Dec. 6
FLORIDA:
Legislature considers revising death penalty rule to require unanimous jury
vote
With the lowest threshold in the nation for imposing death sentences, Florida
juries are sentencing prisoners to death faster than Gov. Rick Scott can sign
death warrants. But a pending U.S. Supreme Court case and a proposal before the
state Legislature could change that threshold - and perhaps decrease the number
of prisoners on death row.
The latest death sentence was delivered three months ago, when an Orange County
jury voted 11-1 in September to sentence Bessman Okafor to death for a 2012
murder. A judge accepted the recommendation last month.
If a jury in nearly any other state that uses the death penalty had voted 11-1,
Okafor wouldn't be on death row - because of the single vote against the
sentence.
Florida is the only state that requires a simple-majority recommendation from a
jury to sentence a prisoner to death. A judge makes the final determination to
carry out the sentence, but judges follow jury recommendations most of the
time.
Most of the other 31 states that have the death penalty require a unanimous
jury vote. Alabama requires at least a 10-2 vote, and Delaware requires jurors
to find an aggravating circumstance.
Florida's standard for sentencing prisoners to death may fall to one of two
current challenges. The U.S. Supreme Court is considering whether Florida's law
is constitutional. And some Florida lawmakers are pushing bills to require a
unanimous jury vote for the death penalty.
"If it requires a unanimous jury to convict in a capital death case, we should
require the same for the sentencing phase," said Sen. Thad Altman, a Republican
sponsor of a bill to mandate a unanimous jury vote.
But Altman has filed similar bills in recent years that haven't gained much
traction.
Prosecutors, including Attorney General Pam Bondi, have argued in the past
against changing the threshold for recommending the death penalty. They say
some of Florida's most notorious murderers who committed heinous crimes,
including serial killer Ted Bundy, would have been spared the death penalty if
a higher threshold had been in place when they were convicted and sentenced.
What could change things this year is the U.S. Supreme Court case and the
timing of its ruling.
The court in October heard oral arguments in Timothy Lee Hurst v. State of
Florida. In a 2000 trial, Hurst was convicted of stabbing and killing his
manager at a Pensacola fast-food restaurant in 1998. The jury voted 7-5 for the
death penalty.
If the court overturns Florida's death-penalty threshold and issues a ruling
before the legislative session ends in March, lawmakers would have a chance to
pass a bill requiring the unanimous jury. But if that decision isn't rendered
until after the session ends, lawmakers couldn't change the death penalty
requirements until 2017 unless they called a special session to deal with the
matter - leaving the state with a death penalty that couldn't be enforced or
even imposed.
That could create a "moment of chaos in the criminal-justice system," said Rep.
Jose Javier Rodriguez, a Democratic sponsor of the House version of the bill.
"If we sit on our hands, there's a possibility we could have an unenforceable
death penalty for up to a year," Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez also said there will likely be a parade of appeals if the court rules
against Florida. Any death-row inmate who received a less-than-unanimous jury
vote would have a new argument in court.
"That decision is out of our hands at this point," Rodriguez said. "Whether we
like it or not, we're subject to the U.S. Supreme Court and its interpretation
of the Constitution."
The current threshold has helped add to the death-row roster. According to a
legislative analysis, from 2000-12, only 60 of 296 jury recommendations on
death sentences were unanimous.
And although Scott has overseen 22 executions during his term and 63 prisoners
have been sentenced to death, the number of inmates on death row has dropped by
just 4, to 393 prisoners during that time, a Department of Corrections
spokeswoman said.
On Tuesday, Scott signed the death warrant of Michael Ray Lambrix, convicted of
killing 2 people in Southwest Florida in 1983. A jury voted 10-2 to recommend
the death penalty for 1 of the murders and 8-4 for the other. He is scheduled
to die by lethal injection Feb. 11.
When asked whether Scott takes jury votes into account when signing death
warrants, his office didn't answer the question.
"Signing death warrants is one of the governor's most solemn duties," Scott
spokeswoman Jeri Bustamante wrote in an email. "His foremost concerns are the
families of the victims and the finality of judgments."
(source: Orlando Sentinel)
***********
Supreme Court ruling looms over Florida's death-penalty system
Florida's Legislature again finds itself under the watchful eye of the courts,
and this time it's literally a matter of life and death.
Having endured withering criticism from state courts for a botched redrawing of
political boundaries, lawmakers now await a verdict from the U.S. Supreme Court
over the state's death penalty, which is facing its most significant legal
challenge.
Florida is the only state in which a jury can recommend a death sentence by a
bare majority of 7 of 12 jurors without also having to unanimously agree on
aggravating circumstances to justify the ultimate punishment. A jury's decision
is advisory, but judges usually give it great weight.
That's what happened in the case of Timothy Lee Hurst, who was convicted in the
1998 killing of a fast-food worker during a robbery of a fried chicken
restaurant in Pensacola. The jury recommended death on a 7-5 vote.
Hurst's lawyers, backed by the American Bar Association and 3 former Florida
Supreme Court justices, have challenged the Florida system as unconstitutional.
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in October and is expected to rule early
next year, possibly while the Legislature is in session.
The high court review comes as Gov. Rick Scott is accelerating the pace of
executions, with 2 scheduled in the next 8 weeks at the Florida State Prison in
Starke.
25 death sentences in Florida have been reversed by the courts, the most of any
state.
The October execution of Jerry Correll, who stabbed 4 family members to death
in 1985, was the 22nd execution since Scott took office in 2011, the most by a
governor since Florida reinstated capital punishment in 1976.
As horrific as Correll's crimes were, the Orlando jury that convicted him was
not unanimous in its support for a death sentence in any of the killings. 3 of
12 jurors opposed the death penalty on 1 count, and 2 jurors did on the other
3.
For 2 decades, legislators in both parties have tried and failed to change
state law to require a unanimous jury recommendation of death.
The idea is being resurrected for the 2016 session, but lawmakers remain
divided over what course of action to take.
"I think the Supreme Court is going to find problems with our death-penalty
procedures," predicted Sen. Thad Altman, R-Rockledge, sponsor of the bill (SB
330), who opposes capital punishment.
Altman's bill and its House counterpart would require juries to make unanimous
findings in writing that aggravating circumstances - such as the defendant's
criminal record and the nature of the crime - outweigh mitigating
circumstances, such as the defendant???s mental state.
A jury's recommendation on a death sentence is only advisory, but judges
usually give it great weight.
The House version (HB 157) is sponsored by Rep. Jose Javier Rodriguez, D-Miami,
who argued that even ardent death-penalty supporters should back the idea, to
remove any ambiguity about its constitutionality.
"This is just good governance," Rodriguez said. "It seems highly irresponsible
not to go ahead and fix it."
But neither bill has been heard in the Senate or House.
Florida prosecutors, who have political clout in the Capitol on death-penalty
issues, oppose the changes, and the chairman of a key House committee says the
bill will languish until justices decide the Hurst case.
"It's currently before the U.S. Supreme Court, so I don't think there's any
urgency to act," said Rep. Carlos Trujillo, a Miami Republican and chairman of
the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee, where Rodr???guez's bill awaits a
vote.
Trujillo noted that a jury's recommendation of death is not binding on the
trial judge, who can reject a jury's recommendation.
"I think the current system works well," Trujillo said.
If the U.S. Supreme Court rules in Hurst's favor, it could unleash a torrent of
legal challenges by death row inmates whose juries did not unanimously
recommend execution.
Florida has had 25 death sentences reversed by the courts, the most of any
state, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. There are 393 inmates
on death row.
Former Florida Supreme Court Justice Raoul Cantero Jr. has repeatedly called
for the Legislature to change the law.
"Maintaining the status quo," Cantero wrote in the Miami Herald in 2012, "does
not serve the cause of justice."
The state's death penalty system has repeatedly survived legal challenges, but
Cantero, who was appointed to the court by former Gov. Jeb Bush, has been
sounding alarms for a long time.
It has been a decade since the Florida Supreme Court, in a 2005 opinion written
by Cantero in State vs. Steele, urged the Legislature to require unanimous
findings of aggravating factors and "to require some unanimity in the jury's
recommendations."
Sen. Rob Bradley, R-Fleming Island, a former prosecutor, supported Altman's
bill last year and said he'll do so again, and that it's a matter of time
before the courts demand a unanimous vote by jurors in death cases.
"There's nothing more serious or sacred than government taking the life of an
individual," Bradley said. "The law is ultimately going to demand it and the
courts are ultimately going to demand it."
(source: Miami Herald)
ALABAMA:
It's time to end judicial override policy
Executions have been on hold in Alabama since 2013 amid litigation about lethal
injection and the chemicals used to kill. Next year, a federal judge will hear
2 challenges to Alabama's lethal injection protocol. No matter what the judge
decides, the question is not whether Alabama will start executing people again,
but how and when.
Plaintiffs in both cases were required to propose feasible alternatives that
could be used if the lethal injection protocol is ruled unconstitutional. While
we wait for the court's decision, we ought to reconsider the legal process
sending capital offenders to death row, and whether that journey reflects the
values of Alabamians - including those who support capital punishment.
Among death penalty states, Alabama is 1 of only 3 allowing trial judges to
disregard a jury's recommended sentence of life without parole.
We're also the only state with no guidelines on how judges make decisions to
"override" a jury recommendation.
It's rare for judges to use this power to spare a life. Instead, the
overwhelming majority of overrides are used to sentence someone to death after
a jury recommends life imprisonment. It takes at least 3 jurors to block a
death sentence recommendation in Alabama - but only 1 judge to cancel their
vote.
Of the states allowing this practice, Alabama is the only one where judges are
selected in partisan elections. Nearly 1/3 of death sentences handed down in
2008, an election year, were the result of judicial overrides, according to the
Equal Justice Initiative.
Judicial overrides land disproportionately heavily on black defendants. 6 % of
Alabama murders are committed by black offenders against white victims, but 31
% of override cases involve black defendants and white victims.
Defendants facing execution can lack qualified counsel at all stages of the
process, starting at trial. To qualify for appointment on an Alabama death
penalty case, an attorney needs only 5 years of experience in any type of
criminal case.
The state provides no additional training, and until recently, it capped
attorney fees at absurdly low rates.
As we await a federal decision about the constitutionality of Alabama's
execution protocol, we also must examine the process by which inmates land in
the death chamber. Our state fails to guarantee that people accused of capital
crimes have well-qualified counsel at capital murder trials, or any counsel for
state post-conviction appeals. We allow elected judges to ignore recommended
jury sentences in capital cases for any reason. And our system is plagued by
unconscionable racial disparities.
(source: Stephen Stetson is a policy analyst for Arise Citizens' Policy
Project----The Selma Times-Journal)
NEBRASKA:
Death penalty drugs a no-no
On the day Nebraska's U.S. Attorney asserted that importing a key death penalty
drug would violate federal law, Gov. Pete Ricketts announced he will reverse
course on his efforts to carry out a lethal injection.
"To give deference to the vote of the people, my administration will wait to
carry out capital punishment sentences or make additional efforts to acquire
drugs until the people of our state decide this issue," the governor said in a
statement released by his office late in the day.
The governor's announcement came hours after U.S. Attorney Deborah Gilg said
that importing sodium thiopental would violate federal law.
"It would be illegal to import sodium thiopental into the state of Nebraska for
purposes of lethal injection," Gilg said in an interview with the Omaha
World-Herald, marking the 1st time she has made such a statement publicly.
The governor's announcement represents a clear shift in strategy as Ricketts
seeks to restore the state???s ability to carry out an execution. He announced
the shift in response to the World-Herald's efforts to seek reactions of Gilg's
statement, said his spokesman, Taylor Gage.
Ricketts said in his Friday announcement that he has been exploring the
possibility of changing Nebraska's lethal injection protocol over the past
several weeks.
Gage declined to offer a response to the U.S. Attorney's position.
Ricketts previously had said the state was trying to import the drugs from
India. As recently as Oct. 21, he said officials from the Nebraska Department
of Correctional Services were still working with the Drug Enforcement
Administration on the issue.
In May, the Legislature repealed the death penalty over the governor's veto.
Death penalty supporters successfully obtained voter signatures needed to hold
a referendum on the repeal in November 2016.
Meanwhile, the state has been unable to import 2 lethal injection drugs it
purchased from a broker in India. Federal agencies have said 1 of the drugs,
sodium thiopental, can't be legally imported.
In 2013, a federal appeals court ordered the FDA to block sodium thiopental
from coming into the country. Once a commonly used anesthetic, sodium
thiopental is no longer approved for use in the U.S. and is no longer made
domestically.
Nebraska official says lethal injection chemicals cannot legally be imported
into state from India.
(source: Omaha World-Herald)
COLORADO:
Another Colorado death penalty trial?----Colorado should avoid going through
another death penalty trial
It is possible that 4th Judicial District Attorney Dan May will elect to pursue
the death penalty against accused Planned Parenthood shooter Robert Dear Jr.
The case is, as Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Colo., said recently, "ripe for a death
penalty prosecution."
Capital punishment can be considered under Colorado law if, among other things,
multiple people were killed, if a law enforcement officer is killed or if the
killing was a hate crime.
All three factors were in play in Colorado Springs.
Charges are expected to be filed against Dear on Wednesday, with the decision
on the death penalty still months away. But if May does decide to pursue a
death penalty, we hope he'd be open to accepting a plea deal from the defense -
if an offer is then forthcoming - for a sentence of life in prison without
possibility of parole.
Such a deal would spare everyone a protracted trial with an uncertain outcome,
not to mention the huge expense.
Earlier this year, 2 cases that should have been ideal in many ways for the
death penalty were rejected by jurors - even though potential jurors are
screened to ensure they can apply the ultimate penalty if the facts call for
it.
James Holmes, who murdered 12 people and injured 70 in an Aurora theater, was
instead sentenced to life in prison without possibility for parole. Dexter
Lewis, who killed five people in Fero's Bar in Denver, was also given life in
prison without possibility for parole.
Even in conservative El Paso County, a jury trial will be faced with the same
uncertain outcome.
Is it reasonable for the state to spend millions of dollars on defending and
prosecuting a capital punishment case that has a strong chance of ending
without a death sentence?
A recent disclosure by the State Public Defender's office said it has spent
$6.3 million on 10 death penalty cases since 2002.
In the Holmes case alone, prosecutors say they spent up to $1.5 million in
state and federal funds and the bills are still being tabulated. That doesn't
include how much the cases have cost other agencies, such as sheriff's
departments and prosecutors.
Both the Holmes and Lewis cases spanned three years from crime to verdict and
accomplished little in terms of the eventual punishment that might not have
been achieved earlier with a plea bargain.
Why put victims, families and jurors through the emotional hell of a prolonged
trial if it's not necessary?
That's especially true because it's unlikely Dear would ever actually be
executed even if he were found guilty and got the death penalty. He is 57. If
he were convicted at, say, 59 or 60, his attorneys could probably delay an
execution for a couple of decades at least.
By which time most people might wonder: What was the point?
(source: Editoriaql, The Denver Post)
NEVADA:
Death row not so deadly
It's called death row. The place where Nevada's worst of the worst spend 22
hours or more each day in solitary cells, waiting for the call that means they
will be executed by lethal injection for their heinous crimes.
But for Nevada's approximately 80 death row inmates at Ely State Prison, it is
a place where they are more likely to die of disease or suicide than be
executed.
Lengthy appeals, the lack of a suitable execution chamber, debates over the
drugs used to administer the death penalty and defense attorneys who diligently
represent their clients all factor into why Nevada has not executed an inmate
in almost a decade.
Despite a reputation for being tough on crime, Nevada has executed only 12
inmates in 28 years. And 11 of the 12 executions since capital punishment was
reinstated by the state Legislature in 1977 have been "volunteers," or inmates
who have voluntarily given up their appeals.
State Sen. Tick Segerblom said that for several reasons, Nevada should join a
growing number of states that have abolished the death penalty in favor of life
sentences without parole.
Although efforts to do away with the death penalty in Nevada have gone nowhere,
the evidence shows that capital punishment is far more costly than just
sentencing killers to life without a chance of parole, he said.
"It is clearly a huge waste of resources," Segerblom, a Las Vegas Democrat,
said. "It costs a ton of money just to go to trial. The appeals process takes
forever. They are stuck in solitary confinement at Ely that costs us a fortune.
And at the end of the day, no one is actually going to be executed."
But there are supporters of the death penalty, including Gov. Brian Sandoval.
Another is former Washoe County District Attorney Richard Gammick, who handled
10 death penalty cases in his career. In testimony opposing a moratorium on the
death penalty proposed in the 2011 legislative session, he said lawmakers need
to remember who is sitting on death row.
"These are the worst of the worst," he said. "These are the people who have
forfeited their right to live any longer in this society because of their
actions - not anyone else's actions.
"Is the system broken? Absolutely," Gammick said. "Why do we have people
sitting on death row for over 20 years? That needs to be fixed. If you want to
fix something, fix this so it is done much more quickly while still protecting
all the rights of the accused."
Ron Dreher, who lobbies for several law enforcement groups at the Legislature,
said capital punishment is necessary and would be a deterrent if it were used
as intended. As a major crimes detective for the Reno Police Department, Dreher
worked on several horrific cases, including the 1994 murders of two U-Haul
employees and the torture-murder of 3-year-old Mailin Stafford that same year
by her stepfather.
One of the U-Haul killers, Duc Cong Huynh, committed suicide in December 1995
at Ely State Prison. The other, Alvaro Calambro, was executed after he gave up
his appeals. Carlos Gutierrez remains on death row for the Stafford murder.
But Dreher said he would not be opposed to doing away with capital punishment
if life without parole meant just that, including solitary confinement and a
lack of privileges granted other inmates.
"Then, the actual 'life without parole' would really mean something and would
be a penalty," he said.
Notorious population
Nevada's population of death row inmates increased after a Clark County jury in
November sentenced Ammar Harris to death by lethal injection for killing 3
people on the Strip in 2013.
He will be joined by Jeremiah Bean, sentenced to death after a jury verdict
earlier this year for the killing of five people in and around Fernley in
Northern Nevada in 2013.
They will join a group of notorious individuals including Pat McKenna, known as
Nevada's most dangerous inmate, who killed another man in jail in Clark County
in 1979. McKenna has tried to escape several times.
Others on death row include Richard Haberstroh, who in 1986 raped and choked
20-year-old Donna Marie Kitowski when she went to a store in Southern Nevada to
buy ingredients to bake cookies for her 20-month-old son; and Michael Sonner,
who in 1993 killed Nevada Highway Patrol trooper Carlos Borland near Lovelock.
But more death row inmates have died from illness or suicide than have been
executed, a total of 16 through the end of 2013. Another 42 left death row
after winning new trials or sentencing hearings that allowed them to avoid the
death penalty, sometimes because of misconduct by overzealous prosecutors.
In one case, a Nevada District Court judge in 2010 ordered the immediate
release of former death row inmate Ronnie Milligan after hearing testimony that
the Navy veteran might have been wrongfully convicted of a 1980 slaying in
Northern Nevada. He was released on parole in 2011 after serving 30 years.
Nevada's last execution came nearly a decade ago, when Daryl Mack was executed
in 2006 for the rape and murder of a Reno woman, Betty Jane May, in 1988. Mack
too was a volunteer who gave up his appeals.
The death penalty can be imposed in Nevada only when at least one of more than
a dozen aggravating circumstances, such as mutilation, are found. A jury then
weighs the aggravating circumstances and those in the defendant's favor, called
mitigating circumstances, to determine whether capital punishment is warranted.
Costly cases
Fodder for those opposed to the death penalty came from a state audit released
in December 2014 that found Nevada murder cases in which prosecutors seek the
death penalty can cost nearly twice as much as those with a lesser punishment.
Death penalty cases cost the public on average $1.03 million to $1.31 million,
according to the audit. In a murder case in which capital punishment is not
sought, the average cost is $775,000. In those cases, prosecutors typically
seek life in prison without parole.
The 105-page audit came after the 2013 Legislature ordered a review of the
costs of capital punishment. The audit, which took 18 months, looked at the
price of trials, appeals and jail time for 28 Nevada cases.
But there was no appetite in the 2015 Legislature to review the death penalty.
Appeal after appeal
The reasons for why executions are infrequent in Nevada are many, but the
appeals process is frequently cited as a major contributor to delays.
A conviction and sentence of death is automatically appealed to the Nevada
Supreme Court. This court considers potential errors in the trial, if at least
one aggravating circumstance was found and whether the sentence was excessive,
among other issues.
If upheld, inmates then file a post-conviction petition for habeas corpus in
the District Court where the conviction occurred. The petition is normally
assigned to the original judge or court. Post-conviction petitions for habeas
corpus typically raise the issue of ineffective assistance of counsel but can
also claim newly discovered evidence or prosecutorial misconduct.
This petition also goes to the Nevada Supreme Court.
If the sentence is upheld, inmates then file a petition in the federal court
system, where all claims must be brought forward. These cases can be returned
to the state courts for further proceedings.
Federal appeals eventually work through the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
and to the U.S. Supreme Court, which can choose whether to consider the
inmate's petition.
The process is complicated, and long delays are common. Sometimes a new
attorney takes over a case and needs time to review the details.
Methods are few
Nevada has another problem in conducting an execution, should one be set by a
federal judge: no execution chamber. The original chamber at the now-closed
Nevada State Prison in Carson City could be used if an execution was set, but
it probably would face legal challenges on various grounds, including
accessibility.
The 2015 Legislature approved $858,000 to build an execution chamber at Ely,
but it is at least 2 years away from completion.
Then there is the ongoing legal challenge across the country to the mix of
drugs that would be used to carry out a lethal injection.
Nevada would use the drugs midazolam and hydromorphone to administer a lethal
dose and has an adequate supply of these drugs to carry out an execution if
ordered, according to the state Corrections Department.
But death penalty watchdogs said use of the drug almost assuredly would spawn
lawsuits after highly publicized incidents of botched executions in other
states.
So life goes on for Nevada's death row inmates, who reside either in the "A" or
"B" side of a cellbock at Ely. Inmates are said to prefer the A Block because
the B Block also houses inmates with disciplinary issues and so is noisier.
The inmates spend almost all of their time in their cells, getting an hour or 2
each day on the yard or out of their cells on the "tier" where they can have
contact with other people. But some inmates never leave their cells.
Death row inmates live in individual cells that measure about 88 square feet.
They have windows that show the outside of the building as well as a window
inside that can view their unit. They can have televisions but must purchase
them.
Each inmate receives about three hours of recreation time each day. About every
4th day, inmates get an additional 2 hours of "tier" time when they can use
phones, shower, play cards or mingle with other inmates. They are also
permitted visits on 2 days designated each week.
Segerblom said he does not believe Nevada will change its position anytime soon
though there is a trend of ending capital punishment in the United States.
Capital punishment is authorized in 31 states. In recent years, New Mexico,
Illinois, Connecticut, Maryland and Nebraska have abolished the death penalty.
"The fact is that it is really done for retribution for a victim's family,"
Segerblom said. "There is no societal benefit. An execution 30 years after a
crime was committed has no cause-and-effect relationship."
(source: Las Vegas Review-Journal)
CALIFORNIA----new death sentence
Death sentence in cell phone slaying----The Hemet man was convicted of slaying
a 16-year-old high school student while trying to steal his phone.
A Hemet man was sentenced to death on Friday, Dec. 4, for the 2013 stabbing
murder of a 16-year-old Hemet High School boy during a robbery of his cell
phone.
Francisco Roy Zavala Jr., 23, was convicted of 1st-degree murder of Eric
Sargeant in July by a jury at the Southwest Justice Center in Murrieta. on
Friday, Judge Stephen Gallon handed down the penalty recommended by the jury.
Sargeant was walking near Acacia Avenue and Cherrywood Drive in the
unincorporated East Hemet area after school when Zavala and 2 juveniles
approached. Zavala asked Sargeant for his cell phone and began punching the
victim when Sargeant refused and tried to escape, according to testimony.
Motorists were driving thinking it was a fight in progress, but one witnesses
was close enough to see the type of knife Zavala used to repeatedly stab the
victim with such force as to lift him off the ground.
The broad daylight setting "didn't give him (Zavala) the slightest pause in
executing someone in such a public way," prosecutor Daniel DeLimon said by
phone.
The prosecutor labeled it an egregious case because Zavala talked t2 juveniles
into committing a robbery 10 days after he was released from prison.
The accomplices, Francisco Siordia, then 17, and Joseph Venegas, then 15,
participated in the attack thinking they were just going to rob the victim,
according to DeLimon.
Zavala independently decided to kill Sargeant, but because of the circumstances
the accomplices also were liable for the murder.
Siordia was convicted by a jury and sentenced in November to 25 years to life
in state prison.
In a plea agreement with the district attorney's office, Venegas testified and
was sentenced in September to 11 years in custody, at first in a juvenile
facility and then in state prison after he turned 18.
(source: The Press-Ennterprise)
***************
after Years of Delays----A Los Alamitos community theater actor faces the death
penalty if convicted of killing two people to pay for his wedding.
After years of delays, the capital trial of an actor accused of murdering and
dismembering a man at a Los Alamitos theater then killing a woman to cover it
up will begin on Monday.
Prosecutors allege Daniel Patrick Wozniak killed his friend Samuel Eliezer Herr
after luring him to a theater the Los Alamitos Joint Forces military base in
May 2010.
He then used Herr's cellphone to trick another friend, Juri Kibuishi, into
going to Herr's Costa Mesa apartment, where Wozniak shot her and then made it
look as if Herr killed her during a sexual assault, say police.
Wozniak, who then allegedly returned to the base to dismember Herr's body, is
accused of committing the crimes to steal from the victims to pay for his
honeymoon and wedding to a former Disney Princess.
The trial was delayed repeatedly as the case became entangled with the scandal
surrounding the Orange County District Attorney's Office's use of jailhouse
informants. Woznaik's Public Defender Scott Sanders succeeding in having the
district attorney's office removed from the trial of Seal Beach mass murderer
Scott Dekraai by alleging long-standing prosecutorial misconduct in enlisting
informants to get information from inmates already represented by attorneys.
Since then, multiple convictions have been overturned because of the use of
jailhouse informants, and Sanders has made several motions to have the district
attorney and Orange County judges thrown off Wozniak's trial. According to to
Sanders, authorities violated Wozniak's rights when they enabled producers for
MSNBC's "Lockup" to interview Wozniak in jail. In a 500-page motion, Sanders
failed to convince the court, and the trial will finally begin more than 5
years after the murders.
Steve Herr, Samuel Herr's father, had begged the judge to start the trial after
attending more than a 100 court hearings and watching scheduled trial dates
come and go over the years.
"15 months ago, the 1st trial date was set. In October, the trial was delayed a
year until this March. Then in March it was delayed again" said Herr while
urging the judge to start the trial. "I'm fed up and I'm fed up with the
delays."
"We've been waiting 5 years," Herr said.
If convicted, Wozniak would face the death penalty.
(source: patch.com)
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