May 6 NORTH CAROLINA: EXECUTION HAS BEEN DELAYED OVER COMPETENCY----Death row inmate answers queries; LeGrande long refused to do so while being observed by doctors Death row inmate Guy LeGrande surprisingly did Friday what he had been refusing to do for months: He allowed 3 mental health professionals to observe him answering questions to help them evaluate his mental competency. LeGrande's execution, which had been scheduled for Dec. 1, was delayed because a judge wanted three psychiatrists to determine whether LeGrande is too mentally ill to be executed. But LeGrande, 48, has refused to meet with the doctors, limiting their access to reading documents in the case and watching 30 days worth of video without audio showing LeGrande's daily activities in his cell at Central Prison to make their evaluation. On Friday, the judge in the case casually asked LeGrande to answer questions, and LeGrande agreed. Later, the judge asked questions, some of which were prepared by lawyers from both sides. Present at the Stanly County hearing were defense lawyers, the state's attorneys and the 3 doctors, who were required to be present. Several lawyers who LeGrande refused to let represent him over the years testified about their interactions with him. Then, before the lunch recess, Superior Court Judge Robert Bell made the request of LeGrande. It is unclear whether the 2-hour question-and-answer session will change these doctors' minds about LeGrande's competency. Previously, they had been split 2-to-1 in favor of LeGrande being too mentally ill to understand he could be executed. Their testimony will be heard at another hearing within a month. LeGrande was sentenced to death for the 1993 shooting of Ellen Munford, whose estranged husband recruited LeGrande to commit murder. Tommy Munford, who is serving life for 2nd-degree murder, offered to pay LeGrande $6,500 from the $50,000 in life insurance proceeds he expected to get. In July 1993, LeGrande shot Ellen Munford twice in the back. At trial, LeGrande acted as his own lawyer, wearing a Superman T-shirt and goading the jury to sentence him to death. He has insisted on handling his own appeals, though judges have assigned appellate lawyers anyway. LeGrande's case is percolating through the court system as lawmakers have introduced a bill that would ban executions for the severely mentally ill. Experts believe outlawing executions for mentally ill inmates is the next battleground in the national death penalty debate. In recent years, the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed the death penalty for juveniles and mentally retarded people. (source: News & Observer) INDIANA: Throw Away the Key ---- The Issue: Harbison's pleas should put him away forever. Our View: They should do the same to Wilkes. After spending 22 years on Indiana's death row, David Leon Woods was executed early Friday for killing Juan Placencia in 1984. Donald Ray Wallace spent a comparable 23 years on death row before he was executed in March 2005 for killing Theresa and Patrick Gilligan and their 2 children. John Matthew Stephenson has been on death row for 10 years after being convicted, in Indiana's longest and most expensive criminal trial, of a Warrick County triple-murder. Last month the Indiana Supreme Court rejected Stephenson's state appeal, but it could take years for Stephenson to exhaust his federal appeals. None of these killers deserves an iota of sympathy. And we recognize that reasonable people can have a legitimate difference of opinion about capital punishment. One factor often overlooked, however, is the psychological toll that decadeslong appeals and interminable delays have on the survivors of the victims before the death sentence finally is carried out. The term "closure" is not appropriate in these horrible circumstances. But victims' survivors in past cases have said they could never move on with the grief process as long as the killer's appeals were ongoing. Meanwhile, the death row inmate finds daily purpose in his miserable existence as long as his case is still on appeal. We bring this up in light of the announcement last week that Nicholas Harbison has struck a plea agreement with the Pike County prosecutor. Harbison, who is accused of killing three people and wounding a 4th in a Pike County cornfield, has agreed to plead guilty in exchange for being spared the death penalty. Under the plea, he would receive a life sentence and an additional 50 years. If the plea agreement is structured in such a way to perma-nently foreclose any possibility of appealing the conviction or sentence, Harbison would be locked away forever, permanently separated from society. The families of Harbison's victims would be able to move on, knowing he could never harm them or anyone else outside prison again. It would not be closure, but it would be finality. Whether to seek the death penalty instead of life without parole or straight prison time is one of the most challenging decisions a county prosecutor faces. He or she must balance the strength of the evidence against the costs of seeking the death penalty. The cost to taxpayers of defending Stephenson in his trial 10 years ago was more than half a million dollars because he was entitled to lawyers and expert witnesses at public expense. The wishes of the survivors must be taken strongly into account, but the decision whether to seek the death sentence is ultimately the prosecutor's choice. Daniel Ray Wilkes is charged in the triple-murder in Evansville last year of Donna Claspell and her two daughters. Vanderburgh County Prosecutor Stan Levco has filed for the death penalty. Wilkes already has admitted to 2 of the 3 slayings. There's no question that Wilkes is a vile, reprehensible predator. But we have said before that the Wilkes case would be an appropriate one for the prosecutor to leverage the death penalty into a guilty plea that requires life without parole. Such a guilty plea would spare the victims' families the ordeal of a long trial followed by grueling decades of appeals. It would also spare the public the enormous costs of a capital-murder defense. We believe a prompt, conclusive resolution to the case would be preferable to the slow torture of perpetual litigation, culminating in an execution date sometime in 2029 or 2030. The adage "lock him up and throw away the key" applies correctly to Harbison, and we believe it ought to apply to Wilkes as well. (source: Editorial, Courier & Press) TENNESSEE: Facts in Workman case don't lead to execution To the Editor: Taking the life of a human being is always questionable. But Philip Workman's execution displays indifference to the value of human life and to the facts of the case that is stunning. The key prosecution witness, Harold Davis, has admitted that he was not at the scene of the crime. He was subsequently convicted of perjury. Furthermore, ballistics experts have concluded that "to a degree of medical certainty" the bullet that killed Lt. Oliver did not come from Workman's gun. Consequently, 5 of the original jurors on the case have signed affidavits saying they would not have sentenced Workman to death had they known that Davis was lying. Since it only takes 1 juror's objection to prevent a death sentence, Workman would not have been sentenced to death had all the evidence been available at the time of the trial. In addition, Lt. Oliver's daughter has asked the governor for clemency for Philip Workman. The execution is scheduled based on the lie of one person. No person should ever be executed based on a lie. Philip Workman's case is yet another piece of evidence that Tennessee's death penalty system is severely flawed. This supports the findings of the American Bar Association according to which Tennessee complies only with seven of the 93 benchmarks for death penalty. Under circumstances like this, the governor must call for a moratorium and not schedule an execution. Christina Moeckel, Brentwood 37027 (source: Letter to the Editor, The Tennessean) ******************* Governor, please continue the timeout in executions What's the rush, Gov. Bredesen? What's the rush? That's the thought that ran through my mind when the governor's office announced this past week that he was lifting a 90-day moratorium on executions, paving the way for convicted murderer Philip Workman to be put to death early Wednesday morning. It was wrong: The governor should have continued the moratorium. And a federal judge here seemed to agree with that Friday afternoon when he issued a temporary restraining order, saying more time is needed to examine the defense claims that "the new execution protocol exposes (Workman) to a foreseeable and likely unnecessary risk'' of pain and suffering prohibited by the U.S. Constitution. To ensure "no cloud hangs over the state's actions in the future,'' Bredesen declared in February that he was halting all executions in the state for 90 days "to fix'' the state's death penalty procedures. He said he wanted the Department of Correction to come up with new written protocols on how to put the condemned to death by injection and the electric chair. The protocols have been revised, but Nashville attorney Brad MacLean, a vocal opponent of the state's death penalty procedures, told a reporter: "It's essentially the same protocol as before, with a little window dressing.'' It goes beyond what MacLean says and believes. A team of legal experts has said Tennessee's death penalty system is "so flawed'' that the state should continue its moratorium to review every aspect of capital punishment to assure fairness and accuracy. "Gov. Bredesen clearly has given sober consideration to how executions are carried out in Tennessee,'' American Bar Association President Karen J. Mathis announced as the findings were presented. "Now, it is time for him, and for the state as a whole, to devote even more thorough analysis to how the state reaches the decision to sentence someone to death. "The family and friends of capital crime victims in Tennessee, the people accused of committing those crimes and the citizens who place their trust in their legal system deserve better justice than they are now receiving.'' The ABA neither supports nor opposes either the death penalty or any particular means of carrying out executions, but it "does urge a moratorium on executions in each jurisdiction until fairness and due process are assured in death penalty cases.'' Meanwhile, a survey done of 457 people between Feb. 15-19 by the Global Strategy Group shows that 2 of 3 Tennesseans support continuing the temporary halt on executions. "Fully, 66 % believe the statewide moratorium should be extended while the issue of the death penalty's fairness and accuracy is studied,'' the report said. "Just 29 % oppose extending the moratorium.'' A colleague told me the other day that she didn't think Bredesen would allow Philip Workman to be executed Wednesday morning. I was hoping that would be the case, but I didn't think Bredesen would allow convicted murderer Sedley Alley to be executed by lethal injection in June 2006. Now that U.S. District Judge Todd J. Campbell has stepped in and put off Workman's execution, I feel a lot better. If you think the moratorium should continue, give Bredesen's office a call at 615-741-2001 or e-mail him at Phil.Bredesen at state.tn.us and urge him to fight Judge Campbell's ruling. This is about fairness and justice for all, and Gov. Phil Bredesen needs to be reminded of that. (source: Opinion, Dwight Lewis, The Tennessean) ALABAMA: Man who faced possible execution to be freed by January For more than 2 years, Alan Bernard Tilley faced capital murder charges -- and the specter of execution if found guilty -- for the shooting deaths of 2 people in a Plateau boarding house. That all went away Friday in Mobile County Circuit Court when Tilley pleaded guilty to 1 count of murder and received a sentence through a plea bargain that will set him free by January. Assistant District Attorney John Furman and Tilley's attorneys, Claude Patton and Alan Colvin, all said Friday after the defendant's court appearance that a lack of evidence and a dearth of strong witnesses against Tilley played a role in the decision to strike a bargain. Circuit Judge James Wood gave Tilley a 20-year sentence, split to serve 3 years, in exchange for the guilty plea. Patton said this means that based on the time Tilley has already served -- he has been in jail since his arrest -- Tilley will likely be free in about 8 months. According to law enforcement authorities, Tilley and a cousin were suspected of bursting into a Plateau home owned by 78-year-old James Garfield Smith on Jan. 7, 2005, with the intention of robbing another man who was known to have just cashed a $1,300 disability check. The cousins, both in their early 20s, were charged with gunning down Smith and another victim, 36-year-old Lisa Collins. The shooters opened fire almost as soon as the front door was opened, according to the prosecutor. The intended victim, flush with cash, had been throwing it around, Furman said, spending it on alcohol, cocaine and prostitutes. There were nearly a half-dozen people at Smith's Magazine Road home. Furman said Smith, in order to make a little extra cash, had rented out several rooms in his north Mobile home. When the cousins burst in, the money man they were looking for hid in a closet, Furman said, and was able to escape injury. Furman and Patton agreed that it would have been nearly impossible to prove that a .38-caliber revolver connected to Tilley was the one used in the slayings. The lawyers also agreed that, had the case gone to trial, the credibility of a key witness expected to testify against Tilley would have been called into question, since she had also planned to steal the check casher's money. "Word got out in the Plateau area (about the disability check), and several groups of miscreants raced to see who could get up a robbing party," Furman said. A member of one of those groups ultimately decided against participating in the robbery, Furman said, and she turned out to be the state's key witness against Tilley. Patton said that Smith, the elderly victim, lived for two days after being shot but was unable to name or identify his attacker. Furman acknowledged that under the circumstances, Tilley received "a light sentence" but stressed that he was not willing to chance an outright acquittal. Nor, he said, did the defense team want to put its client in a position at a capital trial where he could have been subjected to a sentence of life without parole or execution. The prosecutor said family members of the victims were informed of the deal. As for Tilley's co-defendant and cousin, Tyrone Benard Tilley, Furman said Tyrone has already pleaded guilty to murder, received 25 years in prison and is now serving his time. Furman said the evidence in the case was "more compelling" against Tyrone Tilley and that he was the "main perpetrator," the "brains" behind the planned robbery and shootings. (source: Mobile Press-Register)
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----N.C., IND., TENN., ALA.
Rick Halperin Sun, 6 May 2007 17:29:58 -0500 (Central Daylight Time)
