June 6 GEORGIA: Death row inmate dies in cell Georgia death row inmate Johnny Lamar Wade died in his cell Tuesday morning, state prison officials said. Wade, 51, was sentenced to death in 1987 for beating and strangling to death a 13-year-old boy in Newton County. Wade was on parole at the time of the murder. Wade had throat cancer and died of natural causes, according to Georgia Department of Corrections spokesman Paul Czachowski. Georgia now has 104 men on death row at the state prison in Jackson and one woman on death row at the state prison in southeast Atlanta. (source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution) NEW JERSEY: New Jersey Court Voids Death Penalty Conviction The New Jersey Supreme Court on Tuesday vacated the murder conviction and death sentence of a Pennsylvania man imprisoned since 1994. The court ruled that the trial judge and 2 lawyers who represented the man had failed to pursue the potential bias of a juror. Despite what it said was "overwhelming evidence of guilt" in the case of the man, Donald Loftin, the court said this failure by the judge and the lawyers so tainted the conviction that it ordered a new trial. Mr. Loftin, 41, who is black, was found guilty in the 1992 murder of Gary Marsh, a Lawrenceville, N.J., gas station attendant. He was sentenced to death and has been on death row ever since. "Denying an accused the right to an impartial jury is to deprive him of the very essence of a fair trial and therefore is not susceptible to a harmless error analysis," Associate Justice Barry T. Albin wrote. The events that gave rise to the ruling center on a white juror, a postal worker who told 2 black co-workers that he was ready to "go to the hardware store and buy a rope to hang this man with." The workers reported the conversation to the presiding judge, Paulette Sapp-Peterson. When the judge met privately with the juror and the lawyers, the juror admitted making the comment, but said it was a joke aimed at his colleagues, who he said considered him biased, according to the ruling. Judge Sapp-Peterson, over the defense lawyer's objections, returned the juror to the jury box, and when deliberations began the judge made him an alternate. The Supreme Court ruled that the juror should have immediately been disqualified because of the comments and because of the possibility of his sharing his views with other jurors. The court faulted Mr. Loftin's lawyers for not raising the issue in two previous unsuccessful appeals. Whether the case will be tried a second time remained a question. Joseph L. Bocchini Jr., the Mercer County prosecutor, described the ruling as "upsetting to put it mildly." He said his office would ask the court to reconsider its ruling on unspecified grounds. At least four justices, however, would have to agree to reconsider the case. The ruling was 6-1. David B. Glazer, Mr. Loftin's lawyer in the successful appeal, said that although he was "gratified" by the ruling, it would not have a significant effect on his client, who is also serving time for the murder of an Atlantic City hotel chambermaid. Mr. Glazer said, "But for this conviction he would not have been on death row all this time." (source: New York Times) MISSOURI: Missouri appears eager to resume executions in wake of ruling For nearly 2 years, Missouris execution chamber at Bonne Terre has sat quiet. Now that a federal appeals court has lifted a moratorium on executions in the state, that may soon change. What was less certain Tuesday was how the decision will affect the 36 other states that use lethal injection. Those who follow the death penalty offered mixed assessments on the impact of the Missouri ruling. Missouri officials appear eager to restart the execution process in the wake of Mondays ruling by a 3-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the state's 3-drug procedure is not cruel and unusual punishment. Gov. Matt Blunt said he was directing the Department of Corrections "to prepare execution procedures in compliance with the ruling." Meanwhile, Attorney General Jay Nixon, responsible for asking the state Supreme Court to set execution dates, was moving quickly. "This office will be moving forward to facilitate the process in a timely manner now that this legal roadblock has been cleared and will be determining which inmates' cases have progressed to the point where an execution date can be requested," said John Fougere, a spokesman for Nixon. High on that list will likely be Michael Taylor, who kidnapped a teenage girl from a Kansas City school bus stop in 1989 and killed her. His case prompted U.S. District Judge Fernando Gaitan Jr. last year to place a moratorium on Missouri executions, citing concerns the procedure could cause undue suffering for the inmate. The 8th Circuit reversed Gaitan's ruling. Judge David R. Hansen wrote there was not "one scintilla of evidence" of suffering among any of Missouri's 6 most recently executed inmates. Taylor's attorney, Ginger Anders, said she will ask the full 8th Circuit to review the case and go to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary. The appeals panel's ruling focused solely on the protocol, not the performance of duties in executing inmates, Anders noted. "We still do not know whether the personnel who will perform executions under the new procedures are competent or adequately trained but we do know that the state has proven that it cannot be trusted to employ competent, reliable executioners," Anders said. Injection has been the preferred method since the death penalty was renewed in the U.S. in the 1970s, and has been used in more than 900 executions nationwide. Of the 38 states that have the death penalty, only Nebraska uses another method electrocution. The lethal injection debate centers on how 3 drugs are administered in succession. If the initial anesthetic does not take hold, a 3rd drug that stops a condemned prisoners heart can cause excruciating pain, it has been argued. But the inmate would not be able to communicate the pain because of a 2nd drug that paralyzes him. Missouri was 1 of 9 states that had placed executions on hold while courts weighed the merits of the 3-drug protocol. In California, a federal judge ruled in December that the states lethal injection procedures were cruel and unusual punishment. A moratorium began there in February 2006, with more than 650 people awaiting execution. In Ohio, death penalty opponents last month sought a halt to executions after prison staff stuck Christopher Newton at least 10 times with needles to find a suitable vein on the condemned mans arm. In Florida, Gov. Jeb Bush halted executions in December after the lethal injection of Angel Nieves Diaz took 34 minutes and required a rare second dose of chemicals. Sara Tofte of Human Rights Watch called Monday's ruling "incredibly disappointing." "It certainly will send a message to some states that they can go ahead and execute inmates," Tofte said. But Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, doubted the ruling would open the floodgates in other states. "In each of these states there are special things that make each one a little different," Dieter said. "I think the issue is going to go up to the Supreme Court." The last execution in Missouri occurred on Oct. 26, 2005, when convicted killer Marlin Gray was put to death. He was the 67th man executed since Missouri renewed the death penalty in 1989. Both Taylor and his accomplice in the killing of 15-year-old Ann Harrison, Roderick Nunley, have been on death row 16 years. 5 inmates have been awaiting execution for more than 20 years. The longest-serving of the 46 condemned prisoners, all men, is Elroy Preston, on death row since 1982 for killing a St. Louis couple. Beth Riggert, a spokeswoman for the state Supreme Court, said it was impossible to predict when the next execution could occur. Corrections Department spokesman Brian Hauswirth said the execution procedure has been revised. The biggest change is the removal of Jefferson City surgeon Alan Doerhoff, the dyslexic doctor who previously oversaw administration of the lethal chemicals. The state has been unable to find another doctor willing to participate. Hauswirth would say only that the Corrections Department "will have appropriate medical personnel" for the procedure. (source: The Rolla Daily News) USA: Make death penalty fit the crime The United States is virtually alone among advanced democracies in permitting capital punishment. But widespread ambivalence about imposing the ultimate penalty has produced a minor industry of litigation that has had the effect of postponing executions for years and even decades. This state of affairs, which frustrates supporters and opponents of capital punishment, exists though the death penalty has been imposed for more than a generation only in murder cases. Imagine how clogged the courts would become if states were allowed to execute individuals for other crimes. That scenario has arisen with a decision by the Louisiana Supreme Court. In upholding a death sentence for Patrick Kennedy, who raped his 8-year-old stepdaughter and then told her to implicate someone else, the majority noted that the U.S. Supreme Court "has characterized rape as a crime second only to homicide in the harm that it causes." That observation came in a decision that invalidated the death sentence of a convicted rapist. But the Louisiana court held out the hope that the current U.S. Supreme Court would regard this case differently. Unfortunately, it's not an idle hope. In a 1977 ruling, only four justices signed an opinion saying that capital punishment for rape was always unconstitutional. Justice Lewis Powell voted to vacate the sentence on the narrower rationale that "death is disproportionate punishment for the crime of raping an adult woman," leaving open the possibility that rape of a child might qualify as a capital crime. A majority of the current court might be willing to seize on the distinction Powell drew by upholding the death penalty for Kennedy. And the justices might be influenced by the argument that Louisiana's law, which capitalizes the crime of aggravated rape of a child under 12, reflects "evolving standards of decency." As the Louisiana court noted, 4 states have followed Louisiana's lead. Texas will join the list if, as expected, the governor signs a bill recently approved by the Legislature. The rape of a child is an unspeakable crime. In its decision, the Louisiana court wrote that "short of first-degree murder, we can think of no other non-homicide crime more deserving" of the death penalty. But imaginative state legislators might easily discover other offenses worthy of the ultimate punishment: terrorism, major drug dealing (a capital offense under federal law) or violent hate crimes. Capital punishment has proved dysfunctional and divisive as a sanction for murder. The U.S. Supreme Court shouldn't compound the error and increase its own workload by allowing states to execute criminals who do not take a human life. (source: Editorial, Los Angeles Times) ********************* Cracking Down on "Murderabilia" A form letter from Martha Stewart, written on her trademark Living stationery and sent to supporters during her prison stay, sells for $25. An envelope hand-addressed by jailed Panamanian General Manuel Noriega is $350. Both are for sale on "true crime" Internet sites. But beyond the odd curiosity of a prison thank-you note from America's housekeeping guru and an innocuous envelope from a fallen dictator lies the online shopping world of macabre, shocking and soul-chilling prison collectibles magazine fashion ads defaced with satanic symbols and stained with the bodily fluids of a campus shooter, a sketch of a headless victim drawn by a death row murderer, even fingernail clippings and foot scrapings from a serial killer. When Charles Lindbergh's baby was kidnapped 75 years ago, it was dubbed the "crime of the century." A look back at the 25 most notorious crimes that have also vied for that title "Odd is good. Odd and rare is really good," says Tod Bohannon, who operates murderauction.com out of his Georgia home. But Bohannon, who describes his passion for prison memorabilia as a "hobby," is concerned that a proposed federal law could shut him down. The bill, filed in late May by Republican Senator John Cornyn, takes aim at the trade by forbidding prisoners from using the U.S. Postal Service to deliver or receive items for profit. The bill has been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee, where it is likely to face criticism from civil-liberties groups and support from victims' rights advocates. Dubbed "murderabilia" by Andy Kahan, director of the Houston-based Mayor's Crime Victims Office, the sale of what many consider grotesque items is already banned in five states Texas, California, New Jersey, Michigan and Utah thanks in great part to Kahan's lobbying efforts. In 2001, Kahan also successfully pressured eBay.com to drop "murderabilia" listings. But since much of the selling happens on websites operated beyond the five states, the legislation has had limited effect on Internet sales. There are 5 major U.S. dealers of murderabilia, according to Kahan, operating out of Georgia, Arkansas, Montana, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. The dealers operate using the eBay model: sellers post their offerings and collectors bid. Some items come from the prisoners, their families, or even attorneys; other sellers simply write to notorious prisoners and ask for letters, personal items or artwork. Kahan alerts authorities to online sales, even buying up items to take them out of circulation, but he says that dealers are hard to pin down. "It's like trying to exterminate cockroaches they move from one site to another." Murderauction.com's Bohannon, whose passion for his true-crime hobby began as a teenager hanging out at the county jail with his deputy sheriff father, uses a U.K. server to host his site since he claims Kahan has intimidated his U.S.-based hosts, warning them that they could face civil litigation. The top-dollar "stars" of the sites are Charles Manson, serving life in prison for murder, and the late John Wayne Gacy, the serial killer executed in 1994. Manson's prison art gets three- and four-figure prices; even his prison flip-flops are for sale. On daisyseven.com whose logo proclaims "Where Crime Pays. Every Day" a license plate from Gacy's snow plow is up for $1,700, a Gacy rosary for $3,000. Daisyseven claims that no criminals receive financial gain from any sale, but the money trail can be difficult to track if prisoners use go-betweens like attorneys or family members. In most states, prisoners are prohibited from operating businesses from behind bars rules aimed at drug dealers and organized crime but they can have funds deposited in commissary accounts to purchase snacks, drinks and newspaper subscriptions. In Texas, with 153,000 inmates in the penal system, it is impossible to screen every piece of mail, says Michelle Lyons, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, and mail to and from attorneys and the media is privileged. Random screening does catch some illegal activity, which can be punished with the loss of privileges and more prison time. When prison authorities found out the so-called "Railway Killer" Angel Maturino Resendiz was selling his fingernail clippings from prison, prior to his execution in June 2006, his mail was flagged, but not before the items made it out into the marketplace. Despite the prison prohibition forbidding for-profit sale of artwork, many of the pieces sold by Ed Mead on his prisonart.org web site come from Texas, many of them panos or "handkerchief" art, a medium favored by Latino prisoners in the Southwest who do intricate ink drawings on squares of ripped sheets and other material. Mead makes copies of the works, scans and posts them on his website, charging a small commission fee if they sell. He says he rejects any art that he considers racist, sexist or homophobic and does not sell pieces by notorious killers. Recently, he refused artwork from Christopher Scarver, whose claim to fame is killing Jeffrey Dahmer. Operating out of San Francisco, Mead, who served 18 years in Washington State for crimes committed in the '70s as a member of the revolutionary group George Jackson Brigade, is now a prison-reform activist. He says art gives prisoners a sense of themselves, raises their self-esteem and keeps them busy. Cornyn's bill, he adds, "is an attempt to pass another 'Son of Sam' law," referring to the 1971 New York state law aimed at blocking potential book profits for notorious criminals like "Son of Sam" killer David Berkowitz. The U.S. Supreme Court overturned the law in 1987, finding it overly broad and in violation of the First Amendment free speech rights. The proposed federal "murderabilia" law takes a different approach by targeting prisoners' involvement in interstate or foreign commerce, and it applies to all prisoners, state or federal, levying fines and a minimum three-year penalty for breaking the law. "The [new] bill does cause some concerns," says Marv Johnson, legal counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union in Washington, D.C. "It's a bit too broad and does raise some First Amendment issues by affecting protected activity." Even if the bill does pass, the trade will continue, Bohannon insists: "If they shut it down, they will force it underground." Mead agrees, and notes that despite rules at California's maximum security Pelican Bay prison limiting prisoners' access to artist materials, art flourishes; prisoners scrape the colors from magazine ads and use manila envelopes as canvases. Donny Johnson, a well-known Pelican Bay artist, dissolves M&M candy for his colors and uses a paintbrush made from his own hair. But most notorious prison art, Kahan says, only inspires more pain and horror for the victims. In April, Denise Johnson and Victoria Snider, whose husband and sister, respectively, were killed in 2002 by the Beltway Sniper, Lee Boyd Malvo, were shocked when they learned that his sketch of Osama bin Laden was for sale on murderauction.com. The starting bid was $399, but so far the Canadian seller nicknamed "Redrum" murder spelled backwards has yet to sell the crudely drawn portrait. "It would be worthless without Malvo's name on it," Kahan says. "It is profit from ill-gotten notoriety." (source: TIME Magazine) DELAWARE----new death sentence Del. Gives Cooke Death Penalty in Murder of UD Student A man who raped and strangled a University of Delaware student 2 years ago before torching her apartment in an attempt to destroy evidence was sentenced to death Wednesday. New Castle County Superior Court Judge Jerome O. Herlihy followed a jury's unanimous recommendation that 36-year-old James E. Cooke Jr. should be executed for killing Lindsey M. Bonistall. The jury convicted Cooke in March of first-degree murder, arson, rape, burglary and reckless endangering in the death of Bonistall, whose body was found covered with charred debris in the bathtub of her Newark apartment. Bonistall, who was white, was a 20-year-old sophomore from White Plains, N.Y., majoring in English and journalism at the University of Delaware. Cooke, who is black, had used a marker to write "KKK," "White Power" and other phrases on the walls of the apartment where Bonistall lived. Cooke, who has a lengthy criminal history and had turned to stealing by age 10, also made a 911 call before his arrest in which he suggested Bonistall's death was part of a drug war involving white supremacists. During his trial, Cooke was periodically banished from the courtroom after frequent outbursts, including one incident in which he had to be wrestled to the floor. Acknowledging that evidence, including DNA from semen in Bonistall's body and found under her fingernails, pointed to Cooke's guilt, defense attorneys had asked that Cooke be found guilty but mentally ill. (source: WBOC TV News)
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----GA., N.J., MO., USA, DEL.
Rick Halperin Wed, 6 Jun 2007 17:08:03 -0500 (Central Daylight Time)