Jan. 5
JANUARY 5, 2018:
TEXAS:
Breanna Wood murder suspect to face death penalty
The primary suspect in the Breanna Wood murder case will face the death penalty
according to prosecutors.
Joseph Tejeda appeared in Nueces County Court Thursday, and learned prosecutors
will seek the death penalty. Tejeda is accused of killing Wood after she
disappeared in October 2016. Wood's body was found by police months later.
During Thursday's hearing, defense attorneys filed motions requesting Tejeda be
released on his own recognizance, or that his bond be lowered from $1,000,000.
Judge Jack Pulcher denied those requests.
Judge Pulcher is considering a defense request to allow Tejeda to have facial
tattoos removed before trial.
Tejeda's appearance came a year and a day after Wood's body was discovered. On
Wednesday, family and friends gathered for a candlelight vigil to remember her.
Fallon Wood, Breanna's mother, says she hasn't grieved for her daughter yet,
and won't until after those responsible are behind bars. She's confident
justice will be served in the case.
"They're all going to be held accountable for what they did," said Wood. "Like
I've always said, the justice isn't just for my daughter and myself, but for
everyone they've hurt. I'm grateful these people are off the streets of Corpus
Christi."
6 other suspects have been charged in connection to Breanna Wood's death. 2 of
the suspects could also face the death penalty.
(source: KRIS TV news)
****************
State to seek death penalty for man accused of murdering Tyler gas station
clerk
Officials are seeking the death penalty for a man suspected of murdering a
Smith County gas station clerk in January 2017.
Dameon Jamrc Mosley, 25, of Tyler, was indicted in April 2017 on charges of
capital murder by terror threat and aggravated robbery.
On Jan. 28, 2017, just before 4 a.m., Mosley and another suspect, Lamarcus
Hannah, reportedly robbed a Conoco gas station on Loop 323 in Smith County.
Billy Dale Stacks was working as the clerk at the time. He was shot several
times and was later pronounced dead at the hospital.
Mosley was arrested the following day in Dallas.
On Thursday, Smith County Judge Jack Skeen Jr. approved a motion continuance in
a separate case. On that document, Skeen noted that attorneys for the State
would be unavailable due to their scheduled involvement in a capital murder
trial for Mosley.
The document noted that the State is seeking the death penalty in the 114th
Judicial District Court on May 10, 2017, and Mosley's trial is set for June 4,
2018.
(source: KLTV news)
FLORIDA:
Killer receives life in prison after resentencing----Kevin Jeffries, part of a
trio who tortured and killed a World War II veteran, showed little emotion
during the short hearing, and gave only 1 word responses.
3 1/2 years ago, Judge Brantley Clark Jr. signed an order that would end Kevin
Jeffries' life, sentencing him to death for 1st-degree murder. On Thursday,
Clark signed an order to spare Jeffries' life, converting his sentence to life
in prison.
Jeffries showed little emotion during the short hearing, and gave only 1-word
responses. When asked if he knew why he was appearing in court, he answered
simply, "formality."
Convicted in the 2013 killing of Lynn Haven World War II veteran Wallace Scott,
Jeffries was sentenced to death in a 10-2 decision handed down by a jury in
September 2014. 3 years later, after the Florida Supreme Court ruled the
guidelines used to impose the death penalty in Florida were unconstitutional,
it would be those 3 jurors who voted no who opened the door for Jeffries' life
sentence.
"This record, coupled with a 10-to-2 jury recommendation and the mitigation
presented, simply presents too many unanswered questions," the state Supreme
Court wrote in its July ruling. "Therefore, we must find reversible error and
remand the case for a new penalty phase."
According to court records, the state decided in November it no longer wished
to pursue the death penalty in Jeffries' case. Chief Assistant State Attorney
Larry Basford reiterated that decision in court, saying the state was in
agreement that it would not be pursuing the death penalty. With that in mind,
Clark sentenced Jeffries to life in prison. Because of his family ties in
Alabama, Jeffries likely will be housed in Northwest Florida.
Jeffries, along with co-defendants David Ian Challender and Ashley Griffin,
broke into Scott's home in April 2013. Scott, who was 90 years old, was bound
and tortured as the trio repeatedly held a knife to Scott's genitals, demanding
his ATM personal identification number. When he refused, they killed him.
Challender's mother previously had been Scott's caregiver and was a beneficiary
in Scott's will. According to trial testimony, Scott was in the process of
removing her as a beneficiary when the trio broke in. After Scott's death,
Griffin testified she watched Challender pour bleach in Scott's mouth and eyes
to conceal the crime, and the trio then made off with guns, a clock and cash.
Challender received life in prison after pleading outside of trial, while
Jeffries received the death penalty for 1st-degree murder, armed burglary of a
dwelling and armed robbery. Griffin, who testified against Jeffries and
Challender at trial, was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Jeffries' lawyer declined to comment on the decision.
Jeffries' case was among several local death penalty cases ordered to hold a
new penalty phase. Roderick Orne, Robert Bailey, James Card and Matthew Caylor
all have had their death sentences vacated as part of the Supreme Court ruling.
(source: Panama City News Herald)
****************
Vero Beach murder suspect Michael Jones fights to escape death penalty if
convicted
Defense attorneys in one of Indian River County's more startling murder cases
are mounting an extensive pre-trial legal challenge of prosecutors' plans to
seek the death penalty.
Former Vero Beach bank wealth management adviser Michael Jones, 35, is charged
with 1st-degree murder. If Jones is convicted, he could face a state execution
in the strangling of his girlfriend, Diana Duve, 26, at his apartment in Vero
Beach in 2014.
The Sebastian nurse's partially clothed body was found in the trunk of her car
in a Melbourne parking lot in June 2014.
A trial date hasn't been set. The case is among about a dozen murder
prosecutions pending in Indian River County.
Jones' lead attorney, Assistant Public Defender Stanley Glenn, has filed10
pre-trial challenges.
Indian River Circuit Judge Cynthia Cox is being asked to rule on a wide array
of legal arguments aimed at undermining the use of the death penalty in Jones'
case. Many of the defense motions are routinely filed in capital murder cases,
often to make sure the matter can be raised on appeal, if necessary.
The challenges contend:
Florida statutes allow an overly broad interpretation of what crimes are
"heinous, atrocious or cruel."
A grand jury that indicted Jones wasn't properly notified of the aggravating
circumstances that would warrant the death penalty.
Florida's death penalty violates the U.S. Constitution.
The next court hearing is Feb. 15.
Chief Assistant State Attorney Tom Bakkedahl said he plans to file a written
response to the challenges. He and Assistant State Attorney Brian Workman are
prosecuting the case.
Attorneys said it isn't unusual for a case of this magnitude to take 2 or more
years to complete. Earlier this year, Bakkedahl estimated the trial could take
4 to 5 weeks, including jury selection.
One reason for the delay is that Jones first had to face charges against him in
Broward County. When police were looking for him in connection with Duve's
disappearance, they found him at a Fort Pierce motel, in violation of his
probation in an aggravated stalking case in Broward County in 2012. He wasn't
supposed to leave Indian River County without permission.
In April 2016, Jones was sentenced to 5 years in prison for violating the
probation, according to the 17th Judicial Circuit State Attorney's Office.
After that, he was returned to Indian River County for the murder case. He is
being held without bail in the Indian River County Jail.
(source: tcpalm.com)
OHIO:
Ohio Supreme Court will hear appeal of local death penalty case
The Ohio Supreme Court will hear arguments later this month on the
constitutionality of a death sentence for a man convicted in Marion County of
the 1993 rape and murder of a 19-year-old woman.
Maurice A. Mason, 54, was initially sentenced to death in 1994 after a jury
found him guilty of aggravated murder, rape and having a weapon while under
disability in Marion County Common Pleas Court.
Mason's attorneys have asked the Ohio Supreme Court to bar the state from
pursuing the death penalty in Mason's case, arguing that a U.S. Supreme Court
decision in a Florida case makes Mason's death sentence unconstitutional.
Mason's legal team has argued that Ohio's death penalty sentencing statutes are
very similar to Florida's death penalty sentencing statutes, which the U.S.
Supreme Court found to be unconstitutional in Hurst v. Florida, according to
records filed in Ohio Supreme Court.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 8-1 that Florida's capital sentencing scheme
violated the defendant's Sixth Amendment right to trial by jury by requiring
the judge - rather than the jury - to make the findings necessary to impose the
death penalty, according to the court's opinion.
Mason's attorneys have argued that an Ohio jury only makes a recommendation on
whether to impose the death penalty and that the ultimate decision is up to the
judge, thereby violating the Marion resident's Sixth Amendment rights.
"We think that flies contrary to what the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Hurst,"
said Todd Anderson, a Marion-based attorney representing Mason.
However, the state argues that Ohio's capital sentencing statutes comply with
the U.S. Constitution and differ significantly from Florida's.
In a brief filed with the Ohio Supreme Court, the state argued that Ohio law
differs from Florida's partly because the jury is required to find beyond a
reasonable doubt that there was a specific aggravating factor to the offense,
one that makes the defendant eligible for the death penalty.
In Mason's case, he was eligible for the death penalty because the murder
occurred during the commission of rape.
19-year-old Robin Dennis, a resident of Essex, a small Union County community,
went missing on Feb. 9, 1993, the Star has reported. Her vehicle was found in
rural Marion County the next day, and her body was found in an abandoned
building a few days later.
Dennis was found mostly nude, with multiple skull fractures from being beaten
with a nail-covered board. DNA evidence from semen further linked Mason, then
29, to the crime, the Star reported.
This most recent appeal is not the 1st challenge to Mason's death sentence.
Since his 1994 conviction, his case has wended through state and federal courts
on various appeals.
In 2008, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court threw out Mason's death sentence, ruling
2-1 that his legal team had made serious mistakes during the sentencing phase
of his 1994 trial.
In the majority opinion, 6th Circuit Judge Karen Nelson Moore wrote that
Mason's lawyers had failed to investigate "the obvious red flags" that Mason's
childhood was "pervaded by violence and exposure to drugs."
Such evidence can be used during sentencing to win the defendant a lighter
sentence.
Nelson Moore wrote that if Mason's lawyers had done a more thorough
investigation into Mason's background, there was a reasonable chance the jury
would not have sentenced him to death.
She pointed to evidence that Mason's father ran a prostitution ring for 3
years, as well as a home-based drug dealing operation; that both his parents
were daily drug users and that Mason had witnessed his mother shoot his father.
The 6th Circuit Court sent the case back to Marion County Common Pleas Court
for Mason to be re-sentenced.
Mason was on track to be re-sentenced in late 2016, but those proceedings were
put on hold because of the appeal to have the death penalty piece of the case
thrown out based on the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Hurst v. Florida.
Oral arguments before the Ohio Supreme Court in that matter are set for Jan.
23.
Mason is being held in the North Central Correctional Institution in Marion.
(source: The Marion Star)
IDAHO:
Blaine County Commissioners, Prosecutor, Spar Over Felony Defense Fund
Blaine County is considering withdrawing from a state program in an attempt to
disincentivize local prosecutors from seeking the death penalty and to take a
stand against the practice over objections from the local prosecutor.
The Capital Crimes Defense Fund pays for public defenders of people who've
already been convicted and are appealing his or her sentence - a long and
expensive process for death penalty cases. Before it was established in 1998,
those costs fell to the counties.
"It could be said that if the county were to withdraw from the Capital Crimes
Defense Fund it could hamstring a prosecutor's decision in pursuing the death
penalty, or the prosecutor would have to certainly be aware that it would be an
enormous financial burden on the county," says Blaine County Commissioner Larry
Schoen, who pushed to leave the program.
Schoen notes says it's an opportunity for the community to say it doesn't
support capital punishment.
"Mistakes can be made in the judicial system. The death penalty is
irreversible. In addition, the costs of the death penalty are enormous."
In a letter to commissioners Wednesday, Blaine County Prosecutor Jim Thomas
alleges they were "unlawfully attempting to usurp my prosecutorial discretion,"
and that withdrawing from the program won't affect his charging decisions.
Thomas wrote he has never sought capital punishment during his 22 years as a
prosecuting attorney in the county, but that "there may be circumstances where
the heinous nature of a crime warrants the maximum penalty that can be imposed
by law."
He called the plan a "politically calculated power play" and that "Such action
will also have a profoundly negative fiscal impact on Blaine County, will lead
to disarray in our public defender system, and ultimately result in substantial
harm to criminal defendants."
Ada County nearly left the program 2 months ago, but quickly resumed its
membership once officials there found out they'd have to pay for appeal costs
related to all felonies - not just capital cases - with a bill potentially
running in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Shoen is researching how much the move might cost Blaine County and will make a
decision on whether to leave the program by next week.
(source: boisestatepublicradio.org)
USA:
The latest lethal injection row explained----2 US states plan to use untried
drugs to execute prisoners
The New Year may bring a new era in state executions in the US - and fresh
controversy to the debate over the death penalty. As stocks of drugs for lethal
injection have been exhausted in several states, authorities are looking for
alternative methods to carry out the capital punishment sentences on its death
row inmates ... and now Nebraska and Nevada are turning to untried techniques.
Where is lethal injection still used for executions?
There are still 56 countries around the world that include execution as part of
their legal system, although the number is decreasing. These countries use a
range of methods, including hanging, firing squad, beheading and stoning.
The lethal injection room at San Quentin State Prison, California, US, is
similar to the rooms used in Nebraska and Nevada.
In recent decades, several countries have moved to using lethal injection as it
is perceived to be more humane. 6 out of the 56 currently have the option of
using chemical methods for judicial killing: China, Guatemala, Saudi Arabia,
Taiwan, Thailand, the US and Vietnam. The extent to which lethal injection is
used in these 6 countries varies enormously, some use it often and exclusively,
others favour different methods of execution and some rarely execute anyone.
The US was the 1st to use lethal injections and each new execution receives
considerably more scrutiny and press attention than executions in other
countries. All 31 states that still have the death penalty use lethal injection
as their primary method of execution.
How does a lethal injection work?
Lethal injection simply stops some fundamental process within the body by
chemical means. Different drugs interact with the body in different ways and
all drugs can be a poison in sufficiently high doses.
Some drugs used in lethal injection will stop the heart. Other drugs depress
breathing, so the individual suffocates. These drugs would be effective if used
in isolation but the death would be horrific. Therefore, most states in the US
that still have the death penalty tend to favour using a sequence of drugs: one
that sedates the individual, a second that paralyses the muscles before a final
drug is administered that will result in death.
Which drugs have been used in lethal injections?
Massive doses of barbiturate drugs were used for many executions in the US
until drug companies stopped supplying them for this purpose. Barbiturates are
sedatives and death occurs because breathing stops.
Sedatives are still used in executions but usually as the 1st of the 3
injections in the execution process. The choice of sedative has caused some
controversy, as the level of sedation achieved by some drugs might not be very
deep and can be quite short acting. The worry is that some individuals remain
sufficiently aware during the later stages of execution.
The 2nd injection of muscle relaxants is also a controversial choice as it can
mask signs of distress, such as twitching or convulsions, that may be displayed
if the prisoner is not properly sedated. When given in large doses they will
also paralyse the muscles used to control breathing and the prisoner may begin
to suffocate before the third injection takes effect.
The 3rd drug normally used is potassium chloride. Potassium is a vital part of
normal heart function; it is involved in nerve signals that control the heart
rhythm as well as the contraction of cells that result in the heartbeat. High
doses of potassium result in cardiac arrest. Potassium injections are
notoriously painful.
Why is there a shortage of the drugs?
As drugs for lethal injections run out or reach their expiry date, US states
have been seeking new supplies. However, as mentioned above, many drug
companies - particularly in Europe - have changed their protocols around the
sales of their products to deliberately prevent their use in executions.
All the compounds used in executions have perfectly legitimate and beneficial
applications in medicine in the appropriate dose. Some prisons in the US have
therefore looked into the possibility of reassigning existing drug stocks in
prison medical centres so they can be used in executions.
What is happening now?
All of Nevada and Nebraska's stocks of lethal injection drugs have run out and
they have not been able to obtain new supplies. They are now looking into using
a new and untried 3-drug combination. Individually, all the drugs would result
in death in a sufficiently high dose but no one is sure how they will work in
combination. The 3 drugs in question are diazepam, cisatracurium and fentanyl.
The states' plan is to alleviate distress though the administration of the
benzodiazepine diazepam. Diazepam is well known for its anxiety-relieving
properties but the drug may not help in extreme cases (such as imminent death).
Diazepam will also sedate the prisoner. Cisatracurium will then be used to
relax the muscles.
The 3rd drug, fentanyl, is the most controversial choice of the 3. It is a very
powerful pain-relieving opioid and it is hoped will at least make the death
pain-free. Fentanyl is currently at the centre of the US's ongoing opioid
crisis. It certainly kills - around 90 people per day in the US die from
fentanyl overdose - but those who have survived an overdose describe the
distressing sensation of being unable to breath.
Nebraska is also proposing to add a 4th drug to the mix, a potassium compound,
to stop the heart.
No one can be certain how long either of the new drug protocols will take to
kill, or how painful the death is likely to be. However, there can be little
doubt over the cause of death: the prisoner will suffocate. One of the criteria
for executions in the US is that it must not constitute 'cruel or unusual
punishment'. Many have expressed doubts if lethal injection, particularly the
method to proposed by Nevada's authorities, meets the criteria.
(source: chemistryworld.com)
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