Jan. 10
TEXAS:
Death penalty trials on way; Men accused of murdering BP agent
2 men accused in the 2014 death of an off-duty Border Patrol agent in Willacy
County made brief appearances in court Tuesday as defense attorneys and
prosecutors prepared for death penalty trials against the suspects.
Gustavo Tijerina-Sandoval of La Villa and Ismael Hernandez-Vallejo of Weslaco
are charged with capital murder and attempted capital murder over accusations
of shooting and killing Border Patrol agent Javier Vega Jr. of Kingsville, and
shooting and injuring Javier Vega Sr. of La Feria, the agent's father, in
August 2014.
The Vega duo was fishing for gar near Santa Monica along with the agent's wife,
his mother, 2 children and another child at what Willacy County Sheriff Larry
Spence described in 2014 as "their favorite spot."
The alleged motive was robbery, authorities have said.
Tijerina-Sandoval, who was shackled but dressed in street clothes, appeared in
front of 197th state District Judge Migdalia Lopez on Tuesday morning.
Tijerina-Sandoval's attorneys, Nat C. Perez and Alfredo Padilla, along with
Willacy County prosecutors, announced they were ready for trial. Lopez
scheduled jury selection in the case for Feb. 13.
Later that day, Hernandez-Vallejo also appeared in the 197th state District
Court for a pretrial hearing, which was reset for this morning.
The men are being tried separately.
(source: Brownsville Herald)
NORTH CAROLINA:
Medical examiner testifies about how longtime friends died during 2014 home
invasion
An accused killer, courtroom spectators and members of a capital jury listened
intently Tuesday while the state???s chief medical examiner told how longtime
friends Arthur Lee Brown and David Eugene McKoy died of gunshot wounds during a
home invasion robbery in 2014.
Tuesday marked the 4th day of testimony in the capital murder trial for Donovan
Jevonte Richardson, 24, of Holly Springs, who is charged with killing Brown, a
popular 78-year-old construction company owner, and David Eugene McKoy, 66, who
was Brown's best friend and longtime employee.
Prosecutors say that in the early morning hours of July 18, 2014, Richardson -
along with Gregory Adalverto Crawford of Fuquay-Varina and Kevin Bernard Britt
of Holly Springs - fatally shot Brown and McKoy in Brown's home on Howard Road
in Fuquay-Varina. Investigators said the men conspired to rob the victims.
Family members and a neighborhood resident found Brown laying atop blankets in
a bed in the master bedroom of his home. McKoy was found wrapped in blankets on
a day bed in a smaller bedroom in the home, sheriff's deputies reported.
Crawford last year was sentenced to life in prison. Britt has not gone to
trial, but has been cooperating with investigators. Richardson could face the
death penalty if he is convicted of 1st-degree murder.
Dr. Deborah Radisch, chief medical examiner with the state medical examiner's
office, testified Tuesday that Brown had 2 gunshot wounds to the chest and what
appeared to be a 3rd gunshot wound to his right hand. In a matter-of-fact,
clinical voice, Radisch explained that a bullet tore through Brown's chest and
entered the region that contained his left lung and heart, where it punctured
and left a large hole in his pulmonary artery and also tore one side of his
aorta before exiting his back.
The gunshot, Radisch said, made it difficult for Brown to breathe.
"He was breathing air and blood into his lungs from the injury," she said.
Another shot hit Brown in the mid-chest area and struck his heart's right
ventricle. The bullet left a hole in his heart and tore a coronary artery
before it damaged his lower left lung, diaphragm and the left side of his
spleen.
Radisch said either of the gunshot wounds to the chest could have been
potentially fatal "relatively quickly."
"Each wound had a large amount of bleeding," she said. "The bleeding from the
wounds would have caused death before injuries from the wounds."
Radisch said McKoy was struck by gunfire in the face, to the left side of his
nose. The bullet went through his facial bones and sinuses and traveled down
the left side of his neck.
"It skimmed along the side of his spinal bone at the base of the skull and
fractured it," she said.
The bullet also tore an artery in the spinal area, causing bleeding at the base
of the skull and from the brain.
The bullet did not exit McKoy's body. Radisch said she found a large lead
fragment between the base of the skull and the spine, along with multiple
fragments in the wound track.
During cross-examination by defense attorney Richard Gammon, Radisch said there
was no evidence Brown had been shot at close range. Nor could she conclusively
say that Brown was wounded in the hand by a 3rd gunshot.
The trial continues Wednesday morning. Prosecutors expect to wrap up their case
Thursday.
(source: newsobserver.com)
LOUISIANA:
Death penalty to be sought against Baton Rouge auto dealer in alleged
murder-for-hire of ex-wife
Prosecutors say they will pursue the death penalty against Baton Rouge
automobile dealer Hamid Ghassemi if he is found guilty of 1st-degree murder in
the alleged murder-for-hire of his ex-wife in 2015.
East Baton Rouge Parish Assistant District Attorney Dana Cummings on Tuesday
filed a notice of intent to seek the death penalty against the 66-year-old
Ghassemi, who was indicted in September 2015 along with 3 other men.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against only Ghassemi.
In the notice of intent, Cummings says the state will allege at Ghassemi's
trial that he had the specific intent to kill or inflict great bodily harm, and
that he offered something of value for the killing of Taherah Ghassemi.
Ghassemi, according to authorities, paid $10,000 to have his 54-year-old former
wife killed.
Cummings also wrote Tuesday that the slaying of Taherah Ghassemi was committed
"in an especially heinous, atrocious or cruel manner."
Her body was discovered May 16, 2015, in a shallow grave in rural St. Helena
Parish. She had been shot once in the head.
Hamid Ghassemi's alleged accomplices are Daniel Humberto Richter, 36, of
Walker, and Tyler Lee Ashpaugh, 23, and Skyler Williams, 20, both of Denham
Springs. They also were indicted on 1st-degree murder charges.
(source: The Advocate)
OHIO:
Ohio Supreme Court denies inmate's request for new trial
The Ohio Supreme Court has declined to hear the case of a former death row
inmate who sought a new trial in a deadly shooting after questions arose about
a forensic expert's testimony.
The Mansfield News Journal reported Monday that Kevin Keith's attorneys argue
the expert who testified against him at his 1994 trial had a history of
"exaggerating and misrepresenting evidence" to aid police. The expert has
denied the accusation.
Keith was convicted of killing 3 people in Bucyrus and was sentenced to the
death penalty. Former Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland commuted that sentence to
life without parole.
Crawford County's prosecutor says he hopes the court's ruling provides closure
to victims' family members.
The public defender's office says Keith may next turn to the U.S. Supreme
Court.
(source: Associated Press)
****************
Man accused of killing girlfriend & 4-year-old daughter could face death
penalty
A man accused of stabbing his daughter and her mother to death appeared in
court Tuesday.
Kristofer Garrett is accused of killing 34-year-old Nicole Duckson and her
4-year-old daughter Christina early Friday morning. The Franklin County
Prosecutor said the nature of the case, with 2 victims - including a child
-makes the death penalty something he could pursue.
For now, Garrett will remain behind bars after the judge didn't set a bond in
the case.
Garrett appeared in court, covered in what the prosecutor described as a
special medical wrap. Police said he cut himself at the crime scene and left a
trail of blood.
Detectives believe Garrett waited for the mother and child to leave their far
east side home to attack. Their bodies were found by a coworker of Duckson in
the backyard, between the house and detached garage.
A motive has yet to be released. Garrett was arrested the day of the murders
during a traffic stop. He was initially taken into custody for driving for a
suspended license and failure to pay child support.
Garret was scheduled to be back in court next week. No bond was set so he will
remain behind bars.
(source: ABC News)
CALIFORNIA:
Death Penalty Sought For Man Accused Of Sexually Assaulting Baby Before Fatal
Beating
The San Mateo County District Attorney's Office has announced plans to seek the
death penalty for a Redwood City man accused of sexually assaulting his
girlfriend's infant daughter before beating her to death in Aug. 2015.
Daniel Contreras, 29, had been dating the infant's mother for roughly 2 months
when she left 17-month-old Evelyn alone with him for the 1st time on Aug. 6,
2015.
After she left, Contreras allegedly spent hours repeatedly sexually assaulting
the baby. When Evelyn wouldn't stop crying, Contreras beat her - resulting in
multiple skull fractures, according to prosecutors.
By the time police arrived at the residence in the 400 block of Madison Avenue
in Redwood City around 2:30 p.m. Evelyn was already dead.
Contreras claimed the infant had been injured falling off a changing table, but
an autopsy determined that was not the case. He was arrested 2 days later.
Contreras has been charged with murder occurring during the commission of
forcible lewd acts on a child, assaulting the child resulting in her death and
3 separate counts of forcible lewd acts on a child.
Defense attorney James Thompson said Tuesday he's astonished that the district
attorney's office thought this was an appropriate case in which to seek the
death penalty.
In order to secure a conviction for 1st-degree murder, prosecutors typically
have to prove intent to kill on the part of the defendant, but Evelyn's death
was unintentional according to Thompson - who added that suspects intending to
kill their victim often use techniques likely to cause death such as shooting,
stabbing or choking them.
"There's a lot of ways to kill someone if you intend to kill them," Thompson
said. "This is not one of those cases."
Thompson also disputed the prosecution's description of the interaction between
Contreras and Evelyn as a "beating," saying that might be the wrong word.
"Even if they think it was a beating, people get beaten to death without the
person beating them intending to kill them," Thompson said.
Supervising District Attorney Sean Gallagher said intent is always an issue in
every criminal case, but you can secure a murder conviction without proving a
specific intent to kill.
"When you get to the question of 1st-degree murder and special circumstances,
then it becomes more relevant," Gallagher said. "The problem is there are
exceptions."
Contreras pleaded not guilty Aug. 18, 2015, and remains in custody on no-bail
status. He is scheduled to return to court on April 12.
(source: CBS News)
OREGON:
Family of murder victims write in opposition to death penalty----In a set of
essays, family members of murder victims express their anguish and what led
them to reject the death penalty.
9 family members of murder victims have told their stories in a book published
by Oregonians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.
In "Not in Our Name," the writers share their painful stories. Common themes
emerge: coping, grieving, and reconciling loss. The healing takes a long time,
they say, and is aided by loving and compassionate responses.
"While each has endured the extreme pain of losing a loved one to murder, they
all are staunchly opposed to what they say is more violence in the form of a
state-sanctioned execution and a death penalty," said Ron Steiner, leader of
Oregonians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty and a member of Queen of Peace
Parish in Salem.
Archbishop Alexander Sample has supported repeal of Oregon's execution law.
One of the stories is by Becky O'Neil McBrayer, director of community programs
at St. Andre Bessette Parish in Portland.
Aba Gayle of Silverton wrote, "Now I know that having someone murdered by the
government will not heal my pain."
"Not in My Name" has an introduction by St. Joseph Sister Helen Prejean, author
of "Dead Man Walking," who has visited Oregon and will return in May.
The foreword of the book is by former Gov. John Kitzhaber, who writes about his
own experience administering the death penalty. "I still think about my
decisions in 1996 and 1997. I believe those decisions were wrong. I find
comfort in the stories of other Oregonians in this book who have struggled to
find a deeper moral truth."
The storytellers deal with profound sorrow while trying to honor their loved
ones by working to move away from more violence and toward peace and
reconciliation.
"The scales of justice are out of balance when it comes to the death penalty,"
wrote Gus Lamm, a retired mental health counselor from Eugene.
"OADP understands that not all family members express similar feelings toward
those who have killed their loved ones," Steiner said. "Regardless of their
stance on the death penalty, we need to support family members of murder
victims. Generally, they do not ask for or expect sympathy. Rather they
appreciate our acknowledgment that their loss can be felt by all of us and our
efforts to provide resources that support them through the most difficult times
of their lives."
"Not in Our Name" will be handed out as long as supplies last at all OADP
events. Copies can be obtained at oadp.org.
"Create reading groups, discussion groups, invite family members to speak at
your church or at your book club, or host an event to discuss restorative
justice and reconciliation using 'Not in Our Name' as a common text," Steiner
said.
(source: Catholic Sentinel)
************
Letter: Death penalty
Clatsop County District Attorney Josh Marquis' stand on the death penalty is
cruel and outdated.
The risk of an innocent person being executed cannot be eliminated. In the
U.S., 150 prisoners sent to death row have been exonerated since 1973, and
there is no conclusive evidence that the death penalty deters crime.
Furthermore, data from the U.S. Department of Justice show that one is more
likely to be sentenced to death if you are poor or belong to a racial minority.
Also, mental illness and child abuse are closely linked to those being
executed.
According to a recent article in The New York Times, 20 out of the 23 people
put to death in the U.S. in 2017 were mentally ill, suffered child abuse, or
had poor legal representation ("Capital Punishment Deserves a Quick Death,"
Dec. 31). 8 were younger than 21 when they were accused.
The death penalty is a racially biased, arbitrary and pointless punishment that
becomes rarer each year. 19 states and the District of Columbia have already
banned capital punishment, and many states have not carried out an execution
for years. It's well past time to bring our country in line with the rest of
the civilized world and end this barbarous practice.
Let's hope that Marquis' replacement is more enlightened.
Ed Joyce
Astoria
(source: Letter to the Editor, Daily Astorian)
HAWAII:
Ex-death row inmate accused of sex trafficking
A former Delaware death row inmate later exonerated has been arrested in Hawaii
on prostitution-related charges, authorities confirmed Tuesday.
Isaiah Otis Wilmont McCoy, 28, was arrested by Honolulu Police on Jan. 3 and
charged with 2 counts of promoting prostitution and a count of criminal
contempt.
In a separate case on Jan. 4, Mr. McCoy was indicted federally for sex
trafficking by force, U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman Larry Tong said.
Authorities alleged that he forced an adult female in for prostitution between
Dec. 22-26. Another suspect - 35-year-old Tawana Roberts - was also charged in
the case
Mr. McCoy was arrested on Jan. 5 and made an initial appearance for arraignment
in federal court, Mr. Tong said. He was held in custody and is scheduled for a
detention hearing today.
The U.S. Attorney's Office said a trial is scheduled for March 6.
Honolulu Police arrested Mr. McCoy and Ms. Roberts in the area of Ala Moana at
the Doubletree by Hilton Hotel in Waikiki, according to an official log posted
online.
After being found not guilty of murder in Delaware following a 2nd trial on
Jan. 19, Mr. McCoy moved to Hawaii where family lived.
He was initially convicted of shooting Salisbury, Maryland resident James
Munford to death in a Rodney Village Parking lot on May 4, 2010.
He was found guilty by a jury in Kent County Superior Court on June 29, 2012
and sentenced to death in October 2012. Resident Judge William L. Witham Jr.
officiated the proceedings.
Isaiah McCoy
The alleged incident was portrayed as a drug deal turned fatally violent at
trial by the prosecution.
The first verdict was overturned by the Delaware Supreme Court on Jan. 20, 2015
due to alleged prosecutorial misconduct and court errors.
The case was sent the case back to Delaware Superior Court for a retrial, where
Judge Robert B. Young rendered a not guilty verdict.
On Aug. 2, 2016, the Delaware Supreme Court found the state's death penalty
statute unconstitutional.
Mr. McCoy was found not guilty in a 2nd trial.
He spent over 6 years and 8 months in prison, and was initially sentenced to
death.
On July 28, Mr. McCoy filed a 56-page civil complaint against several past and
present Delaware Department of Justice, Department of Correction, and Delaware
State Police staff.
(source: delawarestatenews.net)
USA:
Justice Department expects an increase in federal death sentences
The Justice Department has twice in recent weeks announced its intention to
seek death sentences in federal cases, marking the 1st times Attorney General
Jeff Sessions has authorized prosecutors to pursue such penalties since taking
office last year.
Federal authorities are also considering seeking the death penalty in a 3rd
case - that of Sayfullo Saipov, the man charged with using a rented truck to
kill 8 people on a New York City bike path last Halloween - in what they say
could presage an uptick in the number of capital sentences sought by the Trump
administration.
President Donald Trump has long been a staunch backer of capital punishment,
issuing public pleas for death sentences in prominent cases both before and
after taking office, most recently announcing that Saipov should face the death
penalty. But U.S. support for capital punishment has been declining, dropping
last year to its lowest level in decades, while the death penalty's use has
also sharply fallen nationwide.
Federal death sentences are relatively rare, and most death-penalty activity is
carried out at the state or local level. In those federal cases where juries
have been asked to decide on the death penalty, they have opted for life
imprisonment about twice as often as death sentences. People sentenced to death
for federal crimes also make up a small fraction of the death-row population
nationwide: There are 61 people on federal death row out of more than 2,800
death-row inmates in the United States, according to the Death Penalty
Information Center. Federal executions are even more uncommon, with only 3
carried out since the federal death-penalty statute was reinstated in 1988, and
none since 2003.
Executions and death sentences alike have both plummeted in recent years. There
were 23 executions nationwide last year, down from a modern peak of 98 in 1999,
according to the Death Penalty Information Center's annual tally. Death
sentences also fell to 39 last year from the 315 handed down in 1996. Both
numbers increased slightly in 2017 over the year before, an expected uptick
that was still far below what the country saw 2 decades earlier.
Popular support for capital punishment was also much higher in the mid-1990s,
when about 4 out of 5 Americans said they favored the death penalty, a number
that last year had fallen to 55 % in a Gallup poll. Fewer states nationwide
have capital punishment, and many of those that do have struggled to obtain
lethal injection drugs or faced legal or logistical challenges in their
attempts to carry out death sentences.
Still, the federal government has a considerably larger megaphone than local or
state authorities, and federal prosecutors often handle some of the country's
most high-profile cases. This was true under President Barack Obama, who called
the death penalty "deeply troubling" and ordered his Justice Department to
review the issue, even as his administration also sought and won death
sentences in cases like those against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, one of the Boston
Marathon bombers, and Dylann Roof, the Charleston, South Carolina, church
gunman.
The Justice Department's determination about whether to pursue federal death
sentences follows an extensive process that can last for months and involves
recommendations from the U.S. attorney's office and input from the families of
victims. In the Charleston case, it took nearly a year for then-Attorney
General Loretta Lynch to announce the decision, which was opposed by some of
those advising her, including the U.S. attorney in South Carolina at the time.
Ultimately, the final call is made by the attorney general.
At least 2 such decisions made by Sessions, a former prosecutor, have been
announced over the past 3 weeks. And more are expected to follow. Sessions's
decisions in those cases and the possibility of a death-penalty case against
Saipov suggest that the Justice Department will be seeking an increased number
of death sentences in the months and years ahead, according to Sarah Isgur
Flores, a department spokeswoman.
Sessions' decisions and the Justice Department's intentions to seek more death
sentences were first reported Tuesday by the Wall Street Journal.
The first case Sessions decided warranted the death penalty involves charges
against Jarvis Wayne Madison, who has been accused of kidnapping, kidnapping
that resulted in death and interstate domestic violence. Authorities said
Madison kidnapped his estranged wife while she was going for a run in Ormand
Beach, Florida, where she had gone to get away from her husband after he had
also taken her captive in Indiana.
After being arrested, Madison admitted to shooting her 3 times, an FBI special
agent wrote in an affidavit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle
District of Florida. Madison then led FBI agents to the location in Tennessee
where they found her partially buried body. Madison pleaded not guilty last
year. In a separate case connected to Madison's, another woman also having a
relationship with him pleaded guilty to obstructing justice by lying to
investigators; she was sentenced last year to 7 years and 3 months in prison.
Prosecutors said in a Dec. 19 court filing that they had determined that the
death penalty was justified in the case. They cited as an aggravating factor
that Madison's estranged wife was killed while she was being kidnapped, which
meant her death occurred while another crime was being carried out. The notice
also said Madison had "a pattern of domestic abuse, including physical and
emotional abuse, against women," including his wife and others.
An attorney for Madison did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
On Monday, federal prosecutors followed suit in Michigan in a case officials
said involved multiple gang members accused of racketeering, murder and other
crimes.
Prosecutors said Billy Arnold shot and killed 2 people - 1 in July 2014 and
another in May 2015 - during a gang war in Detroit. They also said Arnold and
others assaulted other people intending to commit murder. Court filings said
Arnold and others in the Seven Mile Bloods gang - which authorities say makes
its money selling cocaine, heroin and other drugs - have long had a rivalry
with other gangs in the Detroit area, but things escalated into violent attacks
with "hit lists" posted on social media beginning in July 2014.
In a filing Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of
Michigan's Southern Division, prosecutors outlined what they said were multiple
aggravating factors warranting a death sentence for Arnold. They said he was
previously convicted of a violent felony involving a firearm, created a grave
risk of death to multiple people, tried to kill more than 1 person in a single
episode and had substantially planned his actions. They also said Arnold "has
demonstrated a lack of remorse."
Arnold, who has pleaded not guilty, is 1 of several people identified by
prosecutors as gang members and charged with racketeering, murder, attempted
murder and assault charges. He appears to be the 1st to be notified that
prosecutors will try to have him sentenced to death.
An attorney for Arnold declined to comment.
Michigan has no death penalty, abolishing it in 1846 and becoming the 1st state
to discard the practice. However, federal authorities can still pursue death
sentences under federal law even in states that have banned or halted
executions under state law. As a result, though New York is among the 19 states
without the death penalty, the Justice Department could still seek a death
sentence for Saipov, the man accused of the New York City truck attack. Saipov,
who has been accused of pledging loyalty to the Islamic State and charged with
murder in the aid of a criminal enterprise, has also pleaded not guilty in his
case.
(source: Chicago Tribune)
*******************
Sessions ramps up use of death penalty at DOJ
Attorney General Jeff Sessions will seek the death penalty in at least 2 murder
cases in what top Department of Justice (DOJ) officials are reportedly calling
the first signs of an openness by the Trump administration to using capital
punishment to fight crime.
In a decision Monday, the Justice Department announced it will seek the death
penalty for Billy Arnold, a Detroit man charged with killing 2 rival gang
members. Sessions also announced in December that the agency would seek the
death penalty for Jarvis Wayne Madison, who is accused of fatally shooting his
wife.
Sessions believes the death penalty is a "valuable tool in the belt," a Justice
Department official told The Wall Street Journal, which said the attorney
general is weighing it in other cases.
The sentence is a deterrent, the official added, as a well as a "punishment for
the most heinous crimes prohibited under federal law."
55 % of American adults support the use of the death penalty, according to an
October Gallup poll, the lowest level of support for it in decades.
President Trump, however, has frequently stated his support for the death
penalty. Last November, he tweeted that the suspect in the Manhattan terrorist
attack that killed 8 people should get the death penalty. Sayfullo Saipov, a
29-year-old Uzbek national with lawful permanent resident status in the U.S.,
has pleaded not guilty.
"NYC terrorist was happy as he asked to hang ISIS flag in his hospital room,"
Trump tweeted. "He killed 8 people, badly injured 12. SHOULD GET DEATH
PENALTY!"
Trump also vowed in the early days of his campaign in 2015 that he would order
the Justice Department to seek the death penalty for anyone who kills a police
officer.
"One of the first things I'd do in terms of executive order, if I win, will be
to sign a strong, strong statement that would go out to the country, out to the
world, anybody killing a police man, a police woman, a police officer, anybody
killing a police officer, the death penalty is going to happen," he said.
(source: thehill.com)
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