June 5
COLORADO:
Media argues for public jury selection for Holmes
Jury selection in the upcoming trial of the man suspected of killing 12 people
in a Colorado movie theater should be open to the public, media organizations
told the judge Tuesday.
Prosecutors and lawyers for James Holmes argued last week that the public
should be barred from all or part of the jury selection process.
Media companies including The Associated Press argued in a Tuesday filing that
an open jury selection doesn't preclude Holmes from getting a fair trial.
Holmes is charged with murder and attempted murder in the July 2012 attack,
which also left 70 people injured. He pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
Jury selection is scheduled to start Oct. 14. About 5,000 potential jurors will
get a summons.
(source: Associated Press)
ARIZONA:
Death penalty sought in Villa case; CG mother accused of killing teenage
daughter, poisoning 3 other kids
Prosecutors said Tuesday they plan to seek the death penalty for a Casa Grande
mother accused of killing her teenage daughter and trying to poison her 3 other
children last Christmas Day.
Connie Villa, 36, is charged with 1 count of 1st-degree murder in the death of
her 13-year-old daughter and 4 counts of attempted murder of her 3 younger
children and of her ex-husband.
Casa Grande police said Villa didn't want her ex-husband to have custody of the
children.
Police said Villa told investigators she suffocated her oldest daughter when
the girl wouldn't take prescription narcotic drugs.
The teen's body was discovered in a bathroom of the home, and Villa was found
with stab wounds said to have been self-inflicted.
The other children - 3, 5 and 8 - were treated at a hospital and released.
Police said all 3 had trace amounts of opiates in their systems.
Pinal County Attorney Lando Voyles filed a notice of intent to seek the death
penalty in the case against Villa.
In a statement, he said the decision was made after consideration and review of
the statutory aggravating and mitigating factors.
Defense attorney Mark Tallon said putting Villa to death would only compound a
family tragedy.
"Connie Villa is a sick woman and to take the surviving kids' mother away from
them is compounding their psychological problems," Tallon added.
Adam Villa told authorities he was trying to pick up his kids on Christmas Day
in accordance with the couple's custody agreement. Police said he told a 911
dispatcher that he had been stabbed by his ex-wife.
During the 911 call, Adam Villa said he did not see the children at the house
before he was stabbed.
The 3 children are living with him now.
Connie Villa was arrested Dec. 29 after she was released from a hospital.
A hearing in the case is scheduled for July 15 in Pinal County Superior Court
in Florence.
(source: Associated Press)
OREGON:
Defense says psychotic break led Adrien Wallace to kill; prosecutor calls him
lucid, angry
Adrien Graham Wallace was a maladjusted beer-drinking recluse whose smoldering
resentment led to the cold-blooded killing of his mother and nephew, a
prosecutor said Wednesday as Wallace's murder trial began.
Wallace faces the death penalty and is using an insanity defense.
"It's no secret he's had mental health issues," Chris Owen, a Clackamas County
senior deputy district attorney, said in his opening statement.
But he was lucid and acted with intent when he fetched a gun, took aim and
fired, Owen said.
Wallace is a paranoid who has suffered from depression and "sees slights" where
there are none, Owen said.
It was a perceived slight that sparked the brief, bloody rampage on June 4,
2012, when Wallace grabbed a high-powered rifle and fired 5 bullets into his
mother, Saundra Sue Wallace, and 12 more into his nephew, 16-year-old Nicolas
"Nick" Brian Juarez, according to prosecutors.
Wallace had been living with his mother 2009. He was an able-bodied shut-in,
Owen said. So much so that next-door neighbors did not know he lived in
Wallace's home.
Wallace was a night owl who spent his time smoking cigarettes, drinking beer
and playing video games, Owen said.
He saw the rest of his family living successful, happy, socially engaged lives.
A world foreign to him.
Nick Juarez and Sue Wallace were close. Juarez was visiting, as he did every
year, and Wallace was preparing to drive him back to his home in Mountain View,
Calif., on June 5, 2012.
Adrien Wallace and his older sister - Nick's mother - were not close. Wallace
was jealous of his sister and blamed her for his failures. He physically
assaulted her when he was 15 and she avoided him after that, Owen said.
On the day of the shooting, Wallace and Juarez played video games. Wallace
heard Nick say, "beat it."
Wallace thought the comment was aimed at him it but it likely was a reference
to winning a video game, Owen said.
To Wallace, it was an obvious snub, Owen said.
Wallace went on a racist tirade, verbally attacking Juarez, whose father is
Hispanic, and Sue Wallace, Owen said.
Sue Wallace and Juarez attempted to flee.
Adrien Wallace, fearing he would be permanently kicked out of the house, went
to his room and got a rifle. He killed his mother in the front yard, a few
steps from her car. Then he pointed the gun barrel into the car and shot
Juarez, Owen said.
When Wallace called 9-1-1 to report the shootings he was unremorseful,
referring to the victims as "scumbags," Owen said.
"I was in my right mind when I did what I did. I was angry; I was hateful and I
committed murder," Wallace told detectives shortly after he was arrested.
Defense attorney David Falls told jurors that murders were the act of a man who
suffered a tragic psychotic break that was a long time in the making.
Wallace battled mental illness and depression since childhood, Falls said.
His condition continued to deteriorate and went into a steep decline after he
moved in with his mother, Falls said.
His parents - both successful professionals, Sue Wallace was a licensed
clinical social worker before she retired in 2000 - divorced when he was a
child.
Wallace was considered a highly intelligent child but categorized in grade
school as a loner. He had difficulty communicating with others and didn't fit
in, Falls said.
Wallace sought and received mental health treatment in his 20s and was once
hospitalized for intentionally cutting himself.
Wallace received Social Security disability payments for a while. He received
training as an industrial maintenance mechanic and seemed to do well working
with machinery.
"You're not going to hear a single witness who will say he could work with
people," Falls told the jury.
Wallace had no friends. He went to work; he went home; he took his prescribed
psychiatric medication, Falls said.
"He ran under the radar," Falls said.
Wallace was depressed because he could not find a steady job.
He began self-medicating with alcohol, drinking himself to sleep, Falls said.
After the blowup with his mother and Juarez, Wallace was distraught. He went to
his room, intending to use his rifle to kill himself, Falls said.
Wallace, however, had made a promise to God that he would not commit suicide,
Falls said.
"He believed the only thing he could do was shoot his mother and the other
person in the car," Falls said.
The trial resumes Friday with testimony from a state medical examiner.
Prosecutors may play a recording of Wallace's the 9-1-1 call.
(source: Oregonlive.com)
USA:
A former soldier facing the death penalty for the murder of his 5-year-old
daughter has apologized and is asking jurors to let him live.
Naeem Williams read a statement to jurors Wednesday expressing his regret for
killing daughter Talia. The jury that convicted him of capital murder in April
will determine if he's sentenced to death or life in prison for the 2005
beating death.
He says he wants the chance to be a better father to his 2 other children, an
11-year-old son who lives in Georgia and a 9-year-old daughter who lives in
Tennessee.
The children testified Wednesday that they enjoy their relationship with him
even though he's incarcerated thousands of miles away in Hawaii.
Williams has testified that he often beat Talia while he was stationed in
Hawaii.
(source: Fox News)
********************
Fatal Bank Robbery Suspect Could Get Death Penalty
A Southern Illinois man who allegedly killed 2 bank employees and wounded
another during a hold-up could get the federal death penalty.
James Watts, 29, was indicted by a Federal Grand Jury, which also made him
eligible for the death penalty. U.S. Attorney Stephen Wigginton said, however,
that his prosecutors have not decided whether they will actually seek the death
penalty.
It's alleged that Watts, with a.380 caliber semi-automatic pistol entered the
First National Bank in Cairo, Ill. on May 15, killed two bank employees and
critically wounded another.
Prosecutors say he then stole one of his victim's cars and led police on a
chase. He's being held without bond.
Wigginton said that even if his office does not seek the death penalty, a
conviction would mean a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the
possibility of parole.
(source: CBS news)
*******************
Man convicted of carjack killing in 2001 to appear in court
Lawyers for a man who was sentenced to death for carjacking and killing 2
Massachusetts men during a weeklong crime spree are due in court for a status
conference.
Gary Lee Sampson pleaded guilty in the 2001 carjack killings of 19-year-old
Jonathan Rizzo and 69-year-old Philip McCloskey. A federal jury sentenced him
to death, but a judge later overturned that ruling.
Sampson is scheduled to face a new trial next year, when a new jury will be
asked to determine if he should be sentenced to life in prison or death.
A hearing is scheduled Wednesday in U.S. District Court to discuss various
motions expected to be filed before Sampson's new sentencing trial.
Massachusetts does not have a state death penalty. Sampson was prosecuted under
the federal death penalty statute.
(source: Associated Press)
*******************
Supreme Court Finally Takes Big Step In Putting An End To The 'R Word'
A recent Supreme Court ruling may only help a few inmates on death row, but the
wording of the decision could have an immeasurable impact on anyone with
intellectual disabilities.
In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court decided on May 27 that states can no
longer rely on a simple IQ test to determine if an inmate can be put to death
or not.
The Hall v. Florida case struck down Florida's hard and fast approach to
execution.
In the past, if an inmate in Florida scored a 70 or below on an IQ test, that
person could be deemed ineligible to be executed. But if someone on death row
scored a 71 or higher, that prisoner could be put to death, according to the
Christian Science Monitor.
The court's decision now requires states to consider the exam's margin of error
and to give the inmate the opportunity to show if he or she could adapt to the
requirements of daily life, CS Monitor reported.
This ruling may only help a relatively few number of inmates -- it's likely
that it will aid just 2 of the 8 death row inmates in Virginia, for example,
according to The Washington Post. But it was the wording of the ruling that
could have a sweeping effect.
"Intellectual disability is a condition, not a number," Justice Anthony Kennedy
wrote.
It wasn't just the decision that advocates lauded, it was Kennedy's shunning of
archaic terminology.
"Previous opinions of this Court have employed the term 'mental retardation,'"
he wrote. "This opinion uses the term 'intellectual disability' to describe the
identical phenomenon."
For those fighting for the rights of people with intellectual disabilities,
such a shift in language marks monumental progress that can be so easily
achieved.
"Using more neutral terminology to describe a person with [intellectual
disabilities], when they need to be described at all, is just one more way to
respect them," wrote blogger Ellen Seidman who chronicles life raising a child
with special needs. "Not the only way, of course, just one. An easy one."
Advocates continue to raise awareness about the hurt that is involved with
using the word "retarded" in the hopes of encouraging people to stop using the
word pejoratively and to cease using it in medical, legal and educational
settings. The Special Olympics launched the "Spread the Word to End the Word"
initiative in 2008 and has gained significant footing in its mission.
"Why am I hurt when I hear 'retard?'" John Franklin Stephens, Special Olympics
global ambassador, wrote in a blog for HuffPost. "Let's face it, nobody uses
the word as a term of praise. At best, it is used as another way of saying
'stupid' or 'loser.' At worst, it is aimed directly at me as a way to label me
as an outcast -- a thing, not a person. I am not stupid. I am not a loser. I am
not a thing. I am a person."
(source: Eleanor Goldberg, Huffington Post)
***************
Support for death penalty still high, but down
A clear majority of Americans still support the death penalty for convicted
murderers in the wake of Oklahoma's botched execution attempt in April, but the
percentage who say they back capital punishment has fallen in recent years.
60 % of Americans say they favor the death penalty, a new Washington Post-ABC
News poll shows, while 37 % are opposed. That number is down from roughly 2/3
who supported it in polls from 2002-2006, and well below the 80 % high-water
mark for capital punishment in a 1994 survey.
But for the 1st time in Post-ABC polling, more than half of Americans say they
prefer life sentences for convicted murderers, rather than the death penalty.
52 % of those polled said they would choose life in prison, while 42 % said
they favored execution.
Those attitudes have changed thanks to shifting opinions among non-whites, who
favor life sentences over the death penalty by more than a 2-to-1 margin, 65 %
to 28 %. 8 years ago, non-whites favored life terms by 55 % to 41 %. White
voters split 50 % to 45 % toward preferring the death penalty, though the
margin is not statistically significant.
Democrats and independents have shifted toward life sentences in significant
numbers since the 2006 survey, by 9 % points and 8 % points respectively. Just
36 % of Republicans prefer life sentences, little changed from the last survey.
Nearly 1/2 of Americans living in the 32 states that allow the death penalty,
or 49 %, say they would prefer life imprisonment for convicted murders. Support
for life in prison rises to 58 % respondents in states that have abolished the
death penalty.
Despite the gruesome story out of Oklahoma, where a convicted murderer had a
heart attack 45 minutes after executioners incorrectly inserted the needle that
was to deliver the fatal drugs, there is little evidence that support for the
death penalty is collapsing.
Americans still favor lethal injection over other methods of execution,
according to a Gallup poll last month; states began using lethal injection in
the early 1980s to put a more humane face on capital punishment. If lethal
injection were not available, only 48 % of Americans say they would still
support the death penalty, compared with 45 % who would support ending capital
punishment if lethal injection weren't available.
The Post-ABC poll surveyed 1,002 adults between May 29 and June 1, both over
landlines and on cellular phones. The overall survey has a margin of error of
plus or minus 3.5 % points.
(source: Washington Post)
**************************
The first 'humane' execution
If Thomas Edison had conducted his experiment today of electrocuting a circus
elephant named "Topsy" at Coney Island, to demonstrate what was touted as a
method to humanely execute criminals convicted of capital crimes, the public
would be outraged. But paradoxically there is no such widespread outrage today
over Oklahoma's botched experiment in mixing drugs in an attempt to demonstrate
that it had found the right lethal combination to humanely kill a human being
named Clayton Lockett, a convicted murderer.
Edison's demonstration is part of a bizarre story that has become associated
with the history of executions in this country that is worthwhile recounting
today. U.S. manufacturers have stopped supplying a key drug for lethal
injections for political and bad public relations reasons. European suppliers
have also stopped exporting such drugs to America as a humanitarian protest.
This has caused states like Oklahoma, where executions still take place, to
experiment with a mixture of these drugs made in secrecy by suppliers.
Because of Oklahoma's bungled execution, other state officials in capital
punishment states are now considering alternative methods of execution or
returning to earlier ways like hanging. There are reports of some condemned
persons living up to 30 minutes dangling from a hangman's noose before dying,
Lockett lived for 40 minutes after his lethal injection, today's supposedly
more advanced, humane method of execution, before he died of a heart attack.
Edison is said to have received a letter from a Buffalo, New York dentist
suggesting that electrocution would be a humane method to execute criminals. At
the time, Edison and George Westinghouse were competing over the use of their
products by the public. Edison was selling direct current and Westinghouse was
promoting alternating current.
Edison, as the story goes, saw the electrocution of criminals as a way to
promote his product as being much safer than that of Westinghouse's alternating
current. Edison began a public campaign to demonstrate that alternating current
was more dangerous for use by the public than direct current and a better use
for it would be to execute criminals efficiently and quickly.
Edison reportedly used alternating current to electrocute dogs that he
purchased from neighborhood boys for 25 cents each. He also used calves and
horses. He put on one of these demonstrations to impress a New York state
committee that was created to investigate the use of electricity in executions.
Committee members were impressed and tried to purchase several alternating
current dynamos from Westinghouse who refused to sell because he was irate over
Edison's tactics of trying to convince the public that alternating current
would be lethal to homeowners. This rivalry was so intense, that Edison is said
to have coined the word "Westinghoused" as a way to describe the execution of a
criminal by the use of alternating current.
According to an article by Gilbert King in Smithsonian.com, entitled "Edison v.
Westinghouse: A Shocking Rivalry," the New York state committee eventually
found a prison electrician who built an electric chair which used alternating
current. This chair was used for the first execution by electrocution in 1890.
William Kemmler, a convicted murderer, was strapped in that chair and after 17
seconds of being jolted by electricity, he appeared dead. The dentist who had
first proposed this method of execution was a witness and he stood up at that
point, according to King's article, to declare that we now "live in a higher
civilization today." But, Kemmler was still alive and it took time to start the
dynamo again to build up a sufficient electric current. Kemmler remained alive
for a period of time with the back of his coat on fire before he died.
Later, the doctor, according to King, who pronounced Kemmler dead, said: "There
will never be another execution." Westinghouse, who had earlier contributed
$100,000 to an unsuccessful challenge of the death penalty as unconstitutional
"cruel and unusual punishment" on Kemmler's behalf in the U.S. Supreme Court ,
later said of the execution, also according to King: "They would have done
better with an ax."
In the end Westinghouse won the competition with Edison by being awarded the
contract in 1893 to light the Chicago World???s Fair which provided the
publicity he needed to make alternating current the standard in the electrical
industry.
The public debate today in the wake of the Lockett case, should not be about
trying to find an alternative method to execute criminals. It instead should be
about eliminating the death penalty. There is no humane way to commit the
ultimate cruelest act between humans, namely, the killing of a human in the
name of the government by another human. This is government sanctioned
homicide.
Additionally, the evidence is now clear that capital punishment does not deter
crime. The death penalty is nothing more than punishment and keeping the public
safe by permanently removing murderers from the streets. A better way to
accomplish these objectives is Massachusetts' sentence of life imprisonment
without parole.
(source: Robert "Frank" Jakubowicz is a regular contributor to The Eagle)
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