April 26
OHIO----new death sentence
Ohio man gets death penalty for his mother's fatal beating
A northeast Ohio man who was convicted in the 2013 beating death of his mother
has been sentenced to death.
A Medina County judge sentenced 30-year-old James Tench on Monday after he
begged her to spare his life.
Tench says he would never kill his mother, and he plans to appeal the
sentencing.
He was convicted last month of aggravated murder, kidnapping and related
offenses in the death of 55-year-old Mary Tench.
Prosecutors say the Brunswick man fatally beat his mother after she confronted
him about using her credit card. Mary Tench was found dead in November 2013
inside her car.
The county coroner says she died from several blunt trauma injuries that
fractured her skull.
(source: Associated Press)
*****************
2017 trial hinted in blaze that killed firefighters
An Oregon man who could face the death penalty if convicted of setting a fire
that killed 2 Toledo firefighters more than 2 years ago may not go to trial
until 2017.
At a pretrial hearing Monday for Ray Abou-Arab, 63, Lucas County Common Pleas
Judge Stacy Cook said the court was looking at November for his trial but may
have to schedule it in the new year. It is expected to take up to 2 weeks to
seat a jury and at least 3 weeks to present of evidence.
Mr. Abou-Arab is being held in the Lucas County jail on 2 counts of aggravated
murder, each with death penalty specifications; 2 counts of murder, 8 counts of
aggravated arson, and 1 count of tampering with evidence for allegedly setting
a Jan. 26, 2014 fire at a Magnolia Street building he owned. The fire resulted
in the deaths of Toledo Fire Pvts. Stephen Machcinski, 42, and James Dickman,
31.
(source: toledoblade.com)
*************
Interrogation shows accused serial killer Michael Madison struggled to recall
where he hid 3 bodies
Even after telling police detectives that he had killed 2 women, Michael
Madison struggled to remember what he did with the bodies.
Parts of over 10 hours of interrogation interviews, played for a jury Monday,
showed the accused serial killer struggle to piece together the events that
happened in the days and weeks before police discovered 3 decomposing bodies in
a garage and near his East Cleveland apartment.
The accused killer faces the death penalty if convicted.
Madison told detectives that he couldn't recall killing more than 1 girl. He
told detectives that he remembered a time he choked at least 1 woman,
18-year-old Shirellda Terry whose body was eventually discovered after a cable
worker complained about the smell and flies coming from a garage next to
Madison's apartment.
He later said he remembered choking another girl, 28-year-old Shetisha Sheeley,
in October 2012. After that he told detectives that he found one girl's body in
a closet in his apartment when it started to smell bad, prompting him to move
it outside.
"I have never felt such heavy trash," Madison said at one point during
interrogations, according to Prosecuting Attorney Anna Faraglia.
Madison is accused in the death of a 3rd woman, 38-year-old Angela Deskins, who
disappeared in late May or early June 2013, and was found inside a vacant home
in the block where Madison lived.
Michael Madison, accused in the serial murders of 3 women, showed up with
scratches on his face days before bodies were found, according to his
girlfriend at the time, who testified Thursday.
All 3 women's bodies were found in trash bags, disposed of in a similar manner.
The interrogation take showed Madison spending hours talking to police
detectives about his troubled relationship with his mother and his
ex-girlfriend with whom he fathered children. He moved from school to school as
a child and said he had dropped out in the 9th grade.
He told police that he had developed an alcohol addiction, drinking an
increasing amount on a daily basis over a period of over a year leading up to
the discovery of the girls' bodies.
The jury spent part of 3 days of testimony viewing photographs presented by the
Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's office, showing how Madison bound the
women's bodies together, folding them at the waist before putting them inside
trash bags.
Medical examiners testified that 2 women, Deskins and Terry, had been strangled
with what are believed to be belts. Sheeley had suffered severe bruises on her
face.
The jury has not yet seen the full interrogation. Prosecutors expect testimony
and evidence to be presented through at least Friday before the state rests its
case.
(source: cleveland.com)
************
Last drive to the execution - death penalty vigils in Ohio
4 years ago, while writing a history of executions in America, I had a habit of
attending execution vigils in Lucasville, Ohio, several hours from my home.
Driving to these vigils was peaceful and cleansing, a time when I couldn't text
or check email or write. It's been 2 years since I've made the trip, and now
that Ohio has put all executions on hold again -- at least until next year --
there's a chance I might not ever make the trip again.
When I went, I would wake in the darkness, trying not to disturb my sleeping
family, and sometimes leave town before the traffic lights set. I remember the
yellow flashing on wet pavement as I rolled through quiet streets and onto
Highway 37. I traveled the route enough to know the contours of the roads, to
wonder what life was like behind the drawn curtains of the homes I passed.
Sipping coffee, I coasted the rolling hills past farms with busy morning
kitchens. This year will be the second in a row in which Ohio has not conducted
any executions. And while opponents of the death penalty aren't celebrating the
demise of capital punishment yet, there is a sense that some opinions are
changing.
I drove through Lancaster, birthplace of Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman, the man
who sacked my South Carolina hometown in 1865. The lampposts of Lancaster bore
the scars of more present wars, banners with photos of local men and women
fighting the war against terror, garrisoned on bases in Bagram, Ghazni, and
Kandahar. Those places seem far away from these Victorian homes and churches,
but this burg has for many years sent its young to fight wars in distant
places.
After Lancaster, I would head east toward Circleville and U.S. 23 South -- from
there it's a straight shot to Lucasville. I would imagine others drive to
Lucasville for executions, at different times and for different reasons: Family
members of murder victims who've waited years, sometimes decades, for this day.
Preachers who've spent hours counseling and praying with the condemned.
Journalists whose names were drawn out of a hat. Prison officials. The state
pharmacist bringing the execution drugs from Columbus.
The prison, set on a rise a few hundred yards off the highway, is a mass of
sand-colored brick, fence, and imposing guard towers. The only color beams from
an enormous Ohio state seal on the main building -- the vibrant blue sky and
ochre rising sun, green Mount Logan, and a golden wheat field.
I would turn into the prison parking lot and explain to a waiting guard that I
was there for the vigil. He would motion me forward. After parking, I would
join a small group already standing in a circle.
Sister Alice Gerdeman from Cincinnati led the group in a reading and prayer.
Other attendees were a motley crew of peace activists and Catholics from around
Ohio and even some from across the river. There was a shoeless guy with
gorgeous golden hair and a beard who often stood alone, meditating. There were
retired hippies from Yellow Springs. And there was Eric, a union man who has
attended these vigils for years.
Democratic lawmakers have again introduced legislation to abolish the death
penalty in Ohio. But this time, they have visible support from a member of the
Republican majority.
Through the prison fence topped with concertina wire, I watched witnesses
filtering into the death house and the dilapidated hearse with a silver body
and black roof drive up to the sally port. A guard would look underneath the
car, in the back, under the hood.
Meanwhile, guards and prison officials prepared for the execution. The
prisoner's veins were assessed. The drugs and syringes prepared. Each step duly
documented.
Most times it seemed the weather was uncooperative, a pathetic fallacy that
hardly went unnoticed by those in attendance. The surrounding hills were
sometimes hidden by clouds and the gray light that dominates southern and
eastern Ohio. An American flag fluttered in front of the prison, mirrored by
the flag in front of the public school just across the street.
At 10 o'clock, when executions were slated to begin, Sister Alice commenced
ringing a bell.
At ten o'clock, when executions were slated to begin, Sister Alice commenced
ringing a bell. People prayed, mediated, walked circles, or looked straight
ahead through the prison gate at the death house. Around us, state troopers and
guards in unmarked cars (engines running) would wait near the entrance and
along a road between the parking lot and the prison gate. The ringing of the
bell would continue until Sister Alice got a phone call.
And then the witnesses filed out of the death house, the hearse inched up to
the building, and a coffin was carried out and placed inside. The driver shut
the door and the hearse returned to the prison gate. Again, a guard looked
underneath, in the back, under the hood. The prison gate opened and the hearse
pulled out of the sally port.
Sister Alice would sing, "Amazing Grace," the song I sang to my firstborn as I
rocked her to sleep.
I could never remember all the verses, but Sister Alice always did, including
the last:
"Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
"And mortal life shall cease,
"I shall possess within the veil,
"A life of joy and peace."
And I remember that old hearse driving by, its rear left wheel wobbling,
limping along, the last vestige of the death penalty.
(source: Opinion; Jack Shuler, the John and Christine Warner professor and
associate professor of English at Denison University, is author of 3 books,
including "The Thirteenth Turn: A History of the Noose" (PublicAffairs,
2014)----cleveland.com)
TENNESSEE:
Nashville juror's objection on race leads to new trial
He stood up and told the judge he did not think it was right for 2 black men to
face a jury with no black members on it.
The juror's words to Criminal Court Judge Cheryl Blackburn earlier this month -
confirmed by attorneys and others present in the courtroom - led to the delay
of a trial and brought Nashville into a growing national discussion about the
diversity of juries.
The action followed a day of jury selection in which defense lawyers accused
prosecutors of eliminating potential jurors because of their race, a claim the
state denied.
Under precedent set by the U.S. Supreme Court, attorneys cannot excuse
potential jurors only because of their race. The formative 1986 case also said
people accused of crimes do not have a right to a jury with members of the
defendant's own race.
But some question whether it is a true jury of peers if a person's race is not
represented.
Ludye Wallace, president of the Nashville branch of the NAACP, was not aware of
the case until contacted by The Tennessean. But he said race representation on
juries was a concern and the NAACP would look into how juries are chosen in
Nashville.
"We may need to see if we can raise this issue to make sure that you don't just
remove somebody from the jury selection process based on their race, creed or
religion," he said. "You can't do that."
The Nashville case
2 people who agree that race should play a role in jury selection are Mary
Hamilton and Tiffany Steele. Their relatives were set for trial in Nashville on
April 18 before the juror spoke up and forced the jury selection process to
restart.
Police accused Terance Bradley, 34, and Hurley L. Brown, 21, of attacking 2
people during a fight on July 29, 2014, in Madison. Shots were fired during the
fight and 2 men were injured, according to an arrest affidavit.
Both men have been in custody for about 18 months pending trial. They are
charged with aggravated burglary, being felons in possession of weapons and
aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Both have pleaded not guilty.
Hamilton is Bradley's grandmother. Steele is Brown's mother. Both women said
they sat in Blackburn's wood-paneled, sixth-floor courtroom watching lawyers
choose the 14 people who would weigh the case.
Generally, both defense and prosecutors regularly strike potential jurors. In
fact, each side is often allowed to remove a certain number of potential jurors
without giving any reason.
(source: The Tennessean)
KENTUCKY:
Some robberies separated from trial of 2 charged in ex-Marine's death
2 men charged in the 2014 shooting death of a former Marine outside Austin City
Saloon in Lexington will not be tried simultaneously on other robberies that
happened after that offense, a judge ruled Monday.
Quincinio D. Canada and Dawan Q. Mulazim are charged with murder, 1st-degree
robbery and 2nd-degree assault in the slaying of Jonathan Price, 26, and the
assault on his wife, Megan, on June 21, 2014.
The 2 are also charged with a series of robberies that happened on July 8, 11,
17 and 25. It is those robberies that Fayette Circuit Court Judge Pamela
Goodwine said should be "severed," or tried separately, from the June 21 fatal
shooting.
However, Goodwine said evidence about a June 15, 2014, robbery at Quality Inn
on Newtown Court will be included in the trial on murder charges. Evidence
indicates that a gun stolen in that robbery had fired shell casings found 6
days later at the scene where Price and his wife were shot.
The couple were approached by 2 men on June 21, 2014, in the parking lot of the
Lexington bar, and were robbed and shot. Jonathan Price died at University of
Kentucky Chandler Hospital. Megan Price was shot in the leg.
The prosecution will seek the death penalty if Canada and Mulazim are
convicted.
The Kentucky Supreme Court has previously ruled that in order to justify
joining separate offenses in a single trial, there must be "a sufficient nexus
between or among them."
The Kentucky Supreme Court said the required nexus must arise "from a logical"
relationship between the crimes, or some indication that they arose one from
the other or otherwise in the course of a single act or transaction, or that
they both arose as parts of a common scheme or plan.
Kim Green, attorney for Mulazim, argued that there was "no nexus" between the
robberies and the fatal shooting "to properly join them together."
Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Kimberly Baird argued that the victims in all
the cases were outside and the suspects had similar descriptions.
Goodwine said she was concerned about trying the robbery counts in the "already
complicated process" of a potential death-penalty case. For that reason, she
said the July 2014 robberies should be tried separately.
As for the gun stolen from Quality Inn and allegedly used in the Price
shootings, "I think that's a pretty good nexus," Goodwine said, meaning that
evidence could come in at the murder trial.
A trial date might be scheduled at a status hearing scheduled for May 27.
Rkentucky.com)
ARKANSAS:
Suspect pleads not guilty in hotel slaying
Scotty Ray Gardner, a Mayflower man accused in the strangling death of
41-year-old Susan "Heather" Stubbs, pleaded not guilty to capital murder.
Gardner, 53, was arrested March 7 in Hot Springs after Stubbs was found on
March 6 lying facedown in Room 114 of Days Inn, located at 1002 Oak Street in
Conway.
Defense attorneys Thomas Brisendine and Jacqeline Wright represent Gardner and
have filed motions requesting Gardner's records.
Wright said in circuit court Monday she wanted to address "housekeeping items,"
referring to motions requesting the release of records and for investigative
officers' rough notes.
Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Carol Crews said prosecutors "agreed with some and
disagreed with others," referring to motions filed by the defense.
Crews said prosecutors did not agree with the defense's request for
investigative officers' rough notes because "agencies have different policies"
on whether they keep or throw out notes.
Wright said it was imperative the defense receive Gardner's probation and
parole records as well as incarceration records. She also requested
photographs, reports and other documents pertaining to Gardner's case.
In her motions, Wright requested "any and all records, including, but not
limited to, any and all parole and probation supervision files; any and all
[Arkansas Department of Corrections] incarceration files and [Arkansas
Community Correction] residential services files; any and all ACC clinical
treatment files; and all records pertaining to parole consideration, parole
revocation and commutation pertaining to Defendant."
She said the documents and photographs requested could be imperative to
Gardner's case because he "is charged with Capital Murder and the State is
seeking the death penalty."
Arkansas law states capital murder is punishable by death or life imprisonment
without parole. A jury can impose a death penalty sentence if it unanimously
finds there is an aggravating circumstance that outweighs any circumstance that
would mitigate (lessen) the crime, and must justify the sentence beyond a
reasonable doubt.
"We certainly want to make everything available," Crews said.
Faulkner County Circuit Judge Charles "Ed" Clawson Jr. set a pretrial in
Gardner's case for July 11.
(source: thecabin.net)
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