Dec. 7
TEXAS:
State court reverses death penalty in Love murder case
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals reversed the capital murder conviction and
death sentence of Albert Leslie Love Jr. Wednesday, ruling text messages were
improperly used against him because they were obtained without a warrant.
Love was convicted and sentenced to death after a trial in Williamson County in
2013 in the March 2011 shooting deaths of Keenan Hubert, 20, and Tyus Sneed,
17, at the Lakewood Villas apartment complex, 1601 Spring St.
The court, in a 6-3 opinion with 3 dissents, awarded Love a new trial because
his Fourth Amendment rights were violated when the content of his text messages
were improperly admitted against him because they were obtained without a
warrant.
Love will be returned to McLennan County to await another trial. The reversal
sent shock waves through the McLennan County Courthouse, where officials were
unclear if Love's retrial can be held in McLennan County, if it will be
returned to Williamson County or moved to another county.
Love's trial was moved to Georgetown because the trial of his co-defendant,
Rickey Donnell Cummings, was held first in Waco. Cummings' conviction has
already been affirmed by the appeals court.
McLennan County District Attorney Abel Reyna and his first assistant, Michael
Jarrett, did not return phone messages Wednesday.
Cummings, like Love, is a Bloods gang member who was sentenced to death in 2012
for his role in the double slaying.
Cummings' younger brother, Darvis Cummings, was sentenced to 20 years in prison
in September 2014 after he pleaded guilty to murder as a party to the ambush
slayings.
Deontrae Majors and Marion Bible, who were in the front seat of the car, were
wounded in the attack but managed to flee to safety.
Prosecutors told the jury at Love's trial that Cummings and Love wanted to kill
Hubert because they believed he killed their best friend, Emuel "Man Man"
Bowers III, at Hood Street Park the year before.
It mattered little to Love, the prosecutors said, that 3 other men were with
Hubert in the car when he opened fire with his AK-47, spraying at least 19
shots with the high-powered assault rifle.
Prosecutors introduced Love's cellphone records, which included 37 pages
showing the contents of about 1,600 text messages.
Among the most damaging was one sent to Bowers' mother shortly after the ambush
attack that said, "mission accomplished."
Trial testimony showed that Bowers' mother, Shelia Bowers, whom Love and
Cummings called "Mama Shelia," was upset that Waco police investigators had not
arrested anyone in her son's murder.
Prosecutors showed photos of Love's numerous tattoos that tie him to the Bloods
gang. On his right arm are the words "R.I.P. Man Man" next to a tattoo of an
AK-47.
The Court of Criminal Appeals ruling says that after a review of the record as
a whole, the court finds that the "probable impact of the improperly-admitted
text messages was great. As we cannot determine beyond a reasonable doubt that
the text messages did not contribute to the jury's verdict at the guilty phase,
we hold that the error was not harmless."
(source: Waco Tribune)
DELAWARE:
Execution or life in prison? Delaware Supreme Court to decide
State Supreme Court Justices didn't filter their comments much during a hearing
Wednesday that could let those currently on death row live the rest of their
life in prison.
Earlier this year, the court ruled Delaware's capital punishment system
unconstitutional because juries weren't the ones ultimately responsible for
locking in a death penalty conviction.
Previously, juries decided whether a defendant was eligible for a death
sentence, but then a judge weighed different factors to hand down his or her
ruling.
The test case before the court is that of Derrick Powell, who shot and killed
Georgetown police officer Chad Spicer in 2009.
His lawyer, Patrick Collins, says continuing to execute death row inmates who
were convicted under an unconstitutional system flies in the face of precedent.
"Executing Derrick Powell would far and away be an extreme outlier as opposed
to just about any other state that has considered the question," he said.
Justice Collins Seitz Jr. openly agreed later in the hearing.
"How could it ever be just to execute someone who was sentenced under a flawed
statute? I don't understand how that's just," Seitz said.
Maryland legislatively abolished its death penalty in 2013 without including
those already convicted and facing execution. Then Gov. Martin O'Malley (D)
later commuted the sentences of the four men on death row to life in prison in
2015.
State prosecutors rebutted that these sentences should remain intact because
this court previously said new rulings on constitutional issues can't
necessarily be applied retroactively. There are 2 exceptions, but prosecutors
argue they don't apply here.
After repeatedly interrupting during the state's presentation, Chief Justice
Leo Strine told the deputy attorney general he had yet to flesh out his
argument.
The state Supreme Court will issue its ruling in the coming months.
(source: delawarepublic.org)
****************
Delaware Supreme Court weighs fate of 13 on death row
Even though the Delaware Supreme Court did not immediately rule, some of the
justices seemed swayed by arguments Wednesday that the 13 men on death row
should not be executed in light of the court's finding the state's death
penalty law unconstitutional in August.
As a prosecutor was peppered with questions about why the state wants to
proceed with the executions, Justice Collins J. Seitz Jr. summed up much of the
sentiment, asking how the state can proceed under a flawed statute.
"Isn't death different?" he asked. "I don't understand how that is justice."
Deputy Attorney General John Williams argued to the justices in Dover that the
court should apply a long-standing rule against retroactively applying a new
ruling after a criminal case is completed.
Patrick Collins, the attorney arguing on behalf of 29-year-old Derrick Powell,
who was sentenced to death for the fatal shooting of Georgetown police officer
Chad Spicer, disagreed.
"It has long been a principle of constitutional law that death is different,
and it is not just a hollow phrase," Collins said. "It means special procedural
protections have to be in place to ensure that if death is going to be imposed,
that it is only imposed when those constitutional protections have been
afforded."
Wednesday's arguments stemmed from a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in January that
struck down Florida's death penalty law, saying it violated the U.S.
Constitution by giving judges, and not juries, the final say to impose a death
sentence.
Alabama and Delaware were the only other states that, like Florida, allowed
judges to override a jury's recommendation of life.
The Delaware Supreme Court found that the state's capital punishment law was
also unconstitutional. The move halted all future death sentences unless the
General Assembly acts to change the current law.
The court on Wednesday heard arguments over whether the court's ruling should
be applied retroactively to Powell and the others on death row.
Powell is Delaware's youngest inmate on death row.
In September 2009, he and 2 men arranged to rob another man during a marijuana
deal. The robbery attempt went awry, and Powell fired at the fleeing man in the
parking lot of a Georgetown McDonald's, according to court documents.
The incident led to a police chase that ended when Powell fired a shot at a
police car, fatally wounding the 29-year-old officer and father, court
documents said.
Powell was found guilty of 1st-degree murder and other charges in February
2011. He was sentenced to death in May of that year.
(source: The News Journal)
***************
Delaware court mulls retroactivity of death penalty ruling
Delaware's Supreme Court justices are mulling whether their ruling declaring
the state's death penalty law unconstitutional can be applied retroactively to
a dozen men already sentenced to death.
The court heard arguments Wednesday in an appeal filed by Derrick Powell, who
was sentenced to death in 2011 for killing Georgetown police officer Chad
Spicer in 2009.
In August, a majority of the Supreme Court justices declared that Delaware's
death penalty law was unconstitutional because it allowed judges too much
discretion in sentencing and did not require that a jury find unanimously and
beyond a reasonable doubt that a defendant deserves execution.
Attorney General Matt Denn declined to appeal that ruling in federal court but
said he believes that it cannot be applied retroactively to offenders already
sentenced to death.
The court also heard an appeal by Otis Phillips, who was convicted of murder in
the 2012 killing of soccer tournament organizer Herman Curry at Wilmington's
Eden Park. He was also convicted of manslaughter in the death of 16-year-old
soccer player Alexander Kamara.
In answering Phillips' appeal, prosecutors said that because his conviction is
on direct appeal and not considered final, he is covered under an August state
Supreme Court ruling declaring Delaware's death penalty unconstitutional.
(source: Associated Press)
GEORGIA:
Family of 83-year-old homicide victim: 'We want the death penalty'
Minutes after Angelo Short pleaded guilty to murder early Wednesday morning in
Columbus Recorder's Court in the stabbing death of 83-year-old Peggy Gamble,
her family announced that they would prefer that the District Attorney's Office
seek the death penalty if Short were convicted.
"We hope that plea is attached to incarceration without the eligibility of
parole. That's the only thing we're going to accept," said Richard Gamble, one
of the victim's 3 children. "As the family, we want the death penalty. Like all
things, if he's willing to confess that he did wrong, then we, as the family,
will go along with that."
The Ledger-Enquirer made an attempt Wednesday morning to reach District
Attorney Julia Slater Wednesday morning for comment on the Short case but was
unsuccessful.
The Georgia State Board of Pardons and Parole???s website states that an
offender can be sentenced to life without parole for murder if the crime
involved aggravating circumstances sufficient to warrant a sentence of death.
If the offender is sentenced to life imprisonment and has previously been
imprisoned under a life sentence, they must serve 25 years before becoming
eligible for parole consideration.
Short's court appearance comes days after he pleaded not guilty Dec. 1 to
taking Gamble's beige 1988 Toyota Corolla from her home following her death and
obstructing police during his arrest.
During that hearing, he also pleaded not guilty robbery and aggravated assault
charges related to a Piggly Wiggly robbery he allegedly committed the morning
after a relative found Gamble's body in her 2324 Eighth St. home.
Gamble was pronounced dead at 1:34 p.m. Nov. 28, but Muscogee County Coroner
Buddy Bryan said it appears as if she was dead for 8 to 10 hours before her
body was discovered.
She was stabbed 7 times, according to a preliminary autopsy report.
Authorities said they found evidence on the homicide scene that someone had
broken into the victim's home, where she had been living alone since 1993.
Gamble's Toyota, which her family said was normally parked under her carport,
was missing from the residence, Detective Stewart Carter said during Thursday's
hearing.
Police listed Short as a person of interest in the case early on, adding that
he was Gamble's step-grandson. The victim's family disputed that relationship
with Short during the hearing, but a family member previously said Short is the
stepson of Gamble's older daughter, Miriam Short, who is married to Short's
father, Eddie.
Carter said witnesses spotted Short driving Gamble's Toyota with an
unidentified individual in the passenger seat the night Gamble was killed.
Short was also seen in the car alone when he allegedly left the missing Toyota
in the area of 10th Street the night of Nov. 28, 3 additional witnesses told
authorities. Police said Short robbed the Piggly Wiggly on Brown Avenue early
Tuesday and they received numerous tips later that day informing them that he
was sleeping in abandoned houses in the area of Coolidge Avenue.
Carter said officials couldn't find Short at the exact location they were
given, but they set up a perimeter and arrested him after he was found in an
abandoned apartment on Lawyers Lane.
Short told police to kill him before using a crack pipe to smoke cocaine in
front of them, then he continued to tell authorities to kill him, according to
Carter.
Carter also said Short had to be subdued with a stun gun before he could be
taken into custody.
(source: ledger-enquirer.com)
ALABAMA----impending execution
Smith to be executed Thursday
Ronald Bert Smith Jr. is scheduled to be executed tomorrow, Thurs., Dec. 8, at
6 p.m. at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility just outside of Atmore,
according to the Alabama Department of Corrections.
Smith was sentenced to death by a trial court judge on Oct. 6, 1995, after
shooting a Circle C store clerk in the early morning hours of Nov. 8, 1994, in
Huntsville.
According to court records, videotape evidence showed many of the events that
took place inside of the store.
Smith, who injured the store clerk by pistol whip and shooting the clerk in the
left arm, fired the killing shot into the clerk's head in the restroom of the
store and retrieved the spent shell casings from the floor, according to court
records.
Smith was convicted of capital murder on Aug. 5, 1995, in Madison County; a
penalty hearing followed and the jury, by a 7-5 vote, recommended that he be
sentenced to life without parole. The trial court overrode the jury's
recommendation.
This is the 2nd execution that's been scheduled in about a month.
On Nov. 3, the U.S. Supreme Court stayed the execution of Tommy Arthur.
(source: The Atmore Advance)
USA:
Charleston shooting trial: 12 jurors chosen to decide death penalty case ----
Opening statements under way at South Carolina federal courthouse near church
where Dylann Roof fatally shot 9 black congregants in June 2015
12 jurors were chosen on Wednesday to decide the death penalty trial of a white
man who authorities say wanted to start a race war by killing 9 black people in
a South Carolina church.
Opening statements were under way in the trial of Dylann Roof in a federal
courthouse about a mile away from the church. Roof wore a gray and white
striped prison jumpsuit and stared mostly at the table in front of him.
Roof is charged with 33 offenses, including hate crimes leading to the loss of
life and murder. He faces the death penalty. The 22-year-old has also been
charged in a state murder case, which also carries the death penalty and will
follow this trial.
There was a heavy security at US courthouse in downtown Charleston, with local
police and federal officers from the Department of Homeland Security positioned
outside the the building.
Authorities say Roof sat with 12 people in Bible study and prayer for an hour
at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church on 17 June 2015 before pulling a
gun from his fanny pack, firing dozens of shots and reloading several times.
His trial begins as another racially charged court case ended on Monday in a
mistrial. Jurors could not agree on a verdict for former North Charleston
police officer Michael Slager, who shot a black man, Walter Scott, in the back
as he was running away from a traffic stop.
In contrast to the Slager case, Roof's lawyers have offered several times to
plead guilty if federal prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty. They
refused.
Authorities say Roof hurled racial insults during the massacre, telling the
parishioners he was killing them because he wanted a war between whites and
blacks because black people were raping white women and taking over the
country.
Roof left 3 people alive in the church basement so they could tell the world
his reasons for the shooting, police said. 2 others, who were in another room,
also survived.
The church slayings took place a little more than 2 months after the Slager
shooting, which was shown online and on TV millions of times after a bystander
recorded it. Charleston has stayed mostly calm, and the state prosecutor has
promised a retrial.
Prosecutors have said it would take 6 to 7 days to make their case against
Roof. Defense attorney David Bruck said Roof's case would take little
additional time.
The past week has had its own drama as Roof fired his lawyers to act as his own
attorney, then hired them back Monday. But he said he will represent himself if
he is found guilty and must fight for his life during the penalty phase.
Roof's attorneys said they don't know why he wants to be his own lawyer but
said in other cases, defendants have been trying to avoid having their lawyers
introduce embarrassing evidence that could sway jurors.
(source: The Guardian)
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