June 10
TEXAS:
Texas shooting suspect indicted in 4 more deaths
A North Texas man suspected in a daylong series of shootings that ended with 5
people dead has been indicted in 4 of those killings.
The indictments returned Friday accuse Charles Brownlow, 36, in the killings
last year of his mother, his aunt and 2 other people elsewhere in the rural
community of Terrell, about 30 miles east of Dallas.
He was already indicted in the shooting death of store clerk Luis Gerardo
Leal-Carrillo.
The attacks began to be uncovered early on the evening of Oct. 28, when
Brownlow's uncle, Robert Walker, arrived home to discover his wife Belinda dead
on his son's bedroom floor.
About 30 minutes later, fire units responded to a blaze at the home of
Brownlow's mother, Mary Brownlow. Firefighters found her body in the smoldering
remains of the house and police said the fire was clearly arson.
Around 10:30 p.m., police responded to a report of a shooting at another home
and found Jason Wooden and Kelleye Sluder dead.
An off-duty police officer meanwhile spotted a car that authorities believed
Brownlow had stolen parked outside a convenience store. As the officer called
in the sighting, the suspect ran from the store, jumped in the car and led
police on a high speed chase. He wrecked the car and was found by police hiding
in a creek.
Leal-Carillo's body was discovered inside the convenience store.
A police affidavit released after his arrest accuses Brownlow of targeting
seven people in total, suggesting that he had intended to kill two other people
that day.
Brownlow was also indicted for burglarizing a home with the intent to commit
aggravated assault.
Brownlow's brother said immediately after the shootings that his sibling had
been living with his mother and struggled with drug addiction.
Prosecutors have already said in a court filing that they intend to seek the
death penalty.
Brownlow's attorney, Jack Stoffregen, did not immediately return a phone
message.
(source: Associated Press)
CONNECTICUT:
Stop charade, fully repeal death penalty
When the General Assembly abolished the death penalty 2 years ago, this
newspaper said the state should have the courage and consistency to outlaw
government sanctioned killing in all instances, including the 11, now 12, men
awaiting execution for death penalty crimes committed before April 25, 2012.
It remains our position that a state-sponsored execution disproportionately
targets minorities, has no deterrent value, cannot be undone if there is a
mistake and is a barbaric act that lowers the state to the level of the killer.
Now, we can add the botched execution in Oklahoma that has prompted several
death penalty states to suspend executions until serious questions about lethal
injection - the method of execution in Oklahoma and Connecticut - are resolved.
Then there is a practical problem. Connecticut has none of the 3 execution
drugs required by state law to administer its leftover death penalty and can't
legally get them.
To kill a person legally in Connecticut, the executioner must use sodium
thiopental, which induces unconsciousness; pancronium bromide, which paralyzes
the muscles and potassium chloride to stop the heart.
The Department of Correction has confirmed it has none of these drugs and no
way to obtain them because many domestic and foreign drugmakers, including
those in the 28-nation European Union, have objected to using their products in
executions. This has led to severe drug shortages for executions in most of the
32 states where the death penalty has not been abolished, as well as in
Connecticut, where it exists for a dozen men.
"There's no state that I know that currently has access to these drugs,"
Michael Lawlor, the state's undersecretary of criminal justice policy told the
Associated Press. Asked what the state would do to carry out an execution,
Lawlor said he didn't know. "There is no execution imminent in Connecticut, so
we can wait and see."
There was no execution imminent in 2005 when one of the longtime death row
inhabitants, Michael Ross, voluntarily gave up his appeal rights and became the
only person to die of lethal injection in Connecticut. It was the state's 1st
execution since 1960.
In a state that has abolished capital punishment and has clearly had no
appetite for it for more than half a century, the current situation borders on
the grotesque as it does in the 32 states using lethal injection. Ironically,
this is the method considered the more humane substitute for other, barbaric
means of legally taking a life.
There's more. We do not know who lethally injected Mr. Ross, but until 2010, it
was often an anesthesiologist. Since then, the American Board of
Anesthesiologists has announced it will revoke the working credentials of any
anesthesiologist who participates in an execution on the grounds that "we are
healers, not executioners," a board spokesman said. The American Medical
Association has long opposed doctor involvement.
Capital punishment supporters have maintained doctors are not needed to
administer injections and prison employees will do, but the executioner's
qualifications could lead to more years of litigation, along with challenges
questioning the sources of drugs and how they have been tested.
All of this could be resolved if the Connecticut Supreme Court rules in favor
of death row inmate Eduardo Santiago, whose arguments that the penalty's
abolition should be retroactive were heard last year. A ruling is expected
soon. Our expectation is that the court will find the current death penalty law
unconstitutional.
But even if the court rules against Santiago, there are many other legal issues
to be resolved, Bridgeport attorney Michael Fitzpatrick, who represented
Michael Ross, told The Connecticut Post. "We still have not had the federal
courts take a hard look at the state's death penalty statute" or rule whether
the state's death penalty statute is constitutional.
The likelihood is that none of the 12 will ever be executed and some court,
state or federal, will find, as Michael Courtney, the state's head of the
Office of Public Defender, has said, "there is nothing more arbitrary and
capricious" than the present situation in which a person committing a capital
felony on April 24, 2012, the day before Connecticut abolished capital
punishment, can be executed while the person committing the exact same crime
the next day cannot.
The state has found that capital punishment is morally wrong. It is and it
should be without exception.
(source: Editorial, The Day----June 5)
VIRGINIA:
Death row inmate pursues intellectual disability claim
Lawyers for a Virginia death row inmate who claims he is intellectually
disabled will argue their case in federal court Wednesday, hoping to take
advantage of a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down the strict
use of IQ test score cutoffs.
A hearing is set before U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson for Alfredo R.
Prieto, 48, who was convicted of a 1988 rape and double murder in Fairfax
County. He was also sentenced to death in California for another rape and
murder.
Last month, the justices threw out the use of IQ scores of 70 or below as a
requirement that must be met by a defendant hoping to be ruled ineligible for
the death penalty because of intellectual disability.
The high court held that states had to take into account the standard error of
measurement when considering IQ test scores, which are imprecise and should be
read as a range on either side of the score.
In a 2002 Virginia case, the high court barred the execution of persons with
intellectual disability, formerly called mental retardation.
"Alfredo Prieto may be one of the only people who stands to benefit from a
retroactive application of the new rule," his lawyers wrote in a brief last
week. "He faces the ultimate punishment, and the new rule... calls into
question whether his execution violates federal constitutional law."
In response to the 2002 decision, Florida and Virginia required IQ test cutoff
scores of 70 or below as one of several conditions that must be met by a
defendant hoping to be ruled ineligible for the death penalty.
In his federal appeal, Prieto is arguing a number of issues including his
intellectual disability claim. Hudson earlier gave Prieto???s lawyers
permission to file a supplemental brief once the justices ruled in the Florida
case.
His lawyers contend that Prieto's IQ has been measured at 66. When the standard
error of measurement is applied for that particular IQ test, his score would
fall within the range of 63 and 71, they said.
Last month - before the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in the Florida case - the
Virginia Attorney General's Office said the state presented evidence that
Prieto's score was 73, above the cutoff of 70.
The attorney general's office argued, among other issues, that the test on
which he scored a 66 was not an approved examination.
Cary B. Bowen, one of Prieto's lawyers, said the matter is among others that
will be brought up before Hudson at the hearing. Prieto's lawyers argue the
recent U.S. Supreme Court decision should be applied retroactively in his case.
In papers filed Monday, the attorney general's office again asked Hudson to
dismiss Prieto's claim on the grounds that it has been "procedurally defaulted"
and that the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in the Florida case should not be
applied retroactively.
The attorney general's office also wrote that Prieto was able to exercise his
full right to claim intellectual disability during his 2008 trial. An expert at
that time testified for Pietro that his IQ was 66 and that "IQ scores have a
range."
A state expert testified that Prieto was not intellectually disabled as defined
under Virginia law and that his IQ score was 73. The state expert said he did
consider the standard error of measure but it did not lead him to a different
score because, "'You don't simply subtract points in 1 direction.'"
The state expert also said Prieto did not suffer from deficits in adaptive
behavior - such as not being able to cope with some daily living challenges -
another requirement for demonstrating intellectual disability.
Unlike the Florida case, the attorney general's office told Hudson that lawyers
for Prieto presented evidence of intellectual disability, but it was rejected
by jurors.
Prieto, was convicted in 2008 of the capital murders of Rachel A. Raver and
Warren H. Fulton III, both 22 and both last seen alive on Dec. 4, 1988, as they
were leaving a restaurant in Washington, D.C.
Raver's partially nude body was discovered in a field just south of the Dulles
Toll Road in Fairfax County 2 days later. She had been raped, and she and
Fulton died from gunshot wounds to the back fired by the same handgun.
In 2005, a cold hit matched DNA found in the Virginia slayings with Prieto, who
was on California's death row for a 1990 rape and murder. Published reports
said he is also a suspect in other murders in California.
He was extradited to Fairfax County in 2006. His 1st trial ended with a
mistrial and he was convicted in 2008.
(source: Richmond Times-Dispatch)
FLORIDA:
Judge sentenced man to death during relationship with prosecutor
The U.S. Justice system has its flaws, but one flawed judge has been disrobed.
Reuters tells us the Florida Supreme Court disbarred former Broward Circuit
Judge Ana Gardiner for having a personal relationship with the prosecutor
during a death penalty trial in which she sentenced a man to death.
According to an investigation, Gardiner, while hearing a 2007 murder trail,
happened to run across prosecutor assistant state attorney Howard Scheinberg at
a restaurant. She proceeded to have drinks with him.
Between March 23, several days before a jury returned a guilty verdict against
murder suspect Omar Loureiro, and Aug. 24, when Gardiner sentenced Loureiro to
death, Gardiner and Scheinberg exchanged 949 cell phone calls and 471 text
messages. That means she called Scheinberg more than 6 times a day, according
to my poor math.
There's no hard evidence of hanky-panky but the last time I called someone that
often I married them.
Gardiner initially denied any involvement with Scheinberg but later admitted an
"emotional relationship."
She resigned in 2010, after 11 years as a judge, and was ordered to pay
$8,117.18 in court costs. The Supreme Court suspended Scheinberg from practice
for 2 years. He is now working as a paralegal.
Loureiro got a new trial and was sentenced to life in prison. Last year, an
appeals court granted him another new trial.
How did the judge's relationship with the prosecutor come to light?
An elected official, Sunrise Commissioner Sheila Alu, was at the table with
Gardiner and Scheinberg as they enjoyed adult beverages at the Ft. Lauderdale
martini bar where they first formed their friendship.
A BrowardPalmBeach.com article says "Alu remembers Gardiner and Scheinberg
talking about a murder case. They laughed about it, saying the people involved
were gay. They talked about how a juror had fainted at the trial after being
shown a particularly gruesome photograph of the victim's gaping neck wound."
We could use more politicians like Alu, who eventually told her story to the
press.
We can use fewer judges like Gardiner, who can no longer practice law.
She was able to find love again, however. During her disbarment trial she
married her defense attorney and is now vacationing in Europe.
(source: Atlanta Journal-Constititution)
OHIO:
Note horrific crimes by those on death row
Several recent letters to the editor have called for a moratorium in Ohio on
executions and decried the "barbaric" death penalty in other states.
Carol Rafferty (letter, Thursday) even said that no one wants to touch it "with
a 10-foot pole" because Missouri is having difficulty finding deadly chemicals
for executions.
Those writers offered their suggestions, so here's mine:
At every execution, billboard-size color photos of the victims and the crime
scenes should be on public display. Not high-school or wedding pictures, but
all the bloody, end-of-life photos. People should see clearly the gruesome
deeds of anyone who kills, rapes or does other horrific harm to another person.
Dennis McGuire might have suffered during his "troubled execution" and
reportedly, "deep rattling sounds emanated from his chest."
McGuire was guilty of torturing, raping, stabbing and then slitting the throat
of 22-year-old Joy Stewart, which also killed her 8-month-old fetus. Her
husband committed suicide less than a year later.
Botched? Barbaric? The American Civil Liberties Union and others who feel sorry
for those rotting in prison should look at crime photos while looking into the
eyes of those who committed the crimes.
CARMEN SAUER
Columbus
(source: Letter to the Editor, Columbus Dispatch)
**********************
Nicos T. Elder convicted of aggravated murder of Jamar Johnson----The jury
returned with its decision Tuesday morning, convicting Elder of aggravated
murder, kidnapping, aggravated robbery and accompanying firearm specifications.
A Stark County Common Pleas jury Tuesday morning convicted Nicos T. Elder of
aggravated murder, kidnapping and aggravated robbery that resulted in the death
last August of Jamar Johnson.
The panel will consider next week whether to recommend that Elder get the death
penalty.
Elder, 27, responded calmly to the verdict except for shaking his leg. However,
less than an hour later, after the jury had left, he quietly cried, holding a
tissue to his face as his attorney, Stark County Public Defender Tammi Johnson,
tried to comfort him.
Jamar Johnson's family reacted with quiet joy, embracing each other as Judge
John Haas read the verdict.
"I almost leaped out of that chair," Jamar Johnson's aunt Regina Moore said
later. "I was happy. Justice was served."
Jamar Johnson's mother, Tangi Johnson, said she was "relieved and happy that
justice was served. ... God took care of it."
"I'm glad it's over. This is for Jamar," said Jamar Johnson's stepfather Robert
Williams.
The jury found that Elder was the principal offender, which means they believed
Elder fired the gun that killed Jamar Johnson, a finding necessary for Elder to
face the death penalty. The jurors also found he used a firearm in the
commission of the crimes, which would add several years to his sentence if
Elder is not sentenced to death.
Prosecutors said Elder was one of two gunmen who barged into an apartment on
Sixth Street NE on Aug. 19 while Jamar Johnson was having sex with a woman who
was Elder's friend. The gunmen tied Johnson up with duct tape in an attempt to
rob him. Johnson apparently resisted and was shot 4 times before he fled the
building and died outside. Elder, who sustained a gunshot wound to his leg, was
found by police lying in a wooded area by the apartment building.
The defense is expected to call expert witnesses to testify on mitigating
factors as to why Elder should not be executed. One of the witnesses is out of
state this week, so Haas scheduled the death penalty phase to start Monday at 9
a.m.
The prosecution is expected to discuss Elder's criminal history. According to
court records, Elder was sentenced to 2 years in prison after he pleaded guilty
in 2008 to aggravated vehicular assault. He was sentenced to 6 months in prison
after he pleaded guilty in 2007 to cocaine possession.
The jurors were sequestered during deliberations that lasted less than 6 hours.
They got the case at 11:40 a.m. Monday and except for perhaps a lunch break
deliberated until about 4:30 p.m. They then spent the night in a hotel under
guard by county sheriff's deputies. They then reconvened at 8:45 a.m. Tuesday
and had a verdict shortly before 9:34 a.m.
Because 1 of the men on the panel has a scheduled vacation starting Tuesday,
Haas dismissed him from the case and selected a woman from among the 6
alternates to replace him.
Jurors don't have to report back to court until next week and will be
sequestered again once deliberations begin in the penalty phase.
(source: Canton Repository)
TENNESSEE:
Jurors hear chaotic emergency call in capital trial in Memphis triple shooting
An emergency call played for jurors Tuesday captured chaotic, frightening
moments during a triple shooting: Panicked screaming, a woman begging her
boyfriend not to shoot her parents, and 2 gunshots.
"Don't kill my mom and my dad, please!" Pashea Fisher yelled at her boyfriend,
Sedrick Clayton, during the Jan. 19, 2012 shooting. After the two shots, Fisher
could no longer be heard on the 911 call. She had been shot dead.
Shelby County prosecutors played the call during the 1st day of Clayton's trial
on 3 1st-degree murder charges in the deaths of Fisher, 23, and her parents,
Arithio and Patricia Fisher, in her parents' home in Memphis.
Authorities say Clayton got into an argument with Fisher before gunning down
her parents in their bedroom, then shooting her near the front door. Clayton's
4-year-old daughter Jordan was in the house at the time, and he took her with
him before turning himself in hours after the shooting, police said.
The victims were shot multiple times, and Clayton - who has no prior criminal
record as an adult aside from traffic violations - acknowledged in a typed
statement that he was responsible, according to a police affidavit. Clayton's
written offer to plead guilty to all 3 murder charges and serve life in prison
has been rejected by Shelby County District Attorney Amy Weirich.
During an opening statement, prosecutor Karen Cook said Clayton shot the
Fishers in cold blood, reloading once as he tried to "annihilate the entire
Fisher family." Clayton also fired at his girlfriend's brother, Arico Fisher,
who was not injured, Cook said.
In his opening statement, defense attorney Gerald Skahan said the fact that
Clayton fired the shots was not in dispute. Skahan said Clayton began shooting
after her girlfriend's father and Clayton began fighting.
Skahan said the shooting came during the heat of an argument and was not
premeditated. He said jurors could consider it voluntary manslaughter, not
1st-degree murder.
"It got out of hand like that," Skahan said, snapping his fingers.
Memphis Police Department dispatcher Katie Montgomery testified that she
answered the first 911 call from the Fisher home.
"After you heard the 2 shots fired, did you hear the female voice begging
anymore?" prosecutor Jennifer Nichols asked Montgomery.
"No," the dispatcher said.
In a 2nd 911 call, Arico Fisher could be heard telling another dispatcher that
his family was shot and the shooter had left the house. Clayton is also charged
with stealing his girlfriend's vehicle and fleeing the scene.
Clayton lowered his head and some in the audience wiped tears from their eyes
as the calls were played.
(source: Associated Press)
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