June 24 MISSOURI: Law & Order: Jury rejects death penalty for killer A jury in St. Louis County Circuit Court on Thursday night rejected the death penalty and recommended that Kenneth Sisak should spend the rest of his life in prison without parole or probation for shooting Stephanie Faint at a crack house in Pine Lawn 3 years ago. Judge David Lee Vincent III set sentencing for Aug. 5 at 9 a.m. On Wednesday night, the jury had convicted Sisak, 47, of St. Louis, of 1st-degree murder in the death of Faint, 35. The jury also convicted Sisak of 2nd-degree murder in the shooting of Woodrow Deshay, 54, a drug dealer who owned the house where the shootings took place on March 12, 2002. And jurors also convicted Sisak of assault, robbery and weapons violations. Those accusations were uncontested. In the penalty phase of the trial, defense attorney Bevy Beimdiek called 15 witnesses including the defendant's t2daughters and his mother, friends and former co-workers. They painted a different picture of the defendant from the crack-addicted man who killed 2 people and wounded a 3rd after an argument about drugs. The witnesses said Sisak was an expert at anything mechanical and often used his skill to help others. Rev. Michael Martin and his wife, Marla, said Sisak helped them turn a dilapidated storefront in south St. Louis into the Church of the Living God. Prosecutor Ed McSweeney called Allen Faint, Stephanie's husband. He testified that her addiction to drugs had strained the family bonds but she was loved nonetheless. McSweeney also cited Sisak's prior convictions for drug possession. In his closing argument, McSweeney said Sisak had killed Faint to eliminate a witness and deserved the death penalty. Beimdiek said a life sentence without the possibility of parole meant only that Sisak would "die on God's time rather than the government's time." (source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch) FLORIDA: Justices limit felony-murder law but uphold Panhandle conviction A sharply split Florida Supreme Court limited use of the state's felony-murder law in certain cases Thursday while upholding, despite several trial errors, a man's convictions and death sentences for killing an Air Force woman and her baby. Florida's felony-murder statute allows a first-degree murder conviction - and possible death sentence - if a victim dies in the course of another crime specified by law, such as arson, rape and robbery, even if the death was unintended. A 4-3 majority ruled that aggravated child abuse cannot be used to obtain a felony-murder conviction if a single act, such as a gunshot or one thrust of a knife, caused the death and the underlying crime. The justices, however, divided 5-2 in upholding the conviction of Lamar Brooks, 32, of Chester, Pa., for the 1996 stabbing deaths of Senior Airman Rachel Carlson, 23, of Aloha, Ore., and her 3-month-old daughter, Alexis Stuart, in Crestview. The unsigned main opinion and 2 partly concurring and dissenting opinions totaled 80 pages and cited up to 5 errors in the 2002 trial. "None of the errors committed were fundamental, none went to the heart of the case, and ... the jury would have still heard extensive and substantial evidence in support of Brooks' guilt," the main opinion stated. Each justice agreed with at least part of the main opinion although only Justices Peggy Quince and Raoul Cantero concurred entirely. The case stemmed from Brooks' second trial. He initially had been convicted and sentenced to death for both murders in 1998, but the Florida Supreme Court ordered a new trial because secondhand, or hearsay, evidence had been presented to the 1st jury. The result was the same. Carlson, a hospital technician at Eglin Air Force Base, was stabbed more than 65 times. The baby died from a single stab wound and then her body was mutilated. The bodies were found in Carlson's car on a Crestview street. Brooks' cousin, Walker Davis, 34, originally from Marion, S.C., was separately convicted of 1st-degree murder and is serving life without parole. Davis, then also a senior airman at Eglin, erroneously thought Alexis was his child and wanted the baby killed to collect on a $100,000 life insurance policy, prosecutors said. A witness testified Davis offered Brooks, an Army veteran of the 1st Persian Gulf War, $10,000 to commit the killings. To help justify Brooks' death sentence for the baby's murder, Circuit Judge Jere Tolton mistakenly found she also had been a victim of aggravated child abuse, the high court ruled, but the justices concluded other aggravating circumstances were sufficient to uphold the sentence. The state also should have been barred from using the felony-murder doctrine to obtain a 1st-degree murder conviction, the 4-3 majority held. The state, however, had argued that both killings also were premeditated, another cause for 1st-degree murder. The 2 crimes had "merged" into one because both were the result of a single stab, justices wrote in the main opinion. Chief Justice Barbara Pariente and Justice Harry Lee Anstead agreed with that view, but she wrote that they would have reversed the convictions because the state had introduced the insurance policy without proving Brooks knew anything about it. Justices R. Fred Lewis, Charles Wells and Kenneth Bell dissented from the felony-murder ruling but agreed to uphold the convictions and sentences. Lewis wrote that lawmakers intended aggravated child abuse as an underlying crime regardless of whether it was from the same act that caused the death. He suggested the Legislature should "determine if its intent has now been frustrated and whether any modifications are appropriate." (source: Associated Press) OHIO: Richeys attorneys to file motions to get him off death row An attorney for Kenneth Richey said he would file motions today in state and federal court asking judges to release his client from death row. Boston attorney Ken Parsigian is upset the state has not released Richey, allowing him to be moved to the Putnam County jail while that countys prosecutor decides what to do with the case. Parsigian sent a letter Wednesday night along with the order from a federal judge saying Richey should be retried or released within 90 days to Warden Margaret Bradshaw of Mansfield Correctional Institution, the prison that houses death row. State prison spokeswoman Andrea Dean said the prison would not release Richey based on a letter from his attorney. She said Richey will not be released until prison officials have a court order in hand. Parsigian said the order issued at the beginning of the month by U.S. District Judge Patricia Gaughan is clear. Ohio law requires Richeys release based on the order that tossed his conviction. The fact the ruling is from a federal court is no different than a state court, he said. Parsigian plans to file a motion in Richland County Common Pleas Court in Mansfield where the prison is located. He also will file another motion with Gaughan asking her to issue an additional order for Richeys release to the jail. Richeys conviction for a 1986 apartment fire in Columbus Grove that killed 2-year-old Cyn-thia Collins was tossed in January by the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. That court ruled Richey did not receive adequate representation at trial and that the charge of aggravated murder, as the law read in 1986, did not apply. The court said prosecutors needed to show Richey killed the person he intended to kill in order to be convicted of capital murder. Without a conviction against Richey he should not be held on death row, Parsigian said. In the eyes of the law, Richey is innocent until proven guilty and an innocent person is not kept on death row, he said. Meanwhile, Putnam County Prosecutor Gary Lammers said he would announce Thursday whether he plans to retry the case or allow Richey to be set free. His decision will come on the 19th anniversary of the fatal fire that put Richey on death row. (source: Lima News) PENNSYLVANIA: Judge: Prison, not death penalty, for Chambers----Convicted killer dodges death row for 3rd time Since his 1987 conviction for beating an elderly bag lady to death with an ax handle, Karl Chambers has twice had his death sentences overturned by appeals courts. Yesterday, a York County judge ruled in favor of defense attorneys, who argued Chambers' life should be spared because he is mentally retarded. Common Pleas Judge John S. Kennedy then sentenced Chambers, 41, to life in prison without the possibility of parole. A 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Atkins v. Virginia, bars the executions of mentally retarded people. In that case, the high court ruled executing the convicted killer violated his constitutional protection against cruel and unusual punishment. District Attorney Stan Rebert -- who has been the lead prosecutor from the initial trial through all its appeals -- said he's disappointed in the ruling. He said Kennedy made it clear he doesn't agree with the Supreme Court's "Atkins" decision, but is bound to uphold it. "It's frustrating to go through this. It's been 20 years since it happened, and I was hoping to see it through," Rebert said. "I've slept with this case from day one. It was horrendous -- he brutally murdered this 80-pound, 70-year-old woman and took her money. Her facial bones were literally (turned to) powder from the beating." Rebert said Chambers knew enough to follow Anna Mae Morris, watch her pay for groceries and wait until she was in an abandoned area before attacking her. "If he's smart enough to do that, he's smart enough to die," the DA said, although he conceded he believes Chambers is "right on the line" of mental retardation. Rebert said he takes "some solace" in the fact that Chambers has no chance of parole. Twice escaped death: Chambers was convicted in 1987 of first-degree murder for killing Morris, whose nude body was found under a bridge along the Codorus Creek in February 1986. The jury sentenced him to death, but an appeals court vacated that sentence, stating that Rebert "overstepped the bounds of oratorical flair" by quoting the Bible during the sentencing phase of the trial. The appeals court ordered that Chambers receive a new penalty-phase hearing. In 1994, a different York County jury also sentenced Chambers to death, but he successfully appealed a second time, arguing procedural errors. That set the stage for a 3rd penalty-phase hearing. But Chambers' attorneys argued such a hearing should not even take place, because their client is mentally retarded. This week, Kennedy presided over a hearing to resolve the issue. Because Kennedy agreed with the defense, there will be no third penalty hearing. Instead, Chambers will be sent back to state prison for the rest of his life. On Monday, Philadelphia defense attorney William Hangley presented a doctor who said he believes Chambers is retarded. On Tuesday, Rebert's medical expert, Dr. Frank Dattilio, said that while Chambers has a low IQ, he is not retarded. "His (testing) scores indicate that he's functioning on the borderline range of intelligence," Dattilio testified. Hangley, his lead defense attorney, could not be reached for comment this morning. (source: The York Dispatch) TENNESSEE: Prosecutors Seek Death Penalty in Death of 2 Year Old A Tri-Cities man accused of killing his girlfriend's baby is scheduled to be in a Sullivan County Courtroom today. Shawn Anthony Mullins is charged with First Degree Murder, Aggravated Child Abuse and Aggravated Child Neglect in the death of 2 year old Christopher David Smith on March 30th. Court officials say today they plan to assign Mullins co-council and set a new hearing date. Prosecutors say they will seek the death penalty. (source: Bristol Herald Courier)
