Nov. 27
TEXAS:
Death penalty, the mentally disabled at issue for justices
The U.S. Supreme Court is set to examine whether the nation's busiest state for
capital punishment is trying to put to death a convicted killer who's
intellectually disabled, which would make him ineligible for execution under
the court's current guidance.
Lawyers for prisoner Bobby James Moore, 57, contend that the state's highest
criminal court, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, ignored current medical
standards and required use of outdated standards when it decided Moore isn't
mentally disabled. That ruling removed a legal hurdle to Moore's execution for
the shotgun slaying of a Houston grocery store clerk in 1980.
The Texas court is a "conspicuous outlier" among state courts and "defies both
the Constitution and common sense," Clifford Sloan, Moore's lead lawyer, told
the justices in written briefs submitted ahead of Tuesday's scheduled oral
arguments. Such a "head-in-the-sand approach ... ignores advances in the
medical community's understanding and assessment of intellectual disability
over the past quarter century," he wrote.
Moore's lawyers want his death sentence set aside, contending his punishment
would violate the Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment and the
Supreme Court's 2002 ruling in a North Carolina case that prohibited execution
of the mentally disabled.
The Texas attorney general's office says the state "fully complies" with
Supreme Court precedents. The state points to its use of 1992 clinical
definitions for intellectual disability as cited by the high court in its 2002
decision. And the office says it has consulted and considered more recent
standards.
The question before the high court "rests on a false premise," Texas Solicitor
General Scott Keller said, arguing that Moore's claim of intellectual
disability is refuted "under any relevant standard."
Two years ago, the Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional a Florida law that
barred any other evidence of intellectual disability if an inmate's IQ was over
70. Texas uses a 3-pronged test to define intellectual disability: IQ scores,
with 70 generally considered a threshold; an inmate's ability to interact with
others and care for him or herself; and whether evidence of deficiencies in
either of those areas occurred before age 18.
The state says Moore had a troubled childhood with little supervision and
scored 57, 77 and 78 on IQ tests before dropping out of school in the 9th
grade. He'd been convicted 4 times of felonies by age 17 but never was
diagnosed with an intellectual disability as a youth, the state argues.
It describes him as living on the streets, playing pool for money and mowing
lawns. During the fatal robbery of 72-year-old Houston supermarket clerk James
McCarble, Moore wore a wig and fled to Louisiana afterward, and had represented
himself in legal actions, showing the required intellectual capabilities, the
state contends.
Moore's lawyers argue the state "cherry-picked" specific higher IQ scores, and
that at age 13 Moore had no basic understanding of the days of the week or
seasons of the year, couldn't tell time and couldn't read or write or keep up
in school.
Since the Supreme Court allowed capital punishment to resume in 1976, Texas has
carried out 537 executions, far more than any other state. Moore arrived on
death row in July 1980, and only 5 of the state's some 250 condemned inmates
have been there longer.
In 1999, an appeals court threw out his death sentence, ruling that the legal
help at his trial was deficient. At a new punishment hearing 2 years later, a
Harris County jury again sentenced him to die.
In an appeal of that verdict, the Court of Criminal Appeals returned the case
to the trial court for a hearing, where the judge decided Moore was mentally
disabled and ineligible for execution. But the appeals court rejected that
recommendation, saying the trial judge had disregarded case law. 8 of the
appeals court's 9 members participated in the case, and 2 of them disagreed
with the majority.
(source: Associated Press)
FLORIDA:
Anti-death penalty event planned for Wednesday in St. Augustine
Less than a year after a St. Johns County priest was found shot to death in
Georgia, parishioners and officials from the Catholic Diocese of St. Augustine,
as well as other community members, will gather to say that no one convicted of
a violent crime should ever be put to death.
The 1-hour, anti-death penalty event, billed as Cities for Life and co-hosted
by Equal Justice USA, will be held at the Shrine at Mission Nombre de Dios at
101 San Marco Ave. on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.
Father John Gillespie, pastor at San Sebastian Church, told The Record last
week that the event wasn't necessarily planned in response to the death of his
friend, Father Rene Robert.
But the topic, he said, has taken on a greater meaning since Georgia district
attorney Ashley Wright announced earlier this year that she plans to seek the
death penalty in the case against 28-year-old Steven James Murray, who stands
accused of Robert's murder.
Robert's body was found in April in a remote area of Burke County, Georgia,
days after friends and family members reported him missing. Authorities say he
was killed there by Murray, a man with an extensive criminal record who led
them to the body.
Robert, it is believed, met Murray through an active ministry devoted to
serving the less fortunate, including those who had spent time in prison and
jail.
Shortly after Murray was arrested and charged, Wright, citing aggravating
circumstances of the crime including claims that it was "outrageously or
wantonly vile" and carried out while in the commission of a kidnapping, filed
her intent to seek the death penalty in the case.
That was troubling for some who knew of Robert's feelings about executions.
"He really stood out as someone concerned to help the helpless, the needy, the
homeless, [and] the poor," Gillespie said. "Among the people that were of
concern to him were people threatened with the death penalty."
Compounding the issue, at least for some, was the discovery of a signed and
notarized document in Robert's file at the diocese that said, if he were ever
to fall victim to a violent crime, he would not want the death penalty sought
against the person convicted of that crime.
The discovery of the Declaration of Life, as it is titled, prompted letters
from the Most Rev. Felipe J. Estevez, bishop of St. Augustine, to the editor of
The Record and to Wright herself, calling for an end to the "cycle of violence"
perpetuated by the use of the death penalty.
Wright told The Record in a subsequent interview that such letters or even the
signed document itself held no sway over her.
"My oath actually prohibits me from making decisions based on what the
community demands or rejects," she said.
But Gillespie, along with other priests in the diocese and parishioners, aren't
giving up. Recently a petition has been circulating through the churches,
stating opposition to Wright's decision.
"We would like that to be revisited," Gillespie said. "Even if it is not
revisited we would like people to rethink the knee-jerk reaction of a death
penalty even in the face of such a heinous crime that was committed."
And that's what Wednesday evening's event is about.
According to Kathleen Bagg, spokeswoman for the diocese, Cities for Life was
started 15 years ago by the Rome-based Sant'Egidio Community, as an effort to
end the death penalty. Since it began, more than 2,000 cities throughout the
world have declared themselves against executions.
"We don't have that kind of luck here," Bagg said in a recent phone interview.
But Wednesday's event, she said, will allow those who are opposed to gather in
solidarity.
A smaller event was held last year, Bagg said.
This year's event will feature 5 speakers including the mother of a murder
victim, an exonerated Florida death row inmate and the spouse of a current
death row inmate. Gillespie will also speak.
Copies of the Declaration of Life (which must be notarized) and the petition
against Murray's possible execution will be on hand.
Gillespie said he hopes that soliciting support from others to oppose the death
penalty, at least in Robert's case, will "lead them to reflection" on the topic
as a whole.
"We feel we have a responsibility to Father Rene and his memory," he said.
"Memory seems like a weak word for it. It is his abiding presence, his abiding
example."
Gillespie said it is important for people to understand that the Catholic
Church's - and local bishops' - opposition to the death penalty is not a
soft-on-crime stance. The position, he said, holds that incarceration is
preferable to the unnatural ending of someone's life and stems from the same
set of beliefs that moves many in the church to oppose abortion.
"What we are opposed to is the easy turn to the death penalty as a way of,
supposedly, showing people that they should not kill," he said.
(source: The St. Augustine Record)
**************************
Trial to begin in triple homicide
It's been almost 2 years since Andres Avalos reportedly killed his wife, Amber
Avalos, hanging her by a cord in the laundry room and shooting her once in the
chest. Her face showed signs of trauma.
Denise Potter, a neighbor who had a cleaning service with Amber Avalos, was
shot multiple times. Potter died in the hallway of the Avalos' home in
northwest Bradenton.
Avalos dropped his 4-year-old son, who witnessed the pair of slayings, at day
care that morning.
Avalos wasn't done. He drove across town, ditched his SUV in a Wal-Mart parking
lot and caught a ride in a taxi.
He ended up at Bayshore Baptist Church on 14th Street West. Amber Avalos
attended services there and taught children Bible stories. The couple had been
counseled by the church's pastor, James "Tripp" Battle.
For 20 minutes, Avalos spoke to Joy Battle, the church's secretary and pastor's
wife.
When Tripp Battle showed up that afternoon, Avalos walked outside and slammed
the door behind him. Joy Battle heard gunshots, then watched her husband
collapse in the courtyard. She called 911.
Around the same time, deputies got a tip. Avalos had called a relative and said
2 bodies were at his home.
The Manatee County Sheriff's Office had three homicides to investigate and a
killer on the loose. Avalos was arrested after a 2-day manhunt at a mobile home
park blocks from the church where Tripp Battle was killed. He had a gun by his
side that matched casings founds at the crime scenes.
Avalos admitted to the 3 killings, according to Assistant State Attorney Art
Brown.
He's been sitting in the Manatee County Jail ever since. Randy Warren,
spokesman for the Manatee County Sheriff's Office, would not disclose specific
details of Avalos' housing or supervision because of security reasons, but said
"we put inmates where we know is going to be in their best interest and in
ours."
Seeking death penalty
Avalos has been indicted on 3 charges of 1st-degree murder.
He picked up an unrelated attempted murder charge in January 2016 after
allegedly stabbing another inmate. The next day, Avalos was found in possession
of an ink pen - considered contraband at the jail. Those are the only
disciplinary issues on Avalos' file, Warren said.
Brown is seeking the death penalty in the triple slaying. If Avalos is found
guilty, the case would move into a penalty phase in which the jury would hear
evidence to consider whether to recommend a death sentence. The ultimate
sentence would be determined by the judge.
"We looked at the aggravating factors that we felt were present, and we felt
that they warranted our seeking the death penalty," Brown previously told the
Herald-Tribune. He could not be reached for this story.
Avalos' defense team intends to present an insanity defense, court records
show.
J. Andrew Crawford, Avalos' attorney, declined to comment on the pending case.
Avalos' trial is scheduled to start on May 8. 3 weeks have been set aside for
the proceedings.
(source: The Ledger)
******************
ACLU challenges death penalty sentence of Jacksonville man in neighbor's
killing
Attorneys with the American Civil Liberties Union are asking the Florida
Supreme Court to throw out the Jacksonville conviction and death sentence of
Dennis Thurnado Glover for the 2012 murder of his neighbor, 51-year-old Sandra
Jean Allen.
In a 100-page filing, the ACLU argues that the evidence against Glover, who
just turned 53, is weak.
"The prosecution of this intellectually disabled, mentally ill and innocent man
was infected by a colony of reversible errors, and the conviction itself is
based on patently insufficient circumstantial evidence," attorneys say in court
filings.
Attorneys with the office of Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi counter that
the evidence was strong and the death penalty justified.
Allen had been beaten, strangled and stabbed in the neck. Assistant State
Attorney John Guy said a death sentence was justified because of the brutality
of the crime and the pain and suffering Allen went through.
Glover said he found her dead in her Fourth Avenue home and went to get help
from neighbors. He was arrested a month later when police found blood on his
shoes and his DNA on her face, neck and left hand. No motive was ever
established - Allen was not sexually assaulted and nothing was missing or
stolen from her home.
Jurors convicted Glover in December 2013 and recommended death that same month
by a 10-2 vote. But Glover's sentencing was repeatedly delayed due to questions
over whether he was intellectually disabled.
Florida law says people facing death row can only argue that they are
intellectually disabled if they have an IQ score of 70 or below, not taking
into account a margin of error. But the U.S. Supreme Court said the state could
not automatically declare that anyone with an IQ score higher than 70 was not
intellectually disabled, and judges have to look at other factors as well.
After extensive hearings, Circuit Judge Mallory Cooper ruled that Glover was
not intellecutally disabled. But the ACLU is now arguing that Cooper was wrong.
ACLU lawyers say death is not an appropriate punishment because prosecutors
never presented a motive for why Glover would have killed Allen and also
couldn't demonstrate that the 2 had a dispute or even knew each other.
Defense attorneys at trial said the 2 had a sexual relationship during opening
statements, but Allen's daughter disputed that and said her mother had no kind
of relationship with Glover.
The ACLU also says the attorneys who defended Glover, Assistant Public
Defenders Michael Bateh and Al Perkins, erred because they stated in opening
statements that Glover had a sexual relationship with Allen and that on the day
of the murder she told him someone else was coming over.
But during the trial, defense attorneys never offered any evidence to back that
up, "a blunder completely undermining their credibility," the ACLU attorneys
state in appeal documents.
Glover repeatedly attempted to fire his public defenders, at times seeking to
represent himself. According to appellate documents, Glover complained that his
attorneys weren't communicating with him.
ACLU attorneys also argue that Cooper was wrong to suppress that Allen died
with both methadone and cocaine in her system because it suggested that Allen
and her killer might have both been intoxicated at the time of her death. The
jury that convicted Glover did not know about Allen's drug use.
Glover also could end up getting off death row for a reason that has nothing to
do with his case. The Florida Supreme Court recently ruled that no one can be
put on death row unless the jury unanimously calls for it. The question of
whether that applies to cases where someone is already on death row is unclear,
but a recent ruling throwing out the sentence of another death penalty inmate,
Richard Franklin, suggests that the Supreme Court might throw out Glover's
death sentence purely on the 10-2 vote.
Oral arguments in Glover's case will likely occur before the Supreme Court
justices sometime in 2017.
(source: The Florida Times-Union)
NEVADA:
Nevada's new $860,000 execution chamber is finished but gathering dust
Nevada's new execution chamber at Ely State Prison is finished, but there is no
expectation it will be used anytime soon.
The state can no longer obtain the drugs it needs to proceed with an execution.
Nearly $860,000 was approved for the new chamber by the 2015 Legislature to
replace the death chamber at the now closed Nevada State Prison in Carson City.
Nevada has the death penalty and is required by law to use lethal injection for
executions, but its supply of one of the drugs has expired and drug companies
will no longer provide the chemicals to the state for such purposes.
The new execution chamber and related facilities take up 1,900 square feet of
the administration wing at the Ely State Prison, the state's maximum security
prison where Nevada's death row population of 81 men is housed.
There are no pending executions because of legal appeals in progress by the
inmates. The execution space at the prison will be used for other purposes in
the meantime.
State Senate Judiciary Chairman Tick Segerblom, D-Las Vegas, said he does not
plan to propose legislation to do away with the death penalty given the de
facto moratorium on the process. While there might be support to abolish the
death penalty in the Legislature, any bill would likely be vetoed by Gov. Brian
Sandoval, he said.
Sandoval supports the death penalty.
Segerblom said he has no interest in pursuing legislation to change the method
of execution, either.
VOTERS MAY WEIGH IN
But Assemblyman James Ohrenschall, D-Las Vegas, named last week as chairman of
the Corrections, Probation and Parole Committee, said he plans to ask voters to
weigh in on whether to repeal capital punishment.
"Given the state audit that documented the high financial costs of having
capital punishment as a penalty in Nevada along with the practical matter of
the lack of availability of the lethal chemical cocktail used to carry out the
executions, I think it's time that Nevadans are asked to weigh in on whether
they still want capital punishment on the books," he said.
Ohrenschall said he will introduce legislation to amend the state Constitution
to abolish capital punishment and make life without parole the maximum
sentence. The measure would have to pass the Legislature in both 2017 and 2019
and then go to the voters in 2020.
He will also propose legislation for a moratorium on capital punishment until
voters can have the final say on the issue.
The 105-page audit cited by Ohrenschall, presented to lawmakers in 2014, showed
that the cost to prosecute and litigate death penalty cases is higher than if
convicted murderers were given life in prison.
Death penalty cases cost the public on average $1.03 million to $1.31 million,
according to the audit. In a murder case in which capital punishment is not
sought, the average cost is $775,000. In those cases, prosecutors typically
seek life in prison without parole.
The 2013 Legislature ordered auditors to review the costs of capital
punishment. The audit, which took 18 months, looked at the price of trials,
appeals and jail time for 28 Nevada cases.
DRUG COMPANIES SIT OUT
Nevada prison officials said last month that the state will have to explore its
options to carry out executions after it received no bids from pharmaceutical
companies to supply drugs for lethal injections.
The state issued 247 requests for proposals on Sept. 2 after its stockpile of
at least 1 drug used in executions expired. Not 1 response was received.
Nevada has used the drugs midazolam and hydromorphone to administer a lethal
injection. Both are manufactured by Pfizer.
Nevada's last execution, by lethal injection, occurred at the Nevada State
Prison on April 26, 2006, when Daryl Mack was put to death. Mack was executed
for the rape and murder of a Reno woman, Betty Jane May, in 1988.
Nevada has executed 12 inmates since capital punishment was reinstated by the
state Legislature in 1977. All but 1 have been "volunteers," or inmates who
have voluntarily given up their appeals.
(source: Las Vegas Review-Journal)
USA:
South Carolina death penalty prosecution defies survivors' wishes
The U.S. District Court will begin the long process of questioning prospective
jurors Monday for the capital trial of Dylann Roof, who is charged with 33
federal counts, including hate crimes, in the June 17, 2015, killings of 9
people at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church.
Roof, whom a judge on Friday declared competent to stand trial, has offered, in
exchange for a sentence of life in prison, to plead guilty. The government has
refused to make such a plea agreement.
The 17-month path to Roof's 1st death penalty trial - the state of South
Carolina is also seeking his execution in a separate case - has been marked by
public demonstrations of forgiveness and reconciliation. But the federal
government's decision to pursue Roof's execution is widely questioned, and it
is in defiance of the wishes and recommendations of survivors of the attack,
many family members of the dead and some Justice Department officials.
In May, Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced her decision to seek the death
penalty against Roof, and critics make different arguments.
Some are opposed to capital punishment because they doubt its efficacy or
morality. Others argue that because a death sentence for Roof would prompt
years of appeals, the decision can only protract the emotional agony of a
massacre that rattled the nation. And still others contend that executing a
young man like Roof, who is 22, could allow him to escape decades of
punishment.
"I want that guy every morning when he wakes up, and every time he has an
opportunity for quiet and solitude, to think of what Tywanza said to him: 'We
mean you no harm. You don't have to do this,'" said Andrew Savage III, a
Charleston lawyer, referring to Tywanza Sanders, a 26-year-old man who died in
the attack. Savage represents 3 survivors and family members of the victims who
became known as the Emanuel 9.
But Lynch chose to seek the death penalty after a contentious review process
that included South Carolina's top federal prosecutor siding with Roof's
defense lawyers in their offer of a guilty plea in exchange for a life
sentence.
The case's prominence influenced Lynch's decision, according to people with
knowledge of the Justice Department's review, and some federal officials
worried that forgoing the death penalty would curb the government's options in
future cases with lower fatality counts.
(source: New York Times)
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