April 13
TENNESSEE:
Tennessee death row inmates bring legal challenge to U.S. Supreme Court
Death row inmates who challenged their method of death lost their case in
Tennessee, but that's not the end of it. The case is now headed to the United
States Supreme Court and could bring planned executions to a grinding halt.
Death row inmates challenged the state's lethal injection protocol in 2018,
arguing the three drug cocktail is inhumane.
The Tennessee Supreme Court threw out their objections, leading to the inmates
to the U.S. Supreme Court and an advocate, who might surprise you.
"This is our 1st such brief and we are excited to be a part of it," said Hannah
Cox.
Cox is with Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty.
Yes, conservatives -- who Cox admits traditionally support capital punishment.
"That's absolutely been the stereotype and it's been true for many years," said
Cox.
But she said that's changing. The group is siding with Donnie Johnson, who
killed his wife, and 22 other Tennessee death row inmates -- for the first time
taking their case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
"This is a great way to highlight how ridiculous the system has gotten," said
Cox.
"This is a fundamental fairness issue," added attorney Amy Rao Mohan.
She said it was wrong when late last year the state upheld the use of the
3-drug execution cocktail, which critics say can cause great pain.
Rao Mohan said key documents on other drugs and their manufacturers which the
state works with were redacted. As a result, inmates were not given the
opportunity to show there are more humane drug alternatives.
"When someone is fighting for their life they at least deserve a fair chance,"
said Rao Mohan.
The petitions were filed with the highest court, and if the case moves forward,
it could put executions in Tennessee back on hold for months if not years.
The U.S. Supreme Court will issue a ruling before Tennessee's next execution.
Donnie Johnson is scheduled to be executed next in Tennessee on May 16.
The state attorney general issued a response to the filings urging the high
court not to take the case and to affirm the actions of the Tennessee Supreme
Court.
(source: WTVF news)
NEBRASKA:
Aubrey Trail's attorney aims to discover if Pete Ricketts influenced decision
to seek death penalty
The attorney for accused murderer Aubrey Trail wants to discover whether Gov.
Pete Ricketts, a staunch supporter of capital punishment, had any influence on
the decision to seek the death penalty for Trail and his girlfriend.
Attorney Ben Murray, Trail’s court-appointed defense attorney, filed a motion
on Friday to discover “all communications” between the governor’s office and
attorneys with the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office, who are prosecuting
Trail and who decided to seek the death penalty.
Murray said that he is not alleging wrongdoing by the governor and only has
suspicion of his office’s involvement, but that any decision to seek the death
penalty must not be based on “improper influence or bias.”
“Seeking death on the basis of political or personal gain would constitute an
improper reason to seek the execution …” stated the motion.
“I feel like we have a right to know,” Murray said in a telephone interview.
“It’s too important not to find out if everything is on the up and up.”
The governor’s office spokesman, Taylor Gage, said that they do not comment on
pending litigation.
The discovery motion is another bizarre twist in an already bizarre case.
Trail, 52, and his girlfriend, Bailey Boswell, 25, are accused in the slaying
and dismemberment of Lincoln store clerk Sydney Loofe. Loofe, 24, disappeared
after arranging a date with Boswell via an Internet dating app, Tinder, on Nov.
15, 2017.
Trail and Boswell went on Facebook as a massive search was underway to find
Loofe to say they were not responsible. Weeks later, after they were arrested,
Trail called reporters to say he accidentally strangled Loofe to death during a
sexual fantasy. Boswell, according to Trail, was not there during the slaying,
but assisted in disposing of the body.
Last summer, the Attorney General’s Office announced that the death penalty
would be sought for both Trail and Boswell.
That was about 1½ years after Nebraskans voted to restore capital punishment in
Nebraska via a referendum that was backed by Ricketts financially and via his
public statements. The governor gave $300,000 toward the petition drive to put
the matter on the ballot; his father, TD Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts, gave
$100,000.
The initiative was launched after the Nebraska Legislature, in the spring of
2015, voted to abolish the death penalty over a veto from the Republican
governor.
Friday’s motion by Trail’s attorney stated that the “potential for improper
influence” from Ricketts was illustrated by his spending “substantial” personal
sums to support the effort to restore the death penalty, and because state
attorneys — rather than prosecutors from Saline County — chose to take over the
prosecution of Trail.
Trail, who shared an apartment in Wilber, Nebraska, with Boswell, is scheduled
to stand trial on June 17 at the Saline County Courthouse. Boswell’s trial is
scheduled to begin on Oct. 15.
(source: Omaha World-Herald)
NEVADA:
Despite costs and wrongful convictions, lawmakers OK with death penalty
Juan Melendez spent 17 years, eight months and one day on Florida’s death row
for a murder he didn’t commit.
It took years and several defense attorneys before evidence was discovered to
exonerate him, so Melendez sat alone in his prison cell waiting for the state
to kill him.
Death never came, but the constant dread it could arrive any moment can change
a man. For Melendez, those years transformed him into an activist seeking to
end capital punishment nationwide. “My dream, what I pray to God everyday
about, is that we can abolish the death penalty,” he said. “I am angry about
what happened to me. But I’m using my anger in a positive way.”
Standing in front of social work students at UNLV Wednesday, Melendez paced
back and forth throughout the classroom. Each word of his story was accompanied
by large hand gestures and animated body language. He didn’t just want students
to hear what he had to say, he wanted them to feel it.
Melendez is flying from city to city sharing his story, hoping to inspire
efforts to end the use of capital punishment — 20 states have abolished the
practice, but Nevada isn’t one of them. “The death penalty is flawed policy
that just creates collateral damage,” Melendez says. “It is a law made by, and
carried out by, humans. Humans make mistakes.”
Even as he was speaking, Nevada’s own effort to repeal capital punishment was
inching toward death. Earlier this week Assemblyman Ozzie Fumo told Nevada
Current he was informed his legislation to abolish the death penalty, Assembly
Bill 149, wouldn’t even get a committee hearing before the April 12 deadline.
Assembly Judiciary Committee Chair Steve Yeager declined to comment on why the
legislation wouldn’t get a hearing — a similar bill at least got a hearing in
2017 despite then Gov. Brian Sandoval being opposed to abolishing capital
punishment.
Gov. Steve Sisolak, who previously told The Nevada Independent that he opposes
the death penalty, declined to comment on the legislative process.
Sisolak’s office declined to respond when asked by the Current if he would
considered imposing gubernatorial moratoria, which has been implemented by
governors in three states to bar the practice of the death penalty.
State Sen. James Ohrenschall, who cosponsored AB 149 with Fumo, had a similarly
proposed Senate Bill 246. It is also not scheduled to get a hearing.
Attempts to contact Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizarro, who chairs the
Senate Judiciary Committee, were unsuccessful.
“I’m sure (lawmakers) would be happier if this went away quietly,” said Scott
Coffee, the deputy Clark County public defender. “But the death penalty is the
elephant in the room. We can’t ignore it.”
Of the 30 states that have capital punishment, Nevada is one of 11 to not use
it for more than a decade. There have been 1,493 executions during that time —
346 in Texas alone.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, 165 people have been
exonerated from death row over the same period. “It seems like a small number,
but that number should be zero when you’re dealing with life and death,”
Melendez says. The organization confirms one person in Nevada has been
exonerated from death row.
Growing doubts about the integrity of murder convictions, combined with more
awareness of racial bias that goes into imposing the death penalty, have led to
steadily declining public support for the practice over the years — the
exception being a slight uptick from 49 % in 2016 to 54 % in 2018.
Though Melendez would love to appeal to the better angels of politicians hoping
their moral compass will point them toward abolition, he said it’s the
associated financial burdens that are more likely to win them over.
Such data has failed to move Nevada lawmakers. A 2017 legislative audit found
it costs $500,000 more per case when the death penalty is sought, regardless of
outcome.
Asked by the Current if Sisolak was worried about the costs to taxpayers, his
office didn’t respond.
“Clark County is handing out (the death penalty) like it’s candy,” Coffee said.
“Nevada is a hotbed for capital punishment. Clark County has more capital cases
pending than any place in the country. There are 3,000 plus counties in the
United State and we are No. 1 per capita in pending capital cases. As we speak,
there are 60 people facing the death penalty.”
Coffee reiterated that each of these 60 cases comes with a half-million dollar
additional price tag. He estimates many of the cases will be reversed — for all
the people Nevada sentences to death, the state has only executed 12 people and
the last time was in 2006.
Essentially, he argued, taxpayers are paying for a practice that isn’t even
used.
Trying to execute someone on death row is just as costly. Attempts to hear the
bill come months after Scott Dozier, an inmate requesting to be put to death,
died by suicide.
Dozier was scheduled to be executed in 2017, but it was stalled due to legal
challenges surrounding the type of lethal injection drugs being.
Holly Welborn, the policy director with the ACLU of Nevada, said “until the
death penalty is repealed,” the state could be open to more costly lawsuits.
“If another person were to ‘volunteer,’ they could be opened to future
litigation,” she added.
Beyond costs, Melendez’s case highlights some of the worst practices in death
penalty cases. His conviction was secured through the testimony of a jailhouse
informant. It was also later discovered the attorney prosecuting him hid
evidence — a confession from the real killer — that would have exonerated him.
“Every state is always at risk of executing an innocent person,” he said. “We
can release innocent people. We can never, I repeat, we can never release an
innocent person who we’ve killed.”
Lawmakers are fine giving compensation for those who are wrongfully imprisoned,
as legislation to provide reparations for the exonerated, Assembly Bill 267,
passed out of committee. Legislators tearfully listened to DeMarlo Berry, who
sat in a Nevada prison 22 years for a crime he didn’t commit, and insisted on
justice.
But those prosecuting Berry initially wanted death — they settled for his
liberty. Berry could have easily been No. 166 in those exonerated from death
row.
Laura Martin, the executive director of the Progressive Leadership Alliance of
Nevada, added there are multiple pieces of legislation dealing with
exonerations and the guidelines of bringing new evidence — the same day
lawmakers heard Berry’s story, they were presented Assembly Bill 356, which
updates the process of how a person convicted of a crime can introduced new
evidence. “If you have to pass a law, then there might be people currently on
death row who have never seen the benefit of this law,” Martin said.
Along with arguments that capital punishment is cruel and unusual and doesn’t
deter crime, Martin said it simply doesn’t “belong in any civil society.” “I
don’t think any other Western nation does this,” she said.
Of all people able to abolish the death penalty, Martin thought it would have
been democratic lawmakers — who claim to be progressive, control both houses
and serve with a Democratic governor.
“We have a governor who is open about being deeply religious, but the
legislature can’t come through ,” Martin said.
(source: Nevada Current)
CALIFORNIA:
Hearing to be held to determine Norma Lopez's killer's death penalty
eligibility
A 42-year-old welder who kidnapped and killed a 17-year-old Moreno Valley girl
nearly 9 years ago will be judicially assessed to determine if he is mentally
deficient -- and therefore ineligible for the death penalty, a judge ruled
today.
A 5-woman, 7-man jury in Riverside last month recommended that Jesse Perez
Torres receive capital punishment for the July 15, 2010, slaying of Norma
Angelica Lopez.
During a pre-sentencing hearing Friday morning, Torres' attorneys presented
motions arguing that the defendant is ``intellectually disabled'' and should
receive an ``Atkins hearing'' to make a final determination.
The Atkins process, based on a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court decision, is intended to
determine whether a defendant has a cognitive disability. If so, the impaired
defendant cannot be sentenced to death because, per the Supreme Court, it would
be a violation of the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution, which bars cruel
and unusual punishment.
Riverside County Superior Court Judge Bernard Schwartz ruled the defense should
have an opportunity to present it case for deficiency, but not before a jury.
Schwartz will hear the matter in a bench trial this summer. He set a June 21
status conference at the Riverside Hall of Justice to discuss scheduling and
witnesses with the prosecution and defense.
The District Attorney's Office opposed the Atkins hearing and will argue that
Torres is of sound mind, and hence eligible for a death sentence.
If Schwartz rules there is evidence of mental impairment, the default sentence
for the defendant will be life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Torres is being held without bail at the Robert Presley Jail in Riverside.
The same jury that recommended death for the defendant convicted him of
1st-degree murder and a special circumstance allegation of killing in the
course of a kidnapping.
Deputy District Attorney Michael Kersse argued that Torres' ``brazen evilness''
and its impact on the victim's family, friends and community demanded that he
receive capital punishment.
The prosecutor pointed to a September 2011 attack on a homeless prostitute,
identified in court records only as Miss Rose, as a further example of the
defendant's ``hatred of women'' and ``evil heart.''
The woman was taken at knifepoint by Torres outside a Long Beach liquor store,
then driven to the defendant's home, where he bound and raped her, videotaping
and photographing the injurious assault, according to Kersse, who emphasized
the attack happened 14 months after Norma was kidnapped and killed.
"It tells you everything about what kind of man this is,'' Kersse said.
The prosecutor said jurors should consider the ``unimaginable situation'' that
defined the final hour of Norma's life.
"He wanted her for his evil sexual gratification,'' Kersse said.
"What mercy did he show her? What sympathy? None. Norma is dead and that
monster is not. And that's just wrong.''
Attorney Darryl Exum told jurors during the penalty trial that his client was
``not normal'' and that for him to ``to die in prison, never seeing the light
of freedom again,'' was punishment enough.
Trace DNA left all over Norma's clothing, purse and jewelry confirmed Torres
was her killer.
The county's chief pathologist, Dr. Mark Fajardo, testified that he could only
speculate as to exactly how the victim was killed, suggesting that
``strangulation or asphyxiation'' was possible.
Fajardo said the girl's remains were in a degraded state after being left in an
olive tree grove along Theodore Street, at the eastern edge of Moreno Valley,
amid sweltering heat. Her body was found on July 20, 2010.
The prosecution said Torres watched Norma from his then-residence at 13173
Creekside Way, observing whenever she left Valley View High School, where she
was taking a morning biology class for the summer.
Every day that she'd left the campus for several weeks, she had been with her
boyfriend. But on July 15, 2010, he was behind schedule, and she set off on her
own, heading across a field adjacent to Cottonwood Avenue, where Torres
followed her in his SUV, forcibly grabbing her and pulling her into the
vehicle, sealing her fate, according to prosecutors.
(source: KESQ news)
USA:
U.S. Attorney Barr authorizes pursuing death penalty against Chili’s murderer
Department has decided to pursue a death penalty case against Chili’s
restaurant killer William D. Wood Jr.
United States Attorney General William Barr has authorized and directed the
U.S. Attorney’s Office in Syracuse to pursue the death penalty against Wood,
the U.S. Attorney Office for the Northern District announced Friday afternoon.
Wood, 33, of Syracuse was indicted by a federal grand jury Feb.14 for crimes
resulting from the Sept. 15, 2018 armed robbery of Chili’s Bar and Grill in
Dewitt, and the murders of two employees committed during the course of that
robbery.
While the federal charges contained in that indictment carry a maximum sentence
of death, the death penalty could only be pursued if authorized by Barr.
This is a highly unusual move, said Richard Southwick, speaking for the U.S.
Attorney’s Office for the Northern District. Southwick said his office hasn’t
both sought and been authorized to seek the death penalty in a case for as long
as he can remember.
He said he couldn’t comment on why this specific case qualified for the death
penalty.
Wood has admitted in state court to killing the two men, pleading guilty to 10
charges in all. He’s scheduled to be sentenced Monday to life in state prison
without parole on the state charges.
The decision was announced by U.S. Attorney Grant C. Jaquith and John Devito,
special agent in charge of the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
Firearms and Explosives.
The federal death penalty was last considered in Central New York for David
Renz, who pleaded guilty to raping a 10-year-old girl and killing Liverpool
school librarian Lori Bresnahan after abducting them in the parking lot of
Great Northern Mall in Clay on March 14, 2013.
Federal officials in Washington, D.C. decided against seeking the death penalty
for Renz.
Renz was sent to state prison for life without a chance for parole.
Most death penalty convictions occur in state courts, according to the Death
Penalty Information Center.
There are currently 62 prisoners on federal death row compared to more than
2,500 on death row in states, according to the center.
Since the reinstatement of the federal death penalty in 1988, only 3 people
have been executed by the federal government, according to the Death Penalty
Information Center:
Louis Jones Jr.., March 18, 2003. Executed for the rape and murder of Pvt.
Tracie McBride, Texas
Juan Raul Garza, June 19, 2001. Executed for the murder of Thomas Albert Rumbo
and ordering the murders of seven other people in conjunction with a
drug-smuggling ring, Texas
Timothy McVeigh, June 11, 2001. Murder of 8 federal law enforcement officers
through the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, Oklahoma
(source: syracuse.com)
******************
Booker calls for death penalty repeal, opposes Justice Department opinion on
online gaming
Sen. Cory Booker, after recently applauding California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s
decision to halt executions, is calling for both states and the federal
government to abolish the death penalty.
Booker, in a brief phone interview with The Nevada Independent on Friday ahead
of a trip to the state next week as part of his 2020 presidential campaign,
called capital punishment a “final solution that is imperfect in its nature,”
noting that a number of death row inmates have been exonerated in recent years
by DNA evidence establishing their innocence and that such inmates are
disproportionately low income and people of color.
“On a federal level, on a state level, we should abolish the death penalty in
America,” Booker said. “We’re the only industrialized nation that still has the
death penalty.”
The New Jersey senator’s comments come the same day as Nevada’s
Democrat-controlled Legislature sent a bill proposing to abolish capital
punishment in the state to its grave. Death penalty opponents here have
expressed disappointment that Democrats, who control both the Legislature and
the governor’s mansion for the first time in 20 years, aren’t throwing their
political capital behind the issue this session.
(Gov. Steve Sisolak has said he believes the death penalty is appropriate in
only “very extreme” circumstances and had not indicated whether he would sign a
death penalty repeal into law.)
(source: thenevadaindependent.com)
_______________________________________________
A service courtesy of Washburn University School of Law www.washburnlaw.edu
DeathPenalty mailing list
DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu
http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty
Unsubscribe: http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/options/deathpenalty
