March 4 NEVADA: Nevada panel OK's bill to stop execution of minors 2 days after the U.S. Supreme Court banned the execution of killers who were under 18 when they committed their crimes, an Assembly panel voted Thursday to bring Nevada into line with that decision. "Whether you agree with the Supreme Court decision or not, it's now the law of the land. There's not much to debate," Assembly Majority Leader Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, said in moving for Judiciary Committee approval of AB6. The bill now goes to the Assembly floor. Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas, introduced AB6 - the third time she sought to ban executions of juveniles. Her earlier bills passed the Democrat-controlled Assembly twice, but never made it out of the Republican-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee. In arguing last month for the bill, Giunchigliani said biological evidence proves that teenagers don't have the same reasoning abilities as adults, and so they shouldn't be sentenced to death for crimes committed before they turn 18. Her AB6 would raise the minimum age for capital charges from 16 to 18. The Supreme Court's 5-4 decision on Tuesday, holding such executions to be cruel and unusual punishment, affects Nevada and 18 other states and throws out death sentences of about 70 juvenile murderers. That includes Michael Domingues, sentenced to die for a double murder in Las Vegas. Domingues is one of just three juvenile offenders ever placed on Nevada's death row. The state's last execution of a juvenile offender was in 1949. The state Supreme Court rejected his appeal and the U.S. Supreme Court had declined to review his claim that executing those under age 18 violates an international treaty. Domingues was convicted of the Oct. 22, 1993, murders of Arjin Chanel Pechpho, 24, and her 4-year-old son, Jonathan Smith, at their home in Las Vegas. Domingues, who was 16 at the time, lived next door. Prosecutors said Domingues, in what began as an attempt to steal a car, forced his way into the home, strangled Pechpho and fatally stabbed her 4-year-old son after trying unsuccessfully to electrocute him. (source: Associated Press) VIRGINIA: No ruling on sniper's execution In a highly unusual development, the Virginia Supreme Court let a second session end yesterday without deciding whether to allow the execution of John Allen Muhammad. The high court heard arguments in the case in November, and it typically issues an opinion at the end of its next weeklong session of oral arguments. The 1st session ended Jan. 14 with no opinion, and no opinion was handed down yesterday, when the court issued opinions at the end of this week's session. The delay may indicate difficulty in resolving 2 legal issues that took up much of the arguments in November. Prosecutors acknowledged that they could not prove that Muhammad shot and killed Dean Harold Meyers at a gas station near Manassas on Oct. 9, 2002. Meyers was one of 10 people killed and 3 wounded by a sniper in October 2002 between Ashland and Washington's Maryland suburbs. In fact, testimony in the Meyers case indicated that Muhammad's companion in the shootings, Lee Boyd Malvo, fired the high-velocity Bushmaster rifle that killed Meyers. Virginia law generally permits the death penalty only for the one who actually killed the victim, the so-called triggerman rule. Prosecutors contended that Muhammad and Malvo worked so closely together that both could be convicted of capital murder, despite the rule. Muhammad also was sentenced to death on the theory that the killing was an act of terrorism. In an exception to the triggerman rule, state law allows the death penalty for a defendant who directs or orders an act of terrorism that results in death or serious injury. The conviction of Muhammad was the 1st under that law, which the General Assembly adopted after Sept. 11. (source: Richmond Times-Dispatch) NORTH CAROLINA: Nicholson execution to proceed Defense attorneys lost their bid to have a convicted double murderer's death sentence overturned based on North Carolina's mental retardation law. Judge Frank Brown ruled Thursday that 39-year-old Abner Nicholson's mental capacity does not fall under the legal classification of retarded. Brown's ruling keeps Nicholson on death row for the 1997 shooting deaths of his wife, Gloria, and Sharpsburg Police Chief Wayne Hathaway. "It's hard to explain, like a sigh of relief," said Hathaway's sister, Monica Worsham. "We're all happy. "When they had jury selection, I prayed for God's will. When they came back with a verdict, I prayed for God's will. And this time, I just prayed for God's will." Nearly 8 years ago, Hathaway was answering a domestic dispute call at the Nicholson home in Sharpsburg when he was shot in the head at close range. Witnesses said the chief didn't get a chance to say anything to Nicholson before he was mortally wounded. Witnesses said Nicholson then shot and killed his wife. During the trial in 1999, Nicholson's attorneys claimed he fired at Gloria Nicholson and Hathaway in self-defense. But the defendant took the stand and denied he shot anyone, saying the police framed him. The jury convicted Nicholson of 2 counts of 1st-degree murder, and he was sentenced to death. But after his conviction, the General Assembly in 2001 passed a new law prohibiting the state from executing mentally retarded defendants. In October 2004, defense attorneys Jim Maxwell and Nora Hargrove argued that Nicholson's mental capacity fell into the state's legally retarded range. The law requires a death-row defendant to satisfy three requirements before the death sentence can be vacated. First, the inmate's IQ must be below 70. Second, the defendant must have significant limited abilities in at least two of 10 adaptive skills, such as communication, self-direction and academics. Third, the limited abilities must have manifested themselves before age 18. During the October hearing, a defense psychologist testified that Nicholson's IQ at age 32 was 66, and that he had "probably been this way since birth." Assistant District Attorney Bill Wolfe questioned the psychologist's testimony, arguing to the judge that there was no credible evidence that Nicholson was retarded before 18. Worsham said that although her family has passed a huge hurdle, they're being cautious, especially considering that the ruling could have gone against them. "It's really hard to know that he took my brother's life, and if he had gotten off death row, there wouldn't have been any justice," she said. "But we know we're always going to be fighting the system." (source: Rocky Mount Telegram)
