugs for a new lethal-injection method to
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, TENN., ARK., OKLA., UTAH, USA
June 1 OHIO: Death penalty ‘mental illness’ bill heads to Ohio House The Ohio House is considering a bill that would prohibit the executions of defendants if they're found to have had a "serious mental illness" at the time of the offense. The House Criminal Justice Committee approved the measure Thursday after rejecting an amendment offered by Rep. Robert Cupp, a Lima Republican, that would have exempted current death row inmates from the ban. Gongwer News Service reports that Cupp said he was concerned about the cost and the difficulty of finding evidence in old cases. Rep. Bill Seitz, a Cincinnati Republican, said only a few inmates would be eligible. Offenders deemed by professionals to have had "serious mental illness" must have been diagnosed with schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, or delusional disorder. The bill goes now to the full House. (source: Associated Press) TENNESSEE: Sumner Co. DA: Waiting on evidence, psych. eval. before seeking death penalty for Cummins Sumner County District Attorney Ray Whitley is still awaiting more evidence processing from the TBI and a mental health examination for Michael Cummins before deciding he will seek the death penalty for Cummins who is accused of killing 8 people. "We have to wait until we determine what his mental state is, determine what the evidence is, fit that into the law and make a decision," Whitley said after Cummins preliminary hearing. Whitley has taken criticism from the family of victims who think Sumner County was too lenient on Cummins after a conviction for aggravated arson and aggravated assault. Steve McGlothlin, brother and uncle to 2 of Cummins' alleged victims, said, "I feel Sumner County dropped the ball. This man shouldn't have been out." Whitley responded, "All the facts represented to the judge, we did not drop the ball. We did what we should have done, and it turned out bad. Sometimes that happens. You cannot predict human behavior 100%." Whitley does not want to make a decision on the death penalty until he is sure that Cummins is fit to stand trial. Prematurely calling for the death penalty only to reverse that decision could create false hope for heartbroken people like Virgil Nuckols. "I just want him to get the penalty where he won't be able to come out of jail," Nuckols said. "He's took the most important thing away from me. My wife, my daughter and granddaughter, and I'm really hurt." Testimony in the Wednesday preliminary hearing was too tough for McGlothlin and Nuckols to take; both left midway through the 2 hour hearing that detailed how the bodies were found and beaten. Cummins is accused of the deadliest killing spree in Tennessee since Paul Dennis Reid in 1997 when he killed 7 fast food workers. (source: WZTV news) * Execution lays bare truth about corrosive hatred, need for mercy It was the 4th vigil at the Riverbend Maximum Security Prison in Nashville since executions have made their dark return to Tennessee. Sadly, it was beginning to feel routine. On the road to the prison, there’s a first checkpoint. “For or against?” the officer asks. “Against,” I replied. They placed a yellow sticker on my windshield and moved me on to the next checkpoint. Seeing the sticker, the officer at checkpoint No. 2 motioned me to the “Against” parking lot, where I parked and walked to the third checkpoint, where the question was asked again by armed officers sitting at tables under a tent. “Against,” I responded again as they took my driver’s license and wrote down my legal name. “Ernest, go that way,” he said as he pointed down a roped-off path that led to a fenced-in field. 15 feet away from me were 4 armed officers on black Clydesdales. They looked both silly and ominous, supposedly a symbol of force to keep these people who don’t want people to kill people because they killed people in line, lest they break out into mayhem and violence. As I walked into the “against” area, I saw familiar faces, a collection of people who had visited men on death row, several priests and a few career activists. They talked quietly in small groups, some people standing alone looking up at the nearby hills and a descending sun. We gathered in a circle as a young priest began a liturgy interspersed with scripture, readings, prayers, testimonies and song. Absent this time were cameras from the local TV stations. Sadly, this had become old news. Unless there was a last-minute phone call, Don Johnson, the condemned, would be dead within an hour, killed by a drug concoction that, contrary to popular belief, has been proven to cause torturous pain. I was on the edge of the circle, unable to concentrate on the words, and looking toward the building where Don was being strapped to a gurney. As I looked around, I saw a particular man. He was in the “For” field, connected to the far corner of
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, TENN., NEV., CALIF., ORE., USA
May 22 OHIOnew death sentence Cleveland man gets death penalty in Mr. Cars double murder A judge on Tuesday imposed the death penalty on a 32-year-old man convicted of the execution-style murders of a couple during a break-in attempt at their family-owned car lot. Joseph McAlpin will pay the law’s ultimate penalty in the 2017 shooting deaths of Michael Kuznik and Trina Tomola inside Mr. Cars on East 185th Street. Common Pleas Court Judge Brian J. Corrigan, who presided over the three-week trial, condemned McAlpin to death row after the jury on Thursday recommended the death penalty in the trial’s 2nd phase. McAlpin, who is believed to be the first defendant to represent himself in a death-penalty trial in Cuyahoga County’s history, thanked Corrigan and the team of county prosecutors for their patience with him during the trial. He also apologized to his own family for what he called “ignorant” declarations during trial that he would only accept full liberty or death. McAlpin offered no words to the family of Kuznik and Tomola, who packed the courtroom’s gallery but chose not to address the court. “My fight’s going to continue,” McAlpin, handcuffed in an orange jumpsuit, said. “I know people are tired of hearing that, but there’s not much else I can say.” Cleveland City Councilman Michael Polensek, whose ward encompassed the Collinwood neighborhood where the car lot sat for 40 years, called McAlpin a “demonic killer” who rocked the entire neighborhood and the business community across Cleveland. “This was never about retribution,” Polensek said. “This was about justice.” After the hearing, Polensek told reporters that he felt death by lethal injection was “too good” for McAlpin. “As far as I’m concerned he should be burned at the stake for what he did to that family,” Polensek said. Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley read a statement from Kuznik’s family after the hearing in which they thanked law enforcement and the jurors who heard the case. “Our hearts will be forever broken, and we are greatly relieved that justice has been served,” O’Malley said, reading from the statement. Prosecutors put forth no additional evidence in the second phase of trial, and McAlpin called a handful of family members to testify on his behalf. The jury reached its recommendation after about deliberating for less than an hour. McAlpin has maintained his innocence throughout both phases of the trial. Corrigan on Tuesday noted that McAlpin lived a difficult childhood. He shot himself in the leg with his mother’s gun when he was 5 years old, Corrigan said. He suffered seizures after he was hit in the head with a brick as a 12-year-old, and found his mother’s body after she overdosed on heroin when he was 19. He also suffered sexual abuse. Corrigan found that mitigation was not enough to outweigh the aggravated circumstances of the killings. The car lot, which had been owned by members of Kuznik’s family since it opened in April 1975, closed after the killings. “These crimes slowly eat at a community,” O’Malley said. “It’s through sentences like this that jurors, who are composed of people from our community, are just saying ‘we’ve had enough.’ People in this county have had enough.” Prosecutors relied on DNA evidence, cellphone records and testimony from a man who admitted to helping McAlpin carry out what was supposed to be a simple burglary to steal cars and titles on April 14, 2017. It was Good Friday and the couple, who had Easter baskets for their children in the back of their car parked outside the lot, were closing up for the day, prosecutors said. Those baskets remained in the backseat as the car sits in the custody of Cleveland police as evidence, prosecutors said. Prosecutors say McAlpin entered Mr. Cars and shot Kuznik, 47, in the showroom. The bullet grazed Kuznik’s face before he ran to a backroom, where McAlpin stood over him and shot him in the top of his head, prosecutors say. Investigators found McAlpin’s DNA in Kuznik’s back pocket, where prosecutors said he had put cash from 2 car sales earlier in the day. The cash was not found on Kuznik’s body. Tomola, 46, tried to run from the building during the robbery. McAlpin shot her in the back of her head, near an exit, prosecutors said. McAlpin also shot and killed the couple’s Doberman Pinscher, Axel, disabled the business’s surveillance system and stole a BMW sedan, prosecutors said. Andrew Keener told jurors that he participated in the crime alongside McAlpin. Keener pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and is set to be sentenced after McAlpin’s trial wraps up. McAlpin’s brother, Jerome Diggs, has pleaded not guilty to charges including aggravated murder, and his case is pending. (source: cleveland.com) * Rethinking Death Penalty in Ohio It is one thing to argue about the basic morality of capital
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, TENN., NEV., USA
May 15 OHIO: Parolee charged in slaying of ex-prison pen pal, friend in Parma Heights invoked ‘Dexter,’ wanted to dismember bodies, prosecutor says A prosecutor told a jury that the 44-year-old man accused of stabbing to death his former prison pen pal and her friend planned to dismember their bodies in a manner similar to TV serial killer “Dexter." In the days after the May 11, 2017 killings in Parma Heights, Thomas Knuff Jr., asked a friend to buy him a table saw and told his son that he was worried what evidence police may find on the fingertips of the bodies of John Mann, 65, and Regina Capobianco, 50, the prosecutor said. “He didn’t want them to find their fingertips,” Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Anna Faraglia said. “'Just like in Dexter,' he told his son.” Knuff never made good on his plan to cut up the bodies, prosecutors said. Faraglia and defense attorney Craig Weintraub told jurors very similar accounts of the lead-up to the killings during their opening statements on Monday in the trial where Knuff is charged with aggregated murder and a slew of other charges. Knuff faces the death penalty if convicted of the most serious charges. Prosecutors revealed more details about the grisly killings that happened inside Mann’s house at the end of a cul-de-sac on Nelwood Road in Parma Heights. Pen-pals and paramours Knuff befriended Capobianco through an inmate-to-inmate pen-pal service while both were imprisoned in the late 2000s. Capobianco was sentenced to prison in 2009 after she pleaded guilty to felony drug possession charges and violated probation, and Knuff was serving a dozen years for aggravated robbery. At the same time, Knuff developed romantic feelings for Alicia Stoner, a social worker at Trumbull Correctional Institution where Knuff was locked, Faraglia said. Faraglia described Stoner as Knuff’s “prison paramour” throughout her opening statements. The social worker lost her job over her interactions with Knuff. Knuff qualified for parole in April 2017. Mann and Capobianco arranged to pick him up from prison, but their plans fell through. Knuff called Stoner who picked him up and drove him to Cincinnati. The 2 stayed there for several days. Knuff returned to the Cleveland-area because the terms of his probation required him to live in Cuyahoga Count. Stoner paid for him to stay in several motels in the Cleveland area, Faraglia said. Knuff reconnected with Capobianco and Mann, and the two invited him to stay at Mann’s house in Parma Heights in early May 2017. Capobianco was on misdemeanor probation at the time, and Knuff was not allowed to live with anyone on probation as part of his parole, Faraglia said. Only 1 of the 2 could stay with Mann, and he chose Knuff over Capobianco. Stoner wired Knuff money so he could put up Capobianco in a hotel, but Capobianco protested because she had been around longer than Knuff. ‘He wanted to eradicate them’ Prosecutors say that Knuff, who did not like the way Capobianco treated Mann and decided to get rid of her, “in cold blood and with prior calculation and design," stabbed both her and Mann several times in the home. Faraglia did not say why prosecutors believe Knuff also killed Mann if his goal was to simply remove Capobianco. Knuff rolled up the bodies in blankets, dragged them to their bedroom, and left the home, Faraglia said. He asked Stoner to buy him garbage bags, a new pair of shoes and a table saw, Faraglia said. He scrubbed blood from the home’s walls, cut out blood-soaked portions of the carpet, stuffed the pieces in garbage bags and tossed them in the hallway and in the basement, she said. He asked neighbors when the trash would come, she said. Then he sent Stoner a letter, asking her to hire a man to set fire to Mann’s house, Faraglia said. “He wanted to eradicate them,” Faraglia said. “He didn’t want them to ever be found.” Knuff stole a Jeep from his adult son and used it to break into two beauty stores and steal hundreds of dollars in cash, the prosecutor said. He drove down Interstate 71 to Medina County, where he pulled over onto the median, got out of the SUV and pretended to hold a gun to his head until someone called the State Highway Patrol, Faragalia said. Troopers took him into custody and took him to the hospital, where doctors amputated his nearly severed finger and gave him a psychological evaluation, she said. He was released, and stayed with a revolving cast of his childhood friends until his June 13, 2017 arrest. A gruesome discovery Residents back on Nelwood Road complained of a foul smell emanating from Mann’s house, Faraglia said. Police went to the house on May 23, 2017 and went inside. The officers found “a hoarder’s paradise,” Faraglia said. Garbage bags lined the halls and rooms, and rotten meat lay on the table. Police believed the smell was coming from the meat, disposed of it, and left without
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, TENN., KY., COLO., CALIF., USA
May 14 OHIO: Joseph McAlpin, convicted of killing couple at Mr. Cars dealership, faces sentencing Joseph McAlpin, the man convicted of murdering a local couple at Mr. Cars dealership in Cleveland, will learn his fate during his sentencing hearing Monday. He faces the death penalty for the April 2017 murders of Michael and Trina Kuznik, and their dog. On Monday, before the sentencing phase, McAlpin made a motion for a new trial, upset about some of the things prosecutors said in their closing arguments during his trial. The judge denied his request for a new trial. McAlpin represented himself during the weeks-long trial that ended on April 16 after a jury found him guilty on charges relating to the murders and the robbery at the dealership. Prosecutors will present evidence during the sentencing phase to show the jury that McAlpin should get the death penalty. The jury can make a recommendation to the judge to give him either life, life without parole or the death penalty. The jury selection began on March 15 and closing arguments wrapped up on April 15. (source: news5cleveland.com) TENNESSEEimpending execution Death row inmate Donnie Johnson will die by lethal injection unless Gov. Lee intervenes If death row inmate Donnie Edward Johnson is executed as scheduled Thursday, it will be by lethal injection. Johnson's attorney Kelley Henry announced the decision Monday, after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to consider a challenge to Tennessee's lethal injection protocol. Johnson, 68, will not launch any more legal challenges. His execution will go forward unless Gov. Bill Lee stops it. Johnson was among dozens of inmates who argued in 2018 that Tennessee's 3-drug protocol, led by the controversial sedative midazolam, fails to block out torturous pain as inmates die. Tennessee courts repeatedly denied arguments that the lethal injection method was unconstitutional. The Supreme Court declined to intervene. Johnson was sentenced to death for the 1984 murder of his wife Connie Johnson in Memphis. Because he was sentenced for a crime committed before 1999, Donnie Johnson could have chosen the electric chair for his execution. Henry, a federal public defender who handles capital cases, said Johnson had declined to choose, and the state would default to lethal injection. Johnson has decided not to try and stop his execution in court. He has asked Lee for mercy — the governor is still considering his application for clemency. (source: The Tennessean) * U.S. Supreme Court declines to stop Don Johnson’s execution The U.S. Supreme Court announced Monday it would not halt the execution of convicted murderer Don Johnson, declining to take up a legal appeal that questioned the three drugs used in Tennessee’s lethal injection protocol. The decision clears the way for the execution of Johnson on Thursday, unless Gov. Bill Lee grants a commutation to Johnson. Kelley Henry, Johnson’s attorney, said Johnson had held off signing a form choosing his execution method until they had heard from the court. A state law grants Johnson the choice between execution methods because he committed his crime before 1999, around the time Tennessee adopted lethal injection as its primary execution method. Tennessee death row inmates and their attorneys have repeatedly argued that the 1st drug in the lethal injection sequence – Midazolam – doesn’t keep inmates from feeling excruciating pain from the administration of the next 2 drugs. The Tennessee Supreme Court upheld the state’s current lethal injection protocol last year in part because the inmates couldn’t prove that an alternative lethal injection drug was available in Tennessee, many of which have become scarce due to efforts from anti-death penalty advocates. In the original court hearing last year, TDOC officials had testified that no other types of drugs were available for lethal injections, but they wouldn’t show the inmates or their attorneys information about which drug providers they had spoken to, citing state secrecy laws protecting groups and people involved in executions. Attorneys for Johnson and nearly 2 dozen other death row inmates had argued to the U.S. Supreme Court that it wasn’t constitutional for judges to rely on TDOC’s say-so alone about the availability of other drugs. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected that argument on Monday. Justice Sonia Sotomayor slammed the decision of most of the court in a dissent, saying the requirement that inmates must prove the availability of alternative lethal injection drugs, coupled with Tennessee’s secrecy laws regarding that information, is “perverse.” The court decision means only Gov. Lee can likely save Johnson’s life, by commuting his sentence to life in prison. Historically, governors have waited until all legal options are exhausted before making a final decision. Supporters of Johnson
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, TENN., ARK., OKLA., NEB., N.NEX., WYO., CALIF, USA
April 28 OHIO: Trial in Parma Heights prison pen-pal killings begins with jury selection Jury selection began Friday in the trial of a man accused of fatally stabbing his former prison pen-pals in their Parma Heights home in May 2017, then leaving their bodies behind as he carried out more crimes. Thomas Knuff, 44, faces the death penalty if a jury convicts him of the most serious charges. He is currently being held on $50 million bond on charges including aggravated murder, conspiracy, offenses against a human corpse, aggravated burglary and robbery in the May 11 slayings of John Mann, 65, and Regina Capobianco, 50, at Mann’s home in the 6200 block of Nelwood Road, near Ackley Road. Prosecutors say Knuff also solicited 2 people to set fire to the bedroom where he left the couple’s bodies, and broke into 2 businesses in the days after the killings. Capobianco met Knuff through a prison pen-pal program while Knuff was serving a 12-year sentence on aggravated robbery and breaking and entering charges. The 2 wrote letters to each other for about 10 years, police said. Police said that Capobianco and Mann picked up Knuff from the Lorain Correctional Institution when Knuff was released from prison on April 11, 2017. They took him back to Mann’s home. Capobianco’s sister reported her missing to Stark County authorities the next month, and investigators found Mann and Capobianco dead from the knife wounds on June 21, 2017. Knuff was also charged with escape after officials said they foiled a plot to escape from his jail cell within months of his arrest. Sheriff’s department employees reported in December that they found fake sheriff’s badges, a printout of a map, spools of thread and a blade fashioned out of a lens from a pair of eyeglasses and a homemade fanny pack inside of Knuff’s cell. One of Knuff’s lawyers, Craig Weintraub, disputed the seriousness of Knuff’s plans, and said the items more resembled a Halloween costume than tools of a legitimate jailbreak. (source: cleveland.com) TENNESSEEimpending execution Donnie Edward Johnson is scheduled to be executed at 7:10 pm EDT, on Thursday, May 16, 2019, at the Riverbed Maximum Security Institute in Nashville, Tennessee. 68-year-old Donnie is convicted of the murder of his wife, 30-year-old Connie Johnson, on December 8, 1984, in Memphis, Tennessee. Donnie has spent the last 34 years on Tennessee’s death row. According to Donnie, he grew up in an abusive family and began his criminal career at the age of six or seven, stealing whatever he wanted. By the time he was a teenager, he had resorted to armed robbery. He was also involved in street drag racing. Donnie was married with two children. Donnie continued his criminal life, hiding it from his family, while maintaining a steady job as a salesman at a camping store. On December 8, 1984, Donnie Johnson was working at Force Camping Sales in Memphis, Tennessee, along with Ronnie McCoy, who was signed out of a Penal Farm, where he was serving a four month sentence for false reporting. Johnson’s wife, Connie arrived at the store at the end of the work day. According to McCoy’s testimony, he left Johnson and Connie alone in the sales office. When he returned, Johnson showed him Connie’s body. Johnson had killed Connie by suffocating her. McCoy then helped dispose of her body. The following day, Johnson recruited his boss to help search for his missing wife. Connie’s body was found inside of her vehicle, with a plastic bag stuffed in her mouth. They only set of keys to the vehicle were discovered in Johnson’s truck, along with several other personal belongings of Connie. Johnson has denied killing his wife, saying he left McCoy and Connie alone in the office and McCoy killed her for the $450 in shopping money he had given her. Initially, Johnson denied any involvement in his wife’s murder, nor did he initially implicate McCoy. Johnson was sentenced to death on November 25, 1985. Please pray for peace and healing for the family of Connie Johnson. Please pray for strength for the family of Donnie Johnson. Please pray that if Donnie is innocent, lacks the competency to be executed, or should not be executed for any other reason, that evidence will be presented prior to his execution. In past letters written to The Forgiveness Foundation Christian Ministries, Inc., Donnie has expressed his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Please pray that his relationship with Christ will continue to grow and give him strength and peace during this time. (source: The Forgiveness Foundation of Christian Ministries) ARKANSAS: A non-fatal error Overturned death penalty case a horrible outcome "The allegations at issue here are condemnable, but the ugliness of a given allegation cannot supersede the most basic due process principles guaranteed to all citizens by our constitution."-- Josephine Linker Hart What’s the point?
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, TENN., ARK., MO., CALIF., USA (
April 23 OHIO: Judge in Cleveland sets hearing that will determine whether convicted Mr. Cars killer gets the death penalty A judge set a date for the second phase of the trial of a man who faces the death penalty after jurors convicted him of killing a couple at a Cleveland car lot. The penalty phase of the trial of Joseph McAlpin is set to begin May 13. McAlpin was convicted last week of aggravated murder and other charges in the execution-style deaths of Michael Kuznik and Trina Tomola. Those reports require court staff and mental-health doctors to interview McAlpin to determine, among other things, if he has any mental-health conditions or a troubled past that could be used during the penalty phase to convince jurors to spare his life. McAlpin, who is representing himself during the trial, refused to sit down for those interviews before the trial began. Prosecutors relied on DNA evidence, cellphone records, search history and testimony from a man who admitted to helping McAlpin carryout what was supposed to be a simple burglary to steal cars and titles to tie McAlpin to the March 11, 2017 slayings. (source: cleveland.com) TENNESSEEimpending execution Death Row inmate's plea for mercy remains before Gov. Lee Governor Bill Lee faces a life-or-death decision in the next few weeks as the execution of a condemned Tennessee man who asked for his mercy looms. Don Johnson received the death penalty in 1984 after he was convicted of suffocating his wife in Memphis. His execution is currently scheduled for May 16. Its the first clemency plea before Gov. Lee since he took office in January. "We certainly know its a very serious subject that will require a lot of information, a lot of input, [and] a lot of counsel," Gov. Lee said last week. Johnson, along with the now-adult daughter of the woman he killed, asked Gov. Lee to stop the execution and allow him to serve a sentence of life in prison. The 21-page plea sent to Lee's desk says Johnson's only daughter has forgiven him for killing her mother. In 2006, Johnson spoke of what he called "a personal relationship with Jesus Christ" that he developed while on death row. "I have a peace now because that relationship transcends anything that allows me to deal with whatever I have to deal with here," he wrote to the governor. Lee, a professed Christian, also brings a distinct perspective from his predecessors after years serving on the board of a prison ministry called Men of Valor. However, he has not announced if he will meet with Don Johnson's daughter as she requested. "We are going to start talking about what that process looks like -- who we meet with, who we bring together -- to make this very important decision," Lee said last week. Previous governors have typically made clemency decisions just days for scheduled executions. (source: WKRN news) * Evidence sought to exonerate man convicted in 1986 slaying The headline was deceivingly simple: “Fisherman finds body.” The few paragraphs beneath that summed up the gruesome murder of 25-year-old Donna Perry could tell nothing of the decades of grief, hundreds of pages of court documents and seemingly endless questions that would follow. After 32 years behind bars, the man convicted of kidnapping Perry and bludgeoning her to death was released on parole on March 22. While members of Perry’s family regard Jimmy Edward Campbell’s re-entry into society with dread, lawyers at the Innocence Project, tasked with exonerating the wrongfully convicted with DNA testing, ardently pursue proof of his innocence. “It’s very complicated, because I support what the Innocence Project does, and I do know that there are people that are wrongfully convicted all the time,” Perry’s daughter Kay Arnold said. “In this particular circumstance, it’s so conflicting because we have confessions … I’ve spent my entire life saying, ‘This is the man that did it.’” Donna Perry spent most of her life in Brownsville, a small town with a population of just under 10,500 in the 1980s. She was last seen leaving her mother’s home in the Hillville community around 10:30 p.m. on July 10, 1986. Someone saw her walking near the intersection of Hillville Road and Tennessee Route 179 late that night. An unnamed fisherman found Perry’s body, severely beaten and stabbed at least 20 times, early the next morning on a gravel road in the Hatchie National Wildlife Refuge. An autopsy would later identify blunt trauma to her head and neck as the cause of death. She had multiple stab wounds and bruises and fractures in her hands. Her pants were pulled down — the autopsy notes the presence of semen. In the coming days, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation would set up a road block near where she was found and go door to door in the Hillville community looking for answers, to no avail. But 15 days later, 26-year-old Jimmy Edward
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, TENN., ARK., MO., S.DAK., CALIF., USA
April 20 OHIO: Judge delays ‘death penalty phase’ in trial of man convicted of double slaying at Cleveland car dealership The 2nd phase of the trial where a man faces the death penalty for killing a couple at a Cleveland car lot in March 2017 has been delayed. Joseph McAlpin was convicted Tuesday of all counts he faced, including aggravated murder, in the execution-style deaths of Michael Kuznik and Trina Tomola in the Mr. Cars dealership. The trial was set to reconvene Monday to begin the penalty phase, where jurors would hear additional evidence and recommend whether McAlpin should receive the death penalty or a life in prison. The final decision on the sentence rests with Common Pleas Court Judge Brian Corrigan. But McAlpin on Friday asked for a mitigation report and a pre-sentence investigation. Those reports require court staff and mental-health doctors to interview McAlpin to determine, among other things, if he has any mental-health conditions or a troubled past that could be used during the penalty phase to convince jurors to spare his life. McAlpin, who is representing himself during the trial, refused to sit down for those interviews before the trial began. Court officials on Friday had not set a new date for the second phase of the trial to begin. Prosecutors relied on DNA evidence, cellphone records, search history and testimony from a man who admitted to helping McAlpin carryout what was supposed to be a simple burglary to steal cars and titles to tie McAlpin to the March 11, 2017 slayings. McAlpin entered Mr. Cars and shot Kuznik, 47, in the showroom. The bullet grazed Kuznik’s face before he tried to escape toward a backroom, where McAlpin stood over him and shot him in the top of his head, prosecutors said at trial. Tomola, 46, tried to run from the building during the robbery. McAlpin shot her in the back of her head, near an exit, prosecutors said. McAlpin also shot and killed the couple’s Doberman Pinscher, Axel, who accompanied the couple to work every day for protection, prosecutors said. He also disabled the car lot’s security video systems before stealing the cars. Investigators found McAlpin’s DNA in Kuznik’s back pocket, where prosecutors said he had put cash from two car sales earlier in the day. The cash was not found on Kuznik’s body. His DNA was also found on a computer modem that was inches from Tomola’s body, and inside a BMW sedan that was stolen during the killings, prosecutors said. (source: cleveland.com) *** Victims could have voice in death-penalty trial of accused killer of Westerville officers The death-penalty case of a man accused of murdering 2 Westerville police officers could be the 1st in Ohio to allow jurors to hear victim-impact statements if they reach the point of recommending a sentence of life or death. Attorneys for Quentin L. Smith, 32, had filed a motion asking that such statements be prohibited. But a Franklin County judge on Friday agreed with prosecutors who argued that victims have a right to address the jury during the sentencing phase under Marsy’s Law, a constitutional amendment approved by Ohio voters in November 2017. Common Pleas Judge Richard A. Frye said he thinks such statements must be allowed under provisions of the victim’s-rights law. Prosecutor Ron O’Brien called the ruling “a sea change” in what the state can present to jurors in advocating for a death sentence. Smith’s attorneys, Frederick Benton and Diane Menashe, declined to comment. Both sides agreed that it’s the 1st time the issue has been raised in a death penalty case since Marsy’s Law went into effect in Feb. 5 2018, 5 days before the Westerville shooting. Jury selection in Smith’s trial is scheduled to begin Oct. 11. Smith is charged with killing Westerville police Officers Eric Joering and Anthony Morelli on Feb. 10, 2018, in an exchange of gunfire as they entered his townhouse in the 300 block of Cross Wind Drive to investigate a 911 hangup call from his wife over a domestic dispute. If jurors convict Smith of aggravated murder and find that he purposely killed 1 or both officers, he would become eligible for the death penalty. Jurors then would enter a 2nd phase during which the defense would present what is known as mitigating evidence in an effort to persuade them to spare Smith’s life. Under Frye’s ruling, the jury also would hear testimony from the victims’ family members about how the crime has affected them. “Right now, juries only hear ‘woe-is-me’ about the defendant and his bad childhood and his drug or alcohol problems and never hear about the terrible impact of the crime on the victim’s family,” O’Brien said. (source: The Columbus Dispatch) TENNESSEE: Gov. Bill Lee talks about considering mercy as first execution of his term approaches Gov. Bill Lee said his review of a death row inmate's plea for mercy is "well underway,"
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, TENN., ARK., IOWA
March 20 OHIO: Ohio attorney general chastises judge over death penalty A federal judge improperly praised Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine's decision to delay an execution based on the judge's scathing critique of the state's lethal injection method, the state attorney general said. In a court filing earlier this week, Attorney General David Yost said Magistrate Judge Michael Merz' remarks were an improper use of the judge's position. At issue is a series of execution delays ordered by DeWine, a Republican, after Merz raised concerns about Ohio's lethal injection method. After the governor issued his first delay - of the February execution of death row inmate Warren Henness - Merz said that decision "embodies excellent public policy." The judge also said he was "deeply gratified" by DeWine's expression of trust in Merz' lethal injection ruling. "The Court fully expects that the Governor will do whatever is needed legally to keep the public commitment he has made, the important first step being the reprieve of Warren Henness," Merz wrote last month. The attorney general said judges "are not supposed to use the federal bench as a bully pulpit to influence state policy." The judge's "statements needlessly (and perhaps unintentionally) entangle the federal judiciary in a policy dispute on a hot-button issue," Yost said. A message was left with Merz about Yost's remarks. DeWine has ordered the prisons department to come up with a new lethal injection method, a process that could take months or years. Yost says that wouldn't prevent the state from carrying out executions earlier with its current system. The governor "has announced his intention to develop a new protocol, but he has never suggested that he would deny death-row inmates the choice to use the current protocol," Yost said. Ohio could still use the current method if a federal appeals court rejects Merz' criticism of Ohio's method or if the state can't come up with a new method, Yost said. Merz said on Jan. 14 that Ohio's system could cause inmates severe pain because the 1st drug, the sedative midazolam, doesn't render them deeply enough unconscious. He suggested inmates could experience a sensation similar to waterboarding. But Merz stopped short of halting executions, saying attorneys for Henness hadn't shown that viable execution alternatives exist in Ohio. Afterward, the governor postponed Henness' execution until September and then 3 more executions into the fall and then 2020. "Ohio's not going to execute someone under my watch when a federal judge has found it to be cruel and unusual punishment," DeWine said in January. A DeWine spokesman confirmed that executions could resume if Merz' order was overturned by a higher court, or if the state created a new lethal injection method that was found constitutional. "If the court decision was overturned on the basis of fact, the governor would certainly look if situation has changed," press secretary Dan Tierney said Tuesday. Henness was sentenced to death for killing 51-year-old Richard Myers in Columbus in 1992. Myers had been helping Henness find a drug treatment for his wife, authorities said. (source: Associated Press) TENNESSEE: TENNESSEE LAWMAKERS 1 STEP CLOSER TO SPEEDING UP DEATH-ROW EXECUTIONS As U.S. executions hover near historically low levels, a bill passed by the Tennessee House aims to remove 1 state court’s review before putting inmates to death which ultimately would speed up the process of getting a death row inmate – to execution The House voted 73-22 Monday for legislation to skip Tennessee’s Court of Criminal Appeals and provide automatic state Supreme Court death penalty reviews. The Senate could follow this week. Court of Criminal Appeals Judge John Everett Williams has said his court’s last four death penalty reviews took 3 to 6 months. Federal courts account for most of the sometimes-3-decades of death penalty court reviews. Tennessee executed 3 inmates last year. (source: 1057news.com) ARKANSAS: Plan on execution competency favored Legislation to create a new method for determining the competency of death-row prisoners -- after the old method was found unconstitutional -- was endorsed Tuesday by the House Judiciary Committee. In a pair of 4-3 decisions handed down in November, the Arkansas Supreme Court said a state law granting the director of the Department of Correction the authority to determine whether a condemned prisoner is competent for execution violates the inmate's due-process rights. House Bill 1792, by Rep. Jimmy Gazaway, R-Paragould, would change the law to require that the prison director conduct an evidentiary hearing "that comports with the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment" before determining competency. The bill is 1 of 2 proposals being pushed by the state attorney general's office that seek to change state death-penalty
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Oct. 18 OHIO: Accused killer of Beavercreek man to be sentenced in Carolina case The man accused of killing a Beavercreek man in front of his children is scheduled to be sentenced for an unrelated case in South Carolina federal court before his potential death penalty case moves ahead in Dayton's U.S. District Court. Sterling H. Roberts, 35, is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 28 in U.S. District Court in Greenville, S.C. Roberts pleaded guilty in November 2017 to being a felon in possession of a firearm, according to federal court records. Roberts, Tawnney Caldwell and 4 others have been indicted for the Aug. 15, 2017, death of Robert "Bobby" Caldwell, who was shot in Riverside in front of his 3 sons - 1 of whom (Jacob) was missing for a year before being located by law enforcement in August. Roberts and Tawnney Caldwell could face the death penalty if they are convicted as charged. Also charged are Chance Deakin, Christopher Roberts, James Harmon and Chandra Harmon. A hearing Thursday in Dayton's U.S. District Court for Chandra Harmon, Deakin, and Christopher Roberts was continued after an in-chambers conference involving defense attorneys and one assistant U.S. attorney. Multiple defendants have requested and received permission to file motions under seal because of sensitive information. (source: mydaytondailynews.com) TENNESSEE: A Tennessee inmate who won a last-minute reprieve sparing him from execution last week may be running out of options, and a new date with the death chamber could be set as early as the end of the month, court records show. Edmund Zagorksi, who was sentenced to die in 1984 for killing 2 men he robbed during a drug deal, has no new execution date scheduled after the state's plans for a lethal injection last Thursday were cancelled amid a flurry of legal maneuvers. They included a court order that he die in the electric chair, at his request. Those moves may have set back possible execution a few weeks at best. Court filings indicate Zagorski, who has spent 34 years on Tennessee's death row, could get an execution date as early as Oct. 28. Just a day before his previously scheduled execution, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay that could have delayed it for many months. But the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the stay the next day and also declined to hear a separate appeal challenging Tennessee's 3-drug lethal injection cocktail. Meanwhile, a 3rd federal court ordered Tennessee to honor Zagorski's request to die in the electric chair, rather than by lethal injection. Zagorski's attorney said the inmate believes electrocution would be quicker and less painful. That last decision, by a U.S. District Court judge in Nashville, apparently prompted Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam to put a temporary halt to the execution. Although inmates whose offenses occurred before 1999 have the option to choose electrocution, under Tennessee law, Zagorski gave the state only 3 days' notice of his choice. But when the Department of Correction said it would go forward with lethal injection, Zagorski's attorneys asked the court to intervene. Correction officials never said whether they would be able to carry out an electrocution on such short notice, but Haslam said in a statement his reprieve would "give all involved the time necessary to carry out the sentence in an orderly and careful manner." Once the 10-day reprieve expires, the Tennessee Supreme Court can set a new execution date. It must be at least 7 days later. Meanwhile, with its stay lifted, the 6th Circuit is fast-tracking Zagorski's case before that venue - a claim of poor legal representation at trial. But it is unclear whether that case could be heard and decided before another execution date. Jurors sentenced Zagorski to death in 1984 after finding him guilty of shooting John Dotson and Jimmy Porter and slitting their throats. The victims had planned to buy marijuana from Zagorski. Prosecutors said Zagorski never had any marijuana but set the men up to rob them and then killed them to cover it up. Zagorski's attorney Kelley Henry has said the legal team is reviewing its options. (source: Associated Press) ARKANSAS: Arkansas justices challenge ethics charges over judge's case Arkansas Supreme Court justices on Wednesday challenged efforts to sanction them over the court's decision to prohibit a judge who participated in an anti-death penalty demonstration from hearing any execution-related cases. The justices filed a lawsuit with their court challenging the charges related to the decision to disqualify Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen from handling any death penalty cases. Justices disqualified Griffen last year, days after he was photographed on a cot outside the governor's mansion last year wearing an anti-death penalty button and surrounded by people holding signs opposing executions.
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August 10 OHIO: Cleveland man whose 2002 death sentence overturned can't have jury hear new sentencing, court rules A convicted serial rapist and killer whose 2002 death sentence was overturned on appeal must have his re-sentencing hearing heard by a 3-judge panel and not a jury, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled Thursday. The ruling overturned a March 2017 decision by Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Cassandra Collier-Williams to grant Kelly Foust's request to have a jury, rather than a panel of judges similar to the one that originally sentenced him, recommend his new sentence. Foust waived his right to a jury trial at the beginning of his case and the Supreme Court ruled that Ohio law bars a defendant from revoking that waiver. The ruling comes after a protracted legal battle between lawyers representing Foust, Collier-Williams and the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office. Foust was convicted in the March 2001 murder of Jose Coreano and the rape of a 17-year-old girl. A 3-judge panel sentenced Foust to death in January 2002. Foust broke into the house looking for his estranged girlfriend. He beat the sleeping Coreano to death with a claw hammer and set the house on fire. Foust waived his right to have a jury hear the guilt and sentencing phases of his trial. The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Foust's death sentence in 2011 and ordered him to be re-sentenced after justices found that Foust's lawyers did not present evidence of "horrific" childhood abuse. Prosecutors and Foust's lawyers have been locked in legal battle since then over whether Foust could rescind his jury waiver for his new sentencing phase. A team of Ohio Public Defenders that represents Foust filed a new request to have a jury recommend his sentence after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned Florida's death penalty statute. They argued that decision guarantees defendants facing the death penalty "an unequivocal right" to have a jury determine facts necessary to impose a sentence of death. But the court rejected that argument, pointing to Ohio law that lays out who should preside over a re-sentencing of defendant whose death sentence was overturned. "If the offender was tried by a jury, the trial court shall impanel a new jury for the hearing," the law says. "If the offender was tried by a panel of three judges, that panel or, if necessary, a new panel of three judges, shall conduct the hearing." Collier-Williams "clearly and unambiguously" lacked authority to impanel a jury, the court found. "Judge Collier Williams sought to ensure the court's compliance with Mr. Foust's constitutionally protected right to a jury trial in accord with law handed down by the US Supreme Court," Larry Zukerman, who represented Collier-Williams before the Supreme Court in the case, said in an emailed statement. After his imprisonment, Foust was tied to 3 other sexual assaults, including the 1 at the heart of his initial arrest. He pleaded guilty to 3 counts of felony sexual battery in 2016. Collier-Williams sentenced him to 5 years in prison in that case. (source: cleveland.com) TENNESSEEexecution Tennessee Executes Inmate With Controversial Drugs Despite Sotomayor's Powerful DissentJustice says the U.S. is "accepting barbarism" as the execution of Billy Ray Irick is allowed to go forward. Justice Sonia Sotomayor issued a blistering dissent that we are "accepting barbarism" after the Supreme Court refused to halt Tennesee's execution Thursday night of Billy Ray Irick, 59, using a controversial drug combination. Irick was put to death for the 1985 rape and murder of 7-year-old Paula Dyer. He coughed, choked and gasped for air after the 3-drug cocktail was administered, The Tennessean reported. His face turned dark purple as he died. Before the lethal drugs were injected, Irick said, "I just want to say I'm really sorry and that, that's it." Blinds between the execution room and witnesses were opened at 7:26 p.m. Central time, and Irick was declared dead at 7:48. Sotomayor accused the U.S. of no longer being a civilized nation and "accepting barbarism" in a blistering dissent after the high court refused Thursday to stop the execution using drugs that had resulted in painful, botched executions in the past. Irick and several other death row inmates sued early this year to halt the execution, arguing that the state's new death cocktail, including the controversial sedative midazolam, would be tantamount to torture and a violation of the Constitution's prohibition against "cruel and unusual punishment." Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan denied a request to stay Irick's execution. "In refusing to grant Irick a stay, the Court today turns a blind eye to a proven likelihood that the State of Tennessee is on the verge of inflicting several minutes of torturous pain on an inmate in its custody," Sotomayor wrote in her moving
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, TENN., KY., ARK., NEV., CALIF., USA
March 2 OHIO: Jury pool narrowed to 51 for death-penalty trial The pool of potential jurors for the Brian L. Golsby trial stands at 51 after prosecution and defense attorneys spent 3 1/2 days eliminating those who were considered too influenced by pretrial publicity or too inflexible in their views on the death penalty. The group will return to Franklin County Common Pleas Court Monday morning as the attorneys work to seat 12 jurors and as many as 6 alternates to hear the case. Golsby is accused of the February 2017 kidnapping, rape and murder of Ohio State University student Reagan Tokes. Golsby, 30, is accused of kidnapping Tokes, 21, at gunpoint as she walked to her car after her shift at a Short North restaurant. Her body was found the following afternoon near the entrance to Scioto Grove Metro Park in Grove City. She had been raped and shot twice in the head, investigators said, after being forced to withdraw $60 from an ATM. Judge Mark Serrott said he expects the final phase of jury selection to wrap up by Monday afternoon, when opening statements would be presented. The court began with 167 potential jurors last Monday, Feb. 26, and a goal of finding at least 50 who were qualified to hear the case. Of the 84 people interviewed, 10 were eliminated because of their views on the death penalty. 8 were too strongly anti-death penalty and 2 were too strongly pro-death penalty. To qualify to hear a death-penalty case, jurors must be able to follow state law in determining whether death is the appropriate sentence if a defendant is convicted of a capital crime. Another 8 people were eliminated because their knowledge of the case, particularly through pretrial publicity, would make it difficult for them to be objective. 15 were excused for other reasons, such as scheduling conflicts or a language barrier. (source: Columbus Dispatch) TENNESSEE: Dickson-connected death row inmate's fate remains unclear The 35-year winding saga of Edmund Zagorski's time on Tennessee's death row for the convicted murder of 2 Dickson County men appeared to be nearing its end. A recent lawsuit, however, may have again delayed the execution. First, the state Supreme Court opinion a year ago had seemingly cleared the way for lethal injections the state attorney general said were backlogged after legal challenges for using the drugs. The court's summarized message for death row inmates: A completely pain-free and quick death is not guaranteed. "The intended result of an execution is to render the inmate dead," wrote Chief Justice Jeffrey Bivins in the opinion. Next, on Feb. 15, Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery wrote in a court document that the state should move forward with 8 sentences before June 1, when the availability of lethal injection drugs would become "uncertain." One of those death sentences is for Zagorski. "Years of delay between sentencing and execution undermines confidence in our criminal justice system," wrote Slatery, adding that the state, through the Department of Correction, is "required by law to carry out executions by lethal injection." However delaying past June 1 would make the executions "uncertain due to the ongoing difficulty in obtaining the necessary lethal injection chemicals," he wrote. 5 days later, a lawsuit filed by lawyers representing 33 death row inmates argues that Tennessee cannot execute death row inmates using the controversial 3-drug mix because doing so would violate constitutional bans on cruel and unusual punishment. The lawsuit filing could delay executions, including Zagorski's execution. Murders, legal system Zagorski was convicted of shooting John Dotson of Hickman County and Jimmy Porter of Dickson and then slitting their throats, after robbing them in April of 1983. The victims, who at the time owned the former Eastside Tavern in Dickson, had planned to buy marijuana from Zagorski. Their bodies were found in Robertson County, which where Zagorski was tried. Lethal injection is the primary means of carrying out the death penalty in Tennessee, although the electric chair is also legal. The state had used pentobarbital, a barbituate, but manufacturers have largely stopped selling the drug to anyone using it for executions. In January, the Tennessee Department of Correction adopted a new protocol for lethal injections, relying on a 3-drug mixture intended to put an offender to sleep before stopping the lungs and heart. Tennessee corrections officials knew this could be a problem, according to documents obtained by the USA TODAY NETWORK-Tennessee that are also cited in the lawsuit. In September, a supplier noted potential problems with midazolam in an email to Tennessee prison officials.M "Here is my concern with midazolam...it does not elicit strong analgesic effects. The subjects may be able to feel pain from the administration of the second and third drugs.
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Feb. 21 OHIO: Man pleads not guilty to raping, killing Warren native in ColumbusAnthony Pardon, accused of murdering Rachael Anderson, entered a not guilty plea for all nine of the charges The registered sex offender accused of raping, torturing and murdering an aspiring funeral director was formally arraigned in Franklin County Common Pleas Court on Tuesday. Anthony Pardon stood quietly before a judge as prosecutors detailed the 9-count indictment against him. It includes charges of aggravated murder, aggravated burglary, aggravated robbery and kidnapping, with specifications that could lead to Pardon receiving a death sentence. He entered a not guilty plea on all of the charges. According to police, Pardon killed Rachael Anderson in her east Columbus apartment and left her body in a closet. Her remains were discovered Jan. 29, when co-workers said she did not show up for work. Investigators said Pardon was linked to the crime by DNA evidence. Court documents indicate Anderson???s cause of death was asphyxiation or suffocation. Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O???Brien said Pardon and Anderson were strangers, and the suspect laid in wait for the young woman, inside her home. "We believe he was in the apartment belonging to the victim when she arrived home and then attacked her when she entered her own apartment," he explained. According to court documents, Pardon previously served 24 years in prison for an aggravated robbery, rape and attempted murder conviction from 1982. Given Pardon's past, Anderson's close friend said this murder never should have happened. "He shouldn't have been let out of jail in the first place," said Tina Kennedy. "He should have never had the chance to do this again." At the time of her death, Anderson was an aspiring funeral director nearing the end of her apprenticeship with Shaw-Davis Funeral Homes. Colleagues said she was about to become the business' 1st funeral director, not from the Shaw family. Her body was discovered one day after her 24th birthday. (source: WKBN news) ** Craigslist killer Richard Beasley's attorneys ask Ohio high court to reconsider decision denying appeal Attorneys for convicted Craigslist killer Richard Beasley are asking the Ohio Supreme Court to reconsider its decision to deny Beasley's appeal of his death-penalty conviction. Among the issues the attorneys raise is whether Justice R. Patrick DeWine should have recused himself from the case when the office of his father, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, represented the prosecution in arguments before the state's high court. Attorneys Donald Gallick and Don Hicks are asking the Ohio Supreme Court to appoint a visiting justice without ties to Mike DeWine's office to reconsider the Beasley appeal. The Ohio Supreme Court upheld the death sentence Feb. 9 for Beasley, who was convicted of posting bogus job offers on Craigslist to rob and murder 3 men in 2011. Gallick and Hicks argued that Beasley deserved a new trial because of errors made in his original trial in Summit County Common Pleas Court. Beasley, 58, and his teenage accomplice, Brogan Rafferty of Stow, were convicted in 2013 of murdering 3 men and trying to kill another. The murders made national news because Beasley posted ads on Craigslist to lure the men to a remote spot in southern Ohio. Beasley and Rafferty were captured after a gun malfunctioned and one of the men escaped and hid in the woods after being shot in the elbow. Beasley was sentenced to death, while Rafferty was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole. Other issues Gallick and Hicks raised in the reconsideration request include whether an impending U.S. Supreme Court decision could impact the use of cellphone records in the Beasley case and if an upcoming Ohio Supreme Court ruling could have a bearing on court costs in the Beasley case. The Summit County Prosecutor's Office declined Tuesday to comment on the request for reconsideration. Beasley's attorneys have said they also plan to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. (source: ohio.com) *** An Ohio juror voted to put murderer to death. Decades later, he wants to halt his execution. On a fall day in 1997, Raymond Tibbetts's wife threatened to kick him out of their Cincinnati home. In a drug-addled fury, he beat her to death with a baseball bat and stabbed her 21 times with kitchen knives. He then stormed into the living room and killed the couple's ailing landlord, stabbing him a dozen times in the chest and back before fleeing in the man's car. Authorities caught up with Tibbetts in a matter of days. He was charged and swiftly convicted in the murder of Judith Crawford, 42, and Fred Hicks, 67, who had recently hired Crawford as a live-in caretaker and allowed the couple to stay with him. When it came time to decide Tibbetts's punishment, a jury recommended
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Jan. 26 OHIO: Prosecutors to ask for death penalty against adult murder suspects The Licking County Prosecutor's Office will be pursuing the death penalty for the 1st time in more than a decade against 2 men charged with the aggravated murder of another Newark man. Licking County Prosecutor Bill Hayes said prosecutors will likely present the case to a grand jury next week for indictment. If the grand jury approves the death penalty specifications, the cases against 21-year-old Dustin Lehoe and 20-year-old Tyler Ocasio would be the 1st capital indictments in Licking County since 2007. Licking County last sentenced someone to death row in 2005, when Roland Davis was convicted of the aggravated murder of 86-year-old Elizabeth Sheeler. Iradell Crumpton was indicted on a death penalty specification in 2007, but he was later sentenced to 45 years to life in prison. Hayes said the cases against Lehoe and Ocasio would qualify under Ohio law for the death penalty. "These are a couple of bad actors," he said. The pair are accused, along with 15-year-old Jaden Osborn and 16-year-old Dylan Warren, of going to 70 Cherry Street around 2:45 a.m. Saturday and kicking open a door. Court records show Lehoe and Ocasio are suspected of going into a basement of the home where 48-year-old David Barcus was staying and attempting to rob him, fatally shooting him in the process. Under Ohio law, if a homicide occurs while another felony is being committed, such as an armed robbery, the death penalty can be imposed. Osborn and Warren would not be eligible for the death penalty because they are juveniles. Prosecutors are seeking to try the 2 as adults and a probable cause hearing to determine if the cases could be moved to Common Pleas Court will be held in March. Osborn and Warren are both being held at the Multi-County Juvenile Detention Facility in Lancaster, pending future hearings. Ocasio and Lehoe are being held in the Licking County Justice Center in lieu of $1 million bond each. Their cases are expected to be presented to the grand jury next week. (source: newarkadvocate.com) TENNESSEEfemale may face death penalty Sherra Wright Could Face Death Penalty If Convicted Of Murdering Lorenzen Wright The ex-wife of former Memphis Tiger and Grizzlies basketball star Lorenzen Wright could face the death penalty if convicted of her ex-husband's murder. Sherra Wright is accused of killing Lorenzen Wright in 2010 with suspected co-conspirator Billy Ray Turner. Authorities indicted and arrested Sherra Wright last month in Riverside County, California, and after she waived extradition, authorities brought her to Shelby County Saturday. The prosecutor leading this case said pursuing the death penalty for Sherra Wright is under consideration. This as she finalizes her legal team in the coming weeks. "I could have never fathomed that in a million years, I would have never thought she would have been a suspect," says Montae Nevels, a friend of Lorenzen Wright's. In an orange jumpsuit, Sherra Wright's presence Thursday seemed surreal to friends and family of the ex-husband she's accused of killing. "It is a shock to everybody in the community, it's a shock to the family," says Nevels. "Sherra is a suspect, we are not saying Sherra is guilty, that's the court's decision, but we are just here wanting justice for the family." Wright is accused of plotting and attempting to kill Lorenzen beginning in April 2010, and then having a role in his actual murder in July 2010 in Shelby County. "Of course, people fuss and fight, but I never thought it would have gotten to this particular point," says Nevels. For prosecutors, Wright's appearance Thursday begins a new chapter, weeks after the more 7-year cold case of Lorenzen's murder ended with her arrest. "This is the case that's obviously been in the media and been in the forefront of a lot of people's minds," says Paul Hagerman with the Shelby County District Attorney's Office. And as for the death penalty? "It's still under consideration, I'll say that." For Wright's defense team, she's expected to be represented by 2 high-profile Memphis attorney families: Ballin and Farese. "There a number of legal hurdles that have to be met before a death penalty can be sought," says Blake Ballin. "Anytime you have a case where the victim is a well-known celebrity or a well-known person in the community, you know, the main thing, main challenge is making sure the truth is out there," says Steve Farese, Jr. "She's concerned about her children, most of her concern is about the children," says Ballin. "She's doing as well as you could expect someone to be doing given the situation that she's been in," says Farese, Sr. "She's been accused of something she didn't do." Billy Ray Turner is also accused in the murder of Lorenzen Wright, and once attended the same church with Sherra Wright. He
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July 22 OHIOimpending execution Ohio argues against execution delays for 3 condemned inmates Ohio state attorneys argued on Friday against delaying 3 upcoming executions on grounds that the condemned killers have little chance of legal victory and repeated postponements are draining state resources. The state's 1st execution in more than 3 years is scheduled for Wednesday. Death row inmate Ronald Phillips is scheduled to die for the 1993 rape and killing of his girlfriend's 3-year-old daughter in Akron. He and 2 other inmates seek more time from the U.S. Supreme Court to appeal Ohio's lethal injection method. Their lawyers argue the procedure's 1st drug, the sedative midazolam, creates an unconstitutional risk of pain by not rendering prisoners deeply unconscious before 2 other drugs kick in. Midazolam has been used in some executions that were problematic, including in Ohio, Arkansas and Arizona. Phillips' attorneys argue they need time to appeal a lower court decision allowing Ohio to use the new method. The other drugs are rocuronium bromide, which paralyzes inmates, and potassium chloride, which stop their hearts. The attorneys want the delay because they believe the full Supreme Court will take their appeal of last month's ruling by the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. That's because that decision runs counter to previous rulings by the high court, and because it "involves an issue of recurring and national importance," the attorneys said in Tuesday's filing. In Friday's response, the state disputed inmates' claims that Ohio has made inconsistent legal arguments as it has sought to legally defend its various, evolving execution protocols. Some changes were made necessary because of a lack of available drugs. "Petitioners allege Ohio made 'unequivocal promises' to 'never again...use a paralytic or potassium chloride.' Not so," the state wrote. "There is a wide gulf between what the affidavit says - that those drugs would not be used 'going forward' under the new protocol - and the argument that Ohio promised to never, under any circumstances, use those drugs." The request for the delay was made to Justice Elena Kagan, who handles such appeals for Ohio. Ohio argued the state risks "ongoing irreparable harm" if the delays are granted and that "Ohio's interests are harmed each time it has to stop and start implementation of its execution protocol." Lawyers note that training for an execution takes at least 30 days and requires 4 rehearsals. 6 are usually held. They said delaying Phillips' execution also runs the risk of delaying those executions scheduled after his. Phillips has separately sought an emergency stay on Wednesday's execution based on his age at the time of the murder. He was 19 and, he contends, just "slightly older" than the Supreme Court's cutoff of 18 for purposes of barring executions of juveniles. His request argues the age should be 19 or 21. Attorneys for the state said in another filing Friday that Phillips' arguments are legally baseless and misplaced. "Phillips is right that the Governor (John Kasich) has been considerate in ensuring that Phillips' case gets adequate review," they wrote. "But Executive grace is not boundless and Phillips' case has been adequately and lawfully reviewed." Kagan is expected to rule on both requests next week. (source: The Republic) Victims' families in Ohio need resources, not executions In 1997, my brother, James Nero, was brutally gunned down in a road-rage incident in Canton. After a minor accident, James insisted that the other driver provide his insurance information. Instead, the driver returned from his car with a gun and shot my brother in the face. Then he shot James again, point-blank as he lay on the pavement. James was just 20, and a proud father to an 18-month-old son. He was engaged to be married to his son's mother. Like every 20-year old, he had many plans and dreams. I thank God that I saw James on the last day of his life, because during our last time together, he hugged me and told me that he loved me. At least I have that to remember him by. When the court case about his murder was over, James was still dead. My family had never experienced the intense trauma of losing a loved one to murder, and we had no idea how to deal with the pain. No state or city agency ever provided our family with any information about resources available to help us deal with the situation. We had only ourselves and our church community. We were on our own, as far as the state of Ohio was concerned. The death chamber at the Southern Ohio Corrections Facility in Lucasville, Ohio. This is why when state officials and others say we have executions so that victims' families can have "justice," or "finality," or "closure," I say that's just political grandstanding. Most cases in which the death penalty could be imposed do not
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Sept. 30 OHIO: Ohio man could be linked to slayings of 5 women A homeless Ohio man who was charged with 2 murders last week could now be linked to the slayings of up to 5 different women. Shawn M. Grate, 41, was captured earlier this month after a woman he allegedly kidnapped called 911 while he was sleeping. After he was taken into custody, police searched the abandoned house he was occupying and found the bodies of Stacey Stanley, 43, and Elizabeth Griffith, 29. "These are some of the most horrific crimes I've seen in my 15 years as a criminal prosecutor," Ashland County Prosecutor Christopher R. Tunnell said in a press release. Stanley, from Greenwich, Ohio, had been missing since September 8. Griffith was killed between August 16 and September 13, according to court documents. Grate has been charged with 23 crimes, including 2 murders, multiple counts of rape, kidnapping, and gross abuse of 2 corpses. He pleaded not guilty through his attorney at an arraignment Thursday morning. Grate faces 2 death penalty charges. 'There wasn't anything left of her' However, new information gathered from the investigation could link Grate to three other killings in surrounding areas of north-central Ohio. After Grate was initially arrested, he led police to a third body found near the rubble of a burned home in Richland County, which neighbors Ashland County. Richland County Chief Investigator Bob Ball said the body had been in the woods since June 6. "It'll come down to bone marrow," Ball said. "There wasn't anything left of her." DNA testing is underway to confirm the body's identity, but that process could take up to 2 weeks, according to Richland County Major Joe Masi. The case of another woman's death has been reopened since Grate's arrest, according to the Mansfield Police Department. Rebekah Leicy's body was found in a wooded area in Ashland County on March 16, 2015. Officials previously believed that Leicy died from a drug overdose, according to the Mansfield Police Department. The original autopsy, which found that Leicy was a heroin user, ruled her cause of death intoxication by the combined effects of morphine, cocaine and buprenorphine. But it also noted a series of abrasions on her face, arms and right leg. His 1st victim? Grate could also be linked to the slaying of an unidentified woman whose body was found in 2007 in Marion, Ohio. He told investigators she was the 1st woman he killed. He described her as "tall, thin, early 20's, and with good teeth," according to Marion Police Department Lieutenant Christy Utley. Officials believe the unidentified woman sold magazine subscriptions in Marion, which is about 60 miles from Ashland County. Grate told investigators that he lured the woman into his car by pretending to purchase magazines from her, Utley said. He said he then stabbed her and hid her body in the basement of his Marion residence at the time, according to Utley. Grate told investigators he killed the woman after his mother was upset she hadn't received her magazines. Grate is being held in the Ashland County Jail on $1 million bond. His lawyer did not wish to comment on the ongoing investigation. (source: CNN) * Cincinnati mom accused of murder: 'The world want the death penalty, give it to them?' A woman accused of killing her daughter was in court Thursday, a day after her husband was sentenced to death for the same crime. Andrea Bradley is charged with murder, facing the possibility of being sent to death row if convicted of killing Glenara Bates. Bradley was previously offered a plea deal that would have spared her, by sending her to prison for life, but she rejected that plan. Her defense attorneys have pursued a different strategy, arguing instead that her mental capacity would disqualify her from being put to death. Courts have ruled someone who suffers from intellectual disabilities cannot be executed. Her attorneys say her IQ falls below the threshold. They asked the judge for more time for experts to finish up reports they say would confirm it. In court, Bradley seemed uninterested in the effort to spare her life. "It don't matter what I want, give the world what they want. The world want the death penalty, give it to them. I don't care," she said. Her husband, Glen Bates, was found guilty this week in Glenara's death and was sentenced to death on Wednesday. Another hearing for Bradley is scheduled for early October. (source: WLWT news) TENNESSEE: DA to seek death penalty in double-murder case Tenth District Attorney General Steve Crump filed notice Wednesday he would seek the death penalty for Ross Hamilton Anderson, who was charged in the 1st-degree murders of a Cleveland woman and her young son. The murders occurred at a residence located at 239 Hillview Drive N.W. The filing in Bradley County Criminal Court reads: "At the sentencing
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April 26 OHIOnew death sentence Ohio man gets death penalty for his mother's fatal beating A northeast Ohio man who was convicted in the 2013 beating death of his mother has been sentenced to death. A Medina County judge sentenced 30-year-old James Tench on Monday after he begged her to spare his life. Tench says he would never kill his mother, and he plans to appeal the sentencing. He was convicted last month of aggravated murder, kidnapping and related offenses in the death of 55-year-old Mary Tench. Prosecutors say the Brunswick man fatally beat his mother after she confronted him about using her credit card. Mary Tench was found dead in November 2013 inside her car. The county coroner says she died from several blunt trauma injuries that fractured her skull. (source: Associated Press) * 2017 trial hinted in blaze that killed firefighters An Oregon man who could face the death penalty if convicted of setting a fire that killed 2 Toledo firefighters more than 2 years ago may not go to trial until 2017. At a pretrial hearing Monday for Ray Abou-Arab, 63, Lucas County Common Pleas Judge Stacy Cook said the court was looking at November for his trial but may have to schedule it in the new year. It is expected to take up to 2 weeks to seat a jury and at least 3 weeks to present of evidence. Mr. Abou-Arab is being held in the Lucas County jail on 2 counts of aggravated murder, each with death penalty specifications; 2 counts of murder, 8 counts of aggravated arson, and 1 count of tampering with evidence for allegedly setting a Jan. 26, 2014 fire at a Magnolia Street building he owned. The fire resulted in the deaths of Toledo Fire Pvts. Stephen Machcinski, 42, and James Dickman, 31. (source: toledoblade.com) * Interrogation shows accused serial killer Michael Madison struggled to recall where he hid 3 bodies Even after telling police detectives that he had killed 2 women, Michael Madison struggled to remember what he did with the bodies. Parts of over 10 hours of interrogation interviews, played for a jury Monday, showed the accused serial killer struggle to piece together the events that happened in the days and weeks before police discovered 3 decomposing bodies in a garage and near his East Cleveland apartment. The accused killer faces the death penalty if convicted. Madison told detectives that he couldn't recall killing more than 1 girl. He told detectives that he remembered a time he choked at least 1 woman, 18-year-old Shirellda Terry whose body was eventually discovered after a cable worker complained about the smell and flies coming from a garage next to Madison's apartment. He later said he remembered choking another girl, 28-year-old Shetisha Sheeley, in October 2012. After that he told detectives that he found one girl's body in a closet in his apartment when it started to smell bad, prompting him to move it outside. "I have never felt such heavy trash," Madison said at one point during interrogations, according to Prosecuting Attorney Anna Faraglia. Madison is accused in the death of a 3rd woman, 38-year-old Angela Deskins, who disappeared in late May or early June 2013, and was found inside a vacant home in the block where Madison lived. Michael Madison, accused in the serial murders of 3 women, showed up with scratches on his face days before bodies were found, according to his girlfriend at the time, who testified Thursday. All 3 women's bodies were found in trash bags, disposed of in a similar manner. The interrogation take showed Madison spending hours talking to police detectives about his troubled relationship with his mother and his ex-girlfriend with whom he fathered children. He moved from school to school as a child and said he had dropped out in the 9th grade. He told police that he had developed an alcohol addiction, drinking an increasing amount on a daily basis over a period of over a year leading up to the discovery of the girls' bodies. The jury spent part of 3 days of testimony viewing photographs presented by the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's office, showing how Madison bound the women's bodies together, folding them at the waist before putting them inside trash bags. Medical examiners testified that 2 women, Deskins and Terry, had been strangled with what are believed to be belts. Sheeley had suffered severe bruises on her face. The jury has not yet seen the full interrogation. Prosecutors expect testimony and evidence to be presented through at least Friday before the state rests its case. (source: cleveland.com) Last drive to the execution - death penalty vigils in Ohio 4 years ago, while writing a history of executions in America, I had a habit of attending execution vigils in Lucasville, Ohio, several hours from my home. Driving to these vigils was peaceful and cleansing, a time when I couldn't text or
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April 16 OHIO: Death penalty still possible for Youngstown triple murder suspect The death remains a possibility in the case of 48-year-old Robert Seman, who is accused of raping a 10-year-old girl then setting a fire to kill her and her grandparents. Judge Maureen Sweeney denied the motion to remove the death penalty on Friday, 2 days after Attorney Thomas Zena filed the request. Seman is charged with the murders of 10-year-old Corinne Gump, 63-year-old William Schmidt and 61-year-old Judith Smith. The bodies of all 3 victims were found inside the Schmidt's burning Powers Way home on March 30, 2015 just hours before Seman was scheduled to go on trial for raping the girl. The indictment charges Seman with 10 counts of aggravated murder, 3 counts of burglary and 3 counts of arson. A pre-trial is scheduled for May 4 in common pleas court. (source: WFMJ news) TENNESSEE: Severe mental illness should rule out death penalty The state of Texas recently executed Adam Ward, a man with a long history of severe mental illness. Tennessee has also pursued the death penalty for individuals like Ward. Occasionally, these individuals are executed. Other times, the cases are litigated for decades, ending in a sentence less than death, but not before putting victims' families through a process that delays legal finality and costs taxpayers millions. Take the Tennessee case of Richard Taylor, convicted in 1981 for joyriding and robbery. While incarcerated, Taylor killed corrections officer Ronald Moore after prison officials stopped giving Taylor his anti-psychotic medication. He was sentenced to death. In 2003, Taylor was granted a new trial but allowed to represent himself, calling no witnesses and introducing no evidence. The jury sentenced Taylor to death again. After his conviction and death sentence were reversed again in 2008, Taylor received a life sentence - 27 years after his 1st capital trial. Though most individuals with severe mental illness are not violent - they are more likely to become crime victims than perpetrators - a lack of access to treatment can lead to delusions, disassociation and sometimes violence. And in Tennessee today, there is simply not enough access to treatment. The result is that law enforcement has become increasingly responsible for these individuals. In a 2014 column in the Tennessean, Davidson County Mental Health Court Judge Daniel Eisenstein wrote: "Mental health treatment has in many cases been shifted from state-run mental health facilities and community programs to courts, jails and prisons." To complicate matters, those with severe mental illness do not always recognize their illness, leading them to fire their counsel and represent themselves, like Taylor; or they may simply refuse to participate in their defense. And what about the risk of wrongful conviction? A 2012 University of Michigan study on wrongful convictions found that roughly 70 % of the defendants who had a mental illness or disability confessed to crimes they did not commit, whereas only 10 percent of defendants without a mental illness made false confessions. Individuals with these illnesses are more susceptible to police pressure and may not understand the charges against them or their Miranda rights. Still, when an individual who has a severe mental illness is guilty of committing a heinous crime, there must be consequences. But is the death penalty appropriate? A coalition of mental health advocates and others called the Tennessee Alliance for the Severe Mental Illness Exclusion believes that individuals with severe mental illness who commit these crimes should be held accountable, but with appropriate sentences - life or life without parole, not the death penalty. And there is precedent. In the United States, we don't execute minors or those with intellectual disabilities. Excluding individuals with severe mental illness from the death penalty on a case-by-case basis (also under consideration in North Carolina and Ohio) is just smart policy as victims' families are spared decades of litigation, costs to taxpayers are reduced, resources can be dedicated to mental health care and support for police, and Tennessee can move toward a criminal justice system that is better for all. (source: Opinion; Hannah Cox is the coordinator for the Tennessee Alliance for the Severe Mental Illness Exclusion. She is a former policy advocate for the National Alliance on Mental Illness, and a long-time champion for those with mental illnessKnoxville News Sentinel) CALIFORNIA: Newly found photo could bolster prosecution's case in Berkeley-Oakland death penalty trial A Berkeley man facing multiple murder charges may have inadvertently tipped off the prosecution to a notable piece of evidence by insisting he get access to material on his old cellphone. Police had confiscated the phone of Darnell Williams Jr. at the
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, TENN., ILL., OKLA.
Sept. 24 OHIO: Ohio bill puts limits on post-trial death penalty evidence An Ohio Senate committee has voted to allow limits on the ability of condemned killers to gather post-trial evidence in death penalty cases. New language in the bill before the Senate Criminal Justice Committee allows judges to deny requests for evidence gathering if it would annoy, embarrass or unduly burden the person from whom the evidence is sought. The Republican-controlled committee approved the change along party lines Wednesday but did not vote on the overall bill itself. Republican Sen. Bill Seitz of Cincinnati says the bill is still an improvement over existing law which leaves the decision to allow post-trial evidence gathering up to judges. Kari Underwood of the Ohio Public Defender's Office says such evidence limits are inappropriate in death penalty cases. (source: Associated Press) TENNESSEE: Cellmate indicted in "Tattoo Eddie" slashing death Notorious double-murderer Edward Leroy "Tattoo Eddie" Harris met his fate behind bars, repeatedly slashed and stabbed with a prison-made shank wielded by his cellmate, a Morgan County grand jury has determined. Gregory Smith, 34, serving a life sentence for a 2004 Dickson County murder conviction, has been indicted on a charge of 1st-degree murder. Harris, 58, was serving concurrent life sentences for the murders nearly 30 years ago of 2 employees of the Rocky Top Village Inn in Gatlinburg who were repeatedly stabbed and shot. During the attack on him last March, Harris' aorta was slashed, and he bled to death. Harris and Smith were "confirmed members of security threat groups," according to a news release from 9th Judicial District Attorney General Russell Johnson's office. The release doesn't specify which groups. Harris's stabbing occurred March 10 in a housing unit lobby at Morgan County Correctional Complex, a state prison with about 2,400 inmates. Tennessee Department of Correction video cameras captured the incident. The Morgan County grand jury returned the indictment against Smith during its Monday session. He remains in the prison. Harris and 3 cohorts were charged with the killings on Sept. 13, 1986, of clerk Melissa Hill, 21, and night guard Troy Valentine, 36. Each victim suffered repeated stab wounds and gunshot wounds in a robbery that netted $413 and the contents of Hill's purse. Harris was convicted in 1988. Also convicted in separate trials were Kimberly Pelley and Joseph DeModica, of Gwinett County, Ga. They received concurrent life sentences. A 4th defendant, Rufus Doby, a female impersonator also known as Ashley Silvers, pleaded guilty to 2nd-degree murder and received a 25-year prison sentence. A jury in the Harris trial originally imposed the death penalty. But the state Court of Criminal Appeals reduced that punishment to life in prison without parole. The court opined the death penalty couldn't be imposed because Harris' IQ was 70. Under a change in the law, the death penalty isn't permitted when the defendant has an IQ of 70 or lower. (source: Knoxville News Sentinel) * 'Dead Man Walking' nun urges students to fight death penalty Sister Helen Prejean could have been at the White House welcoming the pope. Instead the nun famous for writing "Dead Man Walking" chose to spend her day speaking to a group of Nashville college students about the death penalty. Prejean has been the spiritual adviser to several death row prisoners, most recently Oklahoma's Richard Glossip. His execution was halted just hours before he was scheduled to die last week after a state appeals court agreed to hear new evidence. That chain of events was largely set in motion by Prejean, who believes Glossip is innocent. Prejean spoke Wednesday at Belmont University about the events in her life that led her to become one of the country's foremost death penalty opponents. And she urged the students to take a stand as well. (source: Associated Press) ILLINOIS: IL Lawmakers propose to reinstate death penalty Should the death penalty come back to Illinois? Some lawmakers say it should and have a bill they hope will make it to the floor for a debate. Unlike the old death penalty, it would only be used in a few cases. One of them is when is when a police officer or other law enforcement office is killed. 26 officers have been shot and killed this year and lawmakers say that's a wakeup call. "I want to bring this back as a deterrent before you try to hurt somebody who's protecting us and our homes, you better think twice," said Rep.Bill Mitchell, 101st district. Lawmakers say Illinois made a mistake when it completely banned the death penalty 4 years ago. They say it needs to be brought back, but in a different way. "It's not the old death penalty that has some flaws. This is a totally new death penalty," said Rep. John Cabello, 68th district. The new
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, TENN., KAN., NEB., WYO. CALIF.
Aug. 27 OHIOmother may face death penalty Bellefontaine Mom Indicted for Murder of Sons, Could Face Death Penalty An Ohio woman accused of killing her 3 sons over a 13-month period out of jealousy at the attention her husband paid them has been indicted on aggravated murder charges and could face the death penalty. Aggravated murder charges against Brittany Pilkington in Bellefontaine were announced Tuesday by the Logan County prosecutor. Investigators say the 23-year-old smothered 2 sons, 1 in July 2014 and the other on April 6. Authorities took custody of her 3rd son after he was born 3 months ago, but a judge allowed him to return home because there wasn't conclusive evidence the older boys had been killed. The 3rd son died Aug. 18. Pilkington's mother said Pilkington told her in a jailhouse phone call that she's innocent. Pilkington is jailed on $1 million bond. (source: Associated Press) *** Women on Death Row Brittany Pilkington of Bellefontaine could face the death penalty if she's convicted of murdering her 3 young sons by suffocation, but ABC 22/FOX 45 wanted to find out how her case stacks up against other capital cases in Ohio that involve women. In Ohio, death sentences for female suspects are so rare that there currently is only one woman on the state's death row; 71-year-old Donna Marie Roberts. She was a middle-aged, short lady who had been used to a very privileged lifestyle, said Attorney for the State LuWayne Annos during a 2013 hearing at the Supreme Court. She was describing Donna Roberts' motivation for hiring a hit man to kill her husband to cash in on the insurance money. She never said to the court 'Don't sentence me to death', Annos continued. Roberts was sentenced and imprisoned in 2003, and has remained on death row ever since, even though she tried to appeal the sentence twice. Are you more responsible if you hire it done, or if you do it yourself might be the question there, said Jefferson Ingram, a criminal justice professor at the University of Dayton who studies the death penalty. Jefferson said he believes planning a murder makes cases more likely to be death penalty eligible. A woman who would hire a hitman to take out her husband has clearly done that, she's planned it out ahead of time. But, in the cases of suffocation it's not an instant death, there was planning and ongoing planning while that's going forth so it's difficult to say which one is worse. In another Miami Valley capital case, China Arnold faced the death penalty after she was accused of microwaving her 4-week-old baby, Paris, to death in 2005. Arnold was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the crime, but also appealed the conviction while her family maintained her innocence. Arnold could be seen crying in the courtroom during a sentencing in 2011. Ingram thinks that show of emotion may have helped Arnold escape the death penalty, the same way he thinks it could hurt Brittany Pilkington, who after 2 appearances in court has shown little emotion. Prosecutors described her affect as flat during her interviews, and those close to her report she did not cry at the funerals for her first two sons, Niall and Gavin. [She] doesn't have the demeanor of someone who has some remorse, then that may help get the death penalty, too, Ingram said. Donna Marie Roberts remains on Ohio's death row with no scheduled execution date. Pilkington's case will be heard again in Logan County in September. (source: ABC news) TENNESSEE: Tennessee will keep lethal injections for death row executions, court rules Judge rejects claim from 33 death row inmates and says they did not prove the 1-drug method led to a painful and lingering death A judge in Tennessee has upheld the state's lethal injection process for executing inmates, hours after a federal judge in Mississippi said that state's process may break the law. At issue in both cases is the efficacy of the states' execution drugs. US states have been experimenting with various combinations of lethal injection since a European-led boycott made it difficult to obtain the drugs they require to carry out executions. Tennessee uses a single drug, pentobarbital, to execute its inmates; Mississippi relies on a 3-drug mixture including a pentobarbital or midazolam, sedatives that are followed by a paralysing agent and a drug that stops an inmate's heart. In Tennessee, Davidson county chancery judge Claudia Bonnyman said from the bench that the plaintiffs, 33 death row inmates, did not prove that the 1-drug method led to a painful and lingering death. She also said the plaintiffs did not show during a lengthy trial that there had been problems in states where the method was used. Plaintiffs were not able to carry their burdens ... on any of their claims, Bonnyman said. In Mississippi, meanwhile, US district judge Henry T
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, TENN.
March 30 OHIO: Report: 3 sentenced to death in Ohio in 2014 An annual report on capital punishment in Ohio says three people were condemned to die last year, bringing the total number under Ohio's 1981 law to 323 death sentences. The report by Attorney General Mike DeWine says 53 inmates have been executed, 19 have had their sentences reduced to prison time, and 26 have died before execution from suicide or natural causes. The report released Monday says Ohio has 146 active death penalty cases, including James Conway of Columbus, who received two death sentences for different slayings. Death sentences are increasingly rare in Ohio and nationwide as prosecutors file fewer death penalty cases and juries choose the option of life without parole. No executions are scheduled this year. (source: Associated Press) * Backup of killers awaiting execution is building Midway through Ohio's 2-year death penalty moratorium, a backup of men awaiting execution is building. There are 20 inmates either scheduled for execution or for whom prosecutors are seeking execution dates from the Ohio Supreme Court, according to the Capital Crimes Annual Report released today by Attorney General Mike DeWine. State law requires the attorney general to submit a summary of Ohio's capital punishment activity annually by April 1. Capital punishment ground to a halt following the troubled execution of Dennis McGuire on Jan. 16, 2014. State officials scrambled to come up with a new drug supply to replace the 2 used for the 1st time to kill McGuire. Instead, they were forced to change state law. Prison officials can now sign secret contracts with compounding pharmacies to provide execution drugs. Lawsuits remain pending in which death row inmates are contesting the lethal-injection process. The changes prompted Gov. John Kasich to push back the entire execution schedule until next year. The 1st man slated to die using the new protocol is Ronald Phillips, of Summit County on Jan. 21, 2016. There are 10 more executions scheduled thorough the end of next year, including 3 killers from Franklin County: Alva Campbell (March 23, 2016), Warren Henness (June 22, 2016) and Kareem Jackson (Sept. 21, 2016), DeWine's report said. There are 9 other inmates for whom prosecutors have requests pending with the Ohio Supreme Court to set execution dates. None are from central Ohio. DeWine's report said Ohio has issued 323 death sentences since 1981 and executed 53 people who killed 85 victims, including 19 children. The average age of those executed was 46; they spent an average 16.6 years on death row. There were 19 death sentences commuted to life without parole by 4 governors. Republican Gov. John Kasich commuted 5 as did Democrat Ted Strickland. Bob Taft, a Republican, commuted 1 sentence, and Democrat Richard F. Celeste commuted 8. The report said 26 inmates died while awaiting execution, including Billy Slagle, who committed hung himself in his cell shortly before his execution in 2013. There were 69 cases removed from death row because of court action. Meanwhile, Ohioans to Stop Executions issued its annual report today which it said reflects a declining use of capital punishment. What we see is the institution of the death penalty crumbling before our eyes, said Kevin Werner, executive director. (source: Columbus Dispatch) TENNESSEE: Time to reconsider the death penalty Last week, Utah's governor signed into law a bill allowing the use of the firing squad for executions. Welcome to the Wild, Wild West, y'all. What spurred them to do this? It seems that the drug manufacturers in Europe won't sell the drugs if they know they will be used to kill people. This is Utah's way of continuing the ridiculousness that is state killing. In just a few days, Christians will celebrate Good Friday, when Christ himself was a victim of state killing, the one who stopped a woman from execution, the one who said forgive, not just 1 time, but 70 times 7, and love your enemies. Yet so many Christians forget the message of their God, the message of compassion and love. Besides, most studies show it is more expensive to execute people than to have them imprisoned for life. Fiscal conservatives, take note! Instead of killing people who kill people to show people that killing people is wrong, states like Utah and Tennessee should invest that money in preventing violent crimes in the first place by spending that wasted money on things like law enforcement, education, mental health and mentoring for at-risk youth. This would be a much better use of our tax dollars and would promote the common good instead of revenge. Brent Fernandez, Nashville (source: Letter to the Editor, The Tennessean) ___ DeathPenalty mailing list DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, TENN., KAN., UTAH
NOV. 25 OHIO: Ohio Could Pass the Country's Most Extreme Secret Executions BillA new law could make it almost impossible to know what really happens in the death chamber. The execution of Dennis McGuire on January 16 of this year did not go as planned. Injected with an untested cocktail of drugs, the Ohio death row inmate gasped, choked, and writhed in his restraints. McGuire was declared dead after 26 minutes, having endured the longest execution in the state's history. To a degree of medical certainty, this was not a humane execution, an anesthesiologist testified in a subsequent federal lawsuit against the state's execution team. The lawsuit, filed by McGuire's children, declares the execution method used on McGuire cruel and unusual and seeks to block its further use in Ohio. Yet state lawmakers are now rushing to pass a secret executions bill that would make it harder to know what really happens in the death chamber. If passed, HB663 will drop a veil of secrecy over the death penalty by exempting anyone participating in a lethal injection from public records requests that might reveal their identities or duties. It would apply to medical and nonmedical staff, companies transporting or preparing supplies or equipment used in executions, and the providers of the drugs used in the lethal injection. Introduced just 2 weeks ago in a lame-duck session, the bill sailed through committee and was passed by the state House last Thursday, 62 to 27. The bill now moves to the Senate, which could vote on it as early as the first week of December. Most of the measure's support comes from Republicans, who control both chambers of the legislature. It is not clear whether Gov. John Kasich, a Republican who supports the death penalty but has been generous in granting clemency, will sign the bill if it comes to him. The Ohio chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) reports that the bill's sponsors have claimed that they have Kasich's support. This is the most extreme lethal injection secrecy bill that we've seen nationwide. After McGuire's botched execution, a federal judge issued a moratorium on capital punishment in Ohio until January 2015. The state's next execution is scheduled for February. This imminent deadline is part of what's driving the legislature's urgency to pass the execution secrecy bill. The European suppliers of the state's preferred execution drug, pentobarbital, now refuse to sell it for use in executions. Lawmakers hope that the promise of anonymity will goad local compounding pharmacies into providing the drug. If it goes into law, the bill would make it exceedingly difficult for the public or the press to investigate executions. Under the law, participants in executions may be sued if they reveal any confidential information or identities. The law also would undermine prisoners' due process rights, according to the ACLU: By exempting the participants in lethal injections from subpoenas and discovery proceedings, the law would make it virtually impossible for inmates' lawyers or courts to depose or question anyone with knowledge of a particular execution or death-penalty protocol. A late amendment to the bill does make limited room for disclosure through private judicial hearings. Thirteen other states have passed or tried to pass these sorts of gag rules. The bills are also growing more broad. The trend we see in the more recent confidentiality statutes is an enhancement of both the breadth and depth of secrecy surrounding execution procedures, notes Megan McCracken, an attorney at the death penalty clinic at the University of California-Berkeley law school. But Ohio's bill goes even further. First, it would void any contract, domestic or international, that would hinder the state's ability to obtain execution drugs. It also extends professional immunity for participants in executions, stating that licensing organizations can not take any disciplinary action against physicians, pharmacists, or other staff. Many professional associations' codes of conduct prohibit participation in capital punishment, and the Ohio State Medical Association has expressed concerns about the bill's intent to statutorily void parts of the medical ethics code. I think this is the most extreme lethal injection secrecy bill that we've seen nationwide, says Brickner. The original version of the bill, sponsored by state Rep. Jim Buchy (R-Greenville), sought to ensure permanent blanket secrecy. An amended version requires individuals and companies involved in executions to opt-in for anonymity, and would make their identities public 20 years after they finish their business with the state. 20 years later is a rather pointless exercise, says Mike Brickner, senior policy director at the ACLU of Ohio. If the company has a 10-year contract, you wouldn't see that information in your lifetime. With 4 botched executions in the
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, TENN., KAN., ARIZ., CALIF.
Nov. 18 OHIO: Fast-tracked bill would shield execution drug Opponents have lined up to testify against a fast-tracked legislative proposal to shield the names of companies whose drugs are used for lethal injections in Ohio. The bill introduced a week ago and already set for a vote later this week in the House Policy and Legislative Oversight Committee also would bar companies from entering into contracts prohibiting states from acquiring drugs for executions. The bill also prevents information about a lethal injection drugmaker or distributor from being disclosed in court. Such a proposal raises separation of power issues at the state and federal levels and likely would be ignored by a federal judge, state public defender Tim Young planned to tell the committee. The Republican-backed legislation is sponsored by state Reps. Jim Buchy and Matt Huffman and pushed by prosecutors, who say the bill is needed to help restart executions in the state. Buchy has said he believes the bill is constitutional. The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio and other groups also planned to testify at Tuesday's hearing. Lawmakers are rushing the plan through before year's end even though the state prisons agency first proposed the need for confidentiality almost 2 years ago. Ohio's execution policy calls for the warden over death row to determine a month ahead of time if the state has enough drugs for an execution. The state's next scheduled execution is Feb. 11, when Ronald Phillips is set to die for the 1993 killing of his girlfriend's 3-year-old daughter. That puts the state's deadline for obtaining its 1st choice - compounded pentobarbital - by early next year. Executions have been on hold since January, when inmate Dennis McGuire gasped and snorted during a 26-minute execution that raised questions about the 2-drug method used to put him to death that had never been tried. Problems with this combo were further underscored in July when an Arizona inmate took nearly 2 hours to die. A federal judge delayed executions because of questions raised by McGuire's death. (source: Associated Press) TENNESSEE: Former death row inmate addresses TN death penalty At a time when more people are questioning the death penalty, Tennessee is trying to push through multiple executions. According to Death Penalty Information Center, there are 9 inmates with scheduled executions in Tennessee and 2 with stays. Monday night, a former death row inmate spoke at the University of Tennessee about how he was convicted of a crime he did not commit. Ray Krone served more than 10 years in prison. In 1991, Kim Ancona, 36, was murdered in a Phoenix, Arizona bar. Investigators pinpointed the murder, kidnapping and sexual assault on Krone. A jury then found Krone guilty of her murder and kidnapping. Once you're arrested, it's really hard to fight that system. It cost so much money that even working for the post office, I couldn't come near affording the $100,000 to defend myself. And being innocent, I thought, 'What do I have to worry anyway? I'll be fine. I didn't do anything,' Krone said. Krone was sentenced to death in 1991. It was not until 2002 that DNA testing proved Krone to be innocent. It's just important for everyone to understand that the justice system isn't perfect and there are people out there that are behind bars for crimes they didn't commit, said Phillip Gaul, a UT senior and treasurer for Young Americans for Liberty at UT. Young Americans for Liberty hosted the conversation. They were joined by Tennesseans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty and the Knoxville Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The discussion included a growing number of conservatives who are rethinking the death penalty. We do exist to change that narrative because there is a fiction out there that all conservatives support the death penalty. And I'm proof that we don't and we're out there trying to change that narrative, said Marc Hyden, advocacy coordinator for Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty. It is Krone's hope that a new narrative will form in Tennessee--one that doesn't include the death penalty. Right now, here in Tennessee, they want to rush the executions. Tennessee has had a number of exonerations itself. We don't get it right always, Krone said. We have a problem when we have a punishment, execution of taking someone's life, when we can't actually be absolutely sure. Krone, originally from Pennsylvania, now lives in Newport. He is the director of membership and training for Witness to Innocence. (source: WBIR news) * Supreme Court overturns Dickson inmate's death sentence The Tennessee Supreme Court has overturned the death sentence for an inmate convicted of a 1995 murder and kidnapping. A statement from the
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, TENN., IND., ILL., MO.
Nov. 11 OHIO: Ohio lawmakers looking to keep execution drug sources secret State lawmakers are preparing to introduce legislation to address legal concerns about Ohio's administration of the death penalty, likely including language to keep secret the names of sources of execution drugs. Republican House Speaker Bill Batchelder and Republican Senate President Keith Faber mentioned the potential law changes during a post-election conference in Columbus Thursday, where they discussed legislation that could be passed by the two chambers before the end of the year. We are looking at language in that area, Batchelder said concerning capital punishment. That may come up before we go home. Faber added, We anticipate that we're going to work with the attorney general and the prosecutors on trying to get something done on that. Batchelder said the legislation has been drafted, and he anticipated its introduction in coming days. He declined to offer specifics about what would be included in the bill, though he said it would address issues that have arisen from court decisions related to the death penalty. We have a problem in the sense that some of the federal judges have held that our existing system does not provide due process safeguards for those who have been convicted of homicide, he said. Executions have been on hold for most of the year, after a federal judge stayed scheduled lethal injections while state prison officials consider changes to the execution process. In August, U.S. District Court Judge Gregory L. Frost ruled the state of Ohio and any person acting on its behalf is hereby stayed from implementing an order of execution of any Ohio inmate issued by any court of the state of Ohio until Jan. 15, 2015 or until further order from the court. Frost issued a comparable stay earlier in the year, following the prolonged death of Dennis McGuire in January and a subsequent decision by the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction to increase the dosage of 2 drugs used in lethal injections. McGuire, who received a capital sentence for the rape and murder of a pregnant Preble County woman, was the first inmate executed using a new 2-drug combination. The process took about 25 minutes, and witnesses described him gasping for breath. State prison officials who reviewed his execution said McGuire was asleep and not conscious and did not experience pain, distress or air hunger during his lethal injection. The next scheduled execution, pending additional delays, will be Ronald Phillips Feb. 11. Phillips, who was convicted in the 1993 rape and murder of a 3-year-old girl in Akron, was originally scheduled for execution last year, but Kasich temporarily postponed the lethal injection after the inmate asked to determine whether he could donate organs to ailing family members. Drug Issue Under execution protocols adopted last year, state prison officials could purchase lethal injection mixtures from so-called compounding pharmacies - a change that was made after the manufacturer of such drugs refused to sell them for use in executions. But Attorney General Mike DeWine said last month state prison officials have had difficulties finding pharmacies willing to provide the state's lethal injection drug because they don't want to be identified publicly. This is something that the legislature has to look at, DeWine said last month. The legislation to be considered by lawmakers in coming weeks could call for the names of companies that sell execution drugs to the state to be kept private. I think the general idea is to let the department of corrections acquire those things in private and not to have to disclose publicly where they're getting their drugs from, Faber said. Who they buy their drugs from I don't think is necessarily relevant to what their mission is. He added, As long as Ohio has a capital punishment, we need to make sure it's carried out fully, fairly and in consistency with the law. So that's going to be our question. Another possibility would be allowing the import of execution drugs from overseas, Batchelder said. (source: The Daily Record) Rufus Gray indicted on aggravated murder charges in slaying of 12-year-old stepdaughter A Cuyahoga County grand jury Monday indicted Rufus Gray on charges of killing his 12-year-old stepdaughter Oct. 30. The indictment charges Gray, 59, of Cleveland, with aggravated murder, attempted murder, felonious assault, aggravated burglary, domestic violence and possessing weapons while a convicted felon. He will appear in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court on Friday for his 1st appearance. County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty's office is expected to consider filing additional charges that could bring the death penalty. An internal committee of the prosecutor's office considers slayings that could bring the death penalty. The committee then makes a
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, TENN., MO., ARIZ., CALIF.
Sept. 19 OHIO: Suspect in Jim Brennan murder may face death penalty 1 of the 4 defendants charged in connection with the murder of a Cleveland Heights restaurant owner may face the death penalty. The Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's office capital review committee has not yet met to decide if Darien Jones will face the death penalty. Darien Jones is the alleged shooter in the case and is the only defendant eligible for the death penalty at this time, defense and prosecutors said during a pretrial held Friday in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court. The prosecutor's office says it is still reviewing the matter. Brandon Jones, Darien's brother, is also facing an aggravated murder charge. Brandon Jones worked for the victim, Jim Brennan, and was working the day the murder happened. Devonne Turner is also facing an aggravated murder charge. His brother, Paul Turner, is facing an obstruction of justice charge. The Turner brothers were also arraigned Friday morning on an aggravated robbery charge. That robbery happened the same day as the murder. Prosecutors also said they are waiting on federal agents' reports before they can turn them over to defense attorneys. (source: Fox News) ** Toledo man confessed to killing Cuyahoga Falls mother, detective testified in court A forensic pathologist said a Cuyahoga Falls mother was stabbed more than 55 times during a preliminary court hearing for the Toledo man charged in her murder, and a police detective said he confessed he killed her. During the preliminary hearing Sept. 11 at Stow Municipal Court, bond for Jeffery J. Conrad of Toledo was continued at $1 million cash by Judge Kim R. Hoover. Conrad, 43, is charged with aggravated murder, a 1st-degree felony, in connection with the death of his ex-girlfriend, Amanda Russell, 40. Conrad did not enter a plea to the charge. Ms. Russell's body was found by her 14-year-old daughter behind their home on Eighth Street Aug. 28. Conrad is in Summit County Jail. Amanda Russell had many, many stabs wounds, primarily to the back side of her body, said Dr. Lisa Kohler, a forensic pathologist and chief medical examiner for Summit County, during the hearing Sept. 11. There are greater than 55 stab wounds identified. She said the cause of death was stab wounds to the neck and torso and there was no other cause of death. Kohler and a Cuyahoga Falls police detective were called to testify during the hearing by Cuyahoga Falls prosecutor Gregory Ward. Conrad's attorney, Noah Munyer, did not question them during the hearing. The court provided the Falls News-Press with an audio recording of the hearing. A preliminary hearing is a probable cause hearing where a municipal judge decides if there's sufficient evidence to bind the matter over to the Summit County Grand Jury for its consideration, Judge Hoover told the Falls News-Press. ... neither the prosecutor for the city of Cuyahoga Falls nor the Summit County prosecutor went to the lengths to have an indictment handed up before the preliminary hearing ... Hoover said the defendant in a felony case is entitled to a preliminary hearing but typically the defense waives it. Munyer said he chose not to waive it because he was missing a key piece of information from the state. We still don't know if the state intends to charge Mr. Conrad with the death penalty, Munyer said by phone Sept. 17. They haven't made that decision, at least as far as they have related to us. As such, if it does become a death penalty case, we can't concede any point no matter how minor. At the Sept. 11 hearing, Det. Chad Lengel said when he arrived at the scene of the crime Ms. Russell was lying on the ground face down in a pool of blood. She had a lot of wounds which ... looked to be stab wounds, he said. Lengel said Conrad and Ms. Russell had a boyfriend-girlfriend status that was on again-off again for approximately three years. There were a lot of reports of violence involving them, he said. Conrad was arrested Aug. 28, the day of the murder, by the Cleveland Metroparks Ranger Department on unrelated charges. Conrad appeared on a trail in the park and threatened two rangers with a hunting knife, telling them to do what you have to do, according to the rangers' report. Sept. 2, Lengel said, he spoke to Conrad in the Cleveland City Jail where he wished to tell me what had happened and he confessed to the murder of Amanda Russell by using the knife that he had in his possession in the Cuyahoga Metro Parks' jurisdiction. He confessed to the crime after being read his Miranda Rights with two other officers present, Lengel said. There was blood on the knife recovered by the rangers, Lengel said in court, and the blood tested positive for Ms. Russell's blood. (source: Twinsburg Bulletin) Ohio shouldn't risk executing innocent Former Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro and wife
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, TENN., IND., ILL., KY., ARK., MO.
July 9 OHIO: North Linden man could face death penalty in April stabbing death A North Linden man could get the death penalty if convicted in the stabbing death of an 89-year-old woman during a break-in at her East Side home. A Franklin County grand jury returned a death-penalty indictment this week against Willie L. Dumas, 58, of McGuffey Road. He is accused in the death of Anna Eblen, who was repeatedly stabbed in her house at 3095 E. 12th Ave. on April 17. Columbus homicide detectives said they used DNA evidence to connect Dumas to the killing. The indictment charges him with aggravated murder, aggravated burglary, aggravated robbery and tampering with evidence. In Ohio, the death penalty can be sought for those charged with committing murder as part of or while fleeing from an aggravated robbery or aggravated burglary. It is the 1st death-penalty indictment returned by a Franklin County grand jury since December 2011, when prosecutors obtained capital charges against Daniel Teitelbaum for the murder of his business partner, Paul Horn. Teitelbaum was convicted and sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole in April after jurors declined to recommend death. The number of death-penalty indictments in Franklin County has declined dramatically since 2005, when Prosecutor Ron O'Brien's office began scrutinizing cases to determine whether there was a realistic chance of getting a jury to recommend a death sentence. Neighbors said Eblen lived with her husband, Harold, 92, at their home near Port Columbus. He had been sick and was being cared for outside the home when she was killed. (source: Columbus Dispatch) ** Hearing delayed for suspect in Gina Burger death A Mahoning County grand jury Thursday will hear the case of Ricki D. Williams IV, 18, who is charged with the death of 16-year-old Gina Burger. William's scheduled preliminary hearing today was canceled so the case can be direct presented to the grand jury. Ken Cardinal, an assistant county prosecutor, said the state will present its case to the grand jurors to allow them to indict this individual on crimes which he may or may not have committed, but we have every intention to seek a murder conviction and death-penalty specification, if the grand jury sees fit. Williams appeared in Mahoning County Area Court with lawyer David Taylor, and his family was with Atty. Thomas Zena, who would be an additional lawyer for Williams if the death-penalty specification is added. Williams is charged with aggravated murder, 2 counts of kidnapping, intimidation, tampering with evidence, 2 counts of abduction, possession of criminal tools, abuse of a corpse and 1 misdemeanor charge of criminal trespass. Police believe Williams used a knife to kill Burger on June 23 and then placed her body in a trash bin outside a township apartment complex June 24. Her body was found June 25 in a Tri-County Industries landfill in Grove City, Pa. (source: Youngstown Vindicator) TENNESSEE: Death penalty still on the table for accused Bean Station pharmacy shooter The man accused of a deadly shooting at a Grainger County pharmacy is still facing the death penalty despite a request to get it off the table. Jason Holt is accused of killing 2 people and injuring 2 others in May of last year while robbing the Down Home Pharmacy in Bean Station. 6 News was in the courtroom Tuesday as the judge denied the defense's request to strike down the death penalty during a motions hearing that lasted more than 2 hours. The judge also went over dozens of records to decide what could be allowed in to the trial as evidence. The victims' families packed the courtroom hugging each other for comfort. When Jason Holt entered, he avoided eye contact with the victims' side if the courtroom. Holt has been charged with 1st degree felony murder in the shooting deaths of Down Home Pharmacy owner Stephen Lovell and customer Richard Sommerville. Holt is also charged with two counts attempted 1st degree murder. Investigators say 2 pharmacy workers were also shot during the robbery of prescription pills from the pharmacy. The judge again denied the defense's request to strike down the death penalty. The judge also went over which audio tapes from phone calls made by holt in jail would be allowed. The judge ruled that surveillance video from the pharmacy of the incident would be allowed in to trial as evidence. The judge also determined which crime scene and autopsy photos the jury would be allowed to see. The state made a case for why some pictures are relevant to prove their case. Items were recovered along the way from the pharmacy to the next road. Items were recovered in that area and items were recovered in the barn which is in the middle of the picture there, said Holt. Holt's attorney has said in court that Holt was suffering from brain damage after a motorcycle accident 10 years
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, TENN., USA
May 28 OHIO: Judge orders temporary halt to Ohio executions A federal judge has ordered a 2 1/2-month moratorium on executions in Ohio to allow time for arguments over the state's new lethal injection procedures. The order delays executions scheduled for July and August while attorneys prepare filings about the state's decision to boost the dosages of its lethal injection drugs. The 1-page order by Columbus federal judge Gregory Frost on Tuesday affects the state's latest death penalty policy change, which was announced in late April. Ohio uses 2 drugs injected simultaneously in executions. The policy change considerably increases the amount of the sedative and raises the amount of the painkiller. The procedure update followed the Jan. 16 execution of Dennis McGuire, who repeatedly gasped during the record 26 minutes it took him to die (source: Associated Press) * Death penalty courses among Siegal summer offerings A course on Ohio's death penalty will be among the summer offerings at The Laura and Alvin Siegal Lifelong Learning Program's beginning June 2 at the Siegal facility in Beachwood. The course, which will take place on Wednesdays, June 11, 18 and 25, is entitled, Ohio's Death Penalty: Recommendations of the American Bar Association and the Ohio Supreme Court's Death Penalty Task Force. Margery Koosed will teach the class. The course is unique to the program because the Supreme Court of Ohio Commission on Continuing Legal Education has approved it for 2 CLE hours per session. Attorneys that need continuing legal education could receive up to 6 CLE hours of instruction for an extra fee of $10 per session. The third session on June 25 for 2 hours of death penalty training. All classes at Siegal facility, 26500 Shaker Blvd. in Beachwood. (source: Cleveland Jewish News) TENNESSEE: Judge: State may seek death penalty in 4 slayings on Renegade Mountain An accused killer has lost the 1st round in his bid to stay off death row if convicted. A Cumberland County judge Wednesday denied a motion filed by attorneys for Jacob Allen Bennett, accused of killing 4 young people, that his blurted admission of guilt during the start of an arraignment should stand. Defense attorneys in their motion had sought to nix the state's move to seek the death penalty, which was filed soon afterward. Judge David Patterson ruled that Bennett's proclamation of his guilt on Sept. 20, 2013, occurred before he was given the opportunity to represent himself, that Bennett wasn't properly arraigned then and, that as judge, he didn't accept the plea. The court is concerned that the defendant didn't understand what was going on, Patterson said. During a reconvened arraignment on Oct. 3, Bennett, 26, was given a court-appointed attorney, who entered not guilty pleas on the Crab Orchard man's behalf. Bennett is accused of shooting 3 teenagers and a young mother to death on a secluded gravel road on Renegade Mountain, a would-be resort community that has fallen on hard times. The shootings occurred either late Sept. 11 or early Sept. 12, 2013, officials said. The shooting occurred during a botched drug deal involving a quarter-pound of marijuana, according to records. Killed were Danielle Rikki Jacobsen, 22, her nephew Domonic Davis, 17, John Lajeunesse, 16, and Steven Presley, 17. I think he (Bennett) ought to be put before a firing squad and done just like they done our kids, Peggy Davis, grandmother of Steven Presley, said during a break in the hearing. Also accused in the case is Bennett's girlfriend, Brittany Lina Yvonn Moser, 25, of Dayton, Tenn. Bennett is charged with 4 counts of premeditated murder, 4 counts of felony murder, and 2 counts of attempted aggravated robbery. Moser, with Bennett at the time of the killings, is charged with four counts of felony murder and 2 counts of attempted aggravated robbery. Deputy District Attorney Gary McKenzie said the state will likely move to have separate trials for Bennett and Moser. The judge set an Aug. 13 hearing on other motions in the case and to schedule a trial date for Bennett, now in maximum security in the Morgan County Regional Correctional Facility. If we can, we'll try to do that (a trial) this year, Patterson said. (source: Knoxville News Sentinel) USA: The Shrinking Death Penalty 12 years after it banned the execution of intellecutally disabled people, the Supreme Court on Tuesday clarified and thus reaffirmed the essence of its ruling by striking down a Florida law requiring that defendant claiming that condition show an I.Q. score of 70 or below. In 2002, the court held that people with intellectual disabilities were less culpable because of their diminshed capacities to process information, control their impulses and understand the nature of their crimes. The condition also made them more likely to give false confessions and less
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, TENN., OKLA., CALIF.
April 21 OHIO: Accused killer wants evidence thrown out; Attorneys for a sex offender suspected of killing 3 Ohio women want evidence against the man thrown out. Michael Madison's attorneys said police should have had a search warrant when they looked through a garage where a body was found. Madison is charged with killing the women and leaving their bodies in trash bags in a rundown East Cleveland neighborhood. He has pleaded not guilty. The bodies were found last July after police were called about an odor coming from a garage. The Plain Dealer reported Madison's attorneys also want a judge to dismiss other evidence, including statements he made to police. He is scheduled to go to trial July 21 and could face the death penalty if convicted. (source: Sandusky Register) Prosecutor to submit filing to Ohio parole board considering mercy for condemned inmate An Ohio prosecutor plans to submit his position on whether a condemned killer facing execution next month for a Cleveland produce vendor's 1983 slaying should receive mercy. Attorneys for defendant Arthur Tyler say he should receive clemency partly because a 2nd defendant repeatedly admitted being the shooter. They also argue a jury was coerced into issuing a death sentence and that a prosecutor and some of Tyler's defense attorneys at trial had a conflict of interest. Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty planned to file a motion on Tyler's case Monday afternoon ahead of Tyler's clemency hearing Thursday. The Ohio Parole Board makes a recommendation to the governor, who has the final say. The 54-year-old Tyler is scheduled to die May 28. (source: Associated Press) TENNESSEE: Ex-lawman Jason Holt in Grainger County court on murder, robbery charges Jason Bryan Holt, a former lawman accused of executing 2 people during a drug store robbery, is in Grainger County Circuit Court on Monday. Prosecutors announced in September they will seek the death penalty for Holt, who was arrested shortly after the robbery. Holt is accused of fatally shooting 2 people and wounding 2 others while robbing the Down Home Pharmacy in Bean Station on May 23. According to investigators, after store owner Stephen Lovell gave Holt drugs he demanded, Holt ordered Lovell and 3 other people to their knees, and shot each execution style. Lovell and a customer, Alexander Sommerville, 72, died from their wounds. Employees Alexia Gail Wilson, 45, and Janet Colleen Cliff, 46, survived their wounds. Holt is a former Bean Station Police Department officer, and also worked briefly for the Grainger County Sheriff's Office. In 2006, he was placed on judicial diversion after being charged with burglary and theft of narcotics from the Bean Station Police Department. (source: Knoxville News Sentinel) OKLAHOMAimpending execution Oklahoma Man Faces Execution Tuesday In 1999 Death An Oklahoma death row inmate who's been trying to find out more about the drugs the state would use to kill him is facing execution unless a court intervenes. Clayton Lockett was convicted of shooting 19-year-old Stephanie Nieman with a sawed-off shotgun and watching as she was buried alive in 1999. He has filed court papers to learn more about Oklahoma's execution protocol, but has not challenged his sentence. State courts differ on who should address stays of execution for Lockett and another inmate, Charles Warner. Warner faces execution next week. A lower court judge has ruled Lockett and Warner are entitled to know who made the drugs that will be used at their executions. Barring intervention, Lockett will be executed Tuesday night at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. Lockett refused to appear at his February clemency hearing, where the board voted 4-1 to deny his request. According to prosecutors, on the night of the killing, Lockett, one of his cousins and a friend entered Bobby Bornt's home in Perry seeking repayment of a $20 debt. They bound Bornt and beat him with a shotgun while his 9-month-old son slept in the next room. Nieman and a friend dropped by to invite Bornt to a party and were subsequently bound with duct tape. Nieman's friend was beaten and raped by 2 of the men before the victims were loaded into 2 pickup trucks and driven to a rural dirt road. Lockett admitted in the confession that he originally intended to kill the 3 adults because he feared police would learn he had violated terms of his probation from a previous felony. After Nieman said she would tell police, he forced her to kneel while Shawn Mathis, a co-defendant, took about 20 minutes to dig a shallow grave. Lockett shot the girl in the shoulder, pushed her into the grave and shot her again in the chest before ordering Mathis to bury her alive. According to an attorney general's report on the crime, the 3 laughed about how tough the woman was as the dirt piled up atop
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, TENN., ILL., MO., OKLA., NEB.
April 18 OHIOimpending execution Arthur Tyler, slated to die May 28 in controversial capital case, asks Ohio for mercy; Arthur Tyler has been on Ohio's death row for 3 decades. Arthur Tyler, who has been on Ohio's death row 3 decades for the murder of a produce vendor during a robbery in Cleveland, has asked the Ohio Parole Board to commute his sentence to life in prison with a chance of parole. The parole board will hold a clemency hearing April 24 to hear Tyler's pleas. The board will make a recommendation to Gov. John Kasich, who will ultimately decide Tyler's fate. He is scheduled to be executed May 28. Tyler's case has been controversial because he was 1 of 2 people convicted in the killing of Sanders Leach, but the only one sentenced to die. And there are questions as to who actually pulled the trigger. Tyler's co-defendant, Leroy Head, confessed almost immediately. Head admitted to police, family and friends that he shot Leach in a struggle for the gun during the March 1983 robbery attempt, according to court records. He signed a confession, but later changed his story, telling prosecutors that Tyler fired the gun. Tyler was convicted of aggravated murder and aggravated robbery and sentenced to die. Head pleaded guilty to the same charges and was sentenced to prison. He was released in 2008. Tyler's lawyers, in a brief filed with the parole board, said Tyler recognizes he shares responsibility for Leach's death. But they urge clemency be granted, commuting his death sentence to life imprisonment with parole eligibility. Ideally, Arthur Tyler should be granted parole and released from prison for time served, they wrote. As we will demonstrate, Arthur Tyler did not shoot Mr. Leach. Head falsely testified against Mr. Tyler in order to save himself from the death penalty. (source: Cleveland.com) * Castile ruled competent; Accused of fatally stabbing 11-week-old baby A Sandusky man accused of fatally stabbing his cousin's infant in May is competent to stand trial. Denzel Castile, 20, made an appearance in an Erie County courtroom Wednesday morning for the 1st time since he was admitted to the Northwest Ohio Psychiatric Hospital last spring. Castile allegedly stabbed his cousin's 11-week-old child, Athena Castile, in a relative's Dewey Street home May 16. After a brief tussle with relatives, then with police, Castile was arrested. He was charged with aggravated murder, felonious assault and assault on a police officer, and a grand jury later indicted him on a charge of aggravated murder. And, given Athena's age, he now faces the possibility of the death penalty. Relatives later told police Castile displayed a noticeable change in mental status following his 1st year at the University of Toledo. Athena's death came shortly after Castile returned home for summer vacation. Castile pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity last summer. In October, Dr. Lucia Hinojosa conducted a psychological evaluation on Castile and determined he did not fully understand his legal charges, nor could he assist in his own defense. Castile has remained in the care of the hospital ever since. At Wednesday's hearing, however, Hinojosa issued a new opinion after further evaluation. Castile is now competent to aid his attorneys, Jeff Whitacre and Peter Rost, in his defense, Hinojosa stated in a report that Erie County Common Pleas Court Judge Tygh Tone read at the hearing. One more key evaluation is necessary before the court proceeds with Castile's case. Because Castile entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, doctors must now determine if he was legally insane when he allegedly stabbed Athena, Erie County prosecutor Kevin Baxter said. If they decide he was indeed legally insane at the time, Baxter said he'll likely ask for a 2nd opinion in the interest of being thorough. At that point, Castile's legal proceedings will move forward, with the doctors' opinions included as evidence, Baxter said. In the meantime, Castile will continue his stay at the Toledo psychiatric hospital. At Wednesday's hearing, more than 1/2 the seats in the courtroom were filled by family of Castile and Athena. Some shed tears, while others could be heard saying We love you Denzel as he walked into the courtroom. (source: Sandusky Register) * Division over death penalty; Ohio justice says he's not surprised Divisions were to be expected on a panel that spent more than 2 years studying capital punishment in the state, the chief justice of the Ohio Supreme Court said as the group wraps up its work. The panel convened in 2011 by Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor finalized its recommendations last week and now awaits a dissenting report from prosecutors on the committee who disagreed with some proposals. There was going to be some really divisive topics and going to be diametrically opposed positions,
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, TENN., MO., KAN., OKLA., ARIZ., USA
April 11 OHIO: OHIO'S DEATH PENALTY; Panel advises slashing list of capital offenses Report also urges exempting mentally ill The ultimate punishment under Ohio law would be reserved for the worst of the worst, and mentally ill people could not be executed if recommendations from a state task force become law. That's a big if. The panel, named 2 years ago by Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor and the Ohio State Bar Association, also calls for taking the death penalty off the table simply because a death occurred during the commission of a felony, such as a robbery, kidnapping, and murder. The task force wants to open to public view elements of the state's clemency process that now occurs behind closed doors. Some of the recommendations would require legislative action, far from a sure thing. Others could be accomplished through change in judicial rules adopted by the Supreme Court. The death penalty itself was never on trial. A moratorium on carrying out executions during the review process was also not considered. Instead, the task force concentrated on the application of capital punishment in Ohio, when it would and would not be appropriate, the long-term preservation of evidence, and racial and geographic disparities in its implementation. The 22-member task force - consisting of judges, legislators, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and members of law enforcement and academics - was not unanimous in support of all 56 recommendations. A separate dissenting report from some members, in particular prosecutors, is expected to follow. Highlights of the recommendations include: -- Mandatory recording of interrogations of suspects while in custody. -- Taking the death penalty off the table for someone legally determined to be suffering severe mental illness at the time of the crime or at the time of scheduled execution. Court rulings have already found that executing the mentally retarded is unconstitutional. -- Removing the death penalty as an option simply because a death occurred during the commission of certain felonies, such as kidnapping, rape, aggravated arson, aggravated robbery, and aggravated burglary. -- Creation of a Capital Litigation Fund to pay for all costs for the prosecution and defense of capital cases. -- Prohibiting the death penalty in cases lacking biological or DNA evidence, a recorded voluntary confession, a video recording conclusively linking the defendant to the murder, or other factors as determined by the General Assembly. -- Prohibiting the death penalty in cases where the prosecutor relied on jailhouse informant testimony uncorroborated by other evidence. -- Requiring the Ohio Parole Board to record clemency hearings and its private interviews with condemned inmates with those recordings considered public record. -- Mandatory continuing education on racial bias for attorneys and judges involved in capital cases. State Sen. Bill Seitz (R., Cincinnati), a task force member, said he agrees with most of the recommendations, but he questioned whether some may condemn the report as a whole. I come at this from the standpoint of knowing my colleagues in the legislature, he said. The minute the prosecutors say we are not for this, it's not going to happen. ... If you put too many controversial recommendations in here, you're going to have the whole ... report go into the trash can. Chief among his disagreements with the final report is the elimination of felony murder. But that is one of the most important recommendations in the report, according to Ohio Public Defender Tim Young. You limit the death penalty to just the most heinous murders, he said. A running theme throughout the report was providing adequate funding for such costs as public defenders for indigent defendants. It impacts both sides, Mr. Young said. ... The defense has always been underfunded. Almost everywhere in every case there isn't adequate funding. ... We have long fights to hire experts that are desperately needed. Funding has got to go up significantly. Judge Linda Jennings of Lucas County Common Pleas Court, a task force member, said she generally agrees with the report and will not join in the dissent. It was difficult, because sometimes we would have discussions about whether or not we should even have the death penalty, she said. We knew we could not even consider that. We had to just look at the [American Bar Association] recommendations and see in Ohio where there was a problem and see what we could recommend to make it more fair. State Sen. Edna Brown (D., Toledo), who did not serve on the task force, has unsuccessfully sought the end of the death penalty in Ohio. Decades of studies have shown that capital punishment is arbitrarily applied, enormously expensive and wasteful, fails to deter criminal activity, and always carries the possibility of sentencing an innocent person to
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, TENN., MO., NEB.
Apr. 9 OHIO: Trial begins in Youngstown death penalty case The trial against a Youngstown man accused of killing a woman and attempting to kill 2 others began Wednesday in Mahoning County Court. Willie Wilks Jr. is charged with aggravated murder in the May 21 shooting death of Orora Wilkins, 20, of Youngstown. Wilks pleads not guilty Wilks is also accused of shooting Alex Morales in the back as he sat on the porch with Wilkins at a house on Park Avenue. Prosecutors painted Wilks as an enraged man looking for revenge when he went to the house that Tuesday afternoon. Assistant Mahoning County Prosecutor Becky Doherty said Wilks was looking for Orora Wilkins' brother William Mister Wilkins when he went to house because Wilkins had allegedly accused him of stealing money from a family member. You walk up to a porch with an AK-47, a big gun, and you shoot her in the head. That is the purpose. The purpose is to kill her, said Doherty. According to Doherty, Alex Morales and Orora Wilkins were sitting on the porch when Wilks walked up and asked, Where the (expletive) is he? Morales got up to go inside the house and Wilks allegedly shot him in the back. Morales was holding a baby at the time and fell on top of the child. Orora Wilkins got up to go to the baby and was shot in the head and killed. Doherty said that Wilkins also fired shots at an upstairs window in an attempt to hit William Mister Wilkins. Most of the testimony Wednesday centered on the shooting scene. Doherty questioned Patrolman Melvin Johnson, who was one of the first officers to respond. She specifically asked him about radio traffic and what was reported at the scene, specifically if a Be On The Lookout (BOLO) had been issued for Wilks. I heard radio from other officers when I mentioned the name Wilks that was given to me as a potential suspect. I heard radio traffic from other officers in reference to a Wilks based on things they were familiar with about vehicles and license plates, said Johnson. I am listening to this but not directly because I know these officers are speaking to one another in reference to my initial announcement that Wilks was mentioned. The jury has been to the crime scene where bullet holes can still be seen near an upstairs window and on the porch. Several witnesses are scheduled to testify, including Orora Wilkins' sister. (source: WKBN news) ** Attorney: Death Too Harsh for Man Who Killed Officer Miktarian An attorney for Ashford Thompson, 29, argued before justices of the Ohio Supreme Court on Tuesday that the death penalty he is serving for the aggravated murder of Twinsburg police officer Josh Miktarian is too harsh. Miktarian, 33, pulled Thompson over in the early morning hours of July 13, 2008 for playing music too loud in his car. In the minutes after, a traffic stop escalated until Thompson drew a gun and fired multiple times, killing Miktarian. His attorney, Rachel Troutman, argued on Tuesday that Thompson was under duress at the time and as things escalated, believed that his own life was being threatened. Ashford Thompson made a very bad judgement call on July 13, 2008. said Troutman, adding, He was a man who identified as a nurse, a caretaker, somebody who only had a concealed carry, a license to concealed carry so he could bring his gun with him when he took care, when he did home health care in bad neighborhoods. Troutman used the case of Quisi Bryan, convicted of killing Cleveland police officer Wayne Leon in 2000, to illustrate that the death penalty is appropriate in cases where the defendant had a criminal history. She argued that Thompson's record included only traffic violations until that night and that he was not a violent person. This was not a man who had been convicted of anything violent. He was deeply religious and he was young and again he was a nurse, somebody who had dedicated himself to taking care of others, said Troutman. When asked whether her argument had any difficulty with the fact that Officer Miktarian had been shot 4 times in the head, Troutman said that only demonstrated the amount of panic Ashford Thompson had. This was not a cold, calculated pull the trigger once and walk away. This was a man who unloaded his gun and then took off. This was not somebody who, again, had done something violent in the past this was somebody who panicked and then everything went wrong, but because of the man that he is, because of the man that he was the day before that he does not warrant the death sentence, argued Troutman. Appeals attorney Richard Kasay of the Summit County Prosecutor's Office argued that the trial court got it right. Kasay said the only time the court heard that Thompson was under duress was from the explanation Thompson himself gave during an unsworn statement at his trial. The function of this court, my understanding is that you consider it but you
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, TENN., MO., CALIF., WASH., USA
April 5 OHIO: Death penalty debate rages Attorney General Mike DeWine released his annual snapshot of the state's administration of the death penalty last week. It came amid continued questions in Ohio and nationally about lethal injections, as states scramble to find alternate sources for the drugs they use to put inmates to death. Ohio was in the international spotlight earlier this year following the execution of Dennis McGuire, who reportedly struggled for breath during a January lethal injection that involved a previously untried drug combination. State prison officials remain tight-lipped about McGuire, saying only that a formal review is ongoing. And they cite pending litigation if you ask them questions about how they intend to put the next inmate to death, refusing to acknowledge any efforts to find a source for their preferred execution drug. But DeWine's Capital Crimes Annual Report provides a decent review of Ohio's execution history to date. It includes explanations of the sentencing process and details of inmates who received the ultimate penalty for their crimes. You'll find a copy online at www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov. Here's a quick summary: There have been 53 executions in Ohio since the state restarted the death penalty in the late 1990s. Wilford Berry was the first on Feb. 19, 1999. McGuire was the last, on Jan. 16 of this year. A total of 316 people have received death sentences since 1981. The average age of inmates executed in Ohio was about 45. 19 were black, and 33 were white. All were men who spent an average of more than 16 years on death row. Inmates who have been executed to date killed 65 adults and 19 children. Since 1991, 18 inmates have had their death penalties commuted, starting with Debra Brown in 1991. Gov. John Kasich granted clemency to Ronald Post in December. More than 2 dozen Ohio death row inmates died before their sentences could be carried out. The most recent was Billy Slagle, who committed suicide in August, days before his scheduled lethal injection. Half a dozen inmates are awaiting resentencing for their crimes. That list includes Donna Roberts, who received the death penalty for her involvement in the murder of her former husband in Howland. In the last year, 4 men received capital sentences and were moved to Ohio's death row. There are a dozen executions currently scheduled through early 2016, with 4 more requests submitted for lethal injection dates. The next execution is scheduled for May, for Arthur Tyler, who was convicted in the 1983 murder of a Cleveland man. His clemency hearing is later this month. There's a national ban on executions of inmates who are mentally retarded. There were 4 death row inmates with cases on that issue pending in state courts last year. Among them was Warren Spivey, who was convicted of brutally beating and stabbing a Youngstown woman in 1989 before stealing her car and jewelry. 8 other inmates were ruled ineligible for the death penalty after courts determined they were mentally retarded. (source: Youngstown Vindicator) * Conneaut Ohio Man Possibly Facing Death Penalty Joshua Million told his girlfriend and Conneaut Ohio Police that nothing happened to cause the death of 4 year old Melanie Powell on the night of February 6, 2014. That's according to the prosecutors who brought charges of murder rape and assault to a grand jury, received and indictment and are attending his arraignment on those charges today. The girl's mother took her to the Conneaut Medical Center that night when she wouldn't wake up. Medical staff there alerted police. Melanie Powell died at Cleveland University Hospital the next day. The cause of Melanie's death was blunt force trauma to her head according to the Cuyahoga County Medical examiner. Because there is evidence the girl had been raped and prosecutors say it happened in connection with the murder, the death penalty could be considered according to Ashtabula County prosecutors. Joshua Million is held in the Ashtabula County Jail without bond. (source: yourerie.com) ** Lorain County Probate Judge James Walther has decided not to become certified to be able to take on death penalty cases. Walther said that some time ago he decided to take the capital case seminar that is offered by the Ohio Supreme Court, which is required to sit on death penalty cases. I wanted to help the general division by providing another judge to sit on 3-judge panels, Walther said. On Wednesday, he learned that the Supreme Court advised that if a judge is eligible to sit on a 3-judge panel, then that judge also should be available to sit as the presiding judge of the capital case. I do not have a court reporter, bailiff nor a staff attorney on my staff like the other 9 common pleas judges, Walther said. As the sole judge of the Probate Division, an extended capital jury trial in
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, TENN., MO., S. DAK., USA
Dec. 10 OHIO: Mammone appeals conviction to Ohio Supreme Court The Canton man convicted of killing his 2 young children and former mother-in-law is taking his appeal to the Ohio Supreme Court. Arguments in the case will be heard in Columbus on Wednesday. The Ohio Supreme Court will hear the death penalty appeal of the Canton man convicted of the 2009 murder of his 2 young children and former mother-in-law. The hearing is set for 9 a.m. Wednesday at the Thomas J. Moyer Ohio Judicial Center. Mammone does not have an execution date. In 2012, the 5th District Court of Appeals denied James Mammone III's request for a new trial and upheld a lower court's decision. Attorneys with the Ohio Public Defender's Office had asked a judge for post-conviction relief on several grounds, including allegations of mistakes by his trial attorneys, juror misconduct and withheld drug-testing evidence. A 3-judge panel for the 5th District held that the judge ruled correctly on the arguments, including that preliminary drug-test results would have helped Mammone at trial and called into question his confession to police. In the appeal to the supreme court, attorneys for Mammone are arguing that publicity prevented an impartial jury in the 2010 trial. The defense contends Mammone could not get a fair trial in Stark County. Mammone's attorneys also claim the trial attorneys were ineffective when questioning jurors about the death penalty and pretrial publicity, according to the supreme court's public information office. During his trial's sentencing phase, Mammone gave a 5-hour unsworn statement to the jury explaining his actions. He killed his two children, age 5 and 3, and former mother-in-law out of retribution following his divorce and said he was trying to spare the children from being raised in a broken home. The defense argues that his statement to the court should have been limited. Another claim is that the prosecution showed the grisly crime scene and autopsy photos beyond the boundaries set by the high court, according to the public information office. (source: Canton Repository) TENNESSEE: Question: Why Don't More Death Penalty Sentences Occur in Rutherford County and Elsewhere in our State? With more and more murder trials being heard in Rutherford County in 2014, some residents have spoken out suggesting more convictions should equal more death sentences. Regardless of where you may stand on this issue, the written law specifies what can end with a death penalty sentencing and what cannot end in a death sentencing. One of the murder trials schedueld to take place in 2014, deals with Jacob Pearman who allegedly killed his wife in the Blackman home on Valentines Day, earlier this year. Whitesell told WGNS that certain requirements must be met in a court of law for the death penalty to be pursued. Statutory Aggravating Circumstance: (1)The murder was especially heinous, atrocious, cruel or depraved (or involved torture) (2) The capital offense was committed during the commission of, attempt of, or escape from a specified felony (such as robbery, kidnapping, rape, sodomy, arson, oral copulation, train wrecking, carjacking, criminal gang activity, drug dealing, or aircraft piracy) (3)The defendant committed 'mass murder' which is defined as the murder of 3 or more persons whether in a single episode or at different times within a forty-eight month period (4) The defendant knowingly created a grave risk of death for 1 or more persons in addition to the victim of the offense (5) The murder was committed by means of a bomb, destructive device, explosive, or similar device (6) The murder was committed for pecuniary gain or pursuant to an agreement that the defendant would receive something of value (7) The defendant caused or directed another to commit murder, or the defendant procured the commission of the offense by payment, promise of payment, or anything of pecuniary value (8) The murder was committed to avoid or prevent arrest, to effect an escape, or to conceal the commission of a crime (9) The defendant has been convicted of, or committed, a prior murder, a felony involving violence, or other serious felony (10) The capital offense was committed by a person who is incarcerated, has escaped, is on probation, is in jail, or is under a sentence of imprisonment (11)The murder was committed against a person less than 12 years of age and then defendant was 18 years of age or older (12)The victim was especially vulnerable due to a significant handicap or disability, whether mental or physical and the defendant knew or reasonably should have known of such a handicap or disability (13) The victim was a government employee, including peace officers, police officers, federal agents, firefighters, judges, jurors, defense attorneys, and prosecutors, in the course of his or her duties (14)The victim was a correctional
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, TENN., USA
Dec. 9 OHIO: Supreme Court to hear appeal of Canton man's conviction On Wednesday, the Supreme Court of Ohio will hear the death penalty appeal of James Mammone III, a Canton man convicted of murdering his 2 young children and ex-mother-in-law in 2009. In Mammone v. State, attorneys for James Mammone III assert that publicity about the case was so pervasive in the Canton area that no impartial jury could be found. They contend that the failure to change venues deprived Mammone of his right to a fair trial. Among several other claims of errors made during the trial, Mammone's attorneys argue that his trial lawyers were ineffective because during the jury selection process they did not adequately ask potential jurors about what their views were on the death penalty, what they knew and thought about the case based on pre-trial publicity, and whether they could consider mitigating circumstances. His attorneys also assert that the trial lawyers should have better prepared Mammone's parents for their testimony and limited Mammone's own 5-hour statement made to the court. They also claim that the prosecution inflamed the jury by repeatedly showing grisly crime scene and autopsy photos to a point beyond the boundaries set by the Ohio Supreme Court. (source: WKYC news) TENNESSEE: Public defender's office says it can't take on new death penalty case Nashville's public defenders say they can't take on any more death penalty casesright now. Resources and manpower are simply too limited to take on the case of Lorenzo Jenkins, 40, a man accused of murdering 3 people over drugs in October. That's according to Assistant Public Defender Mike Engle, who told Criminal Court Judge Randall Wyatt Jr. Monday that the state should instead hire Jenkins a private attorney to handle his defense. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for the deaths of Patrick Sullivan, 56, his wife, Deborah Sullivan, 48, and their daughter, Wendy Sullivan, 28, who were all found stabbed Oct. 22, 2012. Because of the state's filing of a death motion in this case, our office quite frankly lacks the resources to defend a death penalty case, Engle told Wyatt in court Monday morning. Engle said the American Bar Association estimates a typical death penalty case requires upward of 2,000 hours of preparation. He explained that the office only has a few attorneys qualified to defend capital cases, 2 of whom are already on 1 case, and one of whom is retiring soon. The others, he said, have supervisory duties over other public defenders, making it impossible for them to take on a case of the magnitude of the one against Jenkins. Deputy District Attorney General Tom Thurman, who is prosecuting the case, disagreed. He said the public defender's office has plenty of people and could simply reassign lesser cases to free up one of the five attorneys qualified to handle a death penalty case. Besides, he said, he's handling more than 1 case. I am involved in three cases, Thurman told the court. So, I guess according to the ABA, I should be in the psych ward. Dawn Deaner, Nashville's elected public defender, said she was surprised by Thurman's comments. She said it's unfair to compare workloads of prosecutors, who have police officers, detectives, forensic experts and witnesses at their disposal before a case is even filed, with those of public defenders, who must start their own investigations after a case has already moved to court. I don't understand why the state takes the position that they take. I don't know why they're concerned about it, quite frankly, Deaner said. You can't compare their workload to our workload. It's 2 different measurements. She said her office has been chronically underfunded and understaffed and that taking on another death penalty case would require significant reshuffling of personnel and criminal cases that could, in the end, require more private attorneys hired to take over the reshuffled cases. There are maximum caseload standards that are recommended for public defenders in Tennessee, she said. If you apply those standards to the number of cases we handled in fiscal year '13, we were 22 lawyers short in our office to be able to handle the workload that we have. Her office is already participating in 2 other death penalty cases. The charges against Jenkins began last October, when the Sullivans were found dead in their Maxon Avenue home, the victims of a crime police say could have been the result of a dispute over drugs that were dealt out of that home. Jenkins is charged with 3 counts of 1st-degree murder, 3 counts of felony murder and 1 count of especially aggravated robbery. He's being held without bond because of a 6-year sentence for violating his probation on a previous conviction for aggravated burglary and theft. At Monday's hearing, Wyatt said he'd need some time to think the matter over, but not before asking
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, TENN., OKLA., MO., COLO., ARIZ., IDAHO, CALIF.
Dec. 7 OHIO: Billy Slagle, lost in the shuffle, again Even in death, Billy Slagle isn't getting a break. Slagle's suicide on death row at the Chillicothe Correctional Institution on Aug. 4 made headlines for a few weeks, in part because he was just 3 days away from execution when he took his own life by hanging. Then the Dispatch discovered that Slagle's attorneys had worked out a deal with Cuyahoga County prosecutors that could have spared his life. By the time his lawyers were able to get the prison, however, Slagle was gone. The Atlantic magazine called Slagle's death Shakespearean. Slagle felt bitter that he received the death penalty for murdering Mari Anne Pope in 1987, while Ariel Castro got life plus 1,000 years for kidnapping, raping and imprisoning three women in his Cleveland home. Castro's suicide a month later pushed Slagle's case to the back pages. In the latest development this week, Castro's case again dominated headlines when a pair of exports issued a report on suicides in Ohio prisons. Slagle's death was mentioned almost as an after thought in most stories, including the Dispatch. But what Slagle said in a very lucid suicide note is worth quoting. I wasn't going to sit in an utterly hopeless situation and wait for the inevitable, so I've decided to take my destiny into my own hands, he wrote. I found this whole process or ritual to be pscychological, mental and emotional torture. I wasn't definitely wasn't going to sit and wait to be strapped to a gurney and have poison pumped into my veins so a bunch of strangers that have absolutely nothing to do with my case can surround me and be entertained by my execution. (source: Columbus Dispatch) TENNESSEE: After acquiring necessary drug, Tennessee wants to execute 11 inmates A recent maneuver out of the state attorney general's office in Tennessee is being called unprecedented after officials there asked the Supreme Court for permission to execute 10 prisoners currently on death row. Those 10 inmates have been awaiting execution an average of more than 27 years, but the state put a hold on the practice of putting prisoners to death in 2011 after it was forced to surrender its supply of sodium thiopental, a sedative that had up until then been one of three components used in the lethal cocktail administered by executioners in Tennessee. Just this September, though, the Tennessee Department of Correction announced it would be switching to a single-drug lethal injection method, relying instead on just one narcotic, pentobarbital, which had been used primarily by veterinarians up until recently when other states began administering it to death row inmates. The use of pentobarbital as the sole drug of choice at executions across the United States has generated a fair share of criticism and safety concerns in recent years, but it isn't the narcotic that's now raising questions in Tennessee. Rather, officials are being asked to explain why for the 1st time presumably ever they've ordered at once death warrants for 10 separate individuals. Tennessee has only executed six prisoners between 1960 and 2009, and hasn't ended an inmate's life at all since 2009. According to an article published Thursday morning by The Tennessean's Brian Haas, however, officials there are now hoping to have 10 inmates all killed in only a few months' time. That surge in requests, many suspect, is a result of the September 2013 decision to begin using pentobarbital after a four-year lull in state-sanctioned killings. Now should officials follow through with their intentions, a state that hasn't sent a death row inmate to be executed in practically half-a-decade will be dabbling in a rapid series of killings, unprecedented there or likely elsewhere. I've been representing death row inmates for 2 decades, and never in my experience have I ever seen a situation where a state has requested 10 execution dates all at once, Kelley Henry of the Federal Public Defender's Office in Nashville told the Tennessean. This is an unprecedented situation. The 10 inmates have each been long-convicted of violent crimes, including acts of rape and murder that have earned them their spot on death row, and an 11th man's death has been separately ordered by the state to occur this upcoming April as punishment for killing a police officer almost a decade ago. According to Haas, outcry from the families of the prisoner's victims could very well be playing a role as well. David Raybin, a defense attorney from Nashville who Haas claims to have essentially wrote the state's death penalty statute, said complications are arising from a literal backlog of prisoners slated to be killed. For lack of a better word, (executions) sort of backed up, Raybin said. I think what they've done is, they've said, 'We've backed up for so long and now we want to put them all on a fast track because nothing has happened
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, TENN., KAN.
Dec. 5 OHIO: Proposal To Abolish Death Penalty Appeals To Cost-Conscious There's another bill in the Ohio House of Representatives to abolish the death penalty. Democratic State Representative Nickie Antonio is one of the bill's sponsors. She says the death penalty needs to be banned because it currently is levied disproportionately upon African Americans and poor Ohioans. And she says it costs many times more to prosecute death penalty cases. This isn't the 1st time a bill to scrap the death penalty has been introduced but Antonio is hoping majority Republicans will embrace it this time around because it is fiscally responsible and respects life. Antonio - It's important for us to focus on the political reality of the state of Ohio. The death penalty is expensive. So if we have fiscal conservatives among us - this is the bill for them. This should be a bill they can support. We have people who believe in the sanctity of life. This is a bill that they should definitely support. Even the most conservative among us should support this bill then. Antonio notes those convicted in wealthier counties are more likely to receive the death penalty than those who commit the same crimes in poorer counties. Antonio's bill would allow for a sentence of life in prison for the most heinous crimes. Her bill is supported by some faith leaders but so far, no Republican has signed on to the legislation. (source: WCBE News) ** State Rep. Dan Ramos opposes death penalty Rep. Dan Ramos, D-Lorain, said he understands that some relatives of homicide victims want to see the killers executed. Nonetheless, Ramos supports abolishing the death penalty contending it is inhumane, unequally applied and too expensive. Ramos on Tuesday joined anti-death penalty advocates in Columbus to support a bill replacing Ohio???s death penalty with life in prison without parole. The bill is expected to be formally introduced later this month. Noting the 143 people sentenced to death who were exonerated since 1973, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, Ramos said the death penalty has the potential to execute innocent people. The center said states with the death penalty have higher murder rates than states without it, which Ramos said proves it is not a deterrent to murder. Ramos said the death penalty is unequally applied in Ohio where 47 people have been executed since 2003. The last Lorain County resident executed was Daniel Wilson in 2009 for the 1991 murder of Carol Lutz. Ramos said 62 % of death penalty candidates come from seven of Ohio's 88 counties. He said counties with larger prosecutorial staffs tend to seek the death penalty disproportionately. Ramos said about 25 % of death row inmates are from Hamilton County, but just 9 % of Ohio's murders occurred there. It is clear that it is being applied unequally, Ramos said. The geographic area or the socioeconomic background you come from shouldn't determine whether you're sentenced to death or to life in prison. Ramos said death penalty cases cost taxpayers millions of dollars and the length of cases, which can take a decade or more, traumatize homicide victims' families. They have to keep reliving it, he said. 3 people have been executed in Ohio this year and the next execution is scheduled for January, according to Ricky Seyfang, an Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction spokeswoman. New drugs will be used for the lethal injection because death penalty states like Ohio have had difficulty buying pentobarbital. Drug companies have balked at selling it for executions. Ramos said the negatives of the death penalty outweigh the positives and support for it is decreasing. An October Gallup poll found 60 % of Americans support the death penalty, the lowest level since 1972. However, Dennis Will, Lorain County prosecutor, said he supports the death penalty in particularly heinous cases. He said the issue is being studied by a task force of academic experts, defense lawyers, lawmakers and prosecutors, but it is ultimately up to the Legislature. The legislature needs to debate this openly, vet it fully and then make a determination, Will said. Whatever they arrive at we will enforce. (source: Chronicel-Telegram) *** Death specs added in nearly 30-year-old Cleveland killingSuperseding indictment issues in case against Hernandez Warren A 58-year-old Cleveland man now faces the death penalty in the murder nearly 30 years ago of a 14-year-old girl. The Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office announced the new indictment of Hernandez Warren today in the death of Gloria Pointer, who disappeared on her way to school in early December of 1984. She was to get an award for perfect attendance that day. Warren is accused of aggravated murder, rape and kidnapping. He was jailed in May after old DNA samples from the crime scene matched Warren. (source: WKSU
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, TENN., IND., ILL., MO.
Oct. 25 OHIO: Convicted murderer indicted in stabbing death A Youngstown man who already served 30 years in prison for murder was indicted on an aggravated murder charge Thursday in the stabbing death of a Columbiana County woman and he could face the death penalty. David Hackett, 51, was indicted by a Mahoning County grand jury on one count each of aggravated murder with death penalty specifications and rape, and 2 counts of kidnapping. The rape and kidnapping charges carry repeat violent offender specifications. He is being held on a $2 million bond. Police said Hackett stabbed Collena Carpenter, 30, of Homeworth, dozens of times. Her body was found Oct. 14 lying in a pool of blood on the ground on West Avenue across from the old city water department building on the city's West Side. A pile of her belongs was found a short distance away. Detectives said Hackett and Carpenter knew each other. Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction records show Hackett was convicted in 1979 of aggravated murder and aggravated robbery from a case originating in Mahoning County. He was paroled in April of 2009. (source: WKBN News) * Test for the truth In May, the Ohio Supreme Court opened the door to new DNA testing in the case of Tyrone Noling. A 5-2 majority reversed a lower court decision and sent the question to Judge John Enlow of the Portage County Common Pleas Court. Earlier this month, attorneys for Noling filed a motion asking the court to permit testing of additional evidence. The request makes sense - if the objective is justice, or at least addressing the mounting doubt about the Noling conviction. A jury found Noling guilty of the 1990 killings of Cora and Bearnhardt Hartig in their house in Atwater Township. He has resided on death row the past 17 years. The indictment of Noling didn't come until 5 years after the episode, described by prosecutors as a robbery that turned into murder. Key to the conviction was the testimony of 3 friends of Noling at the scene. They long ago recanted, citing coercion by the prosecution. On their own, these reversals might be played down. Striking is how they fit into a pattern, the case against Noling having eroded so substantially. Noling and his friends were involved in earlier robberies in Alliance. At the Hartig house, there was no physical evidence linking them to the crime. Nothing was taken from the house. If many in prison proclaim their innocence, know further that Noling's gun didn???t match the murder weapon. He passed a polygraph test. 4 years ago, attorneys for Noling learned through a public records request about an alternative suspect. The information wasn't shared at the trial. Yet the person in question lived near the Hartigs and eventually murdered a young woman. He received a death sentence and was executed. Noling wants to apply the more sophisticated DNA testing of today to a cigarette butt found on the driveway. (He already has been excluded.) A search for the truth requires such a step. So does state law, the legislature in 2010 expanding the concept of a definitive DNA test. As the Supreme Court stressed, a test must be performed if it hasn???t been conducted yet and the outcome could be determinative, or likely change the result of a trial. Find the presence of an alternative suspect, including a 2nd possibility, an insurance agent for the Hartigs who refused to take a polygraph, and that surely would be the result. It would be especially so in view of the collapsing case of the prosecution on other fronts. Logic follows: If the cigarette butt is tested, then a jewelry box and shell casings should be tested, too. The prosecution has argued that both were touched by the killer. Recent advances in DNA testing make possible gaining decisive evidence from each item. An opportunity exists to clear up the many uncertainties about whether Tyrone Noling murdered the Hartigs. More, the state must take necessary care to ensure that Ohio avoids the grievous mistake of executing an innocent man. (source: Editorial, Akron Beacon Journal, Oct. 23) *** Youngstown man could face death penalty for murder of former Columbiana County woman The indictment of a Youngstown man for the stabbing death of a former Homeworth, Ohio woman includes a specification for the death penalty. The Mahoning County Grand Jury handed up a 4 count indictment Thursday against 51-year-old David Hackett for allegedly murdering 30-year-old Collena Lynn Carpenter. The indictment also charges Hackett with kidnapping and rape. Investigators tell 21 News that Carpenter had been stabbed more than sixty times before her body was found in a vacant lot along West Avenue in Youngstown last week. Carpenter had been staying with Hackett and his fiancee in Youngstown. At the time Carpenter's death,Hackett was out on parole from a life sentence for a
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, TENN., IDAHO, PENN.
Feb. 14 OHIO: Former Prosecutor Says Ohio's Death Penalty System Works Bob Desanto says safeguards are in place to prevent the innocent from making it as far as the death chamber. The former Ashland County Prosecutor says Ohio's death penalty system works. Bob Desanto says safeguards are in place to prevent the innocent from making it as far as the death chamber. Desanto's talk at the Hawkins-Conard Student Center at Ashland University is part of the university's Dead Man Walking Project. This discourse on capital punishment will bring nationally known death penalty opponent Sister Helen Prejean to the Ashland campus next week. Ashland University's theatre department is producing the play, Dead Man Walking written by actor Tim Robbbins and based on the book by Sister Prejean. She will present a lecture and book signing on Saturday Feb.23 at 3 p.m. (source: WMFD News) TENNESSEE: Christian, Newsom suspect to face death penalty, trials still a year away It will be nearly a year before one of the accused murderers of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom goes to trial. On Thursday, Judge Richard Baumgartner set Letalvis Cobbins' trial date for January 26th, 2009. Cobbins, Lemaricus Davidson, George Thomas, and Vanessa Coleman are all charged in connection with the young couple's murders. In the court room, the parents of the 2 victims never seemed to take their eyes off of the suspects. Vanessa Coleman was the 1st to be called in, and District Attorney Randy Nichols immediately turned in an intent to seek the death penalty against her. Colemans trial date has not yet been set for her yet, but she'll be back in court March 3rd to take up scheduling issues. Letalvis Cobbins, 25, will also face the death penalty in his trial, which Judge Baumgartner moved from May 12th to January 26th, 2009. Because Cobbins is the 1st of the 4 separate trials, the other 3 suspects also will not likely face trial until 2009. Judge Baumgartner said while the trial seems a long ways away, a capitol punishment case is not something you can rush, and it's typical for some trials to take up to 4 years to prepare. He went on to say the trial will take place in Knox County, but he won't decide on where the jury will come from until April 24th. Eric Boyd will go to trial in federal court on April 7th. He is accused of sheltering Lemaricus Davidson in a North Knoxville home right after last January's deadly carjacking. Davidson and George Thomas were not in court on Thursday, but have a hearing scheduled for March 3rd. (source: WVLT News) ** Prosecutors want death penalty for female defendant in carjacking murders Murder trials move closer for 2 suspects accused of killing a young Knox County couple. Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom were carjacked and murdered in January 2007. Vanessa Coleman and Letalvis Cobbins are 2 of the 4 that face a number of charges, including murder. Both Coleman and Cobbins had a motions hearing Thursday morning. District Attorney Randy Nichols dropped a bombshell at the beginning of Venessa Coleman's hearing. Nichols told the judge that the state will seek the death penalty for Coleman. After that development, her motions hearing was reset for March. Judge Richard Baumgartner ruled on more than 80 different motions in Latalvis Cobbins's hearing. One decision not made is whether there should be a change of venue. There have been demonstrations in this case, rallies and so forth. We expect that there will be more, Kimberly Parton, Cobbins's attorney told the judge. How can we say that the people in this jurisdiction can't be fair to a defendant without even asking them, judge? asked District Attorney Randy Nichols. How do we do that? Judge Baumgartner plans to rule on the change of venue in an upcoming hearing. Cobbins's attorney also accused law enforcement officials of raiding her client's jail cell, taking legal documents. The judge ruled that any handwritten letters from Cobbins to his attorney not be taken. The Knox County Sheriff's Department said the cell was raided prior to a court appearance, which is policy. They also said no legal documents were taken. Cobbins's trial is set for January 2009. He is also facing the death penalty. (source: WBIR News) IDAHO: Former Idaho Death Row Inmate Convicted in Retrial of Murdering Texas Couple A jury has convicted former death row inmate Mark Lankford of killing a Texas couple in 1983 in north Idaho. Lankford was granted a new trial after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled he must be retried or released because of a jury instruction error in his 1st trial. Jurors in Wallace, Idaho, deliberated not quite 4 hours before finding Lankford guilty of 2 counts of 1st-degree murder in the beating deaths of 27-year-old U.S. Marine Capt. Robert Bravence, and his 24-year-old wife, Cheryl Bravence. Lankford and his younger brother, Bryan Lankford, were convicted of the
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news-----OHIO, TENN., CALIF.
July 30 OHIO: Spirko gets 7th reprieve from executionStrickland grants time for more DNA testing John G. Spirko Jr.Convicted killer John G. Spirko Jr. will get another 120-day reprieve from execution, his 7th, to allow more time for DNA testing. Gov. Ted Strickland signed the reprieve for Spirko today, spokesman Keith Dailey said. Spirko, 60, was scheduled to be executed Sept. 18 for the August 1982 kidnapping and murder of Betty Jane Mottinger, 48, postmistress of Elgin, a small town in northwestern Ohio. His original execution date was Sept. 19, 2005. As with the other 6 delays, this one was granted to allow additional DNA testing on a number of items, including clothing, cigarette butts and duct tape found at the post-office crime scene and the farm field where Mottinger's body was found 6 weeks after her abduction. If any DNA is found, it is tested against samples from Spirko and other individuals. As of March of this year, state officials said the testing, which has cost taxpayers in excess of $50,000, has been inconclusive. (source: Columbus Dispatch) TENNESSEE: Christa Pike back in court appealing death sentence Convicted murderer Christa Gail Pike was in court Monday, appealing the sentence that put her on death row. Monday's is the 1st of 3 days of hearings for Pike, who's asking for a new judge in the case. Criminal court Judge Mary Beth Leibowitz has refused to take herself off the case. Pike was convicted of the 1995 murder of a fellow Job Corps student, Colleen Slemmer. In January, a neurologist testified in court that Pike has a damaged brain and suffered sexual and physical abuse in her childhood, as well as abusing drugs. The neurologist said it's like Pike's brakes aren't working because the frontal lobes of her brain aren't put together properly. The final day of the hearings is scheduled for December 10. In 2002, Pike attempted to stop her appeals before changing her mind later. (source: WATE News) CALIFORNIA: Convictions upheld for former Berkeley official The state Supreme Court today upheld the convictions of a former Berkeley city official who was sentenced to death for murdering and decapitating a friend to prevent him from testifying against him in a 1988 beating of a couple. The 6-1 decision said Enrique Zambrano, who had served as a Berkeley waterfront commissioner, had failed to prove that the judge and prosecutor in his trial had committed misconduct and prejudiced the jury. Zambrano was convicted in Alameda County Superior Court of killing Luis Reyna and beating UC Berkeley immunology professor Robert Mishell and his wife, Barbara, whom Zambrano suspected of making harassing telephone calls to his wife about an affair with another woman. Zambrano had told Reyna, who was his friend and fellow Berkeley waterfront commissioner, about the January 1988 beatings. Reyna kept silent at first, but then went to Berkeley police with the story. A jury found that Zambrano made bail and then murdered Reyna in July 1988 to silence him as a witness in the Mishell case, then cut off his head and hands and dumped the body parts in rural Lafayette to give him time to flee to Mexico with his lover, Linda Celebration Oberman. In his appeal, Zambrano claimed that a number of discussions and conferences among the attorneys and Superior Court Judge Stanley Golde went unreported, including conversations during jury selection. Among other things, Zambrano cited problems with jury selection, accused Golde of giving the jury faulty instructions and said the prosecutor, Martin Brown, engaged in misconduct during closing arguments in the penalty phase of the trial. In an opinion released today, the state's highest court, led by Justice Marvin Baxter, rejected Zambrano's arguments but agreed that the prosecutor improperly told jurors that the Bible not only makes it man's duty to impose the death penalty but demands it to preserve the sanctity of human life. We recently have suggested or assumed that prosecutorial arguments substantially similar to the one at issue here are improper, Baxter wrote. Still, he added, Zambrano suffered no prejudice as a result of Brown's remarks. In a dissenting opinion, Justice Joyce Kennard said Zambrano's death sentence should be reversed because the prosecutor's references to the Bible as an authority for the death penalty prejudiced defendant, undermining confidence in the fairness of the penalty phase of defendant's capital trial. Kennard also wrote that she believed Golde erred in refusing defense counsel's request to ask prospective jurors if they would invariably impose the death penalty in a case involving dismemberment of the murder victim's body. Zambrano and Oberman lived as fugitives, 1st in Mexico and then in Palm Springs, until their arrest in September 1989. Oberman pleaded no contest to harboring a criminal and later testified at Zambrano's trial that he admitted murdering Reyna and did not regret it.
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, TENN., VA., ILL.
Dec. 2 OHIOdesire to expand state penalty law Execution proposed for foster deaths Child-welfare chiefs want stiffer penalty for parents who kill The states child-welfare directors want Ohio lawmakers to automatically make it possible for foster parents who kill a child in their care to be sentenced to death. Although Franklin County Children Services has never had such a case go to court, Director John Saros is among those leading the charge based on the recent death of a 3-year-old developmentally disabled boy in Clermont County. There is nothing more egregious than for a person who has come forward saying, 'You can trust me,' to turn around and kill a defenseless child who has been removed from their home because of abuse, neglect or another troubling circumstance, Saros said. I view it as an aggravating circumstance that shouldnt be treated any differently than someone who murders a police officer or firefighter. That and other proposals for reform will be delivered to the legislature soon, officials said. Saros said Children Services also will be checking up on the 1,570 foster children it has in private care after a state report blasted Lifeway for Youth, the New Carlisle group charged to care for Marcus Fiesel. In its report, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services faulted Lifeway, which has 523 foster homes in Ohio and operates in six states, for not watching carefully over the Middletown boy. died in August after being left alone in a closet for 2 days, wrapped in a blanket and packing tape, while his foster parents went to a family reunion in Kentucky. Liz and David Carroll Jr. have been charged with murder, kidnapping, felonious assault and child endangering. The state report cites Lifeway for 15 violations, including failing to conduct a complete home study, not visiting the home frequently enough, allowing a relative to serve as a reference, lying about the amount of training the couple received and overbilling the state for training. Lifeway Executive Director Michael Berner did not return phone calls yesterday. Children Services stopped sending youths to Lifeways Cincinnati office after Marcus death and sent caseworkers to visit the more 200 children who the Franklin County agency had in Lifeway homes at the time. The agency has sent 372 children to Lifeway so far this year; 198 remain in the groups care, Saros said. Instead of limiting its scrutiny to Lifeway, Children Services will examine all of its 42 private foster-care companies as a precaution. Children Services will ask the private groups in a few weeks for electronic copies of criminal checks, details of parents backgrounds, home studies, licenses, references and other materials for all the foster parents caring for Franklin County children. Private agencies place 81 percent of the agencys foster children. Although the effort will stretch Children Services capabilities and funding, it is necessary, Saros said. 99 of our foster parents are wonderful, caring people worthy of our trust, he said. But then you have the people who are duplicitous and are willing to lie and misrepresent themselves who will always be difficult to catch. Several providers yesterday said they understand the need for additional inspection. When something as incredibly terrible as this happens and youre in the peoples business, you do everything possible to prevent further deaths, said Nicholas Rees, Buckeye Ranchs vice president of development. Others said they hoped the increased scrutiny will be shortterm. I really understand Children Services need for this, said Robert J. Marx, executive director of the Rosemont Center. But I really worry that if you ask for every home study, training record and piece of paper in a foster parents file, no one will have time to do anything else. Sometimes, he said, bad people will do bad things, no matter the safeguards. State officials said they applaud efforts by individual child-welfare agencies to protect the children in their care. But the state is focused on getting the 54 recommendations in its report adopted, said Dennis Evans, spokesman for the Department of Job and Family Services. The reforms include toughening foster-care licensing and screening standards. The agency also is reviewing Lifeways operation to decide whether to recertify the group when its license expires Jan. 18. The Public Children Services Association of Ohio, which represents the states childwelfare agencies, is drafting the death-penalty proposal and 3 other foster-care measures directors say are needed: Matching children who have severe emotional, mental and physical disabilities with people trained to care for their needs. Creating a new category of foster-care providers to make it easier for people who want to help a particular child or siblings. Changing how funding works so that agencies also would be paid for helping families keep their children, instead of simply providing funding for
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, TENN., PENN., VA.
Oct. 18 OHIO: Judge delays next week's execution of cult killerJeffery Lundgren joins lawsuit challenging Ohio's use of lethal injection Convicted murderer and cult leader Jeffrey Lundgren could live to die another day, after a federal judge delayed Lundgren's Oct. 24 execution date and allowed him to join a lawsuit challenging Ohio's use of lethal injection. U.S. Rep. Steven LaTourette, the former Lake County prosecutor, called the judge's decision ludicrous. The notion that someone can eat their way out of the death penalty and lethal injection is repugnant to decent Americans. If that's the case, perhaps we should shoot (Lundgren) in the head, execution-style, like he did the 5 members of the Avery family, LaTourette said. Lundgren was convicted of murdering 5 members of the Avery family: Dennis Avery, 49; his wife, Cheryl, 46; and their daughters, Trina, 15, Rebecca, 13, and Karen, 7. In 1989, Lundgren headed a small cult and preached altered Mormon scriptures. His followers believed Lundgren was a prophet of Jesus Christ and their faith in him would lead them to eternal glory at Christ's second coming, which was near. To illustrate his power and his devotion to the will of God, Lundgren accepted the Averys' savings and credit cards, fed them a last supper and led the family into a Kirtland barn, where he bound, shot and buried them together, according to Lake County Common Pleas Court testimony given during Lundgren's trial. Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Gregory Frost allowed Lundgren to join the lawsuit and granted the temporary injunction to delay Lundgren's execution. The lawsuit, which originally was filed by the Ohio Public Defenders Office in 2004, challenges the constitutionality of Ohio's lethal injection policy, according to a 2004 press release from the Ohio Public Defenders Office. Frost twice denied Lundgren's attempt to gain inclusion in the lethal-injection challenge suit and have his Oct. 24 execution stayed, according to the Web site www.ohiodeathpenaltyinfo.com. This turn of events is particularly unfortunate because Frost knew (Lundgren) didn't file (to be included in the lawsuit) in time, LaTourette said. That is like saying: 'So what about the law? so what about the rules?' he said. (source: Star Beacon) TENNESSEEimpending execution Death row inmate files for stay of execution scheduled next week A Tennessee death row inmate scheduled to be executed next week has filed for a stay with a federal appeals court. Donnie E. Johnson claims lower courts were wrong to previously dismiss his arguments for new counsel. Johnson was convicted in Shelby County of killing his wife in December 1984 at the camping equipment center where he worked. Authorities say he suffocated her by stuffing a plastic garbage bag into her mouth. Earlier this month, Tennessee's high court rejected his arguments claiming that he needed new legal representation, and set an October 27th execution. Monday, Johnson's attorneys filed a motion for a stay with the 6th U-S Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati. (source: Associated Press) PENNSYLVANIA: Husband won't get death penalty - Prosecutors aren't seeking the death penalty in the trial of Scott Dunn, 27, of Slippery Rock. A Slippery Rock man accused of murdering his wife and setting fire to her parents' Grove City home to cover up the crime earlier this year will not face the death penalty, a prosecutor said. Scott Dunn, 27, is scheduled to stand trial in the Jan. 14 death of his wife Brandi, 22. He faces a host of charges including 1st- and 3rd-degree murder, abuse of a corpse and arson. It is said to be the 1st murder in Grove City in more than 40 years. After meeting with the victim's family and examining the evidence, prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty, said Mercer County District Attorney James P. Epstein. The Dunns were house-sitting for Brandi Dunn's parents at their home on 109 E. Washington Blvd. in Grove City when she was found dead inside the home's entryway by firefighters extinguishing a fire that destroyed the home. In the days following his wife's death, Scott Dunn relayed several conflicting stories to police officers, firefighters and neighbors. One consistent detail, however, is Dunn's claim that he walked into the house and found a strange man beating his wife. He has told varying tales concerning the man's exit from the house and the fire's origin. Despite his conflicting accounts, Dunn insists he was not the one who killed his young wife. At his arraignment earlier this month Scott Dunn's defense attorney, Stephen Misko said his client certainly would like for the authorities to get the person who's responsible for the murder of his wife. The Dunns were married less than six months and her parents' home was reportedly still filled with the couple's wedding gifts when it was destroyed by the fire. At a 3-day preliminary hearing in July, a mutual male friend said Scott Dunn
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, TENN., FLA., ALA.
Oct. 7 OHIO: Petro requests 5th reprieve for Spirko Attorney General Jim Petro on Friday asked Gov. Bob Taft for a 5th reprieve for a condemned killer to allow more time for DNA testing in the 24-year-old murder of an Ohio postmistress. If Taft agrees to the delay for death row inmate John Spirko it means Spirko's fate would likely be decided by whoever is elected governor next month. Spirko, 60, has already received far more reprieves than any other inmate since Ohio resumed executions in 1999. Taft spokesman Mark Rickel said the governor would decide shortly after returning from his weeklong trade mission to Mexico, which begins Saturday. Petro asked for the delay at the request of Spirko's attorneys, who say they can't finish the testing before the scheduled execution date. Additional testing is being done on a tarp that held the body of slain postmistress Betty Jane Mottinger and 2 rags found in a field nearby. Spirko, who says he is innocent, was convicted based on witness statements and his own comments to investigators. No physical evidence ties him to the killing and charges against a co-defendant who linked him to the murder have been dropped. Courts at all levels have previously upheld his conviction and death sentence. Spirko's execution is scheduled for Nov. 29. Taft last delayed the execution in June to allow additional time for DNA testing. He had previously allowed a delay of 6 months and 2 delays of 60 days each. Petro's request said another 6 months should be enough time for testing, according to the letter sent Friday by Heather Gosselin, senior deputy attorney general. But the letter also adds, Should more time be needed, we will request an additional extension. A message was left with Spirko's attorney seeking comment. Previously, Spirko has asked Petro for DNA testing on hair found on duct tape wrapped around the tarp in which Mottinger's body was found. In March, he also requested testing on additional evidence, including 30 to 100 cigarette butts recovered from the Elgin post office, where Mottinger was kidnapped. On the Net: Attorney General: http://www.ag.state.oh.us/ (source: Associated Press) TENNESSEE: Brothers to be evaluated Psychological tests ordered for two accused of slaying Roane County lawman and his friend In Kingston, a special judge on Friday ordered psychological evaluations of 2 brothers accused of fatally ambushing a Roane County lawman and his ride-along pal. The move to put Rocky Joe Houston, 45, and Clifford Leon Houston, 47, under a psychological microscope came after a closed-door meeting prompted by the brothers' bid to fire their attorneys. Special Judge James Buddy Scott offered little explanation for the abrupt order. Based upon that (closed-door) hearing and upon evidence available to the court, this court feels and so orders an evaluation of the two individuals by psychiatric and other professionals, Scott said. The evaluation process will bring to a screeching halt any progress in the case and likely will delay the pair's trial, set for March. Scott said he would not hear any of the pending motions in the case until he receives a report back on the brothers' mental states. The brothers have long been at odds with law enforcement and others in the judicial system of Roane County, filing dozens of lawsuits and complaints. The feud appeared to have escalated in the past few years, with the Houston brothers increasingly contending that their lives were at risk. It was against this mental backdrop, in which the Houstons had even taken to patrolling their own property armed with guns, that the May 11 fatal shooting of Roane County Sheriff's Office Deputy William Birl Jones, 53, and ride-along Gerald Michael Brown, 44, occurred. Jones apparently drove onto the Houstons' property in his patrol car, although it's still not clear why. There was a pending warrant against one of the Houston brothers at the time, but theirs was not an address Roane law enforcement officers would have been expected to go to without backup. Authorities allege the Houston brothers immediately opened fire on the deputy and Brown, a former lawman. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against the pair for what they contend was cold-blooded, premeditated murder. The Houston brothers have signaled in court hearings and records the possibility of a defense of self-defense, raising the specter that Jones had repeatedly ridden past the family compound that day to menace the brothers and stopped to harass or harm them. Friday's hearing was set for Scott to announce whether he was going to order the 9th District Attorney General's office off the case, a request made by the Houstons' attorneys, Jim Logan and Randy Rogers, in July. The brothers contended Scott McCluen, then the county's top prosecutor, had represented Leon Houston in an unrelated case years ago. However, McCluen lost a re-election bid to Russel Johnson, who was at Friday's
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, TENN., ARK.
July 6 OHIO: Ohio's prison population increase could mean more beds at MANCI Ohio's prison population increased 6 percent in the past year, adding to concerns among some public officials about overcrowded conditions and tensions between inmates and guards. In June, there were 46,356 inmates in 32 prisons that were built to house 35,730, according to state records. The Lorain Correctional Institution in northeast Ohio was the most overcrowded prison with 1,983 inmates. It was designed to hold 756. The extra prisoners at the Lorain facility are forced to sleep in bunk beds placed in commons areas. The Mansfield Correctional Institution, despite losing death row last year, has 2,232 inmates. It is designed to hold 1,418, meaning it is operating at 157.4 % of capacity. This is a recipe for disaster, said state Sen. Robert Hagan, a Youngstown Democrat and member of the Correctional Institution Inspection Committee, which issued a new report on the Lorain facility. When you have more and more people crowded into an area, you have more fights and more discussions on how to hurt other people and less talk about rehabilitation. It's unclear if the prison population increase is a random spike or a long-term trend. A team of researchers is studying the issue, and a report could be ready within a week, said Andrea Dean, spokeswoman with the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. Ohio prisons Director Terry Collins said the increase may be linked to a 4 % increase in felony cases -- 77,042 -- filed in courts across the state in 2005. He said sentencing alternatives, such as community-based corrections programs that judges have used for years are filled, leaving prison as the sole option in many cases. To alleviate crowding, Collins said he is looking to add nearly 1,300 more beds in 6 prisons -- Pickaway, Ross, Warren, Toledo, Mansfield and Marion -- by reopening cellblocks that were closed several years ago. MANCI will have 118 beds added. Cost of reopening the units hasn't been determined, Collins said. The state may be able to bring in staff from other prisons, which would help save money, he said. But any time you shuffle staff like that, we have to make sure we're not hurting one prison to help another, said Collins, who oversees an annual budget of about $1.6 billion. (source: Mansfield News Journal) TENNESSEE: Former Corrections Officer To Be Sentenced Middle Tennessee knows him as Walter Kuntz, but his family called him Steve. In January 2003, Kuntz was booked into Wilson County Jail, charged with drunk driving. 8 hours later he was dead, beaten to death by guards. Patrick Marlowe was supervisor at the jail when Kuntz was killed. Thursday morning, the former corrections officer will find out how long his own prison sentence will be. For the Kuntz family, Marlowe's sentencing will be the final chapter after 3 1/2 years of pain and tears. Marlowe does not face the death penalty, but the former guard could spend the rest of his life in jail. Marlowe's sentencing hearing is set for 9 a.m. Thursday, July 6. A judge already sentenced 2 other former jailers to substantial prison terms. Former jailer Gary Hale will spend 9 years behind bars. A judge slapped Tommy Conatser with a 5 year and 10 month sentence. (source: WKRN News) ARKANSAS: 'Dear Governor Huckabee' -- Letters from around the world support convicted killers. In mid-April, I helped cook up a scheme with a convicted killer. My co-conspirator was Jason Baldwin, one of the 3 young men who became known as the West Memphis Three after their convictions in 1994 for murdering three 8-year-old boys in that city. In 2002 I wrote a book, Devil's Knot, about the case. It ended, as had the trials, with Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley Jr., at ages 16 and 17, being sentenced to life in prison, and Damien Echols, 18, being sentenced to death. 12 years later, appeals for all 3 continue. I wrote my book as a journalist. But researching it convinced me that the trials were unfair. Many others share that view and have worked for years to see justice in this case. It represents a mounting disgrace to this state. In the 12 years since the trials, thousands of letters have been sent to Arkansas public officials, only to disappear into the black hole of bureaucracy. So here was the conspiracy: I rented a post office box, and Jason Baldwin wrote a letter, which I forwarded to the Worldwide Web. In his letter, Baldwin appealed to supporters to write letters to Gov. Mike Huckabee explaining their concerns. This time, though, Baldwin asked that the letters be sent to Huckabee in care of the post office box I'd rented. In just over 2 months, more than 450 people, from as near as Little Rock and far away as Paddington, Australia, took the time to write to Arkansas's governor. And, per Baldwin's request, many of them noted on the outside of their envelopes some of the key points they raised within, to publicize what disturbs
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----OHIO, TENN.
July 13 OHIOimpending execution//volunteer Inmate to be executed Wednesday; won't say why he shot his girlfriend Struthers, Ohio- Stephen Vrabel still refuses to say why he shot his girlfriend in the head, then stuffed her body in his refrigerator 15 years ago. During an interview Friday at the Mansfield Correctional Institute, Vrabel would not discuss the circumstances leading to the shootings of his girlfriend and their 3-year-old daughter, Lisa, but he did not deny killing them. Vrabel said he does not owe anyone, including the family of his girlfriend, Susan Clemente, an explanation. I have nothing to say to those people, he said. For Clemente's family, the reason she was killed is no longer important. They simply want Vrabel to be executed. Seventeen members of Clemente's family and 2 close family friends from Naples, Fla., plan to travel to Lucasville for Vrabel's execution Wednesday. Vrabel dropped his appeals and asked to be put to death. I'd rather be dead than be alive in prison, he said. Members of the tight-knit Clemente family have relied on each other to live through their grief. They're doing the same to get through Vrabel's execution. 6 family members - Susan Clemente's father, son, 2 brothers and 2 brothers- in-law - will witness the lethal injection. 6 is the maximum number the state will permit. This could have tore all of us apart, but it didn't, said Linda Aey, Susan's sister. We just helped each other. We're close and we love each other. Anthony and Norma Clemente have spent 49 years in the house where they raised Susan and their 4 other children. It's in a Struthers neighborhood of modest, well-kept homes that do not reflect the tough economic times in the Youngstown area. Struthers is the same suburb where Vrabel shot 29-year-old Susan and their daughter on March 3, 1989, with a handgun he bought that day. Prosecutors never established a motive. On Friday, Vrabel said he bought the gun to protect his family after hearing that strangers were walking through his back yard and the woods near where they lived. The notion that I purchased that gun with the intent of murdering my family, I just tell you that's not valid, he said. At the time, Vrabel told police he did not know why he shot Susan. He said with their 3-year-old daughter freaking out at the sight, he shot her in the head, figuring it was best because her mother was dead and he was going to jail. He fled their apartment, but returned days after the killings and placed Susan's body in the refrigerator and Lisa's in the freezer along with her favorite stuffed animals, a bear and a bunny. Vrabel said Friday he had hoped to slow their decomposition and increase the chances they could be resuscitated. Part of the reason for the bodies in the refrigerator was a belief that they would come back to life, he said. Now I don't know if that was from psychotic depression. Vrabel continued to live in the apartment for a month. During that time, he completed final exams in two courses he was taking at Youngstown State University. He got an A on his sociology exam. The bodies were discovered when Susan's brother-in-law Michael Aey went to the apartment to collect overdue rent money. Vrabel was driving in suburban Cleveland when he heard of the discovery. He stopped at a church in Parma, confessed to a priest and then to police. After spending 5 years at a psychiatric center, Vrabel was ruled competent to stand trial in 1995 and was convicted of 2 counts of aggravated murder. (source: Associated Press) TENNESSEE: Uniform rules suggested for death penalty in state Some prosecutors seek the d. p. only in worst of the worst cases, but a state report on the cost of 1st-degeree murder trials found others more prone to pursue executions. The report by the TN Comp. Office of Research suggests legislators provide uniform rules for prosecutors to use in decideing when to seek the death penalty. The report shows d. p. trials cost taxpayers an average of $46,791. That is 48% more than the average for trials in which proecutors sought life sentences with the possibility of parole. Researchers also found that from 1977-1995, the Tn Court of Criminal Appeals reversed 32 of 109 capital cases, or 29%, due to trial errors. Their report, which shows 97 inmates on death row, said a formal protocol for prosecutors might help reduce those reversals. Rep. Frank Buck, D-Dowelltown, requested the report in Oct., 2002 on behalf of the House Judiciary Committee, saying he wanted an unbiased opinion as to the costs associated with the d. p. Some prosecutors interviewed in this study indicxated that they seek the d.p. only in extreme cases, or the 'worst of the worst', the report released Monday stated. However, prosecutors in other jurisdictions seek the d.p. as a standard practice on every 1st-degree murder case that meets at least 1 aggravating factor. The report said the researchers' surveys and interviews show
