[Deathpenalty] death penalty news-----TEXAS, OHIO, LA., ARIZ., FLA.

[Rick Halperin]

May 24


TEXAS:

Prosecutor: Decision to spare woman's life undercuts ultimate penalty


A prosecutor said the overturning of a Beaumont woman's death sentence for
killing her baby will change the way cases are prosecuted - and even
dilute the Texas death penalty.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Wednesday ruled the evidence presented
in Kenisha Berry's capital murder trial did not support the notion that
she presented a future danger because she would be living in prison.

The court reformed Berry's sentence to life in prison.

Berry, 34, was convicted of capital murder in February 2004 in the death
of her newborn in November 1998.

Jefferson County Assistant District Attorney Ed Shettle was dismayed by
the decision, which he said changed the definition of future
dangerousness.

"They have changed the definition of what society is and reached the
conclusion they want to reach," he said.

In fact, Shettle said, the opinion undermined future possibilities of
assessing the death penalty.

Considering that life without parole now is an option in Texas capital
murder cases, "You can't have the death penalty under those standards."

The decision hinges on the word "would," according to an appeals court
judge who authored a dissenting opinion.

The wording of the law doesn't ask whether defendants "could" commit more
crimes - but whether they "would," the opinion said.

The decision was a close one, with 5 of 9 appeals court judges voting to
throw out Berry's death sentence.

Berry, already in jail awaiting trial for abandoning another newborn, was
charged with capital murder in July 2003.

Her arrest came after newborn Parris Berry was found June 6, 2003, beside
the road in a remote part of Jefferson County, her eyes swollen shut from
ant bites.

When the baby was traced to Kenisha Berry, investigators noted
similarities to a newborn who was found dead 5 years before.

That baby - named Malachi by his mother and dubbed "Baby Hope" after his
lifeless body was found by scavengers looking for aluminum cans - had been
gagged and bound with duct tape and placed in a trash bin.

In testimony, Berry claimed Malachi, to whom she gave birth secretly after
hiding the pregnancy from her family, died of natural causes.

A jury did not agree and assessed the maximum penalty in her case.

According to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals opinion published
Wednesday, prosecutor Wendell C. Radford Jr. misrepresented to the jury
the issue of Berry's future dangerousness.

"I submit to you the way you answer this question is if she was out and
she's among her children or she has another child, do you think she's a
future danger to that child ... Some people are just evil," he told the
jury in closing arguments in the trial's punishment phase.

According to the opinion, "a rational jury" would not have found that
Berry presented a future danger within the context of a 40-year
incarceration - the very least a person convicted of capital murder can
serve.

"The state's evidence, which consisted of appellant's murder of Malachi,
her subsequent abandonment of Paris (sic), her lack of remorse for these
crimes, and the unlikely possibility that she might become pregnant in
prison, does not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that there is a
probability that she would commit criminal acts of violence that would
constitute a continuing threat to society," the opinion stated.

A dissenting opinion filed by Judge J. Hervey disagreed that it was
improper for the prosecutor to ask the jury to make the decision without
assuming her incarceration during her childbearing years.

Hervey noted the future dangerousness issue asks "whether there is a
probability that the defendant would commit criminal acts of violence that
would constitute a continuing threat to society," not whether the
defendant would have the opportunity.

"The future dangerousness issue asks the jury to decide 'whether there is
a probability that the defendant would commit criminal acts of violent
that would constitute a continuing threat to society.'"

Hervey's dissenting opinion said evidence of Berry's cold-blooded crimes
against her unwanted babies, along with her lack of remorse and failure to
take responsibility, satisfied "every measure of future dangerousness that
this Court has applied."

"A rational jury could have found that appellant is the same unremorseful,
cold-blooded killer that she was in 1998 when she murdered Malachi and she
was in 2003 when she tried to murder Paris," Hervey wrote. "That the
appellant might be controlled in prison in no way detracts from this or a
rational finding that there is a probability that she would be dangerous
to her unwanted children."

Doug Barlow, the Beaumont lawyer who filed the appeal, said he had "fully
anticipated" the court's ruling.

"This was a case involving horrific facts, but unique facts not ever
likely to occur again," Barlow said. "... The only danger to the state was
to newborn children, and that cannot happen again ... She will spend 40
years in prison and will not have children after that."

Barlow said issues from the guilt or innocence part of Berry's trial still
remain and appeals on those will be pursued.

"Her direct appeal is concluded, but she still has the right to go to the
Supreme Court and pursue writs of habeas corpus," he said.

Repeated attempts by The Enterprise to contact a member of Berry's family
for comment were not successful.

Shettle said the court ignored the will of the people.

"I don't believe that's what society wants out of judges, is to impose
their own ideas when a jury of their peers has decided otherwise," Shettle
said.

He also complained the judges took Radford's arguments out of context.

Shettle said he believed the evidence did prove Berry was a future danger
- whether in or out of prison.

"I think she could kill others," he said. "Keeping the person she loves
happy by killing those kids? Who's she going to kill next to keep someone
happy?

"I don't know."

(source: The Beaumont Enterprise)

*************************

Once again, innocence commission unjustly fizzles


A good proposal to create a state innocence commission has failed again in
the Texas Legislature. This is a disheartening development and one that
really has no reasonable explanation.

The proposal makes considerable sense: Create a nine-member body to review
documented cases of wrongful conviction.

The goal: discover what factors contributed to the conviction and possibly
change policies to avoid the problem in the future.

The commission, for example, might have looked into the case of James
Curtis Giles, a Dallas man who spent 10 years in prison for a brutal rape
he didn't commit.

Giles was exonerated last month through DNA testing. The victim has
acknowledged she may have been wrong about his identity.

As it stands, there will be no commission to review such cases for at
least two years, until the Legislature can once again consider the bill.

Unlike so many other things that come out of Austin, there were few costs
attached to this bill. Members would serve on a volunteer basis and would
receive only travel expenses.

(A more recent watered-down version didn't even address executed felons  a
salve for those who might consider such a bill a back-door assault on the
sacrosanct Texas death penalty.)

An attempt was made to revive it by wrapping the proposal into a different
bill, but that too was shot down.

The bill languished in the House criminal jurisprudence committee for
nearly a month, and when it came up for a vote, three of the nine members
were absent.

Rep. Terri Hodge, D-Dallas, was in another committee hearing at the time
but said she would have voted for the bill, even though it didn't go far
enough in providing services to those still in prison who might have been
wrongfully convicted.

That would have provided the 5th needed vote for passage of the bill,
which died 4-2.

Edwin Colfax, director of Texas reform campaigns for the Justice Project,
said hopes were high for the bill this session.

Recent news accounts of the 29 DNA-related wrongful convictions in Texas
since 2001 brought the issue to the forefront. And it did get closer to
passage this time around than in previous sessions, when it didn't even
get a hearing in the house.

But a dead bill is still a dead bill.

"It was a victim of the calendar," Colfax said.

It was also a victim of misplaced opposition from the prosecutorial lobby,
which claims this bill is a precursor to more punitive subpoena power
legislation aimed at persecuting prosecutors.

Also, during a recent House criminal jurisprudence committee hearing,
Shannon Edmonds, a lobbyist for the Texas District and County Attorneys
Association, pointed out that the wrongfully convicted are not necessarily
not guilty.

In other words, just because someone received a shabby trial doesn't mean
he didn't commit the crime. True. But what about the nearly 30 Texas
criminals exonerated based on DNA evidence?

Surely, genetic testing is ironclad evidence that they didn't commit the
crime. We should review those cases to determine how that happened.

For example, honest mistakes can lead to a wrongful conviction, such as
mistaken eyewitness identifications.

"This is not an effort to be punitive or an attempt to go after anyone;
it's really a good government bill," Colfax said. "If the state is
spending money to keep us safe and the wrong person is convicted, that
means the real criminal is still out there."

2 related bills are still fighting for passage in the waning days of the
session as amendments to other bills.

Senate Bill 799, also authored by Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, would
improve the accuracy and reliability of the state's eyewitness
identification procedures.

Another bill, Senate Bill 262, seeks to double compensation from $25,000
to $50,000 for each year a wrongfully convicted person spent in prison.

(source: Commentary, Rebecca Chapa, San Antonio Express-News)

*******************************

Randall DA to ask death----Sentence tossed in Laminack murder


The Randall County District Attorney's office again will seek the death
penalty for capital murder against an Amarillo man whose death sentence
was overturned.

On April 25, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the death sentence of Brent
Ray Brewer, 36, who was convicted for the April 1990 robbery and murder of
Robert Laminack, 66.

According to court documents, Brewer and a companion approached Laminack
outside his South Western Street business on April 26, 1990, and asked for
a ride to the Salvation Army. Prosecutors believe Brewer stabbed Laminack
to death on the way and took Laminack's wallet containing $140.

After speaking with Laminack's family, Randall County Criminal District
Attorney James Farren said enough evidence still exists to retry the
punishment phase of the case.

"Two witnesses have passed away, and some photographic evidence cannot be
accounted for at this time," Farren said. "However, there is sufficient
evidence to retry the punishment phase of the trial and there is a legal
remedy to the witness problem. Therefore, we will seek the death penalty
against Brent Ray Brewer."

The family wanted the district attorney's office to pursue the case again,
Farren said. The photographic evidence is not crucial, he said.

Texas law allows prosecutors to have some testimony read to the court
because the witnesses are no longer alive, Farren said. Also, the office
is planning to ask U.S. District Judge Mary Lou Robinson to set a trial
date, Farren said.

Brewer's appeal, which was combined with 2 other Texas capital murder
cases, was based on jury instructions that did not give jurors a chance to
review mitigating evidence that would lead them to impose a life sentence,
rather than death.

Justice John Paul Stevens' opinion stated that a sentencing jury must be
able to give a "moral response" to a defendant's "mitigative" evidence.

(source: Amarillo Globe-News)

*************************

Judge denies change of venue request in Rodriguez trial for Baldwin murder


A Lubbock judge ruled Wednesday that Rosendo Rodriguez III will face
capital murder charges in Lubbock, denying his request for a change of
venue.

Rodriguez is charged with the 2005 beating death of Summer Baldwin. He
also is a suspect in the disappearance of Lubbock teen Joanna Rogers, who
went missing in May 2004. Her body was found last year.

Richard Wardroup, the attorney representing Rodriguez, argued earlier this
month that intense media coverage of the case would make it impossible for
Rodriguez to get a fair trial in Lubbock County.

But Judge Jim Bob Darnell ruled against Wardroup's request Wednesday.
"Publicity alone is not sufficient enough to warrant the case being
transferred," Darnell said.

Darnell added that it would probably be difficult to find 12 impartial
Lubbock jurors, but he wants to try to keep the trial local. If it becomes
an issue, attorneys would address it when it arises.

Matt Powell, Lubbock County Criminal District Attorney, said he is open to
moving the trial if no impartial jurors can be found in Lubbock County.

"Then I'll be the first one to say we need to go," Powell said.

Jury selection should take place sometime in early September, Darnell
said.

Rodriguez was arrested more than a year ago on suspicion of murdering
29-year-old Baldwin, whose body was discovered Sept. 13, 2005, inside a
suitcase at a city-owned landfill, about 15 miles north of Lubbock.

He was later indicted on a charge of capital murder and accused of raping
the mother of four and killing her unborn child. Baldwin was 5 weeks
pregnant at the time of her death.

Rodriguez was expected to plead guilty to Baldwin's death in October but
then withdrew his plea at the last minute.

Powell has said he intends to seek the death penalty in Rodriguez's trial.

Investigators have also named Rodriguez as a suspect in the disappearance
of Rogers, whose body was found in the same landfill where Baldwin's body
was found. Rodriguez has not been charged in connection with Rogers'
disappearance.

He is being held at the Lubbock County Jail in lieu of a $1 million bond.

(source: Lubbock Avalanche-Journal)

*****************

Appeals court affirms death for Sheldon Ward


The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals today upheld the conviction and death
sentence for 27-year-old Sheldon Ward.

Ward was condemned over the 2002 abduction, rape and fatal shooting of
Nyanuer "Mary" Pal in Fort Worth.

The 28-year-old woman's body was found in a ditch by a work crew hours
after Ward and a companion, Cleve Foster, were seen following her from a
pool hall.

Foster also received the death penalty in the case.

Ward's lawyers had raised 13 points of error from his trial but the court,
in a unanimous ruling, affirmed the judgments of the Tarrant County trial
court.

On the Net: www.tdcj.state.tx.usstat/wardsheldon.htm

www.tdcj.state.tx.usstat/fostercleve.htm

(source: Associated Press)






OHIO----execution//volunteer

Inmate executed after long hunt for usable veins----Newton had killed
cellmate over chess games


Christopher J. NewtonAn Erie County man who said he killed his cellmate
because he kept giving up during chess games was executed this morning,
but only after prison officials struggled for about an hour and a half to
find veins for 2 intravenous lines carrying the lethal drugs.

Christopher J. Newton, 37, was pronounced dead at 11:53 a.m. after being
lethally injected at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility near
Lucasville. The effort to implant the IV lines went on so long that he was
granted a 2-minute bathroom break midway.

Newton was calm, smiling and laughing as the execution proceeded, a media
witness said. His last words reportedly were: "Yes, boy, I could sure go
for some beef stew and a chicken bone. That's it."

While doing time at the Mansfield Correctional Institution on a burglary
charge, Newton strangled his cellmate, Jason Brewer, 27, on Nov. 15, 2001.
Newton was laughing and had Brewer's blood smeared on his face when
corrections officers got to the cell, records show.

After the execution, Newton's public-defender attorney, Robert K. Lowe,
read a statement from his client, in which Newton apologized to Brewer's
family and said, "If I could take it back, I would."

Newton waived his final legal appeals to speed his execution. He had
sought the death penalty from the beginning.

"I'm for the death penalty. If you're sentenced to it, they should carry
it out, he said in a press pool interview at the Mansfield prison last
month.

Had it not been for Brewer's murder, Newton would have completed his
8-year sentence and been released this July.

A high school dropout in his hometown of Huron along Lake Erie, Newton
began stealing candy bars as a youngster and moved on to more serious
crimes. He served time in prison in the 1990s, was released, and committed
a new crime with the intention of returning to prison.

"I didn't feel comfortable out there...I think a lot of it is the
structure, becoming accustomed to the structure," he said

Newton earned his GED and a culinary degree while in prison.

He talked about his motive for killing Brewer in a dispute over over a
chess match.

"He kept giving up. Every time I put him in check, he'd give up and want
to start a new game," Newton said. "I just got tired of it."

Newton becomes the 2nd condemned inmat eto be put to death in Ohio this
year and the 26th overall since the state resumed capital punishment in
1999.

Newton becomes the 21st condemned inmate to be put to death this year in
the USA and the 1078th overall since the nation resumed executions on
January 17, 1977.

(sources: Columbus Dispatch & Rick Halperin)

**********************

Prison staff struggle to find condemned inmate's veins


Prison staff struggled Thursday to insert shunts in the arms of a man
scheduled to die for killing a prison cellmate from Toledo because he got
tired of the cellmate giving up during chess games.

Christopher Newtons scheduled execution time of 10 a.m. passed, and
members of the prison medical staff needed about 20 minutes to insert a
shunt in the left arm and had spent at least 30 minutes working on the
right arm, said Leo Jennings, a spokesman for Attorney General Marc Dann.

"They can't find the vein, they can't find an insertion point," Jennings
said.

Newton was still in his holding cell and had not been brought into the
death chamber at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility, Jennings said.

A year ago, inmate Joseph Lewis Clarks execution was delayed more than an
hour because the team could not find a suitable vein.

Newton, 37, who declined to seek any appeals in his case and did not ask
Gov. Ted Strickland for clemency, had no late legal actions pending.

(source: Associated Press)

****************************

ACLU Calls for Immediate Halt to Executions----

Ohio's 2nd botched execution in as many years demonstrates pervasive flaws
with capital punishment


Today, the ACLU of Ohio called for an immediate halt to all executions in
light of Ohio's 2nd botched execution.

"What is clear from today's botched execution is that the State doesn't
know how to execute people without torturing them to death," said ACLU of
Ohio staff attorney Carrie Davis.

"Clearly our execution procedures, even though revised after last year's
botched execution of Joseph Clark, still do not guarantee an execution is
humane," Davis continued.

"There continue to be serious problems with Ohio's death penalty
procedures that demand an immediate halt to executions so that a thorough
study of the death penalty system may be conducted."

Christopher Newton was scheduled to be executed today by the State of
Ohio. The State began the procedure at 10:00 a.m. However, more than an
hour and a half later, it was reported that the executioners were unable
to locate a vein. Yet, the State continued to try.

On May 2, 2006, Ohio executed Joseph L. Clark after a lengthy delay
resulting from a collapsed vein.

"Having 1 botched execution is too many; that Ohio has now had 2 botched
executions in as many years is intolerable," Davis concluded.

(source: ACLU Press Release)






LOUISIANA:

Magee indicted in slaying of wife, son; death penalty to be sought


St. Tammany Parish District Attorney Walter Reed said Thursday that his
office will seek the death penalty for a Pearl River man who allegedly
murdered his estranged wife and the couple's 5-year-old son on April 18.

Reed announced his decision just minutes after a state grand jury indicted
James C. Magee, 29, on 2 counts of 1st-degree murder for the shotgun
slaying of Adrienne Magee, 28, and the couple's son, Ashton Magee.

The panel also indicted Magee with 2 counts of attempted 1st-degree murder
of the couple's two daughters, Ashleigh Magee, 8, and Aliesha Magee, 7.

Reed said once the grand jury returned the 1st-degree murder indictments,
it is up to him to decide if his office will seek the death penalty for
Magee.

"I can say with great honesty, it was a very easy decision for me," Reed
said, noting the "most brutal" manner in which the slayings occurred,
especially the 5 year-old boy who was shot in back as he tried to flee.

Magee is accussed of opening fire on his family after ramming his
estranged wife's car off the road in Tall Timbers subdivision north of
Mandeville where she and their 3 children were staying. The shooting
occurred the day after Magee was served with a restraining order obtained
by his estranged life.

First assistant district attorney Houston "Hammy" Gascon said the case
could got to trial in 14 to 18 months.

(source: Times-Picayune)






ARIZONA:

High court to say if new DNA can apply to old rape cases


The Arizona Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to consider whether statutes
of limitations bar prosecution of rapes and most other serious crimes that
happened before 1997 even if law enforcement unearths new DNA evidence
tying a suspect to the crime.

The Supreme Court agreed without comment to review a Nov. 30 ruling in
which a Tucson-based Court of Appeals panel said prosecutions in such
cases were barred because the statute of limitations begins running in
nearly all felony cases when a crime is committed and not when a suspect
is identified.

The Court of Appeals said it was up to the Legislature, not the court, to
strike an appropriate balance between the interests of the accused in
defending against criminal charges when evidence is readily available and
the state's interest in prosecuting the cases.

There are exceptions for murder cases, where there is no time limit for
bringing a case, and for sexual assaults that occurred after Jan. 1, 1997.
That date is when a new state law took effect effectively abolishing the
statute of limitations for those crimes while a defendant is unknown.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear an appeal by Pima County
prosecutors in the case of Olin Gene Taylor.

Taylor was accused of breaking into a woman's home in 1994 and forcing her
to perform sex acts at knifepoint. Taylor was identified as a suspect in
October 2005 through DNA testing.

Taylor will be released from custody if the case is dismissed. Records
show he was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 1998 for molesting an
8-year-old girl, but the conviction was overturned and he served 5 years
after pleading no contest to attempted kidnapping.

(source: Associated Press)

**********************

Letters From Hell----Robert Comer wrote to New Times from prison for
years, predicting recently that his soul would be in the real hell "soon
enough"


Robert "Gypsy" Comer, whose path to death by lethal injection was paved
with bad intentions, sent a series of letters to New Times before his
execution on the morning of Tuesday, May 22.

Robert "Gypsy" Comer was executed on Tuesday, May 22, for a 1987 murder,
rape, and kidnapping."I'm ready, and I've been ready," he wrote from his
cell in Florence on April 29, "though I know there are some people out
there who are going to fight me until they put the needle in my arm."

Comer was the 1st person executed in Arizona since November 2000.

Comer's missives remained consistent with what he had been telling
attorneys, judges, confidants and New Times for years  that he wanted to
waive any remaining appeals and be put to death as soon as possible.

Becoming a death penalty "volunteer" was far more of a legal ordeal than
the 50-year-old killer originally envisioned. Along the way, Comer's
toughest fight was against his court-appointed habeas lawyers, whose job
it was to find legally compelling flaws in their client's trial and
sentencing.

Those attorneys tried desperately to convince various state and federal
courts ("Arizona's Worst Criminal," May 2, 2002) that Comer had been
rendered mentally incompetent to make decisions about his life by his long
incarceration at the Arizona Department of Corrections' SMU II unit, a
super-maximum-security facility, where isolation from other inmates and
other mind-twisting punishments are the norm.

But Comer had presented a credible case for his execution during a
memorable March 2002 federal hearing in downtown Phoenix, telling U.S.
District Court Judge Roslyn Silver that "[this] has to do with me paying
my debt to society. I ended a whole bunch of innocent people's lives, and
changed their lives forever. I was sentenced to death. That's the legal
sentence."

Silver concluded that Comer was competent, a key finding that moved the
long-standing case ahead.

After years of other legal twists and turns, the infamous inmate finally
landed on a gurney and poison coursed fatally through his veins, courtesy
of the state of Arizona.

It is unlikely that those who weren't in Arizona back in early February
1987 can grasp the level of antipathy and horror that Comer's name
conjured. It was then that the California native went on a reign of terror
near remote Apache Lake, about 65 miles north of downtown Phoenix.

Then 30, a methamphetamine-fueled Comer shot a disabled camper in the head
at close range, then cut his throat, and stole his possessions. He also
killed the man's beagle. Later that night, Comer and a female companion
(who would serve about six years in prison) came upon a young Chicago
couple who were camping.

Comer raped the young woman after binding her boyfriend to the fender of
his pickup truck. He left the boyfriend tied to the truck in the desert.
He then kidnapped the woman in her vehicle (taking along his companion and
her 2 young children). He continued to sexually assault the Chicago woman
over the next several hours.

That vehicle ran out of gas north of Roosevelt Lake, and the young woman
miraculously escaped into Tonto National Forest, practically naked. Bloody
and bruised, she sought refuge for almost 24 hours, until passers-by found
her along Arizona 188 near the little town of Punkin Center, about 40
miles north of Phoenix.

The next day, Maricopa County Sheriff's deputies, aided by tracking dogs,
arrested Comer and his companion at a campground in Gila County.

Television cameras recorded the end of the highly publicized manhunt, and
the heavily tattooed, feral-looking career criminal reminded many of the
infamous Charlie Manson, except that this guy did his own killing instead
of leaving it to others.

During his trial, which Comer chose not to attend, the prosecutor called
him the "reincarnation of the devil." An appellate court later
characterized the statement as excessive but not necessarily inaccurate.

Jail officials rousted Comer from his cell before his sentencing with
water from a pressurized fire hose (after he had tried to stick one of his
captors with a shank), shackled him, covered with only a blanket and his
underpants, to a wheelchair, and took him into court, where he told county
Judge Ron Reinstein, "Let's get it on."

The crimes for which Comer went to death row in April 1988 included
murder, kidnapping and rape.

Though long known to prison authorities as one of their most troublesome
and dangerous inmates (Comer's weapon-making abilities are the stuff of
legend among correctional officers), records show that his last infraction
came August 30, 2001.

In his letters to New Times, Comer attributed his marked positive change
in attitude to courteous corrections officers who treated him with respect
and to attorneys Holly Gieszl and Mike Kimerer, who worked on his behalf
to expedite the execution.

But he added a cautionary note in a 2002 letter, writing: "I am not
Hannibal Lecter, but I'm not that far away from being him, either, under
the right circumstances."

Comer adopted a more pensive tone in recent weeks, as the likelihood of
his execution became apparent.

"Executions are creepy," he wrote. "Imposed death  violent or at the hands
of the state is wrong. Murder is murder, no matter the name you give it .
. . I don't believe in Jesus, have no urge to tell anyone to go to Hell
(I'll be there soon enough), and telling the families I've destroyed that
I'm sorry on my deathbed, no matter how sincere I am, would just be
written off as a load of crap.

"So, they will either forgive me of their own accord, or hate me.
Hopefully, if they hate me, they will channel that to helping other
victims cope. Wish I could help stop the violence. In the end, it's all so
very stupid."

In this final letter to New Times, received last week, Comer wrote a
postscript to his terrible life.

"Just between you and me, I'm tortured in my mind, in my heart for all the
wrong I've done," he wrote. "No matter what was done to me, I had no right
to destroy anyone's peace, anyone's life. How could I hurt, destroy like
that?"

(source: Phoenix New Times)






FLORIDA:

Ex-librarian gets death penalty -- again


In Fort Lauderdale, a former librarian has again been sentenced to death
for beating his girlfriend to death with a hammer.

Circuit Judge Alfred Horowitz condemned William Coday on Wednesday after
reading his handwritten 25-page confession detailing how he had planned
for a month to kill Gloria Gomez in 1997.

Coday, 50, wrote that he clubbed Gomez to the floor with a hammer as she
went through a closet, then repeatedly stabbed her. She was struck 57
times with a hammer and suffered 87 stab wounds.

"I am writing this letter to disclose the truth about the murder, and why
I believe I should have been sentenced to death," he wrote.

He also wrote, "At no time did I ever have a psychotic break from
reality."

Coday was originally convicted and sentenced to death in 2002, but the
Florida Supreme Court overturned the sentence in October. The court
faulted Horowitz, the trial judge, for rejecting testimony from 6
psychiatric experts, who said Coday's psychosis was triggered by
rejection.

Horowitz reconsidered that testimony, but found it was outweighed by the
cruel nature of the crime.

Coday served as his own attorney Wednesday, but was assisted by 2 public
defenders. He smiled as he left the courtroom.

In 1978, Coday was convicted in Germany of fatally beating another woman
with a hammer. He was released after serving less than half of a 3-year
sentence, a reduced penalty due to his psychiatric problems.

(source: Associated Press)

********************

Fingerprint scandal extends grip----Seminole investigation spreads to
management as murder cases are reviewed


An internal investigation into the fingerprint scandal at the Seminole
County Sheriff's Office has now spread to management.

Ann Mallory does not read fingerprints, but the longtime employee
supervised 3 department employees whose fingerprint work has been
discredited.

The print examiner at the center of the controversy, Donna Birks, 49,
reported directly to Mallory, according to department records.

Print analysts at the Florida Department of Law Enforcement have found 5
bad calls by Birks. In four cases, FDLE says the prints were inconclusive.

In the 5th, Birks had said the print on the window of a burglarized 1996
Chevy belonged to a 16-year-old Oviedo boy. FDLE examiners say it belonged
to someone else.

Exactly why Mallory is now under investigation is not clear. Sheriff's Lt.
Dennis Lemma said that information would come out after the investigation
concludes.

But according to a March memo from another department print analyst, Birks
told a co-worker that Mallory was letting her cut corners, perhaps
unknowingly.

When 2 co-workers would not verify a print identification Birks had made,
Birks sent it to a retired co-worker, Bill McQuay, who did verify it,
according to the memo by Tara Williamson, whose analysis also is under
question.

Birks told Williamson that Mallory authorized McQuay's review, according
to the memo.

FDLE says that print was inconclusive.

Mallory also allowed Birks to violate a print-reading rule by having a
trainee with just 3 weeks of experience verify another of Birks'
identifications, according to the memo.

Williamson verified two of Birks' bad calls, McQuay 3, according to Chris
White, Seminole County's chief prosecutor.

Williamson is still with the Sheriff's Office but no longer reading
prints. McQuay, 60, retired 2 years ago.

Birks, Williamson and McQuay worked more than 1,200 cases that wound up in
court.

Prosecutors have been combing through them for weeks, trying to identify
those that hinged exclusively or nearly so on fingerprint identifications.

They've focused on 17 cases, 5 of them murders, and asked FDLE to rush
through reworks. 2 of those cases put men on death row.

John Buzia was convicted of killing his 71-year-old boss with an ax, and
Clemente Javier "Shorty" Aguirre was convicted of killing a 68-year-old
woman in a wheelchair and her daughter.

FDLE has reworked the suspect print in Aguirre's case -- a bloody chef's
knife -- and concluded that Birks went too far when she said it matched
Aguirre.

However, other evidence ties Aguirre to the crime, including blood on his
clothes.

A re-examination of the Buzia case has not been finished, White said.

Birks said a bloody fingerprint found at the scene belonged to Buzia, but
even if that's discredited, there's little chance he will go free.

The victim's wife told jurors that Buzia attacked her that afternoon with
an ax and left her, bloody and disabled, in a back room while he attacked
her husband. Also, Buzia confessed to authorities.

Although the 5 murder cases have the highest profile, none was based
solely on fingerprint evidence.

In fact, most had DNA that also tied the suspect to the victims.

It's the other 12 cases that could pose the biggest problems. In many of
them, there is "very little to corroborate" the print identification,
White said.

They include robberies, a kidnapping, car thefts and burglaries. 2
suspected robbers, including one also accused of kidnapping, were
convicted and are serving 35-year prison terms, according to court
records.

FDLE has reworked about 150 of Birks' cases. The Sheriff's Office has
asked it to reanalyze about that many more, but the total could go much
higher.

Lemma said that in Birks' 13-year career with the Sheriff's Office, she
made identifications in about 1,500 cases.

She has not testified in any cases since she was suspended with pay April
4.

"I don't think she'll ever be asked to testify anymore for anything," said
Assistant Public Defender Tim Caudill, who represented Aguirre and other
murder suspects in cases that Birks worked.

(source: Orlando Sentinel)