Jan. 26
MISSOURI:
Mass killer Sheley seeks change of venue on Missouri murder charges that could
bring death penalty
An Illinois man already serving life sentences for 6 killings in his home state
has asked a judge to move his next murder trial to another town in Missouri in
hopes of increasing the likelihood of an unbiased jury.
A team of public defenders appeared in court Monday afternoon with Nicholas
Sheley, 36, in Jefferson County south of St. Louis. They argued that Sheley
can't get a fair trial there on charges related to the deaths of an Arkansas
couple during an alleged 2-state killing spree over 7 years ago.
Prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty if he's convicted in the killings
of Jill and Tom Estes of Sherwood, Arkansas. Police say the couple was attacked
outside a Festus hotel after leaving a 2008 graduation party.
The judge didn't immediately rule on the request, asking the attorneys on both
sides to submit written arguments by mid-February.
Sheley was extradited in February 2015 to Missouri from Illinois, where he was
found guilty in a string of killings that began in his hometown of Sterling.
Four victims who had been bludgeoned with a hammer were found in a Rock Falls
apartment. They ranged in age from 2 years to 29. The other victims were a
65-year-old man whose body was found behind a Galesburg grocery store in
northwestern Illinois and a 93-year-old man killed in Sterling.
Unlike in Illinois, offenders can be sentenced to death in neighboring
Missouri. A June court filing outlining the state's decision to pursue the
death penalty cites Sheley's convictions in the 6 Illinois killings as well as
3 other aggravating circumstances, including his attempt to rob the Arkansas
couple while committing an "outrageously or wantonly vile, horrible or inhuman"
killing.
The sole witness at Monday's nearly 3-hour hearing, University of Kansas
communications studies professor Thomas Beisecker, testified on Sheley's behalf
that any pool of prospective Jefferson County jurors would have been exposed to
significant media coverage of the case.
"There is a substantial amount of prejudice that currently exists in Jefferson
County against Mr. Sheley," said Beisecker, who noted under cross-examination
that he was paid $175 an hour as an expert witness, so far receiving about
$12,000.
Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Steve Jerrell questioned the statistical rigor
of a telephone survey of county residents by Advocacy Research Institute, the
Kansas professor's jury consulting business. Jerrell noted that while 180 of
the 307 respondents said they had heard of the Sheley case, the interviewers
failed to ask several questions that could have excluded prospective jurors,
including whether any were convicted felons. The consultant's questions also
contained several factual errors about the case, including the location of a
pickup truck Sheley stole after killing 1 of his victims in Illinois.
"If you ask the wrong questions, the answers are not credible," he said.
4 members of the Estes family attended the hearing but declined comment.
(source: Associated Press)
***************
Death penalty case to be re-tried in 1991 Chain of Rocks Bridge murders
St. Louis Circuit Attorney Jennifer M. Joyce says she will retry 44-year-old
Reginald Clemons for the murders of Julie and Robin Kerry, and says she will
seek the death penalty against him. She is also filing charges of forcible rape
and 1st-degree robbery.
The state Supreme Court on November 24 overturned 1st-degree murder convictions
for Clemons, who was sentenced to death in 1993. Clemons had appealed his
convictions and a special investigator appointed by the Supreme Court found
that prosecutors had wrongly suppressed evidence and that detectives beat
Clemons to force a confession. That investigator, retired judge Michael
Manners, said those were not harmless mistakes as the state had argued, though
he said they were not likely to change the verdicts against Clemons.
The rape charges were filed by the original prosecutors but a law at the time
prevented him from being tried for those at the same time as the murders
because the death penalty was being sought.
Clemons remains in prison on a 15-year sentence for a 2007 assault on a
Department of Corrections employee.
Clemons and 3 other men were convicted of raping and murdering Julie and Robin
Kerry in April, 1991. One of those men, Marlin Gray, was executed in 2005.
Antonio Richardson was sentenced to death and his sentence was later changed to
life without parole. Daniel Winfrey received a 30-year sentence in exchange for
testimony and has been paroled.
(source: missourinet.com)
OKLAHOMA:
2 more death row inmates await execution dates amid probe
The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals agreed Monday to wait to set execution
dates for 2 more death row inmates until a grand jury finishes its closed-door
investigation into drug mix-ups during the state's last 2 lethal injections.
The court granted the stays for 2 convicted killers - Richard Stephen Fairchild
and Jeremy Alan Williams - who have already exhausted all state and federal
appeals of their convictions and death sentences. This brings to 5 the number
of inmates whose executions have been put on hold while Oklahoma Attorney
General Scott Pruitt's office continues to explore how the wrong drug was
delivered for the state's last 2 executions.
The 5-member court said it wouldn't be appropriate to set execution dates for
Fairchild and Williams while the grand jury probe is ongoing.
Fairchild, 56, was sentenced to die for the 1993 beating death of his
girlfriend's 3-year-old son in Del City. Williams, 32, was given the death
penalty for killing a bank teller during a robbery of Tulsa's First Fidelity
Bank in 2004.
The court already has issued stays of execution for 3 other death row inmates -
Richard Glossip, Benjamin Cole and John Grant.
Glossip was just hours away from his scheduled lethal injection in September
when prison officials realized they received potassium acetate instead of
potassium chloride, the 3rd drug in the state's execution protocol. Later, an
autopsy report indicated the wrong drug was used in January 2015 to execute
Charles Warner.
After that revelation, Pruitt launched a multicounty grand jury investigation
into the state's execution protocol and what went wrong. The grand jury
conducts its investigations in secret, but the former warden of Oklahoma State
Penitentiary and the ex-director of the Department of Corrections both have
appeared to testify. Both have since left the agency. Ex-warden Anita Trammell
retired in October, and Patton resigned in December to take a job with a
private prison company in Arizona.
When the grand jury concludes its investigation into the Department of
Corrections' handling of its execution protocol, it will issue an interim
report with its findings, said Pruitt spokesman Aaron Cooper. The grand jury
also could issue indictments for criminal charges.
Pruitt has said he will not request any execution dates until at least 150 days
after his investigation is complete, the results are made public and his office
receives notice that the prisons department can comply with the state's
execution protocol.
(source: Associated Press)
SOUTH DAKOTA:
Rodney Berget continues to fight death sentence
Rodney Berget's death row appeal is back in court.
A judge sentenced Berget to death for his role in killing correctional officer
Ronald Johnson during a failed prison escape.
Berget's attorney, Jeff Larson, brought forth 10 claims in his writ of habeas
corpus, but the judge wasn't buying some of Larson's arguments.
One of those claims was withdrawn, 6 were thrown out by the judge, while 3 were
set for a hearing to be discussed at another time.
The writ of habeas corpus proceeding is a chance for Berget's attorney to
challenge how the court has handled this case.
Aside from pointing out problems with the appeal, 1 claim stated there is an
issue with the death penalty itself.
Berget faces death while his attorney fights for his client's life by returning
to court with a writ of habeas corpus.
Mike Henderson, an attorney not connected to the case, offered some insigt.
"It's a proceeding after there has been a final judgement, and appeal rights
have been exhausted, and an appellate court has issued a decision. It's a
procedure by which a party which is in prison, can challenge the fairness of
the proceedings in some way, and assert that there was some structural defect
or some problem with the proceedings that should entitle them to relief,"
Henderson said.
Berget's attorney brought forth ten claims to challenge the proceedings, but a
judge denied several of those claims which the courts have already heard
before.
"There is a final judgment or determination as to those issues involving the
same parties and there was a fair opportunity to raise and litigate those
issues fully and completely, you can't bring them up again, essentially it
prevents you from getting that second bite at the apple," Henderson said.
Whatever the judge may decide on Berget's claims, the center of the case
remains the death penalty itself.
"As I understand it, they're really making the argument that societal norms and
decency have evolved, adapted and changed to the point where the court should
determine, that in 2016 the death penalty is cruel and unusual punishment in
and of itself," Henderson said.
Eric Robert and Rodney Berget killed correctional officer Ronald Johnson in a
botched prison escape in 2011. Robert was executed in October of 2012, while
Berget continues to fight his death sentence.
"The system that we have, has so many safeguards in it, in that is is a matter
of life and death. It's the ultimate punishment that can't be reversed or
changed, should there be determined that there's a mistake at a later time,"
Henderson said.
A South Dakota lawmakers plans to introduce a bill to repeal the death penalty
next week.
(source: KSFY news)
COLORADO:
Wrong direction on Colorado death penalty----A death sentence should be
unanimous
It's not easy getting a Colorado jury to reach unanimous agreement that a
killer should be put to death - in fact it's become next to impossible even in
cases of mass killings. But rather than resign themselves to that reality, six
proponents of the death penalty in the state Senate would rig the system to
ensure more criminals are put to death.
Perhaps "rig" is too harsh a word. But not by much. Lowering the threshold for
a death sentence from 12 jurors to nine, as is proposed in Senate Bill 64, is a
huge shift. It would put Colorado in a small minority of states - Florida,
Alabama and Delaware - that either don't require unanimous juries to impose a
death sentence or allow a judge to overrule a jury that prefers a life
sentence.
Sen. Kevin Lundberg, R-Berthoud, the bill's lead sponsor, freely admits that
frustration with recent jury results led him to this proposal.
"If anything was deserving of the death penalty, I'd say that's it the Aurora
(theater) shooting," Lundberg told 7News. "I think we need to come to terms
with: Are we going to have a death penalty that functions in Colorado or are we
just going to put it in name only and not really have the death penalty?"
Lundberg has a point in the sense that if juries are unwilling to put to death
the likes of James Holmes, the theater shooter, or Dexter Lewis, found guilty
last year of five murders at a bar in Denver, then the death penalty in its
present form is no longer a viable option in the overwhelmingly majority of
murders. But the logical response to that fact is to abolish the penalty, not
lower the standard under which it is imposed.
It's true, of course, that SB 64 would affect only the sentencing phase of the
trial and that a unanimous jury would still be required to find the defendant
guilty of a capital crime. But this isn't just any sentence. It's the only one
that is irrevocable once carried out, the only one that nearly everyone
recognizes is in a category of its own.
If a jury that finds a defendant guilty can't agree that he deserves the death
sentence, then it shouldn't be imposed.
(source: Editorial Board, Denver Post)
NEVADA:
Court denies appeal of man in death of wife, daughter
The Nevada Supreme Court denied the appeal of death row inmate Larry E. Adams,
convicted in 1986 of the killing of his wife and 3-year-old daughter.
But the court ruled Friday that the District Court should conduct a hearing on
Adams' claim that the prosecution withheld evidence at his trial in Las Vegas.
The court rejected his arguments that he should not have been found guilty and
received the death penalty because of errors in his trial.
Adams was convicted of 2 counts of 1st-degree murder in the fatal shooting of
his estranged wife, Pamela, and daughter Laura in their home, according to
court records. 3 other children were asleep in a bedroom at the time.
A man who testified at a preliminary hearing and connected Adams to the killing
could not be located for the trial and, therefore, could not be cross-examined,
according to court documents. Adams alleged that the state also withheld
information about the witness' past.
The court, in an opinion written by Chief Justice Ron Parraguirre, said the
"evidence overwhelming proves that Adams acted willfully and with premeditation
and deliberation when he killed Pam and Laura."
(source: Las Vegas Sun)
CALIFORNIA:
Dozens of potential jurors questioned for 'Grim Sleeper' trial of man charged
with killing 9 women
Attorneys and a judge Monday began questioning roughly 6 dozen prospective
jurors for the trial of the man charged in the "Grim Sleeper" killings of 9
women and a teenage girl between 1985 and 2007.
About 300 prospective jurors filled out questionnaires last month as attorneys
began the process of selecting a panel to hear the case against Lonnie Franklin
Jr.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Kathleen Kennedy told the prospective
panelists the trial will be a "complicated" case that has "garnered a fair
amount of publicity."
Would-be jurors were asked to answer 176 questions covering an exhaustive range
of issues, including their religious and political beliefs, attitudes toward
law enforcement and mental health professionals, and understanding of DNA
evidence.
The prosecution is seeking the death penalty, and questions by Kennedy and
attorneys for the prosecution and defense focused solely on the potential
jurors' views on capital punishment.
Kennedy spoke to each prospective juror individually, seeking to clarify
contradictions and determine whether they could be fair and impartial in
deciding the capital case.
"The death penalty is a very sensitive subject and there are many different
opinions," Kennedy told those assembled in the courtroom.
Kennedy said she wasn't looking for a "right" answer from jurors, but to
understand what was in any prospective panelist's "heart and mind."
She asked one man to explain his written comment that he believed the death
penalty was meant "to rid society of human garbage."
The would-be juror told Kennedy he meant that the penalty should be reserved
for the worst, most irredeemable criminals. He assured her that if the trial
reached the penalty phase, he would be able to fairly weigh the aggravating and
mitigating circumstances and choose either life in prison without the
possibility of parole or death as the most appropriate punishment.
Others said they couldn't condemn a man to death regardless of his crime. Still
others said they favored the death penalty as a deterrent.
At the end of the day, after the attorneys had a chance to ask questions of
their own, Kennedy called the numbers of about 1/3 of the potential jurors and
dismissed them from further service.
The balance will return on Friday to answer questions on topics other than
capital punishment. In the meantime, Kennedy warned them not to read any news
coverage of the case.
A 2nd, 3rd and 4th pool of possible jurors will be called tomorrow, Wednesday
and Thursday to go through the same drill.
Franklin, a 63-year-old 1-time city employee, sat quietly throughout the jury
selection process, dressed in a well-pressed gray shirt and a silver gray tie
that his defense attorney had fashioned in a Windsor knot before the panel of
would-be jurors entered the room.
Franklin is charged with the murders of 9 women - who were mostly in their 20s
- and a 15-year-old girl. The bodies were dumped in alleys and trash bins in
and around South Los Angeles, Inglewood and unincorporated areas. He is also
charged with the attempted murder of another woman.
The killings occurred between 1985 and 1988, and 2002 and 2007, with the
assailant dubbed the "Grim Sleeper" because of the apparent 13-year break
between killing sprees.
Detectives have said since Franklin's arrest that they were also investigating
whether he might be connected to the disappearances or deaths of 8 other women
whose photos were found in his home near 81st Street and Harvard Boulevard.
The trial is expected to last about 3 months. The lists of potential witnesses
submitted by the prosecution and defense and included with the jury
questionnaire run to more than 400 names.
(source: mynewsla.com)
******************
Arcadia double murder suspect served restraining orders weeks prior to alleged
attack
As Arcadia High School held a vigil for 2 slain students, the suspect in the
fatal beatings - their uncle - remained in Hong Kong Monday pending extradition
to the United States.
Deyun Shi told Hong Kong authorities he wanted to return to America and denied
the allegations against him, according to media reports.
Los Angeles County Sheriff's homicide detectives said Shi's next court hearing
in Hong Kong is Feb. 11. Officials from the Hong Kong Department of Justice
could not be reached for comment on Monday.
The 44-year-old businessman is a Chinese national.
Shi allegedly attacked his estranged wife Thursday night with a maul, a tool
used to break up wood, at their La Canada Flintridge home then headed to his
brother-in-law's home in the 400 block of Fairview Avenue in Arcadia where he
allegedly beat to death his 2 nephews, 16-year-old William Lin and 15-year-old
Anthony Lin, according to Homicide Lt. Eddie Hernandez.
The boys' parents were at the hospital checking on Shi's wife at the time. They
went home Thursday night but discovered their children dead when they woke up
Friday.
Hernandez said investigators plan to present their case against Shi with the
District Attorney's Office this week.
Jane Robison, a spokeswoman for the District Attorney's Office, said she cannot
comment on possible charges until the charges are filed.
The DA's Office has not decided whether it will seek the death penalty, which
could be a sticking point in the extradition. The death penalty was abolished
in Hong Kong in the mid 90s.
Hernandez said the DA???s Extradition Services Section has to file the
paperwork that will be sent to the U.S. Department of Justice. The DOJ will
work with Hong Kong officials on the extradition.
Ryan Foran, a spokesman for Arcadia Unified School District, said news of what
happened to the brothers came as a shock. Counselors were made available to
students at Arcadia High where William Lin was a junior and Anthony Lin was a
freshman.
"We brought in a lot of counselors and therapists. We have a pastor and a
reverend on hand. We brought in a lot of resources," Foran said.
A vigil for the Lins was held at the high school Monday night.
"Both were well-liked, really nice young men," Foran said.
William Lin was active in the Science Olympiad team and another science club,
Foran said.
"He had an absolute passion for science. He was hoping to be captain of the
Science Olympiad Team next year," Foran said. "He was really a great student."
Foran described Anthony Lin as an outgoing and funny kid.
Detectives believe an unraveling marriage may have led to the attack on Shi's
wife and the fatal beating of the nephews.
Court records show the wife filed for a temporary restraining order alleging
domestic violence on Dec. 31, 2015. On the same date, another temporary
restraining order against him for elder abuse was filed by a woman who
detectives identified as his mother-in-law.
Shi was served with a temporary restraining order on Jan. 7. He was forced to
move out of the family home in La Canada Flintridge and had been staying with a
friend in Alhambra and at different motels in the San Gabriel Valley, Hernandez
said.
While in Pasadena Superior Court last week for the restraining orders,
Hernandez said Shi found out his wife wanted a divorce.
"He broke into their home sometime around 11 p.m. (Thursday) and attacked her,"
Hernandez said. "The only reason she survived was their 15-year-old son
intervened. That's when he left."
Shi's wife then called her brother who lives in Arcadia. The brother and his
wife went to check on her.
Detectives aren't sure when Anthony and William Lin were killed but believe it
happened in the time period after their parents left the house and when the
couple returned home. "I think he used a different weapon. We're still looking
for it," Hernandez said.
Investigators alleged Shi headed to Los Angeles International Airport and took
a Cathay Pacific flight to Hong Kong on Friday morning.
"He boarded sometime after 10 a.m.," Hernandez said.
Shi was arrested in Hong Kong.
(source: Pasadena Star-News)
USA:
Marvin Gabrion, facing death penalty, competent when he killed teen mom,
prosecutors say
Federal prosecutors say Marvin Gabrion's request to vacate his conviction and
death sentence in the 1997 killing of Rachel Timmerman, should be denied.
Gabrion filed a 604-page motion asking a judge to vacate the judgment and
sentence or grant him a new trial.
In the motion, he asked U.S. District Judge Robert Holmes Bell, who presided
over the trial, to recuse himself.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer McManus, joined by other federal prosecutors,
filed a 197-page response on Monday, Jan. 25.
She said that "Gabrion mostly argues that his counsel rendered ineffective
assistance of counsel, though he also asserts a potpourri of allegations of
prosecutorial misconduct and various claims of alleged constitutional
infirmity.
"Many of those claims are procedurally barred because they were either already
resolved during extensive appellate review of this case, or they are defaulted.
In any event, none of the claims has merit: Marvin Gabrion was ably represented
by experienced, diligent and conscientious counsel. He had a full and fair
trial, and this Court should not cast aside the conscientious verdict reached,
and sentenced imposed, by a jury of his peers."
Gabrion has fought his 2002 conviction and death sentence all along. At one
point, a federal appeals panel overturned his death penalty but the entire
Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals re-instated the sentence.
Timmerman, 19, was kidnapped and killed 2 days before Gabrion was to stand
trial in Newaygo County Circuit Court for raping her.
The government said he drowned her in Oxford Lake, a remote lake in the
Manistee National Forest. Her body was found bound and gagged, chained to 2
cinder blocks.
Her 11-month-old daughter, Shannon Verhage, has never been found.
Federal prosecutors, who handled the case because the killing occurred on
federal land, believe Gabrion killed the child and 3 men associated with him.
While state law in Michigan does not allow for the death penalty, executions
are possible under federal law.
The government said aggravating factors included Timmerman being killed "in an
especially heinous, cruel and depraved manner" with "substantial planning and
premeditation" by Gabrion.
An appeals panel found "overwhelming" evidence of Gabrion's guilt.
Timmerman reported that Gabrion threatened to kill her if she reported being
raped. He also said he would kill her daughter and make her watch, the
prosecution says. In a call to Newaygo County Sheriff's Department, she told a
receptionist she wanted to establish a "trail" in case Gabrion killed her.
The defense contends Gabrion was brain damaged, and his mental state
deteriorated so much at the trial that he punched his attorney during the
sentencing phase.
Prosecutors say Gabrion "exhibited bizarre behavior" after he was charged. He
underwent three examinations and was found competent, McManus said.
"To begin with, Gabrion is not mentally ill," McManus wrote. "Post-conviction
counsel's conclusory, unsupported assertion that he is contradicts the vast
evidence amassed in this case demonstrating that he was not mentally ill at the
time he murdered Rachel Timmerman or at the time of trial."
She said examiners found he was "feigning" mental illness.
(source: mlive.com)
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