Jan. 28
NEVADA:
Judge weighs whether death penalty is appropriate in Wendover murder case
Toni Fratto was articulate and attentive in court Friday until she came to the
word "guilty."
Then, the 19-year-old started to cry.
"You willfully and unlawfully, with malice and forethought, did kill and murder
another human being," Judge Daniel Papez said, summarizing the crime and her
guilty plea to second-degree murder, "in concert with Kody Cree Patten."
Fratto admitted that on March 3, she struck Micaela "Mickey" Costanzo, 16, in
the back with a shovel and sat on her legs while Kody Patten cut the girl's
throat. When Papez asked if Fratto knew then that Micaela had been killed, she
replied:
"No. I was in the car when all of that went down."
The judge then outlined the plea agreement that allowed Fratto to plead guilty
to a reduced charge of second-degree murder. The plea ensured that she couldn't
receive a death sentence or a life prison sentence without the possibility of
parole.
When she is sentenced April 16, Fratto faces a minimum of 11 years in prison.
Her attorney, John Springgate, estimated an 18-year sentence for the murder
charge and an enhancement for the use of a dangerous weapon.
Fratto was visibly emotional both when she was advised of the prison time and
when she recounted her part in Micaela's death.
As part of Fratto's plea deal, she will testify against the man she once
planned to marry during his trial. The judge on Friday scheduled a 2-week trial
for Patten to begin July 31, according to Patten's attorney, John Ohlson.
Fratto and Patten are accused of taking Micaela, their fellow classmate at West
Wendover High School, to a remote desert area near the Utah-Nevada border after
Micaela's track practice on March 3.
In court documents, Patten told investigators he twice pushed Micaela to the
ground during a fight, the second time causing her to hit her head on a rock.
He claimed she then went into "some sort of seizure," he panicked and struck
her in the head with a shovel.
Micaela's body was found in a shallow grave on March 5. Patten was arrested
days later. Fratto's only tie to the killing was a recorded confession she gave
to Patten's attorney nearly 2 months later.
At a preliminary hearing last year, however, attorneys for Patten and Fratto
pointed to the other's client as the primary instigator in Micaela's death.
While no definite motive for the killing has been discussed, Ohlson said Fratto
was the catalyst for the assault because she was jealous of Micaela, who was a
friend of Patten. "Kody had no motive, no reason," Ohlson said Friday. "This
little girl was his childhood friend. He had no beef."
Springgate, said Friday he could not comment on what may have motivated his
client to participate in the murder, but said the deal was an acknowledgment
that Fratto "came forward and is accepting her responsibility in these events."
Fratto's parents, who have said that their daughter fabricated the confession
because she loves Patten, said Friday they believe the account she gave in
court and that she did have some involvement in Micaela's death.
"Toni is a very courageous and honest person," her mother, Cassie Fratto, said
after the hearing. "She couldn't live with this and this was the only right
thing to do and she knew that and made this decision herself."
Cassie Fratto said she speaks with her daughter often and believes she is very
remorseful about what happened and is determined to see the truth come out.
Claude Fratto, the woman's father, said that while he believes his daughter is
also a victim, he was pleased with her decision to plead guilty.
"It's very, very difficult, but the family is in full support of this," her
father said. "She's doing well. It's a big burden lifted off of her."
At a separate hearing earlier in the day, Patten sat quietly and intently in a
red Elko County sheriff's jumpsuit Friday as his attorneys literally argued for
his life.
Prosecutors have filed notice that they intend to seek the death penalty
against Patten, 18, who is charged with first-degree murder in Micaela's death.
Ohlson filed a motion to take the death penalty off the table.
"(This case) relies on one, single aggravating factor," he told Papez, arguing
that prosecutors can't use the same aggravating incident to get both a
conviction and a death penalty sentence.
In this case, the allegation is that Patten and Fratto killed Micaela at the
same time they were committing a kidnapping. Prosecutors plan to use the
kidnapping as a factor in a possible conviction of 1st-degree murder. Jurors
could convict a person of that crime if they believe it occurred during the
commission of another felony.
Prosecutors also want to use the kidnapping as an aggravated factor during a
possible penalty stage to determine whether a death sentence is warranted.
Prosecutor Mark Torvinen told the judge that the matter is not one to be
determined by judges or attorneys.
"That's for the jury to decide," he said.
Papez took the matter under advisement and said he would issue a written
ruling.
Ohlson said if not for the death penalty, his client would also have entered
into a plea agreement. Prosecutors apparently didn't want to compromise on the
death penalty. While talks of a deal "fell apart," Ohlson said he is "always
open" to the possibility.
Torvinen declined to comment following either hearing Friday.
(source: Deseret News)
CALIFORNIA:
Ex-Marine once on Illinois death row pleads not guilty in 5 Calif. murders
A former Marine convicted of killing 3 women in Illinois pleaded not guilty
Friday to murdering 5 more women in California.
Andrew Urdiales entered the plea in Superior Court in Santa Ana, said Farrah
Emami, a spokeswoman for the Orange County district attorney's office.
Authorities allege Urdiales killed 5 women in Orange, Riverside and San Diego
counties between 1986 and 1995. Many of his victims were prostitutes who were
repeatedly stabbed or shot.
Urdiales was convicted in 2002 of 2 murders in Illinois and a 3rd in 2004 and
sentenced to death. 2 of those sentences were commuted to life without the
possibility of parole in 2002 by then-Gov. George Ryan. When Illinois banned
the death penalty, Urdiales' 3rd sentence also was commuted to life without the
possibility of parole.
Last year, Urdiales was extradited to Orange County, where prosecutors are
seeking the death penalty.
Messages were left Friday for defense attorneys Lewis Clapp and Constance
Istratescu.
Orange County prosecutors say Urdiales began a killing spree soon after moving
to Southern California in 1984 as a 19-year-old Marine. He murdered 4 women
while in the military and a 5th while vacationing in Palm Springs in 1995, four
years after his discharge, prosecutors allege.
The cases went unsolved for more than a decade until Urdiales was arrested
after his return to his native Illinois and confessed there to the California
killings, prosecutors said.
Urdiales is being held without bail. His next court hearing is Feb. 10.
(source: Associated Press)
VIRGINIA:
Capital punishment: A Christian response?
Every Sunday as I enter my church, I am greeted by a rendering of the crucified
Christ upon the cross — a common image in many churches, in all its disturbing
glory.
The cross upon which Christ was crucified is the dominant image of, for and
about Christianity.
The cross and the crucifixion have several levels of meaning for Christians. On
the most basic level, the image of the crucified Christ is an abject symbol of
man's inhumanity to man, as well as the horrific outcome of capital punishment.
A man sentenced to death and nailed to a cross for a slow, painful, public
death.
According to Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, capital
punishment is on the decline across the country, with four states (New York,
New Jersey, New Mexico and Illinois) recently opting for alternatives to the
death penalty. In stark contrast to that trend, there are two proposed bills
before the current session of the Virginia General Assembly that seek to expand
the use of the death penalty in the commonwealth by making accessories to
killings eligible. The new bills are Senate Bill 58, introduced by Sen. Mark D.
Obenshain, and House Bill 389, introduced by Del. C. Todd Gilbert.
Virginia already holds the distinction of being second only to Texas in the use
of capital punishment, and now there are those who want to expand it.
Last spring, my church, the Church of the Holy Comforter (Episcopal), hosted a
series of programs considering capital punishment from a Christian perspective.
These programs featured Mark Osler, from the University of St. Thomas Law
School, and Jeanne Bishop, a Cook County, Ill., public defender and a member of
Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights. On Palm Sunday weekend Mark and
Jeanne staged the sentencing phase of the Trial of Christ, with former Virginia
Attorney General William Broaddus presiding. The trial was based on Mark's
book, "Jesus on Death Row."
As the General Assembly debates these proposed bills, Mark and Jeanne will
continue their work. They will be presenting the Trial of Christ around the
country, ranging from Boston to Oklahoma City. In Oklahoma City they will stage
the trial at Crossings Community Church, one of the largest nondenominational
churches in the country. Oklahoma City is also where, in 1995, the now-executed
Timothy McVeigh bombed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building.
Capital punishment is a highly provocative, enormously difficult issue, and
particularly so when the associated crimes are so terribly heinous. A natural
human response to such crimes is to seek retribution. The people of Oklahoma
City know this; Jeanne Bishop also knows this after the murder of her sister
and her brother-in-law in 1991.
As I sit in church on Sundays and ponder an unadorned cross above the High
Altar, I wonder how Christ might call to us from the cross to respond to such
crimes. I also wonder, along with all the traditional theology associated with
the cross, if there is additional significance for us to consider. Capital
punishment never restores the life of a victim, it never undoes a crime, and it
runs the risk of creating new victims. As Mark and Jeanne have suggested, John
8:3-7 may shed some light on this, as Christ commands us, "Let anyone among you
who is without sin be the first to throw a stone."
Time and again, Christ confounds us by calling us to respond in ways that are
contrary to our human instincts and contrary to our sense of worldly justice.
May the General Assembly consider the crucified Christ and John 8:3-7 as they
debate Senate Bill 58 and House Bill 389.
(source: Craig Anderson is a psychologist and the director of counseling
services at Randolph-Macon College. He is an active member of the Church of the
Holy Comforter and the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia, and is a supporter of
Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty; Richmond Times-Dispatch)
FLORIDA:
High cost of the death penalty doesn't seem worth it
I went to court Thursday to see the hearing that ended with a jury voting that
John Kalisz should die for his crimes — and to see if this bothered me even a
little bit.
It didn't.
I'm not especially religious and don't think every human soul is sacred.
There's 7 billion of us. This is a crowded old ship, and I don't see any reason
to save a seat for this guy.
You don't want to take that line of thinking too far, of course. Just restrict
it to people such as Kalisz. He shot five people, killed three of them and
caused one of the injured survivors, his pregnant 18-year-old niece, to lose
her fetus. If anybody deserves the death penalty, he does.
But the real issue here is not whether we're personally okay with the death
penalty. It's whether the state needs to sentence people to death — whether
it's worth its while.
I don't think so, partly because of how these sentences usually play out.
One other person whose guilt is not in question, who fully deserved his death
sentence, is Freddie Lee Hall. Along with another man, Hall kidnapped a
21-year-old woman from a grocery in Leesburg, raped her, killed her and then
drove to Hernando County, where he murdered a young sheriff's deputy named
Lonnie Coburn.
That was 34 years ago, and Hall is still on death row, leading some people to
say that we need to hurry the entire process along, to cut out all the
ridiculous appeals.
The problem is, some appeals aren't ridiculous, and there's a local example of
that, too. The 1986 first-degree murder conviction of Paul Hildwin is looking
shakier all the time, with the most recent revelation being that DNA at the
crime scene did not belong to Hildwin, but to another potential suspect, the
victim's boyfriend.
And what is the public benefit when a murderer is eventually put to death?
If we want to make sure murderers don't murder again, we can lock them up for
life. This is just as effective as execution for deterring other would-be
killers. That, at least, is the majority opinion of criminologists.
So this isn't really about public safety. It's about emotional satisfaction —
good old-fashioned revenge.
And, in a way, our pursuit of this elevates criminals, gives them more
attention, time and money than they deserve.
A 2008 study by the nonpartisan Urban Institute put the long-term cost of a
life sentence at $1.1 million, compared to $3 million for death. Though the
study was conducted in another state, experts have told me previously that the
costs in Florida are probably comparable — an extra $2 million or so for every
death sentence.
I know it's a pittance spread over the general population. But wouldn't you
rather this money be spent on education or health care?
Prosecutor Pete Magrino seemed to do a fine job of convicting Kalisz. Then we
could have let the judge take over and sentence him to life in prison. We could
have dispensed with the penalty phase, which is needed only for death cases,
and the inevitable appeals which, in Kalisz's case, seem sure to waste the time
of a lot of smart, well-educated people.
Because this is what I thought when I saw the judge, lawyers, jurors, bailiff
and court reporter gathered on Thursday to decide the fate of the contemptible
man in the defendant's chair:
We're going to spend an extra $2 million on this guy?
(source: Dan DeWitt, Tampa Bay Times)
GEORGIA:
Daughter, ex-wife testify on behalf of killer facing possible death
sentence----Spell's daughter and ex-wife testify in an effort to halt a death
sentence.
A Glynn County jury will begin deliberating today on whether to sentence James
Ralph “J.R.” Spell to death for murdering his ex-wife and mother-in-law.
The 8-woman, 4-man jury convicted Spell of murder and other charges Saturday
night and now must decide if there were enough aggravating circumstances to put
him to death. Otherwise, he will be sentenced to life, possibly without parole.
All 3 days of trial this week have been devoted to evidence just on the
sentence, much of it from psychiatrists testifying that Spell’s behavior
resulted from brain damage.
Thursday, Spell’s sister and adult daughter spoke of how he has remained
involved with his family while jailed since Aug. 1, 2007, the day after he his
wife and her parents were killed at their home near Jesup. He was acquitted of
slaying his father-in-law, Gary Aldine Harrison, 54, because of a mistake in
the indictment.
His daughter, Jessica McKinzie, 24, said her father took her camping and
fishing, helped her with softball and taught her to ride horses in rodeo
parades.
Imposing the death penalty “would be devastating for the whole family,” she
said.
Faye Bennett, Spell’s ex-wife and the mother of McKinzie and Spell’s son, Eric
Spell, said he was a good provider and supported them in all their activities.
At the end of the presentation of evidence last week, Spell said he didn’t want
to testify, but his words were used in court.
The jury heard a half-hour taped interview with Georgia Bureau of Investigation
in which Spell detailed how he first shot his father-in-law to death, then his
mother-in-law, Jeaney Mason Spell, 49, and then stabbed his wife Amanda Spell,
24.
They heard some of his words again Thursday as clinical psychologist Greg Cox
testified about interviews with Spell.
Spell said he hated that it had happened, but there was nothing to do to change
it, Cox said.
“Once it started,” Spell said of the killings, “it didn’t stop until it was
over.”
(source: Florida Times-Union)
ALABAMA:
Attorney questions death penalty in new book
After defending more than 60 people charged with capital murder and getting
three men off Alabama's death row, attorney Richard Jaffe wants to get people
talking about the death penalty and what he believes are its flaws.
The longtime Alabama defense lawyer, who once represented Olympic park bomber
Eric Rudolph, has written a book detailing many of the cases in his long career
and explaining problems he has experienced with the capital justice system.
In "Quest for Justice: Defending the Damned," Jaffe details what he sees as
recurring problems with death penalty litigation: Unqualified lawyers handling
complex capital issues; a system that doesn't provide enough money for the
defense to investigate cases and hire experts; and the arbitrary nature of
death sentences.
"I'm not trying to change anyone's mind," Jaffe said during an interview in his
office. "I wrote the book to invite people to question the death penalty
system."
Jaffe spent years on the book partly because of his heavy case load. He tried a
murder case just last week in Birmingham, winning an acquittal of his client
after jurors deliberated only about 20 minutes.
Randal Padgett hasn't yet read "Quest for Justice," but he plans to soon: He's
among the three Alabama people Jaffe helped free from death row.
The 3 are among almost 140 people who have been freed from death sentences
nationwide after initially being convicted and condemned to die.
Once confined to a 40-square-foot cell near the electric chair, Padgett, 51,
now runs a small store in the north Alabama city of Guntersville. Of his
one-time attorney he said simply: "I love Richard."
Padgett spent more than 3 years on death row after being convicted of capital
murder in the slaying of wife Cathy Padgett, found dead in their north Alabama
home in 1990 with dozens of stab wounds. A court ruled that prosecutors didn't
give the defense an adequate opportunity to review forensic evidence and
ordered a retrial, resulting in Padgett's acquittal and release from death row
with Jaffe serving as his lawyer.
"If that hadn't happened, I'd probably be dead by now," Padgett said. "I used
to think that in the United States of America you didn't go to prison if you
were innocent, but I found out that's not the way it works." Clay Crenshaw, an
assistant attorney general who specializes in handling death penalty cases for
the state, said only 2 of 3 people Jaffe helped free from death row were
acquitted at re-trials. The 3rd, James "Bo" Cochran, was convicted on a lesser
charge and freed from prison on time served. And, he said, police never charged
anyone else in the slayings first blamed on Padgett and Jaffe's other
exonerated death row client, Gary Drinkard.
"I am not aware of the district attorney in those counties conducting any
investigation to search for the 'real murderer,'" Crenshaw said. "While Jaffe
might celebrate these 3 cases, they all involved individuals who were convicted
of capital murder and are now walking the streets."
Jaffe, who almost accidentally became a capital defense specialist after being
appointed to a death penalty case 3 decades ago, uses Padgett's case and others
to write that the system is badly flawed.
The book will be released Feb. 1 by New Horizon Press of Far Hills, N.J.
While Alabama's system is particularly troubled, he writes, dozens of people
have been wrongly convicted and executed nationwide.
"I always keep in mind the maxim that history will judge a society by the way
it treats its weakest and most vulnerable," he writes. "Although most would
assume that applies to the poor and the elderly, all one has to do is look at
those who end up on death row: an overwhelming number are poor, disenfranchised
and suffer from some mental defect or even brain damage."
Rudolph is the most famous of Jaffe's clients. Jaffe represented him for more
than a year after his capture, withdrawing from the case before the loner
pleaded guilty to bombing a Birmingham abortion clinic in 1998 and setting off
bombs at the Olympics and elsewhere in Atlanta earlier. The deal allowed
Rudolph to avoid a possible death sentence.
Jaffe got along with Rudolph, who admitted to planting the abortion clinic bomb
in what he said was a bid to save the lives of unborn children. But Rudolph
didn't express remorse for the death of a Birmingham police officer killed by
the blast, and Jaffe said Rudolph's actions highlighted a big difference
between them.
"In every case, my fervent stance against the death penalty precludes a person
or the government from taking any life, for any reason," he writes.
"Only the God I believe in should do that, without human intervention."
(source: Associated Press)
KENTUCKY:
Age catching up with Ky. death row population, state's prison medical bills
rise
Kentucky's death row is aging and it's costing the state.
The 35 condemned inmates have an average age of 50, which is 14 years older
inmates not condemned to death.
While the state doesn't keep separate statistics for the death row population,
medical expenses for the Department of Corrections rose each year since 2008,
from $49.1 million that year to $54.8 million in fiscal year 2011.
Corrections spokeswoman Lisa Lamb said death row inmates get the same care as
the other 23,000 inmates, including medications and regular access to doctors.
The non-profit Human Rights Watch reports that nationwide, 8 percent of the
prison population in 2010 was 55 or older. Medical parole are not an option for
inmate sentenced to die, so Kentucky is left paying those inmates' medical
expenses.
(source: Associated Press)
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