June 6 TEXAS----execution Ex-Harris deputy executed for killing woman As members of his victim's family watched dry-eyed, former Harris County Sheriff's deputy Mike Griffith was executed today, breathing a barely audible final plea: "Please take my spirit to the lord." Griffith, condemned for the 1994 rape-robbery-murder of Houston flower shop owner Deborah McCormick, issued no formal final statement. As he waited for the deadly drugs to flow, he twice turned his head to the room occupied by his selected witnesses, his daughter, his ex-wife and spiritual adviser and smiled faintly. The drugs were administered at 6:09 p.m. Griffith, 56, was declared dead 9 minutes later. As Griffith lay unconscious on the death chamber gurney, his spiritual adviser Ron Cloutier assured his daughter, Michelle Clark, and his ex-wife, Cheryl Stanley, that their presence had meant a lot to the condemned man. After the execution, McCormick's daughter, Dawn Kirkland, issued a prepared statement on behalf of her family. "Our family lost much more than a beautiful daughter, mother, sister and friend on Oct. 10, 1994," she wrote. "We lost the glue that held our family together. In the many years since, our family has renewed itself with new grandchildren and new family and friends. However, we will never be the same. "The heavenly light that was our Debbie was taken from this earth way too soon." Kirkland said her family will pray for Griffith's relatives. "May God bless and comfort you," she wrote. "As hard as this is for our family to live through, we can only imagine the heartache this causes them as well." For the killer, though, she had harsher words: "Michael Griffith will meet his judgment today and not only here on earth." Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokeswoman Michelle Lyons said authorities believe but could not confirm that Griffith was the only former law enforcement officer executed in the state. As Griffith, his appeals exhausted, awaited execution, law enforcement officers in two states lamented his slide into deadly violence. Griffith, a Los Angeles native, had served as a Harris County deputy sheriff more than a decade before he lost his job because of violence to women in 1993. Bay County, Fla., Sheriff Frank McKeithen worked with Griffith in the 1970s and remembered him as "a good officer." "Everybody liked him," McKeithen said, adding that Griffith on one occasion was named the department's officer of the year. "It just came as a total shock when I read what had happened. Griffith joined the Harris County Sheriff's Department in 1981, and rose to the rank of sergeant. Several of his former colleagues testified on his behalf during the punishment phase of his trial, telling jurors that Griffith had been a dedicated, compassionate officer. Female witnesses, including 2 ex-wives, testified of frequent rages in which he beat them, pointed pistols at their heads and threatened to kill them. Griffith's violent behavior reached its nadir on Columbus Day 1994 when, strung out on alcohol and Demerol, he robbed the Always and Forever Flower Shop and Wedding Chapel at 3500 Mangum. Griffith forced McCormick into a back room where he sexually assaulted her and stabbed her 8 times. Griffith, testimony at his trial revealed, had previously purchased flowers at McCormick's shop. Days later, Griffith robbed a savings and loan, shooting a teller twice in the head, and robbed a 2nd flower shop, where he again sexually assaulted a clerk. Griffith becomes the 15th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the state and the 394th overall since Texas resumed capital punishment on Dece,ber 7, 1982. Griffith becomes the 155th condemned inmate to be put to death since Rick Perry became Governor of Texas in 2001. Griffith becomes the 22nd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1079th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977. (sources: Houston Chronicle & Rick Halperin) ********************** Death penalty sought over Dallas killing/surveillance video Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against a man charged in a Dallas slaying in which security video helped lead to his arrest. 25-year-old Jose Heriberto Castro was indicted February 9th on a capital murder charge. Castro remains in custody over the December attack that killed a 51-year-old Garland woman. Police say Karen Lafon was shot while leaving her office building. Security video showed a man -- believed to be the suspect -- had spent several minutes in the high-rise building riding different elevators. Police believe the gunman was looking for someone to rob and targeted Lafon as she left the building. A tip to police -- after the building security video was released -- led to the arrest of Castro. (source: Associated Press) NEW MEXICO----federal death penalty to be sought Prosecutors seek death penalty in case of Texas teen death Federal prosecutors announced Wednesday they intend to seek the death penalty against one of three men charged in the kidnapping of a San Antonio, Texas teen who was later stabbed to death in Doa Ana County. "The government is going to seek the death penalty against Larry Lujan only," Assistant U.S. Attorney Maria Armijo told U.S. District Judge Robert Brack during a hearing in federal court. Lujan, 28, is under indictment for the March 2005 death of Dana Joseph Grauke, who was abducted in San Antonio and transported to Anthony, N.M. where his body was found in an irrigation canal. Lujan also has pending charges in New Mexico for a double murder in Chamberino in 1998. Lujan's alleged conspirators in the Grauke case, Kacey Lamunyon and Eugenio Medina, both 21, could have also faced the death penalty. Lamunyon and Medina face kidnapping and other charges, but have not been charged with murder. They could have faced the death penalty because they allegedly took part in the kidnapping knowing that Lujan would likely kill Grauke. No trial date has been set. All 3 defendants have pleaded not guilty and were present for the hearing. None, including Lujan wearing shackles and a green prisoner's jumpsuit from the Doa Ana County Detention Center had a noticeable reaction to the announcement. "I think it's a mistake," said Federal Public Defender Marc Robert, an attorney for Lujan. "It's unfortunate, but it's the Department of Justice's decision to make." In federal cases, a potential death penalty case goes through several channels in the U.S. Department of Justice before the U.S. Attorney General signs off on seeking the penalty. If convicted, Lujan could be sentenced to die by lethal injection. There are 49 federal prisoners on death row, according to the latest figures from the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Armijo could not speak to why Lamunyon and Medina were spared the possibility of the death penalty. She also declined to say if Grauke's family favored the punishment. "I can't really speak on their behalf," Armijo said. A telephone listing for Grauke's mother in the San Antonio area could not be located. Grauke, 16, was last seen in San Antonio by his mother on March 7, 2005. According to court records, Lujan along with Lamunyon and Medina abducted Grauke and transported him to New Mexico during which time Grauke made repeated, increasingly nervous phone calls to his mother asking for money if she wished to see him again. Once in New Mexico, Lujan, Lamunyon and Medina attended a party in Anthony while Grauke lay bound and gagged in the back of their vehicle. At one point, Lujan allegedly told others at the party that he "was going to take care of the problem," and left, taking with him a meat cleaver. Grauke was found on March 20, 2005. He had been beaten and his throat was slashed to the point where he was almost decapitated. According to the federal indictment against Lujan, Lamunyon and Medina, Grauke was abducted because he allegedly failed to pay a $600 as a fee for dealing drugs in an area of San Antonio claimed by Lujan. Lujan is also under indictment in New Mexico on state chargers of 1st-degree murder for the Dec. 9, 1998 deaths of Juana Olmeda, 45, and Alfredo Gonzalez, 47, both of Chamberino. The couple was found dead in their home with their bodies repeatedly slashed and lying in a pool of blood. The home had also been set on fire. Lujan's alleged conspirator in the slayings, 29-year-old Pablo Renteria of El Paso, is charged with arson, conspiracy, bribery or intimidation of a witness and 2 counts of tampering with evidence. It was during the probe into Grauke's murder that Doa Ana Sheriff's investigators learned of new information that they say linked Lujan and Renteria to the slayings. The 2 were indicted by a Doa Ana County grand jury in Oct. 2006. Doa Ana County District Attorney Susana Martinez said the federal government's decision would have no bearing on the state's case, which is scheduled for trial Aug. 9. Martinez said a death penalty in the Chamberino case is not an option. "In the state of New Mexico, it's a life sentence that is the maximum sentence that he can be sentenced for," she said. (source: Las Cruces Sun-News) GEORGIA: Death row inmate dies in cell Georgia death row inmate Johnny Lamar Wade died in his cell Tuesday morning, state prison officials said. Wade, 51, was sentenced to death in 1987 for beating and strangling to death a 13-year-old boy in Newton County. Wade was on parole at the time of the murder. Wade had throat cancer and died of natural causes, according to Georgia Department of Corrections spokesman Paul Czachowski. Georgia now has 104 men on death row at the state prison in Jackson and one woman on death row at the state prison in southeast Atlanta. (source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution) MISSOURI: New death row ruling falls short of killing debate ---- Appeal likely as state plans for executions. For nearly 2 years, Missouri's execution chamber at Bonne Terre has sat quiet. Now that a federal appeals court has lifted a moratorium on executions in the state, that might soon change. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Longtime residents-----Here are the 10 Missouri inmates who have been awaiting execution the longest: Elroy Preston, 52, on death row since July 2, 1982, for killing a St. Louis couple. William Boliek, 51, on death row since Dec. 12, 1984, for killing a woman in Oregon County. Charles Mathenia, 48, on death row since Jan. 9, 1985, for killing 2 elderly sisters. Roosevelt Pollard, 43, on death row since Jan. 27, 1986, for killing a man at a highway rest area near Steele. Steven Parkus, 46, on death row since March 20, 1987, for killing a fellow inmate. Roderick Nunley, 42, on death row since May 14, 1991, for killing a 15-year-old Kansas City girl. Michael Taylor, 40, on death row since May 14, 1991, and convicted and sentenced in the same case as Nunley. Walter Storey, 40, on death row since Nov. 26, 1991, for killing a woman in a neighboring apartment. Brian Kinder, 47, on death row since July 17, 1992, for beating a woman to death in her home. Jeffrey Ferguson, 52, on death row since Dec. 8, 1995, for killing a female service station attendant in St. Charles. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What was less certain yesterday was how the decision will affect the 36 other states that use lethal injection. Those who follow the death penalty offered mixed assessments on the effect of the Missouri ruling. Missouri officials appear eager to restart the execution process in the wake of Monday's ruling by a 3-judge panel of the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the state's 3-drug procedure is not cruel and unusual punishment. Gov. Matt Blunt said he was directing the Department of Corrections "to prepare execution procedures in compliance with the ruling." Meanwhile, Attorney General Jay Nixon, responsible for asking the state Supreme Court to set execution dates, was moving quickly. "This office will be moving forward to facilitate the process in a timely manner now that this legal roadblock has been cleared and will be determining which inmates' cases have progressed to the point where an execution date can be requested," said John Fougere, a spokesman for Nixon. High on that list will likely be Michael Taylor, who kidnapped a teenage girl from a Kansas City school bus stop in 1989 and killed her. His case prompted U.S. District Judge Fernando Gaitan Jr. last year to place a moratorium on Missouri executions, citing concerns the procedure could cause undue suffering for the inmate. The Eighth Circuit reversed Gaitans ruling. Judge David Hansen wrote there was not "one scintilla of evidence" of suffering among any of Missouri's 6 most recently executed inmates. Taylor's attorney, Ginger Anders, said she will ask the full Eighth Circuit to review the case and go to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary. The appeals panel's ruling focused solely on the protocol, not the performance of duties in executing inmates, Anders noted. Injection has been the preferred method since the death penalty was renewed in the United States in the 1970s and has been used in more than 900 executions nationwide. Of the 38 states that have the death penalty, only Nebraska uses another method - electrocution. The lethal injection debate centers on how three drugs are administered in succession. If the initial anesthetic does not take hold, a 3rd drug that stops a condemned prisoners heart can cause excruciating pain, it has been argued. But the inmate would not be able to communicate the pain because of a second drug that paralyzes him. Missouri was 1 of 9 states that had placed executions on hold while courts weighed the merits of the 3-drug protocol. In California, a federal judge ruled in December that the states lethal injection procedures were cruel and unusual punishment. A moratorium began there in February 2006, with more than 650 people awaiting execution. In Ohio, death penalty opponents last month sought a halt to executions after prison staff stuck Christopher Newton at least 10 times with needles to find a suitable vein on the condemned mans arm. In Florida, Gov. Jeb Bush halted executions in December after the lethal injection of Angel Nieves Diaz took 34 minutes and required a rare second dose of chemicals. Sara Tofte of Human Rights Watch called Mondays ruling "incredibly disappointing." "It certainly will send a message to some states that they can go ahead and execute inmates," Tofte said. But Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, doubted the ruling would open the floodgates in other states. "In each of these states, there are special things that make each one a little different," Dieter said. "I think the issue is going to go up to the Supreme Court." The last execution in Missouri occurred on Oct. 26, 2005, when convicted killer Marlin Gray was put to death. He was the 67th man executed since Missouri renewed the death penalty in 1989. Both Taylor and his accomplice in the killing of 15-year-old Ann Harrison, Roderick Nunley, have been on death row 16 years. 5 inmates have been awaiting execution for more than 20 years. The longest-serving of the 46 prisoners, all men, is Elroy Preston, on death row since 1982 for killing a St. Louis couple. Beth Riggert, a spokeswoman for the state Supreme Court, said it was impossible to predict when the next execution could occur. Corrections department spokes-man Brian Hauswirth said the execution procedure has been revised. The biggest change is the removal of Jefferson City surgeon Alan Doerhoff, the dyslexic doctor who previously oversaw administration of the lethal chemicals. The state has been unable to find another doctor willing to participate. Hauswirth would say only that the corrections department "will have appropriate medical personnel." (source: Associated Press) USA: 4 liberal justices often side with condemned but do not seek end of death penalty in U.S. No one on the U.S. Supreme Court publicly opposes the death penalty, but 4 justices often side with death row inmates who are fighting to avoid execution. Although they constitute a minority on the 9-justice court, Justices Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, David Souter and John Paul Stevens win as often as they lose. Cases involving 8 death row inmates have come before the court this term. 4 prisoners have won and 4 have lost. The most recent case was a 5-4 decision Monday to reinstate the death penalty in a rape and murder near Seattle. In that case and the 7 others, Breyer, Ginsburg, Souter and Stevens sided with the prisoner. In 4 cases, Justice Anthony Kennedy provided a 5th vote and, thus, a majority. In 1 of those 4, which the court dismissed without deciding, Chief Justice John Roberts joined as well, leaving in place an appeals court ruling that set aside a death sentence. The court has been implacably split on this issue, as on others. Roberts typically has been aligned with Justices Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, opting to defer to the state courts that imposed and upheld death sentences. According to statistics from Amnesty International, the United States is alone among Western developed countries that still executes criminals as a common punishment. It is among 69 countries that do so. None of the liberals has gone so far as the late Justices Thurgood Marshall and William Brennan, who called capital punishment unconstitutional, or Harry Blackmun, who said late in his tenure he never again would vote for death. Indeed, Breyer, Ginsburg, Souter and Stevens routinely deny death row appeals. That includes one on Monday from a prisoner in Kentucky who was represented by a lawyer who did not know the prisoner's real name. But the 4 justices, when joined by Kennedy and, on occasion, now-retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, have been at the core of important rulings limiting the application of the death penalty. "In the late '80s and early '90s, you were a rare defendant who won a death penalty case at the Supreme Court," said Richard Dieter, executive director of the anti-capital punishment Death Penalty Information Center. "Now there's a fair chance that if you can get Justice Kennedy, you'll win." Kent Scheidegger, legal director of the pro-death penalty Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, said Breyer, Ginsburg, Souter and Stevens typically "take an expansive view of the constitutional limitations and are more prone to accept borderline arguments. 2 years ago, Kennedy wrote the 5-4 decision outlawing the execution of juveniles. In 2002, Stevens wrote a 6-3 opinion that barred execution of the mentally retarded. Kennedy and O'Connor joined their 4 liberal colleagues in that case. Both decisions focused on a national consensus that the majority said had formed against those types of executions. Justice Antonin Scalia disputed the existence of such a consensus in his dissents in both cases. He noted that fewer than half the states that allow executions prohibited them for either juveniles or the mentally retarded. Words have no meaning if the views of less than 50 % of death penalty states can constitute a national consensus, Scalia said in 2005. On the other hand, 30 states at the time of those opinions either had no death penalty or barred the execution of both juveniles and the mentally retarded. The group of 30 states could have satisfied the justices that they were not getting too far ahead of public opinion in those decisions, Dieter said. In 1972, the Supreme Court struck down every state's death penalty law. Some justices believed then this decision effectively would end capital punishment. Instead, many states wrote new laws and four years later, the court reinstated the death penalty, a decision in which Stevens joined. There have been 1,078 executions in the past 30 years, although the 53 carried out last year marked a 10-year low. At the start of 2007, 3,350 prisoners were on death rows across the United States, according to the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund. Polls continue to find that more than two-thirds of people in the U.S. favor the death penalty for murderers. Yet at the same time, a recent AP/Ipsos poll that asked what method of punishment people prefer for murderers found that 52 % said death and 46 % said life in prison or a long prison sentence. Questions about the administration of lethal injections, doubts about the competence of some court-appointed defense lawyers and the rise in the number of exonerations through DNA evidence of people already convicted of crimes have contributed to a drop in confidence in the criminal justice system, said Robert Weisberg, a Stanford University law professor who has represented death row inmates. Several cases that have made it to the high court have revolved around the issue of a defendant's lawyer. "Even if this foursome is not inclined to say anything categorical about the constitutionality of the death penalty, they are very dismayed by the quality of representation in death cases," Weisberg said. In a dissent from a decision last month denying Jeffrey Landrigan a new hearing to challenge his death sentence in Arizona, Stevens wrote, No one, not even this court, seriously contends that counsel's investigation of possible mitigating evidence was constitutionally sufficient. The justices also have sparred with state and federal judges in Texas over what courts must do to be fair to defendants facing death sentences. The court has overturned three sentences from Texas this term. Since the death penalty was reinstated, Texas has executed 393 people, more than 4 times as many as the next state, Virginia. The court's division over the death penalty is captured by the stark differences between the capital cases it takes from Texas and from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which encompasses California and 8 other states in the West. 3 times this term, a 5-justice majority reversed rulings of the San Francisco-based appeals court, saying it went too far in favor of people sentenced to death. On the Net: Amnesty International Death Penalty site: web.amnesty.org/pages/deathpenalty-countries-eng (source: PR-Inside.com) FLORIDA: Gay Man Faces Florida Death Sentence A gay Fort Lauderdale man who officials say once had an Internet profile listing a hobby of "hunting cops" could become the 1st person in Florida to be handed the death sentence since 1998 when it was reactivated by Congress. Kenneth Wilk, 45, was found guilty of 1st-degree murder in the killing of a Broward Sheriff's deputy during a search for child pornography at his home in 2004. Wilk also was found guilty of attempted murder in the wounding of a 2nd deputy and of child pornography and obstruction of justice charges. During his trial prosecutors said that when officers broke down the front door, Wilk fired a rifle shot at Deputy Todd Fatta that penetrated his protective vest, and he kept firing at Sgt. Angelo Cedeno through a wall while the sergeant took cover. Cedeno was wounded in the shoulder and lost a finger. Wilk's attorney, Bill Matthewman, argued that his client was suffering from AIDS-related dementia at the time of the killing. Matthewman said his medical condition raised reasonable doubt. Testifying on his own behalf Wilk told the jury that he thought the deputies were intruders. But prosecutor John Kastrenakes pointed to the Web profile Wilk had posted and said that Wilk shot the deputies for no other reason than they were law enforcement officers. Kastrenakes said that Wilk knew his home was likely to be raided for child pornography and had been stockpiling arms in anticipation of a police action. The sentencing phase of the trial will begin Thursday. (source: www.365gay.com)
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, N. MEX., GA., MO., USA, FLA.
Rick Halperin Wed, 6 Jun 2007 22:14:45 -0500 (Central Daylight Time)
