[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, ALA., USA, OHIO, N.H., COLO.
Dec. 8 TEXAS: Sparks capital murder trial starts punishment phase today Now that Robert Sparks is a convicted murderer, the question turns to whether he deserves to die for killing his wife and two stepson, and raping his 2 stepdaughters. The same jury that found him guilty of capital murder will begin hearing evidence this morning about whether he should receive the death penalty or life in prison with no opportunity for parole. Last week Mr. Sparks' attorney, Paul Johnson, told the jury that his client is guilty. But he said during closing arguments that is just a snapshot of this crime. Mr. Johnson said that he now plans to fill in the other photos in the album and show why this happened. Some of the comments at the end of the online stories about this case have questioned why there is even a trial, especially when a man has repeated confessions to police and television news reporters. More often than not, death penalty cases are not about who committed the crime, but about what the punishment should be. I regularly see defense attorneys with piles of evidence stacked against their client wait to see if prosecutors prove their case, and then prepare to save their client's life in the punishment trial. (source: Dallas Morning News) ALABAMA: Executions should be studied instead of enacted this year Although the death penalty has never been proved as a deterrent to crime, the Alabama Supreme Court has scheduled five capital punishment dates for the first 5 months of 2009. Of the 5 inmates scheduled for execution, 1 has been on death row for 18 years, 1 for 19 years, 1 for 21 years and 2 for 26 years. The state's death penalty advocates seem almost giddy. Alabama went all of this year without an execution, though some were scheduled. Appeals delayed them, and appeals may delay executions scheduled next year. Aside from the appellate process, however, Alabama ought to delay all executions to allow for a thorough study of its capital punishment process. Alabama executed three people last year and saw its murder rate rise from 8.3 per 100,000 population to 8.9. It has steadily increased since 2005, when the murder rate for Alabama rose from 5.6 per 100,000 to 8.2. There were 4 executions in the state that year. Attorney General Troy King argues that executions help bring closure to the families of victims. 'It's been too long. It's welcomed news,' he said of the five death dates that the Supreme Court set last week. 'We have five families who have been waiting some more than 20 years to see an execution date, to see justice delivered.' It is true that the extraordinarily long delays between sentencing and execution have caused mental anguish for all involved. But even convicted murderers have constitutional rights, and the wheels of justice sometimes turn slowly in Alabama. The bigger issue is whether the state should continue to use the death penalty. According to Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, capital punishment is growing more infrequent nationally. Only Alabama and Texas seem to be committed to the death penalty. If the majority of Alabamians fully support capital punishment, the state is entitled to continue to schedule executions. However, it is hard to see how conscionable citizens can justify them, considering the serious objections that have been raised to how Alabama administers the death penalty. The state is notorious for its unique law that allows a judge to override the recommendation of a jury in a capital case and order death instead of life without the possibility of parole. It also is notorious for failing to guarantee legal representation for inmates appealing their capital convictions. And the effectiveness of attorneys assigned to defend indigent suspects is questionable. Moreover, there are issues of income and race. For the past few years, Sen. Hank Sanders, D-Selma, has asked for a moratorium to allow the state to study its capital punishment system. That makes better sense than scheduling multiple executions as the Supreme Court has done next year. (source: Editorial, Tuscaloosa News) USA: Top 9/11 suspects to plead guilty The military tribunal may never go ahead in its current form, analysts say Alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and 4 co-defendants have told a military judge at Guantanamo Bay they want to confess and plead guilty. The judge at the pre-trial hearing, Col Stephen Henley, said he would question the men to ensure that was their wish. Mr Mohammed had earlier said he wished to be executed and achieve martyrdom, but had still mounted a defence. The 5 accused face the death penalty if convicted of a role in killing 2,973 people in the suicide plane attacks. No date has been set for the 5 men's full military tribunal, and their appearance in court on Monday followed hearings held under a judge who resigned last month. The BBC's Jonathan Beale
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, ALA., USA, OHIO
May 20 TEXAS2 new execution dates set Richard Hinojosa has been given an execution date for August 17, and Farley Matchett has been given one for September 12; both dates should be considered serious. Texas now has 16 confirmed execution dates between May 24-October 25. The state is easily on pace to surpass its 2005 total of 19 executions. Texas has carried out 9 of the nation's 19 executions thus far this year, and 364 of the nation's 1023 executions (35.5%) since executions resumed in the USA on January 17, 1977. (sources: TDCJ and Rick Halperin) * Truck driver gets new trial dateBut challenges by his attorney could delay case of 19 immigrants who perished After a yearlong delay because of a dispute between a judge and prosecutors, the first person to face a possible death sentence under a 1994 federal smuggling law has received a date for a new trial. Jury selection is scheduled for Oct. 3 in the second trial of Tyrone Williams, who is accused in the deaths of 19 illegal immigrants who were packed into his truck trailer during a failed smuggling attempt in 2003. 2 challenges planned by defense attorney Craig Washington could still head off that trial, however. Washington told U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal on Friday that he will challenge the constitutionality of the law carrying the death penalty and its constitutionality as it applies to Williams. If the statute is unconstitutional, Mr. Williams should not be subjected to another trial to have the decision made, Washington said after Rosenthal set the date. He contends that the law is unconstitutional because the death penalty could be imposed if an immigrant died during a smuggling attempt even if there was no intent to do harm. Prosecutors say Williams ignored the suffering of more than 74 illegal immigrants who screamed and pounded on the walls of his trailer in sweltering temperatures and dwindling air. Washington told Rosenthal he expects her to reject his challenges and that he hopes to exhaust the appeal process before the trial. He said he also will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court in response to last week's decision by a panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to remove U.S. District Judge Vanessa Gilmore from the case. The panel wrote that it was removing Gilmore because of her busy schedule and because of the extraordinary history of this case, a reference to Gilmore's strained relations with prosecutors and the 5th Circuit Court. In recusing herself from the case, Gilmore denied that her schedule was too crowded and accused the appeals court of attacking her credibility. The appeals court sided with prosecutors on four appeals from Gilmore's rulings in the cases of Williams and a co-defendant, even after prosecutors defied Gilmore's order that they disclose why they sought the death penalty against the only black person among 14 people indicted in the case. Panel found for Gilmore Washington noted that prosecutors did not ask the panel to remove Gilmore and that, in an earlier appeal, a different three-judge panel rejected the prosecution's request for her removal. That panel found Gilmore to be fair and impartial. As Friday's hearing began, Williams hugged Washington before being led to the defense table. The Jamaican immigrant from Schenectady, N.Y., has waited about a year for a trial date because of a disagreement between Gilmore and prosecutors over how many of the original 58 counts could be brought against him again. A jury in March 2005 could not decide on 20 counts but found Williams guilty on 38 others, including nine that carry a possible death sentence. But jurors failed to answer questions about whether he was a principal in the case or an aider and abettor. Double jeopardy question Gilmore ruled that Williams could be retried on only the 20 counts in which no decision was reached. Prosecutors sought to retry him on all 58 counts and appealed to the 5th Circuit Court, which ruled in their favor and removed Gilmore. Washington said he will ask the 5th Circuit Court for an en banc hearing of all 19 judges to reconsider whether Williams would be put in double jeopardy by a retrial on the 38 counts in which he was found guilty. Williams and 13 others were indicted after Victoria County deputies discovered 17 bodies in and near his abandoned trailer at a truck stop May 14, 2003. 2 more riders died at a hospital. Of the others indicted, five have been convicted, 5 have pleaded guilty, 1 was acquitted, 1 remains a fugitive and charges against another were dropped. (source: Houston Chronicle) ALABAMA: The Town That Wept They didn't know the baby before the broken ribs and wrists, the bruised arms and legs, the fractured skull. It didn't matter. To the residents of Dothan, Ala., Phoenix Cody Parrish was as precious in death as he should have been in life. He was 4 months old when his mother slammed his head against a bedpost to hush his cries. His body
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----TEXAS, ALA., USA, OHIO
August 6 TEXAS: LEWIS' EXECUTION ON HOLD U.S. District Judge David Folsom, who has an office in Texarkana, granted the halt in execution late Thursday, Smith County District Attorney Matt Bingham said on Friday. The order staying his execution will remain in affect until further order from the court, he said. Twice sentenced to die for capital murder, the 43-year-old was set to be executed Sept. 7 after 114th District Judge Cynthia Stevens Kent, found Wednesday that all of his state and federal appeals had been exhausted. Lewis was convicted for the Sept. 17, 1990, murder of George Newman during a burglary at the victim's house. He was also found guilty of sexually assaulting Newman's common-law wife, Connie Hilton. Judge Kent ruled in February that Lewis was not mentally retarded, a claim made by his attorney. The Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, which ordered the trial judge to preside over the writ of habeas corpus hearing, agreed with her ruling and ordered her to set an execution date. Lewis' appellate attorney Mike Charlton of New Mexico filed the motion for stay of execution, appealing the mental retardation ruling. If a judge rules Lewis is retarded, his sentence will automatically be commuted to life in prison. In 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court prohibited the execution of mentally retarded people. Lewis has been on death row for about a decade. The 1st Smith County jury selected convicted Lewis and sentenced him to death. But in 1996, the Court of Criminal Appeals remanded the punishment back to the trial court. In 1997, another jury again sentenced him to the death penalty, finding that he committed the murder deliberately, that there was a high probability he would be a continuing threat to society and that there were no mitigating circumstances that warranted a life sentence rather that the death penalty. Former 241st District Judge Diane DeVasto set Lewis' execution date for Aug. 7, 2003, but Lewis' attorneys claimed he was mentally retarded. Defense attorneys tried to prove that Lewis was wrongly sentenced to death. Mental retardation experts hired by the state testified that he has learning disabilities but is not retarded; doctors hired by the defense disagreed. The burden of proof in a mental retardation claim is on the defense. The 3-pronged approach to diagnosing mental retardation includes below-average intellectual functioning usually denoted by an IQ score of 70 or less, manifestation of the disorder by age 18 and consideration of adaptive functioning, or how a person operates in daily life. Judge Kent concluded that Lewis entered the home to burglarize it but was interrupted by the victims. He shot Newman and sexually assaulted, bit and hit Ms. Hilton, threatening to kill her. He also killed the couple's dog. (source: Tyler Morning Telegraph) * Mexican Mafia figure seeks new trial Claiming several errors in a capital murder trial that netted him a death penalty, alleged Mexican Mafia chieftain Manuel Vasquez on Friday petitioned the court for a new trial. With a backdrop of extra-tight courthouse security, three other alleged Mexican Mafia members, who also are Texas prison inmates, were among those who testified in a hearing on the motion before 144th District Judge Mark Luitjen. In a 1-inch-thick petition, appellate attorney Michael Gross claimed 7 points of error in Vasquez's trial that resulted in his conviction and death sentence Nov. 10, 1999, in Luitjen's court. A decision on whether to grant the motion and order a new trial was pending. In the original trial, prosecutors proved Vasquez was 1 of 3 men, some of whom also were alleged to have been members of the Mexican Mafia prison gang, who were ordered to execute Juanita Ybarra, 51, because she was not paying her 10 percent drug-dealing tax to the organization. Among other claims, Gross maintained that prosecutors suppressed possible exculpatory evidence and that they allowed one or more of their witnesses to present perjured testimony. Gross also presented testimony alleging Vasquez had an ineffective defense counsel because as many as 5 alibi witnesses never testified the defendant was elsewhere during the time the murder was committed. (source: San Antonio Express-News) ALABAMA: Overstepping a jury's work A jury unanimously agreed Westley Devon Harris was guilty of one of the worst cases of mass murder in Alabama's history. But based on the evidence presented to them in court, a majority of the jury concluded Harris should not be put to death for his crime. The jury voted 7-5 to recommend the only other punishment for a capital crime - life in prison with no chance for parole. Why? Perhaps because of the evidence that Harris has a low IQ. Perhaps because he can't read beyond a 5th-grade level. Perhaps because of testimony suggesting Harris had help killing 6 members of his girlfriend's family. But the fact this conclusion was reached by regular people
