April 2
FLORIDA:
Mariotti trial starts Monday for murder of Leesburg woman
It is just one of the death penalty "aggravator" categories that prosecutors
are listing in their case against a man charged with strangling Bernadine
Montgomery in her home in June 2016.
Whether David Mariotti, 35, is found guilty of 1st-degree murder in the trial
that begins Monday is up to the jury. But there is no doubt that the crime
itself - including the use of her stolen cards and car, stashing her body on a
couch for days and finally dumping her body in the woods - was heinous, and
worse. Another statutory aggravator listed by prosecutors is that at 84, she
was especially vulnerable.
For anyone who has elderly loved ones living alone, the crime was a nightmare
in the flesh. The fact that it happened in the quiet, established, tree-lined
Palmora Park neighborhood in Leesburg, made it even more disturbing.
These factors, and a surprising twist in the case, have defense and prosecuting
attorneys worried about pretrial publicity.
"We're going to have individual voir dire," Executive Assistant Public Defender
John Spivey said, referring to the questioning of prospective jurors. "We're
going to use 2 courtrooms." About 50 people will be in one courtroom while one
potential juror will be 1-on-1 with attorneys in the other to see if they know
anything about the case. The court sent out a letter to prospective jurors
warning them not to listen, watch or read any news accounts about the case. If
they pass that test, they will begin the lengthy process to see how they feel
about the death penalty. People who are biased in either category will be
excluded for cause. Then, the process begins to pick 12 jurors and a handful of
alternates, with each side limited to the number of "strikes' they utilize.
The selection process could take 3 days, Spivey said.
The twist in the case that has generated a lot of news coverage in the Daily
Commercial was Circuit Judge Don Briggs' suppression of a portion of Mariotti's
confession.
Spivey successfully argued that detectives were misstating the law, including
the penalties.
?...there are people who, like go to jail for manslaughter, they get 5 years,
you know," Detective James Dunagan said, misrepresenting the importance of
intent.M
"Hey, if they offered me 5 years for killing somebody, I'd take it, too,"
Spivey said. In fact, people can be charged with felony murder, even if they
are not the one who pulled the trigger, if someone dies during the commission
of a felony.
The judge ruled that jurors can still hear about Mariotti being in the house
when she was killed, and in helping hide her body.
That help allegedly came from his companion, Tracie Jo Naffziger. She will
testify against Mariotti.
Both sides have lined up insect experts to estimate the time of death, based on
evidence found on the couch. If it goes to the penalty phase, both sides will
present mental health experts.
New laws require juries to be unanimous in their death penalty recommendations,
which makes it harder for prosecutors to get a death sentence.
Assistant State Attorney Rich Buxman, who will be handling the case for the
state, declined to comment for this story.
(source: Daily Commercial)
ALABAMA----impending execution
Alabama Gives Walter Moody Execution Date of April 19, 2018
Walter Leroy Moody, Jr., is scheduled to be executed at 6 pm CDT, on Thursday,
April 19, 2018, at the Holeman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama.
83-year-old Walter is convicted of the murder of 58-year-old US Circuit Judge
Robert Smith Vance on December 16, 1989, in Alabama, and civil rights attorney
Robert E. Robinson on December 18, 1989, in Georgia. Walter has spent the last
20 years of his life on Alabama's death row.
In 1972, Walter Moody was convicted of possessing a pipe bomb and, when it
exploded, injuring his wife. He served 3 years in a federal prison before being
released. In 1985, Moody wanted to have his conviction overturned and, to that
end, bribed Julie Linn-West, an acquaintance, to say that she personally knew
someone else had placed the bomb in Moody's home in 1972. Julie's mother, Susan
Eckstrom would also become part of the scheme by agreeing to testify that Moody
was innocent.
Moody's attempts to have his conviction overturned were unsuccessful, as the
District Court for the Middle District of Georgia denied his petition and was
later affirmed by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.
In 1990, he learned that his connection to Julie and Susan was being
investigated. Moody attempted to continue to bribe Julie, and threatened to
harm her mother, Susan, if Julie were to cooperate with law enforcement. Julie,
however, had already agreed to help the government and recorded many of the
conversations that she had with Moody.
At the time, the government was also investigating Moody for the murder of
Judge Robert Dance of the Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit and for the
murder of Robert Robinson, a civil rights lawyer in Savannah, Georgia. Judge
Dance was murdered in his home on December 16, 1989, when he opened a plainly
wrapped, brown package. Inside was a pipe bomb filled with nails, which
exploded, killing him instantly and severely injuring his wife, Helen. Two days
later, on December 18, 1989, Robert Robinson was killed in nearly identical
circumstances in his home in Savannah, Georgia. In the following days, 2 other
bombs were discovered and defused - one in Georgia and one in Florida. The pipe
bombs were linked to the one for which Moody had previously been imprisoned,
and which conviction he was fighting.
Moody was arrested for the murders in 1991. He was 1st tried in federal court
for the murder of Robert Robinson, where Moody received seven consecutive life
without parole sentences. He was then tried in Alabama for the murder of Judge
Robert Vance, where he was sentenced to death.
Please pray for peace and healing for the families of Robert Vance and Robert
Robinson. Please pray for strength for the family of Walter Moody. Please pray
that if Walter is innocent, lacks the competency to be executed, or should not
be executed for any other reason, that evidence will be presented prior to his
execution. Please pray that Walter may come to find peace through a personal
relationship with Jesus Christ, if he has not already.
(source: theforgivenessfoundation.org)
******************
Man connvicted in 20-month-old stepdaughter's death
A man convicted in the 2015 death of his stepdaughter in Alabama could be
sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The Mobile County District Attorney's Office tells news outlets a jury
recommended the sentence for 27-year-old Christopher Knapp on Thursday. He was
found guilty of capital murder on Tuesday in the death of 20-month-old Dakota
Burke Everett.
County sheriff's Sgt. James Riddick testified in February 2015 the child was
hospitalized with a skull fracture, hemorrhaging in both eyes, a broken
clavicle, burns and other injuries.
The DA's office says a judge will consider the jury's recommendation but Knapp
could still get the death penalty. The DA's office tweeted formal sentencing
for Knapp is May 22. The toddler's mother, Summer Everett, is also charged with
capital murder.
(source: Associated Press)
OHIO:
Penalty phase to get under way in James D. Worley trial
The jury that convicted James D. Worley for the kidnapping and aggravated
murder of 20-year-old Sierah Joughin will decide this week if he spends the
rest of his life in prison or is put to death.
On Monday the case enters the penalty phase, which is expected to last several
days. Prosecutors will call witnesses to testify to the "aggravating
circumstances" related to the case, while the defense will call witnesses to
provide "mitigating factors," or reasons why Worley should not be given a death
sentence.
Worley, 58, was convicted Tuesday of 2 counts each of aggravated murder with
death penalty specifications, murder, abduction, felonious assault, and having
weapons under disability; 4 counts of kidnapping, and 1 count each of
possession of criminal tools, gross abuse of a corpse, and tampering with
evidence.
Mitigation testimony could include information about a defendant's upbringing
and background, mental capacity, substance abuse issues - anything that could
serve to humanize the defendant and mitigate the call for the death penalty.
"You will need to make a determination as to whether or not the state has
proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the aggravating factors outweigh any
mitigating factors," Fulton County Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey Robinson told
jurors after they returned the guilty verdicts. "If you do so, you will be
required to give the death sentence to the defendant."
If not, they can sentence him to life in prison without possibility of parole,
or life with the possibility of parole after 25 or 30 years, he said. It is the
only time in Ohio courts where a jury recommends the sentence, which must be
unanimous and ultimately will be imposed by the judge.
Ms. Joughin's uncle, Howard Ice, spoke on behalf of the family after the
verdict and said they were thankful the jury found Worley guilty on all counts.
"Our hope through this painful process was to find justice for Sierah," he
said. "Justice for her abduction and murder, justice for our family, justice
for the amazing community that so many of us live in."
Attorneys for both the prosecution and the defense declined to comment after
the verdict.
In late March, a Franklin County jury recommended Brian Golsby get life in
prison without parole after he was convicted of kidnapping, raping, and
murdering Ohio State student and Anthony Wayne High School graduate Reagan
Tokes in 2017.
The penalty phase in the Worley trial begins at 9 a.m. Monday.
(source: The Toledo Blade)
USA:
What to do with the elderly & dying on death row
The Supreme Court recently agreed to hear the case of a 67-year old death row
inmate whose dementia prevents him from remembering the crime that sentenced
him to death, the New York Times reports.
Why it matters: The Supreme Court has already ruled against the execution of
juveniles and the mentally ill, and now looks at the legality of executing the
elderly. Long legal processes and a lack of access to lethal drugs has drawn
out the time between sentencing and executions. By the time there's an
execution date, some prisons have found difficulty locating suitable veins in
aging inmates to inject the deadly chemicals. In many states, death row inmates
are more likely to die from natural causes than execution, according to the
Times.
(source: axios.com)
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