[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----PENN., OKLA., NEB., USA
June 20 PENNSYLVANIA: New attorney in 'Scotty' murder case The man allegedly at the center of the brutal murder of 3-year-old Scott McMillan has hired a new attorney to represent him in the death penalty case he faces, a move that is not expected to delay the eventual trial next year, according to those involved. Gary Lee Fellenbaum III appeared in Common Pleas Court Monday before Judge William P. Mahon to formally ask that the two members of the Chester County Public Defender's Office representing him be removed from the case and his new, private attorney, allowed to appear on his behalf. His new attorney, George Yacoubian of Philadelphia, entered his appearance on May 25. First Assistant Public Defender Nathan M. Schenker, who along with Assistant Public Defender Loreen Kemps had represented Fellenbaum since his arrest in November 2014, asked Mahon to formally allow them to withdraw as his attorneys. Mahon did so after asking Fellenbaum if that was what he wanted. Fellenbaum, 24, clean shaven and dressed in a black t-shirt and black pants, said it was. He did not elaborate on why he chose to switch attorneys. "Are you comfortable with this?" Mahon asked Fellenbaum. "Yes," the defendant answered. Afterwards, Fellenbaum was returned to Chester County Prison, where he has been held without bail since his arrest. Yacoubian declined comment outside the courtroom. Yacoubian, a former prosecutor who has represented clients such as the lead defendant in the so-called "Tacony House of Horrors" case in Philadelphia, and who was briefly mentioned as a possible representative of former television personality Don Tollefson, will now get all the discovery and defense related material that the Public Defender's Office has received in the intervening months since Fellenbaum's arrest. Yacoubian told Mahon that he would be prepared for a pre-trial conference to discuss scheduling later this summer, and that he expected to begin filing pre-trial motions on behalf of his client in September. Mahon asked if he would be ready to try to case in May 2017, and Yacoubian indicated that he would, absent any unforeseen issues arising. First Assistant Michael Noone, who is prosecuting the case with Deputy District Attorney Deborah Ryan of the DA???s Child Abuse Unit, asked whether Yacoubian was going to need assistance from a so-called mitigation counsel, who would handle the case if Fellenbaum is found guilty of 1st-degree murder and consequently faced a penalty phase in the trial. But Mahon said he did not expect that Yacoubian would have to answer that question. "I am not going to get in and micro-manage this case," the judge said. Scott McMillan was found unresponsive at the West Caln home that his mother, Jillian Tait, had beg sharing with Fellenbaum, her boyfriend, and his wife, Amber Fellenbaum, sometime in September 2014. She had 2 sons who lived with them, as well as Fellenbaum's child. Beginning in October, according to the allegations set forth in the case against the Fellenbaums and Tait, Gary Fellenbaum began physically abusing both the boys in October. The abuse included punches and beatings, but also whipping with a crudely fashioned "cat o'9 tails," and tying the boys to chairs or hanging them upside down by their feet. Allegedly Fellenbaum's beating of Scott McMillan escalated to the point where he could not hold down his food. Angered, Fellenbaum allegedly punched him in the face so hard he fell out of his chair, and later punched him in the stomach. The boy began vomiting and later passed out. Although Fellenbaum and Tait tried to revive him, they left him alone in a bedroom for several hours before finding him completely unresponsive. Both allegedly gave incriminating statements to police investigators after their arrests. In 2011, Yacoubian was hired to represent Linda Ann Weston, the alleged ringleader in the "Tacony House of Horrors" case. She was accused of a mountain of crimes, including 2 murders, kidnapping, racketeering, conspiracy, hate crimes, wire and mail fraud, sex trafficking and forced human labor. Authorities said Weston and four co-defendants lured and abused mentally disabled people and stole $212,000 in disability payments. 6 adults and 4 children were victimized between 2001 and October 2011 in Philadelphia, Texas, Virginia and Florida, prosecutors said. Weston and her co-defendants were arrested in October 2011, after Philadelphia police discovered 4 victims locked in the filthy basement of a Tacony apartment building. Yacoubian was removed from the case after it was transferred to federal court. At the time, the judge overseeing the trial decided that Yacoubian did not have enough experience with capital punishment cases in the federal system, according to news reports. Last week, the United Way of Chester County dedicated one of its "Born Learning" trail initiatives at the Struble Trail in
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
June 20 PHILIPPINES: Church: shun culture of death The incoming Duterte administration has promised a bloodbath in the war on drugs and criminality - but not if the Catholic Church can help it. Led by Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle, the Church released yesterday an "oratio imperata" or mandatory prayer for incoming government officials. It is contained in a pastoral letter that will be read in all churches around the country, calling on the faithful to value human life and shun a "culture of death." It was released as 7 more suspected drug dealers were gunned down by police yesterday, bringing the total body count since the election victory of Rodrigo Duterte to 42. The prayer will be recited during masses from June 21 to 29 or for 9 consecutive days before the country's newly elected leaders assume their posts on June 30. Apart from respect for life, the prayer also asks God to bless leaders with "true love for the poor and godly humility" and "passion for truth that liberates and integrity that inspires." It also prays for "sincere generosity and courageous simplicity of lifestyle" and "spirit of heroic sacrifice and unrelenting fortitude." "Loving God, look with favor on those who rule with authority over us. Through your loving hands, may prosperity and progress be achieved, may peace and harmony be assured, may freedom and justice be served and may this nation be healed and protected from harm through Christ your Son who is Lord ever and ever. Amen," read the prayer. The prayer was included in a circular distributed to the archdiocese's priests, chaplains, superiors of religious communities and Catholic schools. The prayer, available in English and Filipino, is also posted on the website of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP). Prior to the May 9 polls, leaders of the Catholic church found themselves in conflict with Duterte. The CBCP criticized Duterte over his plan to restore the death penalty in the country and his reputation as an alleged "punisher" or "killer" of criminals as a long-time mayor of Davao. It also blasted his policies perceived to be anti-life that were aired during the campaign. Days before the presidential poll, the CBCP even released a pastoral letter suggesting to its faithful not to vote for Duterte. Without naming names, the bishops urged Filipinos not to vote for "a candidate whose speech and actions, whose plans and projects show scant regard for the rights of all, [and] who has openly declared indifference if not dislike and disregard for the Church, especially her moral teachings." Duterte, for his part, retaliated and branded the Catholic Church as the "most hypocritical" institution in the country. Former CBCP president and retired Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas recently issued a statement in response to Duterte's tirades. "Mine is the silence of respect for those who consider us their enemies but whose good we truly pray for, and whose happiness we want to see unfold," the prelate said. (source: Philippine Star) Longer, stricter prison terms better than hanging, says Atienza How about a 40-year minimum prison term for hardened criminals instead of death by hanging? A prolife representative who is against the death penalty has proposed longer life sentences for heinous crime convicts as an alternative to the plan of President-elect Rodrigo Duterte to reinstate capital punishment. Buhay Rep. Lito Atienza has vowed to push for new legislation that would punish heinous crimes with a harsher form of lifelong incarceration, instead of death by hanging. "Our alternative is tantamount to locking up a convict and throwing away the key," said Atienza, who earlier backed Duterte's aggressive stance against crime but cautioned against the "reckless" revival of the death penalty. Under his proposal, those found guilty of grave crimes would receive a sentence called "qualified reclusion perpetua," which means the convicts will remain in prison for "an absolute minimum of 40 years," or until they reach the age of 70, whichever comes first, before becoming eligible for parole. "The problem with the death penalty is that it leaves no room for rectification. We cannot bring a dead convict back to life, even if another party later confesses to having committed the crime for which the [innocent man] had been wrongfully condemned," said Atienza, a former Manila mayor. He noted that the death penalty had long been abolished by 140 countries, including the Philippines, describing it as "a cruel and degrading punishment that violates the sanctity of human life." At present, the maximum penalty in the Revised Penal Code is "reclusion perpetua," or a simple life term, which actually means 30 to 40 years in prison, with the convict becoming eligible for conditional early release after serving half of the term, or after 15 to 20
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, MASS., N.C., FLA., ALA., CALIF.
June 20 TEXAS: In State with Most Executions, a Texas Republican Judge Questions Constitutionality of Death Penalty Texas' highest criminal court should consider whether the death penalty is being fairly applied and should still be constitutional, 1 of the 9 judges on the all-Republican court wrote in a dissenting opinion issued Wednesday. Judge Elsa Alcala, who was appointed to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in 2011 by then-Gov. Rick Perry, agreed with the court's decision to order a lower court to consider overturning the conviction of Julius Murphy, who was sentenced to death for the 1997 killing of 26-year-old Jason Erie. However, in a dissenting opinion she challenged the court's decision to reject, without elaboration, Murphy's lawyers' contention that "evolving standards of decency" show the death penalty should be deemed unconstitutional. "In my view, the Texas scheme has some serious deficiencies that have, in the past, caused me great concern about this form of punishment as it exists in Texas today," Alcala wrote. She wrote that the court has been ignoring similar claims from other inmates as a matter of routine without regard for "more current events," and said Murphy's appeal "has presented arguments that are worthy of this court's substantive review." The court historically has shown little sympathy for condemned inmates, although Alcala has been critical of some past rulings. It is the last state judicial stop for condemned prisoners in Texas, which executes more prisoners than any other state - 537 since 1982. In Murphy's case, the appeals court ordered the trial court to resolve Murphy's appeal and deliver its findings on challenges alleging that prosecutors improperly withheld evidence showing that two key witnesses were pressured into testifying against him and that one of the witnesses gave false testimony. Murphy's attorneys argued that the U.S. executes fewer people than it used to, that more states have decided to abolish or to not use the death penalty, and that delays in carrying out death sentences mean prisoners are kept in solitary confinement for excessive lengths of time, which amounts to cruel and unusual punishment. They also questioned whether race has resulted in a disproportionate number of minority inmates on death row. Murphy is black, like 44 % of the 246 Texas death row inmates. As of Jan. 1, 1,227 of the country's 2,943 condemned prisoners were black, or 42 % of them. Hispanics, meanwhile, make up 27 % of Texas' death row inmates and 13 % of the nation's. "Given both state and federal case law and the history of racial discrimination in this country, I have no doubt that race has been an improper consideration in particular death-penalty cases, and it is therefore proper to permit (Murphy) the opportunity to present evidence at a hearing about the specifics in his case," Alcala wrote. Murphy, 37, was convicted of killing Erie, who was attacked in September 1997 after his car broke down near his father's house in Texarkana. Murphy was scheduled to die last November but the appeals court gave him a reprieve. The same court stepped in to halt his scheduled lethal injection in 2006. Alcala was elected to a full 6-year term on the criminal appeals court in 2012. (source: Associated Press) MASSACHUSETTS: We need the death penalty How soon we forget. Another police officer was recently killed. Another horrible and needless tragedy. Another good man gone. Another criminal turned murderer. We need the death penalty as a deterrent. Prison time is too easy. It is time the public learned to respect the police and any directives they make. Incidents of police use of force would thus be avoided. The killing of an officer is the ultimate proof of lack of respect for all the police stand for which is law and order. Parents have a job to do and that is to teach moral standards, common decency and respect for authority. It is not the responsibility of the taxpayers. It is time for us to demand cooperation as required or face anarchy. It is time to stop retribution against the police for doing their jobs. They put their lives on the line to protect ours. It's time to ask if we are worthy of their sacrifices. Priscilla J. Ham Shrewsbury (source: Letter to the Editor, Worcester Telegram) NORTH CAROLINA: 4-year-old murder case slated for trial An Elizabeth City man accused of stabbing his former girlfriend to death at a local motel in 2012 is slated to go on trial - more than 4 years after he was initially charged in the crime. The state's capital murder case against Gerard La???Tea Patterson is scheduled for trial the week of Oct. 31, District Attorney Andrew Womble said in a recent email. Patterson, 28, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of 24-year-old Shawntae McPherson. Patterson is accused of stabbing McPherson to death with a knife in a motel room
