[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., FLA., ALA., OHIO
January 8 TEXAS: 2020 trial in county death penalty case A 19-year-old Houston man will stand trial in a brutal Texas County murder in August 2020, it was decided during a conference call Friday. Andrew J. Vrba is charged with 1st-degree murder, armed criminal action and abandonment of the corpse of Joseph M. Steinfeld, 17, who was transitioning to a female and killed in September 2017 north of Cabool. Steinfield went by the name, “Ally.” Vrba could face the death penalty. Prosecutors said they are ready to hold the trial, but Vrba’s lawyers say their workload is so heavy they wouldn’t be able to mount a defense under the summer of 2020. Vrba is represented the Missouri Public Defenders Office. 2 attorneys who specialize in capital cases, Thomas Jacquinot and Patrick Berrigan, both of Kansas City, are assigned to the Vrba case. They also represented Craig Wood, who was convicted of killing 10-year-old Hailey Owens in Springfield, in a high-profile Missouri case. Holden set Vrba's trial to begin Aug. 3, 2020, in Greene County. He set aside 3 weeks: 1 week for jury selection and 2 weeks for the trial, according to court records. The case had been set to be heard in Steelville on a change of venue, but the judge assigned to the case was defeated in an election last year. Holden will next meet with attorneys on May 6 for a pre-trial conference. 3 others were also charged with murdering Steinfeld north of Cabool at a trailer. Isis Schauer, 19, of Houston, was sentenced to 20 years in prison. As part of the plea agreement, the charge against Schauer was lowered from 1st-degree murder to 2nd-degree murder. She is appealing the sentence. She cites ineffective counsel and that her plea was not voluntary or knowledgeable. Briana Calderas, 25, of Cabool, will stand trial the week of Feb. 25 in Pulaski County Circuit Court at Waynesville. She is charged with 1st-degree murder, armed criminal action and abandonment of a corpse at her residence where authorities said the crime occurred. She could face life in prison without a chance of probation or parole. A 4th person, James T. Grigsby, 26, of Thayer, pleaded guilty to abandonment of a corpse and was sentenced to 4 years in prison in July 2018. Texas County Prosecutor Parke Stevens Jr. said the lengthy incarceration for Vrba raises concerns about the cost of housing the suspect in Greene County. Vrba will likely be held in Texas County unless the county agrees to pay board bill to Greene County. At the conference, Stevens and Judge Calvin Holden also agreed that the county prosecutor could talk to the Texas County sheriff about possibly arranging some sort of deal in which Greene County inmates could be housed in Texas County while Vrba is in Springfield to offset costs. (source: Houston Herald) PENNSYLVANIA: Holly Grim homicide: Michael Horvath trial pushed back to October Jury selection in the case of Michael Horvath, the Monroe County man accused of kidnapping and killing Holly Grim of Lower Macungie Township, will not begin until October, prosecutors confirmed Monday. Horvath, 51, was in Monroe County Court Monday morning for a pretrial hearing. His attorneys are challenging the science behind cellphone data collection, which police say shows Horvath was near Grim’s home on the day she disappeared. Monroe County Judge Margherita Patti Worthington said she will rule on the motion before Horvath’s trial. Grim’s disappearance is one of the most closely watched missing person cases in Lehigh Valley history. Police say that in November 2013, Horvath kidnapped Grim from her trailer in the Red Maples Mobile Home Park, then took her to his Ross Township home where he killed her and disposed of her body. Police say they found evidence that Horvath was stalking Grim, his coworker at Allen Organ Co. in Macungie, and that he had books and videos on “hunting humans” in his home. Horvath was arrested on Oct. 13, 2016. He's charged with homicide, abuse of a corpse, tampering with evidence and obstruction of the administration of law. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. Horvath is being held in the Monroe County Correctional Facility without bail. Michael Horvath is charged with homicide in connection with the death of Holly Grim, a Lower Macungie woman who went missing in 2013. Although investigators believe Grim was kidnapped in Lower Macungie, they say evidence points to Horvath killing her and burying her body on his property. That’s why the trial is being held in Monroe County. Police in October 2016 announced that Grim's skeletal remains were discovered in a 4-by-4-foot area at the bottom of an embankment behind Horvath's house, covered by about a foot of dirt. In court Monday, defense attorney Chandra Bleice argued that she needed more information about how police gathered cellphone evidence in the case so that she could call an expert at trial to dispute
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., FLA., ALA., OHIO, TENN.
November 29 TEXASimpending execution "Texas 7" Escapee Set for ExecutionInmate challenges original conviction, post-escape “law of parties” verdict Joseph Garcia is infamous for his role in the biggest prison escape in Texas history. For that crime and a murder that followed, Garcia is facing an execution date of Tuesday, Dec. 4, where he would become the fourth of the "Texas 7" to be put to death. But with 2 appeals and a stay pending before the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and a clemency petition before the Board of Pardons and Paroles, Garcia's placement on death row remains controversial. On Dec. 13, 2000, the Texas 7 broke out of a maximum-security prison near San Antonio with stolen weapons in a prison truck. Once free, the men committed several robberies across the state, including at a sporting goods store near Dallas on Christmas Eve, where they ran into police officer Aubrey Hawkins and fatally shot him 11 times. A month later, after making national news, the men were captured in Colorado. All, save 1 who killed himself, were sentenced to death under the Texas "law of parties," though Garcia maintains he never fired his weapon that night. State statute allows accomplices to another crime - such as robbery - that results in murder to be held responsible even if they were not involved in the slaying, and Garcia's lawyer Dale Baich said, "Joseph was sentenced to death even though the state could not prove that Joseph killed, intended to kill, or was even present when the co-defendants killed Officer Hawkins." Garcia's concurrent appeals touch on more than the law of parties. Before his escape, Garcia was serving out a murder sentence from Bexar County; the 1st matter pending before the CCA argues he was denied his Sixth Amendment right to effective counsel in that case. Garcia insists he acted in self-defense, but his trial attorney failed to investigate or present that claim to the court, and the filings allege Garcia continued to receive shoddy counsel through his appeals. A subsequent petition at the CCA argues Garcia's death sentence in the Hawkins case was a result of "misleading evidence" presented by the state, ineffective counsel, and a "racially prejudiced judge" who tainted the case, in addition to its challenge to the law of parties. Via email, Baich stressed that there remain "significant legal issues before the courts that have not been presented until now because of procedural technicalities and bad lawyering." Garcia has been fighting his sentence for nearly 2 decades. In April, the U.S. Supreme Court denied his last appeal and he was scheduled for lethal injection in August, but was spared due to a technical issue. If a stay or clemency is not granted, Garcia will be the 12th Texas inmate executed in 2018. Before the year is up, 1 more - Alvin Braziel Jr. - is scheduled to die, on Dec. 11. (source: Austin Chronicle) ** Inmates Said The Drug Burned As They Died. This Is How Texas Gets Its Execution Drugs.Greenpark Compounding Pharmacy gave kids the wrong medicine. It forged documents. Its employees didn’t wash their hands adequately. So why did the state with the most executions hire it to make lethal injection drugs? The Texas Department of Criminal Justice, which has carried out more executions than any other state, has for the last 3 1/2 years bought drugs for lethal injections from a pharmacy that regulators have repeatedly cited for dangerous practices. The source of the state's execution drugs has until now been a closely guarded secret. Texas, like other death penalty states, has a law that prevents the disclosure of that information, making it impossible for the public to learn about the manufacturer's safety record. But documents obtained by BuzzFeed News indicate that one source is Greenpark Compounding Pharmacy in Houston, which has been cited for scores of safety violations in recent years. Its license has been on probation since November 2016, when the Texas State Board of Pharmacy found that it had compounded the wrong drug for 3 children, sending 1 to the emergency room, and forged quality control documents. Questions about the source and quality of Texas's execution drugs have been particularly acute in the past year, since in their final moments of life, 5 of the 11 inmates who Texas put to death in 2018 said the drug they were injected with, which is supposed to be painless, felt like it was burning as it coursed through their bodies. "I can feel that it does burn. Burning!" Anthony Shore said, his voice rising, as he died in January. 4 months later, Juan Castillo swore and said the drug burned and that he could taste it in his throat. In the next few months, inmates Troy Clark, Christopher Young, and Danny Bible all made similar statements as they were dying. A 6th inmate, William Rayford, writhed and shook on the gurney after the drug began to
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., FLA., ALA., OHIO, ILL., NEB., CALIF.
May 25 TEXASnew execution date Convicted killer from infamous "Texas 7" prison escape gets execution date Joseph Garcia is scheduled for execution in August. On December 13, 2000, 7 desperate inmates pulled off the biggest prison break-out in Texas history. They busted into the prison armory, stole weapons and stormed out of the Connally Unit in a prison truck. After orchestrating 2 robberies in Houston, they headed up to the Dallas area. There, on Christmas Eve, the men held up a store in Irving and made off with $70,000 and 44 guns. But on the way out, they ran into a cop. The escapees surrounded the Officer Aubrey Hawkins' patrol vehicle and shot him 11 times before running over his body with an SUV on the way out, according to court records They were finally captured in Colorado a month later. One of the escapees killed himself before police could get him. But the rest were sent to death row, where 3 have since been executed. And now, a 4th, Joseph Garcia, has a date with death. The Bexar County killer - originally sent to prison for stabbing a man more than a dozen times - is scheduled to die by lethal injection on Aug. 30, according to Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Jeremy Desel. "We are exploring several issues in this case that have not been considered by the courts in the past," said Mridula Raman, one of Garcia's attorneys. "We intend to raise these matters with the courts in the near future." For Toby Shook, a former prosecutor who handled the case, news of the date was a welcome relief. "It's been almost 18 years," Shook said. "It's satisfying that the actual sentence will be carried out." George Rivas, who was already serving 17 life sentences, was the ringleader who planned the escape from the unit just 60 miles south of San Antonio. With his 6 co-conspirators, Rivas masterminded the plan to overpower a supervisor and tie up civilian workers as hostages. 2 of the gang dressed up as prison workers to sneak into the armory where they overpowered another employee and took control of the guard tower. Then, 3 of the men took the keys to a maintenance truck and loaded it with provisions and guns before they all fled the prison near Kenedy. After their murder and robbery spree across Texas, they holed up near Colorado Springs before police caught them. Larry Harper killed himself rather than face a return to Texas prisons. Rivas, Michael Rodriguez and Donald Newbury have already been executed, while Patrick Murphy and Randy Halprin remain on death row with Garcia. "He was one of the more violent ones during the prison breakout," Shook said. "The hostages described him as one of the more violent ones, who made threats and went out of his way to frighten them." At one point some of the other men said he was the one who'd fired the fatal shot, Shook said. In the years since his conviction, Garcia has raised a number of appeals based on claims of bad lawyering. His attorneys didn't specify what appeals they plan to raise moving forward. Texas has already executed 6 men this year. Including Garcia, another 9 are scheduled to die - which means the state has exactly as many doses of its death drug left as it does executions on the calendar. (source: Houston Chronicle) ** Executions under Greg Abbott, Jan. 21, 2015-present33 Executions in Texas: Dec. 7, 1982present-551 Abbott#scheduled execution date-nameTx. # 34-June 21Clifton Williams552 35-June 27Danny Bible-553 36-July 17Christopher Young---554 37-Aug. 30Joseph Garcia---555 38-Sept. 12---Ruben Gutierrez-556 39-Sept. 26---Troy Clark--557 40-Sept. 27---Daniel Acker558 41-Oct. 10Juan Segundo559 42-Oct. 24Kwame Rockwell---560 (sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin) PENNSYLVANIAnew death sentence York County jury gives death sentence to man who 'deliberately and purposely' took 2 lives A man who fatally shot 2 people during a home invasion in Fawn Township deserves to be executed for his crimes, a York County jury decided on Thursday. Paul Henry III, 41, of East Manchester Township, declined to make a statement before the death sentence was imposed. He was previously found guilty of 2 counts of 1st-degree murder and 1 count of robbery for bursting into a house with his wife, Veronique, and killing Foday Cheeks, 31, of Fawn Township, and Danielle Taylor, 26, of Spring Grove, on Sept. 13, 2016. "I sentence you to be handed over to the Department of Corrections, and that you be confined until proper date for execution can be scheduled, and at that time, for you to suffer the death penalty,"
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., FLA., ALA., OHIO, CALIF., USA
Dec. 14 TEXAS: Texas leads the nation in executions, but its death row population is droppingTexas executed more people than any other state this year, but fewer new death sentences has led to a shrinking death row population. The number of inmates on Texas' death row dropped again this year, continuing a decades-long trend. The decline is caused largely by fewer new death sentences and more reduced punishments in recent years, according to end-of-year reports released Thursday by groups critical of the death penalty in Texas and across the country. But Texas still held more executions than any other state. "Prosecutors, juries, judges, and the public are subjecting our state's death penalty practices to unprecedented scrutiny," said Kristin Houle, executive director of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, in the release of the group's annual report. "In an increasing number of cases, they are accepting alternatives to this flawed and irreversible punishment." Kent Scheidegger, legal director of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, which has supported death penalty practices in legal cases throughout the country, said he agrees that the decline is partially due to shifting attitudes among jurors and prosecutors, but added that death sentences are also down because there has been a drop in the murder rate nationwide. "The support for the death penalty for the worst crimes remains strong," he said. There are currently 234 inmates living with death sentences in Texas, according to the state's prison system. That number has been dropping since 2003. The death row population peaked at 460 in 1999, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Here's how the death row population has changed over the last year: 7 men were executed. The same number of men were put to death this year as in 2016, which had the fewest executions in 2 decades. But even with its relatively low number, Texas was still the state with the most executions in the country. This isn't unusual given that the state has put to death nearly 5 times more individuals than any other state since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Texas accounted for 30 % of the nation's 23 executions in 2017. Arkansas was 2nd in the country with 4. Last year, Georgia put more people to death than Texas - the 1st time Texas hasn't been responsible for the most executions since 2001. 4 more men got cells on death row. 1 more person was sentenced to death this year than in 2015 and 2016, when only 3 men were handed the death penalty in each of those years. The number of new sentences, which ranged in the 20s and 30s each year in the early 2000s, dropped in 2005 after jurors were given the option to sentence convicts to life without the possibility of parole as an alternative to the death penalty. Before then, if a capital murder convict wasn't sentenced to death, he or she would be eligible for parole after 40 years. About 10 people in Texas were sentenced each year after that until the additional decrease in 2015. 2 men died while awaiting execution. Joseph Lave and Raymond Martinez both died this year before they were taken to the death chamber, even though they had had extended stays in prison. Lave passed away more than 22 years after his murder conviction, and Martinez had lived more than 30 years with a death sentence. 4 men had their sentences changed from death to life in prison. 2 U.S. Supreme Court decisions this year have so far resulted in the reduction of 3 death sentences to life in prison. The high court ruled against Texas in the death penalty cases of Duane Buck and Bobby Moore. Buck reached a plea agreement with Harris County prosecutors to change his death sentence to life in October after a February ruling by the court said his case was prejudiced by an expert trial witness who claimed Buck was more likely to be a future danger because he is black. In Moore's case, the justices invalidated Texas' method for determining if a death-sentenced inmate was intellectually disabled and therefore ineligible for execution. Though Moore's case has yet to be resolved (Harris County has asked the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to reduce his sentence to life), 2 other men on death row with intellectual disability claims received life sentences after the ruling. Another man this April received a new punishment hearing in a 1991 murder and pled guilty, landing four consecutive life sentences over the death penalty, according to the Texas death penalty report. 9 men narrowly escaped execution - for now. Executions were scheduled - then canceled - for 9 men this year. 6 were stopped by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in light of pending appeals, and one was stopped by a federal court, the report said. 1 man, Larry Swearingen, evaded execution in November because of a clerical error,
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., FLA., ALA., OHIO, NEB.
Dec. 8 TEXAS: Texas district attorney who prosecuted Jeff Wood now wants him off death row The prosecutor in the death penalty case of a man who didn't kill anyone has asked the parole board and Gov. Greg Abbott to change his sentence to life in prison. Now the Kerr County district attorney, Lucy Wilke was the prosecutor in the 1998 murder trial of Jeff Wood - a man whose scheduled execution last year prompted lawmakers to question when the state should put accomplices to death. Although she originally decided to seek the death penalty for Wood, she said in a letter to the prison parole board that "the penalty now appears to be excessive." Wilke asked the board to recommend Gov. Greg Abbott grant clemency and change Wood's sentence to life in prison. The letter was sent in August, but The Texas Tribune received a copy from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Thursday after a Wednesday court order referred to it. "While I am aware that requests for clemency in Death Penalty Capital Murder cases are normally considered when there is an execution date pending, I respectfully ask that you consider this request for commutation of sentence and act on it now, in the absence of such an execution date, in the interest of justice and judicial economy," she wrote. The letter was co-signed by Kerrville Police Chief David Knight, who was an officer at the time of the murder, and the district judge who is handling Wood's current appeal, Keith Williams. A spokeswoman for Abbott did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the letter, but the governor has not changed a death-sentenced individual's sentence since he took office in 2015. A spokesman for the parole board did not say whether members have voted on the request. Jeff Wood's case gained national attention in August 2016, as his execution date neared. Wood, now 44, was convicted and sentenced to death in a 1996 Kerrville convenience store murder - he was sitting outside in the truck when his friend, Daniel Reneau, pulled the trigger that killed clerk Kriss Keeran. As an accomplice, he was sentenced under Texas' felony murder statute, commonly known as the law of parties, which holds that anyone involved in a crime resulting in death is equally responsible, even if they weren't directly involved in the killing. Wood's attorneys claimed he didn???t go to the store with the intention of having Keeran killed and didn't even know Reneau brought a gun. Prosecutors disputed that fact, saying Wood knew Reneau would kill Keeran if he didn't cooperate. In the months before his scheduled death, Wood's case drew the spotlight on Texas' law of parties, and a bipartisan group of state lawmakers sought to stop the execution. Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, said more than 50 House members signed onto a letter he wrote asking Abbott and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to reduce Wood's sentence. In this year's legislative session, lawmakers tried unsuccessfully to limit death sentences for those convicted under the law of parties. 6 days before his execution, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals stopped it and sent the case back to the trial court in Kerr County to review Wood's claim that a jury was improperly persuaded to hand down a death sentence because of testimony from a highly criticized psychiatrist nicknamed "Dr. Death." Wood's lawyers claimed the psychiatrist, Dr. James Grigson, lied to jurors about how many cases he had testified in and how often he found a defendant would be a future danger. The lawyers claimed he almost always found they would be. A person can only be sentenced to death if a jury unanimously agrees that he or she would present a danger. In her letter, Wilke cites the issues with Grigson's testimony as reason for requesting a change of sentence. She claims she was unaware at the time of the trial that he had been expelled from the American Psychiatric Association and Texas Society of Psychiatric Physicians. "Had I known about Dr. Grigson's issues with said organizations, I would not have used him as the State's expert witness in this case on the issue of future dangerousness," she wrote. Wilke said she wants clemency for Wood because of Grigson's testimony and other factors including: the fact that he wasn't the shooter, his documented history of low intelligence and his nonviolent history in and out of prison. She mentioned that 3 jurors have submitted affidavits saying they would not have agreed Wood presented a future danger if they'd been aware of Grigson's issues. In April, the Kerr County court paused its review of the Grigson claims after Wood's lawyers said they and the state???s lawyers were in discussions about a "possible settlement," according to a Wednesday court order by the Court of Criminal Appeals. The order directed the trial court to resume its review regardless of the prosecution's request to leadership that Wood's sentence
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., FLA., ALA., OHIO, KY.
May 25 TEXAS: Was a convicted murderer incompetent to stand trial - 6 years ago?Fort Bend County jurors wrestle with a rare retrospective question Albert James Turner was convicted in 2011 of murder in the deaths of his mother-in-law and wife. The jury sentenced him to death - a choice made only every few years in Fort Bend. The case returned last week to the same courtroom with the same judge, the 268th District Court with Judge Brady Elliott, to take on an issue Turner's defense argued should have been addressed in the first place. The question before the jury was not whether he committed the crimes, cutting the throats of his relatives. Rather, the issue at hand was dubbed "retrospective competency," meaning jurors had to decide whether evidence showed Turner had not been mentally fit for trial. It was "a case that's not normally one we take up," the judge told the jurors. Judge Elliott had denied a request for a competency trial 6 years ago. A state appellate court had now granted it to Turner, allowing a chance at a totally new trial if jurors found him incompetent. Stakes were high. Turner's appellate defense attorney, Amy Martin, believed Turner was delusional. Turner felt convinced his attorneys had conspired against him, Martin said. And this illness might have affected his decision to testify originally, a fateful choice that perhaps influenced the jury to sentence him to death, rather than life in prison. That possibility, Martin said, was "not something we could stomach." Competency refers to one's ability rationally to understand proceedings in court. It is a different question altogether from whether someone was insane at the time of the crime. It deals instead with whether defendants can reasonably consult with their attorneys and understand the charges being brought against them. Evaluating a defendant for competency before a trial begins is fairly standard procedure. Doing so retrospectively is not. Several mental health professionals evaluated Turner before his trial began, court records show. One conducted an evaluation in May 2010, and the other in June. Both found him competent. If they had not, he could have been sent to a hospital for rehabilitation. Still, the question of his mental faculties didn't stop there. Turner became a detriment to his own defense, said Patrick McCann, his attorney at the time. "Time dragged on," McCann said. "He got worse." On April 15, 2011, defense attorneys filed a request for a trial on Turner's competency. 3 days later, on the 1st day of jury selection, the judge denied it. But the defense persisted, and on May 6, the judge ordered 1 more evaluation, this time by the county's director of behavioral health services. After a 30-minute conversation during which Turner remained standing, she concluded his functioning had not significantly changed. The case went to trial. Turner testified. The jury sentenced him. An appeal followed, and the higher court decided he deserved the competency trial after all - leading to last weeks' proceedings. Testimony continued to midday Thursday, when the 12-person jury heard closing arguments. Proesecutor Fred Felcman painted the case as woefully lacking in the expected indicators, such as family speaking of his illness or physicians having treated him. He said a defendant didn't have to help his attorneys. "This is not what you thought it was going to be, was it?," Felcman said. Martin argued that even though Turner wasn't curled up in a corner or foaming at the mouth, he still had a mental illness. She insisted he had a delusional disorder, which could be hard to detect. "He didn't have a disagreement with his attorneys," she said. "He had a break with reality." Turner refused to be in the courtroom. A video camera allowed him to watch proceedings from jail. The jurors made a decision in 2 hours. Members of the Fort Bend County District Attorney's Office sat in the room, as did Darren Frank, whose sister and mother were the people Turner killed. Frank had cared for his sister's 4 children since the murders. He said he felt a little surprised to see Turner's case return to Fort Bend and had prepared for whatever the outcome would be. His main priority, he said, was supporting the children. "Even one day, if [Turner] dies, it can't bring back what we've lost," Frank said. "I have to remove myself from the situation and just really focus on them and how I can help them." Cases like these didn't come around every day. Martin, who wrote the appellate brief, said she knew of only one other, from 2012 in Harris County. The judge read Turner's verdict. They jury said Turner had been competent. His appeal will continue. (source: Houston Chronicle) PENNSYLVANIA: Prosecutor seeking death penalty against man accused in 4-year-old's death A Butler County man accused in the death of his girlfriend's young son was in
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., FLA., ALA., OHIO
Feb. 17 TEXAS: Lining Up a ConvictionA suggestive photo lineup put Juan Balderas on death row. Experts say he may have been wrongfully convicted, but will he get a new trial in time? At first glance, the photo lineup that helped send Juan Balderas to death row doesn't look too unusual. It shows 6 young Latino men staring blankly ahead. Balderas, in the bottom middle position, looks calm, almost as if he's daydreaming. But according to judges and experts, this lineup is deeply prejudicial. 2 small details - the black hoodie Balderas is wearing and the mark on his left cheek - may have singled him out to the witness who viewed this lineup. Balderas was sentenced to death for a 2005 Houston murder based on the testimony of a single eyewitness, and he???s maintained his innocence ever since. The witness identification procedure in Balderas' case gained the attention of the state's highest criminal court, with a majority of judges ruling in November that it was suggestive, and 1 judge arguing it was so prejudicial that Balderas deserved a new trial. Combined with allegations that prosecutors hid evidence from the defense during the trial, and that another witness has recanted his account of the shooting, the identification raises the troubling question of whether Balderas was wrongfully convicted. Meanwhile, a panel of experts formed to cut down on wrongful convictions is urging state legislators to beef up rules for witness identifications. Balderas' case is one example of how small errors in police treatment of eyewitnesses can lead to serious problems with a conviction. On December 6, 2005, 16-year-old Eduardo Hernandez was hanging out with friends at an apartment in Alief, a suburb in sprawling southwest Houston. A man in a black hoodie barged in, circled the room, and shot Hernandez 9 times in the back and head. Hernandez was part of a local street gang called La Tercera Crips. He had angered his fellow members by snitching and throwing hand signs for a rival gang, several would later testify. The only witness who saw the shooter's face was Wendy Bardales, the sister of Hernandez's girlfriend. She described the shooter as someone she had never seen before, a young Latino man about 5 feet 6 inches tall, skinny and clean-shaven. He had short black hair in a fade haircut and was wearing a black hoodie. And he had a dark mark on his cheek, she said. The night after the shooting, officers showed her a photo lineup, but she told them the shooter wasn't in it. Over the next few days, Houston police received anonymous tips suggesting that Balderas, another member of the gang, was involved. The week after the murder, an officer went back to Wendy with a new lineup of 6 photos, which the Observer obtained through a Texas Public Information Act request. Wendy recognized Balderas - the 2 had lived in the same apartment complex and had known each other for about a year. She told the officer that Balderas "could be the shooter," and that he "looked like the shooter," even though on the night of the murder she had told police that the shooter was someone she had never seen before. The officer returned to her house the next day, trying to pin her down on whether Balderas was the shooter, but she still didn't say she was sure. Finally, the officer told her to place her hands over the top of the face of each subject, in order to simulate the shooter's hoodie. When she did, the officer later testified, her eyes "grew wide" and "began to water." Wendy said she was positive that Balderas was the shooter. "A witness's actual memory can be forever changed if suggestive procedures are used." Experts who study witness identification procedures say it's a textbook example of an identification gone wrong. The 1st problem is the lineup itself. It includes only 1 person - Balderas - who matches the description Wendy gave police. None of the other 5 men are wearing a black hoodie or have any marks on their faces. They also don't match her description in other ways: Some are heavier, others not clean-shaven, others not wearing a fade haircut. "Given the witness's description, this photo array is extremely suggestive and creates enormous potential for a wrongful conviction," said Sandra Guerra Thompson, a University of Houston law professor who studies witness identification. "The suspect should not stand out, and given that he is the only person with those distinctive features, this is highly suggestive." Large police departments typically have huge databases of booking photos, so it shouldn't be a problem to find "filler" photos that better match a witness's description. The process is also an issue. Research over the past few years has made clear that even small, unintentionally leading statements by officers can make witnesses feel pressured to choose someone. Coaching, such as when the officer urged Wendy to cover parts of the faces, can
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., FLA., ALA., OHIO
Sept. 26 TEXAS: Judge admonishes media covering Williams jury selection The media was put on notice on Monday during the Eric Williams jury selection after at least 1 Dallas-area TV reporter was found to be tweeting during the morning's proceedings. Williams and his wife, Kim, have been charged with capital murder for the slayings of Kaufman County Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse on Jan. 31, 2013, and Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife, Cynthia, on March 30, 2013. After the morning questioning of 1 prospective juror in Auxiliary Court at the Rockwall County Courthouse, the court proceeding adjourned unto 1 p.m. When a member of the media returned for the beginning of the afternoon jury selection process, members of the prosecution and defense teams were at the judge's bench and the reporter was told by Judge Webb Baird of Paris - sitting in for visiting Judge Michael Snipes who is overseeing the Williams murder case - that it had been brought to his attention that some members of the media had been tweeting the morning's proceedings. Baird warned the media person present and said if anyone was caught tweeting, he or she would be removed from the court. Bailiffs were instructed to watch for any members of the media that may be tweeting during the proceedings. 3 prospective jurors were interviewed on Monday by members of the prosecution and defense teams, 2 men and 1 woman. The process to seat 12 people is slated to take weeks with the trial set to begin on Dec. 1. The trial itself may take between 2 and 3 weeks with the possibility of jurors being sequestered once deliberations begin. Dallas County Criminal Court No. 7 Judge Michael Snipes is overseeing the case but had to step aside on Monday to attend to cases on his docket back in Dallas. Snipes was appointed to hear the case in 2013 after 422nd District Court Judge B. Michael Chitty recused himself. Snipes was replaced by Baird of Paris who handled the rest of the day's proceedings. The prospective jurors were questioned about their views on the death penalty, as well as should a defendant be given life without parole, and whether they had seen news of the killings in the media. Philosophically, I believe in the death penalty, but I would not want to pull the switch, the 1st prospective juror said. When pressed further about pulling the switch by prosecutor Jerri Sims, he said it was a hard question to answer because of his Christian beliefs. Can you do it or not? Sims asked. He said he could. He also was asked about news of the killings in the media. I don't pay attention to local news, he said. I think [I heard about] a judge and his wife being killed in Kaufman County. I don't know their names. Sims also asked him about his thoughts on gun control. I think it is unconstitutional, he said. The Constitution is clear in my opinion. Sims asked him if he owned guns, and he said he had rifles, shotguns and handguns. Does that make me a gun nut? he asked. Maybe. He also said law enforcement is becoming too militarized, and that police have too much power. Williams defense attorney Matthew Seymour questioned the 1st prospective juror, first keying in on media coverage. Seymour, based on publicity surrounding the case - which was moved to Rockwall County from Kaufman County after Snipes granted a change of venue - asked the juror if he had formed an opinion. No sir, he said. Seymour then questioned him about the death penalty as the only form of punishment in a capital murder case. If [a defendant] committed a murder and continues to be a threat to the public ... I would have some questions, he said. I am not sure how you would judge that with certainty. I don't think the death penalty should be the only appropriate punishment. The prospective juror said Timothy McVeigh deserved the death penalty because of the women and children he murdered in Oklahoma in 1995. That rises to a different level, he said. He planned it and it took a long time. It seemed evil. It is hard to reconcile in my mind how he could do that. It is an intentional act of evil that consumed his mind. That appears to be different than a normal murder. Prosecutor Tom D'Amore and defense attorney Doug Parks questioned the 2nd prospective juror. That juror did not hesitate when questioned about the death penalty. He said he strongly believes in it as a form of punishment and has no problem with lethal injection as the method. The 2nd prospective juror also said he can be fair and listen to both sides of the case because he has the ability to listen to the facts. I could not say guilty if not proven beyond reasonable doubt, he said. The candidate said he had heard about the case through the media. Parks asked him whether he recognized anyone on the list of witnesses set to testify during the Williams murder trial. The prospective juror said he
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., FLA., ALA., OHIO
Aug. 19 TEXAS: Randy Ertman, father of slain teen, has died Randy Ertman, whose daughter and a friend were raped and killed by gang members, has died of lung cancer. The 61-year-old died Monday, said Andy Kahan, a Houston crime victims advocate. Ertman's daughter Jennifer, 14, and her friend, 16-year-old Elizabeth Pena, were attacked June 24, 1993, by gang members as they walked home along White Oak Bayou. The girls were Waltrip High School students. 6 gang members were charged in their deaths, which shocked the city. One of them, Peter Cantu, was tried in 1994. A major precedent was set at the end of his trial, when state District Judge Bill Harmon allowed Ertman to address the convicted murderer. Among his blistering comments, Ertman shouted at him, You're not even an animal. It shocked many onlookers and outraged a few. Harmon was criticized by fellow judges and newspaper editorials for allowing the display. In 2008, when convicted murderer Jose Medillin, a Mexican national, was facing execution, Ertman said he didn't care about international opposition. It's just a last-ditch effort to keep the scumbag breathing, Ertman said. He never should have been breathing in the first place. Another change that resulted from the Ertman-Pena case was the decision to allow victims' relatives to witness executions. After Cantu's trial, Ertman asked to witness his execution but was told it was not allowed. Over the years, he lobbied for the right, along with Pena's parents, Kahan and the group Justice for All. Eventually, the Texas Board of Criminal Justice voted to change the policy. (source: Houston Chronicle) * Texas Governor's REAL crimes For the 14 years that Rick Perry has been governor, he has committed crimes against the people of Texas with impunity. So it was almost laughable when he was indicted on Aug. 15 for 2 felony charges that most of the people in Texas have never heard of and are not impacted by. What a grand jury has never investigated are Perry's closure of almost every women's health clinic in the state, his refusal to use federal money to expand Medicaid and his brazen authorization of 276 death row executions. These are his serious crimes that directly affect the lives of millions, causing immeasurable pain, physical and psychological suffering and death. These crimes that Perry has committed against working-class people and particularly African Americans, Latinos/as and women of all nationalities in Texas are not on the Sunday news shows or any bourgeois national news programs. Last summer, an ethics complaint was filed against Perry saying he had improperly vetoed state funding for the Travis County [Austin's] District Attorney's Public Integrity Unit which focuses on government corruption and tax fraud. The charges in this case are abuse of official capacity, a 1st-degree felony, and coercion of a public servant, a 3rd-degree felony. If ever convicted, he could receive a maximum sentence of 109 years in state prison. Perry threatened the Austin DA with a veto of funding for her office if she refused to resign after being convicted of drunk driving. Legal experts say that Perry had the right to veto funding but not to publicly threaten the DA into resigning. The Travis County PIU was conducting a potentially damaging investigation into a medical research institute that has been one of Perry's favorite avenues for grants and jobs. Since Perry signed into law last year a bill that severely restricts a woman's right to abortion as well as other medical care dealing with women's reproductive health, Perry has used this reactionary feat to bolster his ratings among conservatives. He has stated that his goal is to make abortion, at any stage, a thing of the past. The last provisions of Texas' anti-choice legislation go into effect in September. If legal challenges fail, Texas may have only 6 clinics left where women can have an abortion. Over 12 million women living in 268,000 square miles in Texas and they will have 6 clinics! This is criminal. Perry has made clear that he will go to great lengths to protect an unborn fetus, but he cares little about the real children born in the state. 1 in 4 (6.2 million) Texans are uninsured, the highest rate of any state, yet Perry has refused to accept federal money to expand Medicaid. Medicaid expansion would cover more than one million new low-income Texans by 2017, according to the state Health and Human Services Commission. Perry refuses to expand Medicaid despite the federal government covering 100 % of the costs for the 1st 3 years and 90 % after that. But Perry has chosen his political aspirations over people???s lives. Mass murderer If anyone else ever authorized the killing of 276 people, they would be indicted for mass murder. Perry has presided over more executions than any governor in the history of the United States. Texas
