Jan. 14 TEXAS: Nation's 1st execution of 2009 Wednesday in Texas Even a defense lawyer for convicted murderer Curtis Moore acknowledged the horrific nature of the 3 slayings that convinced a jury to send Moore to death row. "Facts-wise, it was difficult because of the nature of how the killings happened and the fact the bodies were burned," George Gallagher recalled. "You have an uphill battle." Moore, 40, was set for lethal injection Wednesday evening. His execution, the 1st of the year in the United States, would be the 1st of 6 scheduled for this month in Texas, the nation's most active death penalty state. Moore's appeals in the courts were exhausted. On Monday, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles rejected a clemency request that cited his possible mental retardation as reason to spare him. Moore already made one trip to the Huntsville death house. In 2002, less than three hours before he was to receive lethal injection, the U.S. Supreme Court stopped his scheduled execution so claims from his attorneys that he was mentally retarded and ineligible for execution could be reviewed. In October, the high court refused his appeal, clearing the way for Wednesday's execution date to be set. Moore was condemned for a pair of shootings in November 1995 in Fort Worth. Roderick Moore, 24, who was not related to him, and LaTanya Boone, 21, both of Fort Worth, were found shot to death in a roadside ditch across from an elementary school. The same night, firefighters summoned to put out a car fire found Darrel Hoyle, 21, of Fort Worth, and Henry Truevillian Jr., 20, of Forest Hill, shot and burned. Truevillian was dead but Hoyle survived and helped lead police to the arrest of Moore and his nephew, Anthony Moore, then 17. The 3 men were abducted after agreeing to meet Curtis Moore and his nephew at a stable where Roderick Moore boarded and trained horses. Then Boone was abducted from the apartment she shared with Roderick Moore, her boyfriend. Testimony at Curtis Moore's trial showed the shootings culminated a drug ripoff, that he doused Hoyle and Truevillian with gasoline and ignited them as they were bound and in the trunk of a car parked in a deserted lot outside a Fort Worth bar. Hoyle regained consciousness 6 days after he was attacked and gave information that led authorities to Anthony Moore, known on the streets in Fort Worth as "Kojak," and that Curtis Moore drove a pink truck. Curtis Moore was arrested about 2 weeks later, his hands and arms still showing burns suffered when authorities said he tried to keep Hoyle from fleeing the flames. "Curtis was trying to push him back in the trunk," said Joetta Keene, who prosecuted Moore. "Everybody got burned, including Curtis," Gallagher said. "That was hard to get around." At the punishment phase, prosecutors were able to show jurors Moore's violent past. "He had a huge criminal history," Keene said. "He kept giving us more evidence. He stabbed a guy in jail." Moore's record showed convictions for theft, robbery, and weapon and drug possession. The record also showed he repeatedly was paroled, then returned to prison with parole violations. Moore blamed his nephew for the slayings and said he tried to rescue the victims from the burning car. But he acknowledged holding them at gunpoint, ordering them hogtied and stuffed into the trunk of the car. Anthony Moore pleaded guilty to 2 counts of murder under a plea agreement and is serving 2 life prison sentences. (source: Associated Press) ************ Texas Death Penalty Machinery Set to "High" as Executions Resume----14 Executions Scheduled Over the Next 4 Months The 1st U.S. execution of 2009 is scheduled to take place today in the state of Texas. Curtis Moore is set to be put to death for the 1996 murders of Roderick Moore, Latasha Boone, and Henry Truevillen in Tarrant County. Currently there are 14 executions scheduled to take place in Texas between now and April 7, including 6 in January alone. Among all other 35 death penalty states, only 10 executions have been scheduled for this same time period. The inmates with execution dates were convicted and sentenced to death in 8 different counties; 4 inmates were convicted in Tarrant County and 3 in Bexar County. "Once again the State of Texas is quick out of the starting gate in the race to execute," said Kristin Houl, Executive Director of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (TCADP). "While other states are projected to carry out more executions than usual this year, none will even come close to overtaking Texas' status as the most active - and most notorious - death penalty state." In 2008, Texas accounted for just under 1/2 of the 37 executions that took place nationwide. Overall, it accounts for more than 1/3 of the 1,136 executions that have occurred in the United States since 1977. The accelerated pace of executions coincides with a time of increased public scrutiny and concern about the fairness and reliability of this ultimate form of punishment. According to TCADP, 11 people were sentenced to death in Texas in 2008, matching 2006 for the lowest number of new death sentences in more than 30 years. 9 people now have been exonerated from Texas' death row due to evidence of their wrongful conviction. This year, elected officials in numerous states are prepared to give serious consideration to abolishing the death penalty altogether. As the 81st Session of the Texas Legislature gets underway, TCADP urges lawmakers to take a hard look at this costly, broken government system and to support alternatives that protect society and punish the truly guilty. Other executions scheduled for January: January 21: Frank Moore January 22: Reginald Perkins January 27: Larry Swearingen January 28: Virgil Martinez January 29: Ricardo Ortiz TCADP members will hold vigils on the evening of every execution in multiple locations throughout the state. See http://tcadp.org/index.php?page=vigils for a complete list of vigil sites. (source: TCADP) ******************** Texas Reporter Witnesses Hundreds of Executions A Fort Worth killer is set to become the 424th inmate to be put to death in Texas. When he dies, Mike Graczyk will be there, just inches away. It is the job of the Associated Press reporter to cover capital punishment in Texas, and that translates into busy days on death row. Graczyk estimates that he has witnessed more than 300 executions in his 26 years covering lethal injection in the state. Graczyk may have witnessed more executions than anyone in the country because Texas sets the pace when it comes to lethal injection. "It's just part of my job. It just comes with the territory," says the reporter. Graczyk says many of the executions have stuck with him through the years, for various reasons. "I remember Gary Graham's execution with all the tension," he says. Graham's execution during President George Bush's first run for office brought out hordes of demonstrators. Graczyk also recalls the first execution he witnessed in 1983; a man who shot a convenience store clerk. And a priest was the second person executed after the death penalty was reinstated in Texas. "They strapped him to the gurney and put the needles in his arms and then he got a reprieve." he says. After that, Graczyk says, the state changed it's procedures to delay inserting needles until all legal hurdles are cleared. Gracyk has also seen three women executed, and those linger in his mind. But, he says, it's the personal nature of visiting the inmates for interviews on death row that he won't forget. "Many of times when I walk into the death house they will call me by name and ask how I'm doing and that just kind of sticks with you," he says. (source: Associated Press) ******************** Court overturns death sentence in 1978 Texas case A white man on Texas death row for nearly 30 years could be freed because an appeals court has ruled that prosecutors improperly excluded blacks from his jury in the belief that blacks empathize with defendants. Jonathan Bruce Reed was convicted and condemned for the November 1978 rape-slaying of Wanda Jean Wadle at her Dallas apartment. But now the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled Dallas County prosecutors improperly excluded black prospective jurors from Reeds trial and ordered him released unless prosecutors choose to retry him quickly. "Although we do not relish adding a new chapter to this unfortunate story more than 30 years after the crime took place, we conclude that the Constitution affords Reed a right to relief," a 3-member panel of the New Orleans-based court wrote in the ruling posted late Monday. Jamille Bradfield, a spokeswoman for Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins, said it was premature to comment on whether Reed would be retried. "We still need time to dissect the opinion," she said Tuesday. Reed has been on death row since September 1979, making him among the longest-serving prisoners awaiting execution in Texas. The 5th Circuit said Reed's case mirrored the capital murder case of Thomas Miller-El, on Texas death row for nearly 20 years until the Supreme Court overturned his verdict, citing racial discrimination during jury selection. Miller-El last year took a life prison sentence as part of a plea deal. The Supreme Court cited a manual, written by a prosecutor in 1969 and used for years later, that advised Dallas prosecutors to exclude minorities from juries. Documents in Miller-El's case described how the memo advised prosecutors to avoid selecting minorities because "they almost always empathize with the accused." "Reed presents this same historical evidence of racial bias in the Dallas County District Attorney's Office," the 5th Circuit panel said. Reed, now 57, was identified as the man who attacked Wadle and her roommate, Kimberly Pursley, on Nov. 1, 1978. He'd apparently entered their apartment by posing as a maintenance man. Pursley survived an attempted strangulation by feigning unconsciousness. 2 other residents identified Reed as the man they saw in the apartment complex just before the time of the attack. (source: Associated Press) CONNECTICUT: Lethal Rejection----The financial case for repealing the death penalty What are the odds Connecticut will abolish the death penalty this year? You would think next to zero. The monsters charged in the Cheshire murders will be stirring up public vengeance with appearances in courtrooms and newspaper headlines, as the state pursues its highest profile capital felony case in years. The sour economy will crowd out lots of other business before the legislature. And public support for capital punishment was still around 60 percent when last polled. But here's one reason this might be the year: the state budget crisis. Opponents fight the death penalty for moral reasons, but some say the recession and Connecticut's $6 billion budget deficit present an opportunity to fight it on financial grounds. Prosecuting murderers in death penalty cases is expensive. So is defending them, locking them up and actually sticking the needle in their arms, if it ever comes to that. "Obviously, cost is not the reason to repeal it, but if that's what can get through to someone, why not?" says Ben Jones of the Connecticut Network to Abolish the Death Penalty. One very important politician agrees with Jones. State Rep. Mike Lawlor, an East Haven Democrat and death penalty opponent who co-chairs the legislature's Judiciary Committee, says the time's right to debate capital punishment. Lawlor says conditions that seemingly make 2009 unfavorable for repealing the death sentence the public wanting blood for the Cheshire murders, the state's fiscal trouble might actually work in its favor. He figures: The Cheshire case will give the public a front-row seat to a drawn out, gut-wrenching death penalty case and the emotional toll it takes on everyone involved especially the victims' families. Locking up murderers for life is actually cheaper than pursuing their execution and in a tough budget climate that argument might get new legs. Plus, the new leaders in the state House of Representatives, Speaker Chris Donovan and Majority Leader Denise Merrill, oppose the death penalty, as do new members on the Judiciary Committee. "We're looking at two years of trials and 15 years of appeals," Lawlor says of the Cheshire case. "It's going to be a horrible ordeal for everyone to go through. If we didn't have the death penalty, these guys would be locked up for life by now." Capital punishment cases can be hugely expensive, especially compared to life in prison without parole. A recent study by the Urban Institute found they cost Maryland taxpayers $3 million apiece three times what non-death cases do! Kansas found capital felony cases cost 70 % more, while in Tennessee it's 48 % more. Connecticut's own state Commission on the Death Penalty exposed in 2002 that defending the 7 killers then on death row cost 88 % more than murderers who got life in prison. The most expense case racked up a $1 million tab. Death-row inmates are housed at Northern Correctional Institution in Somers at a cost of $46,942 a year. Many sentenced to life without parole end up at less expensive facilities like MacDougall Walker in Suffield ($29,454 a year) or Cheshire Correctional ($29,721). The political cost to pro-death penalty lawmakers moved to change sides by these numbers was apparently left out of the study. Connecticut is 1 of only 2 New England states with a death penalty, the other being New Hampshire. The state has only executed 1 person since 1960, serial killer Michael Ross, put to death by lethal injection in 2005 for the rapes and murders of four young women in the 1980s. The exact cost of executing Ross is unknown but documents released after his death showed the state spent tens of thousands of dollars in petty cash in order to keep purchases related to the execution off the books. The Hartford Courant found, among other things, that the state spent: $25,000 to send staff for training at death chambers in other states; $4,875 on infrared illuminators to detect cameras smuggled into the witness gallery; and $599 for a James Bond-style "Spyfinder" camera detector that failed a test prior to execution. Robert Nave, the outspoken director of the Connecticut Network to Abolish the Death Penalty, says the expense of capital punishment is "part of the jigsaw puzzle" but by no means the death knell for the death sentence. "This is a very visceral issue," Nave says. "It goes far beyond dollars and cents." Far more important, he says, is the new Democratic leadership in the legislature and new anti-death penalty lawmakers. Nave says he has the numbers to repeal, but wouldn't get the votes if the governor promised a veto. "Give me a governor who supports abolition and we'll have it this year," Nave says. Gov. Jodi Rell supports the death penalty and refused to halt Ross's execution so the legislature could debate the death penalty, but who knows what she'd do if a bill landed on her desk. The governor's press office didn't respond to a request for comment. Mother of Mercy Antoinette Bosco had been a lifelong death penalty opponent when it all became tragically personal. Her son John and his wife Nancy were murdered in cold blood as they slept in their Long Island home in 1993. They had just bought the house and weren't even finished unpacking when an intruder with a semi-automatic handgun came in the night and blew them both away. "I walked into that room. There was blood on the wall. I dropped down on my knees and prayed to God," says Bosco, a devout Catholic, during a death penalty talk at a New Haven church last week. The killer turned out to be the 15-year-old son of the family John and Nancy bought the house from, but a motive was never discovered. He went on trial and Bosco successfully petitioned the judge to give the murderer life without parole instead of the death sentence. As the mother of murder victims, Bosco is one of the most compelling figures in the anti-death penalty movement and a powerful voice for justice without revenge. But choosing mercy hasn't been easy. "Every day I have to say anew that I forgive him every single day," Bosco says, who at 81 years old is still writing books and a syndicated column. "Forgiveness is always present tense. It must be renewed every day." (source: Fairfield Weekly) ILLINOIS: Death Penalty's Expensive, Lawyers Recommend Ending It A Chicago Bar Association committee is unanimously recommending an end to the death penalty in Illinois. The 10-0 vote by the group's criminal law committee did not surprise retired Cook County Judge Sheila Murphy, who told the committee that multi-million dollar payouts being made by the city of Chicago and state of Illinois for wrongful death sentences is money that could be spent for far more useful purposes. "We're in just terrible economic times," Judge Murphy said. "The times are like my parents talked about in the Depression. The state of Illinois is in deep rouble, and we should not be squandering money on the death penalty when there's such great need -- not just with victims but with the elderly, with children, for health care and for education." Murphy cited studies elsewhere that have shown the cost of sentencing a criminal to natural life without parole is far less expensive than the costs of putting an inmate to death, when the costs of prosecution, appeals and legal defense are added up, not to mention expensive wrongful conviction sentences. Exonerated death penalty inmate Madison Hobley is the latest to reach such a settlement. Hobley is Moving to collect the bulk of a $7.5 million settlement with the city of Chicago. Hobley claims he was tortured into making his confession in an arson fire that killed 7 people. Murphy also cited settlements totaling $36 million in the Ford Heights 4 case. Others argued that no perfect system of capital punishment can be devised. "Our U.S. Supreme Court has said that it is inevitable that an innocent person is going to be put to death, (because) no system is perfect and none of us is perfect," said attorney Royal Berg, a member of the committee. "So whatever system we as lawyer, judges and legislators design there will be a person who is going to be put to death wrongfully." The committee chair, Cook County Circuit Court Judge Martin Moltz, said he anticipated the 10-0 vote, the first to be taken by Chicago Bar committees. The group's human rights committee is expected to take a similar stand. Both votes will be forwarded to the Chicago Bar's legislative committee, and if it is approved there, the recommendation will go to the group's Board of Managers. Moltz said the Board of managers could act by early March, and said if that were to happen, the Chicago Bar would join other lawyers' groups lobbying in Springfield to abolish the death penalty this spring. The Illinois State Bar Association announced its stand in July and the Chicago Council of Lawyers added its voice last month. llinois has had a moratorium on executions since the administration of former Gov. George Ryan. Ryan emptied death row in one of his last acts as governor, in January 2003, but sentencing has continued. llinois Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty Executive Director Jeremy Schroeder was on hand for the vote, and said the Chicago Bar is merely recognizing a shift in public opinion. "It's an extremely good sign going forward," Schroeder said. "The time is now to abolish the death penalty. I think public opinion is really starting to go that way." (source: Chicago Tribune) ****************** Rock Island man to face death penalty in double homicide case Elijah Reid will face the death penalty when he goes to trial in Rock Island County Circuit Court, but when that will be is hard to say. Reid, 30, of 1351 3rd St., Rock Island, is still set to go to trial March 2 on 4 counts of 1st-degree murder in connection with the April 11 slayings of Ryan Ferry, 22, of Rock Island and Jermaine Robinson, 30, of Moline. Judge Walter Braud set several court dates at Tuesday's hearing, including deadlines in February for the prosecution and defense, but acknowledged its possible they won't be ready to go to trial by March. Before setting those dates, the defense argued that the Rock Island County State's Attorney's office failed to within 120 days notify Reid that it was seeking the death penalty. Braud denied the motion to bar the death penalty and found that state law requires the state to notify the court if its not seeking the death penalty. Otherwise, in an eligible case, it is presumed prosecutors will. "It"s a death penalty case unless the state takes action," Braud said. Braud also allowed the prosecution to make a videotaped deposition of Terrell D. Aaron of Chicago, who was one of the men allegedly with Reid the night of the shooting. The defense argued that more should be done to ensure Aaron will be in court. Aaron has been named a material witness but is facing armed robbery and aggravated kidnapping charges in Ohio. There is no agreement between the 2 states that would require Ohio courts or prisons to ship Aaron back to Illinois to testify. Another material witness, Carter McCray, whose address was unavailable, appeared in court briefly Tuesday. The defense will take his deposition this week, then McCray will be sent back to the Illinois Department of Corrections. McCray is serving time for drug and theft charges out of Rock Island County. According to police, McCray and Aaron were in a van waiting for Reid when the shooting occurred. Reid remained in custody at the Rock Island County Jail Tuesday on $4 million bail. (source: Quad City Times) MARYLAND: Religious leaders unite in plea to abolish death penalty Religious leaders from across the state put their differing faiths aside Tuesday to make a unified plea to lawmakers to abolish the death penalty during the legislative session that begins today. The landmark formation of the Interfaith Coalition to End the Death Penalty brought together leaders from Christian, Jewish and Muslim congregations who acknowledged a common belief in "the sanctity of life and forgiveness." The coalition members, who claim to represent nearly 3 million Maryland residents, met at First and St. Stephen's United Church of Christ in Towson to sign a letter urging Gov. Martin O'Malley to repeal the "immoral and unjust" death penalty. "Life has been entrusted to us by God," said the Rev. Denis Madden, who spoke on behalf of the Archdiocese of Baltimore. "When one deliberately takes away the life of another, for any cause, one moves against the Creator." Madden said he joined the coalition after serving on the state's capital punishment commission that recommended in December that lawmakers ban executions because of racial and jurisdictional disparities. But coalition members focused Tuesday on a moral obligation to oppose the death penalty and echoed Madden's message to leave matters of life and death in God's hands. "No man has the power to take a life when he does not have the power to give life," said Imam Anees Abdul Rahim, of the Muslim Community Cultural Center of Baltimore. With his booming voice reverberating through the church, Rahim closed his powerful address with a warning to lawmakers. "Be humble and be cautious when making decisions about taking the life of a human being," he said. Coalition members suggested sentences of life in prison without parole and better rehabilitative programs, noting that executions can't be undone if new evidence becomes available. And for families of murder victims, their advice was to work toward forgiveness. "Taking the life of another person will never take away the pain or bring their loved one back," said Rabbi Steven Fink, president of the Baltimore Board of Rabbis. "Revenge is empty ... channel that grief into doing good for others." There's been a de facto moratorium on executions since December 2006, when the state's highest court ruled that execution protocols weren't properly approved. The final decision rests with the General Assembly, where a Senate panel previously voted against a repeal, preventing it from reaching the chamber floor for a vote. 5 men are currently on death row in Maryland. (source: Baltimore Sun) ***************** Teen dad could face death penalty----Father asked for 2-year-old son to spend the night, police say The Gaithersburg teen charged with murder in the death of his 2-year-old son continues to be held without bond in the Montgomery County Detention Center. "Obviously, you're in a heap of trouble to say the least," Montgomery County District Court Judge Barry A. Hamilton told the defendant, Darryl Eugene Powell, 17, during a bond hearing Monday. If convicted, Powell could face the death penalty. Powell, of the 4700 block of Merust Lane, was arrested Friday after an autopsy determined that his son Zjaire Williams was a homicide victim who died Jan. 7 of "multiple injuries" revealed by bruises in his mouth and on his body, according to county police. The boy, who lived with his 17-year-old mother, Todzja Williams, in Damascus, was staying with Powell during the time the injuries were sustained, according to police charging documents. At the bond hearing, Hamilton asked for family of either the defendant or the victim to come forward. No one did. "My mom's looking for a lawyer right now," Powell said via closed-circuit television. Hamilton denied bond and advised Powell to meet with a public defender if he does not have a lawyer by Friday. A woman at the home of Tina R. Powell, the defendant's mother, declined comment. A relative of Zjaire's said the boy's family was not ready to comment. Police charging documents in the case provide the following account. At around 6:19 a.m. on Jan. 7, police and rescue crews responded to Powell's homefor a 911 call for an unresponsive child. Zjaire was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead. Powell told detectives that he had asked the boy's mother if Zjaire could to spend the night. She dropped Zjaire off at around 2 a.m. "Powell stated that the 2 watched TV for a little while, gave him some water then the 2 went to sleep on the sofas in the living room," according to the documents. When Powell woke up, he found Zjaire "face down" on top of cushions on the floor. "He went over saw that he was unresponsive, called Zjaire's mother, tried to get a family member to wake up to help him, and then called 911," according to the documents. Hospital staff noticed that Zjaire had bruises and cuts and sent his body to the state Medical Examiner's Office. The next day, the medical examiner ruled that Zjaire was killed and the cause of death was "multiple injuries." In February 2007 when Zjaire was barely 2 months old Williams filed a paternity suit against Powell. A blood test established that Powell was the boy's father, records show. A July 2007 hearing to determine child support was postponed so that Powell could "complete a court-ordered program for behavior rehabilitation," according to court records. The case was dismissed in November. [my note----the article, of course, is incorrect---no one under the age of 18 is eligible for the death penalty] (source: Business Gazette) ******************** ACLU Will Push For Police Surveillance Limits Not surprisingly, the centerpiece of the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland's legislative agenda in Annapolis is a ban on the kind of police surveillance of peaceful activists that led to last year's controversy over the Maryland State Police. The ACLU cracked open the story last July after a state police lawyer turned over surveillance logs of an undercover trooper who spied on opponents of the death penalty and Iraq War over 14 months. The monitoring, under Gov. Robert Ehrlich, Jr. (R), expanded to dozens of individuals and protest groups who were labeled terrorists in a state police database. Police have pledged to purge those files. The ACLU's proposed First Amendment Protection Act of 2009 would "protect our most basic First Amendment rights to organize, to peacefully assemble and to petition our government," says a statement from the civil liberties group. The bill would prohibit police from conducting covert criminal intelligence probes of groups or individuals without "articulable suspicion" of criminal activity. Several lawmakers are drafting similar legislation. The police oppose putting such limits in state law, and have pushed for an internal regulation instead. The ACLU plans a lobby night and rally in the state capitol on Feb. 9 to call for passage of the bill. (source: Washington Post)
