Sept. 11
TEXAS:
Woman escapes death penalty; Faces life sentences in infant's death
Central Texas prosecutors have announced they will not seek the death penalty
against a woman previously convicted of killing a 3-month-old child she was
baby-sitting.
Cathy Lynn Henderson was days away from execution in 2007 when a state appeals
court halted her punishment for the 1994 death of Brandon Baugh. The same court
awarded Henderson, 56, a new trial.
The Travis County District Attorney said Henderson will be retried for capital
murder and faces a life sentence if convicted.
In a 2007 interview Henderson said she was holding Brandon, trying to calm him
when he slipped out of her arms and fell on the floor.
Henderson said she performed CPR but didn't call 911. She buried him 60 miles
away and fled.
At her trial medical examiner Roberto Bayardo testified it was "impossible" to
attribute Brandon's head injury to an accidental fall. Bayardo recanted in
2007, saying advances in the understanding of pediatric head injuries found
short falls could produce injuries he discovered during Brandon's 1994 autopsy.
(source: gosanangelo.com)
********************
Texas Inmate Facing Execution Is First to Ask for Review Under New Law
Attorneys for Rigoberto Avila have requested an evidentiary hearing under a new
law passed in Texas that allows defendants to challenge their convictions if
they were gained through outdated forensic techniques. His case will be the 1st
death penalty case in the state to be considered by the courts under this new
legislation. Avila, a Navy vetern, was convicted of murder in El Paso in 2001
for the tragic death of a 19-month-old infant. He is scheduled to be executed
on January 15, 2014. He has consistently maintained his innocence and wants to
introduce a biomechanical analysis of the cause of death and the testimony of a
forensic pathologist, tending to show that the infant's death was an accident.
"Finality and certainty is important," said Cathryn Crawford, one of Mr.
Avila's lawyers, "but we have to also have a criminal justice system that is
flexible enough to take into account when we have scientific advancements and
to allow people like Mr. Avila to have their day in court."
Texas leads the country in executions, but new death sentences have dropped
significantly, and new legislation has been recently passed to address wrongful
convictions.
(source: Death Penalty Information Center)
VIRGINIA:
The verdict on capital punishment system; Virginia should take up the bar
association's reforms to ensure a fair and accurate death penalty system.
The American Bar Association spent 2 years studying Virginia's death penalty
and came up with a dozen recommendations that would lift the state's thumb off
the scale of justice.
The group does not address whether states should have a death penalty. Rather,
the ABA acknowledges that prudence requires capital punishment to be
administered justly. And all should favor ensuring that those the commonwealth
executes truly merit the irrevocable penalty.
That cannot be said today. The Virginia Death Penalty Assessment Team weighed
Virginia's ways against the bar association's protocols and found it deficient.
Most of the recommended reforms would not cost the state much in the way of
funding, but would require procedural changes.
For instance, though Virginia recommended all police departments adopt policies
in which an officer administering a lineup is unaware of the suspect's
identity, too few have, allowing for an officer's bias to taint eyewitness
identifications. Another recommendation calls for videotaping all
interrogations in capital cases.
And as a case moves toward trial, Virginia should do like other states and the
federal government and turn over evidence to defense attorneys so they know who
will be called to testify and what these witnesses previously have said. Let
the evidence speak as it should, rather than springing it during trial without
adequate opportunity to challenge it. Or worse, as was found recently in 2
capital cases reversed on appeal, supressing exculpatory evidence.
Virginia has, in recent years, gotten a few things right with capital cases:
accreditation of crime laboratories and medical examiner offices and
certification of their employees, and establishing regional capital defender
offices that offer more experienced and qualified trial attorneys.
But Virginia still has at least a dozen reforms remaining before resting its
case that it runs a fair and accurate death penalty system. Until then,
reasonable doubt remains.
(source: Editorial, Roanoke Times)
FLORIDA----new execution date
Scott signs death warrant in north Florida case
Gov. Rick Scott signed a death warrant Tuesday for a man who kidnapped, beat,
raped and killed a Fort Lauderdale woman as she stopped to use a pay phone in
Crystal River 27 years ago.
William Happ, 51, is scheduled to die Oct. 15 at Florida State Prison in
Starke. In the early morning hours of May 24, 1986, Happ, then 24, kidnapped
21-year-old Angela Crowley, who stopped to call a friend while driving from
Fort Lauderdale to Yankeetown in North Florida.
Happ smashed Crowley's car window then drove to a nearby canal, where he
severely beat her with about 20 blows to the head. He raped her and strangled
her with her stretch pants before dumping her body in the canal, where a
fisherman found it on the bank the next day.
Happ is also serving 3 life sentences for burglary and assault, kidnapping and
rape.
Happ was already serving a sentence in California for kidnapping and armed
robbery when Florida investigators tied him to Crowley's murder. He had a
history of violent crime and drug and alcohol abuse dating to his childhood.
Happ was first sentenced to death in 1989. Crowley's brother, Chris, began an
online petition in May 2012 to try to get Scott to sign the death warrant. It
was not clear if it had an effect on Scott's decision.
After Scott signed the warrant, Crowley posted on his Facebook page that it was
a great day.
"Okay, the great news is. A DEATH WARRANT has been signed by Florida Gov.
Scott. Execution date 10/15/13. This has been many years coming. My joy of
having this done is tempered by those who have passed while we waited," Crowley
wrote. A phone message and an email seeking comment weren't immediately
returned by Crowley.
The warrant was the 6th Scott has signed this year.
(source: Associated Press)
********************
NEW DEATH WARRANT
Governor Scott has signed a Death Warrant for William Happ to be executed on
Tuesday, Oct. 15 at 6pm ET. The timing of the Death Warrant makes it painfully
clear that the state Death Penalty program is NOT about justice...it's ALL
about politics.
"Today is the day Marshall Gore was scheduled to be executed. It was canceled
so that Pam Bondi could attend her fund raising kick off in Tampa. After
getting a lot of criticism for that, the Governor decided to sign ANOTHER death
warrant - today. Incredible." - Sheila Meehan, Chair-Elect, Tallahassee
Citizens Against the Death Penalty, TCADP.net.
Please TAKE ACTION!!! Contact Governor Rick Scott and ask him to convene the
Board of Executive Clemency and commute the death sentence of William Happ and
the obviously severely mentally ill Marshall Gore to Life in Prison Without
Parole. Your calls and emails are counted. The Governor needs to hear that YOU
do not approve signing Death Warrants.
Gov. Rick Scott - Phone: 850-488-7146
Email: rick.sc...@eog.myflorida.com
"Only in a society where state governments are intoxicated with the power to
kill would you view a sentence of life imprisonment without parole as a lenient
sentence." - Bryan Stevenson, Director of Equal Justice Initiative of Alabama,
Olof Palme Prize Winner 2000.
Please support the Florida statewide coalition effort to end executions.
Please "like" and share the FADP Facebook page and the new Justice4Jacksonville
Facebook page.
Shine the light,
---Mark
(source: Mark Elliott, Executive Director, Floridians for Alternatives to the
Death Penalty, fadp.org----Tampa, FL 82943
*********************
Irish consular assistance granted to death row prisoner in Florida
The Department of Foreign Affairs has confirmed it is providing consular
assistance to a newly conferred Irish citizen who is currently on death row in
Florida.
On Monday the retrial of Michael Fitzpatrick, 51, who is facing the death
penalty, began in Florida.
Fitzpatrick, 51, had been sentenced to death for raping and killing 28-year-old
Laura Romines on August 18, 1996, in Pasco County. He was born in the U.S., but
it is understood his parents originally came from Tipperary.
Last week British based justice charity Reprieve called on the Government to
get intervene.
Reprieve case worker Hannah Gorman said his lawyers in his 1st trial
"completely failed him."
"All evidence against Michael is circumstantial," Gorman added.
In a statement on Sunday the Department of Foreign Affairs said: "Mr Michael
Fitzpatrick was granted Irish citizenship last week.
"As a result, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is providing consular
assistance to Mr Fitzpatrick and will notify the relevant US authorities of our
interest in the case.
"The department has met with and is in regular contact with Reprieve in
relation to this case."
(source: Irish Central)
ILLINOIS:
Neuropsychologist Writes Book With Family Mass Murderer Hoping to Prevent
Future Killings
Can you imagine a mass murderer seeking to understand the psychological issues
that led him to commit the heinous act of murdering his entire family 2 decades
earlier? Further, can society learn something from reviewing the factors
related to this horrific crime that may help prevent future cases of extreme
domestic violence against parents and children?
Dr. Robert E. Hanlon, a neuropsychologist who has examined and studied hundreds
of murderers, found the answer to those questions is 'yes' and has written a
new book with the help of a man who brutally killed his parents and 3 siblings
one day in November of 1985.
"This is one of the most shocking mass murders in Illinois history," said
Jefferson County State's Attorney Kathleen Alling.
Indeed, she was referring to the November 8, 1985 murder of an entire family at
the hands of the oldest son, Thomas Odle, who was 18 at the time. But after 17
years on death row, his sentence was commuted to life in prison without parole.
For the first time, a convicted mass murderer personally shares his thoughts
and feelings alongside a neuropsychologist who offers invaluable insights into
the mind of the individual responsible for one of the most notorious domestic
homicides in American history. This unique collaboration is presented in a new
book, Survived By One: The Life and Mind of a Family Mass Murderer, released by
Southern Illinois University Press.
At the age of 19, he was the youngest death-row inmate in the Illinois prison
system. Viewed as a remorseless, coldblooded killer devoid of normal emotions,
Odle spent 17 years waiting to die. But once he was literally given a new lease
on life, he began a long period of self-examination that continues today.
Odle's reflection on the difference between the death penalty and life without
parole is a rare perspective. Very few people have directly experienced both
sides of this controversial issue. This book serves as an unusual glimpse into
the life and mind of a killer, as told both by a murderer firsthand and an
experienced neuropsychologist who has examined hundreds of killers. Dr.
Hanlon's book relies, in part, on the words of Odle, and also refers to court
documents, newspaper accounts, original research, and interviews with others
related to the case.
(soure: Dr. Robert E. Hanlon, PR Newswire)
ARIZONA:
Milke has emotional reunion with ailing mother
A woman who spent more than 2 decades on Arizona's death row before being
released pending her retrial has had an emotional reunion with her
cancer-stricken mother.
Debra Milke's lawyers released a picture Tuesday of her hugging Renate Janka
for the 1st time in nearly 25 years. Death row prisoners aren't permitted to
have physical contact with visitors.
Janka flew from Germany to Phoenix on Sunday evening to be with Milke, who was
released Friday after supporters posted her $250,000 bond.
A judge ruled there's no direct evidence linking Milke to the 1989 death of her
4-year-old son, other than a purported confession to a detective whose honesty
has been questioned.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Milke's conviction in March.
Her next court date is Sept. 23.
(source: Associated Press)
CALIFORNIA:
California Voters' Shifting Views on the Death Penalty
Public support for the death penalty among California voters has shifted
dramatically. This reflects a national trend away from the death penalty. For
the last few decades, Field Poll results showed that 2/3 of Californians
supported the death penalty. In November 2012, however, when Proposition 34
asked California voters whether the state should replace the death penalty with
life imprisonment without the possibility of parole as the state's most severe
punishment, nearly 1/2 of the electorate (48 % - or 5.9 million voters) voted
in favor of repeal. Only 52 % (6.4 million) voted to keep the death penalty.
Remarkably, voters the largest death penalty counties in California voted
overwhelmingly to replace it with life in prison without parole. In Los Angeles
County, which sends more people to death row than any other county in the
nation (229 of the state's 736 death row inmates were sentenced in L.A.
County), 54.5% of citizens voted to repeal the state's death penalty - a margin
of 10% more than the state average. And Alameda County, ranked ninth nationally
for the number of persons sentenced to death, voted to repeal the death penalty
by an even wider margin, with 62.5% in favor of repeal and 37.5% against.
There are several possible explanations for the decline in support for the
death penalty in California.
First, California's death penalty system is expensive and structurally broken -
probably beyond repair. Second, high profile cases showing innocent men and
women sentenced to death highlights the real possibility that the state may
execute an innocent person. Kirk Bloodsworth, who spent nine years in prison
(including 2 years on death row) for a rape and murder he did not commit before
DNA evidence exonerated him, is just one example.
Third, recent polls indicate that people are not as concerned about the crime
rate as they once were. According to a 2011 Pew Research poll, "[a] decade ago,
76% said that reducing crime should be a top priority; [whereas] just 44%
currently rate reducing crime as a top policy priority." See Pew Research
Center for the People & the Press, January 20, 2011 "Economy Dominates Public's
Agenda, Dims Hopes for the Future."
California has the largest death row in the United States. It is also home to 5
of the nation's top 10 death penalty counties. In November 2012, a proposition
that sought to replace the death penalty with life in prison without parole
failed to pass last November by 250,000 votes. Even though the measure failed
to pass, the election results demonstrated that there has been a profound shift
in Californians' views about the death penalty; one that mirrors the changing
attitudes across the country.
In addition to concerns over the exorbitant costs associated with the capital
punishment and the potential for wrongful convictions - issues that were well
publicized during the campaign to repeal last year - there are also
ever-present concerns over the uneven application of death penalty. It is
well-established that there is great disparity among those counties that file
capital cases and those that do not. Los Angeles County is an extreme outlier.
20 of California's 58 counties - over 1/3 - currently have no inmates on death
row at all. Another 17 counties have sentenced 3 or fewer defendants each to
death row (for a total of 35 inmates for all seventeen counties). Thus, 37 of
California's 58 counties either do not prosecute capital cases, or do so very
sparingly.
Additionally, African-Americans make up a disproportionate share of
California's death row. According to the United States Census for 2011,
African-Americans make up 6.6% of the population in the state of California but
36.15% of California's death row population is African-American. In Los Angeles
County, the disparity is even greater: nearly 1/2 of the defendants sentenced
to death are black (112 out of 229), even though African-Americans make up only
9.3% of Los Angeles County's overall population.
There is currently a suspension on lethal injections in California pending the
outcome of litigation over the constitutionality of the state's procedures. The
Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court has publicly stated that she
predicts it will be three or more years before the state is in a position to
carry out any executions. Given L.A. County's status as the nation's number one
death penalty county and the fact that the majority of voters in L.A. County
are in favor of repealing the death penalty, the District Attorney is presented
with a momentous opportunity to exercise her prosecutorial discretion and
decline to continue seeking the death penalty in the county, just as her
predecessor declined to file third-strike charges in non-violent felony cases
while waiting for public opinion to catch up so the law could be amended.
Nationally, public support for the death penalty is also declining rapidly. 6
states in the last 6 years have repealed their death penalty laws: New Mexico,
Illinois, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Maryland. Maryland is the 1st
state south of the Mason Dixon line to end capital punishment. Governor
Kitzhaber of Oregon has declared a moratorium on all executions in the state.
Citing the state's "broken system," Gov. Kitzhaber stated that he refused to be
a part of the state's "compromised and inequitable system any longer." He urged
Oregon to "consider a different approach."
Similarly, Governor Hickenlooper of Colorado recently issued an executive order
granting a reprieve to a death row inmate "not out of compassion or sympathy,"
but because "we now have the benefit of information that exposes an inequitable
system. It is a legitimate question whether we as a state should be taking
lives." Gov. Hickenlooper noted that "[m]any states and nations have come to
the conclusion that the death penalty does not work."
In January, after running for office as a proponent of the death penalty,
Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe announced that the experience of signing a death
warrant for the 1st time changed his thinking and that he would sign
legislation outlawing capital punishment if legislators were to send him such a
bill.
This year alone, 17 states have considered bills to repeal the death penalty.
Delaware passed repeal legislation through its state senate but the bill was
tabled in the State House. The Nebraska state senate Judiciary committee
recently advanced a bill that would change the death penalty to life
imprisonment without parole by a surprising 7-0 vote. Not since 1979 has a
repeal bill advanced that far in Nebraska. In the Washington State Legislature,
a bill to repeal managed to get a public hearing in the House Judiciary
Committee with lobbyists from several organizations testifying in favor of the
bill and no one testifying against it.
Montana, Colorado, and New Hampshire have all passed repeal legislation through
one chamber of their legislatures in recent years. The Kansas Senate came
within 1 vote of passing repeal legislation. A bill to abolish the death
penalty in Texas will finally have a committee hearing in the State House.
(source: Paula Mitchell is a career federal judicial law clerk for Senior
Circuit Judge Arthur L. Alarcon on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal and
adjunct law professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles where she teaches
Habeas Corpus and Civil Rights Litigation. She has written and lectured
extensively on the subject of the death penalty in California----justia.com)
**********************
Judge, Convicted Killer Joseph Naso Clash as Jury Weighs Death Penalty----Naso
and his family lived in Piedmont during the 1970s.
Convicted serial killer Joseph Naso, a former Piedmont resident, and Marin
County Superior Court Judge Andrew Sweet had a sharp exchange Tuesday morning
over Naso's last-minute request to call witnesses during the death penalty
phase of his trial.
The daughter of Sharleen Patton, whom prosecutors say was likely a 5th victim
of Naso's, testified Tuesday morning about her mother's habits and a fur coat
that Patton owned.
Closing arguments in the death penalty phase of the trial are scheduled for
next Monday.
Tuesday morning's session of the penalty phase of convicted serial killer
Joseph Naso's Marin County Superior Court trial ended with a testy exchange
between Naso and Judge Andrew Sweet after the jury left for a lunch break.
Closing arguments are scheduled for Monday, but Naso, a former Piedmont
resident who is representing himself, told Sweet he intends to call 2 female
witnesses next Tuesday after the prosecution finishes its case.
The prosecution is expected to wrap up its case on Friday.
Sweet told Naso he has to have his witnesses available on Friday because
closing arguments had already been set for Monday.
"I'm extremely reluctant to have any delays in this case," Sweet said.
That prompted Naso to accuse the judge of preventing him from defending
himself.
"Why am I not allowed to defend myself? You're pushing me and squeezing me. My
witnesses can't come on Friday," Naso said.
Sweet replied, "I may not let you call them."
He told Naso it is unusual for a convicted defendant to call witnesses during
the penalty phase of a trial who had already testified during the main trial
that the defendant had harmed them.
Naso was convicted last month of the 1st-degree strangulation murders of four
prostitutes between 1977 and 1994 in Marin, Contra Costa and Yuba counties.
The victims were Roxene Roggasch, 18, of Oakland; 22-year-old East Bay resident
Carmen Colon; and Yuba County residents Pamela Parsons, 38, and Tracy Tafoya,
31.
Sweet asked Naso whether he was calling the 2 witnesses to mitigate the
prosecution's testimony against him or simply to confront the witnesses.
"I'm concerned about the purpose of you calling them in this case," the judge
said.
Naso said the purpose was mitigation.
"Why are you in a hurry to get rid of me?" Naso asked.
Sweet said he would consider a motion to continue the trial to accommodate
Naso's 2 witnesses if good cause is shown.
Naso pointed his finger at the judge as he said, "I changed my mind this
weekend. I'm going to have mitigation witnesses."
"Don't point at me," Sweet replied before ending the morning session.
Prosecutors Rosemary Slote and Dori Ahana are presenting evidence they claim
links Naso to the murder of Sharieea Patton, 56, of San Francisco, whose body
was found along a San Francisco Bay shoreline in Tiburon on Jan. 14, 1981.
Naso was not charged with her murder, but the prosecution is hoping that the
testimony will help convince the jury to recommend the death penalty.
Prosecutors are trying to establish that Patton lived in an apartment at 839
Leavenworth St. at the time of her death.
Charles Gaetani, the owner of the apartment building in 1980, testified Tuesday
morning that Naso lived and worked as a resident apartment manager at the
complex at the time Patton was killed.
Evidence that Patton lived there includes her application for employment at St.
Francis Hospital in San Francisco and a receipt from a cleaner in the area,
both of which list her as living at that address on Leavenworth Street.
Patton's daughter, Rusel Heckert, 63, testified Tuesday about a gray rabbit-fur
coat her mother owned.
The prosecution intends to introduce into evidence a photo of a half-naked
woman wearing a similar coat that was found in Naso's home.
Heckert testified she believes that coat was her mother's.
"I'm positive that was my mom's fur coat," she told Ahana
She said she and her mother had bought matching Joseph Magnin fur coats for
$100 each, and that she had given hers away to a thrift store after her mother
died.
Naso questioned how she could know that the coat in the photo was her mother's
since the photo didn't show the label.
Heckert did not look at Naso once Tuesday morning when she answered his
questions about her mother. He asked about Patton's habits and social life.
Heckert testified that her mother was a hard worker and was always busy, and
didn't go to bars or socialize much.
"She had no interest in men," Heckert said.
Patton had worked for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office before moving up
to Kings Beach in the Tahoe area, where she lived with Heckert.
After Heckert got married and moved out, Patton moved in late 1980, Heckert
testified.
She ended up in San Francisco, and applied for a job at St. Francis Hospital on
Jan. 6, 1981, prosecutors said.
After her body turned up in the Bay a little more than a week later, Heckert's
husband got a call from a family friend who had seen the story on the news and
recognized Patton, Heckert testified.
Heckert traveled to Marin County the next day to identify her mother's body,
she said.
Naso lived in Piedmont with his wife and sons during the 1970s.
(source: Bay City News)
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