Dec. 9
OHIO:
Supreme Court to hear appeal of Canton man's conviction
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court of Ohio will hear the death penalty appeal of
James Mammone III, a Canton man convicted of murdering his 2 young children and
ex-mother-in-law in 2009.
In Mammone v. State, attorneys for James Mammone III assert that publicity
about the case was so pervasive in the Canton area that no impartial jury could
be found. They contend that the failure to change venues deprived Mammone of
his right to a fair trial.
Among several other claims of errors made during the trial, Mammone's attorneys
argue that his trial lawyers were ineffective because during the jury selection
process they did not adequately ask potential jurors about what their views
were on the death penalty, what they knew and thought about the case based on
pre-trial publicity, and whether they could consider mitigating circumstances.
His attorneys also assert that the trial lawyers should have better prepared
Mammone's parents for their testimony and limited Mammone's own 5-hour
statement made to the court.
They also claim that the prosecution inflamed the jury by repeatedly showing
grisly crime scene and autopsy photos to a point beyond the boundaries set by
the Ohio Supreme Court.
(source: WKYC news)
TENNESSEE:
Public defender's office says it can't take on new death penalty case
Nashville's public defenders say they can't take on any more death penalty
casesright now.
Resources and manpower are simply too limited to take on the case of Lorenzo
Jenkins, 40, a man accused of murdering 3 people over drugs in October. That's
according to Assistant Public Defender Mike Engle, who told Criminal Court
Judge Randall Wyatt Jr. Monday that the state should instead hire Jenkins a
private attorney to handle his defense.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for the deaths of Patrick Sullivan,
56, his wife, Deborah Sullivan, 48, and their daughter, Wendy Sullivan, 28, who
were all found stabbed Oct. 22, 2012.
"Because of the state's filing of a death motion in this case, our office quite
frankly lacks the resources to defend a death penalty case," Engle told Wyatt
in court Monday morning.
Engle said the American Bar Association estimates a typical death penalty case
requires upward of 2,000 hours of preparation. He explained that the office
only has a few attorneys qualified to defend capital cases, 2 of whom are
already on 1 case, and one of whom is retiring soon. The others, he said, have
supervisory duties over other public defenders, making it impossible for them
to take on a case of the magnitude of the one against Jenkins.
Deputy District Attorney General Tom Thurman, who is prosecuting the case,
disagreed. He said the public defender's office has plenty of people and could
simply reassign lesser cases to free up one of the five attorneys qualified to
handle a death penalty case. Besides, he said, he's handling more than 1 case.
"I am involved in three cases," Thurman told the court. "So, I guess according
to the ABA, I should be in the psych ward."
Dawn Deaner, Nashville's elected public defender, said she was surprised by
Thurman's comments. She said it's unfair to compare workloads of prosecutors,
who have police officers, detectives, forensic experts and witnesses at their
disposal before a case is even filed, with those of public defenders, who must
start their own investigations after a case has already moved to court.
"I don't understand why the state takes the position that they take. I don't
know why they're concerned about it, quite frankly," Deaner said. "You can't
compare their workload to our workload. It's 2 different measurements."
She said her office has been chronically underfunded and understaffed and that
taking on another death penalty case would require significant reshuffling of
personnel and criminal cases that could, in the end, require more private
attorneys hired to take over the reshuffled cases.
"There are maximum caseload standards that are recommended for public defenders
in Tennessee," she said. "If you apply those standards to the number of cases
we handled in fiscal year '13, we were 22 lawyers short in our office to be
able to handle the workload that we have."
Her office is already participating in 2 other death penalty cases.
The charges against Jenkins began last October, when the Sullivans were found
dead in their Maxon Avenue home, the victims of a crime police say could have
been the result of a dispute over drugs that were dealt out of that home.
Jenkins is charged with 3 counts of 1st-degree murder, 3 counts of felony
murder and 1 count of especially aggravated robbery. He's being held without
bond because of a 6-year sentence for violating his probation on a previous
conviction for aggravated burglary and theft.
At Monday's hearing, Wyatt said he'd need some time to think the matter over,
but not before asking Jenkins what he thought. Jenkins said he got along well
with Engle, but was worried about his defense.
"I would want the best counsel possible," he said. "I respect his (Engle's)
concerns."
(source: The Tennessean)
USA:
Jury continues deliberations in death penalty case
Jurors resumed deliberations Monday on the punishment for an Arizona inmate who
kidnapped and murdered a retired Oklahoma.
The federal panel is considering whether John McCluskey should be executed or
sentenced to life in prison for the August 2010 slayings of Gary and Linda Haas
of Tecumseh, Okla.
The couple crossed paths with McCluskey and fellow fugitives at a New Mexico
rest stop following an Arizona prison break.
McCluskey was convicted in October of murder and numerous other charges.
Much of the sentencing phase focused on whether he was capable of controlling
his impulses and making reasoned decisions when he kidnapped and killed the
couple.
The defense argues he has a low IQ and has suffered a hard life of abuse, brain
damage and addiction. Prosecutors say he's a remorseless, cold-blooded killer.
(source: Associated Press)
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