April 5
TEXAS:
Murdered Kaufman County DA's Mother Wants Death Penalty For Accused Killers
85 year old Wyvonne McLelland is still overcome with grief. "You just think
about the good things, all the things you did, you had fun."
1 year ago, her son Mike, the Kaufman County District Attorney, and his wife
Cynthia were shot and killed at their home.
McLelland says, "You just get by, and try not to think, and when you think,
that's when you get problems. Just like now. But he was a loving family
person."
All she has left are her son's old photos and awards, along with the flag that
draped his coffin.
McLelland says, "My son was a good man. He was a Christian." He was a major in
the army who went on to become an attorney, and elected DA.
She says, "He was thrilled to become District Attorney. That was his life
ambition."
A former Kaufman County Justice of the Peace, Eric Williams and his ex-wife Kim
are now charged with capital murder in the deaths of the McLellands and then
assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse. Both Eric and Kim have pleaded not
guilty, and have declined comment.
Sources tell CBS-11 that Kim has been cooperating in the case. Legal experts
say they believe she is trying to save herself from the death penalty.
McLelland says she hopes not. "Whatever he gets, she gets."
She says she wants Kim to receive the death penalty just as much as Eric. "They
left my son and my daughter-in-law there to bleed to death all day long. No one
knew anything about it. To me, they'd have no life. Maybe, it'd be better for
them to stay in the pen, and look at 4 walls, but that wouldn't punish them."
When asked what message she has for the Williams, McLelland said, "I have no
message at all. I'd love to go up and smack him on the jaw, I really would. But
that's not possible, so."
Before their murders, the District Attorney and Hasse prosecuted, and a jury
convicted Eric Williams for stealing county equipment.
Mrs. McLelland says, "He's still a thief, by robbing people of their lives."
(source: Associated Press)
NEW HAMPSHIRE:
DOC Chief Bill Wrenn: NH Preparing for Addison Death; Former Hampton Police
chief speaks about the state's work to execute its 1st death row inmate since
1939.
Preparations are well underway for the execution of Michael K. Addison, the man
convicted of killing Manchester Police Officer Michael L. Briggs in 2006, Bill
Wrenn, commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Corrections, said on
NHPR's The Exchange on April 3.
Wrenn, a former chief of police in Hampton, said his department has
investigated methods used in other states with a death penalty.
Listen to Wrenn on The Exchange with Laura Knoy, in which he also speaks about
challenges for corrections, including substance abuse and mental illness for
the incarcerated.
Addison is the only person on death row in New Hampshire, a state that has not
executed anyone since 1939. The issue is front and center in Concord. A bill to
repeal the state's death penalty statute passed the New Hampshire House of
Representatives earlier this year, and the Senate Judiciary Committee held a
public hearing on it Thursday at the Statehouse.
Rep. Renny Cushing, D-Hampton, a prime sponsor of the bill, said in an
interview with Patch that the 2-to-1 support for the bill in the House was a
good sign. He continues to confer with members of the 24-seat Senate, hopeful
Gov. Maggie Hassan will find it on her desk at some point later this year. The
governor has expressed support for it as a prospective law, meaning that it
would not affect the Addison conviction and pending death penalty sentence.
Those who support the death penalty note that it is a narrowly defined law that
is reserved for the most heinous crimes, such as the murder of a police
officer.
Here is a link to the New Hampshire capital punishment law:
http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/rsa/html/LXII/630/630-1.htm
(source: Hampton-NorthHampton Patch)
******************
Cop-Killer's Fate Shapes N.H. Death Penalty Debate
New Hampshire needs to repeal the death penalty, judges, police, religious
leaders and victims' family members told the Senate Judiciary Committee
Thursday.
About 200 people filled Representatives Hall for a public hearing on House Bill
1170, which would end the death penalty for capital murder and replace it with
life without parole.
A large majority of those testifying supported repeal. But several police
officers and representatives said the death penalty helps keep the public safe
because it acts as a deterrent.
And they said if the death penalty is repealed, the state's sole death row
inmate, Michael Addison, is apt to have his sentence commuted by a federal
court -- and that, they contended, should not happen.
Addison was convicted and sentenced to death for the 2006 shooting death of
Manchester police officer Michael Briggs.
Under the bill, Addison's death sentence does not change, although committee
Chairman Sen. Sharon Carson, R-Londonderry, contends the bill repeals sections
of law that deal with the capital murder procedure and the execution, which
would make a death sentence impossible. Others disagreed.
Repeal proponents are buoyed by Gov. Maggie Hassan's support and the 225-104
House vote to repeal.
The bill is expected to face a more difficult battle in the Senate, where the
vote is likely to be decided by 1 or 2 senators.
During Thursday's hearing, former Supreme Court Chief Justice John Broderick
said he has been a reluctant supporter of the death penalty in the past, but
has changed his mind. He said the United States is the only industrialized
country in the world that continues to put its citizens to death.
"I hope New Hampshire does not miss this opportunity to stand up and stand out
in the 21st century to say 'That's enough,'" Broderick said. "This is an
opportunity to not let the wave of history pass us by. To say 'Not in our
state.' We're smarter than that, we're better than that."
New Hampshire does not want to join North Korea, Saudi Arabia and Iraq as the
leading government executioners, Broderick noted.
Kensington Police Chief Mike Sielicki defended the death penalty, saying it is
a tool that helps keep the public safe.
If the repeal passes, "some federal judge sitting up there will commute Michael
Addison's sentence, and we cannot have that," Sielicki said. "We cannot get to
the point where Michael Addison spends the rest of his life in jail."
"How quickly we forget the Mont Vernon murder," said Rep. Jeannie Notter,
R-Merrimack, who said she visited the Cates home where Kim Cates was killed and
her daughter maimed in 2009. "I know a lifetime in jail is not justice for a
crime like this."
Inspired by the Cates case, the last change to the state's capital murder law
was to expand it to include murder committed during home invasions.
Lawmakers passed a repeal in 2000, only to have then-Gov. Jeanne Shaheen's veto
sustained.
House Bill 1170's prime sponsor, Rep. Robert Cushing, D-Hampton, is a longtime
advocate for repealing the law. Cushing, whose father was shot and killed by an
off-duty Hampton police office in 1988, co-founded the Murder Victims' Families
for Human Rights in 2004.
"If we let people who kill turn us into killers, then evil triumphs," Cushing
said. "The death penalty doesn't do the one thing we all want: to bring that
person back."
Religious issue
Religious leaders said execution leaves no room for personal redemption.
"We look for human beings to make a radical turnaround," said Bishop Peter
Libasci of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester, "when they realize 'The
bad has to stop, the evil has to stop, and it has to stop with me.'"
Debating repeal of the death penalty during Lent is fitting, said A. Robert
Hirschfeld, Episcopal bishop of New Hampshire.
"Lent is a time of contrition, of changing minds and hearts toward a more civil
and just realm," Hirschfeld told the committee.
He added: "My hope and prayer is that you may be led to vote for repeal so that
our communities will uphold and restore the dignity of our citizens that the
death penalty callously diminishes."
Changing opinions
Former attorney general Philip McLaughlin supported the death penalty and
considered seeking it by bringing capital murder charges in several well-known
cases during his tenure -- the murders of Epsom police officer Jeremy Charron
and 6-year-old Elizabeth Knapp of Hopkinton.
But a 2001 murder case made him reassess his position.
McLaughlin told the committee he was moved by the daughter of slain Dartmouth
College professors Half and Susanne Zantop. McLaughlin said she "was the
measure of dignity" and showed how people could rise above feelings of anger.
Walter Murphy, retired chief justice of the Superior Court system, said there
is not a whisper of evidence the death penalty deters someone from committing
murder. If that were true, he said, Louisiana and Texas would be the safest
states in the country instead of having the highest murder rates.
New Hampshire has not executed anyone since 1939.
The committee will decide at a later date what recommendation to make on the
bill.
(source: Union-Leader)
NEW YORK:
James Benkard, Dies at 76; Defended Inmates in Death Penalty Cases
James W. B. Benkard, a prominent New York corporate lawyer who was honored for
his extensive pro bono work in cases involving the death penalty and prisoners
with mental illness, died on Tuesday in Manhattan. He was 76.
The cause was complications of melanoma, his son Andrew said.
Mr. Benkard handled his 1st death penalty case in the mid-1970s, when he
represented Joseph James in an appeal of his death sentence before the New York
Court of Appeals, the state's highest court. Mr. James was convicted in 1976 of
killing a correction officer during an attempted prison escape. He had been
incarcerated on an earlier murder charge.
In 1977, after he pleaded guilty to the initial murder charge, the Court of
Appeals ruled that Mr. James had been wrongly sentenced to death in the killing
of the correction officer. The court found unconstitutional the portion of the
state's capital punishment statute making the death penalty mandatory for those
convicted of intentionally killing police or correction officers who were on
duty.
Mr. Benkard spent most of his career handling corporate litigation in New York
for the international firm Davis Polk & Wardwell while continuing to take on
death row cases in Georgia, Louisiana and Tennessee.
In Tennessee, he helped persuade an appeals court to throw out the conviction
of a death row inmate, Timothy McKinney, because he had been ineffectively
represented at trial. Mr. McKinney was released in 2013 after a plea agreement.
In 2007, the New York State Bar Association honored Mr. Benkard for his work on
a case that led to a state law banning the use of solitary confinement for
mentally ill inmates.
James Willard Bartlett Benkard was born in Manhattan on April 10, 1937, to
Franklin Benkard, a lawyer, and the former Laura Dupee. He graduated from
Harvard University in 1959 and from Columbia Law School in 1964, and joined
Davis Polk soon afterward. He retired in 2005 but continued to do pro bono
work.
In addition to his son Andrew, his survivors include his wife, the former
Margaret Spofford; another son, James; a daughter, Margaret Chaves; 6
grandchildren; and a sister, Joan Jackson.
Mr. Benkard was a trustee of the Environmental Defense Fund. In 1991, President
George Bush considered appointing him assistant attorney general in charge of
the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division. He was a
friend of C. Boyden Gray, the White House counsel.
But his association with the Environmental Defense Fund proved the more
decisive connection. Because of it, conservative groups, led by the Washington
Legal Foundation, did not want to see him in the job, and he was never
appointed. At the time, President Bush was facing challengers from the right
for the Republican nomination in 1992.
That year, writing in The New York Times, the columnist Anthony Lewis quoted
Mr. Benkard as saying, "I support George Bush, but the constant pressure on him
from the right will inevitably alienate moderate Republicans such as myself."
(source: New York Times)
GEORGIA:
African American aspiring singer and model may face death penalty in murder of
Indian store clerk in Georgia; Sky Raven Mims allegedly killed Dayanbhai
Kalidas Chaudhari.
An aspiring model/singer in a small Georgia town has been accused of stabbing a
desi store clerk last month, with her legal team saying that they plan to
continue defending her unless the prosecution decides to seek the death penalty
for the young would-be starlet.
Skyy Raven Mims, a 21 year-old African American woman who originally hails from
Detroit, allegedly murdered 37 year-old Dayanbhai Kalidas Chaudhari (otherwise
known as Dicky or D.K.) at his convenience store in Dalton, Georgia on March 9.
Reports from local news outlets have described sordid details of the crime;
Chaudhari was apparently stabbed to death, and had his eyes and mouth taped
shut as he died.
Witnesses said that a young woman in a white hooded sweatshirt and large
sunglasses, with the hood pulled tight over her face and the glasses so big
they obscured everything but her nose and mouth, came into the store and argued
with Chaudhari as if she was his wife. This happened at around 11:15 PM on the
night of March 9. The same witness also told police that she heard arguing in a
back room, behind the counter, in a foreign language a short while afterward.
Chaudhari and his "wife," whoever it was, were apparently arguing about what
time he should come back home, with the woman saying he should leave early and
Chaudhari refusing.
About an hour later, Chaudhari's body was found at the store; a customer found
Chaudhari and called 911. Details remain vague on exactly how Mims became a
suspect, but police were able to find Mims via a stolen Kia Soul that was
reported missing in Michigan. Mims had been travelling back and forth between
her hometown and Atlanta, located about 90 miles south of Dalton, and allegedly
used a stolen car to do her travelling in.
Police tracked Mims down to a house she was hiding in, in Bartow County. Mims
reportedly tried to flee when police cornered her, but they were able to subdue
her and charge her with murder. She is currently being held without bond at the
Whitfield County Jail, and may face capital punishment if convicted.
There are several holes in the case, however, namely that the witness
apparently told police she heard male voices arguing in the back room, which
would seem to work in Mims's favor. There also doesn't seem to have been any
motivation for the crime, and Mims's mother, Ylet Patterson, is imploring
police to conduct a thorough investigation instead of just pinning the crime on
her daughter. Patterson has also objected to the media's representation of her
daughter as a thug rapper, saying that Mims is nothing like that.
Chaudhari is remembered as a cheery man, with store owner Kanu Chaudhari
telling local Channel 2 Action News that he is "lost" as a result of
Chaudhari's death.
"Right now, I'm lost. My mind is lost. I cannot say anything," said Kanu
Chaudhari, who has no relation to the late clerk. "He [was] always happy,
smiling [at] customers."
Mims is being represented by Assistant Public Defender Brandon Sparks, who told
The Daily Citizen that he and his team intend to continue defending Mims unless
the D.A., Bert Poston, decides to seek the death penalty in the case, and in
that scenario he would be forced to withdraw his services.
(source: The American Bazaar)
FLORIDA----new death sentence
Nightclub shooter heads to death row
A local judge has followed a jury's recommendation to sentence 44-year-old
Rodney Newberry to death.
Newberry and 2 others were charged with killing Terrese Stevens. Prosecutors
showed that in December 2009, they robbed and shot Stevens multiple times with
an AK-47 while sitting in a car parked outside of a North Pearl Street
nightclub.
Newberry was convicted of 1st degree murder and armed robbery, and a jury
recommended 8-4 earlier this year that he get the death penalty. Judge Adrian
Soud today sentenced Newberry to life in prison for the armed robbery charge,
to run concurrent with the death sentence for murder.
(source: WOKV news)
*******************
Corey's office sends 23rd convicted killer to death row
A judge handed down the sentence Friday: Death plus 25 years to 44-year-old
Rodney Newberry.
In 2009, Newberry shot Terrese Stevens several times with an AK-47. He was
trying to rob Stevens as he sat in his car outside a Pearl Street nightclub.
"He is a classic example of who needs to be on death row," said State Attorney
Angela Corey.
Newberry is the 23rd convict to be sent to death row since Corey took office in
2009. That's more than any other State Attorney state attorney in Florida
during that same time period. Corey takes no issue with that.
"I feel like my lawyers are doing a fabulous job of aggressively prosecuting
the most violent offenders in this community," she said.
She says the high numbers are a direct reflection of the high murder rate in
Jacksonville. As of Dec. 6th, 2013, Jacksonville had 108 homicides. Orange
County, with just over a million people, had 44.
"Don't compare apples to oranges," said Corey.
While the Death Penalty Information Center said Florida would save $51 million
a year by sentencing all 1st-degree murderers to life in prison instead of
death, Corey disagrees.
She said, "It's absolutely not cheaper to keep them in jail for life, because
they fight life offenses, too."
Corey said she doesn't seek harsh punishments to send a message or deter crime;
she does it because it's what criminals like Rodney Newberry deserve.
"Rodney Newberry is a very bad guy and he deserved the death penalty," she
said.
Newberry has several prior arrests for charges ranging from battery, to drug
possession, to weapons possession.
A jury voted 8-4 to sentence him to death. A judge upheld that recommendation.
Corey's Circuit 4 covers Duval, Clay, and Nassau counties.
(source: actionnewsjax.com)
***************
Accused of murder and facing death penalty, Pinellas man acts as own attorney
Craig Wall is a man accused of 2 murders, a man facing the death penalty, a man
who has decided he'll act as his own attorney in trial next week.
So in a preparatory court hearing on Friday, Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge
Philip J. Federico asked Wall if he understood the purpose of voir dire, or
questioning potential jurors.
"Picking some idiots to sit over there," Wall said, motioning toward the jury
box.
"That's not exactly the traditional description, but we'll go from there,"
Federico deadpanned.
Not much is traditional in the case of Wall, who is accused of killing his
5-week-old son in Clearwater in 2010, and stabbing his girlfriend Laura Taft,
29, to death less than 2 weeks later.
Wall, 39, has previously said in court that he would be willing to plead guilty
to killing Taft, and get the death penalty - as long as charges are dropped
against him in the case involving his son.
Unlike most jailed defendants, who have the opportunity to dress up in nice
clothes during trial, Wall has decided to appear in his jail scrubs instead.
Wall, who has a shaved head and a bushy beard that ends in a braid, will have
the right to question potential jurors directly when the trial starts next
week.
Meanwhile, Taft's mother, Rhonda Lyon-Buttita, who has attended virtually every
court hearing over the past four years, said she also will be in court.
--
From the beginning, the 2 tragic killings have led to serious legal questions.
Wall has lived a badly a troubled life. He was profiled in this newspaper in
1988 as "a boy out of control," at age 12. His mother told a reporter she
feared that if she grounded him, "I might not wake up."
He was sent to a halfway house, and to the notorious Arthur G. Dozier School
for Boys in Marianna, and spent 14 years in various Florida prisons for robbery
with a deadly weapon and armed burglary. He acquired multiple tattoos,
including "RAHOWA," an acronym for Racial Holy War.
He met Laura Taft in Largo shortly after getting out of prison. Their baby,
Craig Wall Jr., who was called "CJ," was born shortly after Christmas 2009.
The boy was killed 5 weeks later. He had suffered broken ribs and brain trauma,
and went into cardiac arrest.
Court records make it clear that Clearwater police considered Wall a suspect
almost immediately and that they thought the injuries occurred while in his
care. He was not immediately charged with murder. When Wall did get arrested a
few days later for something else, the fact that he was a suspect in his baby's
death - stated clearly on an arrest affidavit - was never mentioned in court.
3 days after getting out of jail, he was still not charged with his son's
murder. Police say that's when he crashed through a sliding glass door and
stabbed Taft to death.
Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney Bernie McCabe later said he was "dumbfounded" at
how his office handled the case, and reassigned one of his prosecutors.
And Wall himself apparently was alluding to this in one of his comments in
Friday's hearing.
"I've attempted to take responsibility and they won't let me. They won't let me
because Bernie almost lost his ... job in 2010 because I killed her."
He claimed prosecutors have a vendetta against him.
At that, Federico warned Wall he will not be allowed to espouse such theories
when he is questioning potential jurors, or explain that he has offered to be
executed.
"There's no legal basis for saying 'I want the death penalty, so you should
impose it,' " Federico told him.
The judge said he hoped Wall would be able to restrain himself from future
outbursts.
"You don't have impulse control to be able to stop yourself from talking out
when you want to talk out, and I fear that the same thing's going to happen in
front of a jury," Federico said.
--
Representing yourself in a case that could lead to your execution might sound
so crazy that no one would ever attempt it. Yet some do.
"Whereas once it was practically unknown, now we are seeing it with a
disturbing frequency," said J. Marion Moorman, the retired public defender for
the 10th Judicial Circuit, who is not involved in Wall's case.
Moorman said that when people defend themselves, the courts must first make
sure they are mentally competent. They also must understand some basics of the
legal system, such as the fact that they can choose to testify or not, to call
witnesses to the stand or not.
Wall has been evaluated and declared mentally fit for trial.
At Friday's hearing, Wall complained about prosecutors' tactics. He complained
that he had not been able to subpoena witnesses, and said evidence in the case
was being provided to him at the last minute.
Federico spent more than an hour on the hearing, and asked Wall if there was
anything else that needed to be addressed.
"Clearly you won't want to address reality here, you want to ... just screw
me," Wall shot back.
Jury selection begins Monday morning.
(source: Tampa Bay Times)
ALABAMA----woman may face death penalty
Attalla woman charged with running her granddaughter to death wants information
on death penalty
A woman charged with capital murder in the death of her 9 year-old
granddaughter is asking a judge for more details about the methods of Alabama's
execution process.
Joyce Garrard was in court this morning. She is requesting more information
about a lethal injection that could be used if she is convicted.
A hearing on the matter has been set for May 16th.
Meanwhile, today a judge ordered prosecutors to turn over their witness
statements to the defense by 5:00 p.m. April 7.
Garrard is charged in the 2012 death of Savannah Hardin. Prosecutors claim
Garrard forced the girl to run as a punishment for lying about eating
chocolate. Hardin collapsed and died.
The capital murder trial is set to begin June 23.
The girl's stepmother, Jessica Hardin, is also charged in the case.
(source: Alabamas13.com)
MISSISSIPPI:
Mississippi Supreme Court grants death-row inmate Michelle Byrom 2nd trial
The Mississippi Supreme Court has granted Michelle Byrom a new trial, possibly
saving her from the death penalty.
The death-row inmate was convicted of murder back in 2000 for the death of her
husband. It was assumed that Byrom was the mastermind behind her husband's
murder and hired someone to commit it for her.
According to CNN, the basis for Byrom's new case is the new evidence she has
that would prove her son actually committed the murder. There are reportedly
several letters in which Byrom's son confesses to the murder, as well as an
interview that took place with a court-appointed psychologist.
Time says that Byrom's son, Edward Byrom Jr., had testified against his mother
in court in order to receive a lighter sentence after speaking to the
psychologist. He was released from jail last year. It is a theory that Byrom
confessed to the crime to protect her son.
Byrom's attorney has stated that they are very pleased with the opportunity for
a new trial so that the truth can come out.
(source: The celebritycafe.com)
LOUISIANA:
Parade of family witnesses implore jury to spare Horn's life
Snippets of Brian Horn's early life, as told by family members, former law
enforcement officers and school personnel, were shared Friday as the defense
began its case to sway jurors not to impose the death penalty on the Keachi man
convicted Wednesday of killing a child he kidnapped.
The penalty phase of Horn's capital murder trial continues at 9:30 a.m.
Saturday with no estimation on its conclusion. The state had its chance
Thursday to argue for the death penalty for Horn by presenting gripping
testimony from family members of the victim, Justin M. Bloxom, a 12-year-old
Stonewall boy killed on March 30, 2010.
Friday, it was the defense's attorney to parade some of Horn's relatives before
the jury to show even though Horn has been convicted of a despicable crime he
still has worth as a human being. His uncle, Alvin Horn, said as much when he
talked briefly about his nephew's childhood years, a time that the 2 families
often lived near each other and attended the same church.
Alvin Horn was followed on the stand by Brian Horn's grandmother, Myma Horn,
and later by a cousin, Christina Horn. During the afternoon session, Brian
Horn's brother, Kevin Horn, the one who convinced Brian Horn to surrender to
police, was back on the stand. He previously testified during the
guilt-innocence phase of the trial.
Brian Horn's relatives, with the exception of his grandmother, had similar
stories. Happy times were remembered when Brian Horn was a young child.
Christina Horn smiled when recalling days their families vacationed together,
and the cousins spent summers with their grandparents.
Brian Horn's life took a turn during his early teen years. He and Kevin Horn
were shuffled between parents after their divorce, but it was Kevin Horn who
ended up being raised by his grandparents while Brian Horn spent years
incarcerated.
His lockup and alleged injury at the hands of guards and inmates prompted Myma
Horn to write a letter to corrections officials seeking help for her grandson.
Even though she was shown a letter, 96-year-old Myma Horn was unable to be much
help on the stand because of difficulty in hearing and answering questions.
The letters were shown to the jury but not read in open court. The state chose
not to question the elderly woman, who wore hearing devices and had to be
helped into and from the witness chair.
Alvin Horn and Christina Horn became emotional when asked by defense attorney
Jay Florence about Brian Horn's "worth." But each departed the stand by
offering compassion for the Bloxom family.
"No family deserves what Justin's family has been through. ... I would hope
(Brian) could make amends," Alvin Horn said.
"He's always going to be my blood," Christina Horn said of her cousin. Later,
at the conclusion of brief questioning by prosecutor Dhu Thompson, Christina
Horn, looking in the direction of the Bloxom family on the front row, said, "My
heart goes out to the family. I'm sorry for your loss."
Later in the afternoon, Kevin Horn told about an incident when he was 12 and
Brian Horn was 14 and they took their mother's new car for a joy ride that
ended in a wreck. Charges were filed and both went into the juvenile detention
in Caddo Parish. Kevin Horn left there to live and be raised by his
grandparents, but Brian Horn remained incarcerated, signaling a beginning to
the distance in their relationship.
Still, Kevin Horn admitted to loving his brother regardless, even though he and
his family received death threats after Brian Horn's arrest. Kevin Horn agreed
when questioned by Thompson that he and his brother made their own choices in
life.
Those choices became the focus of the remaining witnesses, most of whom
formerly worked at the now defunct Louisiana Training Institute, a juvenile
detention center that had locations in Baton Rouge and Monroe. The witnesses,
including a former warden, had no independent recollection of Brian Horn during
his incarceration and only were reminded of him through documents shown to
them.
The various documents referenced Brian Horn's behavior problems and at least 2
occasions where he suffered a broken jaw. A former probation officer who had no
direct contact with Brian Horn referenced a letter she wrote to corrections
officials after receiving a letter from Brian Horn's grandmother expressing her
concern about him. None of the documents provided proof of rapes Brian Horn
told family members he endured while incarcerated.
One of Brian Horn's former teachers was only on the stand for a short while
after she told attorneys she likewise had no memory of him even after reading a
school record from his mother requesting an observation because of his
behavior.
Retired educator Nancy Farmer had no trouble, however, remembering Brian Horn
when he was a 6-year-old in her 1st grade class at Walnut Hill. He stood out,
she said, because of his impulsive behavior and tendency to bother other
students. She also told of day where he jumped on desks and ran around the
room, only to be stopped when the principal came in to remove him.
Farmer blamed his actions on hyperactivity. His mother was worried, too, and
attended many parent-teacher conferences, she said.
Ivy Evans, a retired school psychologist, also was familiar with Brian Horn
during her time of working with the Caddo Parish School District's special
education program. Despite his behavioral issues, Brian Horn was "very bright,"
she said. "He had the potential to do very well."
The one spark of the day came is midafternoon when District Judge Robert
Burgess excused the jury to admonish Florence. A noticeably irked judge
threatened Florence with contempt of court because of questions that repeatedly
elicited hearsay information from a witness.
Burgess called Florence's disregard for an earlier warning "unprofessional and
against court rules." A repeat occurrence could land Florence behind bars at
the DeSoto Parish Detention Center for 24 hours, the judge said.
(source: Shreveport Times)
***************
Man accused in 2009 Grady Crawford killings is mentally retarded, his attorneys
claim; Successful defense would exclude man from death penalty if convicted
Richard Matthews, the 57-year-old Slaughter man accused of fatally shooting 2
employees and wounding a 3rd at a Baton Rouge construction firm in 2009, is
mentally retarded and can't be executed, his attorneys alleged Friday.
"Mr. Matthews has a life-long history of significant impairments in
intellectual and adaptive functioning," his lawyers said in a court filing.
"Recent testing indicates that Mr. Matthews has deficits ... that meet the
criteria for a diagnosis of intellectual disability (previously known as mental
retardation)."
The filing will allow Matthews' attorneys to use mental retardation as part of
his penalty phase defense if he is convicted of 1st-degree murder. Prosecutors
have said they intend to seek the death penalty if he is found guilty.
Kyla Romanach, one of Matthews' attorneys, informed state District Judge Tony
Marabella during a hearing Friday in the capital murder case that the filing
had been made.
East Baton Rouge Parish Assistant District Attorney Darwin Miller told the
judge the state will ask that Matthews be independently examined by a doctor of
the state's choosing.
The U.S. Supreme Court in 2002 banned the execution of mentally retarded
persons.
Matthews is accused of killing clerical workers Dianna Tullier, 44, of Walker,
and Cheryl Boykin, 55, of Denham Springs, and wounding a 3rd woman employee at
Grady Crawford Construction Co. on Dec. 23, 2009.
Matthews had been laid off from the firm several months before the shootings.
He is charged with 2 counts of 1st-degree murder and 5 counts of attempted
1st-degree murder. A trial date has not been set.
One of the attempted murder counts accuses Matthews of trying to kill Trey
Crawford, who was not at the business when Matthews arrived that afternoon.
Trey Crawford is the son of the company's owner. Matthews was fired by Trey
Crawford because of poor work performance, an affidavit states.
In statements to police and reporters, Matthews said he went to the firm that
day to kill Trey Crawford because he could not get unemployment benefits.
(source: The Advocate)
*******************
Life after death row: Helping break the 'jailhouse mentality'
When former death row inmate John Thompson left a Louisiana prison in 2003 he
was one of the lucky ones. He had the support of his family and the lawyers who
had worked for more than a decade to prove his innocence in the 1984 shooting
death of a hotel executive from a prominent New Orleans family.
Within 6 months of his release, he was married and holding down a steady job.
By 2005, he had a brand new home, a car and a dog. He and his wife were running
their own sandwich shop in a hotel in downtown New Orleans.
"I was almost getting to feel the American dream," said Thompson, who spent 18
years in prison, 14 of them on Louisiana's death row.
Then, Hurricane Katrina hit and wiped out his home, his business and the life
he'd been struggling to build after nearly 2 decades locked up.
He looked around and realized he was not alone in his struggle to ease back
into society. He also wondered where the resources were for people like him who
didn't know how to use email, find a doctor or apply for a driver's license and
social security card to apply for jobs.
"Men come home and the system has nothing in place to help them put their lives
back together," he said. "They need to be reprogrammed because the survival
tactics they learned in prison don't work in the outside world."
To help them Thompson started Resurrection After Exoneration, an education and
outreach program that helps exonerated and formerly incarcerated inmates
rebuild their lives.
Again, he says he was lucky because he knew people who could help him write
grant applications and navigate the waters of the non-profit world.
But it takes more than good fortune and connections to make a go of it after
spending nearly two decades in prison, said Michael Banks, one of Thompson's
appellate lawyers.
"He's proven himself to be resilient, resourceful and compassionate in ways
that are unimaginable given his situation," said Banks, who helped Thompson win
his freedom.
Banks and his colleague Gordon Cooney helped reverse Thompson's capital murder
conviction based on evidence that the Orleans Parish District Attorney's Office
concealed blood evidence that would have cast doubt on its case.
District Attorney Harry Connick Sr., father of the entertainer on TV's
"American Idol," reportedly defended his team at the time. "We follow the
rules," Connick reportedly told The Associated Press. "We have an ongoing and
continuing obligation to turn over exculpatory evidence and we do."
In a retrial, jurors acquitted Thompson of all charges.
"We felt good about the retrial, the evidence suggested we were going to win,"
Banks said. "We were worried about what happens next, after he walks out of
prison after 18 years.
"There's not a lot of vocational training on death row; the only thing you're
trained for is to learn to die."
Thompson's lawyers tried to convince him to go to a residential counseling
program in California. But he insisted on staying in New Orleans to be close to
his mother and sons, who were four and six when they saw police take him away
in handcuffs in 1985.
The 1st place Thompson visited when he left prison was his old neighborhood,
where he received a hero's welcome complete with Mardi Gras beads, Banks
recalled.
However, over a seafood dinner at Pascal Manale -- his first as a free man --
he made it clear that he did not want to return to his previous life, Banks
said.
"He knew from the minute he got out, 'I don't want to go back to this old world
because this will eat me alive,'" Banks said. "He was a 10th grade dropout with
no money, no ATM card, he'd never used a cellphone or a computer. The
temptation of street crime, drugs and poverty seemed overwhelming. But to his
credit he had the emotional intelligence and strength to pursue a different
path."
Still, it's been a bumpy road. Thompson won $14 million in damages after suing
the Orleans Parish District Attorney's Office for violating his federal civil
rights by hiding blood tests that would have proven his innocence. The state
appealed and the case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which
overturned the judgment in a sharply divided 5-4 decision.
That -- coupled with Katrina -- led Thompson to dedicate his life to fighting
for the rights of other exonerees.
State laws vary when it comes compensation, but in Louisiana exonerated inmates
are eligible for $25,000 per year for each year of wrongful incarceration with
a $250,000 cap.
But former inmates need more than money, Thompson said. They need guidance and
mentoring to help them manage it wisely. Besides, they shouldn't have to wait
for compensation to find services essential to their transition and
rehabilitation, he said.
We think states and cities should provide housing and job training.
"We think states and cities should provide housing and job training. They
shouldn't have to wait for compensation to find those services," said Thompson.
Resurrection After Exoneration offers a variety of services to former inmates.
The nondescript building in New Orleans' famous Treme neighborhood provides
temporary housing for 4 people while helping them develop a 5-year plan,
Thompson said.
The 1st stage involves a lengthy evaluation to get to know the former inmate
and to get them back on the grid with a Social Security card, driver's license
and doctor's appointments.
The organization also helps reconnect them with family or friends who can
provide a support system.
Next, they start job training by learning computer skills and building resumes.
They also go through a long mental health checklist to ensure that the
ex-inmate possesses the self-awareness to deal with lingering effects of
prison. If needed, counseling referrals are provided.
"If you can't identify and deal with the trauma you fall into depression, and
look to drugs and alcohol to escape reality," said Thompson. "That's what keeps
these guys from getting over the hump and moving forward."
The organization also teaches participants how to tell their story so they can
participate in community outreach efforts. These are key to build empathy and
understanding of the needs of inmates returning to society, Thompson said.
Like it or not, these people are going to be in the community; it's society's
responsibility to help give them a fighting chance, he said.
Thompson and other members of RAE visit high schools and law schools to tell
their stories.
In addition the organization hosts "Know Your Rights" classes for practicing
lawyers, students and members of the community.
Thompson also finds time to work with chapters of the Innocence Project,
lobbying for federal guidelines related to compensation and looking for extreme
cases of wrongful convictions across the country to cast a spotlight on the
national scope of the problem.
"We need to make everyone aware of the importance of accountability and
oversight when it comes to prosecutions," he said. "When you send 1 person away
it destroys entire families."
(source: CNN)
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