Sept. 26
USA:
What will the Supreme Court decide in this term's 1st big cases?
Ryan v. Gonzales and Tibbals v. Carter, Tuesday, Oct. 9: We are not supposed to
execute mentally insane people in this country. The Supreme Court said so in
1986. At the time, no state allowed such an execution; as Justice Thurgood
Marshall pointed out, British judges back in the 17th century worried about the
"miserable spectacle" of "extreme inhumanity and cruelty" presented by
executing a "mad man." That's still the law, though it's worth worrying over
the low standard of competence courts use. Apart from that, what exactly is
supposed to happen if a defendant is sentenced to death and then found to be
incompetent, because of mental illness, to help his lawyer press his appeals?
2 federal appeals courts, the 6th Circuit and the 9th Circuit, have essentially
found that defendants have a right to be competent during the federal court
proceeding called habeas corpus???basically, a defendant's last-ditch chance to
get off death row. The 9th Circuit stayed proceedings indefinitely in the case
of Ernest Valencia Gonzales, who is psychotic, and who killed a man in the
course of a burglary. In Ohio, a district court similarly ordered an indefinite
stay for Sean Carter, sentenced to die for killing his adoptive grandmother,
and then found to be delusional with schizophrenia. The state of Ohio, which
wants to execute Carter, imagines courts handing out lots more delays under
"extraordinarily loose standards," bringing the death penalty to a halt in the
state. This is not a crazy concern: The backdrop here is the case of Melvin
Davis Rees, who got a competency hearing and a stay courtesy of the Supreme
Court in the mid-1960s - and died in prison in 1995, as Lyle Denniston points
out on Scotusblog.
The Obama administration has weighed in against a rule that favors indefinite
stays for death row inmates whose mental illness makes them incompetent. It's
too much to ask to stop all these cases, the government says. The American
Psychiatric Association is on the other side, arguing that, for the sake of
fairness, people who can't help their lawyers shouldn't be marched through
their appeals. The American Bar Association wants a flexible standard for
granting a stay, depending on the level of the defendant's impairment and the
circumstances of the case. It's hard for me to imagine a lot of defendants who
are deemed incompetent who could possibly work well with their lawyers - most
of them are probably hallucinatory and delusional. That may not move a majority
on the Supreme Court, though.
(source: Emily Bozelon, slate.com)
*******************
Pentagon prosecutors moving away from gag order on 9/11 suspects at Guantanamo
Defense lawyers in the Sept. 11 case said Tuesday that the Pentagon prosecutor
is backing away from a national security doctrine that reflexively gags
anything the accused 9/11 plotters say to anyone at Guantanamo.
At issue is the controversial theory of "presumptive classification." Because
the accused 9/11 conspirators were held for years in secret custody by the CIA,
and are now confined to a secret prison at Guantanamo, anything they say starts
off classified as a national security secret.
They are facing a death-penalty trial at the Guantanamo war court, and their
defense lawyers have argued that the interpretation has straight-jacketed their
trial preparation.
Moreover, the American Civil Liberties Union disputes the concept of
"presumptive classification" as being at odds with the public's right to know
what happened to the captives in secret U.S. custody. Agents seized the men in
2002 and 2003, and then turned them over to the military at Guantanamo in 2006.
"Today, the prosecution in the 9/11 military commission filed a document
retreating from its argument for 'presumptive classification' of all detainee
statements, regardless of their topic," said James Connell, lawyer for Ammar al
Baluchi, the nephew of alleged mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed. "Defense
attorneys have vigorously opposed the practice of presumptive classification."
A military judge is set to consider the legality of the doctrine during
hearings at Guantanamo Oct. 15-19.
The chief prosecutor declined to say whether or how he had retreated from the
doctrine in the filing. Under war court rules, it was filed under seal -
lawyers get to read it, the public cannot - until U.S. intelligence authorities
decide which portions to redact.
"The government is committed to considering every reasonable and appropriate
measure that could help facilitate the attorney-client relationship," the
prosecutor, Army Brig. Gen. Mark Martins, said in statement.
Martins' remarks suggest that defense lawyers will now be able to discuss
certain off-limit topics with the accused terrorists. Left unclear was whether
the lawyers will now be allowed to talk publicly about their conversations with
their clients.
Attorney Cheryl Bohrmann, defending alleged al Qaida lieutenant Walid bin
Attash, explained the rules this way in May: "Everything is presumptively Top
Secret. So if my client had a tuna fish sandwich for lunch, I couldn't tell you
that."
(source: The State)
*****************
Revisiting Death Row: 'The Exonerated'
To know that the American justice system is flawed, just say OJ. That name is
invoked in the theater piece The Exonerated, now revived for its 10th
anniversary at the Culture Project with its script by Jessica Blank and Erik
Jensen, woven from court transcripts, interviews and testimonies of those
jailed and sentenced to die for crimes they did not commit. At Sunday's
matinee, a rotating cast of actors: Stockard Channing, Brian Dennehy, Chris
Sarandon, Delroy Lindo -- joined in with Jim Bracchitta, Amelia Campbell, Bruce
Kronenberg, Curtis McClarin, April Yvette Thompson, JD Williams -- to tell
horrific tales of incarceration.
Particularly searing is Sonia Jacobs' story which involves the death by
defective electric chair of her "husband" Jesse, wrongly convicted of shooting
2 cops, even after the real killer confessed. You need only to hear about the
smoke rising from his head to recognize the utter inhumanity of the death
penalty. As directed by Bob Balaban, this is a fast paced, often funny hour and
a half, the ironies of justice gone awry softening hard truths. At play's end,
Stockard Channing introduced her character, the real Sonny Jacobs, who will
play herself next week following Brooke Shields. "I am a lucky one," she said.
When asked, why revive The Exonerated now, Culture Project's founder and
artistic director Allan Buchman pointed out the recent release of the West
Memphis 3, who had to plead guilty of the crime of murdering 3 kids back in
1993 in order to be set free after nearly 20 years imprisoned. The case is the
subject of the Paradise Lost documentaries, and a new book, Life After Death
penned by Damien Echols, freed from death row. The 3 men now wait exoneration.
(source: Huffington Post)
NORTH CAROLINA:
Death penalty activist charged with wife's murder ---- Joseph Green Brown was
on Florida's death row for 13 years before his convictions on rape and murder
were overturned in 1986; his wife was recently found dead
Joyce Robbins wanted to know why her aunt wasn't coming to a big family
barbeque.
Mamie Brown and her husband, Joseph Green Brown, who was on Florida's death row
for 13 years before his convictions on rape and murder were overturned in 1986,
had been fixtures at family functions since they'd moved to Charlotte in 2007.
But lately, the Browns weren't showing up at birthdays, anniversaries or other
gatherings. So Robbins called her, and Mamie confided that the couple was
facing serious financial problems. Since his release from a Florida prison,
Joseph had been making a living talking against the death penalty, based on his
personal experience of coming within hours of being executed for a crime he
didn't commit. But he hadn't been paying taxes on his speaking fees.
"She said, 'Money is just tight right now. We just don't go too many places
anymore,'" Robbins said.
A week later, Mamie Brown, 71, was found dead in her Charlotte apartment and
her husband was charged with first-degree murder. Joseph Brown, 62, has been
held in the Mecklenburg County jail since his arrest Sept. 14 in a Charleston,
S.C., motel room, a day after the slaying. A bond hearing was scheduled for
Wednesday.
Police haven't disclosed a motive in death, or provided details on how Mamie
was killed. The prosecutor's office says it will present the case soon to a
grand jury.
Documents uncovered in the wake of the crime give clues that Brown's private
life may have been unraveling for years prior to his wife's death. Yet family
members said they didn't know the couple was having financial problems, or that
Mamie had filed domestic violence complaints against him in 2003 and 2005 when
they lived in suburban Washington, D.C.
"She was so protective of him," said Mamie's cousin Sherry Williams. "She loved
him so much. I wish she would have told us what she was going through. We would
have helped her."
Joseph Brown was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1973 rape and murder
of Earlene Treva Barksdale, the owner of a clothing store in Hillsborough
County, Fla. He was scheduled for execution Oct. 17, 1983, but a federal judge
ordered a stay 15 hours before he was to be put to death. His conviction was
reversed in 1986 because of false testimony from a co-defendant, and the
prosecution decided against retrying Brown. He was let out of prison on March
5, 1987.
After his release, Brown met Mamie, who had 3 children from a previous marriage
and was working for the U.S. Labor Department in Washington.
Mamie was born and raised in a big family in Rock Hill, S.C., about 20 miles
south of Charlotte. The 2 were married in 1988 and Mamie introduced her new
husband to the family for the 1st time the following year, when she went home
to care for her sick mother.
"She didn't talk about his past, but he seemed like a nice person," Williams
said.
While they were in Rock Hill, Joseph took a job driving an ice cream truck.
Records show he had several scrapes with the law. In 1989 and 1990, he was
charged with forgery, burglary and pointing a weapon. The charges were later
dropped.
After Mamie Brown returned to her Labor Department job in Washington, the
couple later moved to Fort Washington, Md., in Prince George's County.
Records there point to a rocky marriage. On June 19, 2003, she filed a
domestic-violence complaint against her husband and was granted a temporary
restraining order. A week later, the complaint was dropped.
A month later, Brown tried to file a domestic-violence complaint against her,
but it was denied. On April 22, 2005, she again filed a complaint, and the
court issued a temporary restraining order. A few weeks later, however, the
order was dismissed.
Clerks at Prince George's County District Court said details about those cases
weren't readily available.
Documents also show the 2 were having financial problems. In 2008, their home
in Maryland was foreclosed and sold at a sheriff's sale.
Family members said Mamie told them she moved to Charlotte to be closer to her
family, and that it was less expensive to live there than in the Washington
area.
"She was happy to be back," Williams said.
So were Mamie's family members, who said it was at this point that Joseph began
talking openly about his past.
"He told us to stay out of trouble," said Marcus Williams, Mamie Brown's
partially blind nephew, who added that Joseph Brown would often help take care
of him by taking him to the store and hanging out with him.
After hearing Joseph's story, Sherry Williams said she pressed him to talk at
her church. They paid him $250 and, on Feb. 20, 2011, he appeared before the
congregation.
Dressed in a gray suit, he gave one of the typical speeches he had given
hundreds of times, telling them he spent 13 years in a "small cage."
"One thing about that little cage is it taught you that no matter how big you
thought you were or no matter how bad you thought you were, it would break you
down," he said.
He warned that there were times when he would become angry.
"People ask me ... 'Do you have anger? Do you have hatred, frustration,
bitterness because of what happened to you?'" he told the congregation. "And I
respond, 'Yes.'"
Then he asked them to pray for him to stay calm because he was afraid of what
would happen if he exploded.
Looking back, Sherry Williams said there were other hints of trouble. Earlier
this year, she asked if they wanted to go on a cruise with other family
members. Mamie didn't answer, but Brown called back to say they couldn't
because he had a speaking engagement in Nevada.
"I thought about it. Why did he call me and not her?" she said.
Then Mamie Brown didn't return phone calls about the barbeque.
Finally, Robbins called and asked her why she wasn't coming. She was quiet for
a moment, then shared that her husband owed at least $7,000 in back taxes.
She told Robbins that she and her husband wouldn't be attending the barbeque
before somehow the conversation turned to the subject of death.
Robbins said Mamie told her that when it is time to die, "you want to be right
with the Lord," adding that she was ready.
"Maybe it was something that was on her mind and she was just trying to get it
out," Robbins said. "It's going to bother me for a long time."
(source: Associated Press)
GEORGIA:
Chatham County District Attorney: No deliberate delays in Buckner murder trial
Prosecutors have told the Georgia Supreme Court they did not deliberately delay
the trial of accused murderer Bobby Lavon Buckner and cannot be faulted for
lost evidence they blame on other law enforcement agencies.
The legal brief and arguments were filed in the state's attempt to reverse
Chatham County Superior Court Judge Penny Haas Freesemann's May 30 dismissal of
murder and kidnapping charges in the 2003 abduction and slaying of 12-year-old
Ashleigh Moore because prosecutors violated the defendant's right to a speedy
trial.
According to documents prepared by Chief Assistant District Attorney David
Perry and filed under District Attorney Larry Chisolm's name, the state's
announcement in April 2011 that it would seek the death penalty was not an
attempt at delay as Freesemann found in her order.
It blamed the state's abandoning the penalty - 4 months and 20 days after it
was announced - on lost evidence taken from the victim's home and never
properly logged into evidence.
It said any lost evidence occurred in the early portions of the investigation
"and was not lost by the district attorney's office either before or after the
current administration."
"There was nothing in the charging decision of the district attorney's office
to gain extra time," Perry said in his legal argument.
And Perry said the state never asked for a continuance before Freesemann.
"Since the entry of (Perry), the state has not asked for a continuance,"
Perry???s document said.
He arrived Dec. 1, 2010.
The state's document, dated Sept. 24, was filed Sept. 4.
No date for oral arguments has been scheduled.
The case
The victim, an honor student at DeRenne Middle School, disappeared from her
home at 6 Weiner Drive early April 18, 2003. Her body was found about 3 weeks
later near the Savannah Marriott Riverfront on General McIntosh Boulevard.
Buckner, the 36-year-old boyfriend of Ashleigh's mother, Michelle Moore, was
arrested 2 days later on a probation violation.
He was first indicted Dec. 12, 2007, on child molestation, kidnapping and
murder. He was re-indicted May 13, 2009, and finally on March 23, 2011, when
the state announced it would seek the death penalty.
Once the death penalty was introduced, Georgia Capital Defenders office entered
the case and filed more than 140 pre-trial motions. Judge Perry Brannen Jr. was
replaced by Freesemann as part of the court's revolving system for assigning
death penalty cases.
Buckner transferred from the Chatham County jail June 4 and remains in state
custody at Calhoun State Prison.
Buckner response
Meanwhile, Georgia Capital Defenders attorneys Newell Hamilton and Jason
Randall Clark, in their response briefs filed Sept. 21, argued the state's
filing contained statements of fact, which were "not completely correct" and
"contained improper argument or commentary."
Perry told the court on Feb. 16, 2011, he had only been here "less than 90
days, and I'm not going to be up to speed when we get ready to go to trial. I'm
not up to speed right now," the response brief said.
Freesemann found prosecutors intentionally caused more delay by announcing
their intent to seek the death penalty "on the very date the case was set to go
to trial for the 10th time."
She found the 53-month trial delay was "indeed presumptively prejudicial."
The defense also argued that, despite the prosecution's claim, it never asked
for a continuance. The prosecution did not include continuances caused by its
failure to meet discovery obligations, despite being ordered by the judge to do
so on numerous occasions.
And the defense argued that the state's conclusion and explanations as to why
the lost evidence - "including evidence of law enforcement officers tampering
with the alleged crime scene" - was not the fault of the district attorney's
office were not supported by "any citation of any factual source (and) blame as
to which specific government agency may be at fault is irrelevant."
(source: Savannah Now)
**************
Judge says DA can't use some statements Guy Heinze Jr. made to police
A Superior Court judge has thrown out some of the statements that accused mass
murderer Guy Heinze Jr. made to police in the hours after they found 6 people
dead and 2 critically wounded in the mobile home where he lived.
In a 42-page order in which he excluded that evidence, Judge Stephen G.
Scarlett ruled, however, that the blood-stained shorts that Heinze was wearing
may still be used as evidence in his still unscheduled death penalty trial.
It was Heinze who made the frantic 911 call early Aug. 29, 2009, in which he
said his whole family had been killed at their home at New Hope Mobile Home
Park on U.S. 17 north of Brunswick. Heinze's lawyers asked Scarlett to forbid
prosecutors from using four statements at trial that Heinze had made at the
crime scene and later at Glynn County Police headquarters.
In a weeklong hearing in early August, they had argued that police waited far
too long to advise Heinze of his Miranda rights to not talk to police and for
access to a lawyer. Although no one told him he was in custody at the crime
scene, Heinze was not free to leave and should have been read his rights, they
argued.
Scarlett said that statements Heinze made to officer Roderic Nohilly and Sgt.
Keith Stalvey at the crime scene can be used because he agreed to speak with
them and he was not in custody. Also, Stalvey and Nohilly were not concentrated
on Heinze as a suspect at the time, Scarlett wrote in his ruling.
Scarlett did rule out much of what Heinze said to investigator Michael Owens.
Forty minutes into the interview, Heinze asked how much longer he would be
there. Owens' response, "until we get done," was an implied restraint on
Heinze's freedom of movement to the point he should be considered under arrest.
At that point, Heinze should have been advised of his Miranda rights, Scarlett
wrote.
Bloody shorts
It was 100 minutes into the interview that Owens asked Heinze about blood on
his khaki shorts. Heinze responded that "it must have been from his lying next
to one of his victims."
Owens explained that he wanted to take the shorts to ensure that the blood on
them was only that of the victim's and not mixed in with an offender, the
ruling states.
"I don't have a problem with that," Heinze is quoted as saying.
But Scarlett also ruled that taking the shorts as evidence was covered under
the plain view doctrine in that Owens noticed the blood on the shorts when he
first met Heinze.
The order gives little additional indication of the content of the statements
that were on 15 hours of recordings that Scarlett considered.
Scarlett also turned back the defense's challenge to the makeup of the grand
jury that indicted Heinze. The defense argued that certain segments of the
population, especially Hispanics and the so called millennial generation, were
under-represented in the jury pool, but Scarlett said the defense lawyers
failed to show any bias against Heinze.
The order also contains the normal rulings intended to prevent jury bias
including that he not wear shackles or jail clothing in court.
The order also mentions 2 weapons.
Scarlett agreed to a defense motion for a hearing on the competency of Byron
Jimerson, the only survivor inside the trailer should prosecutors call him as a
witness. Byron, who is now 6, recovered from a severe head injury and lives
with his paternal grandmother, Gloria Jimerson.
In addition to Heinze's father, Guy Heinze Sr., 45, those dead in the home were
Russell "Rusty" D. Toler Sr., 44; his children, Russell Toler Jr., 20, Chrissy
Toler, 22, who was Byron's mother, and Michelle Toler, 15; Rusty Toler's sister
Brenda Gail Falagan, 49, and Chrissy Toler's boyfriend, Joseph L. West Jr., 30.
Rosty Toler???s son, Michael Toler, 19, was alive, but died the next day at a
Savannah hospital.
Scarlett will conduct a review hearing on the case Wednesday.
(source: Florida Times-Union)
FLORIDA:
Judge Rules Davis Trial Will Continue----The defense will begin its case
Thursday in the double-murder trial
Defense lawyer Robert Norgard argued Tuesday that the state's evidence against
murder defendant Leon Davis Jr. isn't strong enough for the trial against him
to continue.
"This could have been some kind of hate crime," he told Circuit Judge Donald
Jacobsen, challenging the state's position that Davis is the assailant. "We
simply don't know."
But Jacobsen ruled that the state presented enough evidence for the case to
move forward.
The court will be closed today for Yom Kippur. Defense testimony begins
Thursday.
The state's evidence linking Davis, 34, with the December 2007 shooting deaths
of 2 clerks at the BP station and convenience store near Lake Alfred remains
circumstantial.
The surviving clerk in the store couldn't identify the assailant, and a grainy
security video showed a tall black man dressed in dark clothing. There are no
fingerprints or similar physical evidence placing Davis at the scene.
Prosecutors presented testimony Tuesday from a tire impression expert who said
the tires on Davis' Nissan Altima could have made the tire marks left near the
store. She stopped short of stating conclusively, however, that Davis' car made
the impressions.
Teresa Stubbs, a retired Florida Department of Law Enforcement lab analyst,
testified that in 2008, she analyzed the tires and casts of tire impressions
from the crime scene.
"Any of the tires that I examined could have made those impressions," she said.
The tires on Davis' black Nissan Altima were made in Korea by Nankang, a
manufacturer Stubbs said she hadn't heard of until this case. She said she
didn't know how many tires similar to those on Davis' car might have been on
the road at the time this crime occurred.
Stubbs said several issues affected her analysis. The tire impressions were in
the sand, she said, which contributed to a lack of detail.
"These 4 tires showed very little wear," she said, adding she was not able to
find individual characteristics on the tires, like nicks or gouges, that would
distinguish them from other tires like them.
In earlier testimony in the trial, witnesses said they saw a dark car parked on
a dirt road near the BP station and convenience store, located on State Road
557 just south of Interstate 4. The car was backed into the area and none of
the witnesses saw a license tag.
Authorities said the attack at the BP station occurred about 9 p.m., as the
store was closing.
After the attack, police dogs tracked a scent from the store to the site where
the car had been parked, prosecutors said.
Davis has never given a public statement about his whereabouts that night.
Pravinkumar Patel, 33, and Dashrath Patel, 51, were changing the lettering on
the store's marquee when they were gunned down.
Both were shot in the head, with the gun's muzzle against their skin, according
to trial testimony.
A 3rd clerk, Prakashkumar Patel, had just closed the store and locked the front
door when a gunman tried to open it. Patel, who was behind the counter, wasn't
injured when the gunman fired on him.
Davis is charged with 2 counts of 1st-degree murder and 1 count each of
attempted armed robbery, attempted murder and possession of a firearm by a
convicted felon.
If Davis is convicted of the murders, prosecutors are seeking the death
penalty.
Davis, 34, is already on Florida's death row for fatally burning Yvonne
Bustamante, 26, and Juanita "Jane" Luciano, 23, during the robbery of a Lake
Wales insurance agency where they worked a week after the BP attacks.
He was sentenced to life imprisonment for the death of Luciano's newborn son,
who was delivered prematurely the night of the attacks and died 3 days later.
Authorities determined the same gun was used in both crimes.
(source: The Ledger)
ALABAMA:
Prosecutors were surprised by opposition to death penalty for Amy Bishop,
attorney says she's 'inclined to suicide'
There are 6 inmates on death row that Madison County District Attorney Rob
Broussard prosecuted and he continues to think Amy Bishop should have been the
7th.
Instead, Bishop was sentenced to life in prison without parole Monday after
being allowed to enter a guilty plea Sept. 11. The guilty plea still required a
jury to hear the case and a short trial Monday led to her conviction after less
than 25 minutes.
Why didn't Bishop get the death penalty for one of the most notorious crimes in
the history of Huntsville?
In an interview with The Times today, Broussard explained what led to the
sudden end of a case that was expected to produce a 4-week trial.
Broussard, who has been district attorney since 2009, said the prosecution was
heading to trial with the death penalty on the table, but just over 2 weeks ago
they learned a family member of one of the victims had written Circuit Judge
Alan Mann a letter, asking him to remove the possibility of a death sentence
for Bishop.
Bishop's court-appointed lawyers Roy Miller, Barry Abston and Robert Tuten said
they had worked hard to find out how the victims families felt about the death
penalty in the case, hoping it might help save Bishop's life.
"We found out they were leaning heavily toward life without, but we had to work
it to the Nth degree, to the last moment," Miller said. "We went to see Rob
Broussard to see what he wanted to do. He said it was one of the most horrible
things he'd ever seen and they were going to for the death penalty.
"Then they found out one of the victim's families was strongly inclined toward
life without parole."
The DA's office was surprised by the letter. Prosecutors had previously met
with the families and were told they opposed the death penalty but would let
the process play out in court, Broussard said.
Attorneys for both sides declined to say who wrote the letter, but Broussard
said its existence made a case in which it would be difficult to secure a death
conviction even more problematic.
"Our overriding principle is that victims don't get to choose what we do," he
said. "But out of basic human decency, they lost the most in the case, faced
the most personal loss, so that certainly factors into it."
Another complicating factor was the defense had a copy of the letter and if
Bishop was convicted of capital murder it would have almost certainly been
introduced during the penalty phase of the case while the 2 sides tried to
persuade the jury on life without parole or death for Bishop.
Broussard said the weighing process in deciding to pursue the death penalty
includes several factors: the nature of the crime, the defendant and the
evidence. He said the Bishop case meets those criteria, but added every other
death penalty case he's pursued had "intense family input in favor" of capital
punishment.
"In the absence of families adamantly in favor of the death penalty, the entire
group was ambivalent about it," Broussard said. "Two of them - one a survivor,
one a victim's family - were keenly opposed. That cast it in a different
light."
The defense attorneys said the evidence of Bishop's mental illness was likely
not enough to get her acquitted based on an insanity defense but would have
been tough to overcome by the argument she deserved the death penalty.
Broussard said the obligation of his office is to seek justice and the sentence
for Bishop, who has no prospect of ever being released from prison, meets that
standard.
"We avoided probably a very small chance of the mental health defense working
and they avoided a small chance of her getting the death penalty," Broussard
said. "On an emotional level, does Amy Bishop deserve the death penalty? She
does, there's no doubt in my mind. For what she did and the way she did it. But
I'm satisfied with the result."
But Miller said it then took some persuading to get Bishop, a mother of 4, to
go along. Miller said she was despondent about the crime and dreaded the
prospect of spending the rest of her life in Tutwiler Prison for Women in
Wetumpka. Miller said the defense asked her parents, who live in Massachusetts,
to persuade Bishop to accept the plea deal.
"She flip-flopped, back and forth," Miller said. "She was inclined for the
death penalty rather than go for life without. She said she'd rather die than
stay in a chicken coop in Wetumpka.
"She's inclined to suicide in my opinion. She thinks she's ruined all these
lives and that would be the quickest way for her kids to forge ahead with their
lives."
Bishop entered a guilty plea Sept. 11 for capital murder in the killing of 2 or
more people. She also pleaded guilty to attempted murder.
During a Feb. 12, 2010 shooting rampage during a faculty meeting on the UAH
campus, Bishop shot Gopi Podila, the biology department chair, Stephanie
Monticciolo, a department assistant, and professors Adriel Johnson, Maria
Ragland Davis, Luis Cruz-Vera and Joseph Leahy.
Podila, Johnson and Davis were killed, Leahy and Monticciolo were seriously
injured and Cruz-Vera was slightly injured.
In her nearly 2-hour interview with police after the shooting, Bishop
repeatedly denied the incident occurred, Huntsville Police Department
investigator Charlie Gray testified Monday. During the abbreviated trial -
required under Alabama law in guilty pleas for capital murder - Bishop put her
head down on the table when a series of bloody crime scene photos were
projected in the courtroom.
Miller said Bishop - who prosecutors said was angry and had an ax to grind
after being denied tenure at UAH in 2009 - is mentally ill.
"The more I'm involved in it, the more fascinating this case is," Miller said.
"We will never know what is truly wrong with her, but she clearly has a very
serious mental condition that is triggered off sometimes."
Broussard doesn't believe Bishop's mental illness led to the UAH shooting. He
said that while Bishop expressed confusion about the shootings during the
police interview, comparing it to being in the film "The Matrix," a taped jail
phone conversation she had with her husband, Jim Anderson, showed a different
side.
On the call, which Broussard described, Bishop is reportedly heard telling
Anderson not to use household money to hire an attorney, and that she'll get a
court-appointed attorney. She also advised Anderson, Broussard said, not to let
her parents pay for the attorney and to use the money she and Anderson had
saved for their children's education.
Broussard said that later in the call Anderson tells her he would not ever
forget seeing Bishop - who had called him to pick her up after the shooting -
placed into a police car near the Shelby Center.
"She tells him, 'I didn't see you anywhere,'" Broussard said.
Bishop still faces a murder charge in Norfolk County, Mass., for the 1986
shotgun shooting death of her brother Seth, when she was 21. The shooting was
initially ruled an accident, but after she was arrested in the UAH shooting the
case was reopened and she was indicted for capital murder.
A public defender from Massachusetts was able to meet with her for about 20
minutes Tuesday at the Madison County Jail, Miller said, before she was
transported to Tutwiler.
David Traub, a spokesman for the Norfolk County District Attorney's Office,
said they expected to have an announcement by the end of the week on the
Massachusetts case.
Massachusetts does not impose the death penalty.
(source: The Huntsville Times)
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