[Deathpenalty] death penalty news-----TENN., ILL., CALIF., FLA., N.Y., USA
May 7 TENNESSEE: Judges turn down appeal by WorkmanSeparate stay still halts cop killer's execution Death row inmate Philip Workman's attempt to show he was wrongly convicted and therefore should not be executed has been rejected by a 3-judge panel of the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. In a separate plea, Workman got a stay of execution Friday from a federal district judge in Nashville. But the appeals court decision means that, if that judge's stay is lifted, Workman cannot fall back on this attempt to get the conviction thrown out, one of his lawyers said Sunday night. U.S. District Judge Todd Campbell delayed the Memphis inmate's execution, which had been scheduled for 1 a.m. Wednesday. Campbell ruled that Tennessee's new guidelines for executions could cause unconstitutional pain and suffering. Campbell's order expires May 14, when another court hearing on the method of execution is scheduled. The state is reviewing the order to decide whether to appeal it. Kelley Henry, Workman's lawyer, said she expects the attorney general to file the appeal this morning. Fraud claims are vague, panel rules In the court of appeals case, Workman's lawyers were trying to show he was falsely convicted of killing Memphis police Lt. Ronald Oliver in a shootout during a 1981 robbery of a fast-food restaurant. They argued that the conviction was based on perjured testimony and that the state withheld evidence that would have established Workman's innocence. In a 2-1 opinion filed Friday, the appeals panel ruled that Workman's claims of fraud by the Tennessee attorney general were vague and that he had little to no likelihood of success in showing the court abused its discretion. We're certainly disappointed, and we intend seek a review of that opinion with a full court, Henry said. Henry said she would file papers this morning asking the full appeals court to hear the case. In the decision, Senior Judge Eugene E. Siler Jr. wrote that because Workman testified at the trial that he killed Oliver, he cannot seriously contend that his allegations have any bearing on a claim of actual innocence. Workman claims Oliver was killed by other officers during the shootout. His lawyers also say that Harold Davis, who testified that he saw Workman shoot the policeman, has since recanted his testimony. Siler wrote that Workman has not shown that the testimony was materially false. He also cited the rejection of these claims by the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals. Workman had chosen to be executed by lethal injection, but his lawyers say the three-drug method can leave an inmate in pain but paralyzed. Gov. Phil Bredesen ordered a moratorium on executions after reports of botched lethal injections in Florida and California. He lifted the moratorium after state Correction Department officials rewrote the rules for lethal injections. Death penalty opponents say the new rules leave the state using the same drugs for executions. Neither of Friday's rulings is likely to be the end of the legal maneuvering. Workman has one more appeal pending with the 6th Circuit Court. That appeal, Henry said, is based on new scientific evidence of innocence. (source: The Tennessean) *** Let's set the record straight about the death penalty's effects I'm writing in response to Verna Wyatt's column Think about Victims when Decision Making. I would like to commend her on her passionate advocacy for victims' rights. Having lost my brother Timmy to murder, I understand Wyatt's outrage. However, I do not feel she speaks for myself or many murder victims' families. I have devoted a great deal of my academic and legal career studying the function of capital punishment system in our society. So I am concerned about Ms. Wyatt's column, because some of her statements are inaccurate. From 1966 to 1976, there were no executions in the United States. The death penalty was declared unconstitutional in 1972, but was reinstated in this country in 1976. From 1977 to 1991 there were 157 executions nationwide. Wyatt claims murder rates increased during the moratorium on the death penalty. But, the death penalty has not been proven to prevent murders. In a 2004 report on the cost and consequences of the death penalty, the Tennessee state comptroller stated, Previous research provides no clear indication whether the death penalty acts as a method of crime prevention (Tennessee's Death Penalty: Costs and Consequences, John G. Morgan, comptroller of the treasury, July 2004 at p. 41.) Furthermore, it is well documented that states that do not have the death penalty have consistently proved to have lower murder rates. Wyatt states that there has been no evidence that an innocent person has been executed since early 1900. Granted, it is difficult to prove that an innocent person has been executed because courts don't review cases after a defendant is dead. But the evidence is very strong, for example, that the following
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS----countdown to 400
May 7 TEXAS: Three (3) new execution dates have been set in Texas, and all should be considered serious: Kenneth Foster, for August 30; Clifford Kimmel, for September 20, and Heliberto Chi, for October 3. see the updated list below for the 14 impending/scheduled execution dates for Texas this year (thus far). ** 2007 Impending Texas Execution List: Name Date Texas # since 1982 # under Gov. Perry Jose Moreno May 10393 154 Charles Smith May 16394 155 Michael Griffith June 6395 156 Cathy Henderson June 13 396 157 Lionell Rodriguez June 20 397 158 Gilberto ReyesJune 21 398 159 Patrick KnightJune 26 399 160 Rolando Ruiz July 10 400 161 Lonnie JohnsonJuly 24 401 162 Kenneth Parr August 15 402 163 Johnny Conner August 22 403 164 Kenneth FosterAugust 30 404 165 Clifford Kimmel September 20 405 166 Heliberto Chi October 3 406 167
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, N.Y., ARIZ., LA., N.C.
May 7 TEXAS: Executions on the upswing At a time when execution chambers across the country sit unusually idle, Texas is putting more Bexar County murderers to death than ever before. This week's execution of a kidnapper who shot his victim over an open grave will be the year's 4th for a local killer, matching the county's previous record set in 1998. By 2007's end, the total is expected to reach twice as high. The 5th, 6th and 7th are already scheduled and an 8th may soon follow, pushing the number well above the 0.5 executions the county has averaged annually since Texas introduced the electric chair in 1924. The spike appears especially pronounced because, for the moment, San Antonio's share of executions rivals the rest of the country's outside Texas. Only four executions have occurred outside Texas so far this year. Identifying all the dynamics that drive execution rates is difficult if not impossible, but the work of 2 local lawyers at opposite ends of the process helps explain this year's burst of Bexar County retribution. All but 2 of the cases originated during Steve Hilbig's tenure as district attorney in the 1990s, when local homicide rates peaked and then dropped sharply. Hilbig's 2 terms yielded 22 death penalties, according to state records, a 57 % climb over the same previous span. At one point, his staff obtained 3 separate death sentences within 6 days. Was there a conscious effort to use the death penalty? The answer is no, recalled Hilbig, now an appeals court judge. But I was certainly aware it was there and we used it in appropriate cases. As the convicts appealed, they bumped into federal and state laws enacted in the mid-1990s. Designed to speed up executions, the new rules limited claims death row inmates could file and almost certainly contributed to Bexar County's current spate of execution dates. Eventually, the inmates' appeals reached the windowless office of Yogi McKelvey, a staff attorney in the local federal courthouse and a walking encyclopedia of San Antonio's capital crimes. 5 years ago, McKelvey started working full-time with the federal judges to review the death penalty challenges that are measured by the box load. The first year, the lawyer waded into the cases that could be stacked 3 crates high. By 2002's end, only one was ready for a judge to decide, but the pace soon quickened. With McKelvey's help, the judges completed 5 cases in 2003, 7 in 2004 and still more the next year. 2005 was without a doubt the busiest year we've had in terms of disposing of death penalty cases, he said. That year, the federal judges completed a dozen, including all but one of the local cases that are scheduled to end this year with lethal injections. Perhaps more than any other factor, this burst of productivity fixed the cases on similar timelines and set the stage for a cluster of executions. Next, the cases traveled in close succession to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. By early this year, they'd arrived at the end of the legal line, the U.S. Supreme Court. Typically, when the high court rejects a death penalty appeal from Bexar County, the state attorney general's office contacts local prosecutors. This year, the e-mails kept coming and the phone kept ringing. We've noticed in the past couple weeks that we've been getting calls from the attorney general's office saying: 'OK, this guy's done. Set an execution date. This guy's done. Get an execution date,' said Alan Battaglia, the Bexar County district attorney's chief of appeals. This flurry of execution dates would avenge a grim collection of robberies, gang violence, ransom demands and murder-for-hire that together claimed 11 victims. One victim, a 29-year-old USAA employee named Theresa Rodriguez, died in her driveway, shot by a hit man solicited by her husband. The triggerman, Rolando Ruiz, arrived on death row in 1995. Since then Rodriguez's father has waited while the convict challenged the adequacy of his defense. Whenever Texas executed inmates, Eddie Sanchez would notice the dates of their crimes. Often, he'd wonder why they'd reached the Huntsville gurney more quickly than his daughter's killer. A dozen years passed before the call came last month. Ruiz's final day had been scheduled for July 10. The date would add to the sudden increase in executions of inmates from Bexar County, but nothing about the pace of the actual sentence appeared abrupt or accelerated to Sanchez. It's a delayed justice, he said. (source: San Antonio Express-News) * Murder trial for Killeen man set to begin today The capital murder trial for a 22-year-old Killeen man accused of participating in the 2005 killing of a Fort Hood captain in his Harker Heights home begins today at the Bell County Justice Complex. Matthew Allen Harris is charged with capital murder in the June 3, 2005, death of Capt. Jason Luz Gonzalez. Harris has been in the Bell County Jail since June 20, 2005, on a
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----N.J., CALIF., USA, TENN., FLA.
May 7 NEW JERSEY: State Supreme Court upholds death penalty in Pleasantville robber-murder A divided state Supreme Court on Monday upheld the death sentence for a man who pleaded guilty to murdering a retired Pleasantville couple while robbing their home in 2001. Brian P. Wakefield, who admitted to stabbing, beating and then setting his victims afire before going on a shopping spree with their money, argued in his appeal that he was sentenced to death because prosecutors were allowed to provide inflammatory evidence to the jury. He argued that his guilty plea made such evidence unneeded. The majority of the court rejected his arguments, ruling that presenting the jury with Wakefield's statements to police was relevant because it could show whether the murders were intentional one of the aggravating factors that a death penalty jury must consider. Aggravating factors must outweigh mitigating factors to reach a death penalty verdict. In Wakefield's death penalty trial, his attorneys argued that his upbringing in a home rife with domestic violence, drug abuse and criminal behavior scarred him permanently. Wakefield, 29, is years away from any possible execution and has several avenues for appeals remaining. He remains on New Jersey's death row with 8 other men at New Jersey State Prison in Trenton. Meanwhile, the state Legislature is considering abolishing the death penalty and replacing it with life imprisonment without parole. The move has the support of Gov. Jon S. Corzine and his fellow Democrats who lead both houses of the Legislature. A lawyer for Wakefield, Robert A. Seelenfreund, of the state public defender's office, said they were disappointed with the ruling. We're certainly not ruling out any possible further appeals,'' Seelenfreund said. We'll discuss all options with him.'' The state attorney general's office said it was pleased with the decision, which was the mandatory review of Wakefield's 2004 trial. Wakefield pleaded guilty in the Jan. 18, 2001, slayings of Richard Hazard, 70, and Shirley Hazard, 65. The 4-2 ruling was written by Justice Roberto Rivera-Soto, who was joined by Chief Justice James R. Zazzali and Justice Jaynee LaVecchia. Justice Barry T. Albin filed a separate concurring opinion. Justices Virginia A. Long and John W. Wallace filed separate dissenting opinions. In dissent, Long found that the death penalty verdict should be vacated because other killers who had committed similar crimes got life sentences. Wakefield's crimes, execrable as they were, were in fact not 'worse' than those of his comparators and the personal stories of those in his group were not 'better' than his,'' Long wrote. Long also questioned if it was time for the state's highest court to reconsider the constitutionality of the death penalty. Noting that court approval 2 decades ago hinged on evolving standards of decency,'' Long pointed to eroding support for the sanction in polls, and recent findings by the Legislature's death penalty study commission. The state has not executed anyone since 1963. Long joined in the dissent written by Wallace, who found that numerous errors in the penalty phase deprived Wakefield of a fair trial. Those mistakes included the prosecutor casting unjustified aspersions on defense counsel and witnesses during the trial.'' The majority is convinced that the jury would have returned a verdict of death even if none of those errors occurred,'' Wallace wrote. I am not.'' (source: Associated Press) COLORADO: No death penalty in officer's slaying Backed by the widow of slain Colorado Springs police detective Jared Jensen, the 4th Judicial District Attorneys Office said Monday it will not seek the death penalty in his killing. Jereme Lamberth, 31, is charged with 1st-degree murder in the Feb. 22, 2006, shooting death of Jensen. The DA based the decision not to seek the death penalty in part on Lamberth scoring 69 on an IQ test. Anyone below 70 is considered mentally retarded, and Colorado law prohibits executing the mentally retarded. Prosecutors have said Jensen, 30, who was in plain clothes, attempted to arrest Lamberth at a bus stop near Memorial Park on an attempted murder warrant when he was fatally shot in the head. Lamberth has pleaded not guilty, and 4th Judicial District Judge Larry Schwartz set a Nov. 5 date for the estimated 2-week murder trial. Many in Colorado Springs assumed Lamberth would face the death penalty because he is charged with killing an on-duty police officer attempting to arrest him. District Attorney John Newsome's office's filing Monday listed the following reasons for the decision: * Colorado law forbids prosecutors from executing mentally retarded defendants. * Many members of the Jensen family were opposed to the death penalty for religious reasons, the brief states. Jensen's widow, Natalie Jensen, told Schwartz Monday the DAs decision Is what Jared would have wanted. * Colorado law states aggravating
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
May 7 CUBA: Cuban rights group speaks out against death penalty A leading Cuban human rights group on Monday urged governments around the world to petition Havana to spare the lives of army deserters who could face a firing squad for allegedly killing soldiers as they fled military bases. The statement by the non-governmental Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation referred to a deadly attempted hijacking at Havanas main airport last week, as well as a previously unreported December shootout and escape in eastern Cuba. Signed by veteran human rights activist Elizardo Sanchez, the statement noted that Cuban military law calls for capital punishment for deserters older than 20. The two cases of escaped soldiers involved 6 men, only two of whom were old enough to face a death penalty. The statement called on organizations and governments around the world to protest capital punishment in Cuba, where several dozen prisoners are on death row. The governments swift execution of 3 men convicted of hijacking a Havana passenger ferry in April 2003 - a case in which no one was killed - led to international protests, which were largely ignored by Cuban authorities. The government also almost always ignores what Sanchez says and refuses to legally recognize his committee. In the most recent case of desertion, 3 conscripts shot their way out of the Managua base southeast of the Cuban capital in late April, killing at least 1 soldier. They avoided capture until they allegedly commandeered a city bus before dawn Thursday, forced it to drive to the airport and loaded 8 of its passengers aboard an empty jetliner they demanded be flown to the United States. Officials say they shot and killed an army officer who had been on the bus before a gunbattle at the airport led to the capture of 2 of the escaped soldiers. The 3rd soldier was arrested earlier. It was unclear which of the 3 soldiers was 21. The earlier desertion came on Dec. 20, when 3 soldiers killed 2 Interior Ministry officials and made off with machine guns in fleeing El Manguito garrison near Santiago, 525 miles east of Havana, according to the committee. The suspects were captured a short distance away following an intense military operation, it added, saying only one of them was 21. Cubas government has not reported the incident. (source: Associated Press) SAUDI ARABIAexecutions Saudi beheads 2 Thais 2 Thai nationals were beheaded in the Saudi Arabian city of Al Dammam for drug smuggling. Saudi's official news agency (SPA) reported that the men had smuggled a large quantity of hashish into the kingdom inside a sportswear shipment. The executions, carried out on Monday, raise the number of people beheaded in the kingdom this year to 55. This is a big increase from 2006, which saw the execution of 37 people. Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking can all carry the death penalty in Saudi Arabia. (source: Gulf News)
