[Deathpenalty] [POSSIBLE SPAM] death penalty news----TENN., S. DAK., ALA., OKLA., VA., PENN.

[Rick Halperin]

Mar. 4



TENNESSEE:

4 carjacking suspects face death penalty ---- Prosecution pushes for new
DNA samples


Prosecutors' push for death as punishment for all 4 suspects in a fatal
carjacking came as no surprise to the quartet's defenders.

Their bid for hair and swab samples for DNA testing is proving a legal
shocker, however, with at least one defense team questioning whether the
state has lost or destroyed similar evidence collected more than a year
ago.

Knox County Criminal Court Judge Richard Baumgartner has set a Friday
hearing on a motion filed by Assistant District Attorney General Leland
Price seeking a dozen samples each of head and pubic hair and two swabs
from inside the mouths of the suspects in the January 2007 slayings of a
21-year-old University of Tennessee student and her 23-year-old boyfriend.

Attorney Kim Parton, who represents Letalvis "Rome" Cobbins, and defense
team Tom Dillard and Steve Johnson, who represent George Thomas,
challenged the request Monday, arguing samples were taken and tested more
than a year ago.

In a brief filed by Johnson, Thomas' defenders went one step further,
openly questioning whether samples obtained last year and used in earlier
testing had been lost or destroyed.

"The state's motion raises serious questions about whether it, its agents
or others acting on its behalf have degraded or destroyed the biological
samples obtained prior to (the quartet's indictment)," Johnson wrote.

Cobbins, girlfriend Vanessa Coleman, brother Lemaricus "Slim" Davidson and
Thomas all are charged with kidnapping, robbing, raping, torturing and
killing Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom after what began as an
apparent carjacking.

District Attorney General Randy Nichols announced at Monday's hearing that
he would seek the lives of Davidson and Thomas should the pair be
convicted in the slayings. He and Price already had filed the necessary
paperwork to seek the death penalty against Cobbins and Coleman.

The hearing was supposed to serve as a chance for Baumgartner to appoint a
new attorney to serve as second chair to Parton. Suspects facing death are
entitled under state law to 2 defense attorneys, at least one of whom must
be skilled in handling capital cases. Parton is qualified under the law
and is Cobbins' primary defender. However, attorney Rick Clark, appointed
to help Parton in the case, has been hospitalized with cancer.

Baumgartner sought on Monday to appoint attorney Bruce Poston to the case.
Poston said he was reluctant but would agree at the judge's behest.
However, Nichols countered that Poston may have a conflict, alleging
Cobbins has made incriminating statements to another of Poston's clients
with whom Cobbins is housed in the Knox County Jail.

That issue also will be addressed Friday.

However, the real fight on Friday will be over DNA testing.

According to Price's motion, hair not belonging to either Christian or
Newsom has been recovered from the crime scene, although it wasn't clear
from his motion whether the hair came from Christian's Toyota 4-Runner or
the Chipman Street house where the couple was held hostage and tortured
before their deaths.

However, search warrant affidavits filed soon after the pair's bodies were
discovered and the suspects rounded up show that samples of hair and
saliva already have been collected. Johnson wrote in his response that
those samples have been tested and compared to the hair found at the crime
scene.

"No match at all was indicated with Mr. Thomas," Johnson wrote.

It was not immediately clear Monday whether attorney David Eldridge, who
represents Davidson, and attorney Russell T. Greene, who along with a
Kentucky attorney is representing Coleman, also will fight the DNA sample
request.

(source: Knoxville News-Sentinel)






SOUTH DAKOTA:

Death penalty not pursued


The prosecution in the murder case of Tamara Magic of Rapid City has
decided not to seek the death penalty against Tad Blackburn.

The 44-year-old woman was found beaten and stabbed in her home on November
8th.

Blackburn, who is 22, is being held on a $1 million bond. His trial on a
charge of 1st-degree murder is scheduled for next month.

Authorities say Blackburn was driving Magic's car when he was arrested in
Box Elder the day after she was killed.

(source: Associated Press)






ALABAMA:

Lackey facing death penalty----Jury finds him guilty of murder, urges
execution


Andrew Lackey stared straight ahead with no visible reaction Monday
morning when he heard a jury had convicted him of 2 counts of capital
murder nor later in the day when the jury recommended the death penalty.

The jury of 7 women and 5 men deliberated about two hours Monday, after
spending about 30 minutes in the jury room late Friday afternoon, before
finding that Lackey killed Charlie Newman, 80, in Newman's Hine Street
home on Halloween night in 2005.

The jury spent about 90 minutes Monday afternoon deciding that Lackey
should be put to death for his convictions of capital murder during a
robbery and capital murder during a burglary.

Limestone County Circuit Judge Robert Baker will sentence Lackey at a date
to be determined. Baker is not bound by the jury's sentencing
recommendation.

Lackey's parents, Michael and Sharon Lackey, sitting on the front row of
the courtroom, had little reaction to the guilty verdicts.

Sharon Lackey put her hand over her mouth and gasped when the jury's
sentencing recommendation was announced. "Oh, God," came from someone
sitting in the area with the Lackey family.

Limestone County District Attorney Kristi Valls in her closing argument
Friday told the jury she submitted a mountain of evidence to convict
Lackey. After the verdict Monday, Valls said, in a normal case, she would
have 1 or 2 things that point to guilt. This case had 8 or 9 things, she
said.

"It was the overwhelming evidence that the jury couldn't ignore," Valls
said when asked about the verdict.

Defense attorney Randy Gladden of Huntsville called witnesses and argued
that Lackey did not have good social skills, was immersed in video games
and computers to the point that he lived in his own world, and didn't go
to Newman's home to kill him. "Everything about this case was a
challenge," Gladden said after the verdict.

Evidence showed that Newman's estranged grandson, Derrick Newman, told
Lackey his grandfather had a vault with gold bars in his house.

Lackey went to Newman's home with a pizza warming bag and wearing a ball
cap on Halloween night. He also had a stun or Taser gun and a blank or
starter pistol.

Testimony in the week-long trial showed Lackey and Newman struggled before
Lackey stabbed Newman an estimated 54 times, beat him and shot him with a
.38 pistol that Newman had in the house. Lackey, who was shot in the
chest, drove to a Madison convenience store in a rental car. Madison
police arrived and Lackey was taken to Huntsville Hospital.

Experts testified that three bloody shoe prints found on Newman's kitchen
floor matched Lackey's shoes, and DNA tests found Newman's blood on
Lackey's shoes and pants.

Blood from both Lackey and Newman was found on the .38 caliber pistol and
the blank pistol, which were found in the rental car. Blood from both of
them was also found in and on the car, and Newman's blood was on Lackey's
sweatshirt and blue jeans. A folding knife with a broken tip was found in
the car. A forensic expert testified that a tip from a knife blade found
in Newman's skull was from the folding knife.

During the sentencing hearing, Michael and Sharon Lackey told jurors they
wondered if they made mistakes raising Andrew. They testified that he was
a loyal and generous person, but had problems adapting socially. "Andrew
lives in another world," Sharon Lackey said. "He's not from our world."

Through tears, she told jurors, "If you could take me in his place, I'd
say, 'Please, please take me.' "

Valls recounted the injuries to Newman and how Newman begged for his life
on a 911 recording.

"You saw the heinousness. The atrociousness. The cruelty ?(Andrew Lackey)
was not a desperate person. He had money. What kind of person, for no
other reason than greed, butchers an 80-year-old man to death?" Valls said
in asking for the death penalty.

Gladden asked the jury to consider Lackey's age (he was 22 when the murder
happened), that he had no criminal records and that he immersed himself in
violent video games.

"Look past the horrific pictures," Gladden said.

(source: Huntsville Times)






OKLAHOMA:

Defense attorneys for Underwood argue against death penalty


Relatives of convicted killer Kevin Underwood described him as a shy,
socially awkward child during testimony Tuesday as his defense attorneys
tried to spare him from the death penalty.

Underwood, 28, was convicted Friday of first-degree murder for the killing
of 10-year-old Jamie Rose Bolin in a plot fueled by cannibalistic
fantasies.

Gayle Coburn, Underwood's aunt from Emporia, Kan., testified that his
social awkwardness began at an early age. She described a picture of
Underwood as a toddler reaching his arms out toward the camera.

"Probably by the time Kevin became about 2 years old he did not respond to
hugs like other children," Coburn said. "It was like that picture. He was
always reaching out wanting to play but not able to take the next step."

Coburn also described unusual behavior Underwood exhibited as a child
including making odd noises and exaggerated blinking.

As Underwood grew older, Coburn said he once confided in her he was
depressed, isolated and feeling very alone.

She said she encouraged him to seek medical help.

A Purcell doctor also testified that he treated Underwood for depression
and prescribed him the antidepressants Zoloft and Lexapro.

Previous testimony indicated Underwood began taking Lexapro for a second
time just months before the girl's killing.

Another of Underwood's aunts, Valerie Sanders, testified that she worked
with Underwood at an Oklahoma City grocery store. She said Underwood
exhibited mood swings in the months leading up to the girl's death.

Coburn also testified that Underwood shared with her macabre, dark humor.

"I remember telling him at one point, 'Kevin, you need to quit looking at
that stuff because it's just gross.'"

Prosecutors have said Underwood's fantasies involving killing and
torturing and killing a victim were fueled by disturbing Internet images
of pornography, autopsy photos and cannibalism.

The penalty phase of Underwood's trial began Monday.

Jurors could sentence Underwood to death by injection or give him a life
sentence with or without the possibility of parole.

The girl was killed on April 12, 2006.

Underwood said he lured her into his apartment with a pet rat, hit her
with a cutting board and smothered her. Her body was later found in a
plastic tub in his apartment with her head nearly cut off.

Although Underwood said a cannibalism fantasy fueled his actions, no
evidence has been presented that any actual cannibalism took place.

The case was moved from Purcell, where the crime occurred, to neighboring
Cleveland County because of the intense publicity surrounding the case.

(source: Tulsa World)

*****************

Family of Killer Describes Awkward Youth


Relatives of a man convicted of murdering a 10-year-old girl testified
Tuesday that he was socially awkward while growing up and had a hard time
playing with other children.

Kevin Underwood wiped away tears as his father testified as part of a
defense effort to spare him from the death penalty.

Underwood, 28, was convicted Friday of 1st-degree murder for the killing
of Jamie Rose Bolin in April 2006 in a plot fueled by cannibalistic
fantasies and Internet pornography.

Larry Underwood told jurors he was hard on his son and said he loved him
''more than anything.''

''I didn't tell him enough,'' Larry Underwood said, choking back tears. He
recalled a time Kevin played T-ball and spent part of the game rolling
around in the outfield.

''I said, 'Kevin, if you didn't want to play ball, why'd you do it,'''
Larry Underwood said he asked later. ''He said, 'I done it for you,
Dad.'''

The penalty phase of Underwood's trial began Monday. Jurors can sentence
Underwood to death or give him a life sentence with or without the
possibility of parole.

Prosecutors said Underwood qualifies for the death penalty because he
poses a continuing threat and because the girl's killing was especially
cruel. But the defense said he was mentally ill and was out of touch with
reality.

Gayle Coburn, Underwood's aunt from Emporia, Kan., testified Tuesday that
his social awkwardness began at an early age. She described a picture of
Underwood as a toddler reaching his arms out toward the camera.

''Probably by the time Kevin became about 2 years old he did not respond
to hugs like other children,'' Coburn said. ''It was like that picture. He
was always reaching out wanting to play but not able to take the next
step.''

As Underwood grew older, Coburn said he once confided in her he was
depressed, isolated and feeling very alone. She said she encouraged him to
seek medical help.

A doctor also testified that he treated Underwood for depression and
prescribed him antidepressants.

Underwood said he lured the girl into his apartment with a pet rat, hit
her with a cutting board and smothered her. Her body was later found in a
plastic tub in his apartment with her head nearly cut off.

(sources: Associated Press/New York Times)




VIRGINIA:

Fairfax Jury Calls for 2 Death Sentences: Man Who Killed Young Couple in
1988 Already Faces Execution in Calif.

A Fairfax County jury told Alfredo R. Prieto yesterday that he should die
for killing a young couple on a field near Reston nearly 2 decades ago.
There were no witnesses to the crime, but prosecutors believe Warren H.
Fulton III was on his knees when Prieto shot him in the back. Then Prieto
shot Fulton's girlfriend, Rachael A. Raver, and raped her as she lay
dying.

Virginia will now contend with California to see which would be the 1st to
get Prieto, 42, to the death chamber. In 1992, Prieto was convicted of
raping and murdering a 15-year-old girl in Ontario, Calif., but his
appeals could stretch nearly 10 more years. In Virginia, they could be
exhausted in 5.

The families of Fulton and Raver were in the courtroom yesterday to hear,
at long last, the jury give its verdict: 2 death sentences. The victims
were just 22 when their bodies were discovered Dec. 6, 1988, in a vacant
lot along Hunter Mill Road. Raver had graduated the previous spring from
George Washington University, and Fulton was a senior there and the
captain of its varsity baseball team. The jury deliberated eight hours
over two days last week, then came back yesterday with a verdict after
deliberating 45 minutes more. Prieto blinked rapidly as the death
sentences were announced.

"I'm relieved and very happy, because justice has been done," said
Veronica Raver, Rachel's mother.

The death sentences will be imposed or reduced to a life sentence without
parole May 23 by Fairfax Circuit Court Judge Randy I. Bellows. The trial
was the longest in Fairfax, according to Commonwealth's Attorney Raymond
F. Morrogh. The murder case caps the storied career of Robert F. Horan
Jr., who retired last year after serving as chief prosecutor of Virginia's
largest jurisdiction for 40 years. Prieto's first trial ended in a
mistrial last summer, but Horan, 75, agreed to return and try the case
with Morrogh, his former longtime deputy, without pay.

"The evidence called for it," Horan said of the jury's verdict, which also
included 20 years on a grand-larceny charge for the theft of Raver's car.

On Feb. 6, the jury convicted Prieto of the two Fairfax slayings. To
obtain a death sentence, prosecutors had to convince the jury that the
crimes were vile and depraved or that Prieto posed a danger to society. To
that end, prosecutors presented evidence of the May 1988 rape and shooting
of Veronica Jefferson in Arlington County, to which Prieto was linked by
DNA, as well as records of his convictions in California for wounding 3
people in a drive-by shooting in 1984 and the rape and murder of Yvette
Woodruff in September 1990. Prieto has not been tried in Jefferson's
slaying.

Prieto's attorneys, Jonathan Shapiro and Peter D. Greenspun, tried to
prove that Prieto was mentally retarded and thus ineligible for death
under a U.S. Supreme Court ruling. They presented Prieto's relatives from
El Salvador, who described his difficult upbringing in a war-torn country,
and several mental health experts testified that he was mentally retarded
or brain damaged.

But Horan and Morrogh's mental health expert said Prieto is not retarded,
and they presented his writings and conversations from jail to show that
he is sound. Horan used his vast experience in confronting various mental
health defenses over the years, including his knowledge of technical terms
and diagnoses, to sharply cross-examine the defense experts.

The case for Prieto's guilt was made almost entirely on DNA. Police had no
suspects after Raver's and Fulton's bodies were found, and police had many
years of dead ends. Then, in 2005, while Prieto was on San Quentin State
Prison's death row, his DNA was entered into a national database. It
matched the semen on Raver's body as well as that left on Jefferson's body
7 months earlier.

Using ballistic evidence and the placement of the bodies, Horan theorized
that Fulton was shot first and that Raver then tried to escape. "She has
to know she's going to be the next to die," Horan said. "And she runs, and
he shoots her, and he rapes her while she dies. . . . It's depraved
behavior, it is outrageously vile and it warrants the death penalty."

The jury could choose only the death penalty or life without parole.
"Choosing life over death in this case," Shapiro told the jury, "if that's
what you choose to do, doesn't mean you're excusing these crimes. It only
means you understand that people are shaped by what they live through."

Shapiro touched on Prieto's upbringing, his many years in prison and the
movie "The Shawshank Redemption." He recounted the biblical tale of Jesus
interrupting the stoning of an adulterer, in which Jesus said, "He who is
without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her."

Horan flashed righteous indignation in his 10-minute rebuttal. "Members of
the jury," he intoned, his voice rising, "the only stones in this case are
the gravestones of Warren and Rachael and Veronica, the gravestones of the
innocent victims of this defendant."

(source: Washington Post)






PENNSYLVANIA:

Ex-lover, sentenced to 30 years, has no explanation for killing


The woman who killed Elaine Pierson and helped a search party find her
body took responsibility today for her death without saying exactly how it
occurred.

Rochelle Laudenslager, Pierson's lover for 4 years, was sentenced today to
30 to 60 years in state prison for Pierson's death in December 2006 and
attacking a state trooper who arrested with a knife in February 2007. She
pleaded no contest to 3rd-degree homicide last month in a deal with
prosecutors to avoid a possible death penalty.

"My personal actions caused the death of Elaine, but I did not intend to
harm her," Laudenslager said. "I too am grieving for my very dear friend."

Friends of Laudenslager and Pierson said the 2 met through mutual friends
and began dating in 1998. The 2 broke up in 2002 but remained close.
friends said.

For those who found Pierson's body last year on a Perry County
mountainside, the image will never go away. "Our lives will never be the
same," Jackie Kennedy said, a friend of Pierson's.

The last time anyone heard from Pierson, 48, was Dec. 27, 2006,when she
told someone on the phone that there was a knock on her door. Friends
reported her missing 2 days later after finding herhome unlocked and her
keys, cell phone and dog in the house, but no sign of Pierson.

Her body was found on Jan. 6, 2007, a few miles from her home under a
fallen tree off Idle Road.

(source: The Patriot News)