[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----IND., MO., ARIZ., USA
Sept. 3 INDIANA: Judge to decide if Michael Overstreet is competent to be executed Convicted killer Michael Dean Overstreet is not competent to be executed under federal guidelines, a psychiatrist testified today during a hearing in St. Joseph Superior Court. Dr. Rahn Bailey was the 1st witness called by attorneys for Overstreet during a 4-day hearing that could determine whether Overstreet is the next person in Indiana to be executed. Overstreet was convicted of murder and sentenced to death in the 1997 in the murder and rape of Kelly Eckart, 18, of Boggstown. The Indiana Supreme Court last fall granted a request from Overstreet's attorneys for a hearing on whether he is competent to be executed. Attorneys for the state had opposed the request for the new hearing, and instead asked the court to set an execution date. In court documents, Overstreet's public defender Steve Schutte said mental health professionals have determined the convicted killer does not have, and does not have the ability to produce, a rational understanding of why the State of Indiana plans to execute him. The Eighth Amendment prohibits the state from executing a person who is deemed insane. Legal rulings addressing that threshold cite a person being unaware of the punishment they are about to suffer or why they are to suffer it and unable to understand the link between a crime and its punishment in a context far removed from reality, the court order explains. Testifying for the defense Tuesday, Bailey said he based his diagnosis and determination that Overstreet is not competent for execution on 3 face-to-face interviews with Overstreet in 2013 and by watching videos of interviews 2 other mental health professionals conducted with the death row inmate in August at the Michigan City Correctional Facility. Bailey said he also had reviewed older mental health records from Overstreet's time in prison and before his murder conviction. Overstreet has schizophrenia with paranoia, Bailey said, and suffers from delusions and hallucinations. The delusions include a belief that people are not who they appear and that he is influenced by the devil or some other source of evil. Overstreet's most serious delusion - and the one most important to the hearing - is that he is in a sort of coma, Bailey said, which Overstreet described as being already dead and like he is up in the air, looking down on himself. Overstreet thinks that after his execution, Bailey testified, that he will still function in a realm of life similar to what is commonly understood as living. Bailey called that remarkably inconsistent with the understanding of the finality of an execution. Bailey said Overstreet was not speaking metaphorically and repeated that same position on numerous occasions. Bailey said he does not believe Overstreet is attempting to fake symptoms and noted the prisoner is on mega doses of medications. If Overstreet did not have serious mental issues, Bailey said, those medications would physically incapacitate him. Overstreet sat quietly during the hearing, but did not seem intent on the testimony being given by Bailey. Wearing a red jail suit with MCC X-Row printed on the back, Overstreet rocked in his seat and bobbed and swayed his head throughout the hearing. During cross examination, deputy attorney general James Martin raised questions about Bailey's work in other death penalty evaluations and his findings in those cases. He also pointed out that much of the background Bailey had reviewed regarding Overstreet was old and came from sources hired by the defense. The hearing, which was moved to St. Joseph County due to this illness of the Johnson County judge who had presided over the case, opened with brief statements by Schutte and Martin. Schutte noted no mental health professional who has evaluated Overstreet has not agreed that he has a psychotic illness, although some disagree over the specific diagnosis and seriousness of that illness. The only question to be answered, Schutte said, is whether Overstreet grasps his fate and the rational connection between the crime he was convicted of and the punishment he now faces. Martin said the issue at hand is not to determine whether Overstreet is mentally ill - a point the state is not disputing. The question, he said, becomes whether that mental illness renders Mr. Overstreet incapable of understanding the sentence and its connection to his criminal conviction. Martin said the state's evidence will show that Overstreet is competent to face execution under federal standards. The hearing, which is scheduled to run through Friday, will include testimony from additional doctors and mental health professionals, including state witnesses expected to testify that Overstreet is competent to be executed. (source: Indianapolis Star) MISSOURI: Missouri Swore It Wouldn't Use A Controversial Execution
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, CONN., N.C., GA., LA., OHIO
Sept. 3 TEXAS: Suspect in Kaufman County slayings allegedly plotted 2 other deaths A former Kaufman County justice of the peace accused of murdering the Kaufman County district attorney, his wife and an assistant prosecutor last year was also plotting to kill 2 others - including the current district attorney - according to court documents filed Tuesday. Eric Lyle Williams, 47, is charged with capital murder in connection with the January 2013 fatal shooting of Kaufman County Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse, 57, near the courthouse. Authorities say 2 months later Williams gunned down District Attorney Mike McLelland, 63, and his wife, Cynthia, 65, in their home. Williams' wife, Kim, also has been charged with capital murder in the deaths. The latest court documents contend that Eric Williams conspired to kill Kaufman County District Attorney Erleigh Norville Wiley, who was appointed in April 2013. Eric Williams also conspired to kill former state District Judge Glen Ashworth, the documents allege. Wiley and Ashworth could not be reached for comment. The documents do not explain why prosecutors believe Williams wanted to kill Wiley and Ashworth. Wylie was a criminal court judge in Kaufman County before being appointed district attorney by Gov. Rick Perry. Williams was Ashworth's court coordinator for a time. The documents indicate Williams plotted to kill Ashworth as far back as 2005. Williams was initially arrested April 13, 2013, on a charge of making a terroristic threat after authorities said he emailed county officials threatening another attack. At the time, officials did not reveal who was threatened. He was later charged with capital murder in the slayings of the McLellands and Hasse. One of the documents filed Tuesday by special prosecutors Bill Wirskye and Toby Shook seems to indicate that they are likely to prosecute Williams at his December trial only in the slayings of Mike and Cynthia McLelland. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. Also on Tuesday, the defense filed a motion seeking to delay the trial. But Wirskye and Shook want state District Judge Mike Snipes to allow them to tell jurors, who will decide Williams' guilt or innocence, about the Hasse killing and about a 2012 theft case in Kaufman involving Williams that they believe ties him to both slain men. They say that proving their case involves showing Eric Williams was acting out a revenge plan against the 2 prosecutors. According to Wirskye, Williams had no motive to kill Cynthia McLelland except that she was at home with her husband. Eric Williams' attorney Matthew Seymour declined to comment about the filings. Only in rare circumstances are jurors told about a defendant's prior convictions or bad acts before the punishment phase of a trial. Prosecutors are expected to argue at a Sept. 12 hearing before Snipes that this should be one of the exceptions. The murder of a prosecutor is a rare event. When that prosecutor is murdered outside the courthouse, there is no shortage of suspects - including the likely list of defendants from the same murdered prosecutor's past docket, Wirskye wrote in the filing. When another prosecutor from the same office and his wife are then murdered only 2 months later, it is an unprecedented occurrence. ... The list of common defendants, consists of only one defendant - Eric Williams. Hasse and Mike McLelland tried only one case together - the hotly contested Eric Williams burglary case. During that trial, McLelland and Hasse portrayed Williams as a thief and a man with a violent streak. McLelland told the judge that Williams was bereft of honor. McLelland and Hasse pushed for prison time, but Williams got probation. More allegations The new court documents also allege: --Eric Williams sent a message to Crime Stoppers confessing to killing Mark Hasse and the McLellands. --Eric Williams rented a storage unit a month before Hasse was fatally shot. The unit was used to store getaway cars connected to both slayings. Eric Williams' home computer was also used to conduct Internet searches on Hasse and Mike McLelland. --On the day of the McLelland slayings, Eric Williams dumped a phone, a mask and 2 revolvers in Lake Tawakoni. The mask and 1 of the guns were used in Hasse's slaying, according to the court documents. --DNA evidence from earplugs found in the getaway car used in the Hasse slaying was linked to Eric Williams. --Cellphone records show both Eric and Kim Williams were near the area during the McLellands and Hasse slayings. --Kim Williams, who filed for divorce after their arrests and who has been cooperating with the investigation, is expected to testify for the state. (source: Dallas Morning News) CONNECTICUT: The Rev. Al Sharpton speaks against death penalty at Yale Among mostly Yale University undergraduate students, the Rev. Al Sharpton spoke Tuesday on how he is against the
