Feb. 25
KENTUCKY:
Prosecutors to seek death penalty for suspect in Lexington murder
The Commonwealth's Attorney Office in Lexington filed formal notice to seek the
death penalty against 1 of the 4 suspects charged in the murder of a Lexington
teenager.
Marquess Smith, Christopher Allen and Marique Sturgis all face murder, assault
and robbery charges. A fourth person, Rickey Auxier, has been charged with
robbery.
Prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty against Smith.
Lexington Police say the suspects shot Caleb Hallett, 18, on University Avenue
in January 2016.
The judge set a trial date for March 5. It's expected to last a month.
(source: WKYT news)
TENNESSEE:
Appeals court rules in favor of death row inmate in Memphis murder
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled in favor of Andrew Thomas
on Friday in his death penalty appeal in the 1997 killing of armored truck
guard James Day in Memphis, finding Thomas' prosecutor had a duty to disclose
that an important witness had been paid prior to the trial.
The judges keyed in on part of the case in which now-Shelby County District
Attorney General Amy Weirich, who prosecuted Thomas, questioned the witness,
Thomas' former girlfriend Angela Jackson. Jackson denied being paid:
"Have you collected one red cent for this?" Weirich asked Jackson, according to
a trial transcript.
"No, ma'am," Jackson replied. "I have not."
The judges said in the ruling that the prosecutor's failure to disclose the
evidence was "egregious."
"This is all made even worse by the fact that the prosecutor failed to correct
the record even after Jackson squarely denied receiving any 'reward' money in
exchange for her testimony against Thomas," the court said.
Thomas' primary claim was that the state violated his rights by suppressing
evidence that the Federal Bureau of Investigation paid Jackson $750 prior to
trial, according to the opinion delivered by Judge Gilbert S. Merritt and
joined by Judge Bernice B. Donald.
"We agree that the prosecutor had a duty to disclose this payment rather than
allow the witness to commit perjury by denying its existence, and we REVERSE
and REMAND the district court???s denial of the writ," the court said.
Judge Eugene E. Siler Jr. dissented.
Thomas was convicted in both the state and federal systems, and appealed both
cases. While he won the appeal in the state case, the Sixth Circuit on Friday
rejected his appeal arising from the federal prosecution. He is serving a life
sentence in the federal case.
"One factual difference between the 2 cases is important: Angela Jackson???s
testimony about her receipt of reward money in the federal case does not appear
to have been false since the payment in dispute was made after the conclusion
of the federal trial," the court said.
The cases were heard by a panel of Sixth Circuit judges and both sides can
appeal to the full court or to the United States Supreme Court, said Thomas'
attorney Robert Hutton.
The Safe Streets Task Force, a multiagency group of federal and state law
enforcement, investigated and assisted in the federal trial of Thomas, and a
member of the task force, Deputy U.S. Marshal Scott Sanders, requested the $750
payment, according to the court record.
Weirich said in a statement in November following a hearing in Thomas' appeal
that she didn't know about the $750 payment.
"As I said before, and as both the State Attorney General and U.S. Attorney
Stanton confirmed, we had no knowledge, no receipt or any other evidence of a
payment to the witness," Weirich said in a statement Friday. "Our files
contained no reference whatsoever to a payment made by the federal government
to the witness. The first we learned of this payment was 10 years after our
state court trial. This afternoon, I asked the State Attorney General's office
to appeal."
Prosecutor Jennifer Nichols was the 2nd chair prosecutor on the state case,
said DA's office spokesman Vince Higgins.
Thomas, who is incarcerated on death row at Riverbend Maximum Security
Institution in Nashville, said in a phone interview Friday that he is
"extremely" joyful about the decision in the death penalty case and that he has
avenues to pursue in the federal case.
"I have to continue my fight," he said.
The victim in the Thomas case was a Loomis-Fargo armored car courier who was
shot at lunchtime on April 21, 1997, at a Memphis Walgreens in the 4500 block
of Summer Avenue. Day survived the shooting, but died 2 1/2 years later on Oct.
2, 1999.
The court's ruling comes as Weirich is facing professional ethics charges by
the Tennessee Board of Professional responsibility alleging misconduct in a
separate case - the 2009 prosecution of Noura Jackson in the death of her
mother, Jennifer Jackson. A hearing is scheduled for March. That case involves
the prosecution's failure to turn over a witness statement to Jackson's
attorneys until after the trial.
In 2014, Weirich denied knowledge of an envelope in a separate murder trial in
the case of Vern Braswell. In that case, defense attorney Lauren Fuchs alleged
that a previous lawyer discovered an envelope marked with Weirich's initials
and "Do not show defense."
In the Thomas case, the Sixth Circuit's ruling focused on Thomas' right to a
fair trial.
"By focusing on the fairness of the defendant's trial, we protect his
constitutional right to present a complete and full-throated defense," the
court said. "As the Supreme Court noted in Brady: 'Society wins not only when
the guilty are convicted but when criminal trials are fair; our system of the
administration of justice suffers when any accused is treated unfairly.'"
(source: commercialappeal.com)
NEBRASKA:
Federal judge calls John Lotter???s death penalty challenge 'meritless'
A federal judge on Friday shot down a killer???s challenge to Nebraska's method
for determining death sentences, likening the attempt to a desperation play in
football.
A 3-judge panel sent John Lotter to death row in 1996 for his role in a 1993
triple murder near Humboldt that inspired the fictional film "Boys Don't Cry."
In Nebraska's system, juries decide a defendant's guilt in capital cases,
followed by a separate trial in which the same jury decides whether aggravating
favors exist to warrant a death sentence.
A 3-judge panel then convenes to weigh any mitigating factors in the
defendant's favor.
The judges also must determine if the death sentence is warranted and, if so,
whether it is proportionate to the penalty imposed in similar cases.
Lotter's attorneys argued that Nebraska's system is similar to one in Florida
that was found to be unconstitutional last year by the U.S. Supreme Court. They
sought to pursue a new argument that their client has a right to have jurors,
not judges, weigh his fate.
But U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf described Lotter's challenge as "meritless
and, perhaps, even frivolous" in an order he released Friday.
"While a 'Hail Mary' may work in football, it does not work here," Kopf wrote.
The judge also determined that the U.S. Supreme Court, in a related case, has
said decisions on death penalty sentencing schemes do not apply retroactively
to defendants whose sentences had previously been upheld on appeal. Such has
been the case with Lotter, whose death sentence has been affirmed repeatedly in
both federal and state courts.
In essence, Kopf said the high court's ruling in the Florida case does not
apply to Lotter.
Lotter has a similar death penalty challenge pending in Richardson County
District Court based upon the Florida decision.
Marvin Thomas Nissen and Lotter were convicted in the 1993 killings of Teena
Brandon, a transgender person who went by the name Brandon. They sought to
silence Brandon after he reported to authorities that he was raped by the men,
who were upset upon learning his biological gender. They also killed 2 others
at a rental house where Brandon was staying: Lisa Lambert, 24, and Phillip
DeVine, 22.
Nissen was sentenced to life in prison after he provided testimony for the
state at Lotter's trial. Nissen has subsequently said he fired the handgun that
killed all 3 victims but lied on the witness stand when he told jurors that
Lotter was the gunman.
(source: Omaha World-Herald)
NEVADA:
Judge finds Javier Righetti mentally capable to face death penalty
She sees a monster in a quiet courtroom. Sometimes he turns around and looks
into her eyes.
In the past 5 1/2 years, as she waits to learn his fate, Megan Otremba has
exchanged glances with the man who confessed to raping, killing and mutilating
her older sister and best friend, 15-year-old Alyssa Otremba.
"I see someone who doesn't respect human life," Megan Otremba said. "And I see
someone who didn't even think about the consequences of his actions. He didn't
think about any of it. Yeah, I see a monster."
Megan and her parents, Jennifer and Scott, are in court for nearly all of
Javier Righetti's appearances, steps away from the shackled defendant.
"He knows who we are," Jennifer Otremba said. "And I want him to see what he
took."
On Thursday, a judge decided that the 24-year-old Righetti is mentally capable
of facing the death penalty. If sent to Nevada's death row, he would be the
youngest man in one of the solitary cells in upstate Ely, isolated 23 hours
every day.
The Otrembas think it's a fair penalty, although they would respect a jury's
decision.
"He didn't consider her life," Jennifer Otremba said after the judge's ruling.
"We've been fighting for justice for her."
The defendant is scheduled to go to trial on a murder charge March 6.
After a day and a half of testimony from psychologists, District Judge Michelle
Leavitt ruled that Righetti does not suffer from an intellectual disability and
that he is eligible to receive capital punishment.
A year ago, Righetti pleaded guilty to 10 counts, including murder with a
deadly weapon, 1st-degree kidnapping and sexual assault with a child in
Alyssa's September 2011 death.
His plea to 9 counts stands, but the Nevada Supreme Court last week upheld a
lower court decision rejecting a plea on the murder charge.
On that count, the plea lacked an admission that the killing was premeditated,
which prosecutors said should have been included. Such an admission allows
prosecutors to ask a jury to consider more factors regarding the severity of
the crime when weighing Righetti's sentence.
Alyssa was attacked on the Friday that ended her first week at Arbor View High
School, less than 100 yards from her family's home on Satin Carnation Lane.
Righetti had stalked the girl for more than half a mile before forcing her into
a nearby wash, according to court documents.
He later confessed to Las Vegas police that after raping Alyssa, he tortured
her by using a knife to stab her more than 80 times in the face and other body
parts, according to authorities. He carved the initials "LV" on the freshman's
body because he felt it was "gangster" and returned later to burn the body,
authorities said.
During this week's proceedings, Deputy Public Defender Christy Craig told
Leavitt that the accepted plea forces a nearly impossible defense for Righetti
at trial. Jurors are expected to decide on the murder count without knowing
about his plea.
*************************
Proposed bill would abolish death penalty in Nevada
There hasn't been a state execution in Nevada for more than a decade, and 2 Las
Vegas legislators want to abolish the death penalty.
Las Vegas Assemblyman James Ohrenschall and state Sen. Tick Segerblom today
sponsored a bill to abolish capital punishment.
The bill, AB237, would convert the sentence of an estimated 80 inmates on death
row to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The state recently completed an $860,000 death chamber at the state prison in
Ely. But officials haven't been able to secure the drugs needed to carry out a
lethal injection.
The last person executed in Nevada was Daryl Mack, who was convicted of the
murder of a Reno woman. The execution was carried out on April 26, 2006, at the
now-closed Nevada State Prison in Carson City.
(source for both: Las Vegas Sun)
OREGON:
Pastors get reminder on death penalty
Oregon's Catholic pastors are about to be reminded that Archbishop Alexander
Sample issued a strong statement Nov. 23 in opposition to capital punishment.
Oregonians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, a group seeking to overturn
Oregon's law allowing executions, will send the reminder in hope that the
message will get out to more of the state's 431,000 Catholics.
"I want to write to each pastor encouraging them to look at the statement and
asking them to engage in some efforts to energize and mobilize Catholics to
take action," says Ron Steiner, a member of Queen of Peace Parish in Salem who
leads the anti-death penalty group.
"We have matured in our respect for life and human dignity," wrote the
archbishop, who frequently visits prison inmates, including those on death row.
"There can be no place for the death penalty in a developed society such as
ours because it is not necessary for us to use capital punishment to protect
ourselves from harm," the archbishop wrote, echoing statements from St. John
Paul II. The archbishop cited the 156 overturned death sentences in the United
States and the high cost that takes funds from "services that are
life-sustaining, not life-ending."
Gov. Kate Brown last fall extended a moratorium on the death penalty that had
been put into place by her predecessor, Gov. John Kitzhaber. Interviewed by
Oregon Public Broadcasting last month, Kitzhaber said that he had nightmares
after approving executions during earlier terms in office in the 1990s.
Meanwhile, a new report by Harvard Law School says that at least 2/3 of death
row prisoners in Oregon have mental or emotional impairments that might exempt
them from execution under federal law. The list of conditions in the Harvard
report includes mental illness, intellectual disability, brain damage and
severe childhood trauma. Others were under 21 when they committed their crimes.
"The report calls into question whether Oregon has met the constitutional
standard of limiting the death penalty to the most serious crimes and the most
culpable perpetrators," says Alice Lundell, spokeswoman for the Oregon Justice
Resource Center.
For opponents of executions, the study furthers the argument that Oregon's
death penalty is failed public policy. "Oregon and other death penalty states
continue to ignore the fact that many people with mental disabilities,
embroiled in the criminal justice system, end up on death row," says Steiner.
"While defenders of capital punishment say it is used for the 'worst of the
worst,' this study suggests strongly that the death penalty is
disproportionately handed out to the most severely disabled due to mental
impairments. There are alternatives that keep the public safe. There is no need
for us to use another violent act to show that we are tough of crime."
(source: Catholic Sentinel)
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