Feb. 28
TEXAS----new death sentence
Kountze man sentenced to death for killing girlfriend's toddler
A Hardin County jury on Tuesday handed down the state's 1st death sentence of
2018, deciding a Kountze man convicted of torturing and killing his
girlfriend's 4-year-old daughter is irredeemable and likely to commit future
violent crimes.
The jury deliberated for more than 3 hours before unanimously determining there
was no reason Jason Wade Delacerda, 40, should spend his life in prison instead
of being executed by lethal injection.
"What mitigates the horror that she lived in? What mitigates the pain she
suffered?" District Attorney David Sheffield asked during his closing
statements, holding up a picture of Breonna Nichole Loftin, who prosecutors
said was abused for weeks before she died.
He asked the jury to think about how they would explain to Breonna their
decision not to sentence him to death. "This is a wrong that we cannot turn
right for her," he said. "However, we can prevent 1 last death. We can prevent
the death of justice for her."
Defense attorneys James Makin and Ryan Gertz, attempting to save Delacerda's
life, argued Tuesday morning that he was unlikely to commit future violent acts
while in prison.
They provided the jury with more than 600 pages of records documenting his time
in the Hardin County Jail for the last 6 1/2 years and called Beaumont
psychiatrist Edward Gripon to testify that "in a prison setting, his risk of
future violence is low."
In his closing statement, Makin told the jury not to let Delacerda's son, who
testified Monday, live with the knowledge that he was part of the process that
killed his father.
His son was not in the courtroom Tuesday and did not speak during his testimony
about the punishment his father should receive.
"Your verdict says that, between life and death, Jason made the wrong choice,"
Gertz said, telling the jury that they could make the right choice instead.
"Some of you are people of faith," he said, and asked them to consider their
moral compass.
"This was, absolutely, a terrible tragedy. Nobody's condoning it, supporting
it, nobody likes it. But there's nothing we can do. There's not one thing you
can do in that room that fixes this for this little girl." he said.
Assistant District Attorney Bruce Hoffer, who was emotional as he addressed the
jury, said Delacerda would be a danger to other prisoners and has a history of
trouble, pointing to past misdemeanor convictions and a threat he allegedly
made to kill his parents in 1996.
"The facts of this case tell you Breonna went from being that loving little
child to laying on a gurney at the morgue because of moving in with him," he
said.
During his closing statement, Sheffield said Delacerda's son's testimony was
the "most compelling." He said Monday that his father punched, kicked, choked
and abused Breonna "all the time" the summer before she died, forcing her to
stand on bottlecaps all night and sit in bathtubs of ice for hours.
The 19-year-old said that while he and his brother visited their biological
father, he put pushpins in Breonna's face and fingers and paddled her so hard
she bruised and bled.
During his testimony, he said at first the 4-year-old cried, but then "she got
used to it."
Sheffield said visualizing and reliving the abuse was difficult, and it was
clear that it affected him as a then-12-year-old. "He's a victim, too. He
carries that with him all the time," he said.
Delacerda did not visibly react when the verdict was read.
Makin said afterward that he and Gertz told their client that the death penalty
was likely when they explained their strategy last week. They did not
cross-examine witnesses, make an opening statement or call any witnesses of
their own during the guilt/innocence phase, and objected to all evidence that
did not relate to the 24 to 48 hours before Breonna died. The judge's decision
to include that evidence will be targeted in their appeal, they've said.
As a death penalty case, it will go automatically to the Texas Court of
Criminal Appeals for review, and new counsel will be appointed.
Gertz said they have an appellate attorney in mind who they will request be
assigned to the case.
Breonna's mother, Amanda Guidry, is also charged with capital murder. She was
released on bond in 2014. Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty in her
case.
After Delacerda was sentenced, Hoffer praised Sheffield for deciding to seek
the death penalty in the case, as well as the District Attorney's Office and
Hardin County law enforcement for their work.
He said Breonna's family members who testified last week chose not to attend
the sentencing. "This was very hard, and everybody deals with things in
different ways," he said.
During his closing statement last week, before Delacerda was found guilty, he
showed a picture of Breonna to the jury and played a clip of a song from the
movie "Pitch Perfect," called "You're Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone."
He declined to comment on the decision last week, but said Tuesday that it was
inspired by the last words Breonna said to her grandmother, Wanda Bailey.
Bailey was not allowed to testify about that conversation, because it was ruled
hearsay, but Hoffer said Breonna was trying to tell Bailey goodbye.
"This case goes back 6 1/2 years," he said. "Everybody at that time knew this
case should end this way."
***********************
After claims of botched executions, Supreme Court turns down Texas lethal
injection case
The Supreme Court on Monday turned down a legal claim over the secrecy
surrounding Texas' lethal injection practices and the possibility that aging
death drugs could cause suffering.
"Texas' current drug supply is so old, using it to carry out executions amounts
to scientific experimentation, on human beings," said Maurie Levin, one of the
attorneys representing prisoners in the case. "Unfortunately, I expect we will
see increasingly problematic executions - which will only highlight, again, the
consequences of Texas' commitment to secrecy above all else."
The move comes weeks after attorneys in a separate case came forward with
claims of botched executions in which the prisoners allegedly seemed to suffer.
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice pushed back against those claims at
the time, and spokesman Jeremy Desel reiterated those objections Monday.
"Compounded pentobarbital has been used by the TDCJ for many years without
incident," he said. "The drugs are tested for potency and purity."
Attorneys originally filed the lethal injection suit in 2013, just weeks after
the state began using compounded pentobarbital as its death drug of choice. The
claim initially included three death row prisoners as plaintiffs, though one
has since been executed. Another, Thomas "Bart" Whitaker, was granted clemency
on Thursday, minutes before his scheduled execution.
But the day after the governor spared Whitaker, the Supreme Court discussed
whether to take up the case. On Monday morning, the justices turned it down
without comment.
The long-lived legal claim initially centered around the state's then-new
protocol. At first, a trial court dismissed the case because none of the three
plaintiffs had an execution date set, so the dispute was not "ripe," according
to court documents. An appellate court later reversed that, and the prisoners
revised their complaint to focus on an alleged lack of safeguards - including
drug testing and adherence to beyond use dates - and refusal to release certain
information about the protocols.
After what the prisoners' lawyers describe as "limited" discovery, Texas agreed
to do more testing before the men's executions - and a court eventually
dismissed the case, citing a 2-year statute of limitations. Though the suit was
filed far less than 2 years after the state changed its protocol, lawyers
wrangled over whether that was the appropriate start date.
But ultimately a higher court agreed with that dismissal, and now the Supreme
Court has declined to take it up.
Nearly 5 years after the case was first filed, just one of the men - Perry
Williams - is still on Texas death row.
The court's decision not to take up the case comes on the heels of another
failed legal claim surrounding lethal injection practices.
At the start of the month, hours before Dallas prisoner John Battaglia's
execution, Levin - along with defense attorneys Greg Gardner and Patrick McCann
- filed last-minute paperwork alleging the prior two executions had been
botched when the state used too-old drugs.
2 days earlier, witnesses said another executed Dallas prisoner, William
Rayford, appeared to be jerking in pain as he died. And in January,
Houston-area serial killer Anthony Shore said the drug burned, just before he
slipped out of consciousness.
Lawyers for Battaglia claimed that the apparent suffering may have stemmed from
a practice of extending expiration dates.
"We're starting to see the impact of the use of old drugs - we saw that in the
executions of Rayford and Shore," Levin said Monday. "And they're only getting
older so issues of accountability and transparency - neither of which Texas
appears interested in - will only increase over time."
(source for both: Houston Chronicle)
****************
3 Republicans vie for Texas Court of Criminal Appeals seat, replacing death
penalty critic----Judge Elsa Alcala of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals is a
zealous opinion writer and critic of death penalty law. But after 7 years on
the bench, she's stepping down. Here are the 3 Republicans who are vying for
her seat.
Elsa Alcala has made a name for herself on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
Last fiscal year, the Republican judge wrote by far more opinions than any of
the 8 other judges on the court, and she has become known during her nearly
7-year tenure for her fiery dissents criticizing the death penalty.
Now she's stepping down, and 3 Republican candidates want to take her seat on
the state's highest appellate court for criminal cases. With no Democrats
running for the position, the primary winner will almost certainly land a spot
on the court next January (1 Libertarian is also running).
Bexar County Assistant District Attorney Jay Brandon, District Judge Michelle
Slaughter of Galveston County and District Judge Dib Waldrip of Comal County
are fighting for the chance at the court. Their experience levels vary in terms
of criminal appellate, prosecutorial and defense work, but these races - which
generally bring in little campaign money and even less attention - are often
won on different terms.
Endorsements from conservative groups and how your name looks on the ballot can
be key factors in deciding a race. "Either [people] don't vote in the race, or
they vote based on familiar-sounding names," Alcala said. "It's not an educated
vote in many instances."
It's largely why she's leaving the court. Alcala was appointed to her position
in 2011 by former Gov. Rick Perry, then elected to a 6-year term the next year.
When she announced in 2016 that she wouldn't run again, she said a main reason
was the "random and unreliable" results in partisan judicial elections.
Jani Maselli Wood, a former Republican candidate for the court who handles
appellate cases for the Harris County Public Defender's Office, said Republican
voters will also head to the polls with sheets from conservative groups that
propose selections across the ballot. She added that Slaughter has gotten most
of those endorsements, including the backing of Empower Texans, Texas Right to
Life and numerous local Tea Party groups.
"She's the least qualified, but she's the farthest right," Wood said, noting
Slaughter's lack of criminal appellate experience.
Making life-or-death decisions
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals is the last resort for all criminal appeals
in the state, and it handles all death penalty reviews - where Judge Alcala's
absence will be felt the most.
She has written numerous opinions questioning the constitutionality of the
state's death penalty - including one from June 2016 where she mentioned it
might be time for the court to look at whether societal standards have evolved
past a point where capital punishment is acceptable.
Of the three candidates hoping to replace her, Waldrip appeared to venture the
closest to Alcala's sentiment, saying he believed in the death penalty but not
in the way it's currently implemented. He said that with costly, sometimes
decades-long appeals, the punishment is no longer a deterrent to would-be
murderers. A 19-year-old like the Parkland, Florida, school shooter, for
example, probably wouldn't view execution as a threat if he is on death row for
10 to 20 years beforehand.
"He's doubled his life span," Waldrip said. "I think the death penalty has to
have a broader, more beneficial societal effect, or we're not better than that
one individual who killed somebody else."
One way to do that, he said, would be for the Legislature to create a review
panel to look at evidence before a prosecutor could seek the death penalty.
That could give more credibility to death sentences and shorten appeals.
"We're spending millions and millions of dollars in post-conviction litigation
that we could be sending kids to college on," he said.
Waldrip and Brandon both said they were happy there have been fewer new death
sentences since the alternate punishment of life without parole became an
option in 2005, and Slaughter mentioned the option as a safeguard against the
death penalty. But she emphasized that changes to death penalty law need to
come from the Texas Legislature, not the courts.
"As a judge, it's not my place to change what the law is other than to maybe
suggest reforms or ideas that I may have to the legislators," Slaughter said.
"It's up to them whether the law actually changes."
Brandon also said judges are obligated to follow the law and that legally
imposed death sentences need to be upheld, but he agreed with Alcala that
constitutional arguments about racial biases and lengthy appeals should be
reviewed.
Experience
Alcala said ideally a Court of Criminal Appeals judge would have previous
experience working with criminal appeals, trial courts and the death penalty.
Wood, who also worked as an attorney for the appellate court in the 1990s, said
that because the court is so far removed from the petitioners, it's important
for judges to have represented a person in the law before. Otherwise, she said,
the cases can become faceless and easy to dehumanize.
Brandon, a 64-year-old assistant district attorney in Bexar County, led the
county's conviction integrity unit, which looks into possible wrongful
convictions. Before becoming a prosecutor, he was a private criminal defense
lawyer and served a short stint as a Court of Criminal Appeals briefing
attorney in the 1980s. He's the only candidate with defense experience, and he
has represented death row inmates in their appeals to the court.
Though he doesn't have any judicial experience, he said he was immersed in
reviewing petitions with the conviction integrity unit, similar to the
petitions the court reviews for appeals. His background has earned him
endorsements from the Houston Chronicle and Dallas Morning News editorial
boards.
"My whole career has kind of been aimed at serving on this court," Brandon
said.
Waldrip, 54, earned his law degree while working as a police officer in New
Braunfels, worked for lower Texas appeals courts and handled appellate cases as
the Comal County district attorney. He also has successfully tried more than
100 felony cases before a jury, he said, which he had to maintain in courts of
appeals.
"A criminal appeal is a review of the trial work of lawyers and judges -
neither of my opponents have ever done the trial work," he said.
Brandon's campaign website said when he first joined the district attorney's
office, he did "enough jury trials to know I could try a case," then moved onto
appellate work.
Brandon and Waldrip - both state-certified in criminal law - have criticized
Slaughter's lack of criminal appellate experience, but Slaughter, 43, pointed
out that she interned for a Texas appellate court in law school. She also noted
that she has presided over 100 felony criminal jury trials and has a wider
range of experience than her opponents. She previously worked with
international civil law firms covering complex issues in courts in Texas and
out of state, she said.
"Criminal law is actually very straightforward," she said. "Having had that
very complex legal experience, I think, is a huge benefit because it allows me
to really cut through to the key issues."
She mentioned the current criminal case against Attorney General Ken Paxton,
saying having a judge with civil experience on the court would help with the
complexities that have arisen with attorney fees and special prosecutors.
A changing court
Alcala is the only judge voluntarily leaving the Court of Criminal Appeals
after this election, but Presiding Judge Sharon Keller is up for re-election,
and her Republican primary opponent David Bridges has knocked her for ethical
controversies. Most famously, Keller rejected a 2007 final death penalty appeal
because it was filed a few minutes past the deadline, insisting "we close at
5." Keller said the controversy is behind her, and she has won re-election
since. Judge Barbara Hervey's term is also expiring, but the Republican is
running uncontested for re-election.
Alcala said with her leaving and 2 new judges who came to the court in 2017,
the bench is in a state of flux.
"I never know on any given case how it's going to come out," she said. "You
just got a lot of new judges who are trying to figure out where they're going
to land."
(source: The Texas Tribune)
NEW JERSEY:
Don't resurrect New Jersey's death penalty
Add 3 New Jersey legislators from the Jersey Shore to the list of public
officials who want to turn back the clock on crime and punishment.
Hoping to ride the wave of anguish over the school massacre in Parkland,
Florida, state Sen. Robert Singer and Assemblymen Ronald Dancer and Ned Thomson
are promoting bills that would invoke the death penalty for 5 specific kinds of
homicides.
It has been 55 years since anyone was executed in New Jersey. The last, Ralph
Hudson, was electrocuted in 1963 for stabbing his wife to death in an Atlantic
City restaurant. While several other murderers were subsequently sentenced to
death, all avoided execution due to drawn-out, expensive legal appeals. In
2007, Gov. Jon Corzine signed a law abolishing capital punishment in favor of
life imprisonment with no possibility of parole, making New Jersey the first
state to end the death penalty in more than 40 years.
The decision to end capital punishment was not made lightly. Public opinion at
the time narrowly supported the death penalty. And the votes in the Legislature
were relatively close (21-16 in the Senate, 42-36 in the Assembly). Supporters
of abolition didn't act solely on humanitarian grounds. A state commission
studying the issue said eliminating capital punishment would save money. The
cost of keeping inmates on death row at the time - there were 8 - was $72,602 a
year for each prisoner, compared to $40,121 a year to house, feed and entertain
the other inmates. Also, the cost of fighting the appeals for the limited
number of people sentenced to death, coupled with the futility of actually
carrying out an execution, made it foolhardy to keep the statute on the books.
However, the best argument against capital punishment was, and still is, its
lack of value as a deterrent. A poll of 500 police chiefs taken soon after New
Jersey voted to eliminate capital punishment ranked the death penalty last when
asked to name one area as "most important for reducing violent crime."
New Jersey is one of 18 states without the death penalty. But most of the
states that have it on the books rarely execute. Last year, only 8 of the 31
states with death penalties had any executions. And while the federal death
penalty was reinstated 30 years ago, only 3 federal inmates have been executed
since then. Over the past several years, it has fallen out of favor, and
rightly so. In addition to all the reasons New Jersey rejected it a decade ago,
the expanded use of DNA testing to reverse convictions for murder and other
violent crimes has given many lawmakers pause. The legal system is fallible.
Nonetheless, the most recent polling on capital punishment in New Jersey shows
continued support for it. 57 % favored it in a 2015 Fairleigh Dickinson
University PublicMind poll. But I suspect those numbers would change if New
Jersey actually started executing people again. An "eye for an eye" has broad
visceral appeal, particularly in the wake of terrorist attacks, mass school
shootings and horrendous sex crimes. But retribution should not be the basis
for public policy.
(source: Randy Bergmann, Asbury Park Press)
NEBRASKA:
Garcia death penalty hearing pushed to late May
A death penalty sentencing hearing has again been delayed for a former doctor
convicted of killing 4 people connected to an Omaha medical school.
A 3-judge panel had been set to hold the hearing in the case of Anthony Garcia
next month, but a judge has granted defense attorneys' request to push the
hearing to May 30 to give them more time to prepare.
The 3-judge panel will determine whether Garcia is sentenced to death or to
life in prison. He was convicted in 2016 of killing the 11-year-old son and a
housekeeper of Creighton University faculty member William Hunter in 2008, and
killing pathology doctor Roger Brumback and his wife in 2013.
Prosecutors say Garcia blamed Hunter and Brumback for his 2001 firing from
Creighton's pathology residency program..
(source: 1011now.com)
UTAH:
Religious leaders call for Utah to end the death penalty
Religious leaders joined together and wrote a letter to Gov. Gary R. Herbert
and Utah Legislators expressing their opposition to the death penalty.
Rep. Gage Froerer (Dist. 8) is sponsoring HB 369 Death Penalty Amendments,
which would prohibit the state from seeking the death penalty for aggravated
murder committed before May 8, 2018, unless the state filed the notice of
intent to seek the death penalty before May 8, 2018; and prohibits the state
from seeking the death penalty for aggravated murder committed after May 7,
2018.
35 priests and ecumenical leaders support this newly introduced legislation.
Bishop Oscar Solis of the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City additionally
supports the bill in the letter dated Feb. 14.
The faith leaders stated in the letter: "the antidote to violence is not more
violence. Capital punishment is of particular concern because it adopts the
moral calculus of the killer, who regards killing as an acceptable, even
necessary, means to an end. Reliance on the death penalty diminishes us and is
a sign of growing disrespect for human life."
The leaders represent Catholic, Episcopal, Baptist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, and
Unitarian congregants from St. George to Brigham City and Wendover to Vernal.
(source: KUTV news)
************************
New publication features Utah's true experts on the death penalty
A new booklet called "Voices of Utah," published by Utah Conservatives
Concerned About the Death Penalty, shares the stories of murder victims' family
members, law enforcement professionals, and conservative activists who support
ending the death penalty in Utah.
Those featured in the booklet - which can be downloaded at
http://utjc.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/VoicesFinal.pdf - believe the
justice system should respond to the needs of victims in a more helpful and
respectful way.
Former Utah Assistant Attorney General Creighton Horton provides the
introduction to the booklet, noting his years of work with law enforcement
officials and the families of murder victims. "Their voices should be heard and
considered by us all," he says, "and particularly by those in a position to
shape public policy in the future."
Layton resident Christine Stenquist's sister, Sunday Blombergh, was murdered in
2010. "We told the state that we didn't want the death penalty because we knew
that we'd spend decades reliving this tragedy," Stenquist says in the booklet.
"It has allowed our family to more easily heal and move on, without having to
continually see the faces and hear the names of those that took her from us."
Brett Tolman, former U.S. Attorney for Utah, explains: "It is precisely because
of my experiences as a federal prosecutor that I can no longer support the
death penalty." Tolman says that many of the families in cases in which he has
worked "have emphasized a lack of closure and futility in the application of
the death penalty."
The booklet also showcases the growing conservative opposition to the death
penalty in Utah.
"For a variety of reasons, it doesn't align with my conservative ideals," said
Heidi Balderree, a Republican grassroots activist and campaign manager from
Saratoga Springs. "The death penalty is insanely expensive, as many studies
have shown, and I believe taxpayer dollars can be more effectively spent within
the criminal justice system."
(source: uthapolicy.com)
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