[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----WASH., ALA., N.H., S.C., US MIL., CALIF.

[Rick Halperin]

Dec. 3



WASHINGTON:

U.S. Supreme Court lifts stay on Stenson execution


The U.S. Supreme Court today lifted the federal stay of the execution of
Darold Ray Stenson in Washington state, but a state court stay remained in
effect.

The U.S. Supreme Court today lifted the federal stay of the execution of
Darold Ray Stenson in Washington state, but a state court stay remained in
effect.

In a brief written statement, Justice John Paul Stevens said that on
procedural grounds, the stay ordered by U.S. District Judge Lonny Suko in
Yakima was not warranted.

Stenson's execution had been scheduled for today at the state penitentiary
in Walla Walla. But on Monday, the Washington state Supreme Court denied
Clallam County's request to vacate a county judge's stay of execution. The
state Department of Corrections then canceled the execution, saying a new
date would not be set for at least 90 days.

Stenson, 56, was convicted of 2 counts of aggravated murder for the 1993
slaying of his wife, Denise, and a business partner, Frank Hoerner, at
Stenson's Clallam County exotic bird farm.

Last week, the state asked the U.S. Supreme Court to consider lifting the
federal stay, granted by Suko after Stenson's attorneys argued that the
state had recently revised its procedure for administering lethal
injections without previously announcing any changes or going through a
rule-making process.

In his decision, Stevens wrote that Yuko's granting of the stay was
improper because the challenge to the lethal injection protocol already
had been ruled upon by a Thurston County Superior Court judge.

"The state court decided under state law that the execution could proceed
while respondent's constitutional claim was pending," Stevens wrote.
"Accordingly, the District Court should not have entered a stay to give
the state court additional time it decided was not warranted."

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg concurred in the ruling.

Stenson's execution was delayed after the state Supreme Court was asked to
consider the stay imposed by Clallam County Superior Court Judge Kenneth
Williams on Nov. 25, after Williams learned that a former inmate had come
forward as a possible witness.

Williams initially had declined to issue a stay so requested DNA testing
could be conducted, but reversed his decision after hearing details of the
possible new evidence.

According to a court transcript, the new witness, Robert Shinn, claimed a
2nd man had told him that Stenson was not guilty and had been framed.
Shinn said both he and the 2nd man were high on drugs at the time of the
conversation, about 8 years ago, the transcript said.

(source: Seattle Times)






ALABAMA:

State Supreme Court sets 5 execution dates for 2009


The Alabama Supreme Court today announced that it has scheduled an
execution a month for the first 5 months of 2009.

James Callahan's execution date has been set for Jan. 15. Callahan was
convicted of the 1992 murder of Rebecca Suzanne Howell in Calhoun County.

Danny Joe Bradley's execution has been set for Feb. 12. Bradley has been
on death row for 25 years for the 1983 murder of Rhonda Hardin in
Piedmont.

Phillip D. Hallford is scheduled to die March 19. He was convicted of the
1986 murder of Charles Eddie Shannon in Dale County.

Jimmy Lee Dill's execution date is April 16. He was convicted of the 1988
robbery and murder of Leon Shaw in Jefferson County.

Willie McNair's execution has been scheduled for May 14. He was sentenced
to death for the robbery and murder of Ella Foy Riley of Abbeville in
1990.

Executions were effectively halted nationwide for months while the U.S.
Supreme Court considered a Kentucky case challenging lethal injection. The
court cleared the way for executions to resume earlier this year.

Alabama has scheduled just 1 execution since deciding the Kentucky case of
Baze v. Rees.

Convicted killer Thomas Arthur was scheduled to be executed July 31. But
the state Supreme Court issued a stay after another inmate claimed he was
responsible for the murder for which Arthur was convicted.

A hearing in Arthur's case has been scheduled for Feb. 17

(source: Birmingham News)






NEW HAMPSHIRE:

Defense Begins Case Against Death Penalty For Addison----Addison's Father
Testifies That He, Addison's Mother Used Drugs


The defense has begun its case in the Michael Addison capital murder
trial, asking a jury not to impose the death penalty.

Addison was convicted of shooting and killing Manchester police Officer
Michael Briggs on Oct. 16, 2006. The jury is now hearing testimony to
determine whether Addison should be sentenced to death or life in prison
without parole.

Prosecutors wrapped up their case Tuesday with testimony from Briggs'
parents, who described the effect of the loss of their son.

The defense began its case by calling Michael Wilson, Addison's father.
Wilson testified that he and Addison's mother, Cheryl Kaiser, were
teenagers when Addison was born.

Wilson said he and Kaiser started drinking and using marijuana while they
were in their mid-teens, and Kaiser continued drinking and using marijuana
while she was pregnant. He said hospital officials were also concerned
that Kaiser was unfit to take Addison home after he was born.

Defense attorneys are bringing up mitigating factors that the jury could
consider to decide against the death penalty.

(source: WMUR News)






SOUTH CAROLINA:

2nd death penalty trial for Stephen Stanko on hold


The 2nd death penalty trial for convicted killed Stephen Stanko remains on
hold, while his appeals wind their way through the court system.

The U.S. Supreme Court denied Stanko a new trial last month, but there has
been no court date set for another death penalty trial in Horry County,
said 15th Circuit Deputy Solicitor Fran Humphries.

Stanko has not been tried in connection with the death of Conway resident
Henry Lee Turner.

Stanko will next try for post conviction relief, which means that he
believes his defense was inadequate during his 1st death penalty trial in
Georgetown, according to court officials. Judge Michael Baxley placed an
order halting the second trial, and has not lifted that order, Humphries
said Wednesday.

Stanko is accused of killing Turner in his home in April 2005.

Stanko, who is now on death row in Ridgeville, S.C. was first convicted in
2006 of the death of his girlfriend, Laura Ling, and the rape of her
daughter.

Other charges that would have been heard during the Conway trial are also
on hold. These include charges that Stanko forged a judge's name on fake
court documents and pretended to be an attorney, Humphries said.

(source: MyrtleBeachOnline)


US MILITARY:

Judge stays first U.S. military execution in 47 years


A federal judge has stayed what would be the nation's first military
execution since 1961, saying the U.S. soldier -- who was convicted of rape
and murder two decades ago -- should have more time to pursue a federal
appeal.

Pvt. Ronald Gray has been held on Fort Leavenworth's death row since 1988.

Pvt. Ronald Gray has been on the military's death row at Fort Leavenworth,
Kansas, since 1988. A court-martial panel sitting at Fort Bragg, North
Carolina, unanimously convicted him of committing two murders and other
crimes in the Fayetteville, North Carolina, area and sentenced him to
death.

Last month, the Army said Gray was scheduled to be executed by lethal
injection December 10 at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute,
Indiana.

But in an order issued November 26, U.S. District Judge Richard Rogers of
Kansas said that a stay is necessary so Gray can pursue his federal
appeal. Rogers ruled on a motion filed by Gray's attorneys, who asked for
time to challenge the legality of his convictions and sentence.

Government attorneys have asked Rogers to reconsider his decision, saying
that Gray seeks a stay "apparently based on the premise that at some point
he will identify a new legal issue or discover new evidence" upon which to
appeal and that Gray "continues to delay unnecessarily."

In a response filed Tuesday, Gray's defense attorneys point out that the
U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear his appeal in March 2001, and "since
then, it has taken the Department of the Army, the Department of Defense,
the Department of Justice and the Office of the President over 7 years to
approve as final Private Gray's sentence of death. The significant
constitutional issues presented on the face of Private Gray's case ...
have obviously troubled the decision-makers, as evidenced by the years
they had his case under advisement."

President Bush approved Gray's death sentence in July, making it final,
defense attorneys write in the filing.

Inmates sentenced to death in state and federal courts are given a year to
file federal appeals after their death sentence becomes final, they claim,
and members of the military under death sentences should receive the same
consideration.

"Private Gray is seeking federal habeas court review for the 1st time and
he has not delayed commencing this action," defense attorney Thomas Bath
wrote. "In fact, until the president approved his death sentence, there
was no action available."

Gray was convicted of raping and killing a female Army private and a
civilian near his post at Fort Bragg. He also was convicted of the rape
and attempted murder of another fellow soldier in her barracks at the
post.

Military and civilian courts both found Gray responsible for the crimes,
which were committed between April 1986 and January 1987. Gray pleaded
guilty to 2 murders and 5 rapes in a civilian court and was sentenced to 3
consecutive and 5 concurrent life terms.

The general court-martial at Fort Bragg then tried him and in April 1988
convicted him of two murders, an attempted murder and 3 rapes.

Bush's July action, the Army said in a statement at the time, followed
"completion of a full appellate process, which upheld the conviction and
sentence to death."

Members of the U.S. military have been executed throughout history, but
just 10 have been executed with presidential approval since 1951 under the
Uniform Code of Military justice, the military's modern-day legal system.
The Army has also sought Bush's authorization to execute another condemned
soldier, Pvt. Dwight Loving, who was convicted of killing and robbing 2
cab drivers in 1988.

The last U.S. military execution was in 1961, when Army Pvt. John Bennett
was hanged for raping and attempting to kill an 11-year-old Austrian girl.
Bennett was sentenced in 1955.

The U.S. military hasn't actively pursued an execution for a military
prisoner since President Kennedy commuted a death sentence in 1962. 9 men
are currently on military death row.

(source: CNN)





CALIFORNIA:

Closing arugments under way in 1978 Lafayette slaying case


Closing arguments are under way today at the capital murder trial of a
72-year-old former death row inmate charged in the 1978 death of a
Lafayette woman.

Convicted serial rapist Darryl Kemp was extradited to Contra Costa County
from a Texas prison in 2005 after DNA linked him to the long-unsolved
killing of Armida Wiltsey, a 40-year-old mother of one who was attacked
while jogging at the Lafayette Reservoir. She was raped and strangled.

Kemp was previously sentenced to death for the rape and murder of a Los
Angeles woman in 1959 but his sentenced was commuted to life with the
possibility of parole in 1972, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled
California's death penalty unconstitutional. Wiltsey was killed four
months after Kemp was paroled to Contra Costa County.

Deputy District Attorney Mark Peterson told the jury they can find Kemp is
guilty of 1st-degree murder 1 of 3 ways  by agreeing the killing was
premeditated and deliberate, or by finding true special allegations that
the killing occurred in the commission or attempted commission of a rape
or kidnapping.

If the jury find one of the special allegations true, the panel will then
decide whether Kemp should be executed or serve life in prison without the
possibility of parole.

Defense attorneys David Headley and Larry Barnes are focusing on Kemp's
intent. They argue that his criminal history shows that he would choke his
victims to cut off their oxygen supply so he could control them, but not
to kill them. They refute the charge that Kemp intended to kidnap Wiltsey
when he dragged her 65 feet off the reservoir jogging trail and suggested
that the sexual assault on Wiltsey was sodomy, which does not fall under
the legal definition of rape.

Kemp, who has numerous health issues, appeared to be asleep in his
wheelchair through much of the morning's arguments.

Closing arguments continue this afternoon in Judge John Kennedy's Martinez
courtroom.

(source: Contra Costa Times)