May 2
TEXAS:
An Ex-Marine Killed 2 People in Cold Blood. Should His PTSD Keep Him From Death
Row?
At 12:44 p.m. on March 6, 2009, John Thuesen called 911. "120 Walcourt Loop,"
he told the dispatcher, breathing hard. "Gunshot victims."
The dispatcher in College Station, Texas, asked what had happened. "I got mad
at my girlfriend and I shot her," he said. "She has sucking chest wounds..."
He'd not only shot Rachel Joiner, 21, but also her older brother Travis.
Thuesen had broken into the house after midnight, not sure what he'd do but
wanting to see his estranged girlfriend. She was out with her ex-boyfriend, but
when she returned later that morning, things "got out of hand." Thuesen, a
25-year-old former Marine reservist, called 911 and almost immediately
expressed remorse. When he was arrested, he repeatedly asked the police about
the victims and tried to explain why he'd kept shooting Rachel and her brother:
"I felt like I was in like a mode...like training or a game or something."
The prosecution in the case gave it's opening statement on May 10, 2010. With
DNA evidence and no other suspects, it only took prosecutors three days to make
their case. Over the next week, the defense team touched on the facts that
Thuesen suffered from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from
his service in Iraq, but pleaded for leniency in his sentence. None of that
swayed the jury: On May 28, 2010, he was sentenced to death.
While on death row, Thuesen was given new lawyers, death penalty experts from
the state's Office of Capital and Forensic Writs. In Texas, there are often 2
trials, 1 to determine guilt or innocence and the 2nd to determine sentencing.
Lawyers argued in their 2012 petition to have both the death penalty and the
conviction vacated, and for a new sentencing trial, arguing that if his lawyers
had served him adequately, "John Thuesen would not be on death row today,
awaiting an execution date." In July 2015, Judge Travis Bryan III - the same
judge who had presided over the criminal trial - agreed, and ruled that
Thuesen's lawyers hadn't adequately explained the significance of his PTSD to
jurors, and how it had factored into his actions on the day of the murders.
Bryan also ruled that Thuesen's PTSD wasn't properly treated by the Veterans
Health Administration. He recommended that Thuesen be granted a new
punishment-phase trial. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals could rule on
Bryan's recommendation at any time.
The ruling on his case has implications for a question that has concerned the
military, veterans' groups, and death penalty experts: Should service-related
PTSD exclude veterans from the death penalty? An answer to this question could
affect some of the estimated 300 veterans who now sit on death rows across the
country, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. But it's unclear
how many of them suffer from PTSD or traumatic brain injuries, given how uneven
the screening for these disorders has been.
Experts are divided about whether veterans with PTSD who commit capital crimes
deserve what is known as a "categorical exemption" or "exclusion." Juveniles
receive such treatment, as do those with mental disabilities. In 2009, Anthony
Giardino, a lawyer and Iraq War veteran, argued in favor of this in the Fordham
Law Review, writing that courts "should consider the more fundamental question
of whether the government should be in the business of putting to death the
volunteers they have trained, sent to war, and broken in the process" who
likely would not be in that position "but for their military service." In a
2015 Veterans Day USA Today op-ed, 3 retired military officials argued that in
criminal cases, defense attorneys, prosecutors, and judges often don't consider
veterans' PTSD with proper due diligence. "Veterans with PTSD...deserve a
complete investigation and presentation of their mental state by the best
experts in the field," they wrote.
Courts "should consider the more fundamental question of whether the government
should be in the business of putting to death the volunteers they have trained,
sent to war, and broken in the process."
That idea is utterly unacceptable to Kent Scheidegger of the Criminal Justice
Legal Foundation, a California-based victims-of-crime advocacy group, who
contends a process already exists for veterans' defense attorneys to present
mitigating evidence. To him, a categorical exclusion would be an "extreme step"
that would mean "1 factor - always, in every case - necessarily outweighs the
aggravating factors of the case, no matter how cold, premeditated, sadistic, or
just plain evil the defendant's actions may have been."
But presenting a case for service-related PTSD often doesn't happen. Richard
Dieter, the former director of the Death Penalty Information Center and author
of its report "Battle Scars: Military Veterans and the Death Penalty," says
PTSD defenses can backfire for defense lawyers. "What I hear from lawyers is,
'Look, we're a little hesitant about bringing this issue up before a jury
because it can cut both ways,'" Dieter says. "It sounds like you've got a very
dangerous person on your hands with this PTSD. And this person is not getting
better, and they're a threat to society."
Furthermore, the relatively small amount of relevant case law isn't consistent.
The US Supreme Court overturned a Korean War veteran's death sentence in 2009
after finding that his original lawyers didn't provide the convicting jury
enough background of his military service and the resulting physical and
psychological wounds. But Andrew Brannan, a Vietnam veteran with bipolar
disorder who was rated as 100 percent disabled on account of his PTSD, was
executed by lethal injection in January 2015 for murdering a Georgia deputy
sheriff. Brannan had hoped his case would bring attention to the issue: "I am
proud to have been able to walk point for my comrades," he said, according to
one of his lawyers, "and pray that the same thing does not happen to any of
them."
Dr. Stephen Xenakis, a retired general and an Army psychiatrist for 28 years,
has served as an expert witness in a number of veterans' trials and says most
of the men who've committed these crimes have had multiple problems -
everything from traumatic brain injuries and depression to concussive symptoms
and substance abuse - that can "lead to a situation and a state of mind where
they commit these horrendous offenses." Soldiers who served in Iraq and
Afghanistan have had a high rate of head and neck injuries; bullets are causing
proportionately less damage than explosions from roadside bombs and IEDs, and
highly trained medics are able to address the wounds more effectively than in
the past. By 2012, an Institute of Medicine study estimated that between 13 and
20 percent of the 2.6 million Americans who'd served in Iraq and Afghanistan
showed at least some of the symptoms of PTSD.
Add to that the training these soldiers receive. "The current efficacy of
military training means we are sending to war the most proficient and lethal
killers in our nation's history," Joshua London, a veterans' defense lawyer and
advocate for reformed judicial treatment of veterans, wrote in a 2014 law
journal article, "Why Are We Killing Veterans?" "Likewise, the warriors that
return home to our communities are conditioned in a manner that makes them more
dangerous, volatile, and amenable to violence than any previous generation of
veterans." If a soldier seems troubled, some psychiatrists have noted, often
the preferred treatment option is to provide psychotropic drugs without
additional follow-up. For some, especially when combined with other drugs or
alcohol, this can result in difficulty with self-control. In April 2014,
journalist Ann Jones documented dozens of killings by veterans since 2002.
During his trial, the jury was presented 2 stark versions of Thuesen. The first
was of a cold-blooded murderer. The night before the murders, Thuesen went to
see Rachel, but she told him to leave her alone. He broke into her house and
lay in her bed, and after she got home he shot her, then Travis, 3 times each.
But Thuesen was also presented as a deeply traumatized soldier who, one of his
fellow Marines testified, was forced to fire a heavy machine gun into a car
carrying several people and at least 1 child. Several experts agreed that
Thuesen suffered from PTSD and had tried to seek treatment over the course of
at least 2 years. 6 months before the murders, Thuesen was suicidal and taken
by the police to the VA Medical Center in Houston. He stayed just a few days
while he detoxed from alcohol abuse, and he was given anti-depressants and
referred to counseling sessions at his local VA clinic.
Tim Rojas, the Marine who'd served with Thuesen and testified about the time he
shot up the car, finds himself somewhere in the middle. "People are going to
say, 'Well then, post-traumatic stress does not give you the license to shoot
or kill," he says. "I agree with that. Of course not. But in this case, does
John deserve to be on death row? No. Absolutely not. Does he need to be
accountable for his actions? Yes. But there's no way, no way, he needs to lose
his life. No way."
(source: Mother Jones)
CONNECTICUT:
Home invasion prosecutor retiring after 46-year career
A prosecutor for 46 years, New Haven State's Attorney Michael Dearington says
the job was about more than just putting away criminals, even when it came to
one of Connecticut's most infamous crimes - the killing of a woman and her 2
daughters during a home invasion in 2007.
"I looked at it as helping people, working with victims, working with
witnesses," said Dearington, who at age 73 recently informed state officials
that he will retire effective June 1. "People who shouldn't be on the street, I
think it's a worthwhile effort to get them off the street. But I don't look at
it as getting the bad guys."
Widely respected by both fellow prosecutors and defense lawyers, Dearington has
been the top state prosecutor in the New Haven area since 1978 - believed to be
one of the longest tenures for a state's attorney. He became a state prosecutor
in 1972 after working 2 years as a prosecutor in Washington, D.C.
He is perhaps best known for convincing juries to impose death penalties on
Joshua Komisarjevsky and Steven Hayes, the killers in the Cheshire home
invasion murders.
The 2 paroled burglars killed Jennifer Hawke-Petit and left her 2 daughters,
17-year-old Hayley and 11-year-old Michaela, to die in a fire after a night of
terror. Hawke-Petit's husband, Dr. William Petit, was severely beaten but
survived. Hawke-Petit and Michaela also were sexually assaulted.
"I've tried 20, 30, 40 murder cases. Certainly the tragedy in Cheshire was the
one that received the most publicity," Dearington said. "It was an
incomprehensible tragedy, an enormous tragedy."
Dearington, who grew up in Danielson and now lives in Madison, became close
with Dr. Petit and his family, as he had with victims in other cases.
Petit said Dearington was a calming influence during a time of immense grief
and anger. Shortly after his family was killed, Dearington visited Petit at
Petit's father's house and explained what was going to happen with the
prosecutions of Komisarjevsky and Hayes, Petit said.
"He really worked from the heart. He knew it was very personal," Petit said.
"He knew he was representing Jennifer, Hayley and Michaela. I consider him a
friend and I think my entire family feels the same way. He's the guy people
would want as a prosecutor."
The state would later abolish capital punishment, leaving Komisarjevsky and
Hayes to serve life sentences. It was only the 2nd time Dearington sought the
death penalty. In the other case, a jury opted instead for a life sentence for
Jonathan Mills, who stabbed to death his aunt and her 2 children in Guilford in
2000.
Dearington's career wasn't without setbacks. His prosecution of Branford
flooring store owner Anthony Bontatibus, charged with setting a 1996 fire at
his business that killed a volunteer firefighter, ended in 3 mistrials - 2 hung
juries and a third for juror misconduct. The charges against Bontatibus were
dropped in 2001.
On the other side of the aisle for many of Dearington's prosecutions was public
defender Thomas Ullmann, who has handled New Haven-area cases since 1985.
"He's really a well-respected state's attorney," Ullmann said, "not obsessed
with power, not a media hound, believes in trying his cases in the courtroom
and not in the press, respects the defense."
Chief State's Attorney Kevin Kane said Dearington, whose father was a state
prosecutor and judge, is a role model for other prosecutors.
"He's a quiet guy who's been a terrific prosecutor," Kane said.
In his retirement, Dearington said he plans to travel with his wife of 38
years, Geraldine, who also is retiring soon. The couple has 3 adult children
and a granddaughter.
(source: Associated Press)
PENNSYLVANIA:
DNA evidence key in trial over East Liberty sisters' murders
For several weeks in early 2014, a double murder in East Liberty had the
community on edge as neighbors, friends and co-workers wondered and worried
about who would kill Susan and Sarah Wolfe in their home.
A web of surveillance cameras around the nearby East Liberty business district
and DNA analysis by the Allegheny County crime lab and an Oakland-based
contractor eventually pointed police to the sisters' neighbor, Allen Wade, who
was charged with homicide and is slated to begin his trial Monday before Court
of Common Pleas Judge Edward Borkowski.
"There certainly will be a lot of circumstantial evidence introduced, and you
can convict someone on circumstantial evidence, but I believe the evidence that
will be most persuasive or foremost in the jurors' minds will be that DNA,"
said John Burkoff, a criminal law professor at the University of Pittsburgh
School of Law.
He noted that Borkowski is a good judge to hear the case, given his history as
a prosecutor and his meticulous nature.
Wade, 45, faces the death penalty if convicted of 1st-degree murder. Borkowski
imposed a gag order April 19 prohibiting attorneys or witnesses from discussing
the case with the public or media.
A nervous neighborhood
Unnerving details about the crime scene trickled out after a friend discovered
the sisters' bodies Feb. 7: Susan, 44, a teacher's aide at the Hillel Academy
in Squirrel Hill, appeared to have been beaten, shot once in the head, then
stripped and doused in bleach and laundry detergent in the basement of the
Chislett Street home. Sarah, 38, a psychiatrist at Western Psychiatric
Institute and Clinic, was also shot once in the head. She was found at the top
of the stairs with her coat half off, a blanket covering her face and spattered
with more detergent.
There were no signs of forced entry, police said. Robbery was the suspected
motive because both women's bank cards, IDs and cellphones were missing.
Allegheny County property records show Sarah Wolfe purchased the house in
December 2013; it was foreclosed on by the bank in December 2014 after her
death and sat vacant until it was finally sold last month.
Neighbors at the time spoke of how the street was usually quiet, but said the
crime made them nervous. One even said she'd taken to sleeping on her couch
with her car keys in hand.
Suspect movements
Police found Sarah Wolfe's car abandoned on South Whitfield Street early on
Feb. 8, then quickly worked outward from there to review footage from more than
a dozen security cameras around the business district. Those cameras captured a
man in a red, hooded sweatshirt, gray sweatpants and bright white shoes walking
around the area and withdrawing $600 from the Wolfe sisters' bank accounts at a
Citizens Bank ATM between 12:30 a.m. and 1 a.m.
The man kept his face and hands covered but was seen at one point discarding
the sweatpants, which police later recovered, behind a muffler shop off North
Whitfield Street.
At 1:08 a.m., cameras at the Sunoco station on East Liberty Boulevard recorded
a man, later identified as Wade, walking up with his face uncovered and buying
cigarettes. His clothes were different from the earlier footage, but he wore
bright white shoes.
Police questioned Wade for hours on Feb. 19. They announced on Feb. 20 that he
was a "person of interest" but let him go.
Shortly after the Allegheny County crime lab matched DNA from the sweatpants to
Wade, police issued a warrant for his arrest for murder, and he was picked up
at a bus stop in Rankin on March 5. He has maintained his innocence.
DNA and delays
The crime lab also analyzed a sock found near Sarah Wolfe's car, material under
Susan Wolfe's fingernails and a knit cap found in the sisters' house after an
unsolved burglary a month or so before they were killed, but couldn't reach
conclusions about DNA on any of them. North Oakland-based Cybergenetics parsed
the crime lab's data with its "TrueAllele" program and concluded DNA on the hat
and under Wolfe's fingernails was very likely Wade's, while one of the sisters'
DNA was on the sock.
Defense attorneys Lisa Middleman, Lisa Phillips and Aaron Sontz argued for
months with Deputy District Attorney Rob Schupansky and Assistant District
Attorney Bill Petulla over evidence in the case and what would be admitted at
Wade's trial.
"This is not a case, after all, in which there were eyewitnesses to the crime,
or in which the accused confessed to having committed it," the defense
attorneys wrote in a motion seeking greater access to the TrueAllele program.
"The only direct evidence that the Commonwealth will present against Mr. Wade
that directly connects him to the crime scene will be the testimony of
TrueAllele, as presented by Dr. (Mark) Perlin."
Borkowski ultimately allowed the DNA evidence and denied the defense the
"source code" for TrueAllele.
Schedule conflicts, arguments, appeals and expert witnesses' analysis delayed
the trial's start for nearly 20 months.
Testimony is expected to begin Monday morning and last about 3 weeks. There
were almost 170 potential witnesses on the list given to potential jurors
during the 3-week selection process, though not all the witnesses are likely to
be called.
If the jurors convict Wade of 1st-degree murder, they will have to hear
additional testimony about why Wade should or should not receive the death
penalty, then return a separate verdict on whether the penalty should be death
or life in prison without parole.
(source: triblive.com)
***************
Man to go on trial in slaying of sisters of Iowa lawmaker
Trial is scheduled to open Monday in the western Pennsylvania robbery and
murder of 2 sisters of an Iowa state lawmaker 2 years ago.
Authorities in Allegheny County allege that 45-year-old Allen Wade killed Sarah
Wolfe after she returned home to find Susan Wolfe already slain in February
2014. The women were the sisters of Democratic Iowa state Rep. Mary Wolfe.
The sisters were found dead in the basement after they didn't show up for work.
Sarah, 38, was a psychiatrist at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's
Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, and Susan, 44, a teacher's aide at a
private school. Both women were shot in the head but had also been badly
beaten.
Prosecutors have said that they intend to seek the death penalty if Wade is
convicted of 1st-degree murder, citing the circumstances of the killings and
the defendant's criminal history.
Authorities have cited DNA evidence and surveillance videos they say link Wade,
a next-door neighbor, to a pair of sweat pants found near Sarah Wolfe's vehicle
and to bank cards belonging to the victims.
Defense attorneys unsuccessfully challenged the DNA evidence and a software
program that interprets such evidence using a statistical model, but the judge
barred prosecutors from using two previous convictions that they maintained
showed a pattern on the part of the defendant.
At the request of defense attorneys, Judge Edward Borkowski has issued a gag
order barring lawyers or investigators from talking about the case outside of
court.
(source: Associated Press)
FLORIDA:
Man booked for homicide in boater's death
Michael Paul Rodgers, 36, was arrested on homicide and sex offender violation
charges Saturday afternoon.
Rodgers, who was previously jailed in Louisiana on fraud and theft charges
after allegedly trying to assume the identity of a missing Gulf Shores man,
62-year-old James Gunther, has now been placed in the custody of Escambia
County Jail.
Gunther was reported missing April 1 after dropping out of contact with his
family during an annual boating trip from Gulf Shores to Port St. Joe. The
Escambia County Sheriff's Office became involved in the search April 5, and
Gunther's boat was found anchored and abandoned near Fort McCree shortly
afterward.
ECSO investigators contacted the Parrish County Sheriff's Office in Louisiana
where Rodgers was jailed, and were able to confirm that Rodgers had checked
into a hotel using Gunther's credit card and had tried to obtain a Louisiana
driver's license using his passport.
State Attorney Bill Eddins stated his office would seek the death penalty based
on Rodgers' criminal history, which includes rape and robbery convictions.
Rodgers 1st court date will be May 20 in circuit court. His bond for the sex
offender charges is set for $50,000. There is no bond for the homicide charge.
(source: Pensacola News Journal)
ALABAMA----impending execution
Alabama Prepares for Execution of Vernon Madison on May 12, 2016
Vernon Madison's execution is scheduled to occur at 6 pm CDT, on Thursday, May
12, 2016, at the Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama. 65-year-old
Vernon is convicted of the murder of Officer Julius Schulte on April 18, 1985,
in Mobile, Alabama. Vernon has spent the last 30 years on Alabama's death row.
On April 18, 1985, Officer Julius Schulte was dispatched to the home of Cheryl
Green to investigate the disappearance of Cheryl's 11-year-old daughter.
Schulte was not in uniform or in a marked car, however, he was wearing a badge
that identified him as a member of the Mobile Police Department. Upon his
arrival, Cheryl's daughter had already returned, however, neighbors had asked
the police officer to stay until Cheryl's ex-boyfriend, Vernon Madison left, as
the 2 were having a domestic dispute.
Cheryl and Madison had broken up a few days before and he had returned to
Cheryl's home in order to retrieve some of his belongings. Madison was angry,
believing that Cheryl had called the police on him. When Officer Schulte
arrived, both Cheryl and Madison approached him in his vehicle and spoke with
him. Madison left the building a short time later. Madison walked a block away
to where a former girlfriend was waiting in her car.
Madison retrieved a pistol from the car and returned to the apartment building.
He walked up behind Officer Schulte, who was still in his vehicle and shot him
twice in the head at point-blank range. Officer Schulte died later that day. He
then shot twice at Cheryl before fleeing the scene. She survived her injuries.
He later admitted to an acquaintance that he had "just killed a cop."
Madison was arrested the following day. He was convicted and sentenced to death
in November of 1985. He had his sentence twice overturned and each time he was
re-sentenced to death. Madison's lawyers are arguing that since being in
prison, Madison has suffered from several strokes, which have caused him to
loose his sight and slur his speech. Additionally, they claim that the strokes
have impaired his mental competency and that he is no longer able to understand
why he is being executed. Madison's lawyers claim that his execution must be
halted.
Please pray for peace and healing for the family of Julius Schulte. Please pray
for strength for the family of Vernon Madison. Please pray that if Vernon is
innocent, lacks the competency to be executed, or should not be executed for
any other reason, that evidence will be presented prior to his execution.
Please pray that Vernon may come to find peace through a personal relationship
with Jesus Christ, if he has not already.
(source: The forgivenessfoundation.org)
********************
Appeals court rejects Talladega County man's death penalty appeal
The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals on Friday rejected the appeal of Alabama
death row inmate John Russell Calhoun in the 1998 death and robbery of a
Talladega man and the rape of his wife.
Calhoun had made ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claims his appeal. Among
Calhoun's arguments was that a circuit judge erred by summarily dismissing his
claim that his appellate counsel was ineffective for failing to adequately
argue that he should be given a chance to demonstrate he is intellectually
disabled.
The Alabama Court of Criminal, which had heard arguments on the appeal in a
special session in October at the Cumberland School of Law, rejected Calhoun's
arguments regarding ineffective-assistance-of-counsel.
Calhoun, 48, alleges he suffers significant sub-average intellectual
functioning - a low IQ.
According to court records:
Calhoun was convicted of 4 counts of capital murder in the May 8, 1998 death of
Tracy Phillips during the course of a robbery, during the course of a burglary,
during the course of a sodomy, and during the course of a rape.
A judge sentenced Calhoun to death upon a 10 to 2 recommendation by the jury.
Calhoun was convicted of entering the Talladega home of Tracy Phillips and his
wife in Talladega wearing a stocking mask over his face. He then robbed the
couple of jewelry, killed Phillips, and raped, sodomized and beat Phillip's
wife.
The wife testified that she knew the man in the mask was Calhoun because he had
been to their house and had seen him while she was posting signs in front of
their house for a yard sale. That evening a neighbor called to say a man was
looking into the windows of their house.
Before Calhoun got into the house, Phillips' wife testified that she ran
upstairs and hid her daughter and one of her daughter's friends in a bedroom
and locked the door.
A person matching Calhoun's description was seen fleeing the murder scene and
neighbors saw Calhoun's car near the murder scene. One neighbor telephoned
emergency 911 and police issued a "BOLO" (Be on the lookout bulletin) for
Calhoun's vehicle.
The Talladega County Sheriff's Department found Calhoun's vehicle hidden in
some bushes where his mother lived. Law enforcement officers eventually found
Calhoun hiding under a bed at another home.
Forensic tests showed that the blood found on Calhoun's discarded clothes was
consistent with the wife's blood, DNA tests on semen from the victim was
consistent with Calhoun's DNA, and a bite-mark expert testified there was an
extremely high probability that the bite mark on the wife's neck matched
Calhoun's dental impression and that the bite mark on Calhoun's arm matched the
wife's dental impression.
Calhoun had claimed that, had appellate counsel conducted additional
investigation, counsel would have discovered readily available evidence outside
the record regarding Calhoun's mental retardation and a history of mental
retardation in his family.
The decision in Calhoun's case was among 4 appeals by Alabama death row inmates
upheld by the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals on Friday.
The others included: Alfonzo Morris, a Jefferson County man, who was twice
convicted and sentenced to death in the 1997 beating death of an 85-year-old
woman, lost an appeal last week; Nathaniel Woods, the man convicted in the 2004
shooting deaths of 3 Birmingham police officers; Anthony Lane, who claims he is
intellectually disabled and shouldn't be executed for his conviction in the
2009 robbery and shooting death of an Indiana man who was in Birmingham on
business.
(source: al.com)
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