May 7
TEXAS----impending execution
Waco robbery-drug deal gunman set for execution
A convicted drug dealer faces execution for shooting an 18-year-old man to
death a decade ago during a robbery outside a Waco convenience store.
Authorities say Carroll Joe Parr was trying to get his money back after he
bought 7 pounds of marijuana.
Parr says he's not responsible for the January 2003 slaying of Joel Dominguez,
although witnesses identified him as the shooter and others said he talked
about doing the shooting.
A federal appeals court last week refused to halt his punishment, and his
lawyers anticipate no last-day appeals to stop Tuesday evening's lethal
injection in Huntsville.
The 35-year-old Parr, whose street name in Waco was "Outlaw," would be the 5th
Texas inmate executed this year.
(source: Associated Press)
************************
State Prepares To Execute Convicted Central Texas Killer Known As "Outlaw"
Convicted killer Carroll Joe Parr, 35, who says he believes in capital
punishment, but maintains he's innocent of the crime for which he was sentenced
to die, is scheduled to receive a lethal injection Tuesday evening in the
state's death chamber in Huntsville.
The 1-time Waco drug dealer, who was known on the street as "Outlaw," was
sentenced to die for a Jan. 11, 2003 shooting outside of the B&G Convenience
Store in North Waco that left Joel Dominguez, 18, dead and Mario Chavez, then
18, injured.
Parr had purchased marijuana from Dominguez at the store and later returned
with a friend, Earl Whiteside, in order to get his money back, prosecutors
said.
After Parr and Whiteside arrived at the store, they forced Dominguez and Chavez
to walk to a fenced area beside the store where Parr pistol-whipped Dominguez
and demanded his money, prosecutors said.
Dominguez complied, but then Parr told Whiteside to "smoke 'em."
Whiteside shot Chavez in the hand and Parr shot Dominguez in the head, killing
him, prosecutors said.
Parr was convicted of capital murder on May 21, 2004 and was sentenced to die
five days later.
Whiteside entered a guilty plea in March 2004.
Parr insists he didn't shoot Dominguez, but says he won't break his word to the
people involved in the slaying and identify who he says actually did the
shooting.
Parr's execution date was set on Feb. 4 in a Waco courtroom in which security
was tight.
As he was led from the courtroom after the date was set, Parr yelled, "Death is
a prize."
(source: KWTX News)
PENNSYLVANIA:
Pa. abortion trial jury continues deliberations
A Philadelphia jury reviewed laws addressing murder and manslaughter without
reaching a verdict Monday in the high-profile case of an abortion provider
accused of killing a patient and 4 babies who prosecutors say were born alive,
then killed with scissors in unorthodox, late-term abortions.
Dr. Kermit Gosnell, 72, ran the Women's Medical Society in West Philadelphia,
which served mostly low-income women and teens and went years without a state
inspection. Former staff members have testified that Gosnell taught them to
"snip" babies in the back of the neck after they were born to ensure they were
dead.
Gosnell also faces charges of racketeering and of hundreds of abortion-law
violations, for allegedly performing 3rd-trimester abortions and failing to
counsel women a day in advance.
The jurors must also decide whether Gosnell caused the 2009 overdose death of a
patient, Karnamaya Mongar of Woodbridge, Va., a 41-year-old mother of 3 and
recent refugee to the U.S. who died after an abortion at Gosnell's clinic.
Co-defendant Eileen O'Neill, 56, of Phoenixville, a former employee of
Gosnell's, is charged with billing as a doctor when she did not have a license.
8 former employees have pleaded guilty since the 2011 indictment, and all but
Gosnell's wife testified against him. Four others have pleaded guilty to murder
charges for either "snipping" the babies with scissors after they were born, or
helping sedate Mongar despite a lack of training.
The jury includes several transit authority bus drivers, a water department
inspector, a day care worker and a bank teller. They have been deliberating
since Tuesday afternoon.
Gosnell's lawyer argued that there were no live births at the clinic and blamed
Mongar's death on unforeseen medical complications. O'Neill's lawyer said she
worked under Gosnell's supervision.
Gosnell has been in custody since his 2011 arrest, while O'Neill remains free
on bail.
(source: Associated Press)
*******************
Death penalty lawyers named in case of slain prison guard; Jessie Con-Ui is
under investigation in stabbing of Eric Williams of Nanticoke.
A judge on Thursday appointed attorneys for "death penalty proceedings" in the
case of a federal inmate under investigation in the killing of corrections
officer Eric Williams of Nanticoke at a prison in Wayne County.
The filing by U.S. District Chief Judge Yvette Kane signaled the direction of
the prosecution of Jessie Con-Ui, even though he has not been charged.
Kane indicated the investigation "has the potential to become a capital case"
when on March 11 she appointed attorneys James Swetz and Mark Fleming to
represent Con-Ui, who was unable to pay for legal counsel.
A docket entry in the case listed the appointment of Swetz "in Death Penalty
Proceedings." Documents for Swetz and Fleming also noted they were appointed
for "death penalty proceedings." The docket also listed a number of sealed
documents not available for public viewing.
A voice-mail message for Swetz, of Stroudsburg, was not returned. A message
left for Fleming, of San Diego, Calif. was not returned.
The 36-year-old inmate from Arizona is under investigation in the stabbing
death of Williams on Feb. 25 at the U.S. Penitentiary-Canaan. Williams died
from multiple stab wounds inflicted by an inmate wielding a homemade knife,
according to federal authorities.
Con-Ui was serving a sentence at the prison in Canaan for a 2005 conviction on
drug charges. He was indicted along with six other men in June 2003 in Arizona
for participating in a drug ring connected to the New Mexican Mafia gang. He
pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute cocaine and a firearms charge and
received a sentence of 11 years and three months.
Con-Ui was to be released from federal custody on Sept. 17 , but still faced a
life sentence in Arizona for a 1st-degree murder conviction. He has since been
moved to the Administrative Maximum Facility in Florence, Colo., whose inmates
include Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber; Ramzi Yousef, convicted in the 1993
attack on the World Trade Center, and Terry Nichols, who helped carry out the
bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995.
(source: The Times Leader)
*************************
Effort to halt Philadelphia death-penalty prosecutions launched at Germantown
rally
On Saturday, the nascent Philadelphia Moratorium Campaign held a rally during
which it launched an effort to convince District Attorney Seth Williams to end
death-penalty prosecutions in the city.
The keynote speaker at the event, held at First United Methodist Church of
Germantown, was Kirk Bloodsworth, the first U.S. death row prisoner exonerated
by DNA evidence.
While a spokeswoman for Williams told NewsWorks that the office would continue
to follow commonwealth law regarding capital-punishment prosecutions, campaign
supporters said Saturday was just the start of their ongoing push for a
moratorium.
(source: NewsWorks)
*******************
Pa. man's death penalty phase delayed by ill juror
A jury in western Pennsylvania was set to begin the penalty phase of a trial
for a man convicted last week or killing his mother, sister and elderly aunt in
his automotive glass shop in 2009.
The penalty phase was to have begun Monday in Westmoreland County for
52-year-old Kevin Murphy, but a juror was ill.
Instead, the penalty phase began Tuesday before the jury in Judge Alfred Bell's
courtroom.
The jury will hear arguments and additional evidence before choosing between
the death penalty and life imprisonment for Murphy. Prosecutors say he killed
his mother, 69-year-old Doris Murphy; his 43-year-old sister, Kris Murphy; and
his aunt, 81-year-old Edith Tietge, because they disapproved of his
relationship with a married woman.
Murphy was convicted of 1st-degree murder in all 3 killings on Friday.
(source: Associated Press)
***************************
Cheap Justice
That old maxim "you get what you pay for" is especially true in the judicial
system where the "haves" hire top legal talent and the "have-nots" get
court-appointed attorneys for as little as $2,000 for an entire murder trial.
Today's Inquirer editorial on the pathetic payments to court-appointed lawyers
is important reading. Shoddy legal representation helps no one. A flat-fee
system is flat-footed, seemingly penny wise while being justice stupid,
especially in a state with the death penalty.
Pennsylvania has 194 people on death row. The most famous inmate on death row
was cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal, the subject of a recent documentary and column
who is now serving life without possibility of parole. That's a far more humane
and less costly solution to serious crime.
That's because Pennsylvania tends not to execute these people -- the last
execution was in 1999 -- while dealing with a costly, exhaustive appeals
process out of a Dickens novel but with higher stakes.
Last week, the Philadelphia-based Atlantic Center for Capital Representation
asked Court of Common Pleas Senior Judge Benjamin Lerner to replace the counsel
system with a rate of $90 an hour, still low but certainly likely to attract
better lawyers to defend poor defendants.
Justice may not be swift, but it should be more equitable.
(source: Letter to the Editor, Karen Heller----philly.com)
OHIO:
Ohio Supreme Court weighs woman's death sentence
The Ohio Supreme Court is once again weighing whether to uphold the sentence of
the only woman on death row in the state.
Attorneys for Donna Roberts plan to tell justices Tuesday that evidence showing
their client was mentally ill and suffered brain trauma should have been
considered by the judge who resentenced her to death in 2007.
Prosecutors say Roberts made a decision not to enter the evidence in order to
receive a death sentence, which she preferred to life in the regular prison
population.
The discovery of a prosecutor's involvement in writing Roberts' death penalty
sentencing order led the high court to overturn her initial death sentence in
2006.
Roberts was convicted of the 2001 murder of her former husband, Robert
Fingerhut, in Howland in northeast Ohio.
(source: Associated Press)
FLORIDA:
Jurors hear testimony in Pasco man's death penalty trial
John Sexton struggled for years with mental illness as well as a dependence on
alcohol, his defense attorneys told jurors on Monday.
The man convicted in the brutal September 2010 murder and mutilation of
94-year-old Ann Parlato, the woman whose lawn he regularly cut, was the product
of a violent home life as a child, his attorneys said.
The jurors, who found Sexton guilty of 1st-degree murder last month, listened
to attorneys debate Sexton's mental health during the penalty phase of the
trial at the West Pasco Judicial Center.
The jury, which is expected to hear more testimony on Tuesday, will decide if
Sexton will be given the death penalty or life in prison.
"We will present evidence that Mr. Sexton, possibly his entire life, has
suffered from serious mental illness - bipolar disorder," defense attorney
Byron Hileman said. "One, self medication by use of alcohol, which exacerbated
or made worse the underlying mental illness. He was also, because of his work,
exposed for a long period of time...to industrial solvents."
Several incidents were presented in an attempt to show Sexton's compromised
mental stability. In 1993, Sexton was placed in an Oregon medical facility
because he slashed his wrists; in 2000, he spent 18 days in a rehabilitation
facility for depression and alcohol abuse. In April 2009, Sexton was placed in
a medical facility under the Baker Act in St. Petersburg. In October 2009, he
entered a mental health facility for treatment of depression and alcoholism.
Some of the factors involve being raised in a household with parents who both
used alcohol," said psychologist Dr. Valerie McClain during her testimony.
"(There was also a) history of domestic violence the children were exposed to."
Parlato was raped, beaten and mutilated inside her home at 8025 Colrain Drive
in Port Richey on Sept. 22, 2010. She also was partially burned.
Several prosecution witnesses, including forensic investigators, said the
T-shirt, khaki shorts and work boots belonging to Sexton were stained with
Parlato's blood.
A Florida Department of Law Enforcement senior crime lab analyst testified
bloody shoe prints found on Parlato's floor matched Sexton's work boots.
A cigarette butt, matching the type of cigarette Sexton smoked, was found in
Parlato's trash. Cigarette ashes were also found throughout the house, deemed
out of character for a woman described as adamantly against smoking due to her
asthma, witnesses testified.
Parlato's next door neighbors reported hearing a loud thud in the early morning
hours of Sept. 23, 2010. They went outside to investigate and found Sexton's
Dodge pickup backed into Parlato's driveway. Moments later, they said he
appeared in her kitchen window washing something in her kitchen sink.
Parlato's body, covered by a sheet, was found on the floor near her front door
by close friend Dorinda Cifelli on Sept. 23.
(source: Tampa Bay Online)
TENNESSEE:
Defense argues against death penalty in shootings
Documents filed in federal court say a former prison guard charged with killing
2 Tennessee post office workers should not face the death penalty because the
punishment is unconstitutional.
In a motion filed Tuesday, defense attorneys for Chastain Montgomery argue that
the federal death penalty violates his right to due process and right to be
free from cruel and unusual punishment.
Defense lawyer Michael Scholl said that because the death penalty is so rarely
used in federal court, it is being applied in an arbitrary and random manner in
this case.
Montgomery has pleaded not guilty to killing Paula Robinson and Judy Spray
during an October 2010 robbery of the Henning post office.
Federal prosecutors said in March that they plan to seek the death penalty at
trial.
(source: Associated Press)
MISSISSIPPI----impending execution
Filing: FBI finds new error in death row case
The FBI has identified another error about its testimony in the case of a
Mississippi death row inmate scheduled for execution on Tuesday, the prisoner's
lawyer said in a court filing.
Willie Jerome Manning is scheduled to die by injection at 6 p.m. at the state
prison in Parchman for the 1992 slayings of 2 college students.
Manning's lawyers said in a filing with the Mississippi Supreme Court that the
execution should be stopped based on the Justice Department's admission and
previous disclosures about testimony that it says exceeded the limits of
science.
The letter, sent late Monday, said there was incorrect testimony related to
tests on bullets found in a tree by Manning's house that were compared to
bullets found in the victims.
That kind of examination "is not based on absolute certainty but rather a
reasonable degree of scientific certainty," the letter said.
Manning's girlfriend testified that days before the slayings, Manning had been
firing a handgun at a tree behind their house, according to court records. An
FBI expert had testified that bullets from the tree matched those recovered
from the scene of the crime.
The Mississippi Supreme Court has split 5-4 in previous rulings in the case,
and it's not clear if the new developments could sway one of the judges.
Last week, the FBI said its microscopic analysis of evidence, particularly of
hair samples found in a car belonging to one of the victims, contained
erroneous statements.
Manning's lawyers want the court to stop the execution for additional testing.
The Supreme Court, in separate rulings, has declined to grant Manning time for
the tests and to stop his execution.
A spokesman for Gov. Phil Bryant said the governor has not decided whether to
block the execution.
The bodies of Mississippi State University students Jon Steckler and Tiffany
Miller were found in rural Oktibbeha County in December 1992. They had been
shot to death. Manning was convicted in 1994. Prosecutors said Manning was
arrested after he tried to sell some items belonging to the victims.
In dueling court filings Monday and Tuesday, Manning's attorneys say new DNA
testing could exonerate the inmate, but the Mississippi attorney general's
office argues that there's overwhelming evidence of Manning's guilt.
Attorney General Jim Hood said in court filings that his office disputes claims
by Manning's supporters that DNA testing has never been done in the case. Hood
says it was performed in 1993.
Manning's attorneys say that only a blood stain on a shirt from an earlier
suspect had been submitted for DNA testing and that the rape kit, hair and
other evidence was not tested for DNA. But a filing from Hood on Tuesday said
the rape kit and fingernail scrapings produced no evidence to test.
The FBI offered last week to conduct DNA testing after saying its microscopic
analysis of evidence, particularly of hair samples found in Miller's car,
contained erroneous statements. Manning's lawyers seized on that statement as
key to seeking a stay of execution.
In its 5-4 ruling April 25, the state Supreme Court said there was "conclusive,
overwhelming evidence of guilt" presented to an Oktibbeha County jury.
The Supreme Court said the jury heard from Manning's cousin and a prison
cellmate that Manning has confessed to the slayings. The court said other
witnesses testified that Manning tried to sell them items that were later shown
to have belonged to Steckler and Miller.
(source: Associated Press)
*********************
Mississippi to Execute Willie Manning Tonight After Rejecting DNA Tests & FBI's
Admission of Error
The state of Mississippi is preparing to execute an African-American prisoner
tonight, despite an unusual admission from the FBI that its original analysis
of the evidence contained errors. Willie Jerome Manning was convicted of
murdering Jon Steckler and Tiffany Miller, 2 white college students, in 1992.
The execution is going ahead after prosecutors and state courts refused to
allow new DNA testing that could prove Manning's innocence. The Justice
Department sent a letter saying one analyst's testimony at trial "exceeded the
limits of the science and was, therefore, invalid." Manning's attorneys argue
that no physical evidence ties him to the murders and that testing hair samples
and other evidence could identify a different killer. But in a 5-to-4 decision
last month, Mississippi's state supreme court refused to grant a new DNA test,
citing what it called "conclusive, overwhelming evidence of guilt." On top of
the denied DNA test, Manning's attorneys say prosecutors relied on 2 key
witnesses whose credibility has since come under question. Concerns have also
been raised about alleged racial bias in the selection of the jury that found
Manning guilty. "We need someone to step in," says Vanessa Potkin, a senior
staff attorney at The Innocence Project. "It is unconscionable that an
execution would go forward where there is biological evidence that can cut to
the truth and show whether or not he did the crime. What is anybody afraid of?"
(source: Democracy Now)
*********************************
Inmate urges governor, court to block planned execution
A Mississippi inmate sat Monday in a state prison holding cell at Parchman,
awaiting word on his plea for the governor or the state Supreme Court to stop
his execution scheduled tonight.
Willie Jerome Manning's attorneys asked the state Supreme Court on Monday to
stop his execution and allow him to seek post-conviction DNA testing of
evidence from the investigation into the 1992 slayings of 2 college students.
Manning insists DNA testing will show he's innocent.The execution is scheduled
for 6 p.m. today at the state prison.
The Supreme Court, in separate identical 5-4 rulings, has declined to grant
Manning time for the tests and to stop his execution.
In a response Monday to Manning's latest filing, the Attorney General's Office
said the inmate's attorneys have not produced any new information that should
stop the execution.
Gov. Phil Bryant's spokesman Mick Bullock said Monday that the governor had not
yet reached a decision.Manning was handed 2 death sentences for the slayings of
Jon Steckler and Tiffany Miller, whose bodies were discovered in rural
Oktibbeha County on Dec. 11, 1992. Each was shot to death and Miller's car was
missing. The vehicle was found the next morning.Prosecutors said Manning was
arrested after he tried to sell some items belonging to the victims.
The FBI has offered to conduct the DNA testing after saying its microscopic
analysis of evidence in the case, particularly of hair samples found in
Miller's car, contained erroneous statements.At a news conference in his office
Monday, Hood said there is "overwhelming evidence of guilt" unrelated to the
hair. He also said Manning's attorneys could have had DNA testing done
independently years ago, but Hood said it never came up until March.
(source: Associated Press)
********************
Mississippi inmate awaits decision on whether he will be executed
Willie Jerome Manning awaited word Tuesday on whether the state will execute
him later in the day.
Manning's lawyers have asked the Supreme Court to halt the execution to allow
time for testing of DNA, which they say will clear him of the 1992 slayings of
2 Mississippi State University students.
The execution is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday at the state prison in Parchman.
The Supreme Court, in separate rulings, has declined to grant Manning time for
the tests and to stop his execution.
A spokesman for Gov. Phil Bryant said the governor has not decided whether to
block the execution.
The bodies of Jon Steckler and Tiffany Miller were found in rural Oktibbeha
County in December 1992. They had been shot to death. Manning was convicted in
1994. Prosecutors said Manning was arrested after he tried to sell some items
belonging to the victims.
In a response Monday to Manning's latest filing, the attorney general's office
said the inmate's attorneys have not produced any new information that should
stop the execution.
The FBI has offered to conduct the DNA testing after saying its microscopic
analysis of evidence, particularly of hair samples found in Miller's car,
contained erroneous statements. Manning's lawyers seized on that statement as
key to seeking a stay of execution.
"This motion is compelled by the extraordinary admissions by the FBI," wrote
Manning attorney Robert S. Mink in the brief.
On Monday, Hood said there is "overwhelming evidence of guilt" unrelated to the
hair. He also said Manning's attorneys could have had DNA testing done
independently years ago, but Hood said it never came up until March.
"I don't want anybody out there to think the state of Mississippi wouldn't pay
for DNA testing if it would make a difference. In this case it wouldn't," Hood
said.
"It is through no fault of Willie Manning or his counsel that these revelations
from the FBI have only just come to light," Mink said in a response filed late
Monday. "The false testimony was uncovered as part of a full internal review at
the Department of Justice of all cases in which FBI agents have performed
forensic hair analysis and subsequently testified in trials."
Hood said the FBI letters were just the agency detailing in writing the changes
in the way testing is done now.
In its statement, the FBI says its expert should have testified that he only
determined that the hair fragments exhibited traits associated with
African-Americans, not that it came from an African-American.
Mink said the statement then given at Manning's trial was false.
"The FBI's misleading exaggeration of the hair's probative value was just what
the prosecution needed ... (it) allowed the prosecutor to make the incorrect
statistical argument that the hair increased the odds that Manning was the
perpetrator of the crime.
In the court filing Monday, Hood said "the supposed 'new' evidence does not
represent new evidence nor do these letters from DOJ represent, when read in
context, a repudiation of the testimony" offered by an FBI agent during the
trial.
Mink said DNA testing has ever been performed on key evidence.
"To pass on this issue and sanction the execution of Willie Manning, even in
light of these revelations, would be counter to fundamental due process, the
8th and 14th amendments to the Constitution and the Mississippi Constitution.
The state clearly relied on the forensic hair analyst's testimony to link
Willie Manning to the crime scene and forensic testimony is known to have an
impact on juries. Even in a non-capital case, this would be enough to remand
the case for an evidentiary hearing on the issue of the hair analysis," Mink
wrote.
In its 5-4 ruling on April 25, the state Supreme Court said there was
"conclusive, overwhelming evidence of guilt" presented an Oktibbeha County
jury.
The Supreme Court said the jury heard from Manning's cousin and a prison
cellmate that Manning has confessed to the slayings. The court said other
witnesses testified that Manning tried to sell them items that were later shown
to have belonged to Steckler and Miller.
Manning's girlfriend testified that days before the slayings, Manning had been
firing a handgun at a tree behind their house, according to court records. FBI
experts testified they matched bullets from the tree to those recovered from
the scene of the slayings.
(source: Associated Press)
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