Oct. 6
FLORIDA:
Jury Recommends Death Penalty in Joel Lebron Case; The jury deliberated 2 hours
before reaching the recommendation
A jury has recommended the death penalty for a man convicted in the brutal rape
and murder of a Miami teen and the attempted murder of her boyfriend.
After 2 hours of deliberation, the jury voted 9 to 3 for the death penalty for
Joel Lebron, 33.
Prosecutor Reid Rubin had urged jurors to recommend the death sentence for the
man. Lebron was convicted last week of 1st-degree murder, rape, attempted
1st-degree murder, robbery and kidnapping in the crime.
"This man knew what he was doing, he knew how he was doing it, he enjoyed it,"
Rubin said Friday.
He continued to describe 18-year-old Ana Maria Angel's death to the jury.
"And then he began to fire his gun while she pleaded for her life, and pleaded
for her life until she was dead," Rubin said.
Jessica Gutierrez, a friend of Angel, said that the 18-year-old's mother was
fighting for justice for her daughter.
"This is her only reason right now for living," she said. "Making sure all the
men get prosecuted."
The final decision on death or life in prison is up to a judge, who set a Nov.
9 hearing date.
Police said Lebron and 4 other Orlando men kidnapped Angel.Angel and her
boyfriend, Nelson Portobanco, at gunpoint while the couple was taking an
evening stroll on South Beach.
Attack Survivor Testifies at Joel Lebron Trial
The men gang-raped Angel and then Lebron executed her on the side of I-95 in
Boca Raton with a gunshot to the head, prosecutors said. Lebron also stabbed
Portobanco multiple times in an effort to kill him, but Portobanco survived.
In court Thursday, a social worker in Puerto Rico testified for the defense,
arguing Lebron lived in poverty and was picked on by his brothers.
"They used to fight each other and smack him and they were kind of physical and
verbally abusive to him," Jose Lopez said.
But 2 doctors who took the stand later showed brain scans of Lebron. They said
a head injury he sustained when he was 4 years old had nothing to do with the
April 2002 killing.
"This is a brain that's working at a high level of function, integrated,
certainly no evidence of brain injury so far that I can tell," said neurologist
Ray Lopez, who examined Lebron in jail last year.
During the 1st day of the sentencing phase Wednesday, prosecutor Reid Rubin
painted a heartrending portrait of Angel, who was a school leader, athlete, and
beautiful.
"But sadly this is the lasting memory that they will have because of what the
defendant did to her," Rubin said, showing jurors an evidence photo.
Lebron's sister told the court about her brother's hardscrabble up bringing in
Puerto Rico, and the car accident when he was 4 years old.
Detective Testifies Again at Joel Lebron Trial
"Joel was never the same after that accident," said his attorney, Jeff Fink.
The just-concluded trial was the 2nd for Lebron, after the 1st one ended in a
mistrial earlier this month because a detective inadvertently testified that 1
of the other defendants had already been convicted.
(source: Associated Press)
******************
Jury recommends death sentence for convicted murderer; Joel Lebron convicted of
killing Ana Maria Angel in 2002
The jury recommended the death penalty for Joel Lebron, who was convicted last
week in the 2002 kidnap, rape, and murder of Ana Maria Angel.
Last week, the same jury found Lebron guilty of 1st-degree murder, attempted
1st-degree murder, kidnapping, armed robbery, sexual battery and sexual battery
with a firearm.
Jurors deliberated for about 2 hours on Friday. Jurors voted 9-3 for the death
penalty.
Closing arguments had started earlier in the day.
"There's nothing wrong with this man. This man knew what he was doing," said
prosecutor Reid Rubin. "He knew how he was doing it. He enjoyed it. He enjoyed
it so much he had an orgasm."
State law outlines aggravators that make the death penalty apply and
prosecutors focused on 6 of them.
"There is what's called 'heinous, atrocious and cruel.' He did it because he
thought she could identify him," said Rubin.
Since Wednesday, the defense had been presenting mitigating factors to the
jury, hoping they would consider any effects on Lebron from a childhood in a
poor, crime-ridden neighborhood, and a childhood car crash.
"Nothing that the state attorney just told you compels you in any way, shape,
or form to recommend the death penalty," said Rafael Rodriguez, Lebron's
attorney. "By your verdict, you have guaranteed that Joel Lebron will stay in
prison for the rest of his life."
According to investigators, Angel was 18-years-old in the spring of 2002 when
she was out celebrating an anniversary with Nelson Portobanco, her boyfriend at
the time, on South Beach when 5 people kidnapped them and forced them into
their truck at gunpoint.
As they rode north to Orlando where the defendants came from, Angel was
repeatedly raped and Nelson was beaten, said prosecutors. Police said
Portobanco was eventually thrown out of the truck along I-95 and left for dead.
The 5 are accused of killing Angel execution-style at the side of I-95 near
Boca Raton to keep her from identifying them. Police said Lebron, now 33, was
the gunman.
Prior to Lebron's conviction, 3 of the 5 defendants had already been convicted.
2 were sentenced to life in prison; 1 is awaiting a 2nd sentencing hearing
because his death penalty sentence was overturned.
(source: Local10news)
CALIFORNIA:
Costs Test Backing For Death Penalty; Some Former Supporters Say Capital
Punishment Isn't Worth Huge Sums Spent on Drawn-Out Cases; Californians to Vote
Opponents of the death penalty are finding some unlikely allies: tough-on-crime
types concerned about its cost.
Some longtime supporters of the death penalty now think the punishment should
be scrapped, even as they continue to see it as a just option in heinous crimes
and as an effective deterrent. They are questioning whether the occasional
execution is worth the taxpayer money spent on lengthy appeals and costly
lawyers for inmates, especially at a time when state budgets are strained.
Ninth Circuit Judge Arthur Alarcon, outside federal court in Los Angeles, says
he is conflicted about the death penalty now, because of its costs.
This consideration is particularly keen in California, where a referendum to
abolish the death penalty will appear on the ballot in November. Politicians in
more conservative states also are taking another look at capital punishment, on
cost grounds.
"I was a supporter and believer in the death penalty, but I've begun to see
that this system doesn't work and it isn't functional," said Gil Garcetti, a
Democrat who served for eight years as district attorney in Los Angeles County,
which is responsible for roughly one-third of California's 727 death-row
inmates. "It costs an obscene amount of money."
Many death-penalty supporters, meanwhile, agree that costs must be reined in,
but they say capital punishment should be fixed instead of abolished.
"My theory is 'mend it, don't end it,' " said former California Gov. Pete
Wilson, a Republican who opposes the ballot measure, Proposition 34. "The
system works in many other states, and it doesn't in California because the
appeals are endless."
The conflict comes amid deepening uncertainty over the death penalty, which was
reinstated in many states after it was upheld as constitutional by the U.S.
Supreme Court in 1976. While 33 states retain the power to sentence inmates to
death, capital punishment faces a host of challenges, from the growing number
of exonerations of convicts - often because of new DNA evidence - to shortages
of drugs used in lethal injections.
Since 2007, the death penalty has been abolished in 5 states - Connecticut,
Illinois, New Jersey, New Mexico and New York. And public support for capital
punishment, while at 61%, is at its lowest level in 39 years, according to a
Gallup poll last year, the latest available. Use of the death penalty has
dropped sharply in recent years. In 2011, 43 inmates were executed and 78 were
sent to death row, down from 85 executions and 224 death sentences in 2000,
according to the Death Penalty Information Center, an organization largely
opposed to the way the death penalty is used in the U.S.
The latest test comes from California, where a referendum proposed by a
coalition of death-penalty opponents would replace the death penalty with a
sentence of life without parole for all death-row inmates. The state, which
last executed an inmate in 2006, holds nearly a quarter of all death-row
inmates nationwide.
Polls on Proposition 34 show Californians by a narrow margin don't want to
abolish the death penalty, with significant percentages undecided.
Some supporters of the referendum point to a 2011 study co-authored by Arthur
Alarcon, a federal appellate judge for the Ninth Circuit in Los Angeles, which
found California had spent more than $4 billion on capital punishment since it
was reinstated in 1978 - about $308 million for each of the 13 executions since
then. The referendum calls for devoting $100 million in budget savings over the
next 3??? years into investigations of unsolved rape and murder cases.
Judge Alarcon, who was nominated to the federal appeals court by Jimmy Carter
and who was a strong backer of the death penalty, admits to feeling conflicted
about it now, although he hasn't wholly changed his opinion because of concerns
about what more life-without-parole inmates would mean for the safety of other
prisoners and guards.
Former California jurist and self-described "right-wing Republican" Donald
McCartin, who died last month, became an outspoken critic of the death penalty
in recent years, largely because of its costs. Judge McCartin had been known as
"the hanging judge of Orange County" for having sent 9 men to death row during
his 15 years on the bench.
Opponents of the referendum say its supporters have overstated the financial
burden of the death penalty, partly by inflating housing expenses, and that
predictions of immediate cost savings are wrong. "It's funny math," says Jan
Scully, the district attorney in Sacramento County, who supports the death
penalty.
In California, according to the Alarcon study, the cost of housing a death-row
inmate outpaces the cost of housing a general-population prisoner by $100,000 a
year, primarily because death-row inmates are housed alone instead of
2-to-a-cell, and they require a higher level of security.
The state, like many others, provides 2 lawyers to every death-eligible
defendant, who are each then essentially afforded two full-scale jury trials, 1
to determine guilt and another to determine whether a death sentence is
appropriate. The Alarcon study concluded jury selection alone in capital cases
costs more than $200,000 above the amount for life-without-parole cases and
that death-penalty prosecutions can cost 20 times as much as a
life-without-parole case.
Death-penalty supporters in California and elsewhere argue that legislatures
and courts have gone overboard in bulletproofing the system, often allowing for
frivolous filings and appeals by inmates. They cite Texas and Oklahoma as
states with more efficient and effective death-penalty systems, and point to
Virginia's 2009 execution of John Allen Muhammad, the convicted "D.C. sniper,"
as an example of a death sentence administered properly. "It was 6 years,
sentence to execution," said Kent Scheidegger, a death-penalty supporter and
legal director of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation in Sacramento, Calif.
"There's no reason an appeals process needs to take longer than that."
But opponents say a smooth process like Mr. Muhammad's is a rarity. In
California, it takes an average of 25 years from sentencing to execution.
"The 11 men currently on death row in Connecticut are far more likely to die of
old age than they are to be put to death," said Democratic Gov. Dannel Malloy,
a former death-penalty supporter, after signing the bill to end that state's
death penalty in April.
In Montana, some conservatives are behind a movement to do away with capital
punishment because of cost. "The death penalty is another institution of
government that is wasteful and ineffective," said Steve Dogiakos, director of
a group called Montana Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty, which
has the support of a number of former and current legislators.
In Utah, a Republican lawmaker recently asked for a fiscal review of how much
is being spent on capital cases. "I don't have any illusion that either the
Utah legislature or the people are ready to overturn the death penalty," said
State Rep. Stephen Handy, who called for the study. "But I want to start the
dialogue."
(source: Wall Stree Journal)
ALABAMA:
California asking voters if they want death penalty repeal, should Alabama put
it to a vote?
Capital punishment was reinstated in the U.S. in 1976 after a 10-year
moratorium on executions and today 33 states impose the death penalty including
Alabama and California.
The death penalty is generally reserved for especially heinous and cruel
crimes, but with life and death in the balance, the legal system has a number
of safeguards -- or hurdles -- depending on the point of view, before the
sentence can be carried out.
While Alabama executed a total of 12 people in 2010 and 2011 and 55 since 1983,
California hasn't executed anybody for 6 years. California also has by far the
largest death row in the country with more than 720 inmates. Florida is next
with just over 400 inmates on death row and Alabama currently has 195 people on
death row, including four women. Alabama has not executed anybody this year.
California is asking state voters on Nov. 6 to decide if they want to abolish
the death penalty in exchange for a life without parole sentences for
1st-degree murder convictions.
The measure would also convert the more than 700 current death sentences in the
state to life without parole.
Advocates say the state will save over $1 billion within 5 years if the death
penalty is ended. The ballot measure calls for $10 million in the 1st year and
$30 million per year after that to be placed in a fund to support improved
criminal investigations. The money would go to law enforcement agencies to
improve their efforts at solving murders and rapes, including cold cases, and
would include funding for forensic and related investigative work.
According to a Field Poll survey dated Sept. 25, 45 % of California voters
favor leaving the death penalty in place, 42 % favor the ballot initiative
known as Proposition 34 and 13 % are undecided.
Death penalty cases can include up to 3 rounds of appeals, a direct appeal, an
appeal based on issues like ineffective counsel and a federal appeal based on
constitutional claims.
The state has to defend the conviction at each step of the way.
John Carroll, dean of Cumberland School of Law, said for death penalty appeals
to be finally exhausted typically takes between 8 and 10 years.
Since 1977, there have been 1,300 executions in the U.S. and currently there
are 3,170 people on death row across the country, according to the Washington,
D.C.-based Death Penalty Information Center.
In Alabama, the state also covers the cost of indigent defendant's attorney and
related costs and will pay at least $2,500 to cover attorney's fees on the
direct appeal.
The Alabama Attorney General's office said this afternoon that it has taken on
average 15 years and 5 months from sentence to execution for the 55 inmates
Alabama has executed since the death penalty was reinstated.
Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center,
said a detailed study of Maryland's capital punishment system seems to best
mirror costs for Alabama.
That 2088 study found over the life of a case from pre-trial to prison time, a
death penalty conviction cost Maryland about $3 million per defendant. In cases
where the death penalty was sought but not granted cost $1.8 million and
death-penalty eligible cases where execution was not pursued cost about $1.1
million.
Given Alabama's current budget woes, should the state consider ending, or
placing a moratorium on the death penalty here?
Madison County District Attorney Rob Broussard said last week that cost is not
a determining factor for his office in deciding whether or not to pursue
capital punishment.
(source: Huntsville Times)
PENNSYLVANIA:
Montco's 1st ADA Steele helps win death penalty in Adams County case
Montgomery County First Assistant District Attorney Kevin R. Steele played an
instrumental role in securing a 1st-degree murder conviction and death penalty
for the man who gunned down a state wildlife conservation officer almost 2
years ago in Adams County.
A jury earlier last week found 29-year-old Christopher Johnson guilty of
1st-degree murder for the shooting death of Officer David Grove, who died in
the line of duty on the night of Nov. 11, 2010, while investigating reports of
nighttime shooting and possible poaching in Adams County.
The jury late Thursday night then returned with its decision that Johnson
should die for his crime.
Steele, who has personally prosecuted almost 50 homicide cases, assisted Adams
County District Attorney Shawn Wagner in the Johnson trial.
"We believe that justice has been served with these jury decisions," said
Pennsylvania Game Commission Executive Director Carl G. Roe in a statement he
issued shortly after the jury came back with the death penalty for Johnson.
Roe thanked Wagner and Steele for their successful prosecution of Johnson as
well as state police for their "exemplary investigation of this murder."
"This case has been a heart-wrenching, 2-year experience for our entire
agency," said Roe. "While the loss of Officer Grove will never be filled, we
know that his spirit will be among us as we continue to do our duty to protect
and conserve Pennsylvania's wildlife resources, a duty to which Officer Grove
had dedicated his 'last full measure of devotion.'"
Wagner, who is the president of the Pennsylvania District Attorneys
Association, had asked Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman if
Steele could help him try the case and she agreed.
"I was honored to do it," said Steele, who took vacation time to participate in
the trial.
"All cases where someone is killed are important but this was an especially
important case because it was the killing of a law enforcement officer during
the performance of his duty," said Steele.
"We must send a message in such a case - that those that commit a killing of an
officer will get the death penalty," said Steele. "Special protections are due
to those who protect and serve because while others are running from danger,
they go into danger."
Johnson's trial began just days after Steele attended funeral services for
Plymouth police officer and Bucks County native Bradley Fox who, like Grove,
was killed in the line of duty.
Fox was ambushed and shot in the head on Sept. 14 while he and his K-9 partner
Nick were pursuing a hit-and-run suspect
There will be no trial in that case because the killer, Andrew Charles Thomas,
44, of Lower Merion, then took his own life.
(source: Courier Times)
UTAH:
Death row inmate loses again in court
A death row inmate has lost another appeal in his bid to get his case reheard.
The Utah Supreme Court on Friday said Douglas Stewart Carter had failed to show
his counsel at his original trial was "so deficient as to be constitutionally
ineffective." The decision upheld a lower court ruling.
The ruling mirrors a decision issued by a federal court judge in September, who
also found that Carter had failed to show that state courts erred on questions
about the effectiveness of counsel at his 1985 trial and admissibility of his
confession. Carter has about a week to file a notice of appeal on the federal
ruling with the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Carter was convicted of murdering Eva Olesen in her Provo home on Feb. 27,
1985. Olesen's hands had been tied behind her back with a telephone cord ripped
from the wall. She was nude from the waist down and had been stabbed 8 times in
the back, once in the abdomen and once in the neck with a kitchen knife. A
medical examiner said Olesen, 57, was still alive when she was fatally shot in
the back of the head.
At his 1st trial in 1985, a jury unanimously found Carter guilty of 1st-degree
murder and that aggravating circumstances existed, which made him eligible for
the death penalty. On Dec. 19, 1985, the jury sentenced Carter to death.
Over the subsequent 27 years, Carter made various appeals to get the verdict
and sentence overturned, arguing, among other things, that his confession was
coerced and should have been suppressed; that the prosecutor had tainted the
jury by indirectly commenting on his decision to not take the witness stand in
his own defense; and that his counsel had been ineffective.
The Utah Supreme Court rejected all but 1 issue.
(source: Salt Lake Tribune)
_______________________________________________
DeathPenalty mailing list
DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu
http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty
Search the Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/deathpenalty@lists.washlaw.edu/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A free service of WashLaw
http://washlaw.edu
(785)670.1088
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
