Feb. 17 MISSOURI: Circuit Court Judges To Hear Appeal Of Death Row Inmate A 3-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments in April surrounding the death penalty case of a Kansas City man. The execution of Michael Taylor of Kansas City has been delayed until a high court decides on April 18 whether or not to continue with the death penalty of Taylor, one of two men from Kansas City accused of the 1989 kidnapping, rape and murder of a 15-year-old Kansas City teenager, Ann Harrison, from a school bus stop. Taylor and co-defendant, Roderick Nunley, both were sentenced to death by a court for the gruesome death of the young girl. Taylor, 39, was slated to be executed February 1 at the Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre, Mo., but last minute appeals by the Kansas City man's lawyers were granted in order for judges to decide if the method of executing convicted death penalty inmates in the state of Missouri causes cruel and harsh pain. Missouris method of execution is through lethal injection. At issue is whether or not a 2-day hearing prior to the scheduled February 1 execution date for Taylor by U.S. District Judge Fernando Gaitan of Kansas City allowed Taylor's lawyers adequate time to defend him. Jeff Stigall, the attorney who represented Ann Harrison's family, told THE CALL in an interview earlier this month that he was disappointed about the high court's decision to delay what he believes should have been carried out. "It has been 17 years now, (Taylor) has certainly received a lot more due process than he and Nunley gave that little girl. Comparing someone who had laid down on a gurney after being tranquilized, given sedatives and basically being put to sleep like you are in an operation and comparing that with what (Taylor) put that girl through, I don't have a lot of sympathy for that," Stigall said. While Taylor awaits his faith, the same can be said for Nunley, who has yet to receive an execution date but still must face charges surrounding a 1st degree assault case against a case worker inside the prison. (source: Kansas City Call) ARKANSAS: Lt. Governor Candidate Opposes Death Penalty A candidate for Arkansas lieutenant governor says he's opposed to the death penalty. Drew Pritt of Warren is one of four Democrats seeking that party's lieutenant governor nomination. Pritt says Arkansas can't ensure fairness and accuracy in assessing the death penalty, so it shouldn't be used. He recommended an immediate moratorium on executions until the state can "provide 100 % accuracy in any capital case." The Arkansas lieutenant governor's office plays no role in the criminal justice system in the state, unless its occupant is filling in for an absent governor. Pritt's remarks followed a declaration last week by fellow candidate Tim Wooldridge of Paragould that he regretted introducing a bill 11 years ago calling for public hangings on courthouse lawns. Others seeking the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor are Jay Martin of North Little Rock and former state Representative Mike Hathorn of Huntsville. (source: KTHV) KANSAS: Author speaks out against death penalty Scott Turow has struggled to develop his own philosophy about whether the death penalty is justifiable. The well-known author of legal thrillers and lawyer from the Chicago area has worked as both a prosecutor and an appellate defender of 2 men on death row. But not until former Illinois Gov. George Ryan instituted the nations 1st moratorium on state executions in January 2000 and later appointed Turow to a 14-person commission to study the states capital punishment system did he clarify his views. "The real question is, 'Are we ever going to construct a legal system that reaches the right cases without also reaching the wrong cases?'" Turow asked. "My conclusion was no. We're never going to construct that system." The author of "Presumed Innocent" spoke to about 175 people Thursday evening in Woodruff Auditorium of the Kansas Union as part of the Hall Center's Humanities Lecture Series. Turow quoted statistics in arguing against what capital punishment proponents often cite, including the death penalty as a deterrent, saving money for the state and stopping a murderer from repeat offenses. But the most imposing argument for the death penalty, he said, comes from those who demand a death sentence as a moral statement. The system does not work that way, he said. With 122 people legally exonerated from a death sentence since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, Turow argued that most horrible murder cases tend to inspire a sense of anxiety for investigators and others involved, including jurors. He called it a paradox. "A horrible crime turns the burden of proof against the innocent," he said. During his study of the issue, Turow also said he reviewed several 1st-degree murder cases, and only some ended with death sentences. "See if you can find the guiding sense of reason to see who was sentenced to death and who was not," he said. No one in Kansas has been executed since the death penalty was reinstated in 1994, and the Kansas Supreme Court declared that law unconstitutional in December 2004. Kansas Atty. Gen. Phill Kline has appealed that decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. "I don't know how anybody in Kansas is ever going to get the death penalty if the BTK killer is not going to get it," Turow said. Dennis Rader, the Wichita serial killer who nicknamed himself BTK for bind, torture and kill, was not eligible for the death penalty because of when his murders occurred. Turow will participate in a free public question-and-answer session from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. today in the Hall Center Conference Hall. (source: Lawrence Journal World) LOUISIANA----new death sentence----female Woman gets death sentence for retired minister's killing In Shreveport, a woman has been sentenced to death for helping her boyfriend kill a retired minister. A state district court jury returned the sentence late Thursday against Brandy Holmes, 26, who was convicted of 1st-degree murder in the slaying of Julian Brandon. Brandon, 70, was shot and stabbed to death after he answered a knock on the door of his Blanchard residence. His wife, Alice Brandon, survived a gunshot wound but never fully recovered. They were found Jan. 5, 2003, four days after the attack. In February 2005, Robert Coleman, 36, of Tylertown, Miss., was convicted of 1st-degree murder in the case and sentenced to death. During closing statements, Holmes stood and faced the jury as defense attorney David McClatchey argued for the alternative sentence _ life in prison without parole. "I know she has done some of the most horrible things that you can think of, but I'm begging you for mercy to spare Brandy's life," he said. "She's not like some puppy you get for Christmas that's defective and you throw it away." McClatchey said Holmes is brain damaged and mentally ill, resulting from fetal alcohol syndrome. Her mother, Brenda Bruce, testified that she consumed alcohol during her entire pregnancy with Holmes and her daughter was named after her favorite drink. Bruce said Holmes was a special education dropout who was kidnapped and beaten at age 10 and raped at age 12. Holmes used drugs and alcohol, joined a gang at age 13 and was involved in a drive-by shooting, the prosecution said. A criminologist linked the pistol used to kill Brandon with the slaying of Terrance Blaze, whose body was found after the attack on the Brandons was discovered. Holmes has been indicted, but not tried for that death. Holmes becomes the 2nd woman in Louisiana to await execution. Former New Orleans police officer Antoinette Frank is on death row for the murders of 3 people during the robbery of a restaurant where she was a security officers. One of the victims was a fellow police officer. (source: Associated Press) PENNSYLVANIA: Gov. Rendell signs execution warrant for double murderer Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell earlier this week signed an execution warrant for Michael B. Singley, convicted in a 1998 double murder in Chambersburg, but it is unlikely he will die by lethal injection April 6. "Based on Pennsylvania's track record, I don't think the odds are real great it will be carried out on that date," Franklin County District Attorney John F. Nelson said Wednesday. Clinton Barkdoll, the attorney who represented Singley in his appeal to the state Supreme Court, also said it is unlikely the execution will be carried out any time soon. A jury sentenced Singley, now 29, to death in January 2001 for the Nov. 3, 1998, stabbing death of Christine Rohrer, 23, the wife of his cousin, Travis Rohrer, at the couple's Elder Street home. He also was convicted of 1st-degree murder and sentenced to life for the shooting death of Rohrer's neighbor, 39-year-old James Gilliam. Singley also was convicted of stabbing and shooting Travis Rohrer, who survived the attack, and for the attempted murder of Gilliam's companion, Deb Hock. Singley pleaded guilty in 2000 to first-degree murder in Rohrer's death and to criminal homicide in the death of Gilliam. That was followed by a degree of guilt hearing before Franklin County Judge Douglas W. Herman, who found Singley guilty of 1st-degree murder in Gilliam's death, according to court records. A penalty phase hearing for the killings was later held with a jury imposing the death penalty for Rohrer's murder after a week of testimony. "It's hard to imagine an uglier scenario," Nelson said of the case. "There are mixed emotions about the death penalty ... If there's a case that would warrant it, this would be one." Singley went to the Rohrers' home that night, bound Christine Rohrer with duct tape, then raped and stabbed her, according to Chambersburg police. When Travis Rohrer returned home later, Singley shot and stabbed his cousin. As he was leaving the duplex, Gilliam and Hock arrived home and Singley shot Gilliam in the chest with a handgun, police said. He also fired at Hock, but missed, and she fell to the ground pretending to be dead, according to trial testimony. In November 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a writ of certiorari to hear Singley's case, Nelson said. The writ was based on an assertion that the victim impact statements by Christine Rohrer's husband and family had violated his rights of due process, he said. Barkdoll said Singley's death penalty was affirmed by the Supreme Court about a year ago, but "Mike still has federal appeals that are pending and he hasn't begun to pursue PCRA (Pennsylvania's Post-Conviction Relief Act) relief, which would typically be the final step once all the appeals are exhausted." Barkdoll said he expects a federal public defender to soon file for a stay of execution. The appeals process, he said, could go on for years. Since receiving the death penalty, Singley has been incarcerated at the State Correctional Institution Greene in Waynesburg, Pa., Barkdoll said. Death row inmates are isolated from the general population and remain in their cells all but one hour a day for exercise periods, he said. Since the state reinstituted the death penalty 3 decades ago, Pennsylvania has carried out 3 executions, according to the Web site for the Death Penalty Information Center. The executions took place between 1995 and 1999, it stated. Pennsylvania has 231 inmates on death row, according to center. Albert Reid, convicted of the 1996 murders of his estranged wife and stepdaughter, is the only other person from Franklin County on death row, Nelson said. (source: The Herald-Mail)
