Jan 22 TEXAS: Judge change denied for 2nd defendant in KFC mass slayings The judge presiding over the upcoming trial of 1 of 2 men accused in the notorious Kentucky Fried Chicken killings will remain on the case after a visiting judge rejected the defendant's request for a new judge. Darnell Hartsfield, 47, is facing a possible death sentence when he is tried for 5 capital murder charges for the abduction and shooting deaths of 5 people from the Kilgore KFC in 1983. Hartsfield argued that state District Judge J. Clay Gossett was biased after heading earlier grand juries related to the KFC slayings and presiding over the 2005 KFC-related case where Hartsfield was convicted of perjury and given a life prison sentence. But visiting Judge Lisa Burkhalter, a former Angelina County court-at-law judge, denied Hartsfield's motion to remove Gossett during a hearing Thursday. Hartsfield's cousin, Romeo Pinkerton, 49, of Tyler, pleaded guilty in October to his role in the slayings. In his plea, made in the midst of his capital murder trial that could have resulted in a death sentence, he accepted 5 life prison terms. Testifying in last week's hearing, Hartsfield said he felt he could not get a fair trial from Gossett. He said Gossett overruled all of his attorney's objections during the perjury trial. "During my perjury trial I felt Judge Gossett leaned toward the state and let (Assistant Attorney General Lisa Tanner) do what she wanted to do," Hartsfield testified. "I don't see how (Gossett) could be impartial." Tanner disputed that argument. "There's absolutely no evidence other than this defendant's own perceptions that the judge has shown any bias in this case," Tanner said. After the hearing, Gossett met with attorneys from both sides and set Aug. 25 as a target date to begin jury selection for Hartsfield's trial. Prosecutors have asked it be moved from Henderson because of publicity in the high-profile case that became one of Texas' longest unsolved mass murders. Gossett moved Pinkerton's trial to New Boston, in far northeast Texas. Gossett has said he will attend a judicial conference in the coming weeks and planned to ask judges from the Dallas and San Antonio areas about moving the trial there and about availability of courtroom space. The 5 victims were found dead along an East Texas oilfield road about 15 miles from the KFC restaurant in Kilgore where they were abducted during a holdup the previous night, Sept. 23, 1983. Killed were David Maxwell, 20; Mary Tyler, 37; Opie Ann Hughes, 39; Joey Johnson, 20; and Monte Landers, 19. All but Landers worked at the restaurant about 25 miles east of Tyler and 115 miles east of Dallas. Landers was a friend of Maxwell and Johnson and was visiting them as the restaurant was closing for the night. (source: Associated Press) FLORIDA: New trial could benefit Orlando man sentenced death in 2002 slayings When Roy Lee McDuffie enters the courtroom for his trial, he will see 12 new faces. They won't be the faces of the men and women who convicted him of murder or recommended he should die. They'll be the faces of the 12 jurors who will decide his fate on this rare second chance awarded to him by the Florida Supreme Court. He will get some new attorneys. There will be different arguments. But the facts remain the facts. The state's theory of the crime likely won't change. "But they don't call it a new trial for nothing," said attorney Rob Sanders, who represented McDuffie in 2005 and will work on his defense again. "There's style. There's form. There's a different dynamic. There will be characteristics where this really is a new trial." It is relatively rare for criminal defendants to get a 2nd chance on appeal. One law professor estimates that less than 5 % get a new trial. And usually, the outcome remains the same. Sanders is hoping for an exception. McDuffie, of Orlando, was convicted of 2 counts of 1st-degree murder and 1 count each of false imprisonment and armed robbery the 1st time. He received 2 death sentences for the Oct. 25, 2002, slayings of Deltona Dollar General store clerks Janice Schneider, 39, and Dawniell Beauregard, 27. "I'm expecting something different," Sanders said. "I think there are still some things we can find that will help us." Advantage, defense Attorneys and experts agree that a 2nd trial gives a distinct advantage to the defense. There will be no surprises -- they know what witnesses will say, they know what evidence will be presented. But the defense can change its strategy. "I don't know that I've ever tried a case that I didn't later think maybe I could have done this differently," said Orlando defense attorney Cheney Mason, who has been practicing for nearly four decades. Charles Rose, a law professor at Stetson University Law School, said it appears McDuffie's case was circumstantial and returned for a cumulative set of errors. The state's case hinged on a single palm print found on a piece of duct tape binding one of the victim's wrists and the motive of a debt-laden desperate man. The Florida Supreme Court ruled that McDuffie's attorneys should have been allowed to question two witnesses further, that a threatening voice-mail message McDuffie left for an attorney should not have been relayed to jurors and that a friend who had given McDuffie a small amount of money should have been allowed to testify. His next trial is slated for May. McDuffie has maintained his innocence since his 2002 arrest.While the advantages the second time around include knowing what witnesses will say and fewer surprises, there are some disadvantages. The evidence is older and as time passes it's more difficult to keep everything organized, Rose said. Witnesses might have passed on or moved away. If they can be found, memories fade and their recollections might leave the jury with a different impression. Defendants who testified the first time, as McDuffie did, are also at a disadvantage, Rose said, because they are locked into their past story. "If they change [his version of the events], his credibility will be destroyed," Rose said. Past verdicts changed Several cases in Central Florida have gotten a second look. Joseph "Crazy Joe" Spaziano, the Outlaws biker convicted of killing an 18-year-old in 1973, got a second chance after a witness recanted. He had been on death row and beat the electric chair 5 times before the conviction was thrown out 22 years later. He ended up pleading to the charges the 2nd time and was sentenced to time served, but he will remain in prison until he dies for a separate rape conviction. Michael Stoll, a Sanford man who planned and coached another to kill his wife in 1994, was granted a new trial by the Florida Supreme Court. He was convicted both times, but was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole the 2nd time. He had received a death sentence the 1st time. Robert Craig, one of the men convicted in the 1981 Wall Sink murders of 2 ranchers, argued for a new sentence more than 4 times. First condemned to death row for both murders, he eventually earned consecutive life sentences. The Farina brothers, convicted and sent to death row in the 1992 Daytona Beach Taco Bell murders, got a 2nd sentencing hearing because of problems with the original jury. A 2nd jury also recommended death for Anthony and Jeff Farina, but the younger brother, Jeff, eventually received a life sentence. He was 16 at the time of the killings and the high court deemed execution for him a cruel and unusual punishment. State Attorney John Tanner said that in an ideal situation cases would be tried once, the verdict would stand and attorneys would move on to the next case. Often the public thinks that cases are overturned on a "technicality," but Tanner said the appeals process ensures that a defendant's rights were honored and that everything was done properly and legally. "It's hard on the families . . . on both sides," he said of the 2nd trial. Schneider's sister, Kelli Lee, said she's angry she has to go through this again. "All I feel right now is anger, anger at the whole situation," she said. "We're trying to get on with our lives. We have to move forward. As long as this is going on, we can't move forward. It's like taking a major step back." (source: Orlando Sentinel) NEBRASKA: Death penalty bill signals Chambers' last chance at repeal Ernie Chambers has introduced his bill to repeal the death penalty, a battle he's promised to make the priority of his last session as a state senator. The bill (LB1063) would change the maximum penalty to life in prison without possibility of parole. In a pre-session survey by The Associated Press, 11 of Nebraska's 49 state senators said they supported repealing the death penalty - versus 6 last year. 23 said they opposed a repeal, versus 29 last year. Others were unsure or didn't respond to the survey. The closest Chambers came to having the law changed was in 1979, when his bill passed on a 26-22 vote but was vetoed by then-Governor Charley Thone. (source: Associated Press) CONNECTICUT: Push to abolish death penalty could delay special session As if lawmakers did not have enough to debate during Tuesday's special session on criminal justice reforms, a New Haven Democrat was threatening to renew his push to abolish the death penalty. "If that happens that could take this debate into the next century," House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero, R-Norwalk, said during an interview at the capitol. House and Senate members are meeting in Hartford Tuesday to try and pass reforms in response to last summer's home invasion and triple murder in Cheshire. Though Democrats and Republicans see eye to eye on several issues, they have been at odds over stronger penalties for home invasions and for 3-time violent offenders. The debate was already expected to last several hours when rumor spread Tuesday morning that state Rep. William Dyson, D-New Haven, would try to use the opportunity to propose an amendment to any bills that would replace the death penalty with a sentence of life without parole. "I have an inkling that just might happen. Id certainly love to do that," Dyson said, but added he had not drafted any language. Dyson in recent years has earned a reputation for doggedly trying to kill the death penalty, often at the expense of other lawmakers' bills. Last June, on the final day of the regular 2007 legislative session, Dyson's threat to amend a bill providing more openness to court proceedings killed that legislation. Lawrence Perosino, spokesman for House Speaker James Amann, D-Milford, said Amann had told Democrats to be prepared because Dyson might bring the amendment forward. "Whether or not it happens is still to be determined," Perosino said. (source: Stamford Advocate) NORTH CAROLINA: Kitty Hawk officer could face death penalty in kidnapping, killing A Kitty Hawk police officer could face the death penalty if convicted of 1st-degree murder charges related to the kidnapping and death of Donald Bradley Smithwick in October. In November, a Hertford County grand jury handed down indictments for 1st-degree kidnapping, 1st-degree murder and armed robbery charges against Raymond Christian Jedele, 38, of Kill Devil Hills. Janet Denise Harrell, 33, of Chowan County will face charges of being an accessory after the fact to 1st-degree kidnapping, 1st-degree murder and armed robbery. Harrell is Smithwicks ex-wife. Jedele has worked as a police officer in Kitty Hawk since April 2006, but was placed on disciplinary suspension without pay under Kitty Hawk town policy, according to an Oct. 5 news release from the Kitty Hawk Police Department. On Nov. 27, an order was filed in the Hertford County Superior Clerk of Court's office, indicating that Jedele's case would be tried as a capital murder case. Smithwick, 33, was reported missing Oct. 4 at about 6 a.m. by his wife, Sindi, who called police when she saw a man dressed in black accosting him in their yard, then drive away with Smithwick in his Dodge pickup. Smithwick's truck was found abandoned near his home at about 9 a.m. as a heavy fog lifted, said Ahoskie police Chief Troy Fitzhugh. Police from Ahoskie and several surrounding jurisdictions had assisted in the search for Smithwick. The search concentrated around the U.S. 17 bridge over the Chowan River, near where Jedele was involved in a 3-vehicle car crash about an hour after Smithwick was reported kidnapped. Smithwick's body was found in Chowan County on Oct. 9 by a North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission officer who was helping with the search, according to a statement issued by the law enforcement agencies involved in the investigation. He was positively identified a few days later. While authorities were searching for Smithwick, police charged Jedele, a Kitty Hawk police officer, with 1st-degree kidnapping and he was held on a $10 million bond. Harrell was subsequently charged with being an accessory to a crime after the fact. She was being held on a $4.8 million bond. Both were being held at the Hertford County Jail, but Jedele was later transferred to Central Prison in Raleigh. (source: The Virginian-Pilot) **************** D.A. takes death penalty off table if Marine suspect found in Mexico Suspect likely in Mexico, which usually refuses to extradite if death penalty an issue Marine Cpl. Cesar Laurean is wanted for Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach's killing Investigators have "compelling evidence" Laurean is in his native Mexico Suspected killer Marine Cpl. Cesar Laurean is most likely in Mexico, authorities said, and the prosecutor said he has agreed not to seek the death penalty if Laurean is arrested in that country. Marine Cpl. Cesar Laurean, wanted for murder, may have fled to his native Mexico. 1 of 2 Onslow County, North Carolina, District Attorney Dewey Hudson told CNN that he was shown "strongly compelling evidence" compiled by federal authorities that shows Laurean is in Mexico. Hudson said he has asked through the State Department that Laurean be arrested if he is found in Mexico. But, he said, he had "no other option" but to take the death penalty off the table if Laurean is found there. Mexico has a longstanding record of refusing to extradite suspects to the United States if they face a possible death sentence if convicted. "I had to agree not to seek the death penalty," Hudson told CNN. "My hands were tied if I wanted to bring him here to face murder charges." "It was very frustrating and disappointing," Hudson added. Laurean has been charged with murder in the death of Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach. Her charred remains were found January 11 in a fire pit in Laurean's backyard. Investigators found the body after Laurean's wife came forward with a note her husband had written saying he had buried Lauterbach, who was eight months pregnant, after she slit her own throat during an argument. Hudson said Laurean apparently entered his native Mexico only days after leaving behind that note. Hudson would not elaborate on the evidence suggesting Laurean is in Mexico, which he said he viewed Friday. The FBI would not comment on what evidence it might have that Laurean is across the border. "We strongly suspect, but have not confirmed, he is in Mexico," FBI spokesman Newsom Summerlin. Summerlin said the FBI plans to circulate in Mexico either matchbooks or business cards with Laurean's photo. The Marine's wanted poster is on the FBI's Most Wanted List with a $25,000 reward. Police believe Lauterbach was killed December 14, the same day she bought a bus ticket for travel for the following day. But in the note provided to police by Laurean's wife, the corporal claimed Lauterbach killed herself December 15. Police said an autopsy revealed the pregnant Marine was killed by a blow to the head. Police said they are analyzing a possible murder weapon provided by an undisclosed witness. A spokesman told CNN it could several weeks to determine whether it was used to kill Lauterbach. Laurean's wife told police about the note January 11, a day after she said Laurean told her what allegedly happened and following a meeting with a lawyer. Police describe her as a cooperating witness. Lauterbach was scheduled to testify last month at a military hearing after accusing Laurean of raping her last spring. On Monday, the Onslow County sheriff's office released new photographs of the fire pit in Lauren's backyard taken just before Lauterbach's body was discovered January 11. Police said some neighbors reported seeing a group of Marines having a Christmas Day barbecue in Laurean's backyard. Police also released photographs that show Laurean's living room and garage with paint cans. Investigators said they found blood in more than one room of Laurean's home, some of which was covered by fresh paint. The sheriff's office said it has documented evidence Laurean bought paint, concrete blocks and a wheelbarrow at a home improvement store December 16. In a store surveillance video, Laurean is seen walking into the store with another man, who has not been identified. Investigators are also awaiting the results of DNA paternity tests, which they said could take weeks, to tell whether Laurean was the father of Lauterbach's unborn child. (source: CNN) USA: Cruel crimes Aggravated sexual assault of a baby, shootings, stabbings, keeping an innocent girl alive after being kidnapped for three days, torturing her before decapitating her -- and lethal injection is cruel and unusual? Give me a break. They ought to bring back "Ol' Sparky." John Arguell (source: Letters to the Editor, Corpus Christi Caller-Times)
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., NEB., CONN., N.C., USA
Rick Halperin Tue, 22 Jan 2008 15:49:44 -0600 (Central Standard Time)
