Feb. 11
TEXAS:
Meet the Texas warden who supervised the most executions
People against the death penalty protest outside the Walls Unit in Huntsville,
Texas.
It's execution day, and there have been no last minute reprieves.
"I don't think we've ever executed an innocent person," said retired warden
Charles Thomas O'Reilly.
The condemned killer now walks to the death chamber, knowing nothing can save
him now.
"Myself and the chaplain, we're in the death house with the inmate," O'Reilly
explained.
It's a process O'Reilly knows intimately.
Between 2004 and 2010, O'Reilly supervised 140 executions. The retired warden
says each one was different.
"We had one guy that got in there, and he cracked jokes the whole time he was
in there," O'Reilly said.
Among those executions, 1 was a woman, Frances Newton, in 2005.
"She didn't give us any trouble. We treated her with as much dignity as we
would anybody else that would be in there," O'Reilly said.
He also watched over the execution of one of the most notorious criminals in
Texas history: Angel Resendiz, the so-called "railroad killer" who traveled the
country by rail, killing as many as 14 people, including Dr. Claudia Benton of
West University Place.
"These are evil people," O'Reilly said. "While I believe there's a lot of good
in the world, there's also evil in the world."
O'Reilly says he sleeps well at night -- no nightmares, no regrets.
"If you're a warden at the Walls, you're gonna preside over executions,"
O'Reilly said. "If that's a problem for you, don't take the job."
On the day of execution, the prisoner would be brought to Huntsville from death
row in Livingston. O'Reilly would meet with the prisoner that afternoon,
explain the process to him or her, and as the final hour approached, he would
say, "It's time."
A team of guards would strap the inmate into the gurney and then, IVs would be
inserted into his arms.
O???Reilly's would be the last voice the condemned would ever hear.
After that, by remote control, O'Reilly would turn on a light in another room
where someone whose identity would be kept secret started the flow of drugs.
"He makes his final statement and then he goes to sleep," O'Reilly explained.
The retiree looks back at his career and says supervising more executions than
any warden in Texas history is not what he wants to be remembered by.
O'Reilly says he'd rather be remembered as a good and fair warden who was just
doing his job.
(source: KHOU news)
************************
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Order New Hearing In Brazos County Death
Penalty Case
A death row inmate from Brazos County is getting another court hearing.
That's after the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled the trial judge who
removed himself after sentencing John Thuesen for capital murder nearly 7 years
ago was not allowed to return to preside over Thuesen's post-trial appeals.
Justices on the state's highest criminal court found that the judge who
assigned a replacement did not issue a formal ruling allowing the original
judge to return.
The replacement judge was ordered to return and take no longer than 180 days to
hear Thuesen's appeal and make a ruling.
This week's decision by the criminal appeals court, the 1st of its type in
Texas, does not change the local jury's decision that Thuesen killed his
ex-girlfriend and her brother in College Station almost 8 years ago...or the
death penalty sentence issued by the trial judge.
(source: WTAW news)
VIRGINIA:
Judge orders mental evaluation for Henrico man accused of killing his parents
on Easter
A judge on Friday ordered a mental evaluation to ensure that a Henrico County
man charged with killing his parents last Easter is fit to stand trial.
Henrico Circuit Court Judge James Stephen Yoffy granted a defense motion for an
evaluation of William Brissette. The judge ordered it to be finished by April 3
so attorneys could examine it.
Henrico Commonwealth's Attorney Shannon L. Taylor supported the motion for the
mental examination.
The report, which will be done by a psychologist at the University of Virginia,
will gauge whether Brissette is competent enough to understand the trial
process and can help the attorneys defending him.
"There is concern here that the defense has raised that Mr. Brissette's mental
illness has made him incapable of assisting in his defense," Douglas A.
Ramseur, Brissette's attorney, said after Friday's court hearing.
Ramseur declined to specify what mental illness Brissette is suffering from.
Brissette, 23, is facing charges of capital murder in the case. He is accused
of fatally shooting his parents, Henry J. Brissette III and Martha B.
Brissette, on Easter Sunday last March. The punishment for that is life in
prison or death.
Taylor has said that she intends to seek the death penalty, saying last
September that her decision is based on the "vileness" of the crime and the
likelihood of "future dangerousness."
But the National Alliance of Mental Illness of Central Virginia wrote a letter
to Taylor Tuesday saying it opposes the death penalty in the Brissette case.
Kathy Harkey, the group's executive director, wrote that she personally knew
Brissette's biological grandmother,the late Miriam Blevins, who served on the
group's board of directors.
"Based on my relationship with the late Mrs. Blevins, and my knowledge of this
cruel disease from a professional and family member perspective, I feel
confident that the late Miriam Blevins and her daughter, the late Martha
Brissette, would find a death sentence to be a cruel and unusual punishment for
their loved one William Brissette," Harkey wrote. "They would not want William
to suffer additional psychological torture and death. They would want him to
live and receive proper medical care for his treatable medical condition."
Friday's motion threw a kink into the court schedule.
The case had been set for a 2-week trial in June, but that has been withdrawn
and a new trial date hasn't been rescheduled.
The next court hearing is on April 6 to discuss the results of the mental
evaluation.
(source: Richmond Times-Dispatch)
NORTH CAROLINA:
Asheville man removed from state's death row
A 39-year-old man who was sentenced to death in the 1996 murders of his aunt
and her daughter was granted on Friday his bid to be removed from the state's
death row roster, following an agreement by his defense attorneys and the
Buncombe County district attorney.
"To family members and anyone who knew Joyce and Caroline, they were 2 very
special people who were loved by a lot of people including myself," Phillip
Antwan Davis said, pausing often in emotion. 'I regret everything that happened
and it's something I'll regret for the rest of my life."
When he was sentenced to death in the murder of Joyce Miller, Davis at age 19
became the youngest person awaiting execution in North Carolina. A jury
sentenced him to life without parole in the death of Caroline Miller, 17.
Defense attorneys for Davis in October filed a motion arguing that their
client, who is black, should be sentenced to life without parole, citing
concerns that he was handed death by an all-white jury.
Black juror's dismissal, death penalty revisited in double homicide
The one eligible African-American who was called as a prospective panelist for
Davis' sentencing was stricken by a former assistant district attorney, who
said she was concerned about the woman's ability to serve based on her T-shirt,
one featuring Tweety Bird, and a cross earring.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that a prospective juror cannot be removed
from service based on race. In response, North Carolina's conference of
district attorneys provided training in 1995 through a course called "Top Gun
II," one that gave prosecutors a host of reasons to strike jury prospects, such
as inappropriate dress or lack of eye contact.
While none of the reasons were based on race, critics have argued it was
intended to weed out individuals who were not white.
District Attorney Todd Williams, who won that office in 2014, cited several
reasons for agreeing that Davis should be resentenced to life without parole,
including his age at the time of the crime. He was a few months beyond age 18.
Had he been under 18, Davis would have been ineligible for the death penalty.
Williams also noted that after the crime Davis accepted responsibility and
pleaded guilty to the murders of his aunt and cousin, leaving it to a jury to
decide between sentences of life and death.
He described that plea offer, one without a deal for life on the table, as
"highly mitigating."
"The jury selection process serves as a bulwark against bias in the criminal
justice system," Williams said after the hearing. "Our system has built-in
checks on abuses such as discrimination and prosecutorial misconduct. When the
system is not allowed to work as it's naturally intended to, that???s when you
have a problem."
Of the family members he spoke with, Williams said he heard no one argue that
Davis should remain on death row.
The murders likely stemmed from a suspected theft: Joyce Miller discovered $800
had disappeared and believed her nephew, who had purchased new clothes and a
gold chain, had stolen the money. She returned the clothes and hid the
necklace. Davis threatened his cousin, demanding its return.
He pleaded guilty to 2 counts of 1st-degree murder, the 1st for fatally
shooting Caroline, and then shooting and attacking her mother with a meat
cleaver.
Under the judgment entered by Superior Court Judge J. Thomas Davis of
Rutherford County, Davis agreed to drop any appeals in the case, including a
pending motion made under the now-vacated N.C. Racial Justice Act of 2009,
which prohibited imposition of the death penalty based on race.
Relatives of Davis and the Millers did not appear at the hearing. Davis' mother
lives in California, while a brother who appeared at a hearing late last year
in support of a life sentence is in the military and could not return to
Asheville, his attorneys said.
"From the earliest days, Phillip has expressed remorse and that has been as
evident the 1st day as it was today," said Mark Kleinschmidt, who has
represented Davis since 2001, along with attorney Shelagh Kenney. "He pleaded
guilty in the beginning in an attempt to take responsibility."
Among those who did gather was Betty Bickford, a now-retired teacher at Oakley
Elementary who taught Davis in the 5th grade.
She was in the courtroom for most of his sentencing in 1996 and the pair
continue to write. In letters the former student she remembers as sensitive and
sweet still talks about his remorse in the murders, she said.
"Our mouths dropped open when the jury walked in and they were all white,"
Bickford remembered. "I was sick because I didn't want him put to death."
After the hearing, a shackled Davis paused in front of Bickford and other
supporters, thanking them for attending.
"I want to give you a big hug," his former teacher turned pen pal said to
Davis, as she laid eyes on him for the 1st time in more than 2 decades.
"I do too," Davis responded.
The inmate exchanged brief snippets of conversation with supporters before
being led away officers.
He was allowed to hug no one.
Death row inmates are not allowed contact visits, but with the resentencing and
new imprisonment, Davis could be allowed to hug future visitors.
(source: Asheville Citizen-Times)
GEORGIA:
Former soldier uses PTSD defense in death penalty trial
A former sergeant in the Georgia National Guard said he does not remember
shooting and killing an off-duty police officer outside a Griffin Waffle House
almost 3 years ago, but he doesn't doubt that he did it.
Michael Bowman - the 1st defense witness called in his death penalty trial - is
claiming post traumatic stress disorder from 3 deployments to Iraq and
Afghanistan caused him to react as if he were being attacked by the enemy when
he allegedly shot and killed officer Kevin Jordan.
raigned in Waffle House shooting
"I just remember him telling us to leave, but I don't remember nothing else,"
Bowman, speaking so softly that at times it was hard to hear him, told a jury
in LaGrange where the death penalty trial was moved because of too much local
news coverage of the shooting.
Bowman said his only memory of early-morning events on May 31, 2014, was the
impact of the bullets fired by the officer's brother, who happened to be there
when Jordan was killed.
"It was like I was hit in the back with a ball bat," Bowman said.
The death penalty trial began with opening statements Tuesday and prosecutors
concluded their case Thursday afternoon. Bowman was the 1st witness called by
defense attorneys.
Bowman testified that they began that Friday evening at a local bar, Mama's
Country Showcase, where they danced and shot pool. Bowman said he was not
drinking.
He had come armed but left the gun in the car while he was inside the bar. He
said he was armed most of the time because he found his hometown changed after
his third deployment - more threatening because of crime and an increased
prevalence of gangs.
Bowman left Mama's Country Showcase several hours later after he found his
brother, Tyler Taylor, in the bar parking lot passed out and with vomit on his
pants leg.
Bowman fetched his gun from the car before leaving with Taylor and Chantell
Mixon, his girlfriend, to get something to eat.
But at the Waffle House, Mixon almost immediately created a disturbance,
demanding to be served immediately, so they were asked to leave.
Witnesses told police Mixon became even more belligerent as officer Jordan, a
43-year-old father of 7, walked her out. In the parking lot, Bowman allegedly
shot Jordan 5 times in the back as he tried to arrest Mixon.
Bowman's attorney spent most of the 3 hours of Bowman's testimony on his
service with the Georgia National Guard. But the 32-year-old defendant also
talked about the bad turns in his life after he was honorably discharged as a
decorated sergeant in 2010.
Bowman said his missions in Iraq and Afghanistan included clearing roads of
explosives, shooting to disable any vehicles that tried to follow their
convoys, driving supply trucks to various outposts and providing protection to
a colonel.
He was injured in an explosion on a road.
Bowman's testimony was monitored by a military attorney, who intervened if
questions touched on sensitive topics.
Once Bowman returned to Georgia after his final deployment and took a job
driving a truck, he suffered memories of some of the hundreds of combat
missions, Bowman testified.
"I was having big problems with guard rails, trash and people driving slow," he
said.
In the war zones, improvised explosive devices were often hidden on guard rails
or under trash along the roads, Bowman explained. The practice was to drive 70
to 80 mph unless they were clearing roads of IEDs, and that is why slow drivers
unnerved him, Bowman said.
Soon after his service was over, Bowman said, he started having nightmares. The
dreams, still coming several times a week, were always the same, he said.
Each time, the "disturbing" dream started in a war zone and Bowman struggled to
pull a malfunctioning trigger on his rifle. Then the scene would change to his
home where someone was trying to break down his front door or in a mountain
setting where someone was hiding behind a rock; the trigger didn't work in
those settings either, Bowman said.
Bowman said each time he awoke from the dream, he would grab the pistol he kept
on the nightstand or under his pillow and check the front door for evidence of
an intruder. Then he would be awake until time to go to work.
He said, however, that he only asked the Veterans Administration for help with
the ringing in his ears that started after he was hurt in an explosion and not
for his troubled dreams.
Spalding County District Attorney Ben Coker, during cross-examination, pointed
out that in each of the three assessments of his health after his deployment,
Bowman claimed he was healthy and denied having any problems.
He also asked Bowman about the side effects of steroids he injected until about
12 weeks before Jordan was killed.
Did he know that steroids could cause sleeplessness, Coker asked.
Did he know steroids cause feelings of irritation, the district attorney asked.
Did he know that one of the steroids he took was not suitable for human use,
Coker wanted to know.
Bowman answered "no" to each question.
(source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
MISSISSIPPI:
Mississippi House passes bill for executions by gas chamber, firing squad
Lawmakers in the Mississippi House of Representatives have passed a bill that
could reintroduce the gas chamber, firing squad and electric chair to execute
prisoners on death row.
The last prisoner to be executed in Mississippi was in 2012, after which
federal rulings on the constitutionality of the most common lethal injection
protocol, combined with court challenges at the state level, have held off any
state executions, though 47 prisoners remain on death row.
Under a bill passed in the state House 74-43, if lethal injection is ruled
unconstitutional, a series of other forms of execution would be used, unless
they, too, are deemed cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment.
As written, the legislation first states lethal injection should be used. After
that, a nitrogen gas chamber would be employed, followed by a firing squad and
finally the electric chair.
Mississippi has used lethal injection, nitrogen hypoxia and the electric chair
at times during its history, officials said, though all executions since 1984
have been by injection. Utah also employs a firing squad as a means of capital
punishment, but only if chosen by the inmate over lethal injection. The last
time a prisoner was executed by gunfire was in 2010.
The bill is supported by Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant, a Republican. It has not
been taken up by the state Senate.
(source: United Press International)
********************
Firing squad executions are way to go
Mississippi lawmakers are advancing a bill that would bring the firing squad
back to the Magnolia State. In a state where lethal injection is the only
approved method of execution, lawmakers fear the courts may block such
executions, thus removing the death penalty from the books in Mississippi.
House Bill 638 would make sure that, if the judiciary acts to undermine the
will of Mississippians by striking lethal injection by judicial fiat, the state
would be able to turn to the firing squad, electrocution or the gas chamber. In
the words of House Judiciary B Committee Chairman Andy Gipson, HB 638 is the
1st line of defense against death penalty challenges brought by "liberal,
left-wing radicals."
"I have a constituent whose daughter was raped and killed by a serial killer
over 25 years ago, and that person's still waiting for the death penalty,"
Gipson explained. "The family is still waiting for justice."
Does not Gipson have a point? In a land in which the law is king, how is it
those who disregarded the law are able to exploit it to stave off a final
judgement day?
When Giuseppe Zangara aimed his pistol at President Roosevelt on Feb. 15, 1933,
and took a shot, he missed the president but did injure 4 people during his
attempt, including Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak. Within 2 weeks of the
assassination attempt, Zangara pleaded guilty and was sentenced to serve 80
years. But also in 2 weeks, Cermak died as a result of his injuries.
Zangara faced a retrial for murder and was found guilty. He was sentenced to
death and was legally executed on March 20, 1933 - just under 6 weeks after he
tried to kill the president.
There is no evidence Zangara was convicted by a kangaroo court and no evidence
to suggest he was innocent. Zangara attempted to kill a president and in doing
so killed a mayor. The cost for his crime? Death. The justice system worked.
Where justice was delivered for Cermak in just over 25 days, Gipson's
constituent is still waiting for justice after 25 years. For 25 years a
victim's death has remained unavenged and a mother's sense of justice in doubt.
This 25-year wait is testimony to moral cowardice that has infected our
judicial branch.
By pushing HB 638, Mississippi lawmakers are taking a preemptive strike against
a growing judicial culture of impotence when it comes to the death penalty.
Forcing their own values on the people, judges have allowed their culturally
corrupted conscience to interfere with their primary duty - delivering justice.
Rather than hold killers accountable, judges lament that lawmakers are
succumbing to barbaric passions and long for a better way. The problem? It is
not for the men and women in black to find the "better" way. It is their job to
make sure the laws of a state (or a nation) are adhered to without finding ways
to circumvent them.
Thus we find Mississippi working to join Oklahoma and Utah in resurrecting the
firing squad and the elites fretting that Mississippi is going too far. How
could a civilized society place a man before a firing squad, they ask. To these
folks, that's 3rd-world justice.
But isn't a firing squad the most humane way to execute a criminal? Isn't death
instantaneous? Where lethal injection could go array, causing prolonged pain,
and electrocution could not work effectively, there is no doubt multiple
bullets do the job quickly and safely.
This debate, however, is not about finding a humane way to deliver the ultimate
justice; it is about abolishing the death penalty. So while others may look at
Mississippi's firing squad and pity Mississippi, maybe they should transfer
that pity to the victims who, thanks to the progressive mindset that has
weakened the law's moral authority by superimposing a counterfeit compassion
for capital convicts, are still waiting for justice.
(source: Guest Columnist; Joseph R. Murray II----Clarion-Ledger)
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