Nov. 30 NEW YORK: Death penalty limbo----State should remove unworkable and unjust law from the books If Virginia had followed through with plans to execute convicted murderer Robin Lovitt today, he would have become the 1,000th person to be executed since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. On Tuesday, his sentence was commuted to life in prison. New York, thankfully, has done nothing to help the country reach this grisly milestone. The Court of Appeals struck down the state's death penalty statute last year before anyone was executed. When the state Legislature returns, it should take capital punishment off the books and leave it off. Supporters of the death penalty point out that the murder rate has dropped since capital punishment was readopted in New York in 1995. But crime has dropped in states without a death penalty as well. In nearly all industrialized, democratized countries, the death penalty has been outlawed, and many of these nations have murder rates much lower than ours. These two facts cast serious doubt on capital punishment's effectiveness as a deterrent. And lawmakers shouldn't continue to look past the fact that people of color and people who can't afford expensive legal counsel are much more likely to be sentenced to die in the American justice system. The number of death row inmates nationwide whose convictions have recently been proven invalid by DNA tests is reason enough to rethink capital punishment. New York's death penalty law was declared unconstitutional because it discourages defendants from seeking a jury trial. Public hearings on a rewritten statute were held last year, but legislators haven't made any significant steps toward fixing the law. Lawmakers ought to be more decisive. (source: Democrat & Chronicle) ******************** Gov calls for death penalty As outrage over the slaying of Officer Dillon Stewart grew yesterday, Gov. Pataki vowed to try to revive the state's death penalty so cop killers could face the ultimate punishment. "When a police officer is killed in the line of duty by someone who murders them while committing a crime, the death penalty is an appropriate remedy," he said. Union chief Patrick Lynch, president of the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, called accused cop killer Allan Cameron a "mutt." "If this [case] does not call for the death penalty as a deterrent, none ever has!" Lynch said to applause from cops after Cameron's arraignment. "When you attack one police officer, you attack all of us." The state's death penalty has been bottled up in the Assembly since 2004, when the state's highest court ruled that the law's sentencing guidelines were unconstitutional. And while the state Senate has approved legislation aimed at making the law constitutional, aides to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) said yesterday he has no plans to let his members vote on the legislative fix. "We would not be moving forward with it now," said Skip Carrier, a spokesman for Silver. Carrier noted that Silver supported the death penalty in the past. But the history of the state's law - no one was executed during its 9 years on the books - and the availability of life without parole had changed the debate, he said. (source: New York Daily News) MARYLAND: Clemency and justice The state intends to execute Wesley Eugene Baker in a week's time. Cardinal William H. Keeler's visit with the 47-year-old convicted murderer on Maryland's death row has conveyed in a powerful way how little time is left to convince a court or the governor to halt the execution. The cardinal opposes the death penalty because of his faith. But as a citizen of Maryland, he and others recognize that the state's capital punishment system remains suspect. It has been criticized in an exhaustive study by a University of Maryland researcher. Neither a court nor Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. has fully evaluated the 2003 study's claims and determined the credibility of the system. Absent such a finding, the public has ample reason to question the law's integrity. Maryland isn't the only state in which doubts have been raised about the implementation of the death penalty. Virginia, California and Texas are the most recent examples, with the latter reacting to shocking new reports that an innocent man was executed in 1993. The controversy in Maryland emanates from a state-commissioned analysis by Raymond Paternoster that found racial and geographic bias in the death penalty system. The study concluded that defendants who kill white people are more likely to be charged with capital murder and sentenced to death than are murderers whose victims are not white. The study also found that prosecutors in some counties, notably Baltimore County, were more likely to seek the death penalty than their counterparts in other areas of the state. The Baker case fits two of Paternoster's indicators: He is a black defendant convicted of killing a white grandmother in a Baltimore County parking lot. The Ehrlich administration has ignored the Paternoster study for the most part, choosing instead to review each death row case for possible clemency. Cardinal Keeler has appealed to Mr. Ehrlich to spare Wesley Baker's life and exercise mercy by converting his death sentence to life without parole. The circumstances of Jane Tyson's 1991 murder were certainly brutal, but the execution of Baker, born as a result of the rape of a 12-year-old girl, should give the governor pause for another reason. A runaway who had been neglected and abused, Baker had repeated encounters with the juvenile justice system that Mr. Ehrlich is intent on reforming. His attorneys argue that Baker's trial lawyers failed to adequately present the awful circumstances of his young life during sentencing, as required by a recent Supreme Court ruling in another Maryland case. In reviewing the Baker case, Mr. Ehrlich should consider the words of another Republican governor, Theodore McKeldin, who, when faced with the same decision, said in 1959: "No one can be sure exactly what justice is, but I do know what mercy is. When it comes to determining the fate of a human being, I would rather err on the side of mercy than to mistake justice." (source: Opinion, The Baltimore Sun) ************* Scheduled Execution Of Md. Killer Assailed In Media Campaign Death Penalty Foes Pressure Ehrlich Death penalty opponents launched a public relations campaign yesterday aimed at pressuring Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. to halt the execution of a condemned inmate scheduled to die by injection next week. Beginning this morning, radio spots on six stations in Maryland and Washington will call attention to the planned execution of Wesley E. Baker, 47, which would be the state's second since 1998, and to a study that the advertisement says "found that the death penalty is biased against black people." "But that didn't matter to Bob Ehrlich and [lieutenant governor] Michael Steele," the ad says. "So, after Dec. 5, they are planning to kill Wesley Baker, a black man." Although Baker's attorneys continue to seek relief from the courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, only the governor has the power to commute his sentence. A spokesman for Ehrlich (R) said the governor is reviewing Baker's motion for clemency and had not made a decision. Baker's sentence was stayed three years ago to give state-sponsored researchers time to complete an analysis of inequalities in the application of the state's death penalty law. The researchers found that prosecutors were far more likely to seek the death penalty for black suspects charged with killing white victims, as Baker was in Baltimore County in 1991. The study, commissioned by Gov. Parris N. Glendening (D) in 2000, fueled efforts to impose a moratorium on executions and to push anti-death penalty measures in legislature, none of which passed. Steele, who has described the study's findings as "personally troubling," pledged during the 2002 gubernatorial campaign to study the issue. A spokesman for Steele's current campaign, for the U.S. Senate, said yesterday that Steele is studying the issue and that he expects to report to the governor "in the near future." Both Ehrlich's spokesman, Henry Fawell, and Steele's spokesman, Leonardo Alcivar, said Steele and Ehrlich have discussed the Baker case privately. In addition to the radio spots, Maryland Citizens Against State Executions will run an advertisement in Baltimore's Afro-American newspaper saying Baker's sentence should be commuted to life without the possibility of parole. The advertisement accuses Steele of failing to live up to his pledge and says moving ahead with the execution would "ignore our community's very legitimate concerns." "It is not only unfair and unjust to impose the death penalty in Maryland, it's racist," state Sen. Lisa A. Gladden (D-Baltimore) said at a news conference in Annapolis yesterday. Six of the seven men on Maryland's death row are black, and all but one of their victims were white. "Even though we go through many checks and balances, the system does not work," Del. Darryl A. Kelley (D-Prince George's) said. Baker was convicted in 1992 of murdering Jane Tyson, 49, during a robbery in the parking lot of a Catonsville mall. According to trial testimony, Baker approached Tyson and her two grandchildren, pressed a gun to the left side of her head and squeezed the trigger. He was within days of his scheduled execution in 2002 when Glendening stayed the sentence to allow completion of the death penalty study. University of Maryland professor Raymond Paternoster, in announcing the findings of the study, said the explanation for the disparities rested with state's attorneys, not juries, although he was careful not to impugn the prosecutors' motives. He said his analysis does not mean that "there is racial animus" among prosecutors but rather that "the product of their action does result in racial disparity." (source: Washington Post) ********************** Death penalty foes target Steele in ad campaign to sway Ehrlich Death penalty opponents hoping to win clemency for a convicted killer scheduled to be executed next week unveiled an advertising campaign yesterday aimed at pressuring not only Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. but also Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele, a longtime opponent of capital punishment. The ad campaign calls on Ehrlich and Steele to halt next week's scheduled execution of Wesley Eugene Baker and commute his sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The drive came as Virginia's governor spared a convicted killer who would have been the 1,000th person executed since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. The Maryland radio and print ads, which mention a study that found racial and geographic disparities in the state's application of the death penalty, urge people to call the governor's office. Although the decision on whether clemency should be extended lies solely with the governor, the group included Steele in its campaign because he has voiced his objection to the death penalty and is the governor's No. 2 man, anti-death penalty activists involved with the ad campaign said yesterday. "He is Catholic. He was a seminarian. So he is probably an ardent opponent of the death penalty. We would also hope that he can convince the governor," said state Sen. Lisa A. Gladden, a Baltimore Democrat. "We're really relying on the lieutenant governor to help us with the governor. I'm keeping my fingers crossed." Steele, who is running for the U.S. Senate, said yesterday that he has spoken to Ehrlich about the Baker case, but he reiterated that the governor has the final word on the matter. "I respect his office and his decision," Steele said yesterday, speaking to reporters after the presentation of a business loan to a Baltimore restaurant. "The process has not changed. These issues were brought to the governor and I shared with him my views. And I believe he understands my perspective." Steele would not elaborate on his discussions with Ehrlich. And as some asked yesterday what had become of Steele's promise to examine the use of the death penalty in Maryland, the lieutenant governor said that he has conducted interviews with advocates for victims' families and with members of anti-death penalty groups and will deliver a memo to Ehrlich in January detailing his findings. Several religious leaders, including Cardinal William H. Keeler, the archbishop of Baltimore, have called for Ehrlich to commute Baker's death sentence. Keeler met Monday with Baker on death row and, along with the state's other top Catholic leaders, signed a letter asking that Ehrlich spare Baker. Ehrlich said yesterday that he understood the cardinal's position and had taken his letter under advisement. But he gave no indication that he was prepared to intervene to stop the execution. In the Virginia case, Gov. Mark Warner commuted the death sentence of a man who stabbed another to death with a pair of scissors during a pool hall robbery. In reducing the penalty to life in prison without parole, Warner noted that evidence had been improperly destroyed, depriving the defense of the opportunity to subject it to the latest DNA testing. In Ohio, a man who strangled his mother-in-law and suffocated his 5-year-old stepdaughter was executed yesterday, the 999th person put to death since 1976. The Virginia governor's action means that the 1,000th execution could occur Friday in North Carolina, where a man is scheduled to be put to death for killing his estranged wife and her father. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is weighing the case of Stanley Tookie Williams, co-founder of the Crips gang and a 4-time murderer who has become an anti-gang crusader and Nobel Peace Prize nominee. Williams is scheduled to be executed Dec. 13. In Maryland, Baker, 47, is scheduled to be executed by injection the week of Dec. 5 for the killing of Jane Tyson, a 49-year-old teacher's aide who was shot in the head and robbed of her purse in front of 2 of her grandchildren outside Westview Mall in Baltimore County on June 6, 1991. He would be the first African-American executed since a University of Maryland study found racial and geographic disparities in the state's administration of the death penalty. Lawyers for Baker continue to mount legal challenges to have his death sentence overturned. Among their petitions is a request that the Supreme Court review Maryland courts' denials of Baker's appeals based on the death penalty study. Gladden, a Baltimore public defender and state senator who has sponsored failed legislation to repeal the death penalty, said there are too many questions about the use of capital punishment in the state and across the country to proceed with executions. "It is not only unfair and unjust to impose the death penalty in the state of Maryland," she said at a news conference outside the State House, "it is racist." Paid for by Maryland Citizens Against State Executions, the $11,000 ad campaign consists of a 60 second radio spot that will air mornings this week on stations in the Baltimore and Washington area that attract African-American listeners, and a print ad scheduled to run tomorrow in the Afro-American newspaper. In the radio ads, a female voice announces that her mother and her minister taught her about right and wrong, about respect and responsibility. "They taught me thou shall not kill, no matter who does the killing," the woman says in the ad. "When Bob Ehrlich and Michael Steele took office, there was a moratorium on the death penalty in Maryland because a study found that the death penalty is biased against black people," she continues. "But that didn't matter to Bob Ehrlich and Michael Steele." The newspaper ad includes a letter to Ehrlich and Steele signed by state legislators, civil rights activists and religious leaders. To Steele, the group wrote, "You promised to address the problems and review our state's system of capital punishment. But years have passed and you have not done it. And you rejected efforts from the General Assembly to work with you." In January 2003, after release of the University of Maryland study's, Steele said he would push for another study to determine why statistics indicated that blacks who kill whites disproportionately end up on death row. Ehrlich then instructed Steele, the first African-American elected to statewide office in Maryland, to interview prosecutors, defense attorneys and others as a 1st step to deciding whether to seek further study of apparent racial and jurisdictional disparities in the use of the death penalty. Steele said yesterday that he has met with advocates for victims' families and groups such as Amnesty International and the American Civil Liberties Union. "I really spent some time talking to individuals privately," said Steele, who added that he is concerned not only about racial disparities in the administration of the death penalty but also about issues of class and geography. "I will present a memorandum to the governor in a few weeks and we will go from there." Jane Henderson, executive director of Maryland CASE, the group running the ads, said that Steele's concern about those issues makes him an appropriate target of the campaign. "We're of course being strategic in who we're going to," she said. "He's the second-in-command. He has the governor's ear. "We decided it was important to call on both of them and let both of them know that people care about this." (source: Baltimore Sun) NORTH CAROLINA----impending (1000th) execution 1,000th inmate to be executed since 1977 can't recall crime The North Carolina death row inmate set to become the 1,000th person executed since capital punishment was reinstated in the U.S. said Wednesday he does not remember much about killing his estranged wife and her father, but does not feel his crime deserves a death sentence. "I don't like the idea of being picked as a number," Kenneth Lee Boyd told The Associated Press in a prison interview. "I feel like I should be in prison for the rest of my life." The state plans to put Boyd to death at 2 a.m. Friday. The 57-year-old's execution moved into the international spotlight Tuesday, when Virginia Gov. Mark Warner granted clemency to Robin Lovitt, who was scheduled to be the 1,000th inmate executed since capital punishment resumed in 1977. Boyd's only hope to avoid execution rests with federal appeals courts and an application for clemency filed with North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley. A federal district court judge ruled Tuesday that Boyd "has a nearly nonexistent likelihood of success" in his appeals. Easley has granted clemency twice since taking office in 2001, and rejected 2 requests from other death row inmates earlier this month. (source: Associated Press) ******************** Executions traipse on----Controversial practice nears landmark 17 years ago, Kenneth Boyd, a Vietnam veteran, shot and killed his estranged wife, Julie Boyd, and his father-in-law, Thomas Curry. He is scheduled to be executed Friday, which will make him the 5th man to be executed by the state of North Carolina in 2005. Tom Maher, the lawyer who defended Boyd in federal court in 1994, said last week that Boyd would file for a writ of certiorari to ask the N.C. Supreme Court to review the decision of a lower court. Maher said it will be an uphill battle, but they hope the state will listen. The most recent execution in North Carolina was that of Elias Syriani on Nov. 18 for the murder of wife, Teresa Syriani. His case was publicized highly by his 4 adult children, who traveled across North Carolina pleading for clemency for their father. Approaching a landmark More than 1,000 inmates have been sent to North Carolina's death row since 1910, when the power to execute criminals was taken away from local governments and reserved for the state. And the 1,000th execution in the United States since 1976 likely will occur this week. Robin Lovitt, scheduled for execution in Virginia today, was granted a last-minute clemency from Gov. Mark R. Warner. All contemporary executions in North Carolina are carried out by lethal injection, with the use of poison gas having been retired in 1998. Criminals in North Carolina only can be executed on charges of 1st-degree murder. While a majority of Americans support capital punishment, there is growing public concern about some of the issues surrounding the death penalty, experts say. A 2005 Gallup poll found that 64 percent of Americans support the death penalty. But a 2004 poll found that when presented with the alternative of sentencing inmates to life in prison without parole, support for capital punishment dropped to 50 %. "Support is broad but it is not that deep," said Jack Boger, a professor of law at UNC. Experts say that Americans are increasingly uncomfortable about the possibility of executing innocent people. The N.C. Coalition for a Moratorium is fighting to suspend all executions for two years while the state studies and addresses the problems in its administration of the death penalty. David Neal, a spokesman for the coalition, said the group hopes the state will create reforms to administer the death penalty more fairly and reliably. "We've had innocent people on death row and a number of other troubling cases," he said. The group has seen large support for the moratorium, even from supporters of the death penalty, Neal said. The legislation for a moratorium was passed in the Senate in 2003 and was debated heavily in the House during the 2005 session. But supporters have not been able to muster enough votes from House members, and Gov. Mike Easley remains opposed to the idea. Issues of racism in sentencing and the financial cost of administering the death penalty also concern critics of capital punishment. Boger, who worked as a lawyer on a capital punishment case involving race in the 1980s, said race continues to be a factor in sentencing. A study Boger conducted in 2001 showed that a murderer is 3.5 % more likely to be sentenced to death if the victim of the murder is white. It is not an issue of unwarranted sentencing of the death penalty, but more an issue of who gets mercy, he said. The state is more likely to grant pleas and give life sentences to murderers whose victims were not white, he added. Southern mentality Of all the regions in the U.S., the South has by far imposed the death penalty most often. 815 people have been executed in the South since 1976. Texas and Virginia alone have executed 449 people in that period, compared with only 4 people in the Northeast. Polls in North Carolina have shown consistently that the majority supports the death penalty, said Ferrel Guillory, director of the program on Southern Politics, Media and Public Life at UNC. "I think it has a lot to do with culture - a deeply ingrained Old Testament view of the intersection of violence and retribution," he said. He said the trend to support the death penalty comes from the rural heritage, cultural conservatism and a strong law-and-order sentiment in the South. "The South has a lot of contradictory patterns. Very friendly and family oriented and easy-going, and a very violent streak, too," he said. "This is yet another example of one of those patterns." Harry Watson, director of the UNC Center for the Study of the American South, said the region has a history of violence. "Generally speaking, the South is a very violent place," he said, citing slavery, duels and lynching as examples of the South's violent past. "The South has a very violent history, and that shows up in the willingness of contemporary southerners to commit violent crimes, and it also shows up in the willingness of contemporary southerners to punish crimes with violent death." He said certain Southern values, especially the idea of honor, contribute to the Souths acceptance of violence. "People think some offenses are so demeaning that the only proper response is violence," he said. He said that Southerners are more likely to agree that there are some insults that would be disgraceful to ignore, and that this mentality originated in the time of American slavery. An imperfect solution The South certainly is not the only region of the U.S. that still harbors support for capital punishment. 38 states and the federal government allow capital punishment, and Guillory said the U.S. stands out among Western, industrialized nations in still imposing the death penalty. But Americans are starting to become more concerned that the death penalty is prone to mistakes and really does not prevent crime, he said. "I do think that there is some indication that the United States is slowly - grudgingly to some extent - moving away from the death penalty." Maher said that while he is personally against capital punishment, it is vitally important that it be carried out fairly. He said that in Boyd's case jurors might have felt pressured to sentence death without understanding the facts. "The death penalty is complicated and emotional," he said. "It's far from a perfect system." (source: The Daily Tae Heel) *************** Deadly milepost to be set in N.C.----1,000th execution since '76 on Friday North Carolina is set to administer the 1,000th execution in the United States since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty almost 20 years ago. On Tuesday evening, Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner granted clemency to a killer who was scheduled to be executed today. That means North Carolina's execution of Kenneth Lee Boyd, if it proceeds, will be the milestone. Boyd is set to die by lethal injection at 2 a.m. Friday at Raleigh's Central Prison. Boyd, 57, was convicted in the 1988 shootings of his estranged wife, Julie Boyd, and her father, Thomas Dillard Curry, in their Rockingham County home. Prosecutors say Boyd shot his wife 9 times in front of two of his children, pausing to reload. Boyd's chances for a reprieve rest with the federal courts and with Gov. Mike Easley, who is considering clemency. Earlier Tuesday, the N.C. Supreme Court and a federal district court refused to delay Boyd's execution. "It's a disturbing comment on our country that we're ready to execute our thousandth human being," said Boyd's lawyer, Thomas Maher of Chapel Hill. "My hope is that the courts will take this case seriously and the governor will take this case seriously." An Easley spokeswoman, Sherri Johnson, said the governor will treat this case no differently than any other. "The governor gives every clemency case careful and thorough review," Johnson said. Craig Curry, whose sister and father Boyd killed, said the execution should be carried out. "He's responsible for what he did. He needs to be held accountable," Curry said Tuesday from his home in Stoneville in Rockingham County. Buildup to 1,000 In 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the death penalty as unconstitutional, ruling that states meted out the punishment arbitrarily. By 1976, some states had rewritten their death penalty laws to conform with the court's decision. Executions resumed the next year when a Utah firing squad killed Gary Gilmore. Texas leads the nation in executions since then, with 355; North Carolina is seventh, with 38. Boyd is the 3rd and last inmate on North Carolina's death row scheduled for execution within a month's time. Steven Van McHone and Elias Syriani, whose children's pleas for his life won national media attention, died this month. On Tuesday, Warner granted his first death row clemency -- to Robin Lovitt, 42, who was convicted of killing Clayton Dicks in 1999 during a robbery at an Arlington pool hall. Lovitt's hope for exoneration was lost when a court clerk destroyed the murder weapon, scissors that might have borne biological evidence. "The Commonwealth must ensure that every time this ultimate sanction is carried out, it is done fairly," Warner said in a statement. "The actions of an agent of the Commonwealth, in a manner contrary to the express direction of the law, comes at the expense of a defendant facing society's most severe and final sanction." By late Tuesday, North Carolina prison officials had not discussed whether to prepare for a larger-than-usual group of protesters for Boyd's execution. Death penalty opponents stand along Western Boulevard outside the prison on execution nights. "We're not aware of any extraordinary protest, but we would not be surprised," said Keith Acree, a prison system spokesman. Acree said prison officials probably would discuss the matter today. Pleas for mercy Local death penalty opponents expressed disappointment that North Carolina would garner national attention for such an event. "The world is watching. How embarrassing and tragic for North Carolina it would be to execute the 1,000th person in the modern era, especially given the broad support for a temporary suspension of executions," said Stephen Dear, who heads People of Faith Against the Death Penalty. Dear called Boyd's case "emblematic" of problems with the death penalty in North Carolina. Maher had pleaded with the governor to have mercy on his client, whom he described as a soft-spoken, hardworking Vietnam veteran with no prior criminal history. Maher said Boyd had been drinking and was struggling with the failure of his marriage when the murder occurred. Maher had filed last-minute appeals based on juror misconduct and bias. For example, one juror mistakenly believed a death sentence was automatic if Boyd was found guilty of premeditated murder, Maher said. That juror now regrets agreeing to sentence Boyd to death, Maher said. State prosecutors argued that Boyd's execution should not be delayed because of the unproven allegations, some of which Boyd's lawyers learned about years ago but didn't raise until the last minute. "The evidence of Boyd's guilt was overwhelming. The evidence showed that Boyd announced his intention to kill his wife, then did so and killed her father in the process," Special Deputy Attorney General Danielle Marquis wrote in a court filing Monday. (source: News & Observer) ****************** First meeting of N.C. death penalty committee set for Dec. 19 A House study committee created last month to recommend changes to North Carolina's death penalty system will meet for the 1st time December 19th. The 20-member House Select Study Committee on Capital Punishment will study issues related to the "accuracy and fairness" of North Carolina's death penalty. The panel also will examine prosecutorial misconduct, whether race plays too great a role in capital cases, and whether any innocent people may be on death row. The panels recommendations will be considered by the General Assembly when it reconvenes in May. (source: Associated Press) FLORIDA----2 execution dates set Executions set for January Gov. Jeb Bush signed death warrants Tuesday for a man who fatally shot a Pensacola police officer and a carpenter who killed an elderly woman who refused to pay him. Clarence Edward Hill, 47, is scheduled to be executed at 6 p.m. on Jan. 24. Arthur D. Rutherford, 56, is scheduled to be executed at 6 p.m. on Jan. 31. Hill shot and killed Officer Stephen Taylor during a bank robbery in 1982. Taylor had tried to stop Hill's 19-year-old accomplice from fleeing the bank with a bag of money. Stella Salamon hired Rutherford in 1985 to install sliding glass doors in her Santa Rosa County home. She paid him for the work, but asked him to return later to correct a problem with the doors. Rutherford killed Salamon when she refused to write him a 2nd check, and stole her purse. Her body was found submerged in a bathtub. (source: Associated Press)
