Oct. 6
TEXAS----execution
Texas executes inmate for killing man in $8 robbery
A convicted killer in Texas was executed Tuesday for fatally shooting another
man in a robbery that yielded just $8.
No late appeals were filed for Juan Martin Garcia, who was lethally injected
for the September 1998 killing and robbery of Hugo Solano in Houston. Solano, a
Christian missionary from Guadalajara, Mexico, had moved his family to the city
just weeks earlier so his children could be educated in the U.S.
Garcia, 35, apologized to Solano's relatives in Spanish in the moments before
the execution. Solano's wife and daughter sobbed and told the inmate they loved
him.
"The harm that I did to your dad and husband - I hope this brings you closure,"
he said from the death chamber gurney, his voice breaking. "I never wanted to
hurt any of you all."
He told his sister and several friends in English that he loved them. "No
matter what, remember my promise," Garcia said. "No matter what, I will always
be with you."
As the dose of pentobarbital began, he winced, raised his head and then shook
it. He gurgled once and snored once before his movement stopped. He was
pronounced dead 12 minutes later, at 6:26 p.m. CDT.
Solano's wife, Ana, and her daughter raised their arms in an apparent prayer
inside a death chamber witness room. Afterward, Ana Solano said she wished the
execution had not taken place and that she accepted Garcia's apology because it
came "from his heart."
She said a person deserves to survive so they can share what they learn from
their mistakes with others in similar situations. "It's about God. It's about
Jesus," she said.
In an interview with The Associated Press last month, Garcia acknowledged he
shot Solano but denied the robbery, an accompanying felony that made it a
capital case.
Garcia, who was linked to at least 8 aggravated robberies and 2 attempted
murders in the weeks before and after Solano's death, also insisted jurors had
unfairly penalized him because he didn't take the witness stand in his own
defense at trial.
The U.S. Supreme Court refused to review Garcia's case in March. The Texas
Board of Pardons and Paroles rejected a clemency request from him last week.
Evidence at the 2000 trial and testimony from a companion identified Garcia,
who was 18 at the time of the killing and a street gang member, as the
ringleader of 4 men involved in Solano's shooting and robbery.
Garcia, his 2 cousins and another man had already carried out a carjacking when
they spotted the 36-year-old Solano early on Sept. 17, 1998, getting into his
van to go to work.
Eleazar Mendoza, who was sentenced to 55 years in prison for aggravated
robbery, testified that Garcia approached Solano and pointed a gun. Mendoza
said Garcia ordered Solano to surrender his money then shot him when he
refused.
Garcia told the AP that it was Mendoza's idea to rob Solano and that Solano
escalated the confrontation by resisting.
"He punches me," Garcia said from a visiting cage outside death row. "First
thing that came through my mind is that the dude is going to try to kill me. He
grabbed the gun with both of his hands and it discharged."
Solano was shot 4 times in the head and neck.
Another defendant, Raymond McBen, was sentenced to 30 years in prison for
aggravated robbery and paroled a year ago. The 4th man charged, Gabriel
Morales, was given a life sentence for capital murder.
3 more Texas inmates are scheduled for executions in upcoming weeks. They
include Licho Escamilla, who is set to die next week for the 2001 shooting
death of Dallas police officer Christopher Kevin James.
Garcia becomes the 11th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Texas
and the 529th overall since Trexas resumed capital punishment on Dec. 7, 1982;
Garcia becomes the 11th condemned inmate to be put to death since Greg Abbott
became Governor in Jan. 2015
Garcia becomes the 23rd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the
USA and the 1417th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17,
1977.
(sources: Associated Press & Rick Halperin)
***************
Executions under Greg Abbott, Jan. 21, 2015-present----11
Executions in Texas: Dec. 7, 1982----present-----529
Abbott#--------scheduled execution date-----name------------Tx. #
12---------October 14---------------Licho Escamilla-------530
13---------November 3---------------Julius Murphy---------531
14---------November 18--------------Raphael Holiday-------532
15---------January 20 (2016)-----Richard Masterson--------533
16---------January 27---------------James Freeman---------534
17---------February 16--------------Gustavo Garcia--------535
18---------March 9------------------Coy Wesbrook----------536
(sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin)
***************
Death penalty still on table ---- Trial could start in April
Prosecutors said as of Tuesday they still plan to seek the death penalty
against Gary David Green, the man accused of shooting to death an Upton County
Sheriff's deputy in October of 2013, and the trial date is scheduled to take
place in about 6 months in Upton County.
Laurie English, the 112th district attorney, said after a hearing at the Upton
County Courthouse, she had not filed a motion that would waive seeking capital
punishment against Green, who is charged with capital murder in connection to
the shooting death of Upton County Sheriff's deputy Billy "Bubba" Kennedy Jr.
"As far as we know, we're still seeking the death penalty," English said,
declining to comment on the pending case any further.
Additionally, Judge Pedro Gomez told both prosecutors and defense attorneys the
case was scheduled to go to trial starting April 4, 2016, and asked both sides
to get their juror questionnaires to him as soon as possible.
During Tuesday's hearing, Assistant District Attorney Michael Dobbins asked to
file a motion seeking a psychological and psychiatric examination on Green, to
which defense attorney Will Boyles objected because he said Green was having
issues sitting for long periods of time.
Boyles also said depending on what happened during the interview, it could be
"skewed" and it would not give the defense enough time to get an expert witness
to testify for them on the findings.
"The defense has had 2 years to prepare," Dobbins said in response to the
defense.
Gomez approved of the evaluation and set a follow-up hearing for Nov. 17 in
Fort Stockton, adding whichever doctor does the evaluation would need to know
about Green's medical condition.
"I need you to tell this doctor about this particular motion," Gomez told
English and Dobbins.
Green is charged with capital murder in connection with the Oct. 2, 2013,
shooting death of Kennedy, in McCamey near the gas pumps of the Stripes
Convenience Store.
According to affidavits filed by Texas Ranger Phillip Breeding, Green
originally arrived at the convenience store and demanded free gas after the
credit card he tried to use was declined. After getting food for free, Green
reportedly left the store and got into a red 2007 GMC pickup truck by the gas
pumps.
Upton County Sheriff's Deputy Thomas Stiles and Kennedy arrived at the scene
after receiving a call about Green, talked with the employee at the store, and
then at around 11:02 p.m., the deputies went up to the pickup Green was in,
according to the affidavit.
Stiles ran a check on the license plate and learned the pickup was reported
stolen that same day out of Odessa, according to the affidavit.
As Kennedy approached the driver's side door and unsnapped his gun holster,
according to the complaint, Green opened the door and starting shooting at the
deputy. Both Kennedy and Stiles reportedly shot back at Green.
Stiles reported he saw Kennedy on the ground, and was able to grab the gun
Green was using to shoot when he saw Green lying on the ground next to the
driver's side door of the pickup, and then tried to give Kennedy CPR when
another deputy arrived on scene, according to the affidavit.
Kennedy was reported dead at the scene.
Robert Cowie is also representing Green as part of his defense.
(source: Odessa American)
NEW YORK:
Memorials to the Living from Men on death row
To die is biological. But to have one's life snuffed out, whether by murder or
official execution, is tragedy.
The death row inmates of Riverbend Maximum Security Institution, the unlikely
artists behind the current Life and Death and Elsewhere exhibition at New
York's Apexart Gallery, understand this all too well. They know it intimately,
and in ways that we cannot possibly fathom. Theirs is a double tragedy from
which it would seem they cannot escape. But the works in the exhibition
suggests otherwise.
Curated by Robin Paris and Tom Williams, leaders of the art workshop at Unit 2
(the death row unit at Riverbend), describe the exhibition as a collection of
"memorials to the living."
"Most of these pieces are not the actual memorials," Paris tells GOOD. "They
are their thoughts and designs of what they think they'd want the world to
know."
The exhibition features a number of striking works, though inmate Gary Cone's
art book, Pages from Gary Cone: I Am a Reader of Books, could be one of the
best. Designed by artist Britt Stadig, Cone's book looks like something one
might find in an art museum or bookstore. Another marvelous work is Airplane, a
huge cardboard airplane conceptualized by inmate Ron Cauthern (with assistance
from fellow inmate Harold Wayne Nichols). Built at the prison, the piece was
taken apart, shipped to New York City, and reassembled at Apexart.
The show also features Reading Is My Way To Exit, a tower made of books
selected by Gary Cone; a giant flower on the gallery floor by Dennis Suttles,
titled Flowers from Death Row I: The Tennessee Capitol; and Tree, a clay and
painted-feather sculpture realized by Declicho Besh ("Ironhawk"), in
collaboration with artist Sophia Stevenson, (amongst other works).
"The men who designed them are facing execution at the Riverbend Maximum
Security Institution in Nashville, Tennessee," Paris and Williams write. "By
designing their own memorials, they ask you to consider the experiences of
those who live on death row and to imagine a world that might commemorate them
despite their convictions."
Paris and Williams, both art professors at Watkins College of Art, Design &
Film in Nashville, were brought into the death row inmates' orbit in 2013 by
Lisa Guenther, a philosophy professor at Vanderbilt University and the
facilitator of a prison philosophy program.
"Lisa asked [the inmates] what they might do if they could do a public
engagement, so they asked to have an art exhibition," Williams explains. "So
they had one at Vanderbilt University, and I saw that. Robin and I were then
invited into the prison, and filled in for Lisa for the summer while she was
gone, and it became an ongoing program as the guys asked us to stay on."
Paris, Williams and the inmates have launched several exhibitions. The 1st
show, Unit 2, Part I, featured collaborative work between inmates, Paris and
Williams, and Watkins art students. The 2nd show, which the men named From the
Height Chair to the Electric Chair, was a big diorama designed to chronicle the
life cycle from the cradle to the prison. For the third show, the guys made
gifts, which Paris and Williams gave away the night of the opening, taking
portraits of the people who received them. All told, the two took 200 portraits
that night.
"Life and Death and Elsewhere is something I thought of early on to remind
people of what death row is like," Williams says. "I proposed that we think
about a memorial show, and they ultimately felt like it was a good idea. We
basically wrote a proposal and then started realizing the project."
Paris says that Riverbend's Unit 2 contains three levels, with each inmate in
separate cells in the round. For about 5 years the inmates are basically in
solitary confinement, inside their cells for at least 20 hours and sometimes
more. When an inmate has been inside for 3 years and behaved well they rise to
the topmost level, A, and gain privileges. Paris says these can include
programs on religion, philosophy, art and other topics.
"We have some of those men," she says. "They choose which ones they want to be
in, and they sit on a waiting list. We've had as many as 15, and right now
there are 10 or 12."
In a recreation building adjacent to their cell, 2A, Paris and Williams lead
the art workshop. The space features a library, a leather shop and tables where
they can all gather around on Thursday nights from 6:00 to 9:30pm to talk art
and creation. "It's a big cinder block room, and we go over ideas, discuss
things, but a lot of their art is made in their cell," Williams says, with a
guard in the room throughout the workshop's duration.
Since it's virtually impossible, or at least very difficult, for death row
inmates to communicate with the outside world, GOOD requested that Paris and
Williams ask the inmates some questions. The 2 happily obliged. The inmates'
responses reveal them as people affected in various ways by what they have
done, but also moved to create and signal their humanity through art and books.
(source: magazine.good.is)
PENNSYLVANIA:
U.S. Supreme Court upholds death penalty for killer of game commission officer
The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the death penalty for the convicted killer of
a Pennsylvania Game Commission Officer.
On Monday, the Supreme Court denied Christopher Johnson's petition to vacate
his death sentence, which he was given after he was convicted of shooting and
killing game commission officer David Grove on the evening of Nov. 11, 2010.
Grove, who was 31, was investigating a deer-poaching incident when he
encountered Johnson near the Gettysburg National Military Park. Johnson fired
15 shots at Grove, and a bullet entered the back of his neck and killed him,
said Adams County District Attorney Shawn Wagner.
Johnson was convicted of 1st-degree murder and sentenced to death on Oct. 4,
2012. The state Supreme Court upheld Johnson's death sentence last year. And
Wagner applauded the U.S. Supreme Court for following suit.
"I am confident that justice has been properly handed down to officer Grove's
killer," Wagner said. "Pennsylvania law calls for the ultimate consequence when
someone intentionally kills a law enforcement officer acting in the line of
duty."
The U.S. Supreme Court's denial of Johnson's petition ends his direct appeal of
his 1st degree murder conviction and death sentence, Wagner said.
If Johnson were to pursue another appeal, he would have to file a Post
Conviction Relief Act petition with the Adams County Court of Common Pleas, he
said.
(source: pennlive.com)
NORTH CAROLINA:
Refuting death penalty claims
Regarding the Oct. 2 column "Time for a serious death penalty talk": Patrick
Gannon repeated familiar arguments against the death penalty for 1st-degree
murder:
-- Claim: Opposition to abortion logically requires opposition to the death
penalty.
It is difficult to imagine a sin, much less a crime, that any unborn child has
committed. But those on death row for 1st-degree murder have been convicted
beyond a reasonable doubt by a jury and have had their cases reviewed by at
least 47 judges looking for errors of law or fact over the course of 10 to 25
years. The unborn child has had zero representation and has been charged with
nothing.
-- Claim: The death penalty is inefficient and expensive.
Much of the expense results from obstruction by opponents of the death penalty.
-- Claim: Many people have been exonerated from death row.
In the modern era, there have been 44 executions in North Carolina, all people
convicted of 1st-degree murder. Not a single one of them had any colorable
claim to innocence.
-- Claim: There is no clear consistent evidence that the death penalty deters
crimes.
There are dozens of peer-reviewed academic studies showing clear deterrent
effect for a death penalty for murder that is actually applied. In North
Carolina, no one has been executed for 1st-degree murder since 2006. There is
little deterrent value in a penalty that is never applied. The studies vary,
but a conservative estimate is that 25 innocent lives are saved by each
execution of a guilty first-degree murderer in a state that actually applies
the death penalty. -- Claim: Criminals deserve a long time to reflect and
repent so that God can redeem them.
It takes 10 to 25 years for a death sentence to be carried out. Whether a
person is more likely to repent and be redeemed when facing life in prison that
goes on indefinitely or more likely to repent and be redeemed when facing an
imminent execution is ultimately unknowable. Intuitively I would think the
latter more likely.
The death sentence for 1st-degree murder carried out after thorough review for
innocence respects human life for victims in a way that a sentence of life in
prison can never match. The innocent lives lost due to the lack of a sufficient
deterrent for first-degree murder cry out for justice.
Paul Stam
Speaker Pro Tem, N.C. House of Representatives
Apex
(source: Letter to the Editor; The writer, a Republican, represents N.C.
District 37. The length limit was waived to permit a fuller response to the
column-- News & Observer)
FLORIDA:
Miami man convicted in execution-style murder of young mother
A jury late Monday convicted a Miami man who shot a young mother to death and
tried killing 5 others during a domestic dispute outside a North Miami-Dade
home.
Charles Johnson, 35, now faces the death penalty for the execution-style murder
of 22-year-old Luvonia Williams in January 2011. The sentencing portion of his
trial begins Nov. 5.
Prosecutors say the shooting stemmed from Luvonia's sister breaking up with
David Johnson, Charles' brother. The contentious domestic dispute culminated in
the brothers, both armed with guns, shooting into a crowd outside the 1900
block of NW 92nd St.
In all, 3 people were shot and wounded. Luvonia was struck and tried to stagger
away. Prosecutors believe that Charles - on his brother's orders - fired 2
final, fatal shots as she lay on the ground.
At the time of the shooting, Williams' 1-year-old son was inside a nearby house
that was also shot up.
The jury found Charles Johnson guilty of 1st-degree murder and 5 counts of
attempted murder.
(source: Miami Herald)
MONTANA:
Montana Judge Prohibits State From Using Execution Drug----A Montana judge says
the state's attempt to use pentobarbital as a lethal injection drug is
prohibited by the state law, written with another drug in mind, that requires
it to use an "ultra-fast acting barbiturate."
A state judge ruled Tuesday that Montana cannot use the lethal injection dug
pentobarbital, which several states have used in recent executions - at least
not as state law is currently written.
Montana law requires lethal injections be carried out with an "ultra-fast
acting barbiturate." It was written with sodium thiopental in mind, but the
sole Food and Drug Administration-approved manufacturer stopped making the drug
to keep it from being used in executions.
Montana attempted to substitute pentobarbital, a barbiturate that several other
states including Texas, Missouri and Georgia have used in recent executions.
Judge Jeffrey Sherlock ruled the drug can't be used since it doesn't mean the
statute's definition.
"This case is only about whether the drug selected by the Department of
Corrections ... meets the legislatively required classification of being an
'ultra-fast acting barbiturate,' Sherlock wrote, adding that if Montana wishes
to use pentobarbital, it will need to change state law.
Sherlock heard expert testimony from 2 doctors on pentobarbital to determine
whether pentobarbital is "ultra-fast acting." The judge said the testimony of
the state's expert, Dr. Lee Evans, "did not comport" with his prior testimony,
which was "crucial" in deciding how to rule.
"Until the trial of this action, Dr. Evans had not testified that pentobarbital
was an ultra-fast-acting barbiturate," the judge wrote. "He did so testify at
trial. However, the Court struck that conclusion because it did not comport
with his prior discovery responses or declarations filed with the Court."
Evans indicated in this trial that the onset of pentobarbital was less than a
minute in this trial. But in a trial in 2012, Evans said it was "3 to 4
minutes."
Evans is one of the few medical experts willing to testify on behalf of death
penalty states, including in Oklahoma's recent case before the U.S. Supreme
Court. In that case, he was criticized for, among other things, using the
website Drugs.com for research. The website includes the disclaimer that it is
"not intended for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment."
The judge added that his findings are "not in any way insinuate that Dr. Evans
is not a credible witness," but that his change in testimony is "a factor when
weighing the evidence."
Sherlock indicated that Montana could use the drug if the legislature changed
the statute to not require an "ultra-fast acting" drug.
(source: buzzfeed.com)
USA:
Attorneys for gang assassin Con-Ui want death penalty off table
Calling the federal death penalty a punishment carried out in an "arbitrary and
capricious manner that is akin to being struck by lightning," attorneys
representing convicted gang assassin Jessie Con-Ui are seeking to have a
federal judge take the death penalty off the table against their client - and
rule the punishment entirely unconstitutional.
Con-Ui, 37, faces the death penalty if convicted next July of murdering
Nanticoke native Correctional Officer Eric Williams at U.S. Penitentiary Canaan
on Feb. 25, 2013. Prosecutors allege Con-Ui, angered over a previous cell
search, kicked Williams down a flight of stairs before beating and slashing him
to death with 2 shanks.
A notice of intent to seek the death penalty prosecutors filed in October
asserts Con-Ui deserves to die for the crime, which was captured by
surveillance cameras, because it was committed in an "especially heinous, cruel
or depraved manner" by a convicted drug trafficker and murderer who has a
history of violence, including against law enforcement.
A lengthy motion filed Monday by attorneys James A. Swetz, Mark Fleming and
David A. Ruhnke disputes that and asks U.S. District Judge A. Richard Caputo to
take death off the table.
The lawyers assert that in 25 years, the federal death penalty has been carried
out in an "arbitrary, capricious, irrational, and invidious manner and is,
therefore, unconstitutional." Evolving standards of decency in the community
"mark the progress of a maturing society" and render the penalty
unconstitutional, they argue.
Con-Ui's defense has not contested that he committed the crime, but has raised
the question of why. They assert the federal Bureau of Prisons operated the
prison in a negligent manner, with staff misconduct and violence pushing Con-Ui
to snap the night of the murder - what they claim would be a mitigating factor
against the death penalty.
Still, the lawyers also argue that the punishment creates an "unacceptable risk
of executing the innocent."
The death penalty is also unevenly applied on a regional basis and "suffers
from intractable problems of racial discrimination in the targeting of minority
defendants," the lawyers maintain, citing statistics that 73 % of those
targeted for capital prosecution are minorities.
"This Court should declare the (Federal Death Penalty Act of 1994)
unconstitutional and permit this case to proceed as a non-death penalty case,"
the lawyers argued. "In the alternative, Mr. Con-Ui requests that an
evidentiary hearing be scheduled to permit the presentation of expert testimony
and empirical evidence in support of the argument that the FDPA is so
incomprehensible to jurors as to prevent, or substantially impair, their
performance in the task of deciding between a death sentence and a life
sentence."
Prosecutors had not immediately responded to the lengthy filing, which
consisted of 178 pages plus a 258-page appendix.
The U.S. Attorney's Office argues the killing was a cold-blooded murder carried
out by a drug-dealing gang assassin already serving 25 years to life for a 2002
murder.
The night Williams was killed, Con-Ui was angered about a cell search and was
"laying in wait" on the 2nd floor of the cell block, according to prosecutors.
As Williams ascended a set of stairs, Con-Ui moved into a position at the top,
giving him the advantage as he kicked Williams in the head, knocking him down
the stairs, prosecutors said.
Con-Ui then tossed aside a radio - Williams' last chance for help - and
proceeded to stab him more than 200 times and stomp on his head, prosecutors
allege.
Afterward, Con-Ui said to another officer taking him into custody "I am sorry,
but I had to do what I had to do. I am sick of all your people???s disrespect,"
according to prosecutors.
His defense, however, maintains Con-Ui had "tears pouring down his face like
dew" after the attack, he was so upset. They portray Con-Ui as a respectful,
well-mannered inmate who may have lashed out following what they termed a
"disturbing pattern of abuse at Canaan."
In May, his lawyers won a request for many Bureau of Prisons records they were
seeking in the hope they will substantiate the accounts of up to 30 inmates who
claim to have been beaten, bullied and harassed at the hands of their captors.
Con-Ui's trial is scheduled to begin with jury selection on Monday, July 11,
2016.
(source: (Wilkes-Barre, Penn.) Citizens Voice)
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