Jan. 5
NEVADA:
Man held in 3 Vegas slayings to face death penalty
Prosecutors in Las Vegas will seek the death penalty for a white-haired
ex-convict from Mississippi who has been described by police as a serial killer
responsible for the slayings of 3 women in 1978 and 1994.
An aide to Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said Friday that a
panel of prosecutors meeting Thursday decided to proceed with a death penalty
trial for Nathaniel Burkett.
Burkett has pleaded not guilty to killing 22-year-old Barbara Ann Cox in April
1978, and 27-year-old Tina Gayle Mitchell and 32-year-old Althea Maria Williams
in separate slayings in 1994.
The panel of prosecutors decided against seeking the death penalty for Las
Vegas firefighter George Tiaffay and a homeless man he's accused of hiring for
a fatal hammer attack on the firefighter's estranged cocktail waitress wife.
(source: Associated Press)
OKLAHOMA:
Tulsa County prosecutors filed notice Friday that they will pursue the death
penalty for 2 men who are charged with murdering 3 people on Good Friday
Jacob Carl England, 20, and Alvin Lee Watts, 33, are each charged with 3 counts
of 1st-degree murder and 2 counts of shooting with intent to kill.
A court document signed by District Attorney Tim Harris alleges that both
defendants deserve the death penalty because of 2 "aggravating circumstances,"
as defined by statute.
Prosecutors assert that England and Watts knowingly created a great risk of
death to more than 1 person and that there is a probability they "would commit
criminal acts of violence that could constitute a continuing threat to
society."
A jury can impose a death sentence if it finds that at least 1 aggravating
circumstance exists.
On the other hand, jurors can spare a defendant's life even if they find that
multiple such circumstances apply.
In a case that drew national attention to Tulsa, England and Watts are accused
of shooting 5 black people at random at 4 north Tulsa locations on April 6.
Prosecutors have labeled the shootings hate crimes and also charged England and
Watts with 5 misdemeanor counts of malicious intimidation or harassment because
of race, color, ancestry or national origin.
Court documents state that both defendants are white.
Bobby Clark, 54, Dannaer Fields, 49, and William Allen, 31, were killed in the
shooting spree.
The counts of shooting with an intent to kill relate to 2 victims, David Hall
and Deon Tucker, who were wounded and survived.
The filing of a "bill of particulars" stating the alleged aggravating
circumstances "allows the jury to consider all 3 punishments for 1st-degree
murder under Oklahoma law if they find the defendant(s) guilty beyond a
reasonable doubt," Harris said in a news release.
In addition to death, the punishment options for 1st-degree murder are life
with or without the possibility of parole.
Attorney Clark Brewster, representing England, said his law firm is working
"very hard and very zealously" in defending England. He indicated that his firm
will be "very prepared" for a trial.
Defense attorney Shena Burgess, representing Watts, said she will soon file a
motion requesting separate trials for the defendants.
No trial date is yet set. Both men are scheduled to be arraigned next week in
District Judge James Caputo's court.
Death penalty cases
The Tulsa County District Attorney's Office announced Friday that it would seek
the death penalty for Jacob England, 20, and Alvin Watts, 33, in the Good
Friday shootings. This is the 2nd pending death-penalty case in Tulsa County,
and more could follow.
2 other cases - and potentially a 3rd - will be reviewed for death-penalty
consideration, according to a spokeswoman in the District Attorney's Office.
District Attorney Tim Harris uses a process known as a team review to determine
whether the death penalty will be pursued. Members of his staff with experience
in death-penalty cases consider various factors of a case and consult with
defense attorneys before making a determination about seeking the death
penalty.
Here is a look at other Tulsa County cases in which the District Attorney's
Office is seeking the death penalty or considering seeking it:
Seeking death penalty
Charged: Joel Rosales Pina and Zane Corbett Atchison
Details: Rosales, 28, and Atchison, 25, are each charged with 2 counts of
1st-degree murder linked to the Aug. 30, 2011, shooting deaths of Patrick
Shawn, 27, and Kaylyn Kosofsky, 24, outside the Open Bible Fellowship, 1439 E.
71st St. Shawn was found dead on the church parking lot pavement near a
QuikTrip convenience store at 1415 E. 71st St. Kosofsky's body was found in the
passenger seat of a car in another area of the parking lot, according to
police.
Will be reviewed
Charged: Tyrone Dale David Woodfork
Details: Woodfork, 20, faces a 1st-degree murder charge in the death of Nancy
Strait, who was 84. He also faces trial on 6 other felonies - 2 counts of armed
robbery, 2 counts of 1st-degree rape, and single counts of 1st-degree burglary
and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. Woodfork is accused of raping
and killing Strait and beating her husband in a March 14 home invasion. Her
husband, Bob Strait, 89, died nearly 2 months later. A medical examiner ruled
that he died of natural causes.
Will be reviewed
Charged: Willie A. Wise and Jeremy Lee Foster
Details: Wise, 20, and Foster, 22, face 2 counts of 1st-degree murder in the
killings of Graydon Wesley "Wes" Brown and Scott Dewayne Norman, who were
fatally shot July 14 at the Best Buy store at 5520 E. Skelly Drive. Brown, 58,
was shopping with his 10-year-old daughter inside the store when he was hit by
gunfire from outside. Investigators believe that Norman, 34, who was outside
the store, was the target of the gunshots.
Review is possible
Charged: Jerard Dwaine Davis and Darren Price
Details: Davis, 22, and Price, 20, each face trial on 2 counts of 1st-degree
felony murder. They are charged in the Sept. 18 slayings of Carissa Horton, 18,
and Ethan Nichols, 21. Horton, an Oral Roberts University student, and Nichols,
who worked at the Blue Bell Creamery in Broken Arrow, were found dead Sept. 19
in Hicks Park, in the 3400 block of South Mingo Road. Both had been shot in the
head. Davis and Price are both also charged with 2 counts of robbery with a
firearm.
Death-row inmates
Here's a look at current death-row inmates who were convicted of crimes in
Tulsa County. All 13 were convicted of 1st-degree murder:
Name-Conviction-date-Victim(s)
Anthony Banks-Oct. 28, 1999-Sun I. "Kim" Travis, 24
Michael A. Browning-March 28, 2003-Harry Hye, 64; Teresa Hye, 42
Jemaine M. Cannon-March 26, 1996-Sharonda White Clark, 20
James J. Fitzgerald-Nov. 13, 2000-William J. Russell, 22
Clarence R. Goode Jr-Jan. 14, 2008-Kayla Burchett, 10; Tara Burchett-Thompson,
25; Mitch Thompson Jr., 28
John Fitzgerald "George" Hanson*-May 18, 2001-Mary Agnes Bowles, 77; Jerald
Thurman, 44
Shelton D. Jackson-Dec. 4, 1998-Monica Decator, 23
Raymond E. Johnson-July 28, 2009-Brooke Whitaker, 24; Kya Whitaker, 7 months
Wade G. Lay-Oct. 24, 2005-Kenneth Anderson, 36
Victor C. Miller-Nov. 17, 2008-Mary Agnes Bowles, 77; Jerald Thurman, 44
Jeremy A. Williams-March 6, 2006-Amber Rogers, 26
Sterling B. Williams-May 10, 1999-LeAnna Beth Hand, 22
Michael L. Wilson-April 9, 1997-Richard Yost, 30
* Hanson is serving time in federal prison for robbery and gun crimes.
(source: Tulsa World)
MARYLAND:
Progressive votes in November pave way for death penalty repeal; Senate
president opens the door to abolition of capital punishment
That was no small development heard the other day from the longtime president
of the Maryland Senate, Thomas V. Mike Miller. The white-haired gatekeeper of
the General Assembly said he would allow a vote to repeal the death penalty on
the Senate floor, presumably bypassing the committee that usually blocks the
legislation from getting there.
This from the politician who once declared: "If there's a gallows, I'll pull
the lever. If there's a gas chamber, I'll turn the valve. If it's lethal
injection, I'll insert the needle."
Only 2 years ago, Miller called for the resumption of executions by lethal
injection, and apparently he still favors the death penalty for certain kinds
of killers. "I strongly believe the death penalty should remain in effect for
mass murderers," he told Baltimore Sun reporter Michael Dresser. "I feel
strongly that the Hitlers, the Eichmanns, the slavers, these mass murderers,
they deserve the ultimate penalty."
Some bizarre references there. It sounds like the Senate president wants to
hold the death penalty in reserve for the perpetrators of a hypothetical
systematic horror - ethnic cleansing or genocide. I guess I would agree with
him and encourage promulgation of such a provision - if I considered such a
concern to be rational.
These days the "mass murderers" most Americans are familiar with are the young
men who used handguns and assault-style rifles to kill or wound numerous men,
women and children - at Blacksburg, Tucson, Aurora, Newtown. And assuming that
those who carry out such killings act as they do because of a mental disorder,
and assuming they are found mentally incompetent by a court, they would not
face the death penalty. Under Maryland law, they would receive a sentence of
life without parole.
But I digress.
What's important is that Miller stated publicly that he would allow an
up-or-down vote on abolition of the death penalty if Gov. Martin O'Malley could
get enough votes for approval ahead of time.
That's how things work in Annapolis - you don't get your bill to the floor
unless you've lined up your duckies. "This is not just a debating site where
you sit and debate the bills that don't have a chance of passage," said Miller,
in one of those been-there-done-that comments we're used to hearing from him.
When you've been around as long as this guy - he went into the General Assembly
in 1971 - you get tired and jaded; whatever idealism you had about the
legislative process has worn thin as frog's hair, and you just want to avoid
contention, get everything over within 90 days and, of course, maintain your
power.
Miller, who is 70, announced last week that he was running for re-election to
an 11th term, and he said he wants to stay in office until the Chesapeake Bay
is cleaned up, which pretty much sounds like President-for-Life.
But I digress.
The important thing is that Miller will allow the Senate vote. So that's an
opening for opponents of capital punishment, including the governor.
Abolition of Maryland's death penalty is way past due, and it's time for
legislators to take the progressive step and abolish this barbaric punishment -
regardless of fear of voter backlash.
It has been 4 years, after all, since the Civiletti Commission, comprised of
supporters and opponents of the death penalty, concluded that it should be
abolished.
The state commission found disturbing racial disparities. Since the 1970s,
killers of white victims have been 21/2 times more likely to face the death
penalty than killers of African-Americans. There are geographic disparities,
too, rendering prosecutorial application of the death penalty across the state
"irretrievably inconsistent, nonuniform and therefore unfair," the commission
found.
And the Maryland death penalty is a waste of taxpayer money. Up through the
time of the commission report, in December 2008, 62 of 77 death sentences had
been reversed after costly trials and appeals.
"There are other areas in the Maryland criminal justice system where such
resources could be applied and significant results could be expected," the
commission said.
After that, the General Assembly came close to abolishing capital punishment
but left it on the books, with decidedly tough conditions for its application.
Still, this is Maryland, a blue state that just did a couple of smart,
progressive things. We approved same-sex marriage and granted in-state college
tuition rates for some illegal immigrants. If Annapolis politicians were
looking for encouragement to keep moving forward, they got it from November's
election, when both of those measures passed handily at referendum. It's time
to push ahead and abolish the death penalty now.
Mike Miller, of course, acknowledged that he "was on the wrong side of history"
when he voted against same-sex marriage. While it's foolish to expect him to
change his position on the death penalty and get on the right side of history,
he's at least willing to get out of the way of it, and for this we are
thankful.
(source: Dan Rodricks, Baltimore Sun)
***********************
Maryland death penalty up for debate again
Death penalty opponents may get the chance to debate the issue in Maryland when
lawmakers get back to work in Annapolis next week.
If Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley can garner support from enough senators for a
repeal of the death penalty, Senate President Mike Miller says he'll make sure
the measure gets a chance in the Senate.
The Baltimore Sun reports that Miller - who supports the death penalty in some
cases, like mass murder - has said that if O'Malley has the votes to consider a
repeal, he will find a way to move it forward.
Last month, NAACP President Benjamin Jealous met with O'Malley to ask his
support for repeal.
4 years ago, O'Malley made barring the death penalty a priority. His initiative
failed, but he did get a compromise bill that limited its use.
(source: WTOP News)
FLORIDA:
Democratic legislator files bill to end death penalty
Rep. Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda, D-Tallahassee, has filed a bill that would
end the death penalty in Florida, saying there are better and more cost
effective ways to prevent crime. She advocates for more sentences of life
without parole, saying this option is less costly than executions. Rehwinkel
Vasilinda also argues that executions aren't effective in preventing future
murders.
From the news release announcing the filing of HB 4005:
The recent tragedies of Sandy Hook and Webster, NY have resulted in an urgent
cry for improved methods and additional resources to prevent such heinous
crimes. For neither of the perpetrators of the these horrible murders would the
death penalty have been an effective deterrent as both predators killed
themselves. The Florida Legislature will be working to find more effective ways
to use all our resources to prevent similar crimes. In fact, Florida schools
are asking for 200 million dollars to provide armed resource officers at every
school
"The appropriate question for state government is how do we keep people safe
from crime in the most cost effective way? When you analyze the numbers, state
sponsored execution is not the correct answer," says Rep. Rehwinkel Vasilinda.
Executions are carried out at staggering cost to taxpayers. In its 2000 report,
"The High Price of Killing Killers," the Palm Beach Post found that Florida
spent approximately $51 million each year to enforce the death penalty.
Other states and nations have done similar studies. With the money saved by
passing HB 4005, Florida could add 450 highly trained and well-equipped law
enforcement officers and significantly upgrade the FDLE investigative tools,
including utilizing cutting-edge technology to apprehend criminals and prevent
further crime. "We could take this money and invest it in law enforcement. In
the end, Floridians would see a much greater benefit from having hundreds more
police officers and detectives on the street, armed with the very best
equipment," said Rehwinkel Vasilinda.
Life without parole is a sensible alternative to the death penalty. Almost
every state in the country now has life in prison without parole. Unlike
decades ago, a sentence of life without parole means exactly what it says -
convicts locked away in prison until they die. It is much less expensive to
keep a criminal in prison for life without parole than it is for the state to
execute them. Most significantly, there has never been a conclusive study that
has found that the death penalty is an effective deterrent to murder.
(source: Miami Herald)
*******************
Florida's death penalty needs fresh look
5 states have repealed the death penalty in the last 5 years, with Connecticut
being the latest to do so in 2012. But as other states have become disenchanted
with the ultimate punishment in light of so many wrongful convictions, Florida
has moved in the opposite direction. Last year was the second straight that
this state ranked 1st in the nation in new death sentences. There is no
political will to follow the enlightened path of abolition, but Florida should
analyze why it's such an outlier. One likely reason is that the state doesn't
require a unanimous jury recommendation for a death sentence, and that should
be corrected.
Florida sentenced 22 people to death last year. Compare that to the more
populous states of California, which sentenced 14 inmates, and Texas, the state
with the highest number of executions, which put only nine new inmates on death
row last year, according to a report by the Death Penalty Information Center.
The count raises Florida's death row to 408 inmates. But even as the state adds
to death row, it is finding problems with the legal process that led to those
convictions and sentences. Florida also leads the nation in the number of
inmates who have had their death sentences reversed. Out of 142 such cases,
Florida accounts for 24 exonerations, acquittals or charges subsequently
dropped, according to the center. Some of these were people shown to be
innocent of the crime. Frank Lee Smith, for instance, was exonerated
posthumously. The real perpetrator was identified after Smith died from cancer
after he spent the last 14 years of his life on death row.
For years, Raoul Cantero has been urging the state Legislature to require a
unanimous jury recommendation for death sentences. Cantero, a former Florida
Supreme Court justice who was appointed by Gov. Jeb Bush, saw how haphazardly
the death penalty is applied and how that can lead to potentially fatal errors.
Florida is the only state that permits juries to recommend a death sentence,
and identify the aggravating circumstances that justify it, by a simple
majority vote. Were jurors required to all agree, as they are required to do
for the initial conviction, the close cases that don't truly meet the test of
heinousness wouldn't clog up the courts.
Lawmakers who have opposed this change have made the argument that it might
have led to serial killers such as Ted Bundy escaping the death penalty, since
Bundy's jury voted 10-2 for death. But when a jury that knows its judgment has
to be unanimous, it changes the dynamic of the deliberations and the likely
outcome.
The state's leaders have been deaf to the inherent sense in adopting the
tighter rules of other death penalty states. During the last legislative
session, a bill that would have required capital-juror unanimity during the
trial's sentencing phase was not heard. But if state lawmakers aren't willing
to do what is right, the courts may force the issue. Both state and federal
courts have indicated constitutional concerns over Florida's system.
Florida is long overdue for a comprehensive look at its death penalty system -
an endeavor that any branch of government could launch. It is time to better
understand why the state imposes the penalty disproportionately and ends up
exonerating so many. Basic justice demands it.
(source: Editorial, Tampa Bay Times)
OHIO:
Death row shrinks as new sentences dwindle
The head count on Ohio's death row continues to decline, as the killers who
either are executed, die in prison of other causes, win appeals or receive
clemency outnumber new death sentences, which have slowed to a trickle.
Ohio courts handed down just 3 new death sentences in 2012. Meanwhile, 3
killers were executed, 1 died in prison, 1 had his death sentence vacated but
remains in prison, 2 received clemency and life sentences from Gov. John Kasich
and 1 inmate, Thomas Michael Keenan of Cleveland, was released on appeal
because of prosecutorial misconduct in his case. That leaves 142 people - 141
men and 1 woman - on Ohio's death row today, down from 147 a year ago and 204
in January 2003.
New death sentences decreasing
The number of new death sentences in Ohio and other states with capital
punishment have dropped sharply in recent years. It's a trend experts attribute
to increased public skepticism about the penalty in an era of high-profile DNA
exonerations, the staggering costs associated with pursuing death sentences and
the option now in all 33 death-penalty states of sentencing killers to life in
prison without the possibility of parole. 5 states have abolished the death
penalty since 2000.
Nationwide, there were 77 new death sentences in 2012, virtually unchanged from
76 in 2011, according to the Death Penalty Information Center of Washington,
D.C. That's the 2nd-lowest number of new sentences since the death penalty was
reinstated in 1976, and a far cry from the record 315 new death sentences U.S.
courts handed down in 1996. Ohio's 3 new sentences in 2012 were up 1 from the 2
in 2011, but down markedly from the record 24 imposed in 1985.
"There is no singular reason" for the decline, said Ohio Public Defender Tim
Young. "It's a combination of things."
Among the factors, he said, are "evolving societal values" and a change in "the
idea of what 'the worst of the worst' is." The availability of life without
parole gives prosecutors more options in charging defendants and negotiating
plea deals, and gives juries the option of ensuring that killers are taken off
the streets permanently without being executed. And the cost to the public of
prosecuting and defending death cases is becoming harder to justify as budgets
tighten.
"The cost is extraordinary," Young said. "Judges, prosecutors, county
commissioners are all extremely cognizant of the cost."
More survivors of murder victims also feel that life without parole allows for
quicker "closure" than a death sentence that involves years of appeals, he
said.
The death penalty is still a reality in Ohio
There are executions scheduled for 13 killers between March and March 2015,
including Dennis McGuire of Preble County, who is scheduled to die Jan. 16,
2014. Most of their crimes date to the 1980s and '90s.
In Ohio, prosecutors can seek the death penalty in cases of aggravated murder
under certain circumstances, including the killing of a child or a police
officer, murders with multiple victims, murder for hire or to prevent a witness
from testifying, and killings that are done during the commission of certain
other felonies like robbery, burglary and kidnapping.
Young said preliminary data being compiled by his office show that the death
penalty is imposed in 25-30 % of cases involving multiple murders, but only
about 2 % of the time when murders are combined with other felonies. This
suggests, he said, that it may be time to narrow the types of offenses that
carry a possible death penalty.
The data also show there are fewer racial disparities in imposing the death
penalty when multiple murders are involved, Young said.
Requirements for a death verdict
Butler County Prosecutor Michael Gmoser said there's "no question about it"
that the death penalty is used more rarely than in the past.
At one time, he said, obtaining a death sentence "was left more open to
excellent argumentation and creativity" by prosecutors. Over time, he said, the
law has become more specific about what elements are required for a death
verdict, and prosecutors with tight budgets and limited staffing are being more
selective about seeking the death penalty.
"I would not want the public to think that life and death is only a matter of
money," Gmoser said. But the cost to taxpayers of prosecuting and defending
death cases from trials through years of appeals is "a reality" officials must
weigh.
Gmoser said he and his assistants carefully examine the facts of every
potential new death case to determine the likelihood of a death sentence,
including the outcome of similar past cases.
The call on whether to seek the death penalty is "probably the most serious and
important decision I ever make in this office," he said. "The case has to shock
the conscience of this community."
Life without parole
Since 1998, Ohio jurors have had the option of sentencing defendants to life
without parole in death penalty cases. Since 2005, prosecutors have had the
option of seeking life without parole instead of the death sentence.
Previously, the harshest punishment short of death was life with the
possibility of parole in 30 years.
Gmoser said life without parole keeps killers off the streets and is a strong
punishment, without the costs and "seemingly never-ending" appeals involved in
death cases. "As far as society is concerned, that person might just as well be
dead," he said.
Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center,
said the low number of new death sentences underlines the capriciousness of the
penalty in a nation with 14,000 murders a year.
"The point we're trying to make is, it's less relevant," he said. "It's not a
regular punishment. It raises the question of why are we picking out these
people (for execution). It's not unconstitutional, but it is questionable."
(source: Dayton Daily News)
USA:
No DNA, No Death Penalty
To the Editor:
Re "America's Retreat From the Death Penalty" (editorial, Jan. 2):
The death penalty debate in this country is going to persist for quite some
time, but there are steps that can be immediately taken to sharply reduce the
social risks of capital punishment while we wait for a national consensus.
First and foremost, we should demand that capital punishment not be a punitive
option if there is no irrefutable DNA evidence linking an individual to a
capital crime. This step alone will virtually eliminate the principal risk of
capital punishment - the mistaken execution of an innocent individual.
Where such DNA proof doesn???t exist, the law should provide for incarceration
without possibility of parole or other such measures that punish without the
risk of error related to capital punishment. These measures should be readily
acceptable to any society that believes itself to be just and compassionate.
MIKE McDONOUGH----Mountainside, N.J., Jan. 2, 2013
(source: Letter to the Editor, New York Times)
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