Feb. 3
OHIO:
Jury process to start for 2nd time in Seman case
About 160 potential jurors are expected today to report to Mahoning County
Common Pleas Court for the 2nd attempt at picking a jury in the Robert Seman
capital murder case.
Jurors will report about 1:30 p.m., take their oaths, then fill out paperwork.
After they are done, individual questioning of jurors is expected to begin next
week.
Seman, 48, of Green, could face the death penalty if convicted in the March 30,
2015, deaths of Corinne Gump, 10, and her grandparents, William and Judith
Schmidt, during a March 30, 2015, arson at their Powers Way home on the South
Side. He's charged with aggravated murder in each death.
Jury selection was just starting in the case in September when it was halted
after 1 of the members of the jury pool made disparaging remarks about Seman to
other jurors. Defense attorneys asked for a mistrial, which Judge Maureen
Sweeney granted.
To avoid a repeat of that this time, Judge Sweeney has instituted a number of
measures, starting with bringing in jurors on a Friday afternoon, which is
typically the slowest day of the week, allowing for more deputies who work
security at the courthouse to be available.
hearing innovations
Jurors also will be separated into several small groups, and each will be
watched over by a deputy who can monitor conversations and report anything
inappropriate to the judge.
The jury-selection process is expected to take several weeks.
Seman's attorneys have filed a motion to change the venue of the trial because
of intense pretrial publicity. Judge Sweeney has said in numerous pretrials she
will not rule on the motion unless there is difficulty in picking 12 jurors and
four alternates for the case.
The new jury pool had contained 400 names, but it was whittled down
considerably because of jurors who cannot serve and other jurors who could not
be found to issue them their summonses to jury duty.
At the time of the fire at the Schmidts' home, Seman was free on $200,000 bail
and facing a charge of raping Corinne, a charge that carries a life sentence.
The fire was set just hours before his trial was to start in that case.
Death-penalty specifications that Seman meets include killing 2 or more people;
killing someone in the commission of a felony, in this case aggravated burglary
and aggravated arson, of which he is also charged; wanting to escape
prosecution from a crime; causing the death of someone under 13; killing the
victim or witness to a crime; and using premeditation.
If jurors find Seman is eligible for the death penalty, a 2nd phase of the
trial, or mitigation phase, will begin. In that phase, defense attorneys will
try to offer factors to jurors to persuade them not to sentence their client to
death. Only a jury can recommend a death sentence. Judge Sweeney can accept or
reject that recommendation.
(source: vindy.com)
SOUTH DAKOTA:
Read a South Dakota death row inmate's letter asking to die
A letter that represents a turning point in a South Dakota death row case has
been unsealed by judge for the public to see.
Inmate Rodney Berget, convicted of killing a prison guard in 2011, wrote to
Judge Doug Hoffman in August to ask permission to end his appeal and face
execution.
Berget wrote that he worries the death penalty will soon be repealed in South
Dakota, and that he doesn't want to spend another 30 years behind bars.
His attorney, Eric Shulte, has fought to keep his client's appeal alive. He
said he wants to review Berget's functionality and mental capacity to see if he
is eligible for the death penalty.
Attorney General Marty Jackley has asked the judge to comply with Berget???s
wishes. Judge Hoffman has yet to make a decision.
Here's the text of the letter Berget wrote:
Judge Hoffman,
First this is I'm not no attorney so I'm not going to try and talk like one and
have to look up all the big words in a dictionary ... I'm going to put this in
my words the way it should be.
I'm writing you this letter in regards to the letter you received from my
lawyers Cheri Scharffenberg and Jeff Larson. I also believe you had a
conversation with them in chambers on this matter.
This is in regards to me stopping my habeas claims that they are working on and
I would also like to have you stop the work that Mr. Eric Schulte my
independent counsel is working on. These are my requests and move forward with
getting a [sic] execution date.
I know that I am competent to make these decision for myself. I have talked to
my attorneys about my decision on this matter as you know.
This is not something I just woke up and said I'm going to do today. I've been
think about it for years I also know once the decision is made the decision is
made and there is no turning back and say I change my mind.
Some reasons why.
Growing up I always though the best thing for my son would be for me to stay
out of his life to protect him from people looking down at him because who his
father is and to give him a chance. That happens every day. People looking down
at kids for what there [sic] parents may or may not have done in there [sic]
life. And that's not right.
Then my son reached out to me in 2012 and everything (I) tried so hard to
protect him from came true. Personal attacks on the internet, verbal attack in
the court room and in other public places. Like at one of my 6 years old grand
daughters [sic] cheer meets a woman started telling my granddaughter how ugly
and mean her family was along with other words.
This happened before my daughter in law realized what was happening. My
daughter in law told this person don???t come up to my children again, should
of never had to be put in a position like that because of me.
My little grand daughter [sic] called that person the mean lady because what
she said. My daughter in law and grand kids didn???t do nothing wrong to be
treated like this.
No one comes to there [sic] aid to help them. Why because of who my son's
father is? I would lean to that answer.
Also I'm going to be honest with you I believe that the death penalty will be
coming to an end soon. Maybe not by a (South) Dakota vote by The United States
as a whole. The reason why I say this is because of all the executions that I
have read stories about that have gone wrong the past few years by the drugs
illegally smuggled from India and other countries to be used in executions.
And I couldn't imagine spending another 30 years in a cage doing a life
sentence.
I'm making my decision with a clear mind and I know what the final out come
[sic] is by making this decision.
Thank you very much for your time.
Sincerely,
Rodney S. Berget
(source: Argus Leader)
IDAHO:
Idaho death row inmate Robin Row to have court-appointed mental health exam
The only woman facing the death penalty in Idaho has been booked into the Ada
County Jail this week for a court-appointed mental health exam.
According to Idaho court records, Row is having a clinical interview at the Ada
County Jail with a doctor for the state to defend against claims being raised
in Row's upcoming hearing in June.
The 59-year-old Boise woman was convicted of killing her husband and 2 children
by setting their home on fire in the early 1990s.
On Feb. 10, 1992, Robin Row woke McHugh up at about 3 a.m., saying she had a
feeling that something was wrong with her house.
The 2 drove over to the duplex, which was in flames and surrounded by emergency
vehicles. Paramedics told Robin Row that her children and husband had been
found dead.
Fire investigators later concluded that someone had intentionally set the fire,
feeding the flames with a hot-burning petroleum product. The home's circuit
breaker for the smoke detector was also shut off, and the furnace fan was set
to run continuously, feeding the flames and circulating the smoke throughout
the house. All 3 victims died of carbon monoxide poisoning.
Days later detectives learned that Row had lost other children under suspicious
circumstances years earlier: A baby who investigators said died of sudden
infant death syndrome and a son who was killed in a 1980 California house fire
that investigators ruled accidental. At that point, according to court records,
police began to focus their investigation on Row.
(source: KBOI news)
NEVADA:
Las Vegas woman avoids death penalty for role in husband's 2010 murder
Brandy Stutzman must serve life in prison without the possibility of parole for
her role in the murder of her husband, a jury decided Thursday.The same panel
convicted Stutzman, 37, of 1st-degree murder and burglary charges in the
November 2010 killing.
Jeremiah Merriweather previously pleaded guilty to the same charges in the
case. Prosecutors argued that Brandy Stutzman persuaded Merriweather to kill
her husband, Joe Stutzman, who was stabbed 15 times and left for dead in his
northern valley home.
Prosecutors sought the death penalty, which would have made Brandy Stutzman the
only woman on death row in Nevada.Her attorneys argued that Merriweather, who
was 19 at the time, killed the 32-year-old victim on his own because he loved
Brandy Stutzman and her son, then 5.
Prosecutors said Brandy Stutzman orchestrated at least three plans to have her
husband killed and often talked about life without him among teenagers she
plied with alcohol and drugs while he worked overseas as a military aircraft
mechanic.
(source: The Daily Millbury)
CALIFORNIA:
OC Man Faces Death Penalty In Slaying Of His Mother And Brother
A 37-Year-Old Irvine man gunned down his mother and brother in their Irvine
home, prosecutors allege.
2 counts of murder with special circumstance allegations could result in the
death penalty for 37-year-old Nolan Pascal Pillay, who is accused of killing
his mother and brother in the family's Irvine home Tuesday.
Pillay was scheduled to make his initial court appearance on Thursday,
according to the Orange County District Attorney's Office. He also faces two
sentence-enhancing gun-use allegations, OCDA said in release.
On Tuesday, Irvine police were called to a home in the 14900 block of Crystal
Circle. Police discovered the bodies of 58-year-old Gloria Pillay and her
35-year-old son Arlyn Pillay, both found inside.
"Nolan Pascal Pillay was arrested without incident at the scene," Kim Mohr of
the Irvine Police Department said.
A nearby elementary school was placed on temporary lockdown during the
investigation.
Neighbors said a man and his 2 sons had lived in the house for about 15 years,
and that a person could be heard yelling "I'm sorry, I'm sorry" around the time
of the killings.
There was no mention of motive for the killings and Nolan's arraignment was
scheduled to take place on Thursday in Santa Ana according to the OCDA.
(source: patch.com)
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