[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., OHIO, TENN., IND. WYO., ARIZ., WASH.
August 18 TEXASimpending execution Texas death row inmate maintains innocence as latest execution date looms "On December 8, 1998, Swearingen kidnapped and strangled a 19-year-old white female." This short statement is what you'll find under Larry Swearingen's death row record for his summary of the incident. However, he's arguing that the details of his case, and the murder of Melissa Trotter, are much more complex. Larry Swearingen met Melissa Trotter, a 19-year-old Montgomery College student, on December 6, 1998, where they had a conversation and exchanged numbers. They planned on meeting up the next day, but Swearingen grew irritated when she didn't arrive, according to co-workers. They were spotted together on December 8 at the college library at 1:30 p.m., and were seen leaving together at 2:00 p.m. Melissa's car remained parked at the school. This was the last time she was seen alive. At 2:05 p.m., Swearingen returned a page and said he would have to call back later because he was at lunch with a friend. Swearingen returned to his trailer and left again sometime before 3:30 p.m., then returned again to the trailer sometime before 5:30 p.m., asked his landlord some questions, then left again to pick up his wife, Terry Swearingen, from his mother's house. On December 11, Swearingen was arrested pursuant to unrelated outstanding warrants. On January 2, 1999, Melissa's body was found in Sam Houston National Forest with a ligature made from pantyhose still tied around her neck. The police had searched the area three times before her body was found by hunters. Swearingen knew the area well. Based on the state of decomposition, it was estimated that her body had been in the woods for around 25 days, supporting the possible date of her death to be December 8. A supposed match to the other half of the pantyhose was found at the Swearingen home, along with a pack of Malboro Lights and a lighter resembling one belonging to Melissa. Neither Larry nor his wife smoked. Fibers were found on Melissa's body matching Swearingen's jacket, car seat, and carpet at his house. There were also hair strands in his car that looked to be pulled from Melissa's head, showing definitively that she had been in Swearingen's car at some point before her death. Further incriminating evidence includes a letter that was written by Larry and sent to his mother with the help of another inmate and a Spanish-English dictionary from a woman named "Robin", claiming to know who Melissa's real killer was. The letter gave insight into investigators' suspicions that Melissa's death resulted from violence sparked by sexual rejection. These are the undeniable facts of the case. Swearingen, however, clings to DNA evidence and forensic science to maintain his innocence. He has been assigned several execution dates, pushing back his death based on many of what he and his attorneys perceive to be discrepancies. They cite discrepancies in witness testimonies as well as cell phone records to place Swearingen at different locations at key dates and times in the case, according to his website. The main focus of the defense, however, has been on the state of Melissa's remains and DNA testing and evidence. Statements from two other medical examiners have reevaluated Melissa's autopsy report and estimated that based on lack of insect and bacteria colonies and general state of her body and tissues upon discovery, the remains could have only been in the forest for just under a week at most, even with the near-freezing low winter temperatures. A statement such as this implies that Swearingen is innocent since he was in jail three days after Melissa went missing, and much longer before her estimated death according to this analysis. One examiner allows for the exception of post-mortem refrigeration before her body was deposited at the location, but says the absence of certain signs of this on the body, this is not likely. Additionally, Swearingen's attorneys have claimed that none of the DNA evidence has definitively placed Larry at the scene of Melissa's body. Their appeals have consisted of requests for DNA testing on Melissa's fingernail scrapings, the ligature used for strangulation as well as the alleged other half found at Larry's home, cigarette butts found near her body not offered at trial, various items of her clothing, the rape kit, and hairs and hairbrush collected from the scene. After several appeals and a debacle involving another inmate rumored to be taking the fall for Melissa's murder, DNA samples were finally tested, with no conclusive evidence. Authorities were hesitant to test due to the "mountain of evidence" already stacked against Swearingen. Due to this process, DNA testing laws have changed in death penalty cases. Previously, if it was unknown if there was biological evidence, it didn't need to be tested, even if invisible to the
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., OHIO, TENN.
August 14 TEXAS: Prosecutors seek death penalty against man accused in murder of Temple friends Prosecutors will seek the death penalty for a man accused in the brutal murder of 2 Temple friends in January, KXAN’s sister station KWKT confirmed Tuesday. Cedric Marks, 45, faces 2 capital murder charges in the deaths of 28-year-old Jenna Scott and 32-year-old Michael Swearingen. The friends disappeared Jan. 4 and their bodies were found a week later in shallow graves in Oklahoma. Both victims’ families met with District Attorney Henry Garza on July 10 to suggest he seek the death penalty. He filed a notice to the district clerk Aug. 9 doing just that. "There is such a thing as righteous anger and we feel that this is a case for righteous anger," Deborah Harrison, Michael’s mother, told KWKT. Marks pleaded "absolutely not guilty" of capital murder in January. He also faces tampering with evidence and burglary charges. Two other people, Maya Maxwell and Ginell McDonough, were also charged in connection with the complex case. Maxwell told police she was in the house when the pair were murdered, though she didn’t see it herself, according to an arrest affidavit. She also told them where to find the bodies. Officials have not said what penalty will be sought if Maxwell is found guilty. "We believe she needs to be punished because she did assist in everything and we feel like she could have stopped it," Harrison said. "But she did help and we would not have recovered the bodies, we would still be wondering where they were had she not cooperated." In February, Marks was being extradited from Michigan where he was arrested to Bell County when he escaped custody, prompting a widespread manhunt in Conroe, Texas. After he was caught, he spoke out from behind bars to say he had nothing to do with the murders. Marks faces other charges besides the capital murder charges and his bond was set at $1.75 million. (source: KXAN news) FLORIAimpending execution Florida Supreme Court Rejects Death Row Appeal, Next Execution Scheduled For Aug. 22 The Florida Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected appeals by death row inmate Gary Ray Bowles, who is scheduled to be executed next week for the 1994 murder of a Jacksonville man who was hit in the head with a concrete block and strangled. Justices unanimously denied a request by Bowles’ attorneys for a stay of the Aug. 22 execution. The attorneys argued in a brief last month that the Supreme Court should order a hearing about whether Bowles is intellectually disabled and, as a result, should be shielded from execution. But the Supreme Court said Bowles had failed to make a “timely” intellectual disability claim because he did not raise the issue until 2017. "Bowles waited until October 19, 2017 to raise an intellectual disability claim for the first time," the court’s 10-page main opinion said. "Therefore, the record conclusively shows that Bowles’ intellectual disability claim is untimely under our precedent." Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a death warrant in June for Bowles, who would be the 2nd inmate executed since the Republican governor took office in January. Tampa-area serial killer Bobby Joe Long was put to death by lethal injection on May 23 at Florida State Prison. Bowles, now 57, was sentenced to death in the November 1994 murder of Walter Hinton, who was found dead in his Jacksonville mobile home. Bowles also is serving life sentences for the 1994 murders of John Roberts in Volusia County and Albert Morris in Nassau County. In addition, Bowles confessed to murdering men in Georgia and Maryland, with evidence suggesting he targeted gay men, according to information released in June by the governor’s office. Tuesday’s Supreme Court opinion gave a brief description of the grisly murder of Hinton. "Bowles confessed and pleaded guilty to the 1994 murder of Walter Hinton, who had allowed Bowles to move into his home in exchange for Bowles’ help in moving personal items. Specifically, Bowles dropped a concrete block on Hinton’s head while Hinton was sleeping, then manually strangled a conscious Hinton, and subsequently ‘stuffed toilet paper into Hinton’s throat and placed a rag into his mouth,’" the opinion said, partially quoting an earlier court ruling. In addition to raising the intellectual-disability issue, Bowles’ attorneys also contended that Florida’s death penalty violates the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment. In a document filed last month, they wrote that "capital punishment as administered in Florida, and as applied in this case, is contrary to the evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society." But the justices turned down the argument, writing that "because the United States Supreme Court has made clear that capital punishment does not constitute cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment of the federal
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., OHIO, TENN., OKLA., USA
December 4 TEXASimpending execution 'Texas 7' Member Set To Die Under Controversial Law A San Antonio man is set to die by lethal injection on Tuesday for a murder he didn’t actually commit. As part of the notorious “Texas 7” escape, Joseph Garcia was convicted and sentenced to die under a controversial law some say is unconstitutional. “Why am I here? Why am I on death row? You know, I don't get it," said Garcia from death row Wednesday. "... Why are you trying to kill me for the actions of somebody else?” Garcia was sentenced to death under the “Law of Parties,” which holds a non-shooter accomplice just as criminally liable as the person pulling the trigger. Stephanie Stevens, law professor, and supervising attorney for the St. Mary's University Center for Legal and Social Justice, said the law is broader in Texas than in other states. “If you and another person were going to go rob a convenience store. If during the course of that robbery, your friend inside the store shot and killed the convenience store clerk, you would be guilty for capital murder as well, even though you sat in the car the whole time,” she said. On Dec. 13, 2000, the group of inmates, known as the Texas 7, broke out of the Connally Prison Unit in Karnes County. The escape triggered the largest manhunt in the state’s history. 11 days later, on Christmas Eve, members of the crew fatally shot and ran over Irving Police Officer Aubrey Hawkins during a robbery of a sporting goods store. “He was very nice and easy to get along with — very unassuming,” said Jeff Spivey, chief of the Irving Police Department, of Hawkins. But Garcia said he shouldn’t be executed because he didn’t actively take part in the fatal shootout Hawkins. "You have the testimony of these people who did actually kill," Garcia said. "... They did it. And so, I mean, I think what it all boils down to ... is that I'm one of the Texas 7.” Garcia said his version of events is supported by the testimony of others — he was inside the store and never fired a gun. “I don't know. I don't know what caused them to start firing at the officer," he said. "By the time I got out there on the back dock, it was over.” But Chief Spivey says that makes no difference. Garcia directly participated in the murder of Hawkins in other ways. “Joseph Garcia, due to his accomplice testimony is either credited with pulling Officer Hawkins’ dead body out of the car and moving the car so that they could then escape in the Ford Explorer," he said. "So I think it's a little self-serving for Joseph to say that.” Nevertheless, some anti-death penalty activists say using the Law of Parties in death penalty cases might be a violation of the Constitution’s 8th Amendment, prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment. And with last-minute appeals filed the courts could intervene. Garcia is scheduled to be executed Tuesday at 6 p.m. (source: tpr.org) * Texas’s Death-Penalty System Is a Travesty. Joseph Garcia Is Proof. Texas’s death-penalty system is a travesty. It is racist; kills people who are probably innocent at an alarming rate; and has used drugs sourced from a pharmacy that, according to BuzzFeed News, was “cited for scores of safety violations,” forged quality control documents, and sent at least 1 child to the emergency room because it had improperly compounded their medication. 5 of the 11 Texas inmates executed in 2018 said the drugs used to kill them felt like they were “burning” them internally, even though they were supposed to be pain-free — reflecting a nationwide pattern of excruciating deaths by lethal injection. Perhaps even worse is that Texas is not unique. These issues illustrate an ethical and logistical crisis facing the American death-penalty system as a whole, from Tennessee to South Dakota to Oklahoma. Yet barring a miracle, December 4 will be business as usual. Joseph Garcia is set to be executed in Texas for his role in the Christmas Eve 2000 murder of Irving Police Officer Aubrey Hawkins, which occurred during a shoot-out after Garcia and 6 other men broke out of a maximum-security prison in Kenedy and robbed a sporting goods store. There is no proof that Garcia pulled the trigger. In fact, he was inside the store while the shooting unfolded outside, making his guilt unlikely. But Texas’s Law of Parties holds that he could be convicted of a crime his associates had committed simply because he was present. Details from Garcia’s tragic personal story cast doubt on whether he should have been in the prison he escaped from in the first place. Sister Helen Prejean, a Catholic nun and prominent death-penalty abolitionist, outlined it in a Twitter thread on Sunday: The thread is worth reading in its entirety, but includes accounts of Garcia’s trauma-filled childhood, including several instances of sexual abuse and his first criminal conviction, for which he received a
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., OHIO, TENN., S.DAK., USA
October 30 TEXAS: Jurors deciding fate of hitman who killed Uptown dentist shown his 'Life or Death,' '1 Man Army' tattoos The pediatric dentist who was gunned down in 2015 in the parking garage of her Uptown apartment loved children, built houses for people in need and served on mission trips in third-world countries, her family and friends testified Monday. In contrast, the hitman who killed Kendra Hatcher has a lengthy criminal history, according to testimony during the punishment phase of the trial for 34-year-old Kristopher Love. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Love, who was convicted last week of capital murder in Hatcher's death. Her loved ones said she was universally loved, which made her murder-for-hire so shocking to them. "Nobody disliked her," Hatcher's sister, Ashley Turner, testified. Prosecutors showed jurors pictures of Hatcher through the phases of her life: a 3-year-old girl grinning at the camera, a high school honor student, a dental school graduate, a pediatric dentist treating children abroad. Prosecutors also showed jurors photos of Love covered in tattoos that read "Life Or Death" and "1 MAN ARMY." Love was allegedly hired by Brenda Delgado, the ex-girlfriend of Hatcher's boyfriend. Delgado, 36, is also charged with capital murder in Hatcher's death. Her trial has not been scheduled. After Hatcher's death, Delgado fled to Mexico. She was extradited from Mexico in 2016 and is not eligible for the death penalty as part of the extradition agreement. Delgado, 36, is accused of being the mastermind behind a murder plot allegedly fueled by jealousy over her ex-boyfriend's relationship with Hatcher. A third person, 26-year-old Crystal Cortes, was also charged with capital murder for her role as the getaway driver. She pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of murder. She expects to receive a 35-year sentence in exchange for her testimony in Love's trial and later Delgado's trial. Cortes testified she was paid $500 for her role as the getaway driver. She said Love was paid in "drugs and money" but didn't know the exact amount. Although Cortes originally told police she didn't know there was a plan to kill Hatcher, she testified during Love's trial that she knew Delgado wanted Hatcher dead. She said the trio took turns following Hatcher during the 1 weeks before her death. She also admitted she tried to buy a silencer for the handgun that was used to kill Hatcher. Telephone records show that Love was texting about selling marijuana before and after Hatcher was killed, and his text messages included conversations about working as a pimp. His cellphone was near Hatcher's apartment at least twice before the murder, the records showed. Hatcher was found dead from a gunshot wound to the head Sept. 2, 2015. Her family said they were stunned to learn how she died. Hatcher grew up in a small town in Illinois with 4 siblings. "This doesn't happen in central Illinois," Turner said. "We didn't know evil like this existed." After Hatcher was killed, Turner searched for a video that captured her sister's laugh. "I wish she could just walk through the room and do it for you," Turner testified Monday. "She was full of life and full of love." Hatcher was excited about her relationship with Ricardo Paniagua, whom she started dating in May 2015. Paniagua testified that he had remained friends with Delgado after their breakup and said the woman knew he was in a serious relationship. Hatcher and Paniagua were scheduled to go to Mexico on vacation Sept. 3, 2015, the day after Hatcher was killed. They were also planning to go to Hatcher's hometown the following weekend. Tami Patano met Hatcher while they were in dental school. She said she struggled to find the words to describe her best friend. "Her laugh was contagious. It was just so high-pitched and full of joy," she said. "Last time I talked to Kendra was a week before she passed," Patano said, pausing to look at Love, "before she was murdered." Like Hatcher's family, Patano said she hasn't recovered from her grief. She said she is plagued by anxiety and fear. She regularly looks over her shoulder and even struggles to perform surgeries because the sight of blood makes her think of how her friend died. She also said she couldn't understand why Hatcher was killed. "Kendra did not participate with drugs or crime," Patano said. "She did not associate with questionable people." Prosecutors also presented jurors Love's criminal history Monday, which includes aggravated assault charges and a burglary of a habitation in Tennessee, where Love is from. The sentencing phase of the trial continues Tuesday. (source: Dallas Morning News) FLORIDA: Florida man on death row for 42 years fighting for his life; Private investigator says he didn't kill anyoneFlorida inmate fights for his life It was a gruesome crime. 5 people were
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., OHIO, TENN., MO.
June 14 TEXAS: Death Watch: Intellectually Disabled or Mentally Ill?3 cases raise the question The Court of Criminal Appeals granted its first stay of execution of the year, and now Smith County man Clifton Williams will face a new hearing instead of lethal injection, which was scheduled for June 21. Williams was sentenced to death in 2006 for killing a 93-year-old woman in a home robbery gone wrong. He's spent the last decade fighting his sentence to little reward, but on May 23, his attorneys filed an appeal contending Williams is "intellectually disabled" and therefore not subject to execution. Atkins v. Virginia, a 2002 Supreme Court case, determined that executing people with intellectual disabilities qualifies as cruel punishment and violates the Eighth Amendment, but the CCA decision on Williams is the result of a more recent Supreme Court ruling on Texas death row inmate Bobby Moore, who SCOTUS concluded was sentenced in part on outdated medical research on intellectual functioning. Indeed, Texas had been using material from 1992, as well as guidelines based in part on Lennie from John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men - factors that advanced "lay stereotypes" and made Texas an "outlier" in comparison to other states' handling of similar cases. Williams now awaits examination. His Atkins hearing won't take place until that occurs. He has a hearing in Smith County District Court on June 21, to appoint substitute counsel. Meanwhile, Moore's case appears to be headed down a different path. On June 6, the CCA upheld its ruling that he is competent enough for execution, and agreed to adopt current medical standards going forward (the same ones that moved the needle the other way in Williams' case), but the judges believe even under the new framework, Moore "failed to demonstrate adaptive deficits sufficient to support a diagnosis of intellectual disability." And a similar conversation continued last week in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, where Andre Thomas was granted, in part, a certificate of appealability to file a brief and have his recently denied appeal reviewed. In 2005, Thomas was sentenced for killing his ex-wife, her baby, and their young son. He spent the months leading up to the murders claiming to hear voices from God and cutting himself, and in the course of the murders cut out the hearts of the 2 children and stored the organs in his pocket, before trying to kill himself. Later, in jail, he gouged out his right eye. Unsurprisingly, 3 psychologists concluded Thomas suffered from paranoid schizophrenia. Though his trial attorney argued he was too ill to be given the death penalty, an all-white jury disagreed. (Thomas is black; his ex-wife was white.) 3 years later, he pulled out his other eye and ate it. Unlike Williams and Moore, who used Atkins to further their appeals, Thomas is mentally ill - meaning he suffers from a disorder, as opposed to intellectual functioning and adaptive behavior limitations (i.e., intellectual disability). The 5th Circuit denied only 1 of Thomas' 5 COA issues: whether execution of the severely mentally ill violates the Eighth Amendment, stating "this issue is foreclosed under our precedent." Though the U.S. still allows mentally ill inmates to be executed, the 5th Circuit's approval might just force a Supreme Court decision. (source: Austin Chronicle) ** "Blood Will Tell" investigation, death row with disabilities On this week's TribCast, Emily talks to Evan, Jolie and the New York Times Magazine and ProPublica's Pamela Colloff on Pam's 2-part "Blood Will Tell" series on blood spatter analysis and the state's consideration of intellectual disabilities in death row cases. On this week's TribCast, Emily talks to Evan, Jolie and the New York Times Magazine and ProPublica's Pamela Colloff on Pam's 2-part "Blood Will Tell" series on blood spatter analysis and the state's consideration of intellectual disabilities in death row cases: In Blood Will Tell, Pam told the harrowing story of Joe Bryan, a small-town Texas school principal who's been imprisoned for decades for the murder of his schoolteacher wife - based on blood spatter analysis that remains in question as a forensic science. Pam made some pretty big news on the TribCast: Bryan has just been denied parole again. He's 77 and has congestive heart failure and is on his 3rd pacemaker. In 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that people with intellectual disabilities aren't eligible for the death penalty, and just over a year ago, the court knocked down Texas' method of determining whether death row inmates qualified as intellectually disabled. Jolie talks about 2 recent cases where the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals used new standards to uphold one death sentence and delay another. Thanks for joining us! We'll see you next week. (source: Texas Tribune) FLORIDA: Convicted killer asks for new
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., OHIO, TENN., OKLA., NEB., UTAH, NEV., USA
July 29 TEXAS: Death Row Sentencing In Texas Has Significantly DecreasedTexas carried out its 5th execution of the year Thursday night, but overall executions are dwindling, and that trend is likely to continue. Last year, Texas executed 7 inmates on death row. That was the lowest number in the past 20 years. Kristin Houle suggests that the state will keep following that trend. She is with the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. "Well, Texas like the rest of the United States has been experiencing a steady decline in use of the death penalty," Houle says. This decline can be attributed, in part to sentencing. Houle says there is a big difference from 1999 when Texas peaked at sentencing 48 people to death row and only sentencing 3 in the past 2 years. She says what's led to the decrease in sentencing is cases being put on hold and advancements in forensic science. "Where the science that was presented at the original trial has been called into question or even debunked," Houle says. Although, executions are decreasing in the U.S., she says Texas continues to account for about 1/3 of them. "This year so far Texas has carried out five of the 16 executions nationwide," Houle says. In the state, there are 5 more executions scheduled for this year. (source: houstonpublicmedia.org) FLORIDA: Woman charged in Jupiter homicide to see psychiatric test results Prosecutors agreed Friday to give notes and test results from a state-order psychiatric evaluation to lawyers for Kimberly Lucas, the Jupiter woman charged with the 2014 drowning of her 2-year-old daughter and attempted murder of her then-10-year-old son. That agreement regarding Dr. Wade Myers' evaluation of Lucas comes less than 2 months before the long awaited death-penalty case is scheduled to go to trial in front of Judge Charles Burton. Confusion surrounding Florida's death penalty law had stalled Lucas' case from moving forward. That trial now is slated to begin Sept. 14. Lucas, 43, was not present for the brief hearing Friday. She has been in custody since her arrest May 27, 2014, on murder charges to which she has since pleaded not guilty. Jupiter police say Lucas drowned her 2-year-old daughter, Elliana Lucas-Jamason, May 26, 2014, in a bathtub and attempted to kill her son, Ethan, and herself by overdosing on Xanax. Lucas' suicide note blamed her actions on Jacquelyn Jamason, her then-separated partner and the biological mother to Elliana and Ethan. On that day, Ethan, then 10, woke up drowsy from the drugs, found his sister unresponsive in the bathtub and called 911. Lucas and Jamason, the children's biological mother, had been together for more than 20 years and joined together in a 2001 civil union, but were estranged at the time of the killing. Jamason has said that Lucas suffered from complications from gastric bypass surgery and had subsequently developed a prescription drug problem that contributed to their split. Lucas' attorneys plan to pursue an insanity defense, arguing that she suffers from dissociative identity disorder - formerly known as multiple personality disorder - and that one of her alternate personalities committed the crimes. Her attorneys wrote in a 2015 pleading: "The defendant was receiving mental health-care treatment long before, as well as the time of, the events which resulted in her arrest." Jamason is anxious for the case to go to trial. "I think that once trial is over, Ethan and I can finally have more peace, and not put it behind us, but look to the future," Jamason told The Post in May. (source: Palm Beach Post) * Judge rejects challenge to new execution drugs A death row inmate scheduled to be executed next month failed in a bid to get a Jacksonville judge to delay his execution because of the state's new triple-drug lethal injection protocol. Duval County Circuit Court Judge Tatiana Salvador on Friday rejected a request from Mark James Asay to put a hold on an Aug. 24 execution date scheduled by Gov. Rick Scott. Asay's appeal included a challenge to a new lethal injection protocol --- which includes a drug never used before for executions in Florida, or in any other state --- adopted by the Florida Department of Corrections earlier this year. In its new protocol, Florida is substituting etomidate for midazolam as the critical first drug, used to sedate prisoners before injecting them with a paralytic and then a drug used to stop prisoners' hearts. In a 30-page order issued Friday, Salvador ruled that Asay failed to prove that the new three-drug protocol is unconstitutional. Etomidate, also known by the brand name "Amidate," is a short-acting anesthetic that renders patients unconscious. 20 % of people experience mild to moderate pain after being injected with the drug, but only for "tens of seconds" at the longest, the judge noted. "Defendant has only
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., OHIO, TENN., ARIZ.
July 26 TEXAS: Death row inmate Scott Panetti to get further competency review Scott Panetti, 59, remains on death row in Huntsville, convicted of killing a Fredericksburg couple in 1992. "It's still so fresh in my mind, " said Rowena Alvarado. Alvarado's parents, Joe and Amanda Alvarado, were shot and killed by Panetti. Panetti was the couple's son-in-law, and married to Rowena's sister. "We never saw it in him." Panetti has already been sentenced to death and has been granted stays of execution. From the very beginning, Panetti's case has been about mental illness. Panetti's attorneys claim he's suffered from severe mental illness for nearly 4 decades and that he's also a paranoid schizophrenic. Panetti represented himself during his 1995 trial, he also dressed up as a western TV cowboy and tried to subpoena the Pope, John F. Kennedy, and Jesus Christ. "We had no idea, nor did he have any episodes. He was just a normal guy," Alvarado went on to say. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has now returned Panetti's case to the federal district court in Texas to further review Panetti's competency. "The taxpayers have been paying for this for many years, and that is just not fair for us," added Alvarado. While Alvarado says she has forgiven Panetti. "I'm kinda in between because I do feel that the death penalty would be too good for him," she said. Panetti's legal team issued the following statement: "We are grateful that the court found that Mr. Panetti's nearly 4 decades of documented schizophrenia and severe mental illness provided a sufficient showing to obtain experts and resources to pursue the claim that he is currently incompetent for execution. And we are grateful to the Texas Defender Service for their support, which allowed us to obtain a stay and to litigate on behalf of Mr. Panetti in the Fifth Circuit. Mr. Panetti has not been evaluated by any mental health experts since 2007 and his severe mental illness has only worsened while in prison. We are confident that when the lower court is presented with all the evidence, it will find that Mr. Panetti, a schizophrenic man who insisted on representing himself at trial and attempted to subpoena the Pope, John F. Kennedy, and Jesus Christ, is not now competent for execution. Ultimately, commuting Mr. Panetti's sentence to life in prison without parole would keep the public safe and affirm our shared beliefs in a humane and moral justice system." (source: foxsanantonio.com) FLORIDA: 'NICOLE WAS LEFT TO DIE': Prosecutors call 1st witnesses in Sean Bush death penalty trial Jurors heard the 1st day of testimony Monday as prosecutors began laying out their case against Sean Alonzo Bush, who is facing the death penalty should he be convicted of 1st-degree murder in the death of his estranged wife Nicole Bush. During her opening statement in Circuit Judge Howard Maltz's St. Johns County courtroom, Assistant State Attorney Jennifer Dunton told the all-white jury that Nicole Bush was shot 5 times in the face, stabbed, and beaten with an aluminum baseball bat in the early morning hours of May 31, 2011, in her Julington Creek townhome. "Nicole was left to die, but she didn't die right away," Dunton said. Instead, she explained, the mother of 2 managed to get a phone call out to a friend who, in-turn, called another friend who called 911 and travelled to the home to see what was the matter. Jurors heard from both of those friends Monday morning as well as the 1st responding deputy and a paramedic who was at the scene. The 1st friend, Tracie Walker, testified that she only heard Nicole Bush whisper "help" into the phone when she answered a call around 6 a.m. When the call went silent, Walker called another friend, Lenora Jerry, who said that she called Nicole Bush who answered but was "whispering" like "she was struggling to speak." Jerry said her friend told her, "Send help, I can't make it to the door." A deputy, she said, arrived at the home shortly after she made it to Julington Creek. That deputy, Graham Harris, told jurors that he found Nicole Bush lying in a pool of a blood in the doorway to her bedroom. She was wearing only a bra and a pair of ripped underwear. Lieutenant Michelle Grant with St. Johns County Fire Rescue, who was a paramedic at the time, described some of the efforts to save the woman and the wounds that were apparent at the scene. Grant said Nicole Bush had at least 1 exit wound from a gunshot on top of her head and was suffering from a good deal of swelling. She said she appeared "like her head was dipped in blood." Grant and Harris both testified that Nicole Bush was speaking somewhat when they began rendering aid but she could not identify who attacked her. Nicole Bush died later that day after being flown to a Jacksonville hospital. Through the testimony of St. Johns County Sheriff's Office crime scene
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., OHIO, TENN., IND., ARK., OKLA., ARIZ.
April 3 TEXASimpending execution Texas Prepares for Execution of Pablo Vasquez on April 6, 2016 Pablo Lucio Vasquez is scheduled to be executed at 6 pm CDT, on Wednesday, April 6, 2016, at the Walls Unit of the Huntsville State Penitentiary in Huntsville, Texas. 38-year-old Pablo is convicted of the murder of 12-year-old David Cardenas, on April 17-18, 1998, in Donna, Texas. Pablo has spent the last 17 years of his life on Texas' death row. Pablo dropped out of school after completing the 8th grade. He had no prior prison record. On the evening of April 17, 1998, Pablo Vasquez and his 15-year-old cousin Andy Chapa, attended a party at which David Cardenas was also present. After the party, Chapa and Vasquez took David. They struck him with a metal pipe, slashed his neck, and drank the boy's blood. Vasquez and Chapa then attempted to bury him. David, who was assumed to be relatives for the weekend, was not reported missing until April 20. His body was found 2 days later. He had been scalped, was missing 1 of his arms and part of another, and had no skin on his back. His body had also been mutilated after death. Additionally, David had been robbed. Police quickly detained Vasquez and questioned him. Vazquez admitted to hitting the boy, cutting his throat, and drinking his blood, along with dragging his body through a field and burying him. Chapa later testified that Vasquez killed the boy because David did not "give him what he wanted" During his trial, Vasquez claimed that the "devil" and other voices made him do it. Vasquez was convicted of David's murder and sentenced to death. Chapa was sentenced to 35 years in prison after pleading guilty. 3 others were convicted of helping to cover-up the murder, resulting in 10 years probation, a fine, and restitution to David's family. Please pray for peace and healing for the family of David Cardenas. Please pray for strength for the family of Pablo Vasquez. Please pray that if Pablo is innocent, lacks the competency to be executed, or should not be executed for any other reason, that evidence will be presented prior to his execution. Please pray that Pablo may come to find peace through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, if he has not already. (source: theforgivenessfoundation.org) Race and the Death Penalty in Texas This month, the Supreme Court will consider whether to hear the appeal of Duane Buck, a black man from Texas who was sentenced to die for the 1995 murder of his ex-girlfriend and a man who was with her. There is no dispute about his guilt; the issue is how he ended up on death row. Under Texas law, a person can be sentenced to death only if prosecutors can show that he or she poses a future danger to society. During the trial's penalty phase, Mr. Buck's defense lawyer called a psychologist who testified that race is one of the factors associated with future dangerousness. The prosecutor got the psychologist to affirm this on cross-examination, and the jury sentenced Mr. Buck to death. In other words, Mr. Buck is scheduled to be executed at least in part because he is black. Nearly everyone who has had any involvement with Mr. Buck's case agreed that making this link was wrong - including one of his prosecutors, Texas' state courts, the federal district and appeals courts, and the Supreme Court itself. In fact, the psychologist who testified in Mr. Buck's case also said there was a link between race and dangerousness in 5 other cases with black or Latino defendants who were sentenced to death. All of those men received new sentencing hearings after Texas' attorney general at the time, John Cornyn, who is now a United States senator, agreed in 2000 that they were entitled to proceedings free of racial discrimination. Mr. Buck, however, got no such relief. That's because it was his lawyer, not the prosecutor, who first elicited the psychologist's view on the correlation between race and future dangerousness. That's an astonishingly flimsy rationale for allowing a state to kill someone. If, as Mr. Cornyn said in 2000, "it is inappropriate to allow race to be considered as a factor in our criminal justice system," does it matter who brought it up first? It did to the Supreme Court, which declined to review Mr. Buck's previous appeal in 2011, even though it called the testimony "bizarre and objectionable." Mr. Buck is now back before the justices, this time with a claim that his trial lawyer was ineffective. A federal district judge said Mr. Buck's lawyer "recklessly exposed his client to the risks of racial prejudice," but still found that his case was not "extraordinary" enough to reopen. It's hard to see how this case isn't extraordinary. The risk of prejudice is particularly high in Harris County, Tex., where Mr. Buck was sentenced. In a 7-year period that included Mr. Buck's trial, Harris County prosecutors were more than 3
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., OHIO, TENN., KY.
April 16 TEXAS: Lawmaker Says Death Penalty in Jeopardy If Texas has to tell the public who it's buying lethal execution drugs from, it might have to stop putting inmates to death, state Rep. John Smithee told a house committee on Wednesday. We're going to reach the point ... where we can't conduct any execution, where we can't carry out capital punishment in Texas, the Amarillo Republican told members of the House Government Transparency and Operation Committee as he explained his bill to keep the identities of lethal drug suppliers secret. The state of Texas' drug cache is already dangerously low, Smithee said, largely because the compounding pharmacies that make lethal injection drugs fear threats of violence if they are identified. Texas had to start buying its supply of made-to-order drugs from compounding pharmacies in 2013 when manufacturers began refusing to sell their products for executions. Many of these vendors who supply these doses to the state have refused to do it any further, Smithee said. It's just not worth the risk of violence. In 2013, after the Texas Department of Criminal Justice revealed that The Woodlands Compounding Pharmacy provided execution drugs, the company immediately stopped after the owner said he was threatened. The following year, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott sided with TDCJ officials, concluding that the names of compounding pharmacies could be kept secret, even though such information had long been public. A Travis County judge last December ruled that the state's prison system must make the providers public, adding more fuel to the debate. If Texas wants drugs, the compounding pharmacy community is demanding anonymity, Adrienne McFarland, an attorney with the Texas attorney general's office, told the committee. Unless they have strict protection that they will not continue to provide the drugs, she said. It's becoming increasingly difficult to carry out execution which is to say carry out state law. Smithee's House Bill 3846 would keep the names of providers secret, as well as names of the individuals carrying out an execution. (As a policy, the state has never released the names of its execution team since the death penalty was reinstated in 1982.) But Kelley Shannon, executive director of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas, told committee members the drug provider names should be made public. The citizens in Texas really need the information to scrutinize how this is being carried out, she said. And Stacy Allen, an attorney with Jackson Walker representing the Texas Association of Broadcasters, told committee members that if threats to lethal drug providers are the problem, they should pass a bill making the threats a crime. This is the wrong answer, he said. For the past few years in Texas and nationwide, lawyers for death row inmates have fought in court to keep the names of drug providers public. Until 2011, the names of drug manufacturers who provided execution drugs were released to the public in Texas. But that changed once large European drug manufacturers stopped selling the drugs to U.S. prisons, and states were forced to switch execution formulas and turn to smaller providers of execution supplies: compounding pharmacies that can legally mix batches at their facilities. The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to re-examine lethal injection drugs when it takes up an Oklahoma case this spring. Smithee's bill was left pending in committee just a few hours before Texas executed Manuel Garza Jr. for the 2001 fatal shooting of a San Antonio police officer during a struggle. Garza is the 6th inmate this year to be executed and the 524th since capital punishment was reinstated by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1976. (source: Texas Tribune) *** Concerning Murder of Small Child, Court Denies Texas Death Row Appeal A Tyler man convicted of murdering a 2-year-old back in 2008 lost his death-row appeal Wednesday morning. According to a Texas Court of Criminal Appeals document, the court reviewed 5 allegations made in Demontrell Lamar Miller's application and recommended his appeal be denied without an evidentiary hearing. Miller, 28, was sentenced to death in November 2009 for the June 2008 murder of his then-girlfriend's son, Kelynn. According to police, Miller beat the toddler to death while he was babysitting. He was also caring for his own 5-month-old was son at an apartment complex in Tyler. Miller told police he found the toddler in a swimming pool. However, an autopsy revealed the child had bruises and internal bleeding from blunt force trauma to the abdomen. The convict was found guilty and sentenced to the death penalty. No execution date has been set at this time and he might still have other avenues of appeal. (source: Everythinglubbock.com) Arlington minister's killer loses appeal
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., OHIO, TENN., MO.
Sept. 10 TEXASimpending execution Condemned killer of 2 set to die in Texas Attorneys for convicted killer Willie Trottie are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to save him from the Texas death chamber. The 45-year-old Trottie is set for lethal injection Wednesday evening in Huntsville for the slayings 21 years ago in Houston of his former common-law wife and her brother. Trottie says one shooting was accidental, the other self-defense, and he doesn't deserve a death sentence. His attorneys argue Trottie received inadequate legal counsel at his 1993 trial. Another appeal, a lawsuit, contends the pentobarbital to be used to put Trottie to death likely has passed its effectiveness date and could cause unconstitutionally tortuous pain. State attorneys oppose both appeals. They say the pentobarbital Texas prison officials obtained earlier this year from an unidentified compounding pharmacy won't expire until month's end. (source: Associated Press) *** Last Lakewood Villas murders defendant remains jailed 3 years later 3 death penalty cases and an upcoming capital murder retrial have overshadowed the capital murder case of D???Arvis Tyrell Cummings, who has been in the McLennan County Jail for 1,217 days. Cummings, the last of the 3 Lakewood Villas murders defendants, turned 22 last month, the 3rd birthday he has spent behind bars in Waco. McLennan County District Attorney Abel Reyna did not return phone calls Tuesday seeking comment about Cummings' status. Reyna's 1st assistant, Michael Jarrett, declined comment, saying it is a pending matter. Bill Browning, Cummings' attorney, also did not return phone calls to his office Tuesday. A trial date for Cummings is set in Waco's 19th State District Court for Feb. 16. Browning has filed a motion to move Cummings' trial from Waco because of publicity surrounding the trials of his brothers, Rickey Cummings and Albert Love Jr. No hearing date is set for the change of venue motion, but should that be granted, it would further delay D'Arvis Cummings' trial while Strother searches for another location. Part of the delay in bringing Cummings to trial could be the July resignation of Reyna's former 1st assistant, Greg Davis. Davis was lead prosecutor in the trials of Rickey Cummings, Love and Carnell Petetan Jr., who was sentenced to death in April for the 2012 shooting death of his wife, Kimberly Farr Petetan. With Davis gone and Jarrett focused on the retrial of Edward Graf Jr., it leaves Reyna short on prosecutors with death penalty trial experience. Judge Ralph Strother knows D'Arvis Cummings has been in jail a long time but said he will be afforded his day in court. Neither side is ready for trial, Strother said. My court has had 2 other capital murder trials, 1 of which was tried out of (the) county, as well as the normal heavy felony caseload. Cummings, like Rickey Cummings and Love, is charged in the March 2011 shooting deaths of Keenan Hubert, 20, and Tyus Sneed, 17, at Waco's Lakewood Villas apartment complex, 1601 Spring St. 2 other men in the car with them were wounded but escaped the ambush alive. Rickey Cummings was sent to death row after his trial in Waco in 2012. Love, whose trial was moved to Williamson County, was sent to death row in July 2013. Reyna's office has made no official declaration about whether it will seek the death penalty against Cummings. Testimony from the 1st 2 trials indicates authorities believe D'Arvis Cummings did not shoot the men that night but served more in the capacity of a getaway driver after Rickey Cummings and Love fled the area. Rickey Cummings' .45-caliber pistol and his cellphone and Love's cellphone were found in D'Arvis Cummings blue Mercury Marquis shortly after the shootings, according to testimony from the 1st 2 trials. (source: Waco Tribune) FLORIDA: State to seek death for murder suspect // documents Prosecutors in the 14th Judicial Circuit will seek the death penalty for triple-homicide suspect Derrick Ray Thompson, according to court documents. The State Attorney's Office filed notices Tuesday saying that, if convicted, they will seek capital punishment for Thompson, who is accused of the July 21 killing of 66-year-old former BCSO officer and businessman Allen Johnson. The state also filed a notice of aggravating circumstances it will have to prove for jurors to levy death upon Thompson, which includes proving the alleged murder was cold, calculated and premeditated. Prosecutors in Santa Rosa County also are exploring the death penalty against Thompson and have recently indicted Thompson for the fatal shootings of Milton residents Steven Zackowski, 60, and Debra Zackowski, 59, on July 19. However, since the incidents are 2 separate crimes, the 14th Judicial Circuit's decision to seek Thompson's death does not influence the likelihood of Santa Rosa County's pursuit of capital
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., OHIO, TENN., OKLA.
June 30 TEXAS: Nicaraguan on Texas death row loses at high court A Nicaraguan man sent to Texas death row for fatally shooting a customer during a robbery at a Houston-area dry cleaning store has lost a U.S. Supreme Court appeal that contended he was under 18 at the time of the slaying, making him ineligible for the death penalty. Prison records show 36-year-old Bernardo Tercero gunned down Robert Berger during a struggle more than 17 years ago as Berger's 3-year-old daughter stood nearby. Tercero and a companion then fled with 2 cash registers. Tercero wound up in Nicaragua and was returned to Texas to face trial. Tercero had conflicting birth certificates. He insisted the accurate one showed he was younger than 18 at the time of the shooting. The Supreme Court, without comment Monday, refused to review his case. (source: Associated Press) ** Death-row inmates 'A blessing to me' I am a Southern Baptist and a missionary kid from Mexico. My parents served there 36 years as missionaries. I had no idea Baptists supported the death penalty and was shocked when I found that out upon moving to the United States. I totally agree with Pastor Jeff Hood's view of the death penalty as a Christian. I am ministering to 7 death-row inmates at Polunsky Unit. There were 9, but 2 have gone to be with the Lord through execution. It is a ministry God put on my heart when I moved to the United States 7 years ago. I can tell you that seeing the spiritual growth, changes, peace and joy in these men is the greatest joy in my life. They are a blessing to me. I want to commend Jeff Hood for being so brave and standing for what a true follower of Jesus Christ is. Dorothy Lee RuelasRosenberg (source: Letter to the Editor, Baptist Standard) FLORIDA: Judge blasts lawyer in Rasheem Dubose death-penalty case as status of appeal becomes muddied One of the most high-profile murder cases in recent Jacksonville history has devolved into an ugly death-penalty appeal with the trial judge accusing the defense lawyer of misleading him and the Florida Supreme Court in an effort to get his client off death row. Circuit Judge Lawrence P. Haddock accused attorney Richard Kuritz of hiding the fact that he simultaneously represented Rasheem Dubose and 1 of the jurors in the case after that jury convicted Dubose and recommended he be sentenced to death. Kuritz declined comment. Attorney Bill Sheppard, who is representing Kuritz, said his client did nothing wrong. I'm confident this lawyer with 20 years' experience knows what he's doing, Sheppard said. Death penalty cases tend to bring out the worst in people when it comes to anger and allegations, and that's what's happening here, Sheppard said. Dubose, 30, was convicted of killing 8-year-old DreShawna Davis and sentenced to death. DreShawna, who died in 2006 protecting her cousins from a hail of bullets into her home, became the face of Jacksonville's state-leading homicide rate and galvanized city leaders to do something about it. The Jacksonville Journey anti-crime initiative was launched soon after DreShawna's death and is credited with helping lower the homicide rate. Kuritz represented juror Tomi Chavez for 2 traffic tickets and in a civil personal injury lawsuit while he was handling Dubose's appeal, which hinged on Chavez's claim that juror misconduct occurred. Kuritz said in court filings that he did his legal work for Chavez after she was a juror in the case. The days I served as a juror are a blur, Chavez said in an email to the Times-Union on Thursday. It was stressful and done wrong. Chavez said other jurors, in a racist manner, made fun of the way Dubose spoke, researched the case on their cellphones while they deliberated and debated whether a teardrop tattoo on Dubose's face was a gang symbol or a sign that he'd killed someone. In her email to the Times-Union, Chavez, who now lives in Hawaii, said jurors were already familiar with the case before the trial began. The other jurors had knowledge of this because they watched the news and lived in Jax, Chavez said. Haddock declined comment for this story because he said the 66-page order he wrote on these claims was under seal and not supposed to be released to the public. The Times-Union obtained multiple documents in the case from the Florida Supreme Court after making a public records request, including Haddock's order. The Times-Union chose to publish this story, which extensively quotes Haddock from that order, because of the seriousness of the allegations by a judge against a lawyer in a high-profile case. In his order, Haddock said Chavez was not credible and blasted Kuritz for his conduct. Kuritz took Chavez's concerns of misconduct to the Florida Supreme Court without ever revealing she was his client in unrelated cases because he knew it was a conflict of interest, Haddock said.
