Feb. 13
CONNECTICUT:
3 Connecticut lawmakers call for restoring the death penalty
As many states move toward eliminating the death penalty, 3 Connecticut
lawmakers are trying to bring it back in the Constitution State.
Republican Reps. Robert Sampson, Kurt Vail and Kevin Skulczyck have proposed
separate bills that would reinstate capital punishment, which was abolished by
the state Supreme Court in 2015. In a sharply divided 4-3 decision, the
majority opinion said the death penalty "no longer comports with contemporary
standards of decency and no longer serves any legitimate penological purpose."
Sampson disagrees. He has proposed bringing bring back the death penalty each
year since 2012, when lawmakers and the governor approved eliminating capital
punishment, but only for future crimes. That law was ruled unconstitutional by
the 2015 Supreme Court decision, which said it must apply to all death row
inmates.
"I believe that it's a mechanism to deter crime and there are crimes so heinous
they deserve the death penalty," Sampson said.
Sampson cited the 2007 home invasion murders in Cheshire, where 2 paroled
burglars killed a woman and her 2 daughters after terrorizing the family for
hours. Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters, 11-year-old Michaela and
17-year-old Hayley, died. Hawke-Petit's husband, Dr. William Petit, was badly
wounded but survived. The 2 killers were sentenced to death, but the sentences
were changed to life in prison without release after the Supreme Court
decision.
Petit, a Republican, was elected to the state House of Representatives in
November and has criticized the repeal of the state's death penalty. But he has
said he has no plans to join any efforts to reinstate capital punishment.
Skulczyck, of Griswold, said he supports using capital punishment for "the most
serious murder offenses."
"A lawless society inspires a lack of respect for authority and devalues human
life," he said in a statement.
Vail did not respond to a message seeking comment.
Sampson said that while he doesn't expect his bill to pass, he is emboldened
because Republicans won enough state Senate seats in November to create a tie
with Democrats in the chamber - although Democratic Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman would
break any tie. Democrats hold a slim majority in the House.
Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy would not sign any legislation reinstating
capital punishment, spokesman Chris Collibee said.
"The governor has been very clear that he is opposed to the death penalty,"
Collibee said. "As people do begin to consider this piece of legislation, we
think it is wise to remember the decision issued by the state Supreme Court on
this very issue."
Legislation in at least 4 other states would either restore or expand the death
penalty: New Jersey, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and New Mexico, according to
the legislation tracking service LegiScan. Bills are pending in at least 8
states seeking to abolish capital punishment: Colorado, Missouri, Alabama,
Indiana, Washington, Arizona, Nebraska and Montana.
There is no death penalty in 19 states, while 31 states have capital
punishment, according to the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center. Of the
31 states, 4 have moratoriums on their death penalty laws.
(source: Associated Press)
SOUTH CAROLINA:
Could SC prosecutor be rethinking death penalty trial for Dylann Roof?
Prosecutor Scarlett Wilson of Charleston said she is weighing various choices
as she decides whether to pursue a state death penalty trial against convicted
Charleston church killer Dylann Roof.
More than a year ago, she announced she was pursuing the death penalty against
Roof, 22, a Columbia area, self-defined white supremacist.
But now that a federal jury has given Roof a death penalty sentence, is she
changing her mind about pursuing the same thing in state court?
"I have been discussing the options with the victims and victims' families,"
said Wilson, 9th Judicial Circuit solicitor, in response to an email query from
The State newspaper late last week.
Roof's court-appointed attorneys for the state trial, Ashley Pennington and
Bill McGuire, have told presiding state Judge J.C. Nicholson that Roof is
willing to plead guilty to murder charges in exchange for life in prison
without parole. As of yet, Wilson has not accepted that standing offer.
Meanwhile, Charleston lawyer Andy Savage, who represents a number of Roof's
victims' families, told The State his clients are in favor of allowing Roof to
plead guilty to murder charges in state court in exchange for an ironclad
agreement that he will never be paroled or be released from prison.
Savage said if Roof gets a life without parole sentence in state court, "he has
agreed to waive any appellate rights except he may challenge the competence of
his attorneys, a challenge that we believe would be unfounded. In return, he
has asked that he be confined exclusively in a federal prison for the remainder
of his life. That request is one we endorse."
Roof already said during his federal trial that he didn't trust his
court-appointed legal team. But he has not filed a formal complaint. And
although he has admitted the crime, on Friday he filed an appeal that could
lead to the overturning of some of his federal convictions and the death
sentence.
Should the federal conviction and sentence be overturned, a state plea deal or
a state conviction would keep Roof in prison regardless.
Roof was found guilty in December of killing nine African-American parishioners
at Emanuel AME Church in June 2015. The jury's death penalty decision in
January came after a high-profile trial that took place amid high security over
2 months.
Wilson said she's not necessarily in a hurry for a state trial. Nor is she
delaying a decision.
"I am not operating on a deadline except that I understand the importance to
the victims of having the state's cases resolved as expeditiously as possible,"
she said.
But she does have some questions she wants answered before she makes a
decision.
3 choices, but questions about death
Although Wilson had announced she was seeking the death penalty in September
2015, some 9 months elapsed before the federal government announced it would
seek a federal death penalty.
After that, various scheduling and procedural matters in both state and federal
court allowed federal prosecutors to leapfrog the state's death penalty
timetable and go 1st.
Now, with the federal trial out of the way, Wilson has 3 basic options:
-- To proceed with a state death penalty trial at the Charleston County
courthouse at a date to be set, but probably later this year. The courts have
the final say-so in scheduling the trial.
-- To dismiss the existing state death penalty indictments against Roof, a
process called nol pros, with an option to re-indict Roof anew in years to come
on death penalty charges if, in the federal court system, he eventually is
sentenced to life in prison.
-- To allow Roof to plead guilty in state court to the nine murders and settle
for sentences of life without parole for each of the murders. No matter what
happened to Roof in the federal system, he would always have a life without
patrol sentence hanging over his head in the S.C. prison system.
But Wilson also said she is a "looking to discuss with the new (President
Trump) administration in the Department of Justice their stance on the death
penalty."
It has been 14 years since the federal government executed anyone. Since the
federal death penalty law was enacted in 1988, only 3 people have been
executed. In a filing in state court last summer, Wilson said she has "no
confidence" the federal government would actually seek Roof's execution.
"While the prior Department of Justice (under President Obama) purportedly
supported the death penalty," Wilson said, "their refusal to follow through
with it (in other cases) was a concern of mine. I am hopeful that the new
Department of Justice administration is more committed to carrying out the
death penalty than the prior administration."
Wilson said she intends to speak with the Department of Justice once new
Attorney General Jeff Sessions and his team are in place.
Wilson also said she is seeking information from the S.C. Department of
Corrections regarding the status of the death penalty in South Carolina.
Is a death penalty really a death penalty?
South Carolina's last execution took place in 2011. There are about 40 inmates
on the state's death row, including 4 who have been there since the 1980s.
Those cases are in various stages of appeal. If an S.C. inmate's execution date
were to come due, the state would be unable to carry it out, says corrections
director Bryan Stirling.
Some drugs used in lethal injections have failed to kill quickly and, many have
argued, humanely. The subsequent lawsuits and publicity have made it impossible
for the state to obtain the toxic drugs, Stirling said.
Although Wilson did not discuss other considerations that might make her lean
toward a guilty plea, they no doubt include, 1st, the difficulty and
time-consuming process of choosing an impartial Charleston County jury and,
2nd, the emotional impact on victims' relatives of having another trial.
And, Wilson stressed, whatever she does, she must do nothing that would upset
Roof's current conviction and death sentence.
"My ultimate goal is to make sure we do nothing to interfere with their
(federal prosecutors') hard work and that our prosecution serves as a
meaningful insurance policy for their trial success," Wilson said.
(source: thestate.com)
FLORIDA:
Attorneys for serial killer Walls in court on Monday
Attorneys representing Frank Walls, an Okaloosa County serial killer who has
been on death row since 1988, will appear in court on Monday to schedule two
motions on their client's behalf.
The lawyers are seeking to have Walls' death sentence reviewed because he
didn't receive the jury consideration of "aggravating factors" that a 2016
Florida Supreme Court ruling entitles him to, said Assistant State Attorney
John Molchan, who will represent the First Judicial Circuit at the 9 a.m.
hearing.
In reviewing the case of Hurst vs. Florida, the Supreme Court ruled that before
a death penalty can be handed down a jury must agree unanimously that at least
1 aggravating factor - possession of a weapon during commission of the capital
crime, for instance - was present when the crime was committed.
The unanimous standard was not applied during Walls initial sentencing.
Molchan said when the motion citing the Hurst case is heard by Circuit Court
Judge William Stone the state will present the argument that the Supreme Court
decision does not apply retroactively past 2002.
"We have a lot of case law that says it's not retroactive," Molchan said.
Walls' attorneys' 2nd motion will state that an intellectual disability should
prevent him from being put to death.
This motion follows a U.S. Supreme Court determination that Florida acted
unconstitutionally by using a single "bright line" IQ score of 70 to determine
whether a killer could be put to death.
That opened the door for death row inmates with IQ's slightly higher than 70 to
present their case for intellectual disability, and the Florida Supreme Court
determined last year that Walls deserved a hearing on the matter. On Jan. 9, it
denied a state motion for reconsideration of the 2016 ruling.
Walls, a 1-time Ocean City resident who was sentenced to death in 1988 for 2
murders and later confessed to 3 more, has been determined to have an IQ of 72.
Molchan said he would be surprised if Walls was in Okaloosa County for the
Monday hearing, but he said he expects at some point he'll be brought back to
the county for a court appearance.
State Attorney Bill Eddins has said he expects the state to prevail in both of
the motions being scheduled Monday. These are the last motions Walls will be
entitled to file before a death warrant is signed in his case, Eddins said.
(source: nwfdailynews.com)
OHIO:
Prosecutor may seek death penalty in Ohio State student's death
Franklin County Prosecutor files motion to pursue death penalty against the
accused killer Golsby of murdering Ohio State student, Reagan Tokes.
The state has filed a motion to hold Brian Golsby without bond.
The Grove City Division of Police arrested the 29-year-old man after her body
was found following her disappearance on Wednesday.
Golsby was also charged with aggravated murder, aggravated robbery, kidnapping
and rape in connection with her homicide.
According to the Franklin County Prosecutor, those charges make the death
penalty for Golsby eligible under the Ohio Constitution.
Golsby was scheduled to appear in court on Monday, February 13.
(source: 10tv.com)
KANSAS:
Kansas bill would compensate wrongfully convicted people $80K per year, $1M for
death row
Legislation introduced in the Kansas Legislature would compensate wrongfully
convicted people $80,000 for each year they served in prison and $1 million if
they were on death row.
If it is signed into law, Senate Bill 125 would make Kansas - which currently
doesn't have a wrongful conviction compensation law - one of the most generous
states for exonerees. It will be discussed at a Senate Judiciary Committee
hearing Tuesday.
"It is a very strong bill and we look forward to working with the committee on
it," said Paul Cates, a spokesman for the Innocence Project.
To qualify for compensation, an exoneree must file a claim within 2 years of
his or her release showing they were convicted of a felony under state law,
served time in a Kansas prison, and were found to have not committed the crime.
It would exclude defendants who pleaded guilty or pleaded no contest to the
crime.
The Innocence Project would like to see that exemption removed. More than 10
percent of those exonerated by DNA testing had previously pleaded guilty to
crimes they didn???t commit, Cates said.
In addition to $80,000 per year served, exonerees would also receive the costs
of their civil lawsuit, including attorney fees. All payments would come out of
the state general fund.
Legislation introduced last year in the Kansas House offered dramatically
smaller payouts for exonerees: the federal minimum wage multiplied by 2,080, or
about $15,000 per year. That bill, House Bill 2611, died in the House Judiciary
Committee. It was introduced by former Rep. Ramon Gonzalez, R-Perry.
The most high-profile exoneration in the state in recent years was that of
Floyd Bledsoe, wrongfully convicted of killing Camille Arfmann in Oskloosa in
1999. He was sentenced to life in prison but released in December 2015 after
DNA results and suicide notes from his brother showcased his innocence.
Under the 2016 House bill, Bledsoe would have received $235,248. Under the 2017
Senate bill, he would be eligible for $1,248,000. Bledsoe said he was impressed
by the Senate bill and credited Gonzalez, a police chief and special
investigator who reexamined his wrongful conviction, with laying the groundwork
for it.
"In his defense, he just wanted to get something going. He said he didn't want
($235,248) to be the number, he just wanted to get something going," Bledsoe
said.
Tricia Bushnell, director of the Midwest Innocence Project and a former
attorney for Bledsoe, said MIP supports the Senate bill.
"It provides fair compensation for the wrongfully convicted," she said.
SB 125 also would turn over $5 million to the heirs of anyone wrongfully
executed in Kansas. It is highly unlikely that the provision will be necessary
anytime soon; Kansas hasn't executed an inmate since 1965.
The federal government and 32 states have wrongful conviction compensation laws
on the books. Kansas is one of the 18 that do not. The federal law, established
in 2004, compensates exonerees $50,000 for each year spent in federal prison,
plus up to $50,000 for each year spent on death row.
Texas, with its notorious tough-on-crime reputation, has the nation's most
generous compensation law. It pays a lump sum of $80,000 per year served, along
with lifetime annuity payments of $40,000 to $50,000 plus $25,000 for every
year that someone was wrongfully registered as a sex offender. As of mid-2016,
the state had paid $93 million to wrongfully convicted Texans.
In the absence of a compensation law, Kansas exonerees are still able to
receive compensation through civil lawsuits. Eddie Lowery was exonerated in
2003 after serving 9 years in prison for a rape and assault in Ogden that he
didn't commit. 7 years later, he won a $7.5 million settlement from Riley
County.
(source: cjonline.com)
NEW MEXICO:
Death penalty bill will be killed, and N.M. is better for it
Ron Keine, an innocent man who was sentenced to death in New Mexico because of
bad cops and perjured testimony, won???t have to return to the state to testify
against the bill to reinstate capital punishment.
Keine, an active Republican, stood ready to travel to New Mexico to try to
reason with Republican legislators who want to revive the death penalty. Now he
can save the airfare and stay at his home in suburban Detroit.
Every legislator knows that the surest bet in this year's session is that the
death penalty bill will die.
The proposal, House Bill 72, was scheduled to be heard on a recent Saturday,
when a big crowd would have turned out. But the sponsor postponed the hearing,
delaying the inevitable. As soon as the death penalty bill is called, majority
Democrats will kill it.
That's the wise decision. New Mexico is broke, barely able to provide money for
ordinary jury trials.
Death penalty cases are the most expensive part of the judicial system. And
states with capital punishment run the very real risk of executing innocent
people unless they can provide an adequate defense fund.
Even murder cases that seem clear-cut can result in wrongful convictions. Keine
knows this all too well.
He and 3 of his buddies were members of a motorcycle gang in the 1970s. They
became convenient targets for lazy investigators and prosecutors who wanted to
solve the high-profile murder of a university student in Bernalillo County.
Those in power cut corners to get the convictions. And they were as wrong as
they could be.
Keine and the other 3 defendants landed on death row. The state had to free
them after 17 months when its case, built on lies, was exposed by a Detroit
News investigation. Keine, 69, is the only 1 of the 4 who's still alive, a
flesh-and-blood reminder of the danger in believing that every criminal
investigation is done by the book.
Keine's wrongful conviction was one of many that caused me to oppose the death
penalty. But there was a time, after a friend of mine, Ray Garcia, was murdered
by a robber, that I wanted to see a death sentence carried out.
Ray, 26, was working the graveyard shift at the front desk of a hotel in
Colorado. A female co-worker had needed the night off, so Ray filled in for
her. He did favors for people all the time.
On that night in 1988, a gunman robbed the hotel. He forced Ray and the hotel's
unarmed security guard onto the floor, then shot them in the head
execution-style. Ray died instantly. Against all odds, the guard survived and
later identified the killer. It was a crime that shocked a city, and it met
every standard for a death penalty case.
Instead, the district attorney made a deal with the shooter, who pleaded guilty
to 1st-degree murder in return for a life sentence.
Later, the man who killed Ray was charged with 2 more murders, both committed
before the one at the hotel. The killer received the death penalty for 1 of
them.
Ray's parents felt no better when the killer went to death row. Nothing would
bring back their son. And the death sentence meant the killer's appeals would
drag on.
Years rolled by, and his death sentence was overturned. He's serving 2 terms of
life with the possibility of parole and one sentence of life without parole.
The killer, Ronald Lee White, now 61, contracted hepatitis and is so shriveled
that he no longer looks evil. He will die in prison.
Still, he's already outlived Ray by 29 years. Along with political posturing,
the reason there's a call for the death penalty in New Mexico is because of
criminals like White.
But the best evidence against the death penalty is Ron Keine. He and 155 other
innocent people have walked off death rows since 1963, all of them grateful
that truth finally set them free. Nobody knows how many other innocents still
sit in prison or have been executed.
In New Mexico, where money is scarce, the chances of errors in death penalty
cases would be greater than most places. The demise of the death penalty bill
will be the best outcome for a system that's supposed to provide justice for
all.
(source: santafenewmexican.com)
UTAH:
New poll shows large majority in Utah moving away from the death penalty
The Utah Justice Coalition is pleased to report the results of a new poll that
shows the changing attitudes toward the death penalty by Utah residents.
The results show that 64-percent of Utahns who were polled favor alternatives
to the death penalty for people convicted of murder.
The survey of 784 Utah voters by Public Policy Polling of Raleigh, North
Carolina took place January 13-15. Respondents were asked this question; "Of
the following list of choices, which punishment do you prefer for people
convicted of murder?"
Here is how they responded:
9% Life in prison with no possibility of parole
47% Life in prison with no possibility of parole and a requirement to work in
prison and pay restitution to the victims
8% life in prison with a possibility of parole after at least 40 years
29% The death penalty
6% not sure
"By giving people the full array of alternatives to the death penalty this poll
was able to find out how people in Utah really feel," said Kevin Greene,
Organizing Director of Utah Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty, a
project of the Utah Justice Coalition. "The death penalty is losing favor in
our state because it wastes tax dollars, is ineffective in stopping violent
crime, and risks possibly killing an innocent person, and none of those things
align with our conservative principles."
(source: utahpolicy.com)
IDAHO----female may face death penalty
Bingham County woman accused of 1st-degree murder for weekend homicide; Melonie
Smith could face death penalty
Bingham County authorities say they are investigating a weekend murder and have
a suspect in custody.
Melonie D. Smith, 48, of Bingham County, has been arrested on a charge of
1st-degree murder - the most severe homicide charge under Idaho criminal law.
If convicted authorities said she could face the death penalty.
The Bingham County Sheriff's Office says the murder occurred Saturday and Smith
was arrested and booked into Bingham County Jail early Sunday morning.
Authorities have confirmed that one person was killed but they have not yet
provided any information on the cause of death or where in Bingham County the
crime occurred. Authorities have not released the name of the victim or even
provided the person's gender and age.
The Sheriff's Office is investigating the case with help from the Blackfoot
police/Bingham County detective division.
The Sheriff's Office stated: "The location of the crime scene will not be
released at this time. The detectives division is still in the early stages of
the investigation so no further information will be released at this time."
(source: idahostatejournal.com)
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