Feb. 4
TEXAS:
'I would like to apologise for all of the trouble I've caused': Final words of
death row inmates give a unique insight into their state of mind minutes before
death...and they're almost always POSITIVE----Psychologists analysed language
in 407 statements of men on death row
Have you ever imagined what your last words would be as you face death? It's a
morbid thought, but one that almost 3,000 people currently on death row in the
US may be contemplating.
To get an insight into the state of mind of these inmates' final thoughts,
psychologists have analysed statements of the condemned in Texas, spoken
minutes before they were given the lethal injection.
The researchers found that despite their impending death, the words conveyed
were extremely positive expressions that reflected the emotional processes of
coping with their fate.
The study was carried out by psychologists Sarah Hirschmuller and Boris Egloff
from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany.
They analysed emotional language in 407 statements from people facing the death
penalty in the state of Texas.
The offenders were put to death at the Huntsville Unit, which houses the State
of Texas' execution chamber - the most active in the US.
Poignant examples include the last statement of Daniel Lopez, who at the age of
27 was put to death on 12 August last year. It reads: 'I would like to thank
you. I hope this execution helps my family and also the victim's family.
'This was never meant to be, sure beyond my power. I can only walk the path
before me and make the best of it. I am sorry for putting y'all through this. I
am sorry, I love you. I am ready. May we all go to Heaven.'
----EXAMPLE EXTRACTS FROM FINAL STATEMENTS OF CONDEMNED OFFENDERS----
The researchers found the prisoner's words conveyed extremely positive
expressions that reflected the emotional processes of coping with their
impending death.
Some examples include:
Richard Masterton, 43: 'Sending me to a better place. I am alright with this,
you have to live and die by the choices that we make. I have made mine.'
(Executed 20 January, 2016)
Raphael Holiday, 36: 'I love you, love y'all, always going to be with y'all.'
(Executed 18 November, 2015)
Juan Garcia, 35: 'To the Solano family, I want to tell them to forgive me.
While I am still alive I bring suffer to you all. The harm that I did to your
dad and husband, I hope this brings you closure to all of you. I never wanted
to hurt any of you all.' (Executed 6 October, 2015)
Gregory Russeau, 46: 'I would like to thank my family and friends for what
y'all have done for me. Thank you for being here with me that I do not have to
transition alone. I have peace. To my daughter, I love you, to my grandbabies,
sisters and brothers, I love you. I am ready to go home.' (Executed 18 June,
2015)
Lester Bower, 67: 'I am not going to say goodbye, I will simply say until we
meet again.' (Executed 3 June, 2015)
Kent Sprouse, 42: 'I would like to apologise to the Moreno family and the
Steinfeldt family for all of the trouble I have caused them. I would like to
apologise to my family for all of the trouble that I have caused them. I would
also like to thank my family for all of their support. I guess that's it.'
(Executed 9 April, 2015)
Robert Ladd, 57: 'Teresa I am really sorry, please don't have hate in your
heart. I really feel like this. I hope you can find peace in your heart and
happiness. A revenge death won't get you anything.' (Executed 29 January, 2015)
Arnold Prieto, 42: 'There are no endings, only beginnings. Love y'all, see you
soon.' (Executed 21 January, 2015)
Lisa Colemen, 38: 'I just want to tell my family I love them; my son, I love
him. The girls on the row, I love them and keep their heads up.' (Executed 17
September, 2014)
Ramiro Hernandez-Llanas, 44: 'I look into my family's eyes, and I see sadness.
Don't be sad, I'm happy. I am sorry for what I have done. Be mindful that I am
happy till the end.' (Executed 9 April, 2014)
Jose Villegas, 39: 'I am ok. I have peace in my heart and ready for the next
journey. I'm really ok.' (Executed 16 April 2014)
Ray Jasper, 33: 'To the Christian hip-hop community, all the positive brothers
I've done time with. To all the people that took the time to write a letter.
Thank you. To my family, we are one. To my beautiful daughter, the best thing
that ever happened to me. I love you endlessly. I am you and you are me
forever.' (Executed 19 March, 2014)
Jerry Martin, 43: 'I would like to tell the Canfield family I'm sorry; sorry
for your loss. I wish I could take it back, but I can't. I hope this gives you
closure. I did not murder your loved one, it was an accident. I didn't mean for
it to happen. I take full responsibility.' (Executed 3 December, 2013)
Kimberly McCarthy, 52 : 'This is not a loss, this is a win. You know where I am
going. I am going home to be with Jesus. Keep the faith. I love ya'll. Thank
you, Chaplain.' (Executed 26 June, 2013)
Beunka Adams, 29: 'First, I want to let my mom know not to cry, there is no
reason to cry, everybody dies. Everybody has their time, don't worry about me.
I'm strong. To my family: my old man, my kids, daddy is sorry. I love each and
every one of you.' (Executed 26 April, 2012)
Franklin Alix, 34: 'I got your letter. It touched me and changed me. What
happened was I been wanting to apologize to yall for your son. They told me not
to do it in court. I wrote him a letter but they told me that they tore it up
in court. I am not the monster they made me out to be.' (Executed 30 March
2010)
Michael Sigala, 32 : 'I would like to ask forgiveness of the family. I have no
reason for why I did it, I don't understand why I did it. I hope that you can
live the rest of your lives without hate. I pray the Lord grant me
forgiveness.' (Executed 2 March, 2010)
Danielle Simpson, 30: 'I want to tell my family I love ya'll...I'm gonna miss
ya'll. I'm ready, ready.' (Executed 18 November, 2009)
However, there are also examples of statements that are mostly negative, where
inmates profess their innocence. Others chose not to leave a statement.
Licho Escamilla, 33: 'Pope Francis, God's children has asked the State of Texas
to switch my death sentence to life in prison. But the State of Texas has
refused to listen to God's children, they will have to take that up with God.
Let everyone know it's not over. (Executed 14 October, 2015)
Michael Yowell, 43: 'To Gerald: you're a zero.' (Executed 9 October, 2013)
Douglas Feldman, 55: 'I hereby declare, Robert Steven Everett and Nicholas
Velasquez, guilty of crimes against me, Douglas Alan Feldman. Either by fact or
by proxy, I find them both guilty. I hereby sentence both of them to death,
which I carried out in August 1998. As of that time, the State of Texas has
been holding me illegally in confinement and by force for 15 years. I hereby
protest my pending execution and demand immediate relief.' (Executed 31 July,
2013)
Milton Mathis, 32: 'The system has failed me. This is a miscarriage of justice.
There are people on death row that need help. I asked the Lord to have mercy on
me and I hope He has mercy on these people carrying out this mass slaughter.'
(Executed 21 June, 2011)
Lee Taylor, 32,: 'I am sorry that I killed him, but he would not have been in
prison if he was a saint.' (Executed 16 June, 2011)
Steven Woods, 31: 'You're not about to witness an execution, you are about to
witness a murder. I am strapped down for something Marcus Rhodes did. I never
killed anybody, ever. I love you, Mom. I love you, Tali. This is wrong. This
whole thing is wrong. I can't believe you are going to let Marcus Rhodes walk
around free. Justice has let me down. Somebody completely screwed this up.'
(Executed 13 September 2011)
Richard Masterton, 43, who died on 20 January, left the positive message: 'I am
alright with this, you have to live and die by the choices that we make. I have
made mine.'
Juan Garcia, 35, who died on 10 June 2015, said in Spanish: 'To the Solano
family, I want to tell them to forgive me.
'While I am still alive I bring suffer to you all. The harm that I did to your
dad and husband, I hope this brings you closure to all of you. I never wanted
to hurt any of you all.
Previous studies of condemned inmates have revealed many seek forgiveness and
turn to God in their final hours.
Other research has suggested people are automatically drawn towards emotionally
positive information and use positive emotional words such as 'love' and
'happy' before death, in order to regulate their fear of the unknown.
Drs Egloff and Hirschmuller used a database of inmates' last statements
available on the Texas Department of Criminal Justice's website.
The pair used computerised quantitative text analysis to measure emotional
language used in the final statements objectively.
----THE DAY OF THE EXECUTION: THE CONDEMNED'S FINAL HOURS----
Condemned people in Texas can have 5 witnesses at their execution, including
immediate family, friends and a spiritual adviser, according to the Texas
Department of Criminal Justice.
Since 1996 the immediate family and close friends of a victim have been allowed
to watch an execution too.
Inmates scheduled for execution are brought from death row to the Walls Unit
early in the afternoon of their scheduled execution.
Unlike other states, Texas prohibits inmates from special meals because of
abuse of the privilege by past prisoners and the rationale that they did not
offer a meal to their victims.
Inmates can, but are not required to, make a last statement prior to their
execution.
By law, executions are scheduled to begin after 18:00 Huntsville time.
On the afternoon of an execution, victim witnesses and their support people are
given an overview of the process and schedule, as well as a list of people that
will be present and information about the offender's offence.
Victim witnesses and the offender's witnesses wait in separate parts of the
Huntsville Unit before the execution and are kept separated throughout.
The inmates are housed until that time about 30 feet (9 metres) from the door
of the execution chamber.
The execution chamber is a 9ft by 12ft (3 metres to 4 metres) room with
turquoise walls and a gurney. Executions are carried out by lethal injection,
and have been since 1977.
2 adjacent rooms, which view into the execution room through glass windows,
house 2 groups.
The viewing process takes between 7 and 8 minutes, from entering the viewing
room, to watching the procedure and being escorted back to a secure area for a
debriefing.
For some witnesses, the process is traumatic, while others hold a media
briefing.
----
The duo relied on a recent text analysis program called Linguistic Inquiry and
Word Count (LIWC).
This counted the total number of words, percentage of categorised dictionary
words, percentage of positive emotion words, and percentage of negative emotion
words in each statement.
Examples of 'positive emotion' words are happy and love, while examples of
negative emotion words are sad and hate, the paper published in the journal
Frontiers in Psychology explained.
The experts also analysed personal pronouns and 'social orientation words' in
the statements, to explore how death row inmates referred to other people in
their statements.
These are typically words revolving around family and friends.
'We determined LIWC results for cognitive-processing words (e.g., think, know,
or because), indicating the extent to which death row inmates were concerned
about intellectually understanding the topics addressed in their final
statements,' the researchers explained.
They compared their findings to the rates of positive emotion word use in
general using a sample of speech and writing from 23,000 individuals.
They also looked at words used in the contexts of contemplated death and
suicide.
The researchers showed that the inmates' final words, spoken minutes before
their executions, contained a significantly higher proportion of positive than
negative emotion words.
'The final statements of Texas death row inmates conveyed extremely positive
expressions that reflected the emotional processes of coping with mortality,'
the study said.
The experts added that this positivity was significantly higher than positive
emotion word use in usual speech and books, as well as among people
contemplating suicide.
'Additional analyses showed that emotional positivity in final statements was
associated with a greater frequency of language use that was indicative of
self-references, social orientation, and present-oriented time focus,' the
study said, meaning inmates tended to be philosophical and more socially aware,
with some asking forgiveness for their actions.
The study continued that the death row inmates' statements contained a total of
42,328 words - an average 104 words per person.
'On the individual level, a positivity index, which was statistically different
from zero on average, showed that statements by over 80 % of executed death row
inmates contained more positive than negative emotion words,' they said
----
THE WORKINGS OF DEATH ROW
Hanging was means of execution in Texas between 1819 and 1923, when it changed
to the electric chair.
A total of 361 inmates were electrocuted in the state.
They include Raymond Hamilton, a member of the 'Bonnie and Clyde' gang who had
escaped death row but was recaptured and put to death on 10 May, 1935.
Capital punishment was declared 'cruel and unusual punishment' by the US
Supreme Court on 29 June, 1972 but in Feburary 1974 executions were resumed.
Texas adopted lethal injection as means of execution in 1977 and the 1st man to
be killed by this method was Charlie Brooks, for the murder of a Fort Worth
mechanic in 1982.
Texas leads in the number of executions since the death penalty was reinstated
in 1976, while California, Florida, and Pennsylvania have the largest death row
populations.
There are 5 methods of execution in the United States: lethal injection,
electrocution, lethal gas, hanging, and firing squad.
The average time spent on death row before execution in Texas is 10.87 years.
The shortest is 252 days and the longest, 31 years.
The average age of executed offenders is 39 and the youngest was Jay Pinkerton,
24, who was executed on May 15, 1986.
(source: Daily Mail)
VIRGINIA:
Va. murder trial may become part of national debate on jail informants
When a Virginia man faces a possible death sentence in a murder trial later
this year, his fate may rest on the testimony of four jailhouse informants, 2
of whom were initially found mentally incompetent to stand trial in their own
cases.
The case of Joaquin S. Rams could soon become part of a growing national
backlash over the government's use of testimony from "snitches" - inmates who
offer information against other inmates in exchange for lighter sentences or
other benefits - to obtain convictions, sparked by a significant number of
wrongful convictions attributed to false informant testimony.
The issue erupted last year in Orange County, Calif., when a capital case
against an admitted mass-murderer, and numerous other murder cases, stalled
because of the discovery of a "snitch tank": a ring of county jail informants,
closely managed by jail deputies, dedicated to testifying against fellow
inmates. A judge ordered the county district attorney off the case, and the
prosecution of a man accused of killing 8 people in 2011 has been delayed
indefinitely.
And in Washington last year, a judge ordered a new trial for the man accused of
killing federal intern Chandra Levy in 2001 after defense attorneys
successfully challenged the history and credibility of a key jailhouse
informant in the 2010 trial.
The use of informants is not new, nor are the challenges to their credibility.
But informants' role in recent wrongful convictions and high-profile cases is
causing lawmakers nationwide to look at regulating their use.
In Texas, the revelation of false testimony by a snitch against a man who was
later executed led to the introduction of legislation to ban informant
testimony in death penalty cases. In Illinois, the law requires courts to hold
"reliability hearings" before a jailhouse informant can testify. A similar
proposed law in North Carolina failed last year. In Washington state, the
legislature is considering a bill requiring judges to weigh informants'
"incentivized" credibility before trial. And several high-profile murder cases
in the Tidewater area of Virginia took drastic turns in recent years when
jailhouse snitches were found to be unreliable.
In Rams's case, in Prince William County, Va., one of the informants, who
pleaded guilty to the murders of three people in Manassas, Va., in 2011,
reported frequent hallucinations and said he knew the whereabouts of Osama bin
Laden. Another was diagnosed as a "malingerer" who was purposely lying to evade
trial.
In arguing to exclude the informants from the Rams trial, defense attorney Joni
C. Robin argued that such testimony was "inherently unreliable, that it
involves witnesses who categorically are more willing to lie or perjure
themselves than other categories of witnesses."
Calls for safeguards
The Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University's law school
found in 2005 that of the 111 people sentenced to death since the 1970s and
later exonerated, "snitch" testimony was involved in 45.9 % of the cases. "That
makes snitches the leading cause of wrongful convictions in U.S. capital
cases," the report concluded.
Defense attorneys and academics have long called on states to initiate
safeguards so that jail cell information is either recorded or corroborated,
but only Illinois has written anything into law.
"There have been multiple snitch scandals in multiple places," said Brandon
Garrett, a University of Virginia law professor who studies wrongful
convictions. "Since more states are looking at wrongful convictions, it's
becoming part of the conversation."
Informants present dilemmas to both sides of a criminal case. For prosecutors,
they must decide whether to believe that one inmate confessed crucial
information to the informant, what the informant's history is, whether to wire
the informant for recorded conversation with the target and what they are
willing to trade for the information. For the defense, attorneys must try to
refute a typically unrecorded conversation, investigate the background of the
informant and then convince a jury that sworn testimony is a lie.
Officials with 2 national prosecutors' groups said they would tread very
carefully with jailhouse informants. David LaBahn, president of the Association
of Prosecuting Attorneys and a former deputy prosecutor in California, said
prosecutors "have to be able to specifically articulate the reason you're using
an informant and making a deal." And judges must exercise "court oversight
before that testimony is admitted. Can you corroborate it, or did they just
pick up the newspaper?"
But prosecutors don'tt necessarily favor laws that regulate informant use. Josh
Marquis, a county prosecutor in Oregon who is with the National District
Attorneys Association, said: "I think jurors are very discerning. We don't
believe it's appropriate for Congress or state legislatures to take away from
juries what weight to give evidence."
Defense attorneys strongly disagree. "Jurors believe jailhouse informants,"
said Doug Ramseur, a Virginia capital public defender. "They think criminals
are not that smart and they sit around and brag about their crimes."
Prince William Commonwealth's Attorney Paul B. Ebert, the chief prosecutor in
the county for 47 years, said it was "amazing to me that these people
[defendants] will talk [to informants], despite their counsel's advice not to.
Informants do have very valuable information at times." Asked how his office
corroborates an informant's claims, he said, "Many times they will know things
that only the defendant would know."
Ebert acknowledged having to cut deals with convicts but added, "I've often
told juries, 'Sometimes you have to pet a skunk to catch another one.'"
Ebert declined to discuss the pending Rams capital case, in which the defendant
is accused of drowning his 15-month-old son in his Manassas home in 2012 to
collect more than $500,000 in life insurance. Rams's attorneys argued in 1
motion that investigators "sought out and elicited the testimony of at least 2
jailhouse snitches" after Virginia's chief medical examiner reversed the
initial autopsy finding of drowning and ruled that the child's cause of death
couldn't be determined.
Potential witnesses
In October, prosecutors disclosed four jail informants who may testify against
Rams. The most notable was Jose Reyes Alfaro, who in February 2011 fatally shot
three people and nearly killed a fourth during a rampage in Manassas. In 2011
and 2012, a judge found Reyes Alfaro incompetent to stand trial. A psychologist
wrote in 2012 that "Reyes Alfaro's reporting of past events, actions and
relationships give me pause to question his ability to distinguish memories
from fantasy."
Reyes Alfaro was later sent to Central State Hospital, administered psychiatric
drugs and treatment, and found to be restored to sanity in 2013, although a
psychiatrist noted that Reyes Alfaro "described a number of far-fetched ideas
about his past" such as being a member of an elite paramilitary force and
"claiming to know the existence of Osama bin Laden in Venezuela."
Reyes Alfaro also "has previously falsely incriminated other individuals,"
Robin, the defense attorney, argued in November, "leading to the arrest of
those other individuals," who were later released. He pleaded guilty in 2014 to
3 counts of capital murder and received 7 life sentences.
In exchange for Reyes Alfaro's testimony, prosecutors said they asked the state
Department of Corrections to move him away from Wallens Ridge State Prison,
which houses many of the state's most serious offenders.
Prosecutors also want to use Jamal A. Thompson, an Oakland, Calif., man
arrested on charges of prostituting a 15-year-old runaway girl at a Manassas
hotel, against Rams. Thompson also was initially found incompetent to stand
trial, but when he was sent to Central State, doctors there found him to be
engaged in "volitional malingering .... intentional feigning or exaggeration of
psychiatric, cognitive or physical symptoms for secondary gain, such as .... to
avoid prosecution."
Prince William prosecutors also listed Gavin Simms, who had multiple
convictions for theft, as a witness and said he received no considerations for
his testimony. But when 1 of Rams's attorneys attended Simms's sentencing
several weeks later, court records show, they found that prosecutors had agreed
to dismiss 9 felony theft charges and recommend a sentence of 18 months. He
faced up to 4 years in prison.
The prosecutors also said they may call Aric A. Smith, who pleaded guilty to
randomly shooting and killing retired ATF agent Gregory Holley as he walked his
dog in Woodbridge, Va., in 2013.
Rams's attorneys asked Prince William Circuit Court Judge Craig D. Johnston to
hold a "reliability hearing" to determine whether the four informants could
testify, similar to a "Daubert" hearing held in civil cases to rule whether
scientific evidence is admissible.
Johnston declined. "There's no Virginia case that I know of that authorizes
such," the judge said. "I understand the defense's frustration. .... But that
said, that's the way we do business in criminal cases, rightly or wrongly."
Rams's attorneys declined to comment on the case. The trial was scheduled to
begin this week but was postponed at the defense's request. Rams, 43, has
maintained his innocence in the death of his son, Prince McLeod Rams. 3 other
people who were in the house when the boy fell unconscious say that Rams did
not kill him.
A 'snitch factory'
Before another capital murder trial, Ramseur was the attorney for Christopher
Artis in a Suffolk, Va., case in 2012. Ramseur listened to jailhouse phone
recordings because he had been warned that the Western Tidewater Regional Jail
in Suffolk "was a snitch factory." He said he found "there was a network of
guys trying to corroborate stories so they could get on a capital case and
reduce their own case. I heard a guy call his mother and instruct her on how to
look at my client's file."
At trial, he said 4 informants were "clearly on tape admitting they were lying
to get their sentence reduced." Prosecutors quickly agreed to a mid-trial plea
deal for 2nd-degree murder and 10 years for Artis. In Virginia Beach, the 2010
slaying of a Norfolk police officer remains unsolved after prosecutors in 2014
dropped all charges against 2 men because they found jailhouse witnesses had
lied.
Prosecutors in the District last year acquiesced in the ???high-profile Chandra
Levy case, in which Ingmar Guandique was convicted largely on the testimony of
jailhouse informant Armando Morales. Morales testified that Guandique confessed
the slaying to him.
But Morales, a convicted drug dealer and gang member, lied when asked whether
he had testified in other cases, and Guandique's attorneys claim the confession
testimony was also false. Last May, the U.S. attorney's office dropped its
opposition to Guandique's demand for a new trial.
Now, "we understand the full scope of just how problematic criminal informants
can be," said Alexandra Natapoff, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los
Angeles.
"The rules permit precisely this result. Weak discovery rules, unfettered
prosecutorial discretion and payments to criminals. What did we think would
happen? It's time to ask why the American criminal justice system permits these
practices to exist."
(source: Washington Post)
NORTH CAROLINA:
Rev. Joseph B. Ingle lectures on U.S. Death Penalty at Mars Hill University
Feb. 15----Chaplain to Death Row Inmates to Present Lecture on the Death
Penalty at Mars Hill University
Rev. Joseph B. Ingle, a United Church of Christ minister and a leading voice in
faith-based opposition to the death penalty, will be presenting a public
lecture Monday evening, February 15, at 6pm in Belk Auditorium, Mars Hill
University. The lecture will be titled, "Why does the United States execute
more of its citizens than any country in the world?"
Ingle will also be holding a workshop about the same issue on Monday afternoon,
3- 4:30 pm in Bentley Fellowship Hall. The workshop is entitled: "...and the
criminals with him." The workshop will be interactive, examining Jesus of
Nazareth and Socrates of Athens, who were both convicted criminals, and what
lessons they teach us about criminals today and our relationship to them. In
addition to Christians and philosophers of various sorts, Jews, Buddhists,
Muslims, Atheists, Others, and "Nones" are welcome.
Ingle, a graduate of Union Theological Seminary, has been the chaplain to
dozens of people on death row over the past 40 years across the South.
In a January 2015 article in Faith and Leadership, the Duke Divinity School
newsletter, Ingle said his interest in counseling inmates on death row began
during seminary, from reading the biblical book of Isaiah and Mary's
"Magnificat," along with declarations in the Bible about "freeing the
captives." He realized that he had never even been inside of a prison. This
interest grew, and he decided to dedicate his senior year in seminary to
visiting prisons.
"What you find out when you visit prisoners is they're doing something for you.
The ministry that goes on is not me ministering to the prisoners. It's the
other way around, and I think Jesus really knew that and that's why he wanted
us to get in the prisons."
According to Ingle, the U.S. prison system is a "giant killing and caging
machinery," which meets out retributive justice. Ingle says those values are
inconsistent with the values of the Christian Gospel, which promotes
restorative justice.
Ingle is the author of Last Rights: Thirteen Fatal Encounters with the States
Justice (1990), The Inferno: A Southern Morality Tale (2011), and, most
recently, Slouching Toward Tyranny: Mass Incarcerations, Death Sentences and
Racism (2015).
The events at Mars Hill University are sponsored and coordinated by the
following programs and departments: the Department of Religion, History, and
Philosophy, The Visiting Artists and, Lectures Committee, The Office of the
Chaplain and the Religious Life Program, The Office of Diversity and
Multicultural Affairs, The Ethics-Across the-Curriculum Program, The Department
of Criminal Justice, and The Advocates of Justice Club.
The public lecture on February 15, 6pm in Belk Auditorium is free to the
public. Ingle's workshop on Monday afternoon is also free to the public, but
admission is limited and an RSVP is required. If you are interested in this
workshop please contact Dr. Katharine Meacham at kmeac...@mhu.edu;
828-689-1119.
Ingle will also be speaking at the university's Crossroads worship service on
Tuesday, February 16 at 11am in Broyhill Chapel, with a message titled
"Homecoming."
Mars Hill University is a premier private, liberal arts institution offering
over 30 baccalaureate degrees and one graduate degree in elementary education.
Founded in 1856 by Baptist families of the region, the campus is located just
20 minutes north of Asheville in the mountains of western North
Carolina.www.mhu.edu.
(source: mountainx.com)
GEORGIA----impending execution
Georgia is already preparing for the next lethal injection
After carrying out the execution of its oldest death row inmate this week,
Georgia is already preparing for the next lethal injection.
In 2 weeks, Travis Hittson, 45, is scheduled to die for the April 1992 killing
of Conway Utterbeck, who was hit with a metal bat while he was sleeping, shot
and dismembered, his remains buried in two places. The 2 were Navy sailors
stationed in Pensacola, Fla., at the time of the killing. Another sailor was
also convicted in the killing and reached a plea deal for a life sentence.
Georgia has at least 3 other death row inmates eligible for execution, meaning
all of their standard appeals have been exhausted.
On Wednesday, Brandon Astor Jones was pronounced dead at 12:46 a.m. after an
injection of the barbiturate pentobarbital. He was convicted in the 1979
shooting death of suburban Atlanta convenience store manager Roger Tackett
during a robbery.
Last year, the state's plan to carry out executions in rapid succession was
temporarily thwarted by a problem with its drug.
After executing 2 inmates in January 2015, corrections officials postponed
executions scheduled for March after they noticed white chunks floating in a
syringe of the normally clear compounded pentobarbital they had planned to use.
Officials said they investigated the problem and a judge rejected a related
legal challenge. Executions resumed in the fall, bringing the year's total to
5, the most Georgia had carried out in a calendar year since 1987. Jones was
the first Georgia inmate executed this year.
4 news reporters, including one from The Associated Press, witnessed his
execution but only one was present when Jones was strapped down and the IV
lines that would deliver the lethal drug were placed on his body. That reporter
said the process took about an hour and 10 minutes, which is longer than usual.
A doctor was called in to help the 2-person team place the IV lines, said
Department of Corrections spokeswoman Joan Heath. One line was put in Jones'
right arm and another in the groin area, which is unusual but follows the
state's execution protocol if access through veins in the arm or hand is not
possible.
Georgia doesn't announce exactly when lethal injections begin, and the
injection isn't visible to observers. But the warden left the execution chamber
at 12:30 a.m., and records from past executions show the lethal drug generally
begins to flow within a minute or 2 of the warden's departure.
Jones was convicted in October 1979 and sentenced to death. A federal judge in
1989 ordered a new sentencing hearing because jurors had improperly been
allowed to bring a Bible into the deliberation room. He was resentenced to
death in 1997.
Van Roosevelt Solomon, who was also convicted and sentenced to death for
Tackett's killing, was executed by electric chair in February 1985.
(source: Associated Press)
FLORIDA----impending execution
Judge denies request to delay execution of Jacksonville white supremacist
A Jacksonville white supremacist will die on St. Patrick's Day unless the
Florida Supreme Court stops his execution.
Wednesday afternoon Jacksonville Circuit Judge Tatiana Salvador rejected Mark
James Asay's request for a stay of execution. Asay's case will now go to the
state Supreme Court for a final appeal before he is scheduled to die by lethal
injection March 17.
But Asay's chances of another reprieve are likely, considering the Florida
Supreme Court stayed - or delayed - a Feb. 11 execution of a Glades County man
this week after lawyers argued there was too much uncertainty to execute Cary
Michael Lambrix. It follows the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling declaring the
state's death-penalty sentencing procedures unconstitutional.
Salvador said the decision on whether the U.S. Supreme Court case affects Asay
was best left to the Florida Supreme Court, and she prefers not to speculate on
what the higher court will do.
Asay, 51, was sentenced to death for the murders of Robert Lee Booker and
Robert McDowell in 1987. Both victims were black and McDowell was a
cross-dressing prostitute.
Attorney Martin McClain, who represents both Asay and Lambrix, said the
arguments for delaying Lambrix's execution apply to Asay as well.
"There's just too much uncertainty right now to justify executing someone,"
McClain said.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Jan. 12 that Florida's death-penalty procedures
are unconstitutional because the final decision on whether someone is sentenced
to life or death is made by a judge instead of a jury. The ruling did not say
how the decision would affect the 390 people now on death row, which means the
Florida Supreme Court must figure it out.
McClain argued earlier this week that everyone on death row should be
resentenced to life in prison. But for now he's mainly arguing that his clients
should not be executed until legislative leaders and the court system determine
how to deal with the problem.
"If Mr. Lambrix is being stayed it only makes sense to stay Mr. Asay," McClain
said. "I'm disappointed that the judge didn't follow what the Florida Supreme
Court has done."
While the Florida Supreme Court had the power to delay an execution, Salvador
said she didn't have that ability.
"This court is without power or authority to stay defendant's execution set by
the governor of this state," Salvador said in her ruling.
McClain also said he hasn't had time to prepare a defense for Asay because he
only became Asay's lawyer on Jan. 13. He said many of the documents have been
lost or destroyed and he was still waiting for materials until the deadline
required for him to file motions in the appeal.
McClain also argued that new evidence that suggests Booker and McDowell were
not killed with the same gun diminishes the reliability of firearms evidence
presented during the trial.
Salvador rejected all of McClain's arguments. She found that the evidence
presented during Asay's trial was enough to convict him and found that the new
evidence wasn't enough to cast doubt on the verdict.
Salvador also ruled that McClain has had enough time to properly defend Asay.
Prosecutors and defense lawyers will file motions this month to the Florida
Supreme Court and oral arguments are now scheduled to occur during the 1st week
of March, although the court could delay the execution without court filings or
hearing oral arguments.
(source: jacksonville.com)
*************
Justices weigh new trial for Morris in wake of death penalty ruling
Relatives and friends of 2 slain Tampa police officers sat in silence Wednesday
as the Florida Supreme Court spent an hour debating with a public defender and
state prosecutor about whether Dontae Morris deserves a new trial based on a
recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
Morris, convicted of fatally shooting officers David Curtis and Jeffrey Kocab
in 2010, was the first death row inmate to have his direct appeal heard by the
Florida Supreme Court after the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark Jan. 12 ruling
that invalidated Florida's death penalty sentencing procedures.
The Florida high court is already struggling over how to proceed in light of
that ruling, issuing an indefinite stay of execution for Cary Michael Lambrix
while it considers arguments made Tuesday. Lambrix was sentenced to die Feb. 11
for the 1983 murder of 2 people in Glades County.
The U.S. Supreme Court's opinion has far-reaching implications, including
whether Florida should require unanimous jury decisions instead of a simple
majority in sentencing someone to death, and whether the high court's ruling
should be applied retroactively to the 390 Florida death row inmates.
"We are still trying to figure this out," Florida Justice Barbara Pariente said
during arguments.
The Florida Legislature is also grappling with the issue, with both the Senate
and House holding hearings over how best to rewrite statutes to preserve the
death penalty against future constitutional challenges. One House measure
follows a recommendation by statewide prosecutors to require a 9-3 jury vote to
impose the death penalty.
And circuit courts throughout the state are putting their death penalty cases
on hold until the Supreme Court and Legislature come up with a solution.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 8-1 in Hurst v. Florida that the state's death
sentencing statute violated the Sixth Amendment because Florida law gives a
judge the right to override a jury's recommendation after reviewing the facts.
The U.S. Supreme Court said only a jury can impose a death sentence.
"This statute has been declared unconstitutional on its face," Cynthia Dodge, a
10th Circuit public defender from Bartow who represents Morris, said during
oral arguments Wednesday.
Morris was found guilty by a unanimous jury and sentenced to death in May 2014
for the shooting death of the 2 officers. A unanimous jury also recommended
death.
Dodge's motion for a new trial was filed over a year ago and had nothing to do
with the issues raised by Hurst, but rather rested on whether Morris had
received a fair trial.
Dodge raised several issues in her motion, including whether Morris' right to
an impartial jury was violated because of a change in venue, whether the court
should have left out a redacted statement it allowed to be introduced as
evidence, and whether the court should have let law enforcement identify the
voice and image of the shooter on the police dash cam as that of Morris instead
of leaving that for the jury to decide.
Dodge had 3 days after the U.S. Supreme Court's Hurst ruling to file a
supplemental brief Jan. 15, laying out an argument that Hurst also applies to
her client. She said the 12-0 recommendation by the jury didn't matter since
"the required findings of fact regarding aggravating circumstances were not
made by the jury."
In his 21-page order, Circuit Judge William Fuente said he gave great weight to
2 aggravating circumstances - the fact that the officers were killed in the
line of duty and Morris' prior conviction for murder. Fuente said the 26
mitigating circumstances didn't outweigh the aggravating circumstances.
Pariente asked Dodge why she didn't ask for a new sentencing hearing that
complies with Hurst. "Why isn't renewal for a new sentencing phase not an
appropriate way to appeal?" Pariente asked.
Dodge said the case couldn't go back for resentencing because there is no
longer a statute in place. Justice Peggy Quince also asked if there weren't
still enough remnants of a statute in place to proceed with a resentencing
hearing.
"Statutorily you have the judge sentencing, not the jury sentencing," Dodge
said.
The Legislature would have to step in and write a new statute before any new
resentencing trials are ordered, Dodge said.
Assistant Attorney General Carol Dittmar said Hurst doesn't apply to this case
or other already decided cases because the procedures are still in place to
conduct a fair resentencing hearing and it would cause an undue burden on the
court system.
Florida has the 2nd-highest number of people on death row, after California.
Morris is 1 of 43 death row inmates who have filed direct appeals with the
state following their sentencing and conviction. A direct appeal is the 1st
appellate proceeding after the sentence of death has been imposed by a trial
judge, Supreme Court spokesman Craig Waters explained.
The Florida high court has several options in the Morris case: uphold the
verdict, vacate the sentence, order a new trial or a new sentencing hearing, or
commute Morris' death sentence to life.
"If they give him a new trial, all this Hurst stuff becomes irrelevant," Dodge
said.
(source: The Tampa Tribune)
ALABAMA:
Judge rejects claims Alabama's death penalty system is unconstitutional, John
Clayton Owens murder trial starts Monday
John Clayton Owens appears to be headed to trial Monday on charges he killed
his elderly neighbor. He could face the death penalty if convicted.
Owens is charged with killing his 91-year-old next-door neighbor Doris
Richardson on Bide-a-wee Drive near Five Points in Huntsville in August 2011.
Owens' lawyers were unsuccessful Wednesday in persuading Madison County Circuit
Judge Alison Austin that Alabama's death penalty system is unconstitutional.
Defense attorneys Brian Clark and Ron Smith argued that Alabama's system is
essentially the same as Florida's. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Hurst vs.
Florida, on January 12, that Florida's death penalty system is unconstitutional
because it gives judges the final say in death penalty sentencing, not juries.
Smith told the court the same holds true in Alabama. He pointed out that judges
are allowed to ignore a jury's recommendation on whether a defendant should get
life in prison without parole or the death penalty for a capital murder
conviction.
Smith also argued the Hurst opinion found fault with the practice of allowing
judges to hold an independent fact-finding process before sentencing - just
like Alabama, after the jury has weighed in.
Madison County Assistant District Attorney Bill Starnes disagreed, telling the
court that the U.S. Supreme Court had rejected a request to consider Alabama's
death penalty law at the same time as it agreed to take up the Hurst case.
Starnes also noted that before the January 21 execution of Christopher Eugene
Brooks, the Supreme Court was asked to stay the execution based on the Hurst
ruling. A majority of the court rejected that argument.
Starnes said that showed the high court found Alabama's death penalty system
was constitutional.
Judge Austin rejected the defense argument, also pointing out the Supreme Court
could have considered the Alabama death penalty system along with Florida's,
but it didn't.
The judge said the capital murder charge against Owens alleges that he killed
Richardson in the commission of a burglary. The judge noted that burglary is
among the "aggravators" jurors are to consider - normally during the
post-conviction penalty phase - in weighing whether a defendant should be
sentenced to death.
Austin said that if a jury convicts Owens of capital murder, that means it
unanimously agreed that his crime included an aggravator, which would make him
death-penalty eligible.
Defense attorney Brian Clark said the defense is still considering whether to
appeal Austin's ruling to a state appeals court. That would likely delay the
trial's start date.
Delaware's death penalty system is similar to Alabama and Florida's. Those are
the last 3 states where a judge has the a, thority to override a jury's
recommendation and issue a life or death sentence in capital murder cases.
A Delaware judge this week sent a request to the Delaware Supreme Court asking
it to address questions raised by the Hurst decision. Delaware's death penalty
cases are currently stayed, pending the state's Supreme Court opinion.
Owens' case is set to begin on Monday morning. 60 would-be jurors will be given
questionnaires asking a range of questions, including their views on the death
penalty.
The case is expected to take more than a week to complete.
(source: WHNT news)
*********
Jury recommends death penalty in case of slain mentally challenged man
Dennis Hicks, 57, has been convicted of the death of Joshua Duncan, 23, in
2011. Hicks previously served a 25-year sentence for a 1979 double-homicide in
Wayne County, Mississippi.
The Mobile County District Attorney's office tweeted Wednesday afternoon that
the jury in the trial of Dennis Hicks has recommended the death penalty.
Hicks, 57, was convicted last week of the 2011 murder of Joshua Duncan, a
mentally challenged man.
Duncan had been missing for a month when his remains were found in October 2011
in the former Mobile Police Firing Range on Cody Road. Duncan's body was
decapitated and disemboweled.
Hicks was previously imprisoned for 25 years for a 1979 double-homicide in
Wayne County, Mississippi. Hicks stabbed and shot those two victims. The bodies
were later found in his vehicle.
While still a suspect in this investigation, he was arrested for theft of
property in Spanish Fort, thus violating his parole. While in jail, he was
charged with capital murder in the death of Duncan.
Lt. Paul Burch of the Mobile Sheriff's Office told AL.com in December 2012 that
Hicks befriended Duncan at a church in west Mobile.
Although the DA's office has released information about the jury's
recommendation, it is currently unknown how long the penalty phase of Hicks'
sentencing will continue.
(source: al.com)
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