Jan. 11
CALIFORNIA:
1-time death row inmate suspect in Vallejo slaying
A Vallejo man who gladly accepted a death sentence after killing 2 Pinole
teenagers more than 45 years ago, has been arrested at his home for killing his
mother.
Vallejo Police said that Dennis Stanworth, 70, called the Vallejo Police
Communications Center about 11:55 a.m. Wednesday, and claimed during the span
of about a 7- or 8-minute call with a dispatch supervisor that he had killed
his own mother, Vallejo police Lt. Jim O'Connell said Thursday.
Officers responded to Stanworth's home at 2500 block of Marshfield Road, near
the Hiddenbrooke Golf Club, where the suspect directed them to an undisclosed
area where they discovered the deceased victim.
Police said a search warrant was obtained for the residence, a house
Lt. Jim O'Connell talks to the media during a press conference about Dennis
Stanworth, 70 year-old man, who allegedly killed his mother and was arrested
Wednesday at his home in Vallejo. (Chris Riley/Times-Herald)Stanworth lives in
with his wife and father-in-law, and a subsequent search revealed evidence of
the crime. Police have refused to release details about where they found
Stanworth's mother, Nellie Turner Stanworth, 90. It also remained unclear
Thursday why Stanworth's mother was at the Vallejo home.
American Canyon resident
The victim had been a resident of the Olympia Mobilodge of Napa in American
Canyon. Ronda Bensing, another park resident, told the Times-Herald that
Stanworth had moved his mother out of the park about 10 weeks ago and told her
she was going to be placed in an assisted living facility in Vallejo.
Bensing said Stanworth's mother returned 2 weeks later, complaining about her
new living situation.
Later, Bensing said Stanworth told her he was taking her to live with her
sister. Then, about 6 weeks ago, Stanworth visited the mobile home park and
said his mother had passed away, Bensing said.
"We have been so distraught," Bensing said. "We were friends and neighbors for
8 years ... we are just trying to find closure ... it is just wrenching."
Bensing said Stanworth had frequently visited his mother, taking her shopping
and administering insulin shots in the afternoon.
On Wednesday, detectives interviewed Stanworth, who O'Connell said was
cooperative with police, and later arrested him on suspicion of murder.
O'Connell declined to say how or where police believe the victim was killed or
where her body was found. He said police investigators were still interviewing
witnesses Thursday and did not want any news reports to influence their
answers.
As for motive, O'Connell would not speculate, but said police "have a couple
different ideas" and expect witness interviews to flesh out the details.
Violent background
The suspect has a long and violent criminal history that had apparently ceased,
at least since his arrival in Vallejo in the late 1990s, O'Connell said.
Stanworth is apparently unemployed, and described as retired on his sex
offender registration, O'Connell said.
"Our registration detective talked to him every year, but no complaints
regarding him had come in," O'Connell said of Stanworth. "(He did not stand
out) other than for the nature of the crimes for which he was convicted. Those
are fairly egregious."
As Stanworth had completed his parole, he would not have been under police
oversight if it were not for his sex offender status dating back more than 4
decades.
O'Connell was referring to 2 murder convictions in 1966. Stanworth had pleaded
guilty to kidnapping, raping and shooting two Pinole girls, both 15, on Aug. 1,
1966 after he picked them up hitchhiking.
According to Times-Herald reports at the time, Stanworth, then 24, a Pinole
house painter and cook, admitted killing and raping Susan Box and Caree Lee
Collison at a Point Wilson beach area in Pinole. Their bodies were discovered 2
days after the attacks. Found at the crime scene in a coma with head wounds,
Collison never recovered consciousness and died on Sept. 12, 1966.
Months after the attacks, Stanworth also admitted abducting and raping at least
4 other women, including three in Contra Costa County and one in San Mateo
County, court records show. He eventually was caught after raping 1 woman who,
after briefly passing out during the attack and coming to, untied herself, and
reported to police who arrested Stanworth several hours later in her car.
When Stanworth testified during his trial's penalty phase, his defense attorney
asked him why he had confessed to police about the killings.
"I couldn't live with it no more... I just had to tell somebody," Stanworth
replied in a sobbing voice. "I told them everything I done and wanted to get it
all off my chest. I was always sorry after I got through and even apologized
sometimes."
Stanworth mounted no opposition to being sentenced to execution, and published
reports at the time said that after the jury voted to send him to the gas
chamber, he gratefully shook his lawyer's hand.
Fought appeals
Under California law, death sentences are automatically appealed. Stanworth,
according to court records, wanted no part of an appeal, and said he wanted to
die. He repeatedly said the state should waste no more money on him, that he
had accepted his death sentence, and did not wish to contest it.
In a letter to the courts, Stanworth, then 27, wrote: "I know that I will never
see the freedom of the outside world again, I have dishonored my family's name
... I understand that I and I alone must suffer for my actions and I understand
also that the law holds me to task for my actions.
"I cannot continue living with cloud over my head, please be merciful and give
me an endless sleep as soon as you cans...... all I want, is to die."
Despite Stanworth's pleas the state Supreme Court reduced his death sentence to
life imprisonment. The Aug. 20, 1969 ruling cited a number of grounds,
including that prosecutors had rejected a dozen prospective jurors for cause
because they expressed opposition to capital punishment. The justices held that
under a U.S. Supreme Court decision, such opposition alone should not
disqualify a juror from considering a death penalty decision.
The following July, another Contra Costa jury sentenced Stanworth to death, but
that sentence was reduced once again in June 1974 based on the state Supreme
Court's ruling in 1972 that the state's gas chamber constituted "cruel and
unusual punishment."
He was eventually released on parole in 1990, according to the state Department
of Corrections.
(source: Times-Herald)
****************
Former Death Row Inmate Confesses To Killing His Mother In Vallejo
A California man once sentenced to death for killing 2 people in the 1960s was
under arrest Thursday after police said he led officers to the body of his
89-year-old mother.
Investigators said Dennis Stanworth, 70, called Vallejo police just before noon
Wednesday and said he had killed his mother at his home.
Stanworth led officers to the body of Nellie Turner Stanworth. Investigators
wouldn???t say how she was killed.
Lt. Jim O'Connell said in a news release that Stanworth was arrested for
investigation of murder and booked into the Solano County Jail.
Stanworth was sentenced to death in 1966 after being convicted of 2 counts of
murder for kidnapping, sexually assaulting and shooting 2 teenage girls in
Contra Costa County.
The California Supreme Court reversed his death sentence in 1969 after finding
12 prospective jurors were dismissed because they said they opposed the death
penalty. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled a year earlier that such jurors shouldn't
be automatically excluded from a death penalty case unless they make clear they
can't impose capital punishment under any circumstance.
Stanworth was sentenced to death again after a 2nd trial. But in 1974, his
death sentence was converted to life in prison along with 107 other California
death row inmates including Charles Manson when the state Supreme Court struck
down capital punishment. California reinstated the death penalty in 1978, but
those former death row inmates such as Stanworth and Manson kept their life
sentences.
State Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation records show Stanworth was
released from prison on parole in 1990. The documents show him released from
parole in 1993, though he was still required to register as a sex offender.
(source: Associated Press)
********************************
When Serial Killers Strike: The California Freeway Killer
--William Bonin was convicted of killing 14 teenage boys and dumping most of
their bodies along freeways
--4 others were accused of helping Bonin commit murders
--Bonin had previous arrests for sexually assaulting teens
--Bonin was 1st CA inmate executed by lethal injection
On the night of February 22, 1996, William George Bonin requested 2 pepperoni
and sausage pizzas, 3 pints of coffee ice cream and 3 6-packs of Coke for
dinner. He watched "Jeopardy" while he ate.
Hours later, he put on a new pair of denim pants and a blue work shirt and was
led to the execution chamber at San Quentin Prison, according to the San
Francisco Chronicle.
At 12:13 a.m. on February 23, 1996, Bonin was pronounced dead, the 1st inmate
executed by lethal injection in the state of California.
Bonin, known as the "Freeway Killer", was convicted of 14 murders committed
across 2 counties between 1979 and 1980, and he was suspected in many other
deaths. His victims were all boys, 12 to 19 years old - some hitchhikers, some
prostitutes, some just young men in the wrong place at the worst possible time
- who were robbed and raped before being killed and dumped along California
freeways. According to court records, most had marks on their wrists and ankles
indicating they had been tied up, and some showed signs of beatings and
torture.
On August 6, 1979, the body of the 1st victim Bonin would be convicted of
killing was discovered naked on the side of a road in Malibu Canyon. Marcus
Grabs, a 17-year-old German student on a backpacking trip, was abducted the
night before, sodomized, beaten and stabbed 77 times.
Weeks later, on August 27, the body of 15-year-old Donald Hyden was found near
an off-ramp of the Ventura Freeway. He had been sodomized, stabbed and
strangled, and he had a burn mark above his groin.
At least a dozen more victims followed, most killed by ligature strangulation.
According to court records:
--On September 12, 1979, the naked body of David Murillo, 17, was found along
the Ventura Freeway.
--On December 2, 1979, the naked body of 17-year-old Dennis Frank Fox was found
along the Ortega Highway in Casper's Regional Park in Orange County.
--On February 3, 1980, the naked body of Charles Miranda, 15, was found in a
downtown Los Angeles alley.
--On February 6, 1980, the fully-clothed body of 12-year-old James Macabe was
found near the Pomona Freeway. His skull had been crushed.
--On March 15, 1980, 19-year-old Ronald Gatlin was found dead in Duarte.
--On March 22, 1980, the bodies of 15-year-old Russell Rugh and 14-year-old
Glenn Barker were both found off the Ortega Highway in the San Juan Campgrounds
in Orange County.
--On March 25, 1980, the body of Harry Todd Turner, 14, was found in an alley
in Los Angeles.
--On April 11, 1980, the naked body of 16-year-old Steven Wood was found in an
alley near the Pacific Coast Highway.
--On April 30, 1980, the naked body of Darin Lee Kendrick, 19, was found near
the Artesia Freeway. Prosecutors said that Kendrick was forced to drink acid
and that Bonin stabbed an ice pick 3 1/2 inches into his ear.
--On May 18, 1980, the naked body of Lawrence Sharp, 17, was found at a gas
station in Westminster.
--On June 3, 1980, the naked body of 18-year-old Steven Wells was found behind
a gas station in Huntington Beach.
When he was arrested on June 11, 1980, Bonin was caught in the act of raping a
15-year-old boy in his van. Police found white nylon cord and 3 knives in the
vehicle.
Bonin later gave investigators a statement leading them to the body of
14-year-old Sean King, who had disappeared from a bus stop in Downey on May 20,
1980, but that statement was not admissible in court. He was acquitted of
King's murder.
Court records show Bonin had at least 4 alleged accomplices during the course
of his killing spree. One, Vernon Butts, committed suicide in jail while
awaiting trial. Gregory Miley and James Munro, 2 teens who had sexual
relationships with Bonin, pleaded guilty to murder charges and cooperated with
the prosecution.
According to prosecutors, Gregory Miley was 18 years old when he and Bonin
picked up 1 of the victims, Charles Miranda, near the Starwood Ballroom in West
Hollywood in the early hours of February 3, 1980.
Bonin sodomized Miranda and Miley attempted to but was unable to do it. Miley
testified that Bonin whispered to him, "This kid's going to die," and began to
tie him up. He asked why Bonin did not just let Miranda go and Bonin replied,
"No, man, he'll know the van and he'll know us.???
Bonin and Miley then used Miranda's shirt to suffocate him and crushed his neck
with a jack handle, court records state. After they dumped his body in an
alley, Bonin said, "I'm horny again. I need another one," according to Miley.
Later that morning in Huntington Beach, they picked up James Macabe, a
12-year-old who said he was on his way to Disneyland, according to prosecutors.
Miley drove the van while Bonin sexually assaulted him. The 2 then strangled
Macabe with a shirt and left his body in a dumpster.
At Bonin's Orange County trial, James Munro, who was 18 at the time of Steven
Wells' murder, testified that he and Bonin picked up Wells as he was
hitchhiking on the afternoon of June 2, 1980 and brought him to Bonin's house.
According to Munro, Bonin offered to pay Wells if he would let him tie him up
during sex. Munro then helped hold Wells down while Bonin strangled him with a
t-shirt.
When they were on their way to dispose of the body, they bought cheeseburgers
with $10 they took from Wells' wallet, Munro claimed. As they ate, Bonin
allegedly looked up and laughed, saying, "Thanks, Steve, wherever you are."
However, Munro changed his story about exactly what happened many times.
Several exhibits introduced at the trial showed inconsistencies, including
letters Munro wrote to judges and to Bonin's defense attorney claiming that he
either never saw Bonin kill anyone or that he killed Wells himself. Bonin's
attorney highlighted these contradictions during Munro's cross-examination.
A 4th accomplice, William Pugh, was the one who first put police onto Bonin's
trail, according to court records. After an arrest for unrelated auto theft
charges on May 29, 1980, Pugh, then 17, told authorities that he had gotten a
ride home from a party with Bonin once and that Bonin talked about having
killed young boys.
Investigators eventually learned that Pugh participated in Bonin's March 1980
abduction and killing of Harry Turner. Still, his tip gave police a suspect,
and Bonin was placed under surveillance on the night of June 2, leading to his
arrest just over a week later, according to a probation officer's report. Pugh
was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in Turner's death and sentenced to 6
years in prison.
Once detectives convinced Bonin's friend and neighbor, Scott Fraser, of his
guilt, Fraser told them that Bonin claimed to have killed a teen in
self-defense in August 1979 and that Vernon Butts was present at the time,
according to the Orange County Register. Fraser said Bonin claimed he hid the
body because he thought police would never believe him, given his criminal
record for assaulting teenage boys.
Police then arrested Butts, who confessed to participating in 6 or 7 murders
with Bonin before his suicide, investigator John St. John told the Register.
Fraser ultimately received a $20,000 reward that had been offered for
information in the case.
In addition to Fraser, Miley and Munro, another key witness at Bonin's trials
was reporter David Lopez of KNXT in Los Angeles. Lopez, who interviewed Bonin
in jail after his arrest, testified that he showed Bonin a list of 21 presumed
victims of the Freeway Killer and Bonin admitted to murdering 20 of them.
When Lopez asked what he would be doing if he was not in jail, Bonin said, "I'd
still be killing. I couldn't stop killing. It got easier with each victim I
did."
Prosecutors also presented forensic evidence linking Bonin to several of the
murders. Investigators found triskelion-shaped fibers on the bodies of 3 of the
victims that were consistent with the carpeting of his van. Hair that matched
Bonin's was found on 3 other victims. Also, human blood stains were found in
several places in Bonin's home and vehicle.
At both of his trials, Bonin's defense largely focused on attempting to
discredit the prosecution witnesses, many of whom were criminals who stood to
benefit from testifying against him. During the penalty phases, they tried to
show that Bonin had been abandoned and abused as a child and that he had the
potential to behave well and contribute to society in the structured setting of
a prison if spared the death penalty.
Bonin's former pre-parole counselor testified that he seemed interested in
helping people and raised money to support the family of a prisoner in New
England. A records custodian from Atascadero State Hospital said Bonin
volunteered for experimental treatment programs while in custody for a previous
sexual assault conviction.
Defense experts testified that Bonin suffered from repeated abandonment as a
child and that he showed signs of organic brain damage. Dr. Jonathan Pincus
said Bonin exhibited a "snout reflex" and a "right Babinski reflex" that
suggested frontal lobe damage, which could have made him uncommonly
impulse-driven.
However, Dr. Park Dietz, testifying for the prosecution, said that Bonin did
not present any other behaviors associated with such damage and he testified
that the reflexes Pincus observed would not explain a desire to sexually
assault young men. Dietz determined that Bonin was a sexual sadist with a
possible antisocial personality disorder, but he did not identify signs of any
other neurological or psychiatric disorders.
Bonin was sentenced to death in both Los Angeles County and Orange County.
An opinion on the case written by Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Alex
Kozinski in 1995 highlighted a disturbing truth about Bonin's crimes:
"The facts of this case shock even those of us inured to shocking facts by
years of capital cases. Most distressing, however, is that these tragedies
could have been averted: Bonin gave us more than fair warning of his
proclivities before he embarked on his killing spree."
Testimony by Bonin's relatives and others at his trial alleged that his father
was an abusive alcoholic and that Bonin was sexually abused in a detention home
as a child. He served in Vietnam, received a medal for saving a fellow soldier
and was honorably discharged, but he also engaged in what a judge described as
"violent nonconsensual homosexual activity" during his service.
Family members testified that he returned from the war a changed man. According
to court testimony, he had planned to marry a woman when he came back, but she
married someone else while he was away.
Between 1968 and 1969, Bonin abducted and sexually assaulted four teenage boys.
One said he was gagged with his underwear and another was choked nearly to
unconsciousness. When he was arrested in 1969, Bonin was driving with a
16-year-old boy. He told police he might have killed the teen if they had not
caught him, according to court records.
He was committed to Atascadero State Hospital as a "mentally disordered sex
offender amenable to treatment." However, in 1971, he was found unamenable to
treatment and sent to prison instead.
Bonin was released in 1974 and was convicted of sexually assaulting a teenage
boy at gunpoint the following year. At the time of his arrest, he told police
he would never leave a witness alive to testify against him again, court
records showed. In 1978, he was paroled. A year later, the freeway killings
began.
Bonin presented numerous arguments in his appeals, many relating to alleged
failures by his trial attorney to present mitigating evidence and decisions by
judges that he argued infringed on his rights. Appellate courts agreed that
some errors were made, but they never concluded that those mistakes - such as
allowing David Lopez to testify that Bonin admitted to 20 or 21 murders rather
than just 14, or only letting one of his 2 defense attorneys present closing
arguments???would have impacted the verdict.
While awaiting his execution, William Bonin wrote a collection of stories and
essays that received a small print run. According to the Orange County
Register, the book, titled "Doing Time, Stories from the Mind of a Death Row
Prisoner," included several fictional tales of young boys in danger that ended
with moments of redemption.
"I like the way my writing is going...the message that I'm trying to get
across," Bonin said in a 1991 telephone interview with the paper.
On the morning before his execution, while his attorneys filed motions for
last-minute intervention by the Supreme Court, Bonin gave an interview to a
local radio station. According to the Los Angeles Times, he told a reporter he
had accepted the fact that he was going to die.
However, he said of the victims' families, "They feel that my death will bring
closure. But that's not the case. They're going to find out."
About 50 witnesses attended the execution, including family members of several
of Bonin's victims and the survivor of the 1975 attack. CNN reported that about
100 pro- and anti-death penalty demonstrators gathered outside the prison that
day.
According to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Bonin
delivered his last words to the prison warden 45 minutes before his death.
"That I feel the death penalty is not an answer to the problems at hand," Bonin
said. "That I feel it sends the wrong message to the youth of the country.
Young people act as they see other people acting instead of as people tell them
to act. And I would suggest that when a person has a thought of doing anything
serious against the law, that before they did, that they should go to a quiet
place and think about it seriously."
2 of Bonin's accomplices remain in prison today.
Gregory Miley, who was sentenced to 25 years to life for 1st-degree murder, had
planned to seek parole in 2011, but he agreed to a continuance until 2014. In a
press release announcing the delay, the Orange County District Attorney's
Office noted that Miley had incurred 26 prison rule violations including
threats against inmates and nonconsensual sexual behavior that indicated he
could pose a "significant" threat to the public if released.
James Munro is serving 15 years to life for 2nd-degree murder. At his
sentencing hearing, the superior court judge stated, "He should every few
seconds say a prayer that he is not going to the gas chamber with Bonin. For
what he has done, I would have no problem sending him there, so I think he's
very, very fortunate."
Munro has tried and failed several times to get paroled. Over the last 22
years, he told several different versions of the events surrounding the murder
of Bonin's final victim, Steven Wells, according to court records and parole
hearing transcripts.
Munro sometimes claimed that he watched Bonin kill Wells but did not
participate at all, and he convinced his wife - who he married while in prison
- and other supporters that he was completely innocent. He also sent letters to
the district attorney's office in 1994 and 1998 claiming that he was the one
who killed Wells, but he later stated at a 2005 parole hearing that he only did
that to "piss off" the prosecutors.
When he has admitted to helping Bonin with the crime, Munro insisted that he
only did so out of fear that Bonin would kill him if he did not.
"I was scared to death," he said at a 2005 parole hearing. "I was a victim as
well as Steven Wells. Steven Wells died. I swear to God, I wish he never had."
Wells' family has expressed doubt about Munro's remorse. "I feel that he fully
participated in this murder," his sister, Susan Ruzzamenti, said at a 2009
hearing. "I feel he enjoyed it, and I feel that he received some type of
deviant sexual satisfaction from it."
The parole board has repeatedly rejected Munro's release, citing his history of
minimizing his involvement in the crime and psychological evaluations that
indicate he may pose a risk to the public. In 2009, the board ruled that Munro
could seek parole again in 5 years.
William Bonin continued to spark outrage and controversy even after his death,
when it was revealed that the Social Security Administration had continued to
pay benefits stemming from a 1972 diagnosis with mental illness into his bank
account while he was on death row. According to the Los Angeles Times, nearly
$80,000 in disability checks was deposited in the account during the years
between his arrest and execution.
Bonin's family agreed to repay the funds once the error was discovered, the
paper reported. An investigation by the Social Security Administration
concluded that no other death row inmates were receiving similar benefits.
(source: HLN TV News)
MARYLAND:
Death penalty's fate up in air if voters weigh in, advocates say; Execution
often has majority support, but so does life without parole
Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. said this week that he expects
voters, not lawmakers, to have the final say on whether the state's death
penalty is repealed, but observers say success or failure at the ballot box
will depend heavily on how the question is worded.
When asked if they support the death penalty, people tend to give 1 answer, but
when they're asked if they would support replacing the death penalty with life
in prison without the possibility of parole, they often give another, said Jane
Henderson, executive director of Maryland Citizens Against State Executions.
"If people understand that you're leaving life without the possibility of
parole [as the alternative], I think we'll win," Henderson said. "We're not
talking about letting murderers out of prison."
Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) said this week that he believes a death penalty repeal
was within reach of gaining the 24 votes needed to pass the Senate, and Miller
(D-Dist. 27) of Chesapeake Beach, who supports capital punishment, said this
week that he expects the measure will succeed and be petitioned to the 2014
ballot.
"I'm confident that it will [go before the voters]," Miller said. "It's a
matter of great concern to many."
Maryland polling data on the issue is a few years old, Henderson said.
A 2009 Gonzales Research and Marketing Strategies poll found that 53 % of
Marylanders favored the death penalty, with 41 % opposed. But when asked if
life without parole is an acceptable substitute for execution, 65 % said "yes,"
and 31 % said "no."
While many people might support the death penalty in theory, they will oppose
it when confronted with its practical drawbacks - such as people who have been
released from death row after being exonerated by DNA evidence, said Richard
Dieter, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Death
Penalty Information Center.
The idea that murderers will still face life without parole makes a real
difference in how people perceive the issue, Dieter said.
A 2008 study conducted by Dieter's organization determined that the 162 capital
cases prosecuted in the state between 1978 and 1999 cost taxpayers $186 million
and resulted in 5 executions. Capital cases usually have longer trials and a
lengthy appellate process, according to the study.
And while a recent effort to overturn California???s death penalty failed at
the polls, it was petitioned to the ballot without legislative action, Dieter
said.
"It would be different in Maryland in that it [would be] something that's
passed the legislature and been signed by the governor," Dieter said. "You're
kind of affirming something that???s already been enacted."
O'Malley goes into the 2013 legislative session coming off a string of
victories in the 2012 election, including the ballot measures upholding
same-sex marriage and the Maryland Dream Act. While the governor has not yet
said whether the death penalty repeal will be part of his legislative package
this year, he pushed for it in 2009.
The 2009 effort ended in a compromise that restricted use of the death penalty
to cases in which there was DNA evidence, conclusive video evidence or a
videotaped confession.
A 2012 survey by the Public Religion Research Institute found that 46 % of
Americans prefer the death penalty for murderers, while 47 % favor life without
parole.
But some Maryland lawmakers are standing firmly behind the death penalty.
Baltimore County Del. Patrick L. McDonough (D-Dist. 7) of Middle River
announced this week that he will introduce 5 bills mandating the use of the
death penalty in certain cases, including for mass murder.
"The recent mass murder of children in Newtown [Conn.] makes it clear that a
capital punishment remedy is necessary," McDonough said in a statement
Thursday. "I find it hard to believe that the governor, or any member of the
General Assembly, would support the idea of an assassin of innocent children to
be granted life without parole."
5 inmates currently are on death row in Maryland. No execution has taken place
since 2006 due to issues in the protocol for lethal injection as well as the
unavailability of a drug used in the procedure.
(source: The Gazette)
******************************
Death penalty repeal no simple matter
I read your recent article about the president of the NAACP, a Mr. Benjamin
Todd Jealous, paying Gov. O'Malley a visit for purposes of having Maryland
repeal the death penalty ("NAACP confident on repeal of state death penalty,"
Dec. 14). Citing successful repeal campaigns in New Mexico and Connecticut, of
all places, Mr. Jealous was quoted as saying, "We're on a bit of a roll here."
The group now hopes to add Maryland to its list of "wins." The truth is, we
have already eliminated the death penalty in Maryland. Mr. Jealous should know
that with Mr. O'Malley's refusal to adopt new regulations, as required by law,
a de facto moratorium is solidly in place and working. Further, should Anthony
Brown break state tradition and become the first lieutenant governor elected
governor, I suspect that policy would continue for another 8 years.
In any event, the same article reported that the sponsors of this year's
attempt at repeal want any savings realized to go to the families of the
murdered victims. The savings would be from the cost to prosecute being reduced
and an end to a long, multiple appeals process. Wonderful.
I can just hear someone from the Comptroller's Office (they cut the checks)
telling a grieving family, "Sorry about your loss, but here are a few dollars
to ease your pain and suffering." Unfortunately, and perhaps while well
intended, any promised money would have to be budgeted, and every taxpayer is
aware of what "redirected funds" means.
The absolute shock and sheer terror suffered by teachers, staff and small
children at Sandy Hook Elementary School escapes all who were not physically
present. Sadly, at some future point it will happen again. So, knowing we have
not witnessed an end to man's inhumanity to man, what do we want our elected
officials to do?
We could ask our legislators to retain the never-used law for that "just in
case" situation, whereby jurors would at least have the opportunity to
recommend death. In that case, the appeals process could play itself out and,
if upheld throughout, the sentence could be carried out in perhaps less than 15
to 20 years.
We could ask our legislators to repeal this year's version of past failed
attempts. In this case, the same offender(s), committing the same crime, could
only receive life imprisonment. If, in their infinite wisdom, the legislators
take this path, there is one more thing we should ask from them: to be honest
with the families of the victims. Those families should be told that there
really will be no money coming to them. I am fairly certain not many would give
a damn about a dollar anyway.
The families also should be reminded that their tax dollars will help subsidize
food, shelter, clothing and entertainment for the very ones who murdered their
loved one.
So, we have an issue of grave importance facing our legislators this year. I
suggest picking up your phone or logging on, as your elected officials are
waiting to hear from you.
George Owings, Dunkirk
The letter writer is a former member Maryland House of Delegates, 1988-2004.
(source: Letter to the Editor, The Gazette)
***************
Garagiola firm on keeping death penalty
A Montgomery County senator whose vote death penalty opponents had hoped to
sway this year said Friday that he is firmly committed to keeping capital
punishment on the books.
Sen. Rob Garagiola, a Democrat, said his position has not changed since 2009,
when he supported a compromise that narrowed the circumstances in which the
death penalty could be applied but fell short of full repeal.
Garagiola is the lone senator from Montgomery County who supports retention of
the death penalty. Repeal proponents had expressed hope he might be open to
reconsidering the issue, but he said he believes death should still be an
option for particularly heinous murders.
With his vote unavailable, the path to the minimum 24 votes to pass a bill
becomes a bit narrower. Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller, a death penalty
supporter, has said he will allow a floor vote if Gov. Martin O'Malley, an
opponent, can show him he has a majority of the votes in that chamber.
In past years, the legislation has remained bottled up in committee though
opponents have insisted thay could have won on the floor.
(source: Baltimore Sun)
NORTH CAROLINA:
Judge: State can seek death penalty in Shaniya Davis case
A judge denied a motion Friday that would have prohibited prosecutors from
seeking the death penalty against 5-year-old Shaniya Davis' accused killer.
Mario McNeill is charged with kidnapping, rape and 1st-degree murder in
connection with the girl's 2009 death. He has pleaded not guilty.
Shaniya Davis' mother, Antoinette Davis, is also charged in connection with her
daughter's death.
In November 2009, Antoinette Davis reported her daughter missing from her
Cumberland County home. She told police someone had taken the little girl. Days
later, Shaniya's body was found in a ditch in Lee County.
A security camera captured McNeill with the 5 year old in his arms waiting for
an elevator inside a motel in Sanford. He allegedly assaulted and choked the
girl to death before dumping her body.
On Friday, Judge Jim Ammons also denied a motion to strike the first-degree
murder charge against McNeill.
His defense team's request for a 60-day continuance in the case was also denied
by the judge. They have not yet decided if they will present evidence at trial.
Jury selection is slated to start February 18 and is expected to take 2 to 3
weeks.
(source: WTVD News)
***************************************
Exonerated death row inmates readjust to society after release
In 2004, Alan Gell walked out of a Bertie County courtroom a free man.
Facts
By the Numbers:
Death row exonerations in the United States: 142
Death row exonerations in North Carolina: 8
Number of executions in North Carolina since 1976: 43
Number of inmates currently on North Carolina's death row: 152
[sources: Death Penalty Information Center, N.C. Department of Public Safety]
After languishing nearly 5 years on death row for a murder he did not commit, a
new jury overturned his original conviction. But despite the sense of
vindication that accompanied his freedom, Gell felt uneasy and scared.
He was released into a foreign world where toilets flushed automatically "and
scared the crap out of you," he said. On the outside, he had no access to
health care or social services. And with an erroneous murder conviction on his
record, it felt impossible to find a job.
"They threw me to the wolves," he said in a telephone interview earlier this
week. "If it was not for my family, I don't know what I would have done."
Gell is among 18 exonerated death row inmates whose post-release odysseys form
the subject of a recently released book entitled, "Life After Death Row:
Exonerees' Search for Community and Identity," co-authored by professors at
University of North Carolina campuses in Wilmington and Greensboro.
The authors, Kimberly J. Cook, chair of UNCW's sociology and criminology
department; and Saundra D. Westervelt, associate professor of sociology at
UNCG, highlight what critics call shortcomings in how states provide assistance
to exonerees. Namely, their findings underscore an emerging focal point among
scholars, journalists and advocates: that innocent individuals freed from
prison typically receive less help than the government provides guilty ones
after they are released. Parolees often get access to job training, substance
abuse services and perhaps even temporary housing.
"Exonerees," Cook said in an interview last month, "get nothing."
The authors conceived the idea for their research when they first met during a
conference in 2000 but actually embarked on the project in 2003, traveling
around the country talking to those who literally escaped death. One of their
participants, an former inmate in Florida, once came within hours of being
executed.
In the United States, 142 people have been freed from death row, including
eight in North Carolina, according to the Death Penalty Information Center,
based in Washington, D.C. On average, death row exonerees spent nearly 10 years
in prison before release.
"The whole idea was, what is life like for individuals who basically had their
lives robbed from them?" Westervelt said. "What is that life like when they get
back? Up until that point, the few pictures of life that we had were from
journalists who focused mainly on the case - they might show the exoneration
when people are really happy. But I knew enough about parolees that life (for
exonerees) couldn't be that great."
Around the country, only about 10 programs exist for helping exonerees
re-adjust to life in the free world, but they are mainly nonprofit
organizations rather than state or federal agencies.
"Since the justice system perpetrated this wrongful conviction, the justice
system should participate in correcting it and assisting exonerees when they
are released from prison," Cook said.
All proceeds from sale of Life After Death Row will be donated to Witness to
Innocence and Centurion Ministries, two nonprofits that help wrongfully
incarcerated individuals.
Common Struggles
The book uses interviews with death row exonerees to identify common struggles
that they encounter. Those obstacles range from rebuilding their identities and
relationships to figuring out which breakfast cereal to buy at the grocery
store.
Their work already caught the attention of policymakers in North Carolina, a
state that has not executed a person since 2006. Last month, Cook and
Westervelt recommended to the N.C. Governor's Crime Commission, a consortium of
legislators and law enforcement officials, automatically expunging exonerees'
records upon release, providing immediate physical and mental healthcare, and
softening eligibility for state compensation.
Legislators on the commission did not respond to requests for comment. The
commission's executive director called the presentation "informative."
Advocates say North Carolina leads other states in trying to correct and
prevent injustices. It was the first state to task a formal body, called the
N.C. Innocence Inquiry Commission, with examining prisoner claims of innocence,
officials say. Since its inception in 2007, the commission received more than
1,200 claims and has exonerated 4 people.
In addition, North Carolina adopted a string of laws a few years ago meant to
prevent wrongful convictions from occurring in the first place. Those reforms,
which experts say were embraced by prosecutors and defense attorneys alike,
include changes to how investigators conduct lineups and interrogations.
"Reforms have been put in place because we acknowledge that this is a human
system and, therefore, human error can happen," said Christine Mumma, director
of The North Carolina Center on Actual Innocence and a defense attorney who has
represented wrongfully convicted inmates.
Mark Rabil, director of Wake Forest University's Innocence and Justice Clinic
and a former capital defender, said North Carolina is somewhat unique in that
judges, defense attorneys, prosecutors and law enforcement officials have
coalesced around a common goal for reforming the criminal justice system to
protect the innocent.
"We actually led the nation with a lot of the reforms that have been made, that
a lot of other states are trying to catch up with," he said.
Prepared for Freedom
Providing services to exonerees is tricky, state officials contend. North
Carolina divides its prisoners into essentially two main groups: those who will
get out one day and those who won't because they have life or death sentences.
For those with a release date, the state tries to prepare them for
reintegration into society, providing job training and education opportunities.
Inmates incarcerated for the rest of their lives do not receive the same
services. And there is little time to prepare exonerees for freedom because
they are released so quickly, state officials say.
"Once you become a free citizen, what authority would the department have to
tell you to go to a treatment class?" asked Nicole Sullivan, manager of the
office of research and planning at the N.C. Department of Public Safety. "We
have no leverage to make you go."
But critics say exonerees are often released without so much as a "quarter to
make a phone call," as Cook put it. So the question then becomes how to link
exonerees with immediate assistance so they can get back on their feet.
Cook and Westervelt say only a small proportion of exonerees receive
compensation. Only 23 states have compensation laws. North Carolina boasts one
of the most generous, awarding $50,000 for each year of wrongful incarceration.
But the process often takes years. And to qualify, exonerees must obtain a
governor's pardon - a task that often proves elusive. As a result, only about
23 percent of them win compensation through the law, Westervelt said.
Gell believes he should not have to ask the state to correct a wrong that it
perpetrated. He instead filed a lawsuit against prosecutors and investigators
and in 2009, settled for $3.9 million, according to the book.
Today, Gell's life has assumed a degree of normalcy. He is in a healthy
relationship and has kids. But the stigma of being "that guy" who once served
time on death row still sticks to him.
"You never really get over the whole deal," he said.
(source: Star News)
ARIZONA:
Prosecutors: Supreme Court ruling in Arizona killing could speed death-row
cases
The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that a mentally incompetent Arizona death-row
inmate cannot indefinitely delay his case will speed the "scandalously long"
pace of similar cases, the state's attorney general said Thursday.
Attorney General Tom Horne said the lengthy process of appeals in capital cases
hurts the family members of the victims, who have to wait years to see justice
served.
"They are, in fact, victimized a 2nd time by the court system," said Horne, who
believes the high court's ruling in the case of Ernest Gonzales could change
that.
But defense attorneys noted that the Supreme Court's ruling still allows delays
on a case-by-case basis. Now, however, they must show that a defendant can be
returned to a point where he is competent enough to assist in his defense.
A federal appeals court had ruled in 2010 that Ernest Gonzales' appeal could be
delayed indefinitely because he was not competent to assist his attorneys. It
was that ruling the Supreme Court reversed on Tuesday.
Gonzales was convicted of the 1990 stabbing death of Darrel Wagner in front of
Wagner's family, according to an Arizona Department of Corrections summary of
his case.
Wagner, his wife, Deborah, and their 7-year-old son had returned from dinner
when they found Gonzales robbing their Phoenix home. While the son was sent for
help, Gonzales began stabbing Darrel Wagner. When Deborah Wagner jumped on
Gonzales' back in an effort to defend her husband, she was also stabbed.
Darrel Wagner died from stab wounds to the heart and lungs, while Deborah
Wagner spent 5 days in intensive care for her wounds.
Gonzales was convicted of murder in 1991 and sentenced to death.
In the subsequent years in prison while his case was appealed, Gonzales has
become irrationally suspicious of his defense lawyers and refused to see them,
according to a court document submitted by the American Civil Liberties Union.
It is common for death-row inmates to develop mental illness or for mental
conditions to be exacerbated on death row, said Brian Stull, an ACLU lawyer who
submitted the document.
These conditions are caused by the "anguish of knowing you are going to be
executed by the state and not knowing when that's going to be," Stull said.
Defense attorneys argued that Gonzales' condition had gotten so bad that he was
not able to help in his defense. A federal district court disagreed and said
Gonzales' case should proceed. But the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
overruled the lower court, saying that letting Gonzales' case move forward
would "eviscerate the statutory right to counsel" in the Sixth Amendment.
"It has always been our position that a client and an attorney be able to
communicate," said Dale Baich, the assistant federal public defender for
Arizona.
The Supreme Court reversed the circuit court Tuesday, ruling that the capital
appeals process can proceed without the participation of the defendant and it
would not violate the right to be represented by an attorney.
"I think it's a highly significant case," said Kent Cattani, an assistant
Arizona attorney general who deals with capital cases.
Nationally, there are 700 other cases at the same stage of appeal as Gonzales'
case, Baich said. Of those 700, he said, 10 are on hold because of the
defendant's mental incompetency.
Despite the high court's ruling, the defense could still seek another stay in
Gonzales' case by arguing that he cannot be defended using only court
documents, as prosecutors have argued, and that his competency will return.
Baich would not say whether he planned to ask for another delay in the case,
but he did say that this is not the last step in the process. Defense attorneys
will raise possible errors that may have occurred during his hearing and
sentencing, for example, and before any execution can take place a final
hearing on the defendant???s mental competency must be held.
A lengthy appeals process for a death sentence is common. The average number of
years nationwide between conviction and execution in 2010 was 15 years,
according to the Death Penalty Information Center, a national nonprofit.
In Gonzales' case, Cattani said there are no issues that require the
defendant's input and the case may be appealed based solely on the court
documents.
"The case has to go forward," Cattani said.
(source: Cronkite News)
****************
Jodi Arias: 'No Jury Will Convict Me' In Murder Of Ex-Boyfriend
Jurors in the Jodi Arias murder trial heard a bold statement Thursday that the
accused femme fatale made during a television interview.
The recording, which was made in 2008, after Arias was indicted for murdering
her ex-boyfriend, was played in Maricopa County County Superior Court in
Arizona on Thursday, on day five of Arias' murder trial.
"I understand all the evidence is really compelling," Arias said in the
interview. She added, "I've never even shot a gun. That's heinous. I can't
imagine slitting anyone's throat."
Arias, a 32-year-old photographer, is accused of shooting her lover, Travis
Alexander, in the face, stabbing him 27 times and slitting his throat from ear
to ear in the shower of his Mesa, Ariz., apartment on June 4, 2008.
Arias has pleaded not guilty to murder, claiming she killed Alexander in
self-defense. If convicted, she faces the death penalty.
Earlier on Thursday, Nathaniel Mendes, a former detective with the Siskiyou
County Sheriff's Office in Calif., testified that there is no restaurant called
Margaritaville in Yreka, California.
Mendes testimony about the restaurant was important to the prosecution and
indicated Arias had lied about her place of employment, which sullied her
explanation of how she had injured her fingers around the time Alexander was
murdered.
On Wednesday, Ryan Burns, Arias' former love interest and co-worker at PrePaid
Legal Services, testified she had "two small bandages" on her fingers when she
visited him in West Jordan, Utah, on June 5, 2008. Burns said Arias explained
away the injuries by saying she worked at a Margaritaville restaurant in Yreka,
where she had broken a glass and cut her finger.
Mendez also testified about receipts found in Aria's bedroom, which show she
had rented a car in Redding, Calif., on June 2, 2008 and returned it 6 days
later, after she put 2,834 miles on the car.
Lisa Perry, a forensic scientist for Mesa police, was called to the stand after
Mendez. Perry said she spent two days at the crime scene and collected blood
evidence in the case for DNA analysis. Perry spent a significant amount of time
on the stand detailing blood splatter and stains that were found throughout
Alexander's apartment. She also testified that a .25 caliber bullet casing
found at the scene was lying in a pool of congealed blood, suggesting the
bullet inside the casing had been fired after the blood was on the floor.
Mesa, Ariz., police detective Esteban Flores was called to the stand when Perry
completed her testimony.
Flores testified he had a conversation with Arias when she acknowledged she had
Alexander's ATM pin number and the security code to enter the garage of his
apartment. Flores also testified he was aware of the interview Arias had given
to "Inside Edition" in 2008.
During cross examination, Flores acknowledged testimony he had given at a
hearing on August, 6, 2009 was incorrect. During that hearing, Flores had
testified that Alexander was shot before he was stabbed.
"So your testimony that the gunshot occurred 1st was inaccurate...Your
testimony was a mistake," defense attorney Kirk Nurmi asked.
"No, my testimony wasn't a mistake; it was a misunderstanding of what [the
medical examiner] said," Flores replied.
The final witness called by the prosecution Thursday was Jodi Legg, a DNA
analyst with the Mesa police crime lab.
Legg testified she analyzed a piece of wall that had been cut out of
Alexander's apartment and found DNA belonging to both Alexander and Arias.
After Legg's short testimony court was recessed until Monday morning at 12:30
p.m. EST.
(source: Huffington Post)
OHIO:
Phelps challenges death penalty
Brandon Michael Phelps, 20, 1281 Birch St., Bellaire, appeared before Judge
Jennifer L. Sargus on a status conference where his defense claimed the death
penalty should be taken off the table.
Phelps and Devin Wayne Fuller, 19, 3567 Franklin St., Bellaire, are charged
with 4 counts of aggravated murder, committed in the course of rape, of
aggravated burglary, of burglary and of trespassing. Each count carries a death
penalty specification. Both face 2 additional counts of trespassing.
Phelps' defense put forward numerous motions including the appropriation of
funds for a defense mitigation expert, requests to clarify the sharing of
information between prosecution and defense, forbidding officers to discuss the
case with Phelps, and permitting Phelps to appear in civilian clothing in
court.
BRANDON Michael Phelps, 1 of 2 people accused of the murder of a Bellaire
woman, appeared in court Thursday. Phelps' attorney challenged the
constitutionality of the death penalty.
These motions were sustained with some provisions except in cases where it was
noted that the procedures were already covered by law. Sargus overruled a
motion to close further pre-trials on the grounds that publicity could
prejudice a jury. She noted the jury selection process has consistently
excluded prejudicial jurors.
Among the motions was a challenge that the death penalty was unconstitutional.
"He recently filed a motion providing the death penalty in the state of Ohio
was unconstitutional. Obviously, we do not agree with that," said Prosecutor
Chris Berhalter. His office would issue a full response within 14 days.
Phelps will appear at another conference March 4 at 1:30 p.m.
Fuller is set to appear before Judge John M. Solovan II Friday at 10 a.m.
(source: Times Leader)
CONNECTICUT:
Motion to repeal; Against the death penalty
Last April, the Connecticut state legislature repealed the death penalty,
making it the 5th state in the past 5 years to take that step (New Jersey, New
Mexico, New York and Illinois are the others). Yet in November, voters in
California rejected by a 53 to 47 margin a bid to repeal the death penalty.
Those 2 decisions of 2012 reveal the conflicted state of national debate on
capital punishment.
In all 17 states in which capital punishment is outlawed, the change has come
through legislative action. Support for the death penalty generally remains
high among voters - and may have even intensified over the past 2 decades. A
2011 Gallup poll found that only 27 % of Americans think that executions are
immoral - down from 41 % in 1991.
According to the Pew Research Center, the death penalty is endorsed by 77 % of
white evangelicals, 73 % of white mainliners, 40 % of black Protestants and 59
% of Roman Catholics.
(source: The Christian Century)
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