March 29 ALABAMA: Prosecutors allege Rudolph, activist link Federal prosecutors preparing to try Eric Rudolph in a fatal abortion clinic blast want to show jurors that the serial bombing suspect had ties to a Tennessee church led by an anti-abortion activist. Rudolph could face the death penalty if convicted in the 1998 Birmingham bombing, which killed an off-duty police officer and critically injured a nurse. In court papers filed during the weekend, prosecutors said Rudolph's "expressed anti-abortion views and his association with anti-abortion activists will clearly help set the stage for the crime, give it context, and will help the jury understand the reasons" for it. The defense objects to the evidence as irrelevant and as a violation of Rudolph's First Amendment rights. The defense also is trying to limit evidence about Rudolph's "negative views about the government, African-Americans, Jews and homosexuals," according to the government. Prosecutors claim such attitudes were "inextricably linked" to Rudolph's views against abortion. A hearing on the proposed evidence was set Tuesday in Huntsville. Preliminary jury selection for Rudolph's trial is set for April 6. Opening statements may not begin until early June. Rudolph also is accused of setting the bomb that killed a woman during the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 and bombings in metro Atlanta in 1997, including one that targeted a gay nightclub. He was captured in 2003 after more than 5 years on the run. Prosecutors indicated they want to introduce testimony about Rudolph's association with a fundamentalist church in Benton, Tenn., led by Dr. John Grady, an early activist against abortion in Florida. In a telephone interview Monday, Grady, 74, told The Associated Press he did not recall Rudolph ever visiting his small congregation, "but that certainly doesn't mean he didn't." The congregation, which he described as Catholic, lacks a full-time priest, and Grady said he serves as a lay leader. Grady, who has written a booklet offered for sale by anti-abortion groups, said he is "very much opposed to abortion" and called it the "crime of the century." But implying that his beliefs could fuel Rudolph to bomb an abortion clinic is "really stretching it," he said. Grady said he does not expect to testify in Rudolph's trial. Separately, prosecutors suggested Rudolph may have financed the bombing by growing marijuana around his home in western North Carolina. (source: Associated Press) CONNECTICUT: Connecticut's Death Penalty on lawmakers agenda---Should Connecticut's death penalty be repealed?---Should there even be a vote on the issue? A vote in the state house is scheduled for tomorrow but late this afternoon many state reps said they don't want to move forward on the issue. There hasn't been full scale debate in the General Assembly on Connecticut's death penalty law for several years. As of this hour the death penalty debate in the full House of Representatives is scheduled to begin sometime early tomorrow afternoon but democrats emerged from a closed door caucus meeting late this afternoon, sharply divided on whether a debate should even be conducted. The proposal would not only repeal the state's death penalty, it would commute serial killer Michael Ross and the other killers on death row to life in prison without possibility of parole. "We are leaning towards doing the bill tomorrow (but) quite frankly there were twenty-nine members that weren't present. Majority Leader Donovan and I are going to contact them before the end of the evening." Every vote count of the House of Representatives has concluded that the death penalty repeal bill has absolutely no chance of passing so some members say, why bother. But, even Governor Jodi Rell, who opposes repeal and says she'll veto the bill even if it did pass, thinks having a formal debate on the issue would be a good thing. "I do believe that having a debate on the death penalty is probably important to many members, some of these people have never been there before, have not heard this debate. It will be good for them to listen," says Rell. There are approximately fifteen democrats and fifteen republican state reps who were not here the last time this issue was formally debated. Representative Jim Shapiro is one of them. "I believe we should have this debate. I'm in favor of the death penalty. I'm against repealing it," says Shapiro. And because of the Michael Ross case, it's believed many of the newer members share his view. "You wish that you lived in a world where this weren't necessary, but for these ultimate crimes, like Michael Ross committed, there is the ultimate penalty, and I think that's important." If they do move forward tomorrow, some estimates say there are less than 50 votes in favor of repeal among democrats, less than 10 among Republicans. The debate would probably go for several hours. (source: WTNH News) *************************** Failure predicted for death penalty repeal A bill that would abolish the state's death penalty may have won its last vote Monday, when the Appropriations Committee approved it 28 to 21 in a vote that ran largely along party lines. It heads to the floor of the House, where advocates of the bill expect it to fail overwhelmingly on Wednesday. But for Kim Harrison, Capitol lobbyist for the Connecticut Conference of the United Church of Christ, 2 positive committee votes this year is a sign of progress. "Lawmakers opposed to the death penalty think the debate really needs to begin," Harrison told reporters. "You just can't have the death penalty as a matter of public policy." Indeed, she said, this year's bill will be the 1st time legislation appears as a previously approved committee bill, not an amendment offered on the floor. "For the first time, this is a real, serious debate," Harrison said after an unusual meeting of the Appropriations Committee in the Capitol. Committee meetings are usually held in the Legislative Office Building. She said that the plan to debate the vote in the House on Wednesday might have resulted in more support among Appropriations Committee members. Large Democratic majorities in the House and Senate ensure proportional Democratic leverage in the committees that approved the repeal of capital punishment. Some committee members, like Rep. Terry Backer, D-Stratford, voted for the bill Monday just to get it to the floor of the House, where he plans to vote against it. "Something of this magnitude should not be decided in a committee," Backer said after the Monday vote. "It should be decided by the full body, but as of today I'll probably vote against this bill Wednesday." If the bill is approved, Gov. M. Jodi Rell promised to veto the legislation, which gained more prominence this year as serial killer Michael Ross drew closer to his date with the executioner. Ross is scheduled to die May 11. "If we're lucky, we'll get 50 to 55 votes in the House to repeal it," Rep. Michael P. Lawlor, D-East Haven, co-chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said after Monday's committee vote. "I think both the House and Senate want a thorough debate on the death penalty." Lawlor said that if the bill had failed Monday, he would have brought the issue up, again, as an amendment before the House of Representatives. The Appropriations Committee approved the legislation with little debate on executing inmates, but the panel was assigned to look at whether the repeal would result in net savings for the state. Advocates of repeal say it costs more to impose the death penalty than it does to keep someone in prison for life because the state absorbs the cost to adjudicate the cases and the cost to house inmates on death row. The nonpartisan Office of Fiscal Analysis estimated that the state could save about a $1 million a year if the death penalty were abolished. The cost of keeping a prisoner at Northern Correctional Institution in Somers is about $65,000 a year, compared with $35,000 in other state prisons. Sen. David J. Cappiello, R-Danbury, ranking member of the committee, offered an amendment to adjust state budgets by $1 million, but majority Democrats said it's too early in the budgeting process and they defeated the amendment. (source: Connecticut Post) ******************** Michael Ross Execution - Death Row Syndrome Bombshell 'The New Criminologist' can reveal that the latest legal bombshell to be dropped in the case of serial sex killer and death row inmate Michael Ross, could lead to massive repercussions for the US Supreme Court. "Death Row Syndrome," a phrase recently adopted by Ross' defence team and applied to their client's present mental condition may result in severe ramifications for not just the Supreme Court, but the application of the death penalty across the country. If Ross and his attorneys pull this one off, then death row inmates across the United States will be breathing a sigh of relief, and it could bring about a second moratorium against the ultimate sentence making the death penalty unconstitutional. Ross was examined last week by 4 psychiatrists in his bid to proceedv with his execution. New London Superior Court Judge Patrick Clifford had ruled in December that the murderer was mentally competent, basing his conclusions on the report of a state psychiatrist. A second competency hearing is scheduled to be held next month, and the judge will hear reports from four independent medical experts, 2 of which have been recruited by special counsel for Ross, Thomas Groark. Judge Clifford, and all the attorneys involved in the case, are most keen to avoid a replay of January's attempted execution, which immediately halted Ross' execution by lethal injection, amidst serious questions regarding his competency. Michael Ross was convicted of the gruesome killings of 4 young women and girls in eastern Connecticut in the early 1980s. It is known that he is responsible for the rape and strangulation of at least 4 others. During Michael Ross' supposed final days, there were many leading headlines caused by a sudden storm of legal activity. His counsel and those wishing him to remain alive repeatedly attempted to persuade numerous judges that the sexual killer did not have the mental capacity necessary to appreciate the severity of the consequences of making a decision to forego all his appeals. This intriguing question, of whether a person is mentally competent or otherwise, is a difficult one to answer. It is, however, a debate frequently heard in courtrooms throughout the United States. In a most unusual element to this case, Ross' lawyers argued that their client had been suffering from "Death Row Syndrome." The term was applied to his specific condition last year to when Ross elected to forgo appeals that may have delayed his execution. So what exactly is Death Row Syndrome? The actual term was coined as "Death Row Phenomenon," in the extradition hearings of a German citizen named Jens Soering. Soering was arrested and charged with murders he was alleged to have committed whilst in the US in 1985. Held for the offences in England, in 1989 he stood before the European Court of Human Rights, and argued that the conditions he would be forced to endure while awaiting execution, which he labelled the "Death Row Phenomenon," constituted what was essentially inhumane and degrading treatment. He stated that the extensive interval between sentencing and execution, and the damaging psychological experiences he had to endure throughout the period was intolerable, and with severely limited freedom, excessively reduced contact with other inmates, and always under the approaching cloud of impending execution, were elements of the "phenomenon" that would make the term of incarceration as psychically damaging as a similar period of torture. As it transpired, the court agreed. Though the term is still rather vaguely defined, Ross' legal team have utilised it, amending slightly but still allowing for its reference to "the dehumanising effects of living for a prolonged period on death row." The term is recognized legally, but is not clinically encompassed. Neither Death Row Syndrome nor Death Row phenomenon are to be found in any medical handbook, such as the highly regarded 'Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders'. The American Psychiatric Association, to whom this handbook is attributable, have not incorporated either term into their sphere. Attorneys on both sides fully expect a competency hearing in early April. Ross is scheduled to die on 11 May. Christopher Berry-Dee, co-publisher/co-editor of 'The New Criminologist', spent years corresponding with Michael Ross, before interviewing him on camera, Monday, 26 September 1994. "Ross had been on Death Row since July 1987, and he was not showing any signs of Death Row Syndrome when he gave a lucid, somewhat cynical account of his life and crimes to me," says Chris. "Now his time is almost up, this twisted sexual psychopath deals a convincing card. He may be an evil serial killer but he is probably more sane than the shrinks who are assessing his state of mind." (source: The New Criminologist (UK) ) MISSISSIPPI: U.S. Supreme Court turns down appeal from Miss. death row inmate The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal from death row inmate Earl Wesley Berry that he is mentally retarded and that his lawyer didn't do a good job. The nation's high court, without comment Monday, declined to hear Berry's post-conviction claims. Inmates use post-conviction petitions to try to convince a judge that new evidence has surfaced in their case that warrants a new trial. The Mississippi Supreme Court last July had denied Berry's post-conviction appeal, saying he raised no new issues on which he could win a new trial. Berry has other appeal avenues available. Berry was convicted and sentenced to death in the Nov. 19, 1987 killing of Mary Bounds. Bounds was beaten to death after leaving her weekly church choir practice, authorities said. Bounds' body was found just off a Chickasaw County road near Houston. Berry admitted to the killing, and the confession was used against him at trial. In his post-conviction petition, Berry said his attorney failed to move the trial from Chickasaw County. The Mississippi Supreme Court said Berry tried, in some instances, to take issues rejected on his 1st appeal and disguise them as ineffective counsel. He also said some of what Berry was arguing fell under the category of defense strategy. The Mississippi court said Berry's claims of being mentally retarded failed because at his trial, there was expert testimony that Berry was competent to be executed and that he had never been diagnosed, treated or institutionalized for mental problems before he killed Bounds. (source: Associated Press) OHIO: Death Row Inmate Takes Appeal To Supreme Court----Prosecutors Could Not Make Case Lawyers for a convicted killer appealed to the Ohio Supreme Court Tuesday in an effort to get him off death row, NBC 4's Nancy Burton reported. Prosecutors could not make their case to the Supreme Court because the proper paperwork was not filed in time in January, Burton reported. Gregory McKnight, 28, was convicted and sentenced to death in 2002 for the Vinton County murders of Kenyon College student Emily Murray and Greg Julious, of Chillicothe. The 20-year-olds disappeared in 2000, and their remains were found on McKnight's property near the southern Ohio village of Ray. McKnight's lawyers claim that the trial was riddled with 30 errors. They said that there was no evidence linking McKnight to the slayings and that race was an issue in the trial, Burton reported. McKnight's trial gained national attention when the judge originally threw out the possibility of the death penalty because, he said, it would be too expensive. He later overturned that ruling. Murray's parents put in a request to the judge asking that McKnight spend his life in prison because their daughter opposed the death penalty. Vinton County Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey Simmons said he respected Murray's family's wishes but said the law called for the death sentence because of the circumstances of the case. A Supreme Court decision is expected within the next 5 months. (source: NBC News)
