May 4
PENNSYLVANIA:
Delayed Columbia death-penalty case among killings with mentally-ill defendants
The capital murder trial over a Columbia man's 2013 killing is on hold after
the man charged was deemed incompetent.
Mario Casanova-Lanzo was to stand trial this week in Lancaster County Court
over the alleged Feb. 20, 2013 shotgun killing of his estranged wife's new
beau.
Police allege Casanova-Lanzo broke into the woman's home and shot 36-year-old
Parrish Thaxton at close range.
Prosecutors intended to seek the death penalty.
However, the case is on hold after a local judge ruled Monday that
Casanova-Lanzo is unable to assist his attorneys in his defense at trial.
That ruling was based on a local psychiatrist's report on Casanova-Lanzo's
mental state, following an April 4 appointment.
Assistant District attorneys Christopher Lechner and Amber Czerniakowski didn't
challenge Dr. Jerome Gottlieb's report or opinion that Casanova-Lanzo is
mentally ill.
"It ends up delaying the proceedings and is, of course, frustrating," District
Attorney Craig Stedman said after the hearing. "But the (defendant) must be
able to understand the charges and participate in their own defense."
For the time being, Casanova-Lanzo will receive treatment at Norristown State
Hospital. Authorities there will provide the court with updates on
Casanova-Lanzo's condition every 60 days.
The ruling, while rare here in homicide cases, isn't unprecedented.
"It is uncommon for defendants to be declared incompetent to stand trial,"
Stedman said, "but many of them end up being found competent after treatment."
Here are a few Lancaster County cases when attorneys argued that charged
killers were mentally ill:
-- Michael R. Musser, 56, hasn't been tried over the alleged 2006 killing of
his mother in Mount Joy.
In 2011, a local judge ordered Musser continue receiving treatment,
indefinitely, at Norristown State Hospital.
Dr. Gottlieb opined that Musser was "one of the most ill individuals" he'd ever
seen. Gottlieb opined that Musser might never be well enough to assist in his
defense at trial.
He allegedly killed his mother because he believed "that the devil was residing
in her," Gottlieb testified in 2011.
-- A Mount Joy mother received mental-health treatment for years before she
was tried in 2007 over the 2004 killings of her 2 young sons.
She was deemed incompetent to be tried following her arrest for the killings of
2-year-old Silas and 4-month-old Myles.
A local judge ultimately found her not guilty by reason of insanity. Lippiatt
had been hearing "sinister" voices ordering her to kill the boys, according to
trial testimony.
Lippiatt died, of an apparent suicide, in 2011 in Arizona.
-- More recently, Dr. Gottlieb opined that Gary Gerlach, charged in a 2012
double-murder in Leola, was incompetent to stand trial.
Gottlieb testified in mid-2012 that Gerlach was "psychotic" and unable to
assist in his defense over the killings of Mona Hess and her daughter, Makenzie
Hess.
However, later in the year, Gottlieb opined that Gerlach's condition improved
and he was able to stand trial.
Ultimately, Gerlach pleaded guilty but mentally ill in June 2013 to 2 counts of
1st-degree murder.
-- Last year, charges against a Lancaster city woman were dropped after
multiple psychiatrist found her to be legally insane.
Nancy Helen Clark was charged with homicide and related counts regarding a 2012
fire that killed her husband.
Clark received mental-health treatment since her arrest, but was freed when
charges were dropped.
(source: Lancasteronline.com)
***************
Governor Wolf: Study Will Shed More Light on Death Penalty
Governor Wolf, who issued a moratorium on the death penalty, says there are
certain answers he's awaiting from a bipartisan legislative commission studying
the death penalty in Pennsylvania. In particular, Wolf believes 3 faets of the
death penalty will provide conclusive information.
"We have to know whether it is a deterrent. Second, is it efficient from a cost
standpoint and 3rd, is it administered fairly."
Governor Wolf defends the constitutionality of his decision, which is being
challenged by the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association, who've asked the
State Supreme Court to decide if the Governor acted within the constitution in
issuing the moratorium.
(source: WNPV news)
ALABAMA:
Falsely convicted death-row survivor opens up: "They had every intention of
executing an innocent man"----Anthony Ray Hinton was convicted for murder in
1985 based on dubious evidence. 30 years later, he's free
Since 1983, 152 men have been freed from death row. Anthony Ray Hinton is the
152nd.
Hinton was convicted in 1985 for the murder of 2 fast-food workers, who were
shot in separate robberies earlier that same year. Hinton has always
strenuously denied his involvement in the killings, for which there were no
witnesses or fingerprint evidence. Although he was reportedly working in a
locked warehouse 15 miles away at the time of the shooting, and although he
passed a polygraph test administered by the police, he was nonetheless
convicted based on ballistics evidence purportedly tying the shootings to a
revolver found in his mother's home. That evidence was later discredited.
Hinton went to jail as a 29-year-old man. After 30 years, he is graying.
"Race, poverty, inadequate legal assistance, and prosecutorial indifference to
innocence conspired to create a textbook example of injustice," said Bryan
Stevenson, the executive director of the Equal Justice Institute, which took up
Hinton's case in 1999, and finally secured his release from death row in April.
"I can't think of a case that more urgently dramatizes the need for reform than
what has happened to Anthony Ray Hinton."
Salon spoke with Hinton last month over the phone. The transcript below has
been lightly edited for length and clarity.
How did you end up on death row?
I was first arrested for 1st-degree kidnapping and robbery. Since the case was
similar to another crime, they charged me with two counts of murder. I asked
[the detectives] what they were arresting me for and they wouldn???t tell me. I
kept asking what I was being arrested for and the detective finally said he was
going to tell me. I told him I didn't do it and he said, "I am going to say you
did it and you are going to be convicted."
Did you think you received competent representation?
My ballistics expert was blind in one eye. He was paid $500. It came down to,
"Who do you believe? The expert with 1 eye, or the state?" The district
attorney cross-examined my expert - he chewed him up and spit him out. The jury
went with the state expert. I would say [my attorney] was incompetent. He
didn't know he could have asked for more money to hire a better expert.
What is it like being on death row?
Death row was a 2nd hell. Try to imagine everyone around you is sentenced to
die. The only good day is when someone's sentence is overturned. People hang
themselves and commit suicide. Satan came to me and told me to commit suicide.
Everyone on death row has experienced it. It's not a place I would wish on my
worst enemy.
What is the closest you came to being executed?
I never did get an execution date. But had the Supreme Court not intervened,
probably within three to four years, I would have gotten an execution date.
I have studied several cases like yours. It seems to me that some district
attorneys just don't care if they send innocent people to their deaths. Would
you say that is true?
That's most definitely true. They had every intention of executing an innocent
man. If you're poor and black you don't stand a chance. The DA that we have now
seems like he doesn't give a damn about a man being innocent. In the South,
people in power feel they don't have to answer to no one. When you have a death
row case, you have to make 100 % sure you have the right person. But these DAs
in the state of Alabama are racist.
Did you make friends with other people on death row? Did any of them actually
get executed?
You get to know everyone on death row. You become friends with them and their
families. I met some great guys. Everyone regrets what they did. Probably at
least 30 people were executed when I was on death row. [When they go to the
execution chamber] all you can say is, "Keep your head up and don't lose
faith". You should always give them a little hope, when they are being led off
to the execution chamber.
How did your family cope when you were on the inside?
My mother passed in 2002. That was a blow like no other blow. I lost my mother,
but I still have my sense of humor.
30 years is a long time. What was life like when you went in? And how is it
different now?
The biggest change is technology. GPS. You can put the address into a car and
tell it where to go. Modern technology is something. You don't need cash money
no more.
What has it been like adjusting to life on the outside? What is the toughest
part?
On death row you are by yourself. I have a hard time being around a lot of
people [now].
Are you going to get some sort of compensation for your wrongful conviction?
The state of Alabama has not apologized let alone offered some money.
Where do you go from here? What's in the future?
First and foremost, I have to get myself together. I have been in a cage for 30
years. I would like to tell people about what happened to me and share my
experience with anyone willing to listen. Hopefully, I can save 1 person from
going to death row.
How can we stop this from happening?
People need to start paying more attention to who they vote for. Go to the
campaigns and ask hard questions. Ask if [politicians] are willing to live up
to their expectations.
How do you feel about the death penalty in general?
Innocent people have been killed. They need to end the death penalty. Life
without parole is sufficient.
(source: Salon.com)
OHIO----3 execution dates set for 2018
Court sets 2018 execution dates for 3 condemned Ohio killers
Ohio Supreme Court has set execution dates in 2018 for 3 condemned killers,
scheduling the procedures far in the future at a time the state is struggling
to obtain lethal drugs.
The court on Monday set a Jan. 3, 2018 execution date for John Stumpf for the
1984 shooting death of 54-year-old Mary Jane Stout in Guernsey County.
The court set a March 14, 2018 execution date for Douglas Coley for the 1997
shooting death of 21-year-old Samar El-Okdi in Toledo. A co-defendant also
received the death penalty.
The court also set a May 30, 2018 execution date for Stanley Fitzpatrick for
the 2001 hatchet and stabbing deaths of 42-year-old Doreatha Hayes and her
12-year-old daughter, Shenay Hayes, and the beating death of 64-year-old Elton
Rose.
**************
Execution date set in triple murder
14 years after he was convicted of killing 3 people in Lincoln Heights, Stanley
Fitzpatrick has an execution date - in 2018.
The Ohio Supreme Court, in a Monday announcement, set May 30, 2018, for
Fitzpatrick's execution date.
Fitzpatrick, 47, went on a drug-fueled rampage in 2001, killing his live-in
girlfriend Dorothea Hayes and her 12-year-old daughter, Shenay. 2 days after
brutally mutilating Hayes and her daughter in their Chicago Avenue home,
Fitzpatrick went across the street to the home of 64-year-old Elton "Arybie"
Rose, a former boxer, and beat him to death with a hatchet.
Fitzpatrick, during his 2002 trial, admitted remembering killing Rose but not
Hayes or her daughter and asked to be executed for his actions.
"I plead guilty. I killed them ... If you want to put me to death, put me to
death," Fitzpatrick said in court during his trial. "This is my life. I don't
want to wait 'til lunch or the next day or nothing."
Fitzpatrick's rampage came after he was suspended from his job and he went on a
crack cocaine spree that also included alcohol and other drugs.
As he was killing Rose, Lincoln Heights police arrived and were shot at by
Fitzpatrick who soon drove off in the police cruiser, later confronted a woman
in her home and tried to stab her and then left and carjacked another person.
Fitzpatrick also was convicted of attempted murder of then-Lincoln Heights
Police Sgt. DeAngelo Sumler and 2 counts of aggravated robbery. He was
convicted by a 3-judge panel.
Ohio Supreme Court Justice William O'Neill disagreed because he consistently
has stated the death penalty is inherently both cruel and unusual and therefore
unconstitutional" in all cases.
(source: cincinnati.com)
*********************
Ohio high court slates March, 2018 execution date for Coley
The Ohio Supreme Court today set an execution date for Douglas Lamont Coley,
convicted in the 1997 carjacking killing of a 21-year-old Toledo woman.
But that date is still nearly 3 years away. That's how far Ohio lethal
injections are backed up given the moratorium through the rest of the year on
any execution given the state's struggles to find the drugs to carry them out
and legal questions raised about the process.
Coley was 1 of 3 executions scheduled 2 months apart by a 6-1 vote of the high
court today. The sole negative vote belonged to Justice William O'Neill, who
refuses to vote to schedule executions because he believes Ohio's death penalty
is unconstitutional.
There are now executions scheduled through May, 2018 with Coley's date set for
March 14, 2018.
Coley, 39, and Joseph Green, 36, were convicted in the Jan. 3, 1997 slaying of
Samar El-Okdi, 1 of 2 carjackings in which they were involved in which the
victims were abducted near their homes in Toledo's Old West End, shot, and left
to die. But the first victim, David Moore, survived and helped connect the pair
with Ms. El-Okdi's death.
Green had also initially been sentenced to death. But after the high court sent
his case back to Lucas County on a technicality, a 3-judge panel substituted a
life sentence the 2nd time around because it wasn't convinced he held the gun
that killed Ms. El-Okdi.
Coley is on death row at Chillicothe Correctional Institution. Green is serving
his life sentence at Toledo Correctional Institution. Ohio carries out its
executions at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville.
Lucas County Prosecutor Julia Bates requested the scheduling of an execution
date, noting Coley has exhausted all state and federal appeals. The U.S.
Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal in 2013.
The state Supreme Court today also set Jan. 3, 2018 for the execution of John
David Stumpf, 54, of Guernsey County, convicted in the 1984 shooting death of
Mary Jane Stout.
It set May 30, 2018 for the lethal injection of Stanley L. Fitzpatrick, 47, of
Hamilton County, convicted in the 2001 slayings of his live-in girlfriend,
Doreatha Hayes, her 12-year-old daughter Shenay, and a neighbor, Elton Rose.
(source: Toledo Blade)
*******************
Death Penalty Focus to honor Ohio Exonerees at Awards Dinner----3 men spent
decades in prison for a crime they didn't commit
3 death row exonerees who spent a combined 100 years in prison are coming to
Beverly Hills to receive the Rose Elizabeth Bird Commitment to Justice Award at
the 24th Annual Death Penalty Focus Awards Dinner on Thursday, May 7.
Wiley Bridgeman, his brother Kwame Ajamu, and Ricky Jackson were teenagers when
they were sentenced to death for a murder in Cleveland in 1975. Although there
was no physical evidence linking them to the crime and they maintained their
innocence, a 12-year-old witness implicated them. Years later, with the help of
journalists, lawyers and volunteers, flaws in the case were exposed and the
witness admitted he lied. Prosecutors dropped the charges and they were
released in November.
Now in their 50s, the men are working to start over. Death Penalty Focus is
thrilled to honor these 3 men and the pro bono attorneys who fought for their
freedom.
"These men were unfairly convicted by our justice system and came close to
being executed for a crime they didn't commit," said Death Penalty Focus
President Mike Farrell. "We can't afford to take chances with people's lives."
Other honorees at the dinner include:
--CNN's Death Row Stories, represented by executive producers Alex Gibney, Bard
Hebert and Laura Michalchyshyn;
--Dale Baich, Assistant Federal Public Defender; an attorney who has spent the
past 27 years protecting the constitutional rights of death row inmates.
For more information, please visit. www.abolitionawards.com
The dinner program begins at 7:15 at The Beverly Hilton.
[source: Death Penalty Focus]
(source: virtualpressoffice.com)
ARKANSAS:
Prosecutors to seek death penalty in Bella Vista case
Prosecutors will seek the death penalty for the Bella Vista couple charged with
the murder of their 6-year-old son.
Mauricio Alejandro Torres, 45, and Cathy Lynn Torres, 43, appeared in court
Monday morning for their arraignments before Circuit Judge Brad Karren.
The couple is each charged with capital murder, punishable by life imprisonment
without parole or the death penalty, and 1st-degree battery, a Class B felony
punishable with a prison sentence ranging from 5 to 20 years.
They pleaded innocent to the charges during their arraignments.
Nathan Smith, Benton County prosecuting attorney, said he plans to seek the
death penalty in the case.
Maurice Isaiah Torres, 6, was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead
March 29. A medical examiner later determined the boy suffered from chronic
child abuse, and his death was from internal injuries caused by being raped,
according to court documents.
The Torreses were arrested in connection with rape April 6, but prosecutors did
not include the rape offense in the charging documents. Smith said the rape
occurred in Missouri, not in Benton County.
(source: Arkansasonline.com)
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