[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., LA.
July 2 TEXAS: Death row inmate Rodney Reed’s family goes to Supreme Court after Texas appeal denied Anti-death penalty activists will join family and friends of Texas death row inmate Rodney Reed in protest on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. Tuesday after the Texas high court denied Reed’s latest appeal. The family intends to plead with the Supreme Court to overturn what they say was a wrongful conviction. “Tonight, Rodrick and others in Rodney’s family are pleading with SCOTUS to ensure Texas does not continue to violate Rodney’s constitutional rights by denying him access to DNA testing of the crime scene evidence which can prove his innocence and a new, fair trial,” the group wrote in a news release. Stacey Stites was murdered in 1996 and her body was dumped on a rural Bastrop County road. DNA from the Stites case matched Reed, but Reed said he had a consensual and secret intimate relationship with her. Stites was engaged at the time. Reed was convicted a year later in her death. Reed has sought to overturn his conviction for years and the Court of Criminal Appeals most recently dismissed his application for relief last week. Reed’s lawyers argue that the scientific expert opinions used at trial more than 20 years ago have since changed. In 2017, the appeals court denied Reed’s appeal after a hearing in Bastrop County that included new testimony and evidence presented by the defense. Reed’s case has garnered national attention as his defense team, led by Innocence Project attorney Bryce Benjet, has uncovered new evidence, found new witnesses and cast doubt on the state’s case and critical forensic evidence used at trial. Stites was set to marry Jimmy Fennell, a Georgetown police officer, at the time of her murder. Fennell was later sentenced to 10 years in prison for an unrelated crime. He was accused of raping a woman in his custody but pleaded guilty to lesser charges. He was recently released from prison. Reed’s attorney said a wealth of new evidence shows Fennell was the actual killer. (source: KXAN news) FLORIDA: Court hearing pace quickens for man facing death penalty in 2017 murder A judge put Christopher Eugene Smith’s murder case on the fast track, telling the attorney for the Dunnellon man facing the death penalty there’s enough time to prepare. Circuit Judge Richard “Ric” Howard on Monday set Smith’s next court appearance for Sept. 25, when Howard ruled for 34-year-old Smith to either schedule a trial or change his not-guilty plea. “I’ve got nothing but time for trials,” Howard said. Smith’s public defender, Ed Spaight, told the judge that pace is too fast for him to line up witnesses and evidence for not just Smith’s trial but also for his sentencing phase, if it comes to that. “I just don’t see it being ready…60 days from now,” Spaight said. Assistant State Attorney Pete Magrino, who filed Smith’s death penalty notice last October, said he’s fine with Howard’s decision. A Citrus County grand jury indicted Smith and Sara Jane Atwood in September 2018 for the April 2017 premeditated murder of James Thomas Roman and the armed burglary of his home on West Cardamon Place in Lecanto. Atwood, 25, of Inverness, has a court hearing on July 15 and a trial scheduled for the week of July 22. Atwood, a beneficiary of Roman’s will is accused of conspiring with Smith to burglarize the 73-year-old’s house, where Smith allegedly strangled Roman to death during the break-in, reports show. Smith then stole Roman’s Nissan pickup truck and led sheriff’s deputies and Florida Highway Patrol troopers on a pursuit that ended with his apprehension in Marion County. A Judge sentenced Smith in September 2017 to a year and six months for charges connected with the pursuit. Authorities later extradited Smith to Citrus County last September to face his pending charges. Smith is also facing charges connected to May allegations he attacked a jail inmate and held a dozen others hostage with a homemade knife. (source: Citrus County Chronicle) LOUISIANA: Jury selection underway in Kevin Daigle capital murder trial Nearly 4 years since the fatal shooting of State Trooper Steven Vincent, jury selection is scheduled to get underway in the trial of the man accused in his death. Kevin Daigle, 57, is charged with 1st-degree murder and could face the death penalty if convicted. Jury selection is expected to take about a week. The trial is expected to last 2 to 3 weeks. Vincent, a 13-year veteran of the Louisiana State Police, was shot on the side of La. 14 near Bell City on Aug. 23, 2015. He died the next day. Daigle is also accused of killing another man, 54-year-old Blake Brewer, in Moss Bluff the same day. Daigle is charged with 2nd-degree murder in Brewer’s death, but that charge will be tried separately. The trial is being held in Lafayette after Judge Clayton Davis
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., LA., N.MEX., ARIZ., NEV., WASH.
April 19 TEXAS: Rare estate sale find shows how capital punishment was once carried out in Harris County A striking piece of Houston history sold earlier this week on eBay, a reminder of how criminal justice was once meted out in Harris County. The medal, about the size of a quarter, depicts a hooded, suit-wearing figure hanging from the gallows. Inscribed on the front is the name Henry McGee, his ethnicity is described as "colored" and the date of his execution is provided: Aug. 12, 1892. Also inscribed is the name of McGee's victim, Houston police officer James Fenn. We then learn the time it took for McGee to die on the gallows, 2 minutes, 30 seconds. The back of the medal reads, "Presented to R.E. Sutton by J. Warfel." A city directory from that period lists a Robert E. Sutton as deputy sheriff and assistant jailer. There are 2 Warfels listed in the directory, one of whom was a watchmaker. The medal, which came from a Houston-area estate sale, baffled some Texas historians. "I never came across anything like that," said Mitchel P. Roth, professor of criminal justice and criminology at Sam Houston State University and co-author of "Houston Blue: The Story of the Houston Police Department." At the time of McGee's execution, the Houston Daily Post looked back on the case and noted "there was strong talk of lynching" after he was jailed. 4 men are known to have been lynched in the county in the 1800s and early 20th century. No doubt that when McGee was arrested, the mob-fueled slaying of John Walton, suspected in a burglary and attempted rape the previous year, was on many Houstonians' minds. A brother-in-law of the burglarized homeowner, also a Houston cop, took part in the lynching. McGee's arrest came at time when the South was experiencing a rising number of lynchings that continued for decades. Patricia Bernstein, author of "The First Waco Horror: the Lynching of Jesse Washington and the Rise of the NAACP" said it was amazing that McGee was not lynched and that he was tried twice for Fenn's death. "It was almost like there were 2 separate systems of justice, for blacks and whites," she said, noting that wealthy, well-placed whites tended to fare better in the criminal justice system than poor whites. The system, though, was always going to be worse for African Americans, she said. Cary Wintz, distinguished professor of history at Texas Southern University saw the medal as a personal item, given its rarity. "To me, the issue is how many did he make?" he said, speculating that there could have been some personal connection between Sutton and Fenn that led Warfel to create it. He and other historians also wondered what was it about the case that prompted this. "This one is just off the wall," Wintz said. Bernstein found the medal appalling, even if it depicts a lawful execution. "It's a medal that celebrates the murder of somebody," she said. Roth said badges, and even ball-and-chains, will appear in police and criminal justice collections, but he had never seen anything like this object. Here's what is known about the crime: On March 14, 1891, Fenn was at a gathering spot known as the Broom Factory where alcohol and music mixed in the Second Ward. Fenn was sent there by the chief of police to maintain order, according to a decision by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. This was not his first time there as he was considered popular in the African-American community. McGee, who once worked as a waiter at the Capitol and Grand Central hotels, apparently held a grudge against Fenn over an earlier arrest for shooting a pistol and threatened to kill the officer if he "was ever sent to the poor farm in consequence of an arrest." "Very soon afterwards a pistol was fired, and Fenn and another officer, Frank Michael, went in the direction of the pistol shot, where a man stood flourishing a pistol in his right hand," according to the appeals court. "As they got close to him, he deliberately lowered the pistol in front of him, and holding it (in) both hands, fired upon Fenn and killed him." McGee fled but was captured a few days later at a home occupied by 2 women in the First Ward. McGee soon went on trial and was convicted and sentenced to death. That conviction was reversed on appeal and sent back to the trial court because of the admission of improper testimony. The following year, McGee was tried and sentenced to death again. *** At 7 a.m. on Aug. 12, 1892, a crowd of Houstonians gathered outside the Harris County Jail for McGee's execution. "Men, women and children of all conditions congregated about the jail and gazed with renewed interest at the iron-girded pile of brick and mortar which barred their morbid curiosity by shutting out sight of the condemned man," the Houston Daily Post noted. "As time worn on the [motley] crew increased, until the sidewalks could no longer hold them." About four
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., LA., NEB., NEV.
July 29 TEXASinmate seeks to drop appeals and speed executuion Travis Mullis, On Death Row For Stomping Infant To Death, Files Request To Fast-Track His ExecutionMullis has waived all his appeals and fired his attorneys. Travis Mullis, a 31-year-old Texas man who stomped his 3-year-old baby to death, has filed a request to fast-track his path to the death chamber, according to the Houston Chronicle. Mullis made headlines when he was sentenced to death row in 2011 after he stomped his little baby to death by the Galveston seawall in a ghastly culmination of what his attorneys said was a series of "stupid decisions." His attorneys had previously pointed out that Mullis was an "emotional mental health quadriplegic," detailing his horrific upbringing and the result of his childhood scars on his mental being. According to the documents, Mullis' mother died when he was a toddler, and between the ages of 3 and 6, he was sexually abused repeatedly. He spent years in and out of institutions, and when he was 18, Mullis' adoptive mother kicked him out to live on his own. This is when he moved to Texas and settled with a woman he had met online on the outskirts of Houston. But by 2008, Mullis and his girlfriend found themselves without any money and without a home, at which point a couple which had been living in a trailer invited them to come live with them. At one point during his stay, Mullis took the couple's 8-year-old daughter to a schoolyard where he tried molesting her. When the child began crying, Mullis panicked, later ruing the fact that he had "screwed" himself by "stepping over the line." Partly to avoid eviction, and partly to introspect his next course of action, Mullis drove to Galveston with his 3-month-old sleeping in the back seat. Court documents showed that the child started crying, making Mullis angry. In his impulsive rage, the Texas man tried to first molest his toddler boy, but when he wouldn't keep quiet, stomped his head till it gave away. "I make stupid decisions, what can I say. I did it on impulse and killed him right after," he told the Chronicle. He fled to Pennsylvania but four days after the incident and surrendered to Philadelphia police with a detailed confession about the crimes he had committed. He was sentenced to death despite protestations by his attorneys that Mullis had been subject to emotional and sexual abuse himself while growing up. Mullis has waived appeals and won't seek the counsel of his attorneys, having fired them. He says he doesn't want to be excused because he committed serious crimes which should lead to death. All he wants, Mullis says, is that his suffering be reduced by fast-tracking his path to death. "I'm 100 % guilty of my crime nobody contests that," Mullis said. "The fight is over my sentence. I'm accepting of my death sentence. My lawyers are against the death penalty for anyone." (source: inquisitr.com) ** Bail reduced for woman accused in son's death A district judge in Bowie County reduced bail from $100,000 to $20,000 at a hearing Friday for a woman accused in the death of her 4-year-old son earlier this year. Khadijah Wright, 26, appeared before 5th District Judge Bill Miller for a bond reduction hearing Friday morning with Dallas lawyer Jasmine Crockett in a 2nd-floor courtroom of the Bowie County courthouse. Wright is charged with injury to a child by omission in the March death of young D'Money Lewis. D'Money's father, Benearl Lewis, is charged with capital murder in the death. Wright is accused of allowing Benearl Lewis to be alone with the couple's children despite a care plan with Child Protective Services prohibiting D'Money's father to have unsupervised contact or spend the night at the rent house where Wright and the children were living in Wake Village, Texas, on Redwater Road. Crockett called Wright's mother to testify on her behalf at Friday's hearing. Marisha Hamilton testified that Wright graduated from Arkansas High School in Texarkana, Ark., and that Wright has some type of online degree. Hamilton said Wright was working at Mayo Manufacturing in Texarkana at the time of Wright's arrest 128 days ago. Hamilton said she lives on a disability payment of less than $1,000 monthly and denied Wright has any assets or felony convictions. Hamilton told the court she can only afford to post $2,000 for her daughter's release. Assistant District Attorney Lauren Richards called Wake Village Police Department Detective Todd Aultman, the lead investigator into D'Money's murder. Aultman said the case was brought to his department's attention March 6 by members of the Texarkana, Texas, Police Department. Aultman said Texarkana, Texas, police were working a traffic accident at West Seventh Street and Bishop Lane when the couple approached them about getting a police escort to the hospital for their child. Aultman said an
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., LA., TENN., NEB.
July 26 TEXASdeath row inmate seeks to drop appeals Texas court seeks to clear up whether inmate in CO's slaying wants to dieAn appeals court asked a trial court to determine whether an inmate sentenced to die for a CO's death really is volunteering for execution The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals asked a trial court Wednesday to determine whether a 51-year-old prisoner sentenced to die for a corrections officer's death during a 2007 escape attempt in Huntsville really is volunteering for execution. Condemned inmate John Ray Falk Jr. filed his own document last month seeking to get rid of his lawyers and "expedite this process with as much swiftness as this court might allow," the state's highest criminal court said in its 4-page ruling. The filing came after Falk initially sought to represent him in the appeals process, then said he wanted his appeals waived, and later decided to retain attorneys. The court gave Falk's trial court 30 days to resolve any questions, then gave parties in the case another 30 days to submit legal briefs. Falk last year pleaded guilty and received the death penalty for the death of Texas Department of Criminal Justice corrections officer Susan Canfield. Canfield was killed in September 2007 trying to block the escape of Falk and another inmate, Jerry Duane Martin, from a work detail at the Wynne Unit prison in Huntsville. A truck stolen by Martin hit her horse. Falk already was a convicted murderer serving a life prison term, and Martin was serving 50 years for attempted capital murder. They were among about 75 inmates working in a vegetable patch outside the Wynne Unit prison at the northern edge of Huntsville. Authorities said the escape began when Martin used the ruse of a broken watch to get close to an officer and snatch a weapon. He tossed it to Falk and ran to steal the truck. Canfield was hit as they sped off while shots were being fired. Her head struck the truck, killing her. The prisoners abandoned the pickup about a mile away and carjacked a woman at a bank drive-thru. Huntsville police pursuing them shot out a tire in that car. The inmates fled on foot. Falk was apprehended within an hour. Martin was caught a few hours later, hiding in a tree. Martin was executed in 2013 after requesting no additional appeals be filed in his case. (source: Associated Press) FLORIDA: Jury recommends death penalty in case of St. Johns Co. double murder A St. Johns County jury chose unanimously the death penalty in the case of James Colley, Jr. Last week, the same jury spent 2 hours deliberating before returning a verdict of guilty on all counts, including 2 counts of 1st-degree premeditated murder of Amanda Colley and Lindy Dobbins. The sentence comes after the defense team spent 2 days asking jurors to consider the prescription and illicit drugs in Colley's system, the domestic violence he witnessed as a child, and his caring family values. In closing arguments, defense attorney Garry Wood asked the jurors have mercy on the 38-year-old defendant. "This is a human being we're talking about," Wood said. "According to the state's own testimony, Mr. Colley was upset, he was enraged. He's an impulsive person, but that doesn't aggravate this into a case where the death penalty is warranted." Assistant prosecutor Mark Johnson replayed a frantic 911 call made by Amanda Colley during the shootingsand detailed the gunshot wounds during the state's closing arguments. Johnson told jurors the murders deserved a punishment of death because of aggravating factors that made the crime "atrocious and heinous." "There was no justification for what happened," Johnson said. "The choices he made [were] for his own selfish desires because he couldn't let go, because he was losing control and this was the only way he could regain control." (source: firstcoastnews.com) Jurors spare life of gang member. He didn't pull trigger, but will spend life in prison Frantzy Jean-Marie, a suspected gang member convicted last month of killing a confidential informant and his girlfriend 15 years ago, had his life spared Tuesday, but will spend the rest of it prison. The same jury that convicted Jean-Marie, 35, of 2 counts of 1st-degree murder, 4 counts of attempted murder and conspiracy and racketeering last month, spent just over an hour deliberating life or death for the 35-year-old who prosecutors say belonged to a violent and murderous street gang known as the Terrorist Boyz. The 12-member jury spared Jean-Marie's life after reaching the conclusion after his four-month trial that ended in June, that he did not pull the trigger - but was guilty of the murder of Armstrong Riviere and his girlfriend Stephanie Adams at a Northwest Miami-Dade apartment complex in March of 2003. During the same trial, Jean-Marie was acquitted of the murders of 2 men who were shot to death as they
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., LA., OHIO, KY.
July 17 TEXASnew execution date 'Very psychotic' Fort Worth killer who murdered bus rider gets November death date A Fort Worth killer once deemed too insane to execute now has a date with death. Emanuel Kemp of Tarrant County is slated for execution on Nov. 7 in the Huntsville death chamber, according to prison spokesman Jeremy Desel. The high-school dropout had been out of prison for just 5 days when he hijacked a public transit bus at knifepoint in 1987, forcing the driver to drive around town while he raped and murdered the only passenger, Johnnie Mae Gray. The 34-year-old died from 9 stab wounds to the chest and throat according to Texas prison records. The driver was stabbed in the neck but lived. Kemp was arrested 3 days later, and sent to death row the following year after a whirlwind 6-day trial. In the years after his conviction, Kemp was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, according to his attorney, Greg Westfall. "He has been very psychotic to entirely utterly out there since about 1990," Westfall said. By the mid-90s, a court deemed Kemp incompetent for execution. After years of medication, a higher court reversed that decision and he was given a death date in 1999. But with days to go, a federal court intervened and spared his life. In the years that followed, Kemp's attorneys raised claims of bad lawyering, violations of due process, questions about jury selection and denial of funds to get mental health experts. The courts rejected some of the arguments on technical grounds, and decided his mental health claims weren't "ripe." That is, he couldn't argue he was too insane to execute unless he had an execution scheduled. But, according to Westfall, even after he lost in federal court in the early 2000s, the Tarrant County District Attorney's Office under another administration agreed not to seek another death date. "It was agreed that he was too insane to execute," Westfall said. "But since then, the leadership there has changed and now they have sought an execution date. It was really out of the blue." The district attorney's did not address any prior agreements or considerations regarding an execution date, but did offer a statement late Monday. "The defendant has a court-appointed attorney, and there has not been an objection to the setting of this date by the defense," said spokeswoman Samantha Jordan. "Should a potential issue of mental illness be raised, we'll consider the evidence presented at that time." Currently there are no pending appeals, but Westfall said he plans to file claims questioning his client's competency for execution. The Lone Star State has executed 7 men this year. Including Kemp, there are 8 more death dates on the calendar. The next, Christopher Young, is slated to die Tuesday. (source: Houston Chronicle) Before his scheduled execution, Chris Young fights the Texas parole boardThe death row inmate claims that the parole board likely rejected his clemency petition because he is black. The argument highlights a long-standing criticism of clemency in Texas. In a final fight before his execution, set for Tuesday evening, Chris Young is targeting Texas' secretive clemency process. On Friday, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles unanimously rejected Young's clemency petition - often the final check in the death penalty process before an inmate is sent to the death chamber. Hours later, Young's lawyers filed suit against the board members, claiming that they likely voted against a recommendation to reduce his sentence or halt his execution because he is black. The filing highlights a long-established criticism of Texas clemency - the reasoning for the board's decision is unknown to the public, usually with individual members casting their votes remotely without comment or a hearing. Though members must certify that they do not cast their votes because of the inmate's race, they also don't have to give any reason for their decision. "Their procedures and everything else are internal; you don't get to see it," said Keith Hampton, a defense lawyer who worked on 2 of the 3 successful capital clemency petitions in Texas in the last 20 years. "They've got lawyers back there ... they all go over it, but I have no idea why they reject it, and they don't have to say why." Young's case is a long shot. A Texas appellate court previously upheld the boards' ability to explain rejections of clemency solely by vote counts. And the state noted in its response that the appeal doesn't point to any specific evidence of racial discrimination. Young was 21 when he entered Hasmukh Patel's San Antonio store in 2004 and fatally shot Patel during an attempted robbery, according to court records. He was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death in 2006. In his recent petition to the parole board asking for
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., LA., MO., NEB., UTAH, IDAHO, USA
April 3 TEXASfemale to face death penalty Jury trial set for capital-murder defendant A jury trial has been scheduled for Jan. 28 for the woman accused of shooting to death her 2 young daughters, Henderson County District Attorney Mark Hall said. Just over 3 months ago, Sarah Henderson, 30, pleaded not guilty after being indicted in January 2018 on 2 counts of capital murder, attempted murder and assault on a public servant. She remains in the Henderson County jail on $1 million bond each on the capital cases and a combined $100,000 bond on the other counts. Henderson was arrested on Nov. 2 at her Mabank home. Sheriff Botie Hillhouse has said that she had planned the murders of Kaylee and Kenlie for a couple of weeks and that she tried to kill her husband, Jacob Henderson, before the gun malfunctioned. The girls, 5 and 7, attended Southside Elementary School in Mabank. In a 911 call, Jacob Henderson asked for help for his wife before asking a dispatcher to "disregard" the call. About 3 hours later, he made another 911 call to report that his wife had shot the girls in their heads. "The assault on a public servant arose 2 days later while Henderson was being held in the Henderson County jail, where she is accused of striking a detention officer while he was attempting to release her from restraint," according to reports. Judge Scott McKee of the 392nd Judicial District Court provided prosecutors and defense attorneys Steve Green and John Youngblood a restricted and protective order - that is, a gag order. Hall said he has until June 1 to determine whether the death penalty should be sought in the case. If convicted of capital murder, Sarah Henderson could spend life in prison without the possibility of parole or receive the death penalty. A pretrial hearing is set for Aug. 23 in the 392nd. (source: Athens Daily Review) * Prosecutor will seek death penalty in murder The Texas County prosecutor will seek the death penalty for 1 of 4 persons accused in the brutal death of a teenager last year north of Cabool that drew national attention. Parke Stevens Jr. announced his intention to seek the sentence against Andrew Vrba in a court filing Monday in Crawford County Circuit Court, where the case is expected to be heard on a change of venue. A trial date could be set as early as Tuesday, when it appears on a docket. Vrba, 18, is charged with 1st-degree murder, armed criminal action and abandonment of a corpse in the September death of Joseph M. Steinfeld, who went by "Ally" and planned to transition to a female, according to family members. Authorities allege the victim was stabbed and the remains burned. Stevens' decision also will likely trigger the involvement of a special prosecutor from the Missouri attorney general???s death penalty case team. Vrba is defended by the Missouri public defender system. 3 other defendants are charged in the stabbing death of Steinfeld: --Isis Schauer, 18, entered a guilty plea to 2nd-degree murder and abandonment of a corpse. She was sentenced to 20 years on the murder count and 4 years on the 2nd charge in December. The terms are to run concurrently in the Missouri Department of Corrections. --Briana Calderas, 24, also is charged with 1st-degree murder, armed criminal action and abandonment of a corpse. A pre-trial conference is June 19 in Pulaski County, where her case will be heard. The trial is Oct. 9-12. --A 4th person, James Grigsby, of Thayer, 25, is accused of abandonment of a corpse and tampering with evidence. (source: Houston Herald) 'Express lane to death': Texas seeks approval to speed up death penalty appeals, execute more quickly Texas is seeking to speed up executions with a renewed request to opt-in to a federal law that would shorten the legal process and limit appeals options for death-sentenced prisoners. Defense attorneys worry it would lead to the execution of innocent people and - if it's applied retroactively, as Texas is requesting - it could potentially end ongoing appeals for a number of death row prisoners and make them eligible for execution dates. "Opt-in would speed up the death penalty treadmill exponentially," said Kathryn Kase, an longtime defense attorney and former executive director of Texas Defender Services. But a state attorney general spokeswoman framed the request to the Justice Department as a necessary way to avoid "stressful delays" and cut down on the "excessive costs" of lengthy federal court proceedings. Robbie Kaplan, co-founder of the #TimesUp movement, says sweeping changes to laws in recent years have dissuaded attorneys from taking on harassment cases on behalf of women. The legal defense fund aims to change that. The controversial request - which comes after years of declining executions - has sparked a federal lawsuit and hundreds of pages of comments from a broad
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., LA., ARK., IOWA, UTAH
Jan. 18 TEXASimpending execution "Tourniquet Killer' set to be executed in Texas A Houston-area sex offender who was convicted of killing a young woman and confessed to 3 more strangling deaths is set for lethal injection in Texas Thursday in what would be the 1st U.S. execution of 2018. The Harris County District Attorney's office dubbed Anthony Allen Shore the "Tourniquet Killer" because of how he ended his victims' lives, using a stick to tightly twist a cord around their necks. "Anthony Shore is the worst of the worst," Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said. "He's a serial killer. He took pleasure in his victims' suffering. He's appropriate for the death penalty." Shore was condemned for the slaying of 21-year-old Maria del Carmen Estrada, who disappeared as she walked to work early on April 16, 1992. Her strangled body was later found dumped in the drive-thru lane of a Houston Dairy Queen. The slaying went unsolved for more than a decade until a tiny particle collected from beneath her fingernail matched the DNA of Shore, by then a convicted sex offender whose DNA had been added to a state database. When police arrested Shore, the former tow truck driver, phone company repairman and part-time musician confessed to killing Estrada and 3 others: Laurie Tremblay, 15, whose body was found beside a trash bin outside a Houston restaurant in 1986; Diana Rebollar, 9, who was abducted while walking to a neighborhood grocery store in 1994; and Dana Sanchez, 16, who disappeared in 1995 while hitchhiking to her boyfriend's home in Houston. All were Hispanic. At least 3 of them had been sexually assaulted. A Harris County jury convicted Shore in 2004 of capital murder in the killing of Estrada. After hearing 4 days of prosecution evidence on the 3 other slayings and hearing from 3 women who testified Shore raped them, the jury recommended the death penalty. Attorneys said Shore's appeals have been exhausted. The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to review his case. "We've made the best arguments we can," attorney Knox Nunnally said Tuesday. A bizarre scheme hatched by a fellow inmate temporarily halted Shore's execution, which had been set for Oct. 18. Hours before he was to have been taken to the death chamber, prosecutors agreed to a reprieve to investigate a claim that another man convicted of murder, Larry Swearingen, had tried to get Shore to take responsibility for the killing that put Swearingen on death row. Shore, 55, told investigators he declined to go along with the plan. Shore also told authorities in recent weeks that he was responsible for 2 other slayings, but a Texas Rangers' investigation determined evidence did not support his claims. Shore is scheduled for execution Thursday evening in Huntsville, Texas. 23 prisoners were put to death nationally in 2017, 7 of them in Texas, more than any other state. (source: Associated Press) Executions under Greg Abbott, Jan. 21, 2015-present27 Executions in Texas: Dec. 7, 1982present-545 Abbott#scheduled execution date-nameTx. # 28-Jan. 18-Anthony Shore--546 29-Jan. 30-William Rayford547 30--Feb. 1-John Battaglia-548 31--Feb. 22Thomas Whitaker549 32--Mar. 27Rosendo Rodriguez III--550 (sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin) ** Number of death sentences, executions continue declineNo death sentences handed down in Harris County in 2017 Texas, and specifically Harris County, have long been known as the epicenter of capital punishment in the United States. Over the last 20 years, 438 people have been executed in the state, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. However, the number of yearly executions nationwide has dropped steeply since the turn of the century. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, there were 98 executions in the United States in 1999. Last year, there were 23. During the same time in Texas, the number of executions dropped from 35 to 7. "People are more reluctant to give out death sentences," said city of Houston victims rights advocate Andy Kahan. He said there are several factors contributing to the trend. The most significant impact came in 2005, when juries were given the option to hand down a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. Kahan said the effect on the death penalty was immediate. "(Juries) feel as long as that person will remain behind bars for the rest of their life, they're not going to be so inclined to give out the death penalty," Kahan said. Before the law, sentencing someone to life in prison for capital murder meant they still had a shot at getting paroled after serving 40 years in prison. "(Juries) knew that if they did not come back with the
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., LA., OHIO, ARK.
Dec. 16 TEXAS: Why Texas' 'death penalty capital of the world' stopped executing people Since the Supreme Court legalized capital punishment in 1976, Harris County, Texas, has executed 126 people. That's more executions than every individual state in the union, barring Texas itself. Harris County's executions account for 23 percent of the 545 people Texas has executed. On the national level, the state alone is responsible for more than a third of the 1,465 people put to death in the United States since 1976. In 2017, however, the county known as the "death penalty capital of the world" and the "buckle of the American death belt" executed and sentenced to death a remarkable number of people: zero. This is the 1st time since 1985 that Harris County did not execute any of its death row inmates, and the 3rd year in a row it did not sentence anyone to capital punishment either. The remarkable statistic reflects a shift the nation is seeing as a whole. "The practices that the Harris County District Attorney's Office is following are also significant because they reflect the growing movement in the United States toward reform prosecutors who have pledged to use the death penalty more sparingly if at all," said Robert Dunham, the director of the Death Penalty Information Center. The city of Houston lies within the confines of Harris County, making it one of the most populous counties in the country - and recently it became one of the most diverse, with a 2012 Rice University report concluded that Houston has become the most diverse city in the country. Under these new conditions, Kim Ogg ran in 2016 to become the county's district attorney as a reformist candidate who pledged to use the death penalty in a more judicious manner than her predecessors, though the longtime prosecutor didn't say she would abandon it altogether. Rather, Ogg said she would save it for the "worst of the worst" - such as serial killer Anthony Shore, who was rescheduled for execution next month. But this year, Ogg appears to have held true to her promise of only pursuing the death penalty in what she deems the most extreme cases. It represents a break from a long pattern of Harris County prosecutors who pushed for the death penalty in nearly all capital cases. "The overall idea of what makes us safer is changing," Ogg said. "We're reframing the issues. It's no longer the number of convictions or scalps on the wall. It's making sure the punishment meets the crime." Ogg's approach has earned her recognition from experts, including those opposed to the use of capital punishment. "She is a much more fair-minded prosecutor than we've seen in the past," said Kristin Houle, the executive director of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. "She's very deliberate in her approach to the issues and appears to listen to the concerns of the community. But I think there are still a lot of opportunities for further reform in Harris County." But Ogg said she cannot alone take credit for the recent drop in executions. The trend precedes her slightly and can also be connected to better educated and more diverse jury pools, as well as Texas' new sentencing option of life without parole. The state also has a more skilled group of indigent defense lawyers who build up mitigating circumstances - such as an abusive childhood or mental illness - for an alleged murderer's crime. Even a state like Texas might stop sentencing alleged killers to death in the near future. And that trend could well extend nationwide. "We've seen a deepening decline in the death penalty since the year 2000, and some states fell faster than others," said University of Virginia law professor Brandon Garrett, who wrote "End of Its Rope: How Killing the Death Penalty Can Revive Criminal Justice." He added that the declines are steepest in counties that had sentenced the most people to death. "Juries are turning away from it, prosecutors are turning away from it, so [the death penalty is] withering away on the vine whether courts or legislators decide to do anything about it," Garrett said. As for Ogg, she only said that she represents modern-day Harris County, not the one made famous for the number of people it executed. She said that her office still has more than 80 pending capital murder cases and she'll examine each one thoroughly to decide whether the death penalty is the most fitting punishment. "With other sentencing options and with an increased knowledge of science and technology, Americans feel responsible as jurors in a way they didn't in the past because there's more information to be considered," she said. "So I think attitudes toward the death penalty are changing." (source: NBC News) * It's Debatable: Should death penalty be used more often? This week, Arnold Loewy and Charles Moster debate states' use of the death penalty. Moster is a former
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., LA., OHIO
Dec. 12 TEXAS: Salvadoran man on Texas death row loses Supreme Court appeal The U.S. Supreme has refused to review an appeal from a 48-year-old Salvadoran man on Texas death row for the slayings of 2 Houston store clerks during an attempted robbery more than 17 years ago. The high court had no comment in its decision Monday in the case of Gilmar Guevara. Attorneys for Guevara asked the justices to reverse lower courts' rulings rejecting arguments that he's mentally impaired and ineligible for the death penalty. Guevara was convicted and sentenced to death for the fatal shootings of 48-year-old Tae Youk and 21-year-old Gerardo Yaxon. Youk was from South Korea and Yaxon from Guatemala. Guevara, identified as the shooter, and 2 accomplices fled the scene in southwest Houston in June 2000 without any money. He does not yet have an execution date. (source: Associated Press) FLORIDA: Convicted killer Duane Owen wants off death row Attorneys for a man convicted of 2 heinous murders in the 1980s and sentenced to death are fighting to save his life. "Duane Owen is nothing more than a cowardly, misogynistic bully who preys on people he knows he can overcome," the state argued before a judge inside a Palm Beach County courtroom on Monday. Decades after juries convicted him and judges sentenced him to death for two murders in Boca Raton and Delray Beach, Duane Owen wants to get off of death row. Attorneys are trying to now use a 2016 U.S. Supreme Court and Florida Supreme Court ruling to vacate Owen's death sentence for the gruesome rape and murders of 14-year-old babysitter Karen Slattery and 38 year-old single mother Georgianna Worden. Owen's attorney argues juries in both cases were split 10-2 when recommending death for Owen and the judges had the final say. Florida law now requires a unanimous verdict for the death penalty. ???At the end of the day, Mr. Owens was denied his rights in both cases," attorney James Driscoll argued. "We would ask for the court to grant relief in both cases." "It disgusts me, that's how I feel. It disgusts me to think that we have to go there," said Jane Smith, who was one of Slattery's teachers. "Just pray for the family. It's been a heartache. You can't bring her back if you execute him but there's got to be closure, somewhere." The judge didn't indicate when he'll rule or how long it could take. (source: WPEC news) * Convicted killer sentenced to death for 3rd timeJury unanimously recommended execution for Randal Deviney For the 3rd time since a woman was brutally killed 9 years, a Duval County judge has sentenced Randal Deviney to be put to death for the murder. In August 2008, when Deviney was 18 years old, he slit the throat of Delores Futrell and beat her during an attempted burglary. He then moved her body and staged the scene to make it appear that she had been sexually assaulted. In October, after two days of testimony from detectives, forensic scientists, family members and psychologists, a jury unanimously recommended he be given the death penalty. On Monday, Judge Mark Borello formally sentenced Deviney to be returned to death row. On Monday, Borello said the nature and cruelty of the crime and age of the victim were all factors that led him to give Deviney to the death penalty. "All lives have value, but we are a nation of laws," Borello said. "Randall Deviney, you have not only forfeited your right to live among us, but under the laws of the state of Florida, you have forfeited your right to live at all." This and all death sentences are automatically reviewed by the Florida Supreme Court. Futrell's family was in court Monday, but did not comment after the hearing, but did make remarks after the jury recommended the death penalty 2 months ago. "We're glad it's finally over (and) he got the sentencing he deserved," Futrell's granddaughter Raqia Blades said. "I'm glad we don't have to keep replaying the memories of what happened and keep asking the question, 'Why?'" It was the 3rd jury that has been asked to sentence Deviney to death for the crime. The 1st conviction was overturned on appeal and his 2nd sentence was thrown out when the Florida Supreme Court ruled that death penalties are only constitutional if there is a unanimous jury recommendation. Futrell, a dialysis technician and mother of four, was described in court this week as loving life and having a thirst for knowledge. "A person like my mom should have died a peaceful death," said Jacquelynn Blades, Futrell's oldest daughter. During the sentencing hearing, the defense presented 37 mitigating factors to try and convince the jury to spare Deviney from the death penalty. It called Deviney's father and a forensic psychologist to testify an abusive childhood. Despite Deviney mental, sexual and physical abuse as a child, Borello said Deviney still had a loving family and
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., LA., OHIO
Nov. 17 TEXAS: Flawed evidence is why the death penalty must go After leading the nation for decades in recommending death sentences, juries in Dallas County and Harris County have apparently cooled to the idea. In Dallas, prosecutors have asked juries to condemn a murderer to death just 2 times since 2014, and in both cases the juries declined. That's good news for anyone concerned about how justice is meted out in Texas. While there are crimes that probably deserve death, the defining characteristic of an execution is its irreversibility. Once carried out, there is no possibility for mistakes to be corrected. That's a problem for a criminal justice system whose mistakes are being brought to light more often than ever by advances in science and technology. This basic incompatibility has helped soften support for the death penalty. Dallas County District Attorney Faith Johnson has sought the death penalty in only 2 cases since taking office, which we hope suggests an increasingly high bar for executions in general. The 1st of them, however, was upended last week when new information about defendant Antonio Cochran's intellectual disability made him ineligible for execution, thanks to the Supreme Court's narrowing interpretation of when the Constitution permits the death penalty. But it's a case out of Bell County not even involving a capital crime that best explains why our system of justice is fundamentally incompatible with the death penalty. When jurors convicted George Powell of a Killeen robbery in 2009, it looked solid enough. A camera recorded the robber leaving the 7-Eleven, where he had put a handgun on the counter and told the terrified cashier to give him the cash and some cigarettes. The cashier told police the robber had been about 5-foot-6, according to a story published last week by Brandi Grissom, The Morning News' Austin bureau chief, but the clerk and a manager later testified that Powell, who is 6-foot-3, was the robber. Eyewitness testimony has a lousy track record. And in this case, it was disputed by the manager of another store that had been robbed 12 days before when she testified that she recognized Powell and he was definitely not the one who robbed her. But prosecutors pointed to the video. And introduced an informant who told jurors that Powell had confessed while they were in jail. Now, however, both the video and the snitch's testimony have been contradicted. The inmate says he lied to curry favor in his own case. And the video? An expert hired by the Texas Forensic Science Commission has concluded it is impossible that the man in the video was taller than 5-foot-9. Powell remains in jail serving 28 years. An appeals court will have to decide whether all this means he's innocent. Lawmakers ought to ponder whether new standards for analysis of video evidence are needed, as the commission has suggested. But whatever happens, we know that since he's still alive any mistakes in Powell's case can still be corrected. That's not possible for those who've been executed. That's precisely why the death penalty remains fundamentally incompatible with justice. (source: Editorial, Dallas Morning News) FLORIDA: Court will not reconsider Oviedo killer's death sentenceThe Florida Supreme Court heard arguments to throw out Andrew Allred death sentence in the 2007 Oviedo double homicide. Asst. FL. Attorney General Stacey Kircher argues that he was not in a "disassociative" mental state when he committed the crimes. The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a lower court's decision not to reconsider the sentence of an Oviedo man on death row, documents show. Andrew Allred, 31, was convicted of 1st-degree murder for killing his best friend and his ex-girlfriend in 2007, following a public break-up during his 21st birthday party. He was sentenced to death for both murders in 2010. He was appealing the Seminole County Circuit Court's decision to deny his initial post-conviction motion in 2016, where he claimed he was assigned an ineffective attorney. In January 2017, Allred filed an appeal to the initial motion, which was also denied by the lower court because he voluntarily waived his right to a jury during the sentencing hearings. "Allred is among those defendants who validly waived the right to a penalty phase jury, and his arguments do not compel departing from our precedent," the justices wrote. According to court records, on Aug. 25, 2007, Allred's girlfriend at the time - Tiffany Barwick, 19, - broke up with him at his birthday party. During the next few days, he used photos of her for target practice and later sent her pictures of those images with bullet holes. After Allred discovered Barwick was seeing his best friend, Michael Ruschak, 22, he sent both of them threatening messages. About a month later, he drove to Ruschak's home in Oviedo, where he rammed into his
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., LA., OHIO, NEV., ARIZ., CALIF., US MIL.
Nov. 15 TEXAS: Science has taught us juries rely on flawed evidence for convictions; that's why the death penalty must go After leading the nation for decades in recommending death sentences, juries in Dallas County and Harris County have apparently cooled to the idea. In Dallas, prosecutors have asked juries to condemn a murderer to death just 2 times since 2014, and in both cases the juries declined. That's good news for anyone concerned about how justice is meted out in Texas. While there are crimes that probably deserve death, the defining characteristic of an execution is its irreversibility. Once carried out, there is no possibility for mistakes to be corrected. That's a problem for a criminal justice system whose mistakes are being brought to light more often than ever by advances in science and technology. This basic incompatibility has helped soften support for the death penalty. (Other factors that may be playing a role: It is also expensive and has not been proven to be more a more effective deterrent against future crime than, say, the life sentence without parole that has, since 2005, been the minimum sentence for anyone convicted of capital murder in Texas.) Dallas County District Attorney Faith Johnson has sought the death penalty in only two cases since taking office, which we hope suggests an increasingly high bar for executions in general. The first of them, however, was upended last week when new information about defendant Antonio Cochran's intellectual disability made him ineligible for execution, thanks to the Supreme Court's narrowing interpretation of when the Constitution permits the death penalty. But it's a case out of Bell County not even involving a capital crime that best explains why our system of justice is fundamentally incompatible with the death penalty. When jurors convicted George Powell of a Killeen robbery in 2009, it looked solid enough. A camera recorded the robber leaving the 7-Eleven, where he had put a handgun on the counter and told the terrified cashier to give him the cash and some cigarettes. The cashier told police the robber had been about 5-foot-6, according to a story published last week by Brandi Grissom, The Morning News' Austin bureau chief, but the clerk and a manager later testified that Powell, who is 6-foot-3, was the robber. Eyewitness testimony has a lousy track record. And in this case, it was disputed by the manager of another store that had been robbed 12 days before - it was thought by the same robber - when she testified that she recognized Powell and he was definitely not the one who robbed her. But prosecutors pointed to the video. And introduced an informant who told jurors that Powell had confessed while they were in jail. Now, however, both the video and the snitch's testimony have been contradicted. The inmate says he lied to curry favor in his own case. And the video? An expert hired by the Texas Forensic Science Commission has concluded it is impossible that the man in the video was taller than 5-foot-9. Powell remains in jail serving 28 years. An appeals court will have to decide whether all this means he's innocent. Lawmakers ought to ponder whether new standards for analysis of video evidence are needed, as the commission has suggested. But whatever happens, we know that since he's still alive any mistakes in Powell's case can still be corrected. That's not possible for those who've been executed. That's precisely why the death penalty remains fundamentally incompatible with justice. Texas Forensic Science Commission recommendations regarding use of video evidence: 1. The basis for analytical conclusions reached in forensic casework must be supported by clear and comprehensive scientific methods. 2. Analysts should address error rates and uncertainty in their reports. 3. All analytical reports should be subject to peer review before use in a trial. 4. When post-conviction analysis is performed, the results should be immediately communicated to the prosecutor, the court and the defendant. 5. Analysts should follow established industry guidelines that are the consensus of the scientific community. 6. Analysts should take precautions to protect against confirmation bias. 7. In light of ... the concerns highlighted in this particular case, the commission's advisory committee should consider whether new licensing requirements for forensic analysts should be added. 8. The Bell County prosecutor should consider seeking further assistance from the FBI or another qualified law-enforcement forensic service provider if questions remain in the Powell case. 9. The criminal justice community should seek assistance and training when they encounter a forensic video analysis case and need to retain an expert witness. (source: Editorial, Dallas Morning News) ** Hudson not insane, but deficient, experts say Psychologists,
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., LA., OHIO, IND., ARK., USA
Oct. 13 TEXASimpending executions Man convicted in Texas prison guard's death to be executed A Texas death row inmate who sued unsuccessfully to try to halt his execution, arguing that more DNA testing needed to be done, is now trying to convince the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the punishment scheduled for Thursday. Robert Pruett was already serving 99 years for a neighbor's killing when he was convicted in the death of a prison guard who was stabbed in an attack that prosecutors say stemmed from a dispute over a peanut butter sandwich. Pruett wanted to take the sandwich into a recreation yard against prison rules, they said. An autopsy showed corrections officer Daniel Nagle died of a heart attack brought on by the December 1999 stabbing. Pruett, 38, has insisted he's innocent of Nagle's death at the McConnell Unit near Beeville, about 85 miles (136 kilometers) southeast of San Antonio. He would become the 6th prisoner executed this year in Texas, which carries out the death penalty more than any other states. Texas executed a total of seven inmates last year. Pruett avoided execution in April 2015 when a state judge halted his punishment just hours before he could have been taken to the death chamber. His lawyers had convinced the judge that new DNA tests needed to be conducted on the tape-wrapped, 7-inch sharpened steel rod used to repeatedly stab the 37-year-old Nagle. The new tests showed no DNA on the tape but uncovered DNA on the rod from an unknown female who authorities said likely handled the shank during the appeals process after the original tests in 2002. The execution was put on the schedule again. After seeking even more DNA testing and being rejected by the courts, Pruett's attorneys filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in August in which they argued that the courts denied Pruett due process. The lawyers asked the federal courts to halt the rescheduled execution, allow the additional DNA testing and then check the results for matches in law enforcement databases.Last week, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the lawsuit. But Pruett's attorneys appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday, arguing that a lower court judge wrongly rejected the case after sitting on it for 2 months. In a second appeal to the Supreme Court, also filed on Tuesday, the attorneys asked the high court to revisit the question of whether it is constitutional to execute a prisoner who claims actual innocence because of newly discovered evidence. U.S. Supreme Court justices in 1993 ruled 6-3 in a Texas case that it was constitutional to do so. State attorneys say Pruett's lawyers have long engaged in "a pattern of delay." No physical evidence tied Pruett to Nagle's death. At his 2002 trial, prisoners testified that they saw Pruett attack Nagle or heard him talk about wanting to kill the guard. According to some of the testimony, he talked about possessing a weapon as well. Pruett has said he was framed and that Nagle, an officer for more than 3 years, could have been killed by other inmates or corrupt officers at the McConnell Unit. "I never killed nobody in my life," Pruett testified at his trial. He said he was in a gym when he learned the officer had been stabbed. Pruett's 99-year murder sentence that he was already serving was for participating at age 15 with his father and a brother in the 1995 stabbing death of a 29-year-old neighbor, Raymond Yarbrough, at the man's trailer home in Channelview, just east of Houston. Pruett's father, 70-year-old Howard Pruett, is serving life in prison. His brother, 47-year-old Howard Pruett Jr., was sentenced to 40 years. (source: Associated Press) * Houston serial killer loses appeal 1 week before scheduled execution With just a week to go before his scheduled execution, Houston serial killer Anthony Shore lost a last-ditch appeal claiming decades-old unrealized brain damage left him so impaired he was not morally culpable for his crimes. The so-called Tourniquet Killer slated for execution Wednesday was convicted of capital murder in 2004 after he confessed to brutally slaying 4 young women in the Houston area. In the latest appeal, turned down by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Tuesday, Shore's lawyers argued that the extent of his brain damage rendered the execution unconstitutional, likening it to executing an intellectually disabled prisoner. "Mr. Shore does not claim he is ineligible for the death penalty because he is unintelligent or uncharismatic," his lawyers wrote earlier this month in a court filing. "Mr. Shore is ineligible for the death penalty because his brain injury decreases his moral culpability for his crimes, in the same way that a juvenile, despite intelligence or charisma, is nonetheless ineligible for the death penalty." But the state's highest criminal court didn't buy into that argument. "We find that applicant has
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., LA., ILL., NEB., CALIF., USA
July 20 TEXAS: Judge denies request to speak to doctor in Petetan death penalty case A judge denied a request by death row inmate Carnell Petetan Jr. to speak to a state expert Tuesday after McLennan County prosecutors charged his attorneys were on a "fishing expedition" and assured them they had provided all evidence favorable to the defense. Jeremy Schepers and Ashley Steele of the Office of Capital and Forensic Writs filed a motion seeking an order from 19th State District Judge Ralph Strother that they be allowed to interview Dr. Randy Price and that state prosecutors turn over their notes or other communications with the Dallas neuropsychologist. Price consulted with McLennan County prosecutors in the Petetan capital murder case but did not testify at his trial. Price attended the trial and heard defense expert witnesses testify that Petetan has an intellectual disability that should preclude him from the death penalty. Strother sentenced Petetan to death in April 2014 after jurors recommended the penalty in the 2012 shooting death of his estranged wife, Kimberly Farr Petetan. The attorneys from the capital writ office have not filed an application for writ of habeas corpus in Petetan's case but are in the preparation stages while his initial appeal is pending before the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. The deadline to file the writ application with the state's highest criminal court is Oct. 19. Officials brought Petetan from death row in Livingston, 45 miles east of Huntsville, for the 20-minute hearing. Prosecutors Michael Jarrett and Sterling Harmon objected to the defense's request. They assured the judge that the state had provided to the defense all so-called "Brady" material and all subject matter covered by the Michael Morton Act, evidence favorable to the defense. "Dr. Price consulted on the case," Jarrett said. "He never gave us any exculpatory materials. He just agreed with the state's contention that all of Petetan's life, his actions, thoughts and things he did do not support an intellectual disability finding and, in fact, rebut it." Jarrett reminded Strother that Petetan testified at his trial for hours and said the jury could see he is not intellectually disabled. "This is not a case of test scores," Jarrett said. "It is a case of adaptive behavior." The jury in Petetan's case found that Petetan constitutes a continuing threat to society and rejected his claim that he was exempt from execution because of mental impairment. Kimberly Petetan started writing Carnell Petetan in prison in 2009 after a chance meeting with his brother. A recovering drug addict who was studying to be a drug abuse counselor, Kimberly Petetan shared her story with Carnell Petetan's brother, and he thought Carnell Petetan, then serving a 20-year prison term for 3 violent assaults, could benefit from her kindness. Kimberly Petetan and Carnell Petetan were married and after his release from prison lived together in Port Arthur for a short time. Kimberly Petetan moved back to Waco after reporting that her husband had threatened her and her daughter. Carnell Petetan was convicted of breaking into his estranged wife's Lake Shore Drive apartment in September 2012 - about 7 months after his release from prison - and shooting her in front of her daughter and 2 men who rode from Port Arthur with him earlier that day. Both of those men and the girl told jurors that Petetan shot his wife. Petetan claimed 1 of the men with him fired the fatal shots. Petetan served almost 20 years in prison for shooting 2 men and attacking another man with a chair in separate incidents when he was 16. He has been locked up since he was 13, being placed on juvenile probation for attacking a teacher before continuing to do poorly and being sent to a state juvenile facility in Brownwood. Trial testimony showed that in Petetan's early prison years, he sexually assaulted 3 fellow inmates, assaulted guards and was a member of the 357 Graveyard Crips prison gang. (source: Waco Tribune) FLORIDA: Judge denies Tommy Ziegler's request A judge on Monday denied a new request by Tommy Zeigler to analyze bloodstains on his crime scene clothing, the longtime death row inmate's latest attempt to exonerate himself in the 1975 Christmas Eve killings of his wife, in-laws and customer at his Winter Garden furniture store. In the 30-page ruling, Orange-Osceola Circuit Judge Reginald Whitehead held that Zeigler's petition for DNA testing was too similar to others that he's made previously and that the potential discoveries would not be great enough to rule him out as the perpetrator. "Having carefully listened to the testimony presented at the evidentiary hearing and argument from the parties, the Court finds the authenticity of the DNA is questionable because it may be contaminated based on a lack of protective equipment when it was handled and/or
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., LA., KY., MO., NEB., OKLA., ARIZ., CALIF., USA
July 4 TEXAS: More court review ordered for Bastrop County murder case The state's top criminal appeals court is asking the trial court in a lengthy Central Texas death penalty case to further review the legality of DNA testing of evidence. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruling Wednesday is the latest in a long appeals process for convicted killer Rodney Reed. He's on death row for the rape-slaying 20 years ago of 19-year-old Stacy Stites, whose body was found off the side of a road in Bastrop County. Reed was arrested nearly a year later when his DNA surfaced in another sexual assault case. He long has insisted he and Stites had a consensual sexual relationship. His attorneys want more testing of items. They've argued Stites' police officer fiancee later imprisoned for improper sexual contact is a more likely murder suspect. Top court upholds death sentence in 1975 slaying case The top Texas criminal court has upheld the conviction of a Central Texas man sent to death row 3 years ago for the 1975 rape-slaying of a 20-year-old woman in San Marcos. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Wednesday rejected arguments from 62-year-old Willie Jenkins that DNA evidence was faulty and insufficient to prove he killed Sheryl Norris at her apartment. She was a secretary at the Texas Crime Prevention Institute at what's now called Texas State University. Attorneys also challenged jury instructions and contended misconduct by a juror should have resulted in a mistrial. A national DNA database in 2010 tied the long-unsolved case to Jenkins, who was at a California state hospital for violent sexual predators. Trial witnesses tied him to 5 rapes in California and Texas. (source for both: Associated Press) FLORIDA: Abolish the death penalty I have a brother on Death Row. So have you. Execution of a human being is contrary to the will of God, contrary to civilized society, and contrary to any concept of the family of humanity. Execution is premeditated murder. The conspirators are the governor, legislators who allow it to continue and voters who elect them, judges, prosecutors, juries and executioners. The process of condemnation and execution is unjust for well-demonstrated reasons and stupid for well-known practical reasons. I speak for the Episcopal Peace Fellowship of Pensacola. Others will join me. If you love God's creation, or simply believe your conscience forbids you to tolerate this bizarre practice of ritual killing, join us and tens of thousands of others in fighting to abolish the death penalty. William M. Sloan, Pensacola (source: Letter to the Editor, Pensacola News Journal) LOUISIANA: Orleans public defender wins, death penalty groups lose as state redirects money for indigent defense In New Orleans and across Louisiana, public defenders are starting off the new fiscal year on better footing. Gov. John Bel Edwards and the Legislature held steady the total amount of funding the state kicks in for indigent defense, while voting to shift more of that $32 million to the front lines. But the shift has taken a toll on the agencies that represent defendants in capital cases, both at trial and in years of appeals after convictions. 2 of those outfits, the Capital Post Conviction Project of Louisiana and the New Orleans-based Capital Defense Project of Southeast Louisiana, say their budgets have been cut in half, with each losing about $1 million. A bill that Edwards signed June 17 requires the Louisiana Public Defender Board to dole out at least 65 % of its budget to local district defenders, an increase of nearly $5 million from what the state board had been delivering to local defenders in recent years. The biggest beneficiary is the Orleans Parish Public Defenders Office. It will see a nearly $1.5 million increase in state money, bringing its total budget to $7.9 million. That figure assumes funding from the city stays level at $1.5 million, with a modest decline in revenue from fines and fees generated largely from traffic tickets. A long slide in the number of traffic tickets written across Louisiana - the biggest revenue source for most public defender offices in the state - reached a crisis point last year. More than a dozen district defenders curtailed services, cut staff or turned away poor defendants, leaving more than 1,000 arrestees in Louisiana without attorneys. Ultimately, the Legislature spared those offices a steep projected cut in the state's annual supplement to local funding, though advocates note that a largely "user-funded" system remains shaky, with reform elusive. In Orleans Parish, Chief Public Defender Derwyn Bunton described "a burst of resources that's going to delay and mitigate some bad things." The extra cash will mean an end to a hiring freeze and other stiff cutbacks that Bunton resorted to over the past year to grapple with a severe budget
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., LA.
Feb. 28 TEXAS: Convicted killer maintains innocence 4 decades later Jerry Jurek's hair went gray in prison. But he still combs it back in the Elvis Presley-esque style popular 40 years ago when he was arrested. Once a slender man, he now has a round face and swollen fingers. His hands and arms are tattooed with the faded names of loved ones. Jurek has spent most of his life behind bars for murdering Wendy Adams, the 10-year-old daughter of a Cuero police officer. In 1974, Jurek was sentenced to death in the electric chair. He was 22 at the time. He's now 65. Questions over the fairness of Jurek's confessions ultimately won him a retrial. The 1982 trial ended early when the victim's family asked for a plea deal. Jurek was sentenced to life with parole. During the 1st trial and throughout the appeals process, Jurek's low IQ level was a topic of concern. Expert witnesses testified that he could not make change for a dollar or list the days of the week. His dimness made it difficult to comprehend the weight of his decision to not have an attorney present for his confessions and the consequences of his admissions, according to court documents. After the U.S. Supreme Court suspended capital punishment in 1972, the Texas Legislature passed a new death penalty law two months before Wendy's murder. And Jurek's would be the test case. Asked whether he was scared when given the death penalty, Jurek replied: "When they gave it to me, I just laughed in the judge's face, said how you all going to give me something that there ain't?" His reaction, a mixture of blissful ignorance and far-fetched bravado, was consistent throughout his interview with the Advocate. The Advocate interviewed Jurek at the Coffield Unit, a maximum security prison in Anderson County that houses more than 4,000 inmates. Jurek has spent most of his sentence there, accompanied by a handful of men who were on death row at the same time as him and also got reduced sentences. In a visitation wing near the entrance of the prison, a plexiglass window sandwiched between 2 panels of black metal mesh made it possible to see Jurek's blue eyes clearly. Jurek sat with his arms resting on a small table jutting out below the plexiglass. His hands clasped, the words "LOVE LIL SIS" tattooed on his knuckles. Jurek spoke with a twang that reflected his Louisiana birthplace. When asked a direct question, he often launched into wild stories about his childhood and perceived injustices done against him. He got the tattoo on his knuckles "on the streets" when he was 13 in honor of his 1st girlfriend, he said. "Her hair was that color," he said, pulling at the collar of his white prison uniform. She had pink eyes and, while she had poor eyesight in the daylight, she was an expert marksman at night. "You give her a .30-30 Winchester at night time, she'd strike matches with it. I used to laugh at her about that," he said, chuckling. Jurek's childhood love left him when she turned 13. But his luck turned around years later when a blind date's mother signed over the title for a Mustang Cobra to him. "She hands me the f --- title for this Mustang Cobra. I'm thinking she's playing with me," Jurek said. "She says, 'It's yours. You said you like it, don't you?' ... I said, 'No, you ain't giving me a $119,000 car without some kind of deal behind it.' She said, 'You took my baby out. It's yours.'" Unfortunately, the car was taken back by the woman's ex-husband, a Texas Ranger on the run for murder, he said. Jurek's detachment from reality also was noticeable in his confusion over names. When asked about Wendy Adams' family, he started talking about his wife's family. This was also a problem during his 2nd trial, when Jurek told the judge he did not want to be represented by Douglas Tinker, who was instrumental in getting Jurek the new trial. Tinker - a high-profile defense attorney who would later represent Selena's killer, Yolanda Saldivar - was reappointed to Jurek's defense after it was discovered Jurek had confused Tinker with another attorney. Jurek became less animated when talking about the day of the crime for which he's in prison. His blue eyes fixed straight ahead. His head tilted to the side in attentiveness. Jurek pled guilty in turn for his life sentence. But he said he's innocent. He was with Wendy Adams on Aug. 16, 1973, the day she was murdered. But when the truck they were driving broke down, he said, his attention was directed toward fixing it. During this time, Wendy disappeared with his friend, Ricky Phillips, he said. "I didn't know they had disappeared 'til he came back saying, 'Oh, I killed her.' I said, 'You done what? And I'm thinking he's playing with me. Cause he always doing that to me," Jurek said. "I said, 'Go get the kid. Get her up here. We got to get her back to her parents.' 'No, I killed her.' Said, 'How'd you do it?' He said, 'I drowned
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., LA., OHIO, OKLA., UTAH
Feb. 3 TEXAS: Faces of Death Row Here is a look at the 252 inmates currently on Texas' death row. Texas, which reinstated the death penalty in 1976, has the most active execution chamber in the nation. On average, these inmates have spent 13 years, 11 months on death row. Though 12 % of the state's residents are black, 42 % of death row inmates are. http://apps.texastribune.org/death-row/ (source: Texas Tribune) FLORIDA: How far should Florida go to reform death penalty? Lawmakers mull changes after SCOTUS decision Florida lawmakers are considering changes in the state's capital sentencing law after the U.S. Supreme Court found one provision to be unconstitutional last month. Legislators are debating how far to go in overhauling the law, the New York Times reports. Florida law requires jurors to make capital-punishment recommendations by a majority vote, without informing the judge of the factual basis for their recommendation. The judge then considers aggravating and mitigating factors, and decides whether a death sentence is warranted. The judge isn't bound by the jury recommendation. The U.S. Supreme Court said that scheme is unconstitutional because the Sixth Amendment requires jurors, rather than judges, to find each fact necessary to impose the death sentence. At the very least, Florida will have to change the law so that judges don't find aggravating factors independent of a jury's fact-finding, the Times says. But lawmakers are also considering other changes. The Senate is "leaning toward" a requirement of unanimous decisions by juries for death sentences, the article says. The House, on the other hand, is considering a bill that would require at least 9 of 12 jurors to agree for a death-sentence recommendation and all jurors to agree on aggravating factors. The Villages Daily Sun investigated jury votes in cases of prisoners currently on death row. Jurors were not unanimous in death-sentence recommendations in 75 % of the cases. (source: ABA Journal) Death penalty ruling may impact Manatee triple murder case There are new developments involving a triple murder case in Manatee County. A recent ruling by the U.S Supreme Court may impact Andres Avalos Junior's case. Avalos is charged with 3 counts of 1st degree murder. He's accused of killing his wife, Amber, Denise Potter and Reverend James "Tripp" Battle, in December of 2014. Prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty; however, Avalos' attorneys have filed a motion. The motion states that due to the ruling by the supreme court that Florida's death penalty process is unconstitutional, the state has no right to seek the death penalty against Avalos. A hearing is set for march 22nd. (source: WWSB news) LOUISIANA: Judge to rule if death penalty will be allowed in LSP Trooper murder case KPLC in Lake Charles is reporting that a Calcasieu Parish judge could rule Wednesday on whether the death penalty will be allowed in the trial of Kevin Daigle. Daigle, 54, is charged with the 1st-degree murder of Louisiana State Police Trooper Steven Vincent and the 2nd-degree murder of Daigle's former roommate Blake Brewer. In August, Vincent responded to a pickup truck in a ditch that matched "the description of a previously reported reckless vehicle," the state police said. Daigle armed with a shotgun fired at Vincent, hitting him in the head, police said. During Vincent's 13-year tenure with the state police, he received 13 awards and commendations. He is survived by his wife and 9-year-old son. While being interviewed by State Police, Daigle led investigators to believe an altercation occurred between him and his roommate which led to Brewer???s death. Daigle has previously been booked into the Jeff Davis Parish jail at least 12 times, dating to 1987. His arrest history includes bookings for theft, battery, drugs and DWI. (source: KPLC news) OHIO: Ohio executions disproportionately African-American, especially if the victim is white A Cleveland man hopes to see Ohio's death penalty abolished so that no one else experiences what he went through. Kwame Ajamu was sentenced to death and later exonerated. "I spent 3 years, 7 weeks and 8 hours on death row for a crime that I didn't do," Ajamu told an audience of about 40 Tuesday at a panel discussion on the death penalty in the University of Akron???s Student Union Theater. Ajamu, formerly known as Ronnie Bridgeman, frequently wiped away tears as he recalled his experiences. He, his brother, Wylie Bridgeman, and their best friend, Ricky Jackson, were all exonerated after being sentenced to death for a 1975 murder in Cleveland. Ajamu was released from prison on parole in 2003, while Bridgeman and Jackson both were incarcerated for nearly 40 years. A judge declared them innocent in 2015 and all 3 were compensated by the state. "They came into this neighborhood that is all
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., LA., OHIO, MO.
Oct. 29 TEXAS: Lawyers reinstated for death row inmate Brandon Daniel Brandon Daniel has apparently changed his mind about representing himself in an attempt to expedite his execution. The death row inmate, convicted in the 2012 killing of Austin police officer Jaime Padron, has reinstated the Office of Capital Writs to defend him in his appeals process. The reasons remain unclear. The capital writs office declined to comment but confirmed that they were now representing Daniel. Travis County District Judge Brenda Kennedy in July found Daniel competent and allowed him to dismiss his appellate lawyers, a request he initially filed in March, saying he understood the weight of his actions. The capital writs office appealed the decision, but in an opinion issued Wednesday, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals declared that appeal moot, saying only that the office had been reinstated as counsel. Standing in a faded jail jumpsuit in Kennedy's courtroom in July, Daniel declined to make a statement. But in responses to Kennedy, he said he had given plenty of thought to his decision. The ruling had no bearing on the automatic direct appeal to his conviction - given to all defendants sentenced to death - which will continue and could take up to another year. But without appellate lawyers and representing himself, Daniel then would have been able to waive all other appeals that could delay his execution. Lawyers Robert Romig and Jeremy Schepers, appointed to represent Daniel under the Office of Capital Writs, told Kennedy that allowing Daniel to let go of his counsel would be akin to state-assisted suicide. Daniel, 27, first made his request to Kennedy through a letter he penned in March. He understood the weight of his actions, he wrote, and was prepared for the consequences. Daniel said he wanted to spare his family and Padron's any more anguish. He also said he wanted to limit his time in prison. Daniel was sentenced in February 2014 to execution in the 1st death penalty case Travis County had seen in nearly 3 years and the 1st in more than 3 decades to involve the slaying of an officer. The former software engineer shot and killed Padron on April 6, 2012, as the 2 struggled on the floor of a Wal-Mart near Interstate 35 and Parmer Lane in North Austin. Padron, a Marine veteran and father of 2 young girls, had been responding to a call about a possible shoplifter who was likely intoxicated. (source: Austin American-Statesman) Court Again Denies DNA Tests in Death Row Case The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals for the 2nd time Wednesday reversed a state district judge's order that would have allowed East Texas death row inmate Larry Swearingen to test DNA from evidence in his murder case. Swearingen, 44, was convicted of kidnapping, raping and killing 19-year-old Melissa Trotter, then a Lone Star College student in 1998. He was sentenced to death in 2000. His execution date has been set and stayed multiple times. The death row inmate has argued that he couldn't have killed Trotter because he was in jail when she was murdered, and DNA testing would prove that someone else committed the crime. State District Judge Kelly Case twice granted Swearingen's requests for evidence to be tested. Montgomery County prosecutors appealed each time, and now, the state's highest criminal court has sided with the state again. Each time, the court ultimately has ruled that results from DNA testing would not have overcome the "mountain of evidence" establishing Swearingen's guilt. (source: Texas Tribune) Accused shooter in death penalty trial was "ready to kill" The 1st witness in Johnathan Sanchez death penalty trial HCSO Clint Meyers testify in Hon. Mark Kent Ellis' ceremonial courtroom on the 20th floor of the criminal courthouse, Monday, Oct. 26, 2015, in Houston. Criminal Defense Attorney Skip Cornelius and lawyer Rudy Duarte with defendant Johnathan Sanchez during opening statements in Sanchez death penalty trial inside the ceremonial courtroom on the 20th floor of the criminal courthouse, Monday, Oct. 26, 2015, in Houston. Johnathan "J Boi" Sanchez was expressionless when he walked out of a northwest Houston apartment bathroom in 2013 and started shooting, a survivor testified Wednesday. "He just came out and started shooting," Luis Baez said as he testified in Sanchez's death penalty trial. "No expression. Just ready to kill, I guess." Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Sanchez, who is accused of shooting 5 people, 3 fatally, at a drug den in the middle of the day on Nov. 20, 2013. The 3 who died were Yosselyn Alfaro, 21, and Daniel Munoz and Veronica Hernandez, both 17. Baez, who testified wearing handcuffs and an orange jail uniform, is serving 15 years in prison for burglary. In his testimony, he outlined working with a web of people who burglarized cars and homes to
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., LA., ARK., OKLA., WYO.
Oct. 14 TEXASimpending execution Sometimes, sadly, the death penalty is the only justice left Let the record show that I was against the death penalty before I was for it. OK, the uncomfortable truth is that my feelings about capital punishment are complicated, wrought with the sense that an eye-for-an-eye form of justice is not only primitive but hopelessly ineffective. We’ve executed more than 1,400 people in the United States over the past 40 years, and where has that gotten us? The South, which accounts for more than 80 % of executions, has some of the highest murder rates in the nation, according to a 2013 FBI report. Throw in some botched executions and a disturbing number of exonerations, and you can easily argue that Texas and the 30 other death penalty states can come across as barbaric to a civilized world that, for the most part, has moved away from using death as punishment. I tend to lean that way, too. Until that is a case like Licho Escamilla’s comes along, shattering my fragile and idealistic belief that there’s a better way to derive justice. Escamilla brutally executed a Dallas police officer – Kevin James – nearly 14 years ago. The facts are bloodcurdling: First Escamilla shot James and another officer who — incredibly — were trying to keep other men from attacking Escamilla. Then Escamilla, already wanted on a murder warrant for shooting a West Dallas neighbor, shot James 3 more times in the head while the officer lay on the ground. His terror didn’t end there. He attempted but failed to carjack a woman and exchanged gunfire with officers who chased him down. A year later, it took a jury just 33 minutes to convict the 19-year-old of capital murder. When the jurors sentenced him to death, he threw a pitcher of water at them. Bill Hill, the Dallas County district attorney at the time, called Escamilla “evil” and said “we need to do everything we can to protect society from people like that.” Hill’s observations must give you pause: It makes you wonder why, if we as a society still embrace the death penalty – and recent polls show roughly 6 in 10 Americans favor it for convicted murderers — it still takes so long to carry out punishment in a case such as this? The short answer, of course, is that the convoluted appeals process in death penalty cases takes years and years to complete, typically at taxpayers’ expense. That’s understandable to a point: When you’re doling out the ultimate, irrevocable form of justice, we must make sure we get it right. There can be no room for error. Fine, I get that. But Escamilla’s situation points up how readily the current system is manipulated to drag these death penalty cases out. He and his appellate attorneys – who I don’t fault for doing their job — used every trick in the book to get him off the hook for brutally murdering the officer. We can appreciate that he was indigent and represented at trial ill-prepared attorneys, who asked jurors to convict Escamilla of murder rather than capital murder on the technicality that the officer was working an off-duty security job. His latest attorneys pointed to that flawed strategy as one of many reasons Escamilla shouldn’t be executed and deserved a new trial. They’ve brought up Escamilla’s abusive upbringing. They’ve suggested that our state’s lethal injection protocols violate the Eighth Amendment. And yet, his relentless petitions for relief have been rejected at every turn, at the state and federal levels, including a failed motion for a new trial in 2012. Back in February, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals declined to reverse the decision on his execution. And on Monday, the Supreme Court denied his final petition for relief. That means that later today, Escamilla stands to be the 12th Texan executed this year, and the 530th Texan put to death since 1976. I don’t like those numbers. They are certainly nothing for our state or our nation to be proud of. But when you learn the particulars of Escamilla’s crime and see the damage he’s inflicted on society, it can quickly make that anti-death penalty pendulum swing the other way in your head, if not in your heart. The only question I’m wrestling with now is this: What took so long? (source: James Ragland, Dallas Morning News blog ** RGV gang member on death row loses appeal in massacre that left 6 dead The state's highest criminal court has turned down an appeal from a former Rio Grande Valley gang member sent to death row for participating in a robbery where nearly a dozen men posed as police and killed 6 people during a raid at an Edinburg drug stash house. Juan Raul Navarro-Ramirez was the 1st of 3 Tri-City Bombers members condemned for the January 2003 massacre of rival gang members. A 4th man involved in the staged raid was given the death penalty in another case. Attorneys for the 31-year-old Navarro-Ramirez raised 19 allegations
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., LA.
Oct. 13 TEXAS: Convicted killer faces death penalty in deputy murder case The sentencing phase was set to begin Tuesday morning in the trial of Mark Anthony Gonzalez, the man convicted of shooting and killing a sergeant with the Bexar County Sheriff's Office. Gonzalez shot Sgt. Kenneth Vann more than 40 times at an East Side intersection more than 4 years ago. The defense attorney had argued that Gonzalez was drunk, was suffering from a head injury and had not eaten prior to the murder. He said the combination of those circumstances led Gonzalez to 'black out.' The jury did not buy that defense, taking only about an hour on Monday to find him guilty of capital murder. He could get the death penalty. (source: foxsanantonio.com) FLORIDA: U.S. justices press Florida over death penalty sentencing A majority of U.S. Supreme Court justices on Tuesday expressed skepticism about Florida's process for death sentences as they weighed the appeal of a man convicted of murdering the manager of a Popeye's Fried Chicken restaurant. Timothy Hurst, whose lawyers describe as mentally disabled with "borderline intelligence" and an IQ between 70 and 78, was sentenced to death for the 1998 murder of a manager at the restaurant in Pensacola where he worked. Key findings that determined whether he received the death penalty were impermissibly made by a judge rather than a jury, Hurst's lawyers argued as the high court heard oral arguments in the case. The Florida procedure violates the right to trial by jury guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution's Sixth Amendment based on a 2001 Supreme Court ruling, his lawyers said. The high court said in that ruling that aggravating factors that can lead to an enhanced sentence must be determined by juries, not judges. (source: Reuters) Supreme Court debates Florida death penalty case--Results could affect high-profile trail of Bessman Okafor in Orange County The U.S. Supreme Court is taking up debate Tuesday over a Florida death penalty case. The case before the Supreme Court occurred in Pensacola in 1998. Timothy Lee Hurst was convicted of murdering his manager inside a Popeye's restaurant. and the jury recommended a death sentence by a 7-5 vote. Hurt's lawyers argue that their client's rights were violated, because Florida is the only state in the country that allows the death penalty with a simple majority vote. Justices will determine whether the death penalty should be enacted if the jury does not reach a unanimous decision. The results could affect another high-profile trial in Orange County. Bessman Okafor was found guilty in August of killing a man who was going to testify against him in a home invasion trial. As in Hurst's case, the jury's decision was not unanimous. Lawyers in Okafor's case are expected to be back in court Tuesday afternoon to continue their final arguments. (source: clickorlando.com) LOUISIANA: Innocent death-row prisoner released with $30 gift card after 30 years Glenn Ford spent three decades in solitary confinement for a murder he didn’t commit. After 30 years wrongfully imprisoned for murder on death row, Glenn Ford was released with a $30 gift card. Under Louisiana law, Ford was entitled more than $400,000 in compensation for the time he spent in solitary confinement at notorious maximum-security facility Angola. Instead, he died penniless on the street. In an astonishing interview on CBS’s 60 Minutes, the prosecutor who convicted him said the mistake had ruined both their lives. “I did something that was very, very bad,” Marty Stroud told the TV show. “I was arrogant, narcissistic, caught up in the culture of winning.” Stroud, then 32, helped to convict Ford of robbing and murdering jeweller Isadore Rozeman, for which he was sentenced to death in 1984. Ford had done yard work for Rozeman and was known to be a petty thief. He had even pawned some of the stolen jewellery. But was it enough to convict? No weapon or witness put Ford at the scene. Stroud admitted a number of mistakes were made during the case. “There was a question about other people’s involvement,” he said. “I should have followed up on that. I think my failure to say something can only be described as cowardice. I was a coward.” Ford’s court-appointed lawyers had no experience of criminal law, with backgrounds in wills and estates. “I snickered from time to time saying … we’re going to get though this case pretty quickly,” Stroud said. There were no African Americans on the jury. “I felt that they would not consider a death penalty where you had a black defendant and a white victim,” Stroud said. “I was wrong.” It took the jury less than three hours to find Ford guilty. Afterwards, Stroud went out to celebrate with drinks, songs and slaps on the back, a performance he now calls “disgusting”. While Stroud’s career soared after the case, Ford became one of
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., LA., OKLA., IDAHO
Sept. 23 TEXAS: SALVADORIAN MAN FACES IMMINENT EXECUTION Alfredo Prieto, a Salvadorian man, is scheduled to be executed in Virginia on 1 October. He was convicted in 2008 of two capital murders committed in 1988. There is evidence that he has intellectual disability which would render his execution unconstitutional. Click here to view the full Urgent Action in Word or PDF format, including case information, addresses and sample messages. Rachael A. Raver and Warren H. Fulton III were murdered near Reston, Virginia in December 1988. In 2005, Salvadorian national Alfredo Prieto was identified as a suspect through DNA evidence. His first trial in 2007 ended in a mistrial due to juror misconduct. At his retrial in 2008, he was convicted on two counts of capital murder. The two death sentences were overturned in 2009 because of problems with the jury’s verdict forms. Alfredo Prieto was again sentenced to death in 2010 and these death sentences have survived the appeals process. The question of Alfredo Prieto’s intellectual functioning has been an issue throughout the case. In 2002, the US Supreme Court banned the execution of individuals who have intellectual disability (previously known as “mental retardation”). At the time of Alfredo Prieto’s trial, Virginia law required a capital defendant to have an IQ of 70 or less in order to be considered a person with intellectual disability. Of Alfredo Prieto’s three IQ scores, two were well below 70 (64 and 66), but a third was 73. Prosecutors argued that the two scores below 70 were invalid. The jury agreed and sentenced Alfredo Prieto to death, finding that intellectual disability had not been proved. In 2014, the US Supreme Court ruled in Hall v. Florida that states cannot use a fixed IQ score as the measure of whether an inmate can be put to death. Intellectual disability, it said, “is a condition, not a number… Courts must recognize, as does the medical community, that the IQ test is imprecise”. It found that Florida’s rigid IQ of 70 cut-off, which blocked the presentation of evidence other than IQ that would demonstrate limitations in the defendant’s mental faculties, was unconstitutional. Alfredo Prieto’s lawyers argue that Virginia has erred by relying on the unconstitutional definition of intellectual disability to reject Alfredo Prieto’s claim, and that procedural technicalities are preventing them from arguing the claim to the Virginia courts in a full and fair hearing. Governor McAuliffe has indicated that he will make a decision on the case well in advance of 1 October. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION In Hall v. Florida issued on 27 May 2014, the US Supreme Court wrote of Florida’s rigid IQ of 70 cut-off law: “Pursuant to this mandatory cut-off, sentencing courts cannot consider even substantial and weighty evidence of intellectual disability as measured and made manifest by the defendant’s failure or inability to adapt to his social and cultural environment, including medical histories, behavioral records, school tests and reports, and testimony regarding past behavior and family circumstances. This is so even though the medical community accepts that all of this evidence can be probative of intellectual disability, including for individuals who have an IQ test score above 70.” Hall v. Florida reiterated the Supreme Court’s view that dignity is the basic concept underlying the US constitutional ban on “cruel and unusual punishments”, and asserted that this “protection of dignity reflects the Nation we have been, the Nation we are, and the Nation we aspire to be.” Florida’s IQ cut-off law, it ruled, “contravenes our Nation’s commitment to dignity and to its duty to teach human decency as the mark of a civilized world”. The states of the USA, the Hall v. Florida ruling said, “are laboratories for experimentation, but those experiments may not deny the basic dignity the Constitution protects”. Click here to view the full Urgent Action in Word or PDF format. Name: Alfredo Prieto (m) Issues: Imminent execution, Unfair trial, Legal concern UA: 198/15 Issue Date: 23 September 2015 Country: USA Please let us know if you took action so that we can track our impact! EITHER send a short email to u...@aiusa.org with "UA 198/15" in the subject line, and include in the body of the email the number of letters and/or emails you sent, OR fill out this short online form to let us know how you took action. Thank you for taking action! Please check with the AIUSA Urgent Action Office if taking action after the appeals date. If you receive a response from a government official, please forward it to us at u...@aiusa.org or to the Urgent Action Office address below. HOW YOU CAN HELP Please write immediately in English or your own language: * Calling on the Governor to commute the death sentence of Alfredo Prieto; * Noting evidence that he has intellectual disability and expressing concern that procedural
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., LA., OHIO, IND.
May 31 TEXAS: District Attorney says He Will Seek Death Penalty for Cheryl Drive Shooting Suspects District Attorney Mark Skurka confirmed Friday that he will be seeking the death penalty for Brendon Gaytan and Cruz Salazar, the 2 men charged with capital murder in the shooting deaths of 2 little girls Feb. 16 on Cheryl Drive. Both appeared in the 347th District Court Friday morning with requests for the judge. Gaytan requested that his bond be reduced from $2 million, but that request was denied by Judge Missy Medary. However, Medary did approve Salazar's motion to sever, meaning that the two suspects will be tried separately. The 2 men were arrested on Feb. 28 at an apartment in the 800 block of Indiana Avenue. They were both charged with capital murder for shooting and killed 6-year old Nevaeh Oliva and 2-year old Lilliana Valent. (source: KIII TV news) * Alleged Barrio Azteca member found guilty of capital murder A reputed Barrio Azteca Gang member was found guilt of capital murder Friday for shooting a teen to death during a drug deal in 2010. It took jurors less than 1 hour to reach their verdict, convicting Fidencio Valdez of capital murder for the shooting death of Julio Barrios on Dec. 10, 2010 in northeast El Paso. Valdez was also found guilty of 2 counts of aggravated assault for shooting at a nearby car. While Valdez was seen smiling earlier in the day, he kept a straight face as the judge read the jury's verdict. Valdez could face life in prison without parole or the death penalty for the conviction. During closing arguments Friday morning, prosecuting attorney Denise Butterworth asked jurors to find Valdez guilty of aggravated assault and capital murder. Butterworth told jurors this is a capital murder case since there is a murder and robbery committed simultaneously. Prosecutors told jurors Valdez met Julio Barrios to buy $300 worth of ecstasy pills. Prosecutors claim this was a robbery since Valdez didn't have any money to pay for those drugs and had to borrow $5 earlier that day to buy gas. Throughout this trial, multiple witnesses said Valdez first shot Barrios inside a white SUV where the drug deal was taking place. Witnesses said Valdez then dragged Barrios onto the street and shot him a 2nd time. Butterworth said with Barrios' DNA found in the SUV, along with phone recordings of Valdez speaking with his mother and friends,the prosecution proved its case. She said key evidence, though, was with phone records. We pinpoint that (Valdez's) cellphone through pinging cellphone towers during critical times, said Butterworth. We ping him right around Tropicana Street during the time of the shooting. Defense attorney Louis Lopez on the other hand asked jurors to consider the lesser charge of murder or manslaughter. Don't waste your time with the phone records, said Lopez. Fidencio Valdez is involved in this murder -- plain and simple. Lopez told jurors that prosecutors were sloppy, incomplete and selective with putting forth evidence. He claimed there is no robbery involved in this crime. Something bad happened between these 2 guys and Barrios got shot. That's it, said Lopez. This is a drug deal gone bad. That's all it is. Jurors will be back in court Monday morning for the punishment phase. (source: KFOX TV news) ** Executions under Rick Perry, 2001-present-276 Executions in Texas: Dec. 7, 1982-present515 Perry #scheduled execution date-name-Tx. # 277Aug. 6Manuel Vasquez---516 278Sept. 10-Willie Trottie517 279Sept. 17--Lisa Coleman--518 280Oct. 15--Larry Hatten-519 281Oct. 28--Miguel Paredes--520 282Jan. 21---Arnold Prieto521 283Jan. 28---Garcia White522 (sources for both: TDCJ Rick Halperin) FLORIDA: On Death Row With Low I.Q., and New Hope for a Reprieve For Ted Herring, who has spent 32 years on Florida's death row for murdering a store clerk, signs of intellectual disability arose early and piled up quickly: He repeated 1st grade and got D's and F's through 4th grade. He read like a 4th grader at 14 and did not know that summer followed spring. By then, a psychologist in New York City, his hometown, had declared him undoubtedly functionally retarded. Life was no less trying in his late teens; he could not hold down a job, and something as simple as transferring buses posed a challenge. His intellectual disability was even obvious to a Florida judge, who found him mentally retarded and took him off death row 18 years after his original sentence. At 19, in 1981, Mr. Herring murdered a Daytona Beach 7-Eleven clerk, robbed the store and walked away with $23.84.
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., LA.
Jan. 31 TEXAS: Defense lawyers: Skinner won't appear in Pampa Hank Skinner, the Texas death-row inmate convicted of murdering his live-in girlfriend, Twila Busby, and her sons, Randy and Elwin Scooter Caler, will not be attending an evidentiary hearing scheduled in Pampa Monday and Tuesday. An employee who works for Skinner's defense attorneys, Douglas Robinson and Robert Owen, told The Pampa News that both the state and defense attorneys will offer witnesses and other evidence, such as laboratory reports, to show what results were produced by the DNA testing that has been performed in Skinner's case over the past 18 months. The attorneys will try to argue about what inferences can be drawn from those test results, she said. A series of tests on DNA taken from the crime scene have been performed since June 2012, 2 by a Texas Department of Safety crime lab in Lubbock and one by an independent laboratory in Virginia. The Texas Attorney General's Office, who is presenting the state's case to the court, claims the DNA tests overwhelmingly show that evidence collected at the crime scene consistently shows that Skinner is guilty of strangling and bludgeoning Busby in the living room of her home on New Year's Eve 1993. The defense attorneys claim the DNA tests performed at the Virginia lab point to Robert Donnell, Twila Busby's deceased uncle, as the real killer in the triple homicide. The attorneys say it is well known that Donnell was making unwelcome advances to Busby on the night she was killed. Judge Steven R. Emmert of the 31st District will not issue a definitive ruling at the conclusion of the hearing, the employee said. Instead, the parties will have an opportunity to submit written arguments in late February, and the judge will issue a definitive ruling after considering those arguments. A ruling in Skinner's favor in this proceeding would not automatically reverse his conviction. (source: The Pampa News) FLORIDAfemale to face death penalty Death penalty to be considered in Schenecker trialJulie Schenecker accused of killing teen children New developments in the case against a Tampa mother accused of killing her 2 teenage children in 2011. A motion hearing Friday morning only took about an 1 1/2 hours of the allotted 4 hour time frame. 2 important questions were answered for the upcoming trial of Julie Schenecker, charged with 2 counts of 1st degree murder. The defense argued that seeking the death penalty in the case would be unconstitutional, citing a court case from years ago. Hillsborough Circuit Court Judge Bennett Battles sided with state prosecutor Stephen Udagawa, that it is constitutional. Florida is 1 of 2 states that acknowledges the death penalty as constitutional, according to the judge. In light of the fact that the Florida supreme court has found that the death penalty scheme to be constitutional, said Judge Battles. Schenecker, 52, sat quietly in front of Judge Battles during the hearing. The only sound coming from her side of the table was the occasional noise from her shackled wrists and ankles. She took a few glances back to her Mom and Dad seated 1 row behind her in the courtroom. She's accused of killing her children, Beau, 13, and his sister Calyx, 16, in their New Tampa home on January 28, 2011. A call from a concerned, out-of-state relative prompted Tampa Police to make a trip to the house. It was that morning they made the horrific discovery. Beau's body in the garage and his sister's in an upstairs bedroom. Also decided in Friday's hearing, if testimony from a neighbor would be allowed at the trial. The neighbor said in previous pre-trial interviews that before the murders, Schenecker said, I want to kill her. The statement was made several months before the murders in reference to her daughter, according to the neighbor. The state acknowledged that in the time leading up to the murders, both Calyx and Beau were displaying behavioral issues. Recently released emails from Schenecker revealed her thoughts about sending Beau away to boarding school. Issues from both teens seemed to continue to mount. Now the fact that this defendant makes a statement well in advance of the murder also could go to the issue of sanity, explained the State. That this is something that's already in her mind. That she's already thinking about it, said Battles. In the end, Judge Battles said he would allow the neighbor's testimony. The state has made the case that this is relevant in the case on issues of premeditation, motive and intent in the relationship between the defendant and the victim, said Judge Battles. In emails obtained by the courts, sent before the murders, it was clear Schenecker was also having problems with her husband. In 55 pages of personal emails, Colonel Parker Schenecker, who is a military intelligence officer, says his wife refused to get help and her bi-polar
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., LA., IND.
April 21 TEXAS: Supreme Court turn down inmate convicted in slayings of 4 One of the state's longest-serving death row prisoners lost an appeal Monday in the U.S. Supreme Court, moving him closer to punishment for the shooting deaths of 4 men in North Texas almost a quarter-century ago. Lester Bower, 60, has been on death row since 1984, a year after the bodies of four men were found in an airplane hangar near Sherman in Grayson County. At least five previous attempts to execute him have been blocked by the courts. In August, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed his conviction and death sentence after a federal district judge allowed him to pursue claims that his trial attorney was ineffective. Monday, without comment, the Supreme Court upheld the 5th Circuit decision by declining to review Bower's case. Bower has maintained his innocence in the October 1983 shooting deaths af Bob Tate, 51, a Denison building contractor; Ronald Mayes, 39, a former Sherman police officer; Philip Good, 29, a Grayson County sheriff's deputy; and Jerry Mac Brown, 52, a Sherman interior designer. The 4 men were found shot execution-style in a hangar at Tate's ranch northeast of Sherman. Evidence showed parts of an ultralight plane missing from the hangar later were found in Bower's garage in Arlington. Prosecutors said Bower, a college graduate who worked as a chemical salesman, killed Tate to steal the ultralight plane that was for sale for $4,000. Authorities argued the 3 others were gunned down when they unexpectedly showed up at the hangar. Investigators looking at phone records determined Bower had responded to an advertisement placed by Good, who was helping Tate find a buyer for the aircraft. Questioned by the FBI, Bower denied meeting Good or Tate and denied buying the plane, according to court documents. But detectives searching Bower's home found pieces of the plane and arrested him. Bower had no previous criminal record and did not testify at his trial. At an evidentiary hearing in 2000, he acknowledged meeting with Good, Brown and Tate and buying the plane. He said he read about the slayings in a newspaper but decided to not say anything because he didn't want to become a suspect. He does not have an execution date. In a second Texas case Monday, the high court lifted a reprieve it granted last year for Carlton Turner Jr., a Dallas-area man condemned for killing his parents in 1998. Turner won a stay of execution last year about 4 hours after he was scheduled to be put to death in Huntsville. Justices stopped his punishment in the wake of their decision to consider whether lethal injection was unconstitutionally cruel. Last week, in a 7-2 vote, the high court rejected the constitutional challenge, clearing the way for executions to resume nationally and for Turner's reprieve to be removed. Dallas County prosecutors said his execution now likely will be set for sometime this summer. (source: Associated Press) FLORIDA: Alan Wade -- On Death Row For Double Murder As the 3rd of 4 people involved in the kidnapping and burying alive of a St. Nicholas couple, Alan Wade, like his co-defendants, was sentenced to death for the crimes. (I've) prosecuted multiple death penalty cases. This is the most outrageous -- the most vile murder case I've ever seen, said lead prosecutor Jay Plotkin. In a simple act of that would ultimately lead to their deaths, Reggie and Carol Sumner invited Tiffany Cole, a family friend they knew from South Carolina, and her friend Michael Jackson to stay at their St. Nicholas home. We can never say definitively as to when the whole plan hatched, but it is clear when they spent that night at the Sumners' home, the Sumners were the type of people who had paperwork lying all over the place and they were doing some reorganization around the house so there was bank records, credit cards and that type of stuff very visible,' Plotkin said. He said within weeks of staying with the Sumners, a plan was set in motion. Jackson asked Wade to take part in the plot and Wade asked Bruce Nixon. In early July, the 3 men and Cole went to South Georgia and a dug a large hole that would be used as a grave. 2 days later, the St. Nicholas couple was abducted and forced to reveal bank information before being bound and buried alive. Wade, who was 18 when the crimes were committed, sits behind bars just a few cells away from Jackson on death row at Florida State Prison. His death sentence is under automatic review. (source: News4Jax) LOUISIANA: Testimony begins in death-penalty trial Murder victim Tosha Lampkin's mother was the leadoff witness this afternoon as testimony began in the capital murder trial of Brandon Davis, the Shreveport man accused of the random kidnapping-murder of Lampkin. She identified a picture of her daughter for the jury that will decide the fate of Lampkin's accused killer. Selection of the 10-woman, 2-man jury was completed today, the
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., LA., US MIL.
Sept. 10 TEXAS: Woman's execution remains on scheduleAppeals court says gun argument not new in slaying of Newton's family Frances Newton, condemned for the 1987 murder of her husband and two young children, was a step closer to execution Friday after the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals dismissed her latest application for writ of habeas corpus, saying she had presented no new evidence to warrant a stay. In a petition filed Tuesday, Newton's Texas Innocence Network attorneys argued that two, possibly three, pistols were recovered the night that Adrian Newton, 23, and the couple's children, Alton, 7, and Farrah, 21 months, were shot to death at their Harris County apartment. If multiple weapons were seized as evidence, they contended, it's possible authorities bungled their processing and that a key element of the prosecution's case - that the pistol Newton hid after the killings was the murder weapon - is false. Is it plausible to think that the Houston Police Department ballistics lab mixed up the weapons?attorney David Dow asked Friday. Well, in view of what we know now - from faulty ballistics evidence in other cases, to dozens of mistakes in DNA analysis, to scores of boxes of lost or missing evidence - I would think that only the most stubborn, naive or disingenuous prosecutor would say with any confidence that Newton is guilty. Newton, who claims she is innocent, is scheduled to die Wednesday for killing her family to gain $100,000 in insurance death benefits. She would be the 3rd woman put to death in Texas since the state resumed executions 23 years ago. Dow and co-counsel Jared Tyler, both University of Houston law professors, buttressed their contention by citing a videotaped news interview in which Assistant District Attorney Roe Wilson said a second pistol had been found, as well as post-trial interviews with two sheriff's investigators that suggested more than one weapon ended up in police custody. Wilson, who has recanted her videotaped statement as incorrect, insisted Friday that police recovered only one pistol, a .25-caliber Saturday night special that Newton dumped miles from the crime scene after the killings. Three ballistics tests have confirmed that semiautomatic as the murder weapon, she said. The defense's multiple-gun theory, she said, is a smoke screen. In dismissing this week's petition, the defense's fourth application for writ of habeas corpus, appeals judges cited Section 5, Article 11.071 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, which, in essence, prohibits the court from revisiting issues it has considered. (Newton) has provided two affidavits from her investigators ... , the court wrote. She alleges these affidavits are new evidence supporting this new claim. We disagree. We find this is old evidence and old argument in a new form. In late August, the court rejected an earlier second-gun claim noting, No second gun has been produced. But, the court continued, Even assuming that 50 guns had been found in Adrian's apartment, it was the .25 Ruger belonging to the applicant's (Newton's) lover that was the murder weapon and that (the) applicant hid. The court also has rejected as inadmissible claims that Newton received inadequate representation in her first trial, that court testimony regarding Newton's future dangerousness was misleading and that the prosecution destroyed and/or contaminated crucial evidence - the dress Newton wore on the night of the murders - while testing its stains. Those issues, the court held, could not be considered because either they were not new or they dealt with the sufficiency of evidence in the trial, a matter that cannot be considered in habeas corpus deliberations. 'Part of our family' Adrian Newton's parents, Tom and Virginia Lewis, have written the pardons board, declaring, We never wanted to see Frances get executed. Frances is part of our family, the couple wrote. ... She and our son were together for 7 years, and during that time, we were a big, happy family. We would go on outings to the beach, to the pool, to barbecues and all kinds of fun stuff. Trial testimony revealed that Newton and her husband, a user and seller of drugs, had a rocky marriage. Adrian Newton engaged in numerous extramarital affairs; Frances Newton spent the night before the murders with her lover, whose pistol was used in the crime. In addition to this week's action, defense attorneys have filed petitions on Newton's behalf with the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, the U.S. District Court-Southern District of Texas and the Texas pardons board. (source: Houston Chronicle) *** Condemned woman optimistic she won't be executed this week Tears well in her eyes when Frances Newton talks about her children. I wonder how they would have turned out, she says, her voice wavering. Would they be happy, well-adjusted kids? Alton was 7 and Farrah nearly 2 the last time she saw them and their father at the family's
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., LA., USA
April 5 TEXAS: LACI PETERSON'S MOTHER TO SPEAK AT CONFERENCE The annual Northeast Texas Crime Victims' Conference in Tyler next week will present speakers involved in two national murder cases, one in which a man has been sentenced to death for murdering his pregnant wife and another who stands accused of killing his spouse. The week of April 9-16 has been declared as National Crime Victims' Rights Week. The Smith County District Attorney's Office and the Office of the Attorney General's Crime Victims Services Division will sponsor the 2-day conference held at Marvin United Methodist Church, 300 W. Erwin St. Speakers will include Sharon Rocha, mother of Laci Peterson, who disappeared on Christmas Eve 2002. Prosecutors said her husband, Scott Peterson, killed her and then dumped her body in San Francisco Bay. The badly decomposed remains of the victim and her fetus washed ashore 4 months later. Peterson was convicted of 2 counts of murder and sentenced to death last month. Mrs. Rocha will share the heartache of losing her only daughter and grandson, Connor, said Betty Whitten, Smith County Crime Victims' Services director, in a prepared statement. Chief Deputy District Attorney John Goold, from Modesto, Calif., who spoke at the conference last year about the Peterson case, will return. Senior Detective Kelly Kent of the Salt Lake City Police Department will speak about the Lori Hacking murder case, which is expected to go to trial this month. The victim's husband, Mark Hacking, reported in July that she had failed to return from a morning jog, setting off extensive searches by volunteers and police. He later allegedly admitted to his brothers he shot her as she slept and disposed of her body in a trash bin. Police found Hacking's body Oct. 1 at a landfill. Herman Millholland, director of the AG's Crime Victims' Services Division, also will give a lecture, Ms. Whitten said. The conference is scheduled for next Tuesday and Wednesday. For more information call Ms. Whitten at (903) 535-0534, or Jean Frazier at the AG's Office at (512) 936-1245. (source: Tyler Morning Telegraph ) Reward offered for triple murder suspect The University Park Police Department has announced a $10,000 reward for the arrest and conviction of a murder suspect. Authorities are looking for Israel Barretero - also known as Israel Gomez - in connection with last month's fatal shootings of 3 men on the North Central Expressway service road at Mockingbird Lane. Police believe Barretro opened fire from the sunroof of a white Jaguar after an altercation at a nearby bar. The driver of the Jaguar, Jimmy Velasquez, 20, was arrested last month on 2 charges of capital murder and 1 charge of aggravated assault. Barretero, 21, remains at large. Anyone with information about the case is asked to call University Park police at 214-363-3000. (source: WFAA-TV News) ** DNA evidence shows link--Analyst: Stain on boot was from victim's blood A state scientist testified Monday that a stain found on a pair of boots worn by capital murder defendant Bevy Lee Wilson was blood from Richard Carbaugh, the man he is accused of killing. Lisa Baylor, a DNA analyst for the Department of Public Safety crime lab, also said a pair of pants found behind a neighborhood fence was stained with blood from Carbaugh and his 10-year-old son, Dominic, and had Wilson's semen stains on the pants. Baylor said she also found skin cells from an unknown woman on the pants. Wilson, 46, is charged with capital murder in the February 2003 deaths of the elder Carbaugh and his son. They were found beaten to death in their Barton Street apartment. Wilson could face the death penalty if convicted. The stains were some of the roughly 250 DNA samples collected by police at the crime scene and from clothing worn by Wilson and Thomas Sower, who testified he was an eyewitness to the crime. DNA is the basic building block of life and can be used to identify an individual. It is contained in blood, semen and every cell in the body. Defense attorneys have suggested that Sower also should be under suspicion because of his presence at the scene of the crime. Baylor said Monday that a long-sleeve shirt found in the bed of a pickup had blood from both Dominic and Richard Carbaugh. Baylor also said she found skin cells from Sower around the neckline of the shirt. Several jurors leaned forward in their chairs as Baylor showed them the articles of clothing she tested and several took notes on what they saw. Wilson also took notes on a yellow pad. The trial was delayed briefly after lunch because of concerns that one of the jurors might have encountered Wilson while he was being escorted in handcuffs and shackles. Defense attorney Douglas Tinker asked District Judge Sandra Watts for a mistrial because of the impression of guilt the encounter could have caused. It is a strict policy not to let jurors see a shackled inmate.
