July 30 OKLAHOMA: Court overturns death sentence, citing attorney's incompetence In Denver, an appeals court Thursday overturned the death sentence of Roderick L. Smith, an Oklahoma City man convicted of murdering his wife and four stepchildren. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals concluded 3-0 that at least 1 juror might have blocked the death sentence if Smith's trial attorney had adequately defended him. "I was over my head," the attorney, Kenneth Watson, testified in a hearing at which Smith claimed Watson had done such a poor job at the penalty phase that his constitutional rights to a fair trial were violated. The appellate judges said Watson had done a "halfhearted" job in defending Smith. "Mr. Watson made no attempt to explain (to jurors) how ... (Smith) could commit such a horrendous crime, although mental health evidence providing such an explanation was at his fingertips," the judges said in a 49-page decision. They upheld Smith's conviction and ordered that his sentence be reconsidered in Oklahoma County District Court where he could receive a lesser sentence. Smith was convicted of the 1993 murders of Jennifer Smith and her children ranging in age from 6 to 10. Court summaries showed Roderick Smith told detectives that he and his wife fought with a knife when he told her he had been laid off from his job and that her sons came to her defense. Watson had no experience in death penalty cases and told the trial judge he "didn't feel competent" to defend Smith. The appellate judges said significant mitigating evidence existed about Smith's mental retardation, brain damage and troubled background, and Watson should have given it to jurors. (source: The Oklahoman) VIRGINIA: Muhammad Gives Waist Chain the Slip Sniper John Allen Muhammad wriggled out of a waist chain during a break in a pretrial hearing in Fairfax County yesterday, then calmly walked back into the courtroom with the chain still attached to his handcuffs. The hearing resumed for less than a minute before a sheriff's deputy noticed that the chain was not around Muhammad's waist. Fairfax Circuit Court Judge Jonathan C. Thacher abruptly adjourned the hearing and left the courtroom. Muhammad was hustled into an adjacent holding cell, and the chain was replaced. The chain "could have been used as a weapon, but it wasn't," Lt. Tony Shobe of the Fairfax sheriff's office said after the hearing. The hearing then proceeded without incident, though the waist chain was gone after lunch, and Muhammad stood behind the lawyers at a bench conference with his arms free. The death row prisoner was still in handcuffs and leg shackles and closely guarded. The 1st hearing on pretrial motions in Muhammad's second capital murder trial held few other surprises. Thacher declined a defense request to disqualify Fairfax prosecutors from the case, and the defense withdrew its motion to move the trial out of Fairfax, though it may be refiled. The day ended with a 10-minute bench conference in which Muhammad's attorneys apparently raised the issue of postponing Muhammad's trial, set for Oct. 4. After the hearing, court officials said Thacher had ruled that the contents of that conference, and all bench conferences, would be sealed from the public for the entire trial. No reason was given for sealing the on-the-record comments, which are typically available. Muhammad, 43, is being prosecuted in Fairfax in the October 2002 slaying of Linda Franklin outside the Seven Corners Home Depot. He was convicted last fall by Prince William County authorities for the killing of Dean H. Meyers, part of a string of 10 fatal shootings in a three-week period. A jury sentenced him to death. Fairfax sheriff's officials did not classify yesterday's maneuver by Muhammad as an escape attempt, but it was the 2nd instance of odd behavior. Muhammad entered the courtroom barefoot. Shobe said Muhammad refused to wear shoes, and deputies decided not to force the issue. Muhammad was handcuffed, and a waist chain was threaded through the cuffs to keep his hands close to his body. Shortly before noon, Thacher took a 15-minute recess. Shobe said that while Muhammad was seated in his holding cell, he placed his hands beneath his legs and shook his way out of the chain. The chain then hung from Muhammad's wrists, though it was not obvious when he walked back into court. Deputies watched him during the hearing and noticed that the chain was not around his waist. After the chain was replaced and Muhammad returned, Thacher admonished him. "This is the one and only security violation I will tolerate," Thacher said, warning that he could impose electric shock devices to keep Muhammad secure. After lunch, deputies decided not to put the chain back on Muhammad, Shobe said. Muhammad was still cuffed and shackled. Defense attorney Peter D. Greenspun argued that Commonwealth's Attorney Robert F. Horan Jr. and all Fairfax prosecutors should be tossed off the case because Horan previously argued that Muhammad's co-conspirator, Lee Boyd Malvo, was the person who shot and killed Franklin. The defense believes Muhammad is not eligible for the death penalty if he is not shown to have fired the fatal bullet, and they said they would call Horan as a witness to testify about his belief that Malvo was the triggerman, thereby disqualifying him as prosecutor. Horan said he would continue to argue that Malvo was the gunman but that Muhammad was equally culpable for planning, driving and spotting for Malvo during the shootings. "Both Muhammad and Malvo were peas in a pod," Horan said. "They were 2 evil human beings that embarked on a series of murders to get money." Thacher declined to recuse the prosecutors but said he would rule later on whether Muhammad could face the death penalty. (source: Washington Post) NEW YORK: Murder trial to restart for Parker - Death penalty dropped in Spears' slaying case The Vernon E. Parker Jr. case will go forward as a 1st-degree murder trial, with jury selection starting Sept. 9, a judge said Thursday. The 24 prospective Broome County jurors selected in May and June, to possibly serve on what was then considered a capital murder trial, were dismissed Thursday by Broome County Judge Martin E. Smith. Prosecutors and defense attorneys will select a new jury from a remaining pool of 300 potential jurors, who were waiting to be questioned on the death penalty when the state's death penalty law was declared unconstitutional in June, Smith said. Jury selection, he said, is expected to take 2 or 3 days. "We'll proceed as scheduled as a non-capital case," Smith said. 2 weeks ago, the judge put on hold a decision on proceeding with the case, because the state Legislature met to repair its now-unconstitutional death-penalty law. But no agreement was reached on how to fix the law -- and pursue nine pending death-penalty cases, including Parker's. The state Court of Appeals, in its June ruling, ordered the 9 to be tried as 1st-degree murder cases. Parker's attorneys had asked the judge to dismiss all 24 pre-selected potential jurors and start fresh with a new jury. Smith met them partway with his decision Thursday. Parker, 34, of Randallstown, Md., is charged in the July 20, 2002, slaying of Valerie Spears, 50, and her 14-year-old daughter, Devin. Parker, who is married to Valerie Spears' older daughter, killed the 2 women to silence them as witnesses, prosecutors said. Parker was accused of molesting Devin when she was 13. Valerie and Devin were expected to testify against Parker in a Baltimore County sex abuse trial. The 2 were killed execution-style in their Binghamton home 10 days before the trial. (source: Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin)
