May 25
TEXAS:
Lawmakers to negotiate key death penalty provision
A bill that would prevent people with intellectual disabilities from being
sentenced to death, in the works since 2003, will go to negotiations after the
Senate removed a provision requiring a disability determination hearing before
the trial — a key piece to come into compliance with the U.S. Supreme Court.
Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, has been trying to pass a version of House
Bill 1139 since a year after the court first opposed the state’s methodology
for determining intellectual disability.
Then, in February, the court ruled that Bobby Moore, 59, was intellectually
disabled and ineligible to receive the death penalty for the fatal shooting of
a Houston store owner during a 1980 robbery. The House passed the bill 102-37.
However, the Senate removed the essential provision to bring the state in line
with the court. As originally written, the bill — the product of negotiations
between Thompson and district attorneys offices — mandated that a hearing to
determine whether a defendant has an intellectual disability would take place
at least 120 days before trial, in order to reduce instances in which
sentencing must be repeated if a defendant is given the death penalty but later
found to have an intellectual disability.
(source: Austin American-Statesman)
SOUTH CAROLINA:
SC may use firing squad as death penalty workaround
South Carolina lawmakers are considering legislation that would add firing
squads to the state's existing execution methods.
The House Criminal Laws subcommittee on Thursday approved a Senate proposal
that also changes South Carolina's default execution method to the electric
chair.
Lawmakers acted after prison officials told them they don't have the drugs
needed for lethal injection and don't know when they will be able to obtain
them.
Don Zelenka is South Carolina's deputy attorney general. He says 29 prisoners
are currently on death row.
The bill has passed the Senate.
South Carolina's last execution was in May 2011.
(source: Associated Press)
FLORIDA:
Group mourns first execution under Gov. DeSantis
About a dozen anti-death penalty advocates held a memorial service at the state
capitol for serial killer Bobby Long and his 10 victims Friday.
Long was executed Thursday and was the 1st inmate executed under Governor Ron
DeSantis.
Pastor Brant Copeland with First Presbyterian Church said he was disappointed
to see the new governor sign the death warrant.
“I am disappointed that Governor DeSantis has signed a warrant so soon after
taking office, but I am hopeful that if we can sit down with Governor DeSantis
and show him the evidence and appeal to his own humanity he might change his
mind about signing future warrants,” said Copeland.
28 inmates were executed under former Governor Rick Scott, the most of any
governor since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.
(source: WCTV TV news)
********
Here are the 46 men sent to death row by Tampa Bay area courts----From
execution-style killings to murder-for-hire plots, they are some of the most
heinous killers in Tampa Bay. Here are their crimes.
The Thursday night execution of Bobby Joe Long leaves 340 inmates on Florida’s
death row. 46 of those men were convicted in Tampa Bay area courts.
2 more who were convicted and sentenced to death for the beating death of a man
they lured to the woods off a dating site will soon join them.
Of those 46 men, many have been serving their sentences for more than 30 years.
Florida killings have even inspired a new Oxygen show called Florida Man,
highlighting murders in the state.
These men represent some of the most vicious killers in Tampa Bay history. From
execution-style killings, to murder-for-hire plots and no shortage of brutal,
hands-on killings that will give you chills, here is a county-by-county
breakdown of the 46 men Tampa Bay area courts have sentenced to die.
also, see:
https://www.tampabay.com/florida/2019/05/24/here-are-the-46-men-sent-to-death-row-by-tampa-bay-area-courts/
********************
State allowed to proceed with death penalty in Brucia case
Judy Cornett slipped her white Hyundai into a parking spot at the Sarasota
County Courthouse Friday afternoon, pulled out a black marker and wrote these
words on a piece of poster board:
“Death for Joe Smith.”
“It made me angry when I wrote that,” she said. “Those were my feelings and my
emotions.”
Cornett and a small group of 4 others — they call themselves “Predator Patrol”
— then attended a hearing in which a public defender presented a series of
motions as to why the state should not be allowed to seek the death penalty
against Joseph Smith for the brutal kidnapping and murder of 11-year-old Carlie
Brucia in 2004, a case that drew national attention after the abduction was
captured on camera at a Sarasota car wash.
Judge Charles Roberts denied each of the motions presented, paving the way for
the state to once again seek the death penalty against Smith at resentencing.
Smith was convicted of Brucia’s murder and sentenced to death by a 10-2 jury
vote. In 2018, the Florida Supreme Court ruled Smith was eligible for
resentencing as jury recommendations must be unanimous.
Assistant State Attorney Karen Fraivillig, the lead prosecutor for the case,
said it is possible Smith’s resentencing could take place sometime in October.
“He’s had ample notice since 2004 that the state would be seeking the death
penalty,” Fravilig said.
Smith waived his right to appear in court and was not present for Friday’s
hearing.
Assistant Public Defender Jerome Meisner argued several motions before Roberts
against the state seeking the death penalty, all of which were denied by the
judge.
Meisner argued the death penalty was unconstitutional on several fronts and
meets the definition of cruel and usual punishment.
Among Meisner’s arguments was that Smith suffers from severe depression and
bipolar disease — a diagnosis that came out during his trial — and that
condition should preclude him from the death penalty in the same way it does
someone who is insane, suffers from an intellectual disability or is a
juvenile.
“I couldn’t believe he filed a motion based on mental illness,” Cornett said.
“Obviously there was mental illness. He kidnapped her and killed her, didn’t
he? Mental illness is not a reason for him to live and for the victim to die.”
Cornett and four others drove to Sarasota from Tampa to be a voice for Carlie,
they said, while Lisa Stuby showed up from Bradenton. They sat in the back row
of the courtroom during the hearing and then stood outside with signs that
read: “Death for Joe Smith,” “Honk 4 Carlie,” “Carlie didn’t get a second
chance,” and “Carlie Brucia, we are your voice.”
With the occasional car honking as it drove by, Cornett said they were there
for all child murder victims in addition to Carlie.
“We’re not going to let them be forgotten,” she said. “We will continue be
their voice as long as I’m on this earth.”
Stuby grabbed Cornett’s hand.
“They didn’t ask to die,” she said.
A lady on the street then walked up to Cornett and said: “I just wanted to say
I support what you are doing for Carlie. There was a time in my life I didn’t
believe in the death penalty. I do now.”
Cornett said in the years since Brucia’s death there have been motorcycle
rallies in her honor, as well as for other child victims, and she goes to
Carlie’s memorial garden at Central Church of Christ in Sarasota to make sure
it is tended to.
She was an advocate for the late Susan Schorpen, Carlie’s mother. Cornett said
she was with Schorpen when she first saw autopsy photos of her daughter and
that Schoren lived at her house for 6 months in the aftermath of the murder.
She remembers picking her up off the floor after she would hyperventilate and
the nightmares she would have.
“How can you close your eyes at night without seeing your dead child?” Cornett
said. “How can you close your eyes without seeing the horrible, horrible
photos? How do you go on? Some people are forever broken after something like
this.”
Schorpen died on April 10, 2017 of a suspected drug overdose.
“It was inevitable,” Cornett said. “With the pain she lived with, it was
inevitable.”
The next event for Smith is a case management date on June 18. Cornett plans on
being there, likely with her markers and poster boards and anger.
“Carlie did not get a choice to live or die, so why should he, especially 15
years later?” Cornett said. “She was only 11 and was on her way home and this
bastard ended her life.”
(source: Sarasota Herald-Tribune)
ALABAMA----impending execution
Execution set for Alabama death row inmate Christopher Price
The execution for Christopher Price is scheduled for Thursday, May 30.
After avoiding execution earlier this year, death row inmate Christopher Price
is scheduled to be put to death next week.
According to the Alabama Department of Corrections, Price's execution is set
for 6 p.m. on Thursday, May 30 in Atmore.
Price was granted a stay last month, but by the time it was reversed, there
wasn't enough time to carry out the death before a warrant expired.
Price received the death penalty for the 1991 stabbing death of pastor Bill
Lynn.
(source: WVTM news)
*************************
Huntsville man found guilty in daughter’s murder----Francis has said he
accidentally fired his gun when his daughter tried to hug him while he was
cleaning the weapon.
Lionel Francis has been found guilty of capital murder in the May 2016 death of
his toddler.
Police say Francis got into a fight with the mother of his 20-month-old
daughter, Alexandria Francis, leading him to shooting the young girl in the
head. He was arrested and charged with capital murder.
Francis has said he accidentally fired his gun when his daughter tried to hug
him while he was cleaning the weapon.
Prosecutor, Tim Douthit, said when Francis shot the toddler in the head, it was
evil and not an an accident.
"The toughest part for me to get over and for the jury to get over was just the
acceptance that somebody could be so evil in this particular case," Douthit
said.
The jury deliberated for about 4 hours before returning their verdict that the
shooting was intentional. As Francis left court, he was emotionless and
shrugged his shoulders when WAAY 31 asked him about the jury's verdict.
Francis' sentencing hearing is scheduled for Tuesday. He will either be
sentenced to life in prison without parole or the death penalty. The state is
seeking the death penalty, but the defense is hoping for life in prison without
parole.
The jury will sit through a mini trial during the sentencing phase, and both
sides can call witnesses to the stand. Then, the jury will deliberate before
recommending a sentence to the judge.
In this case, the jury's decision is only a recommendation. The judge has the
final say. This isn't true for all death penalty cases in the state.
On Governor Kay Ivey's 1st day in office in 2017, she signed a bill that said a
judge can no longer overrule the jury and give someone the death penalty.
However, since Francis' case started before 2017, the judge has the option to
override the jury.
(source: WAAY news)
*********************
Bill would make murder of Ala. first responder capital offense
Lawmakers are working to pass a bill that would make murdering an on-duty first
responder a capital offense.
The bill, sponsored by Chris Sells, R-Auburn, includes emergency medical
personnel, law enforcement officers, firefighters, volunteer firefighters and
correctional officers at jails or prisons.
On Thursday, the Senate passed an amendment renaming the bill to honor slain
Auburn officer, William Buechner. The bill would be known as the William
Buechner Act.
The bill now heads back to the House for a final vote.
A person found guilty of a capital offense could receive the death penalty or
life in prison.
(source: WSFA news)
MISSISSIPPI:
Attorney calls for death penalty for former Oxford officer
An attorney representing the family of an Oxford woman killed Sunday wants the
former Oxford police officer charged with capital murder and to face the death
penalty.
Matthew Kinne, 38, is currently charged with murder in the shooting death of
Dominique Clayton, 32, who was found dead in her east Oxford home Sunday
afternoon. According to the family, she was shot in the back of the head.
“We feel she did not let him in,” said Grenada-based attorney Carlos Moore. “If
he burglarized the house, it shouldn’t be just murder. If the killing is done
in the commission of another felony, that’s capital murder.
“If they do charge him with capital murder and if he is convicted, I would
happily sit on the front row of his public death by firing squad. And
Mississippi does allow death by firing squad. Matthew Kinne needs to be held
accountable for what he did.”
Moore’s press conference on the Lafayette County Courthouse steps was just one
of the many changes in the case Friday.
Kinne, who was represented by public defender Tiffany Kilpatrick during
Wednesday’s initial appearance, hired Ashland-based attorney Tony Farese on
Friday. The same day, Third District Circuit Judge John Gregory took over the
case and ordered Kinne held without bond.
Moore said he was hired to look into all aspects of the case to insure the
family gets justice. He did not rule out a possible civil lawsuit against the
city of Oxford.
“If the city of Oxford was complicit or somehow enabled this to happen, through
policy or another way, we will hold them responsible,” Moore said.
After speaking with the family at length Friday, Moore confirmed that Clayton
and Kinne had been in a romantic relationship for around a year.
“This man supported her. He paid her rent and her car note, all the while
having a family of his own,” Moore said. “I have been told that she was trying
to leave him and she felt she was pregnant and told him so.”
While he does have some information, there are still questions. According to
Moore, some members of the Oxford Police Department initially told the family
that Clayton had committed suicide. He also wants to know if Kinne was on duty
when Clayton was killed.
Moore said he has spoken with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and
Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood about getting their help in the
investigation.
“I spoke to the Attorney General Jim Hood today and he will be getting involved
with this,” Moore said. “He (Hood) has been asked to help by an official in
Oxford.”
Under Mississippi Law, the Attorney General cannot take over or even look into
a local case own their own. They have to be asked by the local District
Attorney.
When asked Friday afternoon by the Daily Journal, Third Circuit Court District
Attorney Ben Creekmore said he has not asked the Attorney General’s Office for
any help on the case.
The evidence against Kinne will be presented to a grand jury, which could
upgrade the charges to capital murder. The actual trial is not expected to
happen before the summer of 2020.
(source: Daily Journal)
MICHIGAN:
Did you know Michigan was the 1st state to abolish the death penalty?
Did you know Michigan was the 1st state to abolish the death penalty?
In 1846, Michigan became the 1st state to outlaw the death penalty for all
crimes except treason, according to the Death Penalty Information Center .
The website says the state legislature voted to end capital punishment in 1846,
and the law went into effect the following year in 1847.
Treason remained a crime punishable by the death penalty in Michigan despite
the 1847 abolition, but no one was ever executed under that law.
Prior to the passage, "only 13 executions were carried out in Michigan's
history, just 6 of which occurred after Michigan officially became a territory
in 1805."
It was in 1962 that a constitutional convention passed a proposal to abolish
the death penalty for all crimes in the state by a 108 to 3 vote, according to
the site.
(source: WXYZ news)
NEBRASKA:
Sentencing bill, execution witness measure advanced from Judiciary Committee
The Judiciary Committee advanced a bill Thursday to the full Legislature that
would change sentencing rules to affect prison overcrowding.
It also sent out a bill (LB238) on an 8-0 vote that would require that two
members of the Legislature witness any execution from the time the condemned
prisoner enters the execution chamber to the time he or she is pronounced dead
or the execution is halted.
During that time, no one would be allowed to obstruct the view of any of the
witnesses to the execution process.
During the execution of Carey Dean Moore last summer, the first administration
of the death penalty in Nebraska in 20 years, witnesses were shielded from
viewing 14 minutes of the process. Death penalty observers said it hindered
transparency and true reporting of the effects of the drugs.
With the end of the session looming, the bills advanced Thursday would not be
debated until next year, but could be addressed early in the 2020 session. They
have no priority designation at this time. Both were introduced by Lincoln Sen.
Patty Pansing Brooks.
Proposed as the 1/3 rule sentencing bill (LB131), it would allow release of a
prisoner in 1/2 of the original term imposed by the court, if adopted as
amended by the committee Thursday.
For example, if an offender was sentenced to 50 years in prison, he or she
would get a minimum sentence of 25 years and be eligible for parole in 1/2 of
that lower sentence, or 12.5 years, and could be mandatorily released in 25
years.
It would give incentive for an inmate to get required programming and have good
conduct while in prison, said Judiciary Chairman Steve Lathrop.
"It certainly falls in the category of sentencing reform that would go quite a
ways in helping with overcrowding," he said.
The way it works now, he said, is that offenders often get a mandatory release
date and parole eligibility date that are so close they opt to serve a little
more time for the mandatory release to avoid parole.
A one-third sentencing rule was in effect in Nebraska from the early 1970s
until 1992. It would provide, if reinstituted, that a minimum term would not be
less than the statutory minimum or mandatory minimum, and not be more than
one-third of the statutory maximum.
When it was taken out of law, it was done so without a hearing or discussion on
the floor, Pansing Brooks said.
Since then, prison population has continued to rise, she said.
This is the 3rd time Pansing Brooks has introduced the bill. She first
introduced it in 2015, when it was opposed by the Attorney General's office and
prosecutors. At that time opponents said the Legislature needed to give a major
sentencing bill (LB605) time to reduce the prison population.
But LB605 hasn't reduced the population, and more recently the number of
Nebraska prisoners has gone up, she said.
Omaha Sen. Ernie Chambers explained that the repeal of the 1/3 rule was part of
an omnibus crime bill in 1992, and senators seldom read repealer clauses in
bills that include multiple pieces of legislation. It wasn't discovered for a
year, he said.
The bill, as amended, advanced from committee on a 7-1 vote, with Sen. Julie
Slama voting no. The committee also advanced a sentencing bill (LB132) on a 7-0
vote that eliminates mandatory minimum sentences for juveniles who are tried in
adult court.
(source: Lincoln Journal Star)
COLORADO:
Colorado man pleads not guilty to murdering fiancé with baseball bat
A Colorado man accused of bludgeoning his fiancé to death with a baseball bat
last year pleaded not guilty on Friday to murdering the young mother whose body
has yet to be found, a court official said.
Patrick Frazee, 33, was arraigned in Teller County District Court in Cripple
Creek, Colorado on charges stemming from the November disappearance and
presumed slaying of Kelsey Berreth, court spokesman Rob McCallum said in a
statement.
Frazee, who is accused of killing Berreth and then burning her body, has been
held without bond since his arrest in December. He pleaded not guilty before
District Court Judge Scott Sells to counts of 1st-degree murder, solicitation
to commit murder and tampering with a deceased human body.
The judge set an Oct. 28 trial date, McCallum said.
Frazee is represented by the public defender's office, which has a policy not
to comment on its cases outside of court.
If convicted of 1st-degree murder, Frazee faces a mandatory life sentence
without the possibility of parole, although he could face the death penalty.
District Attorney Dan May has not said whether his office will seek capital
punishment.
Berreth, 29, was last seen on Nov. 22 when a security camera captured her
entering a grocery store in the mountain town of Woodland Park, about 90 miles
southwest of Denver, where she lived with their 1-year-old daughter, Kaylee.
According to an arrest warrant affidavit, Frazee blindfolded Berreth inside her
townhouse, beat her on the head with a baseball bat, and then burned her body.
Searches of Frazee's ranch outside the town of Florissant and at a nearby
landfill failed to turn up the victim's remains, police said.
Krystal Kenney, an Idaho nurse with whom Frazee had a relationship, told
investigators Frazee tried to persuade her to kill Berreth but she refused, and
Frazee later told her how he carried out the crime, the affidavit said.
Investigators were led to Kenney by tracing cell phone calls between her and
Frazee. She pleaded guilty in February to evidence tampering, and as part of a
plea bargain, agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. A sentencing date for her
has not been set.
A judge has granted temporary custody of Kaylee to Berreth's parents, who have
filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Frazee in federal court in Denver. The
lawsuit claims Frazee murdered Berreth to get sole custody of the girl.
(source: Reuters)
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