[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., ARIZ., USA
June 11 TEXAS: Complaint Alleges that Prosecutor in Alfred Dewayne Brown’s Case Knowingly Hid Evidence of Innocence A special prosecutor in Harris County, Texas, has filed a complaint with the Texas State Bar Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel against former Assistant District Attorney Daniel Rizzo, alleging that Rizzo intentionally concealed exculpatory evidence crucial to the exoneration of former death-row prisoner Alfred Dewayne Brown (pictured). Brown was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death in 2005 for a robbery murder in which a store clerk and responding police officer were shot to death. Brown claimed that phone records would show he was at his girlfriend’s apartment at the time of the murder. Rizzo withheld the records from the defense, then abused grand jury proceedings to jail Brown’s girlfriend until she agreed to implicate Brown. Brown was exonerated in 2015 after the phone records came to light. An investigation by Special Prosecutor John Raley later led to an official declaration that Brown is “actually innocent.” In early June 2019, Raley filed what the Houston Chronicle described as a “scathing grievance” with the Texas state bar alleging that “Rizzo was aware of exculpatory evidence and chose not to produce it to the defense and the court.“ He accused Rizzo of engaging in “significant misconduct” by “withhold[ing] from the court and defense counsel evidence likely to acquit Brown and then press[ing] forward in seeking the death penalty.” Raley said “Mr. Rizzo’s misconduct in the Brown case raises substantial questions regarding his honesty, trustworthiness, and fitness to be a lawyer. ... Mr. Brown, an innocent man, spent nearly 12 years on death row because of the misconduct of Daniel Rizzo.” As Special Prosecutor, Raley issued a report — commissioned by the Harris County District Attorney’s Office —advocating for Brown’s exoneration. The report, issued in March 2019 after more than 1,000 hours of investigation into Brown’s case, found “[b]y clear and convincing evidence, [that] no reasonable juror would fail to have a reasonable doubt about whether Brown is guilty of murder. Therefore his case meets the legal definition of ‘actual innocence.’” Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg and Harris County District Court Judge George Powell subsequently made official declarations of Brown’s “actual innocence,” paving the way for Brown to receive state compensation for the years in which he was wrongfully imprisoned. Raley’s report documented that Rizzo concealed “crucial evidence” of phone records that supported Brown’s alibi that he had been at his girlfriend’s apartment at the time of his alleged crime. A copy of the records were discovered by police officer Breck McDaniel in his garage during Brown’s appeals. In 2003, in preparation for Brown’s trial, Officer McDaniel obtained the phone records for Brown’s girlfriend’s apartment in an effort to disprove Brown’s alibi. Instead, the records showed that Brown had, as he claimed, called his girlfriend at work at a time that made it impossible for him to have been involved in the murder of Houston Police Officer Charles Clark. McDaniel sent an email to Rizzo informing him of the phone records. When that email was uncovered in 2018, District Attorney Kim Ogg filed a Bar complaint against Rizzo. Rizzo claimed he never read the email and had not been aware of the records. Raley’s complaint rejected Rizzo’s version of events, explaining that, while Rizzo had not replied to the email, he made a change to a subpoena that McDaniel had requested, demonstrating that he in fact read the email. Rizzo has denied concealing the evidence. His lawyer, Chris Tritico, wrote, “There is more credible evidence that supports that Breck McDaniel suppressed what he clearly thought was exculpatory evidence, but did not understand was inculpatory evidence, after all it was in HIS GARAGE. If the District Attorney wants to set a cop killer free they can do so without laying it on the back of a 27-year public servant.” “For Rizzo to call Brown a ‘cop killer’ at this stage reveals both his desperation and his bias,” Raley replied. “Rizzo was fully aware of the existence of the exculpatory evidence, decided not to produce it, and pretended that it did not exist.” In the complaint, Raley wrote that he “cannot imagine anything in the practice of law more horrible than executing an innocent man.” “Rizzo’s unethical and illegal actions resulted in an innocent man being sent to death row,” he said. “Fortunately, an extra copy of the records was found and produced before Brown was executed. If our justice system is to work properly, the State Bar of Texas must hold prosecutors who hide evidence of innocence accountable for their conduct.” (source: Death Penalty Information Center) FLORIDA: Injustice of Central Park Five should give Florida pauseM There are 340 people on
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., ARIZ.
Feb. 1 TEXASstay of impending execution Execution halted for man convicted in Corpus Christi stabbing death2 days before death row inmate John Ramirez was scheduled to be executed, a federal district court in Corpus Christi halted the execution. A federal district court in Corpus Christi halted the execution of Texas death row inmate John Ramirez on Tuesday, 2 days before he was set to die. Ramirez, 32, was convicted in 2009 in the stabbing death of Pablo Castro in Corpus Christi during a 2004 robbery. Castro was stabbed 29 times, and Ramirez wasn't arrested until more than 3 years later when he was found near the Mexican border, according to court documents. He was set for execution on Thursday. The stay comes after 2 motions were filed last week by federal death penalty attorney Greg Gardner, even though he had no previous experience in the case. The court granted the motions to stop the execution and grant Ramirez new counsel because, the motion claimed, Ramirez's previous attorney had failed to file a clemency petition. The state has appealed the court's decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which has the ability to overrule the lower court's decision before Thursday and reverse the stay. On July 19, 2004, Ramirez and 2 women, Angela Rodriguez and Christina Chavez, were driving around in a van looking for people to rob for drug money when they spotted Castro taking the trash out from the convenience store where he worked, according to an opinion by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Rodriguez and Ramirez approached Castro, and Ramirez slashed his throat and repeatedly stabbed him in his head, neck, shoulders and back, according to court records. Rodriguez went through his pockets and came back to the van with $1.25, according to Chavez's testimony. The 2 woman were found the night of the murder appearing high and drunk, records stated. Rodriguez is currently serving a life sentence for murder, and Chavez pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery and got a 25-year sentence, according to prison records. She became eligible for parole in January. Ramirez evaded arrest until Feb. 20, 2008, when he was found near the Texas-Mexico border. He was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death; he's been on death row for almost 8 years. In the recent motions filed Friday, Ramirez claimed his previous appellate attorney abandoned him by not filing a clemency petition, a motion commonly filed in capital cases to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles and the governor asking for a stay of execution or commutation to life in prison. About 3 weeks after receiving an execution date, Ramirez wrote his previous attorney, Michael Gross, saying he wanted Gross to remove himself from his case so he could seek new representation. Gross complied, and didn't file a clemency petition, but neither did anyone else. Attorney General Ken Paxton argued for Texas that Gross was simply following Ramirez's instructions, but the court ruled Gross was still responsible because he hadn't been replaced. After Ramirez's godmother called Gardner, he filed the motions. Paxton said the 2 lawyers were engaging in "gamesmanship," noting that both were involved in another death penalty case that was recently stayed. The court said a hearing did not suggest any such tactics. It is the 1st stay of execution in Texas this year, stopping what would have been the state's 3rd execution. Another execution is set for next Tuesday for Tilon Carter. *** Texas lawmakers aim to eliminate death penalty for convicts who didn't killAt least 2 Texas Democrats and one Republican are pushing to reform the death penalty under the law of parties, which holds those involved in a murder equally responsible, even if they weren't directly involved in the actual killing. Months after Jeff Wood narrowly and temporarily avoided execution for a murder he didn't commit, his case has motivated Texas lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to call for death penalty reform. Wood, 43, was convicted in the 1996 murder of Kriss Keeran, who was fatally shot by Wood's friend in a Kerrville convenience store. Wood was sitting in a truck when his friend, Daniel Reneau, went into the store to steal a safe and then pulled the trigger on Keeran, who worked there as a clerk. Even though Wood didn't kill Keeran, he was convicted of murder and given the death penalty under the Texas statute known as the "law of parties," which holds that those involved in a crime resulting in death are equally responsible, even if they weren't directly involved in the actual killing. He was scheduled to die last August, but, after a rally in front of Gov. Abbott's mansion and uproar from a group of lawmakers, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals stayed, or stopped, his execution six days before it happened, sending it back to the trial court to
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., ARIZ.
April 29 TEXAS: Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for a 39-year-old North Texas man convicted of a 2013 shooting rampage that left 5 people dead, including his mother A Kaufman County jury Thursday deliberated about 20 minutes before finding Charles Brownlow Jr. guilty of capital murder for the slaying of convenience store clerk Luis Leal-Carrillo. He was 1 of the 5 killed over several hours in October 2013 in the area east of Dallas. Dallas TV station WFAA reports (http://bit.ly/1WuPr5x ) defense lawyers argued unsuccessfully that Brownlow was insane. The other victims included Brownlow's 55-year-old aunt at her Terrell home. Then his mother's body was found on fire at her home, followed by the shooting of a former classmate and his girlfriend, and then the clerk. Trial punishment testimony is set to resume Monday. (source: Associated Press) ** Texas Prisons Assert Right to Censor Inmates' Families on Social Media On the morning of April 15, Pat Hartwell drove up from her home in Houston, Texas, to the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Austin, where the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, which runs the state???s prisons, was holding a board meeting. The board only offers a public comment period during 2 of its meetings each year, and this would be the 1st time in 2016 that the public would have a chance to air grievances or concerns about agency operations, for example, or prison conditions. For Hartwell, a well-known anti-death penalty activist in Texas, the timing of the meeting was opportune; roughly a week earlier, word had spread among prisoners, family members, and activists that the director of the TDCJ had established a new rule forbidding any prisoner from maintaining a social media presence. Hartwell has for years maintained a Facebook page for a death row inmate she is certain is innocent, and she wanted some answers. In a section of the 146-page Offender Orientation Handbook reserved for "standards of behavior" - between a rule requiring prisoners to "show respect" in their interactions with others and another forbidding "fighting, scuffling, horseplay, or similar activities" - there had appeared a seemingly incongruous new rule stating that prisoners "are prohibited from maintaining active social media accounts for the purposes of soliciting, updating, or engaging others, through a 3rd party or otherwise." Hartwell and others only found out about it because the wife of a death row prisoner happened to be visiting her husband on the day inmates there discovered the new policy. The lack of explanation or guidance concerning its provenance was disconcerting (as far as anyone knew, the rule was never vetted by the department's board). And they were confused about why it hadn't been brought directly to anyone's attention (the responsibility for keeping abreast of new rules falls squarely on the offenders, activists say prisoners were told). But more importantly, prisoners and their advocates didn???t understand the scope of the new rule. In Texas (as in most places), prisoners have no direct access to the internet, so anything about them that appears online is posted by a third party - by definition, a person who is not under the supervision of the department of corrections. As such, the new rule would infringe on the free speech and expression rights of ordinary citizens - a proposition of dubious constitutionality, says David Fathi, director of the ACLU's National Prison Project. They also didn't understand why social media was being targeted - or whether the rule was intended to include other uses of the internet, including websites and blogs dedicated to prisoner artwork, exposing abuses inside facilities, or drawing attention to specific cases of apparent wrongful conviction. And since the same information published on a website could easily be - and often is - posted to Facebook and other social media platforms, there was concern the rule was made to be flexible enough that TDCJ could easily broaden its scope to attack other online content. Upon learning of the rule, Hartwell penned an email to agency spokesperson Jason Clark with a list of questions. When she didn't hear back, she emailed the head of TDCJ, its general counsel, and its ombudsman. The day before the April board meeting, she got a short reply from the ombudsman that didn't exactly assuage her concerns - or directly address the majority of her questions. It was, she would tell the board, an "inadequate answer." Restating the new rule, the ombudsman said that it applied to all social media, and not only would offenders be punished for violating it, but outside 3rd parties would be as well, by having their ability to visit or correspond with their loved ones suspended. By the time Hartwell arrived at the Crowne Plaza for the meeting, she was mad; she felt forced by the TDCJ to take offline the Facebook page she had long
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., ARIZ., CALIF.
April 6 TEXASimpending execution U.S. Supreme Court denies petition to halt Texas execution The U.S. Supreme Court denied a petition to halt the execution planned for Wednesday of a south Texas man who bludgeoned and slashed to death a 12-year-old boy, mutilated the corpse and said he drank the blood of his victim. The move came about 4 hours before Pablo Vasquez, 38, was scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection at 6 p.m at the state's death chamber in Huntsville. If the execution goes ahead, it would be the 6th in Texas this year and the 537th since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, the most of any state. Lawyers for Vasquez launched the last-minute appeal, saying in a petition filed with U.S. Supreme Court their client was denied a fair punishment because prospective, qualified jurors in his trial were dismissed if they had sympathies against the death penalty. The lawyers have previously said Vasquez had mental health problems and suffered from learning disabilities. The 2-sentence statement from the court did not give a reason for why the petition was denied. The victim, David Cardenas, was found under metal sheets in the Texas border town of Donna in 1998. The arms were missing from the corpse, which had no skin on the back and a hole in the back of the head, court papers filed by Texas said. The incident raised worries at the time about occult rituals, which were stoked when prosecutors produced a taped confession in which Vasquez, then 21, admitted to the killing and said he drank his victim's blood after saying voices from the devil told him to do so. Cardenas, trying to fit in with a group of teenagers and Vasquez, was hanging out with the group near a mobile home, when he was attacked. Police later received tips of a murder and found the decaying and mutilated body of the 12-year-old, the court papers showed. Prosecutors said Vasquez hit the victim in the head with a pipe and cut his throat. They also said he stole some jewelry from the victim. "The body was also mutilated after death by some means that caused bones to shatter," the court papers said. It took the jury about an hour to find Vasquez guilty. A co-defendant, then 15, was sentenced to 35 years in prison on a murder conviction. (source: Reuters) *** Inmate spared execution: Lawyers agree on Druery's mental incompetence Lawyers agreed Monday that Brazos County death row inmate Marcus Druery is unfit to be executed for the 2002 slaying of a 20-year-old man in rural Brazos County. Druery's attorneys filed more than 150 pages of reports from 2 mental health professionals saying Druery suffered from a major mental illness that renders him unable to understand why he was being punished. One expert said Druery's illness is "characterized by paranoid and grandiose delusions" that "deprive him of a rational understanding of the connection between his crime and punishment." Another said Druery wrote letters from prison accusing Magic Johnson of impersonating him and claiming that he found the cure to HIV. Prosecutors didn't contest the incompetency claims, but the court left the option open for Druery to be re-examined in the future if prosecutors feel there has been a change in his mental capacities. Druery's attorneys, Kate Black and Cathryn Crawford, hailed the judge's order and the state's decision not to contest the claims, according to a prepared statement. "We are grateful to the [DA's] office for their decision not to contest Mr. Druery's claim that he is incompetent to be executed," Black said. "The state has the duty to make certain it does not violate the Constitution by executing an individual, like Mr. Druery, who suffers from a psychotic disorder that renders him incompetent for execution. We are pleased that they have taken that duty seriously." Black, who was appointed to represent Druery after he was given an execution date in 2012, said Druery has been "seriously mentally ill" since 2009, and she doesn't expect that to change. The Supreme Court has ruled that the cruel and unusual punishment clause of the Eighth Amendment forbids the execution of an inmate who is declared incompetent at the time of the pending execution, regardless of whether that inmate was sane at the time of the offense and competent to stand trial at the time of trial. Druery was sentenced to death in 2003 for robbing and killing 20-year-old Skyyler Browne on Halloween 2002. Druery, who was a classmate of Browne's at Texas State Technical College in Waco, shot the man in the head, took his cell phone, money and a bag of marijuana, and set the body on fire. Druery then went to his family's Brazos County ranch, where he dumped Browne's body into a stock pond. Druery was set to be executed in August 2012, but was granted a stay by the state's highest criminal appeals court after his attorneys filed
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., ARIZ., CONN.
April 6 TEXAS: SENATE REJECTS LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE OPTION East Texas lawmakers were split over the issue of giving jurors the power to sentence capital murderers to life in prison without parole. On Tuesday, the state Senate rejected a bill that would have done that. Texas juries have only two options after reaching a guilty verdict in capital murder cases: execution by lethal injection or life in prison with the possibility of parole after 40 years. The bill by Sen. Eddie Lucio, D-Brownsville, had the support of most senators but failed to garner the 2/3 support required by Senate rules to bring it up for debate. By a 19-12 decision, the bill failed by 2 votes. All 12 no votes were cast by Republicans, including 2 of the 3 who represent Smith County. I did not support that bill, said state Sen. Kevin Eltife, R-Tyler. I'm concerned that it would actually weaken the death penalty, if it gives juries the option of sentencing people to life without parole. I visited with some of the law enforcement officials in my area, and they expressed concerns about this bill. State Sen. Todd Staples, R-Palestine, said he voted against the bill because the 3rd option would confuse jurors forced to make life and death decisions. We need to streamline so jurors fully understand the decision they're making, Staples said. The current system has been tried and tested and meets the need for the state. But state Sen. Bob Deuell, R-Greenville, supported the bill. I think if you look at all the murders that occur in the state, every case is different, and jurors need that option, Deuell said. I trust jurors to make that decision. Lucio has pushed for the 3rd option for several years. The bill failed in 2003 when it was 1 vote short. After the bill failed again Tuesday, Lucio was conferring with several lawmakers in an attempt to resurrect it. Lucio said his bill would give juries a critical option in dealing with juveniles who commit murder. The U.S. Supreme Court last month banned the execution of those who commit crimes while younger than 18. In 2002, the court also struck down executions of mentally retarded inmates. Critics of the bill, including some prosecutors and victims' rights advocates, have argued that a life-without-parole option would weaken capital punishment by giving jurors a middle ground to avoid agreeing on the death penalty. Life without parole does not weaken the death penalty. It is tough on crime, said Lucio, who supports the death penalty. It provides certainty to the families of the victims because they know those individuals would never walk the streets again. Lucio had faced some pressure to change his bill to eliminate the life sentence that allowed parole after 40 years, which he refuses to do. I'm against eliminating options, Lucio said. Of 38 states that execute capital offenders, only Texas and New Mexico do not have the life-without-parole option. The 2/3 rule is designed to keep the Senate from getting bogged down with bills that don't have widespread support, and senators typically make sure they have the necessary numbers before trying to get a bill to the floor. The Senate passed the bill in 2001, but it failed in the House by seven votes. Lucio said he has the votes to pass the bill, which requires a simple majority, if he can get the votes he needs to bring it to the Senate floor. I should have been given the opportunity to debate this issue, he said. (source: Tyler Morning Telegraph) * 79th LEGISLATURE Future uncertain for life-without-parole bill -- Bill to create option to death penalty and parole languishes in Senate committee. A sharply divided Texas Senate on Tuesday shot down an initial move to debate life without parole as a third option for Texas juries in capital murder cases, a change some prosecutors argue would weaken the death penalty. By a 19-12 vote - 2 votes shy of the required two-thirds to bring a measure up for debate - senators refused to suspend a rule that would have allowed Senate Bill 60 to be considered for initial approval. It was a surprise defeat for Sen. Eddie Lucio, the author, and an indication that the bill faces a most uncertain future. It had been billed as one of the major criminal justice initiatives of the legislative session, if approved. 47 other states have life without parole. In Texas, juries have to vote for execution or life with parole, for which convicts can be considered after serving 40 years. I am disappointed but never upset, said Lucio, D-Brownsville. I'm going to work on members to get the votes to bring it up. . . . Right now, I don't know when that will be. Lucio said he thought he had enough votes Tuesday. Until he gets them, the bill will languish on the Senate's calendar. Lucio and others had claimed growing support for a change that has repeatedly failed in the past eight years. This year, supporters said they thought it had the best chance ever. 4 years ago,
