August 16
TEXAS:
Texas to seek death penalty for MMA fighter accused of double homicide
Cedric Marks was indicted on 2 counts of capital murder earlier this year. He
has plead not guilty to those charges.
According to USA Today prosecutors in Bell County, TX are planning to seek the
death penalty for Cedric Marks, 45. A long-time MMA fighter, Marks was indicted
in the killings of Jenna Scott, 28, and Michael Swearingin, 32, in March. Marks
has plead not guilty to all charges.
The remains of Scott, Marks’ former girlfriend, and Swearingin, her friend,
were discovered in shallow graves in Clearview, OK on January 3rd. Marks’
current girlfriend Maya Maxwell, who recently gave birth while incarcerated, is
also facing charges in this case.
She has told authorities that Scott and Swearingin died after being alone in
rooms with Marks. Maxwell has also confessed to moving Swearingin’s vehicle in
an attempt to sidetrack the investigation into the killings.
Scott and Swearingin were declared missing in December. Around this time Marks
was arrested in Grand Rapids, MI. He was arrested on a burglary charge after he
was accused of robbing Scott’s Temple, TX home back in late 2018.
The reported break-in happened shortly after Scott had a request for a 2-year
protective order against Marks turned down by Judge Paul LePak. During court
proceedings Scott claimed that Marks had previously choked her unconscious and
had threatened to kill her and her family. Scott also claimed that Marks had
told her he had gotten away with murder in the past and he knew how to cover it
up.
Police in Bloomington, MN consider Marks a person of interest in the
disappearance of April Pease. Marks and Pease were involved in a reportedly
bitter child custody battle in 2008. Pease was granted custody of her and
Marks’ child, but she went missing a year later. Custody then reverted to
Marks. However, the state took custody of the child soon after.
Marks has spent the last 20-years competing in professional mixed martial arts.
His most notable career appearance came in 2010, in a loss to Andrew Chappelle
at Bellator Fighting Championships 20.
(source: bloodyelbow.com)
FLORIDA----impending execution
Florida Supreme Court refuses to block death row inmate Gary Ray Bowles'
execution
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.”
(source: news-press.com)
TENNESSEE----execution
Tennessee executes a double murderer by electric chair
A double murderer who chose to die by electrocution was executed Thursday
night, the Tennessee Department of Correction said.
Stephen West was convicted in 1986 of fatally stabbing a mother and her
15-year-old daughter, CNN affiliate WKRN reported.
He had several times escaped being put to death, including a scheduled
execution in 2001 that was delayed when he began appealing his death sentence,
according to several media reports.
Jack Campbell, whose uncle was the husband and father of the victims, lamented
the legal system.
"Our family has suffered very deeply over the past 33 years through all the
appeals that we think is very unfair for anyone to have to go through when all
of the proof in the world was there for the case to be over within 24 hours,
let alone 33 years," he said in a statement.
Witnesses to West's death in the electric chair said he sobbed before he died.
Reporters in the viewing area said his last words were, "In the beginning God
created man."
He then began to weep. And then said, "Jesus wept. That's all."
He was pronounced dead at 7:27 p.m. CT (8:27 p.m. ET).
West had denied he killed the mother and daughter. He blamed their deaths on an
accomplice, according to CNN affiliates WKRN and WSMV.
A statement from his legal team said: "We are deeply disappointed that the
state of Tennessee has gone forward with the execution of a man whom the state
had diagnosed with severe mental illness. A man of deep faith who has made a
positive impact on those around him for decades and a man who by overwhelming
evidence did not commit these murders but has never the less taken personal
responsibility for his involvement in these crimes."
In Tennessee, a person who was on death row before 1999 can choose
electrocution or lethal injection, which is used for other capital offense
inmates. In 2018, Tennessee used the electric chair for 2 executions.
Tennessee has executed 5 people since August 9, 2018, when Billy Ray Irick
became the 1st person put to death by the state since December 2009.
(source: CNN)
************************************
3 more death row executions scheduled through 2020----"When somebody's
sentenced to death, trying to put a period at the end of the process is not
realistic."
Following Stephen West's execution Thursday night, three more Tennessee death
row inmates are scheduled to die in the next year and a half.
Lee Hall Jr., Nicky Todd Sutton, and Abu-Ali Abdur'Rahman, formerly known as
James Jones.
But a lot can change between now the next execution, scheduled for December.
"It's not at all unusual for legal proceedings to continue up to the actual
moment of death," said Penny White.
White is a former state supreme court justice and current director of the
Center for Advocacy and Dispute Resolution at UT's School of Law.
She said when an execution date is set, it is never final.
"When somebody's sentenced to death, trying to put a period at the end of the
process is not realistic," White said.
That's because several appeals and lawsuits can be filed between setting a date
and executing an inmate.
Death row inmates can be granted a stay of execution by a federal court, the
state supreme court or the governor.
"When we're talking about taking a life, we really shouldn't be worrying about
making it fast," White said. "We should be worrying about getting it right."
Tennessee's next scheduled execution is on Dec. 5.
Lee Hall Jr. was convicted of killing Chattanooga woman Traci Crozier in 1991.
He set her car on fire while she was still inside.
Crozier died from 2nd and 3rd-degree burns.
Hall Jr. was granted a stay of execution before his original execution date in
2016.
"People are challenging the ways that we execute," White said. "They are saying
that the method itself is cruel and that violates the constitution."
If Hall Jr. is not granted a stay this time, he will be the 2nd and final
Tennessee death row inmate executed in 2019.
Nicky Todd Sutton will be the 1st execution of 2020, scheduled for Feb. 20.
He was convicted of his grandmother's murder in Morristown, and later the
murder of a fellow inmate while serving time in Morgan County.
Abu-Ali Abdur’Rahman, formerly known as James Lee Jones, is set to die on April
9, 2020.
He is convicted of the murder of Patrick Daniels in 1986 in Davidson County.
(source: WBIR news)
COLORADO:
District Attorney to host panel discussion with death row exonorees
The District Attorney’s Office for the 5th Judicial District will be hosting a
panel discussion featuring death row exonerees on Tuesday, Aug. 20, at Colorado
Mountain College in Breckenridge.
In an announcement for the event, District Attorney’s Office officials said the
office does not take a position on the issue of abolishing the death penalty.
Rather, the panel is being held to facilitate a discussion about the criminal
justice system and to give the community an opportunity to hear perspectives of
individuals who were convicted and later exonerated for heinous crimes.
The panel also will feature a facilitator from the Witness to Innocence, a
nonprofit dedicated to abolishing the death penalty.
The panel discussion will take place from 5:30to 8 p.m. at 107 Denison Placer
Road.
(source: Summit Daily News)
ARIZONA:
Arizona Court Rejects Death Penalty for Illegal Alien Accused of Murdering
Grant Ronnebeck
An Arizona court made official this week that the illegal alien charged with
murdering 21-year-old Grant Ronnebeck will not face the death penalty because
of his alleged “intellectual disability.”
Last month, Judge Michael Kemp ruled that 34-year-old illegal alien Apolinar
Altamirano was not eligible for the death penalty because he had a 5th-grade
education and was unable to obtain special education because he grew up in
rural Mexico. Last year, Kemp ruled that prosecutors in the case would not be
allowed to mention that Altamirano was an illegal alien who had been living in
the U.S. for more than 20 years.
This week, the Arizona Court of Appeals reinforced Kemp’s decision, telling
prosecutors that they would not be allowed to seek the death penalty against
Altamirano.
On January 22, 2015, Altamirano entered a QuickTrip convenience store in Mesa,
Arizona, where Ronnebeck worked as a store clerk, and allegedly shot the young
man to death after demanding a pack of cigarettes, Breitbart News reported at
the time.
After shooting and killing Ronnebeck, prosecutors say Altamirano stepped over
the body of the young man to grab a couple more packs of cigarettes before
fleeing the scene. Following the alleged murder, the illegal alien sent police
on a high-speed chase and was eventually arrested and taken into custody.
At the time of the alleged murder, Altamirano — an alleged self-proclaimed
member of the Sinaloa Cartel — had been out of police custody on bond despite
having orders to be deported from the U.S.
Prosecutors will continue seeking a 1st-degree murder conviction for
Altamirano.
“Our children are worth … it’s blood on [the Democrats’] hands,” Angel Dad
Steve Ronnebeck said during a press conference for Angel Families in June. ” …
I made a promise right after Grant died that I was going to keep fighting for
Grant and keep fighting for the American people. What the American people don’t
understand is that it’s going to happen to them or somebody they know … with so
many people coming across our border.”
(source: breitbart.com)
WYOMING:
Wyoming conservatives opposed to death penalty to attend national meeting
Wyoming members of a conservative group opposed to the death penalty will
participate in a Sept. 6-8 national conference in New Orleans.
The group is called “Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty.” The
national meeting will be the organization’s first.
“Leaders from a dozen states, including Wyoming, will be gathering to discuss
the growing movement of conservatives and Republican state legislators who
believe the death penalty violates the basic tenets of their beliefs,” an
announcement from the Wyoming chapter states.
Wyoming also has a new state coordinator for their chapter of the
“Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty.” Her name is Kylie Taylor.
“’Ending the death penalty aligns perfectly with my conservative beliefs
because it reduces costs to taxpayers, it is consistent with valuing life, and
it eliminates the risk of executing innocent people,'” Taylor said.
Part of the group’s concern is the number of death row convictions that have
been overturned.
“Across the country 166 individuals have been freed from state death rows due
to wrongful convictions,” they said.
“‘These grassroots conservatives are the driving force behind a change in
thinking that has been taking place in red state legislatures in recent years,’
said Hannah Cox, National Manager of Conservatives Concerned About the Death
Penalty. ‘We will be discussing best practices in educating the public, as well
as lawmakers, in their states.'”
The national meeting will take place at Le Pavillon Hotel, located at 833
Poydras Street in New Orleans.
(source: Oil City News)
CALIFORNIA:
'Hollywood Ripper' faces death penalty for murdering two women including Ashton
Kutcher date
A “stone-cold serial killer” could face execution after being killing 2 women,
one of whom was stabbed to death on the night of a planned date with actor
Ashton Kutcher.
Michael Gargiulo, 43, was also found guilty of the attempted murder of a third
victim who fought back and later testified against him in court.
Kutcher also gave evidence during Gargiulo’s trial, having seen bloodstains on
the floor of Ashley Ellerin’s Hollywood home as he arrived to collect her for
drinks in February 2001.
The 22-year-old fashion student was later found dead with more than 47 stab
wounds.
Gargiulo, a former aspiring actor, was found guilty of the 2005 murder of
32-year old Maria Bruno in her El Monte, California, and the attempted murder
of Michelle Murphy, who he stabbed in her Santa Monica apartment in 2008.
Gargiulo is eligible for the death penalty or life in prison with no
possibility of parole.
He showed no reaction when the verdicts were read on Thursday following 3 hours
of jury deliberations.
A final phase of his trial at Los Angeles Superior Court is set to start on
Tuesday, when jurors will determine whether Gargiulo was sane at the time of
the killings.
A Chicago native who moved to Los Angeles in the late 1990s, Gargiulo worked as
an air conditioning repairman and a Hollywood nightclub bouncer at the time of
the attacks.
With little physical evidence tying him to the scenes of 2 killings,
prosecutors urged jurors to look at the cases jointly, citing similar patterns
in home-invasion attacks that all took place near where he was living at the
time.
While some media outlets dubbed him the “Hollywood Ripper“, prosecutors called
him the “Boy-next-door Killer“ and painted him as a “stone-cold serial killer”.
The prosecution was allowed to cite evidence from a 2nd alleged murder in 1993
for which Gargiulo is awaiting trial in Illinois.
Jurors were told Gargiulo was a meticulous killer who studied the lives, homes
and habits of the women he preyed on. All four victims were stabbed quickly,
powerfully and repeatedly with a knife by their attacker, who studied ways to
cover his tracks.
“Those similarities point to one man, one killer: Michael Gargiulo,“ deputy
district attorney Garrett Dameron said during closing arguments.
Gargiulo’s defence lawyers relied heavily on the lack of forensic or witness
evidence putting him at the scenes of the killings.
Kutcher, who in 2001 was a rising star of the sitcom That ‘70s Show, testified
early in the trial that he and Ellerin were getting to know each other and had
made plans to go out together for drinks.
He told the court he arrived at her Hollywood home several hours late and
assumed she had gone out without him when she did not answer the door.
He recalled looking through the window and seeing what he believed to be were
wine stains, but later proved to be Ellerin’s blood.
“I remember the next day, after I heard about what happened, I went to the
detectives and said, ‘My fingerprints are on the door,“‘ Kutcher testified. “I
was freaking out.“
The first and most important witness in the case was Ms Murphy, a fitness
enthusiast who fought off the much larger Gargiulo and caused him to cut
himself, leaving a trail of blood as he fled.
That evidence against him was so overwhelming that defence lawyers conceded he
was Ms Murphy’s attacker, although they argued he suffered from a dissociative
disorder which left him in a “fugue state“ and did know what he was doing.
(source: independent.co.uk)
OREGON:
Another day, another interpretation of Oregon’s new law limiting the death
penalty
The former House majority leader who helped spearhead a new law limiting death
penalty cases said Thursday the legislation was written as she intended and she
doesn’t support a call for a special session to fix it.
Rep. Jennifer Williamson, D-Portland, told The Oregonian/OregonLive editorial
board that while she said during the legislative session that Senate Bill 1013
isn’t “retroactive,” she always meant for it to apply to previous aggravated
murder convictions and death sentences that end up being reversed and sent back
for new trials or sentencing hearings.
By “retroactive,” she meant the bill wouldn’t automatically overturn the
convictions of people on Oregon’s death row.
And that remains the case, she told the editorial board.
Williamson’s remarks only seemed to deepen the confusion that’s emerged about
the new law since the Oregon Department of Justice emailed prosecutors last
week saying SB 1013 applies to death penalty convictions and sentences that
have been overturned, as well as pending cases.
Gov. Kate Brown has remained silent since new controversy erupted.
It’s not unusual for aggravated murder convictions or death sentences to be
overturned on appeal. In the past 21/2 years, seven cases have been reversed.
None of the 31 people on Oregon’s death row have exhausted their court
challenges.
The new law narrows the definition of aggravated murder, which is the only
crime in Oregon eligible for a death sentence. Aggravated murder is now limited
to defendants who kill two or more people as an act of organized terrorism;
kill a child younger than 14 intentionally and with premeditation; kill another
person while locked in jail or prison for a previous murder; or kill a police,
correctional or probation officer.
On Wednesday, Sen. Floyd Prozanski, D-Eugene, who also championed the bill,
said he planned to ask Brown to call a special session next month to address an
issue raised by the Oregon Department of Justice.
Prozanski said he didn’t intend for SB 1013 to apply to cases sent back to
lower courts for new sentences. He said he did, however, intend for it to apply
to pending cases and aggravated murder convictions sent back to lower courts
for new trials.
He characterized the issue as “an oversight” and “a mistake” that he hoped to
fix in a 1-day session.
“It’s very unfortunate that this was made because most of us were under the
belief as to how it was written was going to accomplish what our intent was,”
he said.
On Thursday, Williamson seemed to disagree with Prozanski’s initial take and
defended the law. Both lawmakers are attorneys.
“This is not a technical error,” Williamson told the editorial board. “It does
what we said it was going to do.”
During a June 19 speech on the floor of the Oregon House, Williamson said the
bill wasn’t retroactive and only “applies to aggravated murder cases going
forward.”
On Thursday, she tried to clarify what she meant. “It’s confusing because
‘retroactive’ in this sense is not necessarily the way you would use it in a
non-legal way,” she said.
Williamson previously told The Oregonian/OregonLive that an unrelated bill,
Senate Bill 1005, states that SB 1013 doesn’t apply to defendants who have
previously been sentenced but have been granted reversals. Williamson said
lawmakers wanted their intent to be clear so they added the language, on the
advice of legislative lawyers, after Senate Bill 1013 had already passed both
houses but Senate Bill 1005 had not yet passed.
On Thursday, however, she couldn’t explain why she had made those statements
and acknowledged that her earlier explanations might have been unclear.
Meanwhile, the Oregon District Attorneys Association late Thursday sent a
letter to Prozanski and Williamson, saying Oregonians were repeatedly assured
the law wouldn’t be retroactive.
The organization asked for the law to be repealed or at least clarify to apply
only to crimes committed on or after Sept. 29, when the law goes into effect.
“Anything less than that clear directive will not provide the certainty that
our laws require,” wrote Beth Heckert, Jackson County District Attorney and
president of the organization.
(source: oregonlive.com)
USA:
Lawyers Say man Facing Execution In Terre Haute Is Intellectually Disabled
Attorneys for a man being held on death row in Terre Haute want a judge to halt
his execution and say their client can't legally be put to death because he's
intellectually disabled.
Alfred Bourgeois' lawyers argue in court papers Thursday that a jury was
unaware of Bourgeois' disability and a court never reviewed the evidence.
The Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that executing people with intellectual
disabilities is unconstitutional because it is cruel and unusual punishment.
Prosecutors say Bourgeois, of Louisiana, tortured, sexually molested, and then
beat his 2½-year-old daughter to death.
Attorney General William Barr resumed the death penalty last month and
scheduled executions for the 1st time since 2003.
Bourgeois is scheduled to be executed Jan. 13 at Terre Haute’s federal
penitentiary.
(source: Associated Press)
*********************
U.S. federal death row inmate challenges January execution
Lawyers for 1 of 5 federal prisoners scheduled by President Donald Trump's
administration for execution have launched a 2-pronged legal effort to prevent
the government from carrying out the lethal injection slated for January.
The U.S. government has not carried out an execution since 2003 amid legal
challenges to its lethal injection protocol, but Attorney General William Barr
last month said it would resume capital punishment and scheduled the execution
of 5 convicted murderers who were tried in federal rather than state courts.
In Washington, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan on Thursday allowed 1 of the 5
men, Alfred Bourgeois, to have his federal lawsuit challenging the legality of
the government's lethal injection procedures consolidated with a larger and
long-running civil lawsuit brought by a group of other federal death row
inmates. Alexander Kursman, a lawyer for Bourgeois, told Chutkan he plans by
Monday to seek a stay of execution.
His lawyers also said they have filed a separate lawsuit in federal court in
Indiana seeking to block his execution on the grounds that Bourgeois is
"intellectually disabled and constitutionally ineligible for the death
penalty." Under Supreme Court precedent, executing people with intellectual
disabilities violates the U.S. Constitution's Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and
unusual punishment.
Bourgeois, due to be executed on Jan. 13 at a federal prison in Indiana, was
sentenced to death in Texas in 2004 after being convicted of sexually molesting
and fatally beating his 2-1/2-year-old daughter.
"The jury that sentenced Mr. Bourgeois to death never learned that he was
intellectually disabled," Victor Abreu, another lawyer for Bourgeois, said in a
statement, adding that no court has ever used proper scientific standards to
review his client's disability.
The hearing before Chutkan was the 1st time Justice Department lawyers had
appeared in court since Barr's July 25 announcement that the Justice Department
had adopted a new death penalty protocol using a single drug rather than the
prior 3-drug cocktail. Barr scheduled 5 executions starting in December.
Barr's announcement jump-started a dormant lawsuit, first filed in 2005, that
challenged the department's capital punishment procedures on several grounds,
including violating the Eighth Amendment as well as a federal law on how
regulations are enacted. The other death row inmates in that litigation were
not among the five scheduled for execution.
Paul Enzinna, lead plaintiff lawyer in the case, told Chutkan his team needs to
carry out depositions of government officials about how the single-drug
protocol will work amid concerns it could cause a painful death or not be
administered properly.
Lawyers for the inmates and Justice Department agreed to a timetable for
carrying out preliminary depositions.
(source: Reuters)
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