Sept. 24
OHIO:
Ohio bill puts limits on post-trial death penalty evidence
An Ohio Senate committee has voted to allow limits on the ability of condemned
killers to gather post-trial evidence in death penalty cases.
New language in the bill before the Senate Criminal Justice Committee allows
judges to deny requests for evidence gathering if it would annoy, embarrass or
unduly burden the person from whom the evidence is sought.
The Republican-controlled committee approved the change along party lines
Wednesday but did not vote on the overall bill itself.
Republican Sen. Bill Seitz of Cincinnati says the bill is still an improvement
over existing law which leaves the decision to allow post-trial evidence
gathering up to judges.
Kari Underwood of the Ohio Public Defender's Office says such evidence limits
are inappropriate in death penalty cases.
(source: Associated Press)
TENNESSEE:
Cellmate indicted in "Tattoo Eddie" slashing death
Notorious double-murderer Edward Leroy "Tattoo Eddie" Harris met his fate
behind bars, repeatedly slashed and stabbed with a prison-made shank wielded by
his cellmate, a Morgan County grand jury has determined.
Gregory Smith, 34, serving a life sentence for a 2004 Dickson County murder
conviction, has been indicted on a charge of 1st-degree murder.
Harris, 58, was serving concurrent life sentences for the murders nearly 30
years ago of 2 employees of the Rocky Top Village Inn in Gatlinburg who were
repeatedly stabbed and shot.
During the attack on him last March, Harris' aorta was slashed, and he bled to
death.
Harris and Smith were "confirmed members of security threat groups," according
to a news release from 9th Judicial District Attorney General Russell Johnson's
office. The release doesn't specify which groups.
Harris's stabbing occurred March 10 in a housing unit lobby at Morgan County
Correctional Complex, a state prison with about 2,400 inmates.
Tennessee Department of Correction video cameras captured the incident.
The Morgan County grand jury returned the indictment against Smith during its
Monday session. He remains in the prison.
Harris and 3 cohorts were charged with the killings on Sept. 13, 1986, of clerk
Melissa Hill, 21, and night guard Troy Valentine, 36. Each victim suffered
repeated stab wounds and gunshot wounds in a robbery that netted $413 and the
contents of Hill's purse. Harris was convicted in 1988.
Also convicted in separate trials were Kimberly Pelley and Joseph DeModica, of
Gwinett County, Ga. They received concurrent life sentences.
A 4th defendant, Rufus Doby, a female impersonator also known as Ashley
Silvers, pleaded guilty to 2nd-degree murder and received a 25-year prison
sentence.
A jury in the Harris trial originally imposed the death penalty. But the state
Court of Criminal Appeals reduced that punishment to life in prison without
parole.
The court opined the death penalty couldn't be imposed because Harris' IQ was
70. Under a change in the law, the death penalty isn't permitted when the
defendant has an IQ of 70 or lower.
(source: Knoxville News Sentinel)
*************
'Dead Man Walking' nun urges students to fight death penalty
Sister Helen Prejean could have been at the White House welcoming the pope.
Instead the nun famous for writing "Dead Man Walking" chose to spend her day
speaking to a group of Nashville college students about the death penalty.
Prejean has been the spiritual adviser to several death row prisoners, most
recently Oklahoma's Richard Glossip. His execution was halted just hours before
he was scheduled to die last week after a state appeals court agreed to hear
new evidence.
That chain of events was largely set in motion by Prejean, who believes Glossip
is innocent.
Prejean spoke Wednesday at Belmont University about the events in her life that
led her to become one of the country's foremost death penalty opponents. And
she urged the students to take a stand as well.
(source: Associated Press)
ILLINOIS:
IL Lawmakers propose to reinstate death penalty
Should the death penalty come back to Illinois? Some lawmakers say it should
and have a bill they hope will make it to the floor for a debate.
Unlike the old death penalty, it would only be used in a few cases.
One of them is when is when a police officer or other law enforcement office is
killed.
26 officers have been shot and killed this year and lawmakers say that's a
wakeup call.
"I want to bring this back as a deterrent before you try to hurt somebody who's
protecting us and our homes, you better think twice," said Rep.Bill Mitchell,
101st district.
Lawmakers say Illinois made a mistake when it completely banned the death
penalty 4 years ago.
They say it needs to be brought back, but in a different way.
"It's not the old death penalty that has some flaws. This is a totally new
death penalty," said Rep. John Cabello, 68th district.
The new penalty would affect murders involving police officers, children or
multiple victims.
"Right now we're going after the worst of the worst. We've got to find ways of
making sure it's iron clad," said Rep. Cabello.
But Illinois Innocence Project executive director John Hanlon said 17 death row
inmates in Illinois were exonerated before the practice was banned.
He said the state too often relies on confessions and eye witness testimony,
which are some of the weakest forms of evidence.
"When a witness gets on the stand and points a finger at someone, that is
something unfortunately cannot always trust because of mistakes human beings
make," said Hanlon.
As for the new death penalty, he said Illinois tried it before in 1978 when it
reinstated the punishment for cases involving only 6 types of criteria.
But by 2011, it had expanded to more than 20.
"Tthe concept of a limited category of cases, I'm not buying it. It's been
disproved by history," said Hanlon.
Sponsors of the bill say it could move forward as soon as Thursday's House
session. But despite having some support from democrats the bill has not moved
out of committee since it was first proposed last February.
(source: ourquadcities.com)
**************
Lawmakers seek limited renewal of death penalty
Several years after the death penalty was abolished in Illinois, some state
lawmakers want a limited reinstatement.
State Rep. John Cabello, R-Machesney, and state Rep. Bill Mitchell, R-Fosyth,
were in Decatur on Wednesday to urge lawmakers in Springfield to discuss
whether the controversial punishment should be brought back in cases of those
who murder a law enforcement officer, firefighter or child.
"This is intended for the worst of the worst," Cabello said. "We feel if a
member of our society is brutally murdered, the members of the family should be
able to lobby for a different kind of punishment."
Former Republican Governor George Ryan commuted the death sentences of all
death row prisoners in 2000. Illinois became the 16th state to abolish the
death penalty in 2011.
Under the proposal, the option of the death penalty would only apply to those
convicted of 1st-degree murder for the murder of a peace officer, correctional
employee or fireman while in the line of duty, multiple murders, murder of a
child younger than 12 or any murder committed on a school grounds or as an act
of terrorism.
In addition, the death penalty could only be sought if it is requested to the
state's attorney by the family of the victim.
"If the families do not wish someone to be expired, then it's not something we
want to happen," said Cabello, who also stressed the penalty should only be
sought in cases where the evidence is "iron clad."
State Senator Bill Haine, D-Alton, announced earlier this month his intent to
file similar legislation in the state Senate.
The bill sponsored by Cabello, House Bill 4059, is in the House Rules
Committee, with 3 Democratic and 3 Republican sponsors.
Cabello said the changing climate of the past several years, including the
recent death of an officer in Fox Lake, has changed the narrative.
But while the national headlines of violence against law enforcement officers
have seemingly increased, the actual number of cases is down.
According to the Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, which tracks officers'
deaths so their names can be enshrined on a Washington, D.C., memorial, the
number of officers shot and killed has decreased over the past few decades.
There were 26 shooting deaths through the end August this year, down from 30
last year.
Mitchell said if the potential for the death penalty to deter 1 person from
committing such a crime, then it will be worth it.
"1 death is one too many," he said.
(source: Decatur Times-Herald)
OKLAHOMA----impending execution
Oklahoma death row inmate's lawyers say prosecutors intimidating witnesses
Attorneys for an Oklahoma death row inmate say prosecutors have arrested a key
witness who has new evidence and filed a request on Wednesday asking the courts
to order the state to stop intimidating witnesses.
The defense team for 52-year-old Richard Glossip, who was convicted of
arranging the 1997 murder of the owner of an Oklahoma City motel he was
managing, filed the request in a state appeals court.
The attorneys said Michael Scott, who signed an affidavit saying he heard
convicted murderer Justin Sneed brag about setting Glossip up for the crime,
was arrested on Tuesday on a warrant for a $200 unpaid fine and failure to
complete community service connected to a recent drunk driving arrest.
Scott was arrested in Rogers County, but was interrogated by Oklahoma County
District Attorney David Prater, who serves the county where the murder took
place around 100 miles to the southwest, according to the filing.
"Prater specifically told Mr. Scott that he ordered this action so that Scott
would be forced to talk with Prater and his investigator," the filing said.
Prater's office could not be immediately reached for comment.
Glossip's lawyers have argued that no physical evidence tied their client to
the murder of Barry Van Treese. They added that he was convicted largely on the
testimony of Sneed, then 19, and the motel's maintenance man, who confessed to
carrying out the killing after Glossip hired him to do it.
Sneed avoided the death penalty by testifying against Glossip and is serving a
life sentence.
An appeals court threw out a previous conviction, saying evidence against
Glossip was "extremely weak." The case went back to a jury in 2004, which found
him guilty and upheld the death sentence.
Glossip was set to be executed last Wednesday for the murder of motel owner
Barry Van Treese, until a last minute stay from the Oklahoma Criminal Court of
Appeals stayed the execution and reset the date to Sept. 30.
Glossip's execution would be the first in Oklahoma since the U.S. Supreme Court
ruled in June the use of midazolam, a sedative in the lethal injection
procedure, did not violate the U.S. Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual
punishment.
(source: Reuters)
**********
Hearing canceled over Oklahoma use of midazolam in execution
A federal judge has canceled a hearing this week on an Oklahoma inmate's
request to stop his upcoming execution.
Richard Glossip is challenging his execution date, now set for Sept. 30, on 2
fronts: a federal case over the execution drugs, and a state case in which he
argues he's innocent in the 1997 killing of an Oklahoma City motel owner.
A federal judge granted a request Wednesday from his attorneys, who asked that
Friday's hearing over the drug midazolam be canceled. They say they can't show
an alternative drug would be available by next week.
The U.S. Supreme Court in June upheld the use of midazolam.
Glossip was scheduled for execution last week, but an Oklahoma court delayed it
after his attorneys said they had new evidence.
(source: Associated Press)
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