August 29
ARKANSAS----female faces death penalty
Death penalty sought for couple in killing of 11-year-old Arkansas boy by Dale
Ellis
A Star City couple accused of capital murder in the death of their 11-year-old
son will face the death penalty if convicted, according to a notice filed by
the prosecuting attorney for Jefferson and Lincoln counties.
In the notice, prosecutor Kyle Hunter said the death penalty is justified in
the case because the "murder was committed in an especially cruel or depraved
manner" and "was committed against a person whom the defendant knew was
especially vulnerable," referring to the victim's age at the time of the
killing.
"In our opinion, we just believe that, based on the nature of this crime, that
[the death] penalty is justified," Hunter told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
David Black, 38, and Mary Black, 30, the boy's stepfather and mother, were
charged in the death of Joseph Carsello, whose body was found by Star City
police on June 16 inside a residence at 212 Spring St., according to a probable
cause affidavit filed in Lincoln County District Court in July. Star City is
about 25 miles southeast of Pine Bluff.
The affidavit said Mary Black told police that she and David Black had whipped
Joseph with belts on June 15 as punishment for trying to run away. As the
whipping was happening, Joseph began talking back to his mother, the affidavit
said, and the Blacks responded by striking him in the face with their hands.
The boy's mother told police that Joseph pulled away from them and kicked his
stepfather in the mouth, causing David Black's lip to bleed, before falling
down some stairs and striking his head on a toolbox, according to the
affidavit.
David Black told police that he "spanked the s*** out of Joseph" on the evening
of June 15, the affidavit said. He told police that while he was spanking
Joseph, the boy rolled over and kicked him in the mouth, busting his lip, it
said. Black told police, "That's why his butt looked the way it did," according
to the affidavit.
The next day, according to Mary Black, Joseph picked up a hammer and swung it
at David Black, the affidavit said. Mary Black said she and her husband then
"went a little crazy on him to teach him not to swing a hammer," according to
the affidavit.
The Blacks began whipping Joseph with their hands, belts and a paddle and told
him to go stand in the corner, according to the affidavit. Mary Black told
police that they noticed Joseph lying on the floor a short time later, and the
couple began pouring water on him to try to wake him up, the affidavit said.
An autopsy revealed that Joseph died from multiple blunt-force injuries. The
boy had multiple scalp contusions; multiple impact sites on his head and torso;
bruising of his arms, legs, thighs, and buttocks; abdominal hemorrhaging;
hemorrhaging of the pancreas; and a lacerated liver.
David Black is being held in the Lincoln County jail without bail. He is being
defended by Little Rock-based attorneys George Morledge IV and Robby Golden.
Mary Black is being held without bail in neighboring Arkansas County because
Lincoln County lacks any facilities to hold female detainees. It is not known
whether she is represented by an attorney yet.
If Mary Black were convicted and a death sentence were carried out, she would
be only the second woman to be put to death in Arkansas in modern times, said
Dina Tyler, spokeswoman for Arkansas Department of Correction.
Christina Marie Riggs was executed on May 2, 2000, after being convicted of
murdering her two children, Justin Thomas and Shelby Riggs, at the family's
Sherwood home in November 1997.
Tyler said that if the pair were convicted and sentenced to death, then David
Black would be housed on death row at Varner Supermax Unit, located 28 miles
south of Pine Bluff along U.S. 65, and Mary Black would be housed in an
isolation unit at the McPherson Unit, located at Newport.
According to court records, both David and Mary Black are scheduled to appear
in Lincoln County Circuit Court on Oct. 7 for an omnibus hearing and on Nov. 14
for jury trial. Circuit Judge Alex Guynn is scheduled to preside over the case.
(source: nwaonline.com)
COLORADO:
Colorado Taxpayers Paid DA’s Office $1.6 Million for Unsuccessfully Pursuing
Death Penalty Against Wishes of Victim’s Family
A more than $1.6 million price tag for prosecuting a Colorado death-penalty
case that the victim’s family opposed and that resulted in a life sentence has
caused some Coloradans to question whether capital prosecutions are worth the
cost. On August 14, 2019, Miguel Contreras-Perez was sentenced to life in
prison after he pleaded guilty to the murder of a correctional officer and the
attempted murder of another officer. The sentence came 7 years after the murder
and after Colorado reimbursed local prosecutors for legal costs in excess of
$1.6 million accumulated during the course of prosecuting the case.
James Bullock, District Attorney for Colorado’s 16th Judicial District, sought
the death penalty against Contreras-Perez for the murder of Colorado Department
of Corrections Sergeant Mary Ricard at a state prison. When Bullock announced
his intention to seek the death penalty, Ricard’s family vociferously objected.
Ricard’s daughter, Kate Smith, told reporters “I don’t agree with the death
penalty. We’ve had many, many meetings with Mr. Bullock asking him not to seek
the death penalty.”
State law allows Bullock’s office to bill the Department of Corrections for the
cost of the prosecution, and a public records request revealed that the
department paid the district attorney’s office $1.665 million between October
2012 and July 1, 2019. Defense billing records contain legally privileged
material that exempt them from disclosure under Colorado’s public records law,
so there is no estimate of the total cost of this case. However, studies in
jurisdictions across the country have found that capital prosecutions are much
more expensive to defend and prosecute than non-capital cases.
In a guest post for the Colorado Independent, civil rights lawyer Faisal
Salahuddin noted that “Colorado imposes the death penalty on fewer of its
death-eligible defendants than any other state” and has executed just one
person for the more than 8,100 murders committed in the state during the past
half-century. “While Mr. Bullock’s quixotic jousting in pursuit of the death
penalty might yield him some votes at election time,” Salahuddin wrote, “it
will be all Coloradans – and not just taxpayers in his judicial district – who
will foot the bill. Money wasted in a futile endeavor could have been spent on
a variety of ways to combat crime, and on rehabilitative services and grief
counseling.”
Smith summarized the impact of the failed capital prosecution on the Ricard
family. “I am disgusted with the justice system,” she said. “Colorado’s justice
system is neither swift nor just.”
(source: Death Penalty Information Center)
CALIFORNIA:
LA man charged with capital murder in LA Skid Row burning death
A Los Angeles man accused of intentionally setting a tent ablaze on skid row,
killing a homeless man, was charged Wednesday with capital murder.
Jonathan Early, 38, scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday afternoon in a downtown
Los Angeles courtroom in connection with the death of Dwayne Fields, 62.
The murder charge includes the special circumstance allegation of murder
involving the infliction of torture, according to the Los Angeles County
District Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors will decide later whether to seek the death penalty against Early.
Early allegedly set the tent ablaze near Sixth and San Pedro streets on Monday
night and was taken into custody a short time later. Fields died the following
morning as a result of his injuries.
Police have not disclosed a motive for the attack, which remains under
investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department’s Robbery-Homicide Division
and the Los Angeles City Fire Department’s Arson/Counter-Terrorism Section.
(source: Los Angeles Daily News)
*****************
Death Penalty to Be Sought for Mom, Boyfriend Charged In 10-Year-Old’s Death
The prosecution announced Wednesday that the death penalty will be sought
against a Lancaster woman and her boyfriend, who are charged with the
torture-murder of her 10-year-old son.
Heather Barron, 29, and Kareem Leiva, 33, remain jailed without bail in
connection with the June 21, 2018, death of her son, Anthony Avalos.
Prosecutors allege that Anthony was severely tortured during the last 5 or 6
days of his life by his mother and Leiva. The alleged abuse included whipping
the boy with a belt and a looped cord, pouring hot sauce on his face and mouth,
holding him by his feet and dropping him on his head repeatedly, according to a
prosecution court filing.
Earlier this month, relatives of the youngster announced a lawsuit against Los
Angeles County, accusing the county and multiple social workers of failing to
properly respond to reports of abuses of Anthony — and his siblings. The Los
Angeles Superior Court suit filed on behalf of Anthony’s father, aunt, uncle
and 6 half-siblings requests damages in excess of $50 million.
Speaking to reporters, Barron tearfully repeated the family’s contention that
the Department of Children and Family Services failed to protect her nephew,
alleging that if social workers “would have done their jobs when we called and
told them what was going on, we wouldn’t be here today.”
She said her nephew “would probably be trying out for band, starting 6th
grade.”
(source: mynewsla.com)
OREGON:
Brown will call special session on death penalty----Lawmakers want to fix new
law
Gov. Kate Brown plans to convene lawmakers next month in a bid to end outcry
over recent far-reaching changes to Oregon’s death penalty laws.
Facing blowback from district attorneys and crime victim groups — and with the
approval of even the new law’s chief proponents — Brown signaled Wednesday that
she’ll call a narrowly focused special session in September. Legislators are
already scheduled to be in Salem from Sept. 16 to Sept. 18 to conduct routine
business.
“I am willing to support a legislative session,” Brown said. “Given the
seriousness of the issues that we’re dealing with and the impact on victims and
families, I think it’s critically important that there be clarity about the
law.”
Brown made clear her support is contingent on lawmakers bringing forth a
proposal and getting “the votes to make it happen.”
“Should that be accomplished, I will call a special session before the end of
September,” she said.
The session would be aimed at correcting elements of Senate Bill 1013, which
sought to reduce use of the death penalty in Oregon. By amending the definition
of aggravated murder, the state’s only capital crime, the bill narrowed the
situations in which prosecutors can seek the death penalty.
Crimes eligible for a death sentence under the bill include: premeditated
murder of a child younger than 14; premeditated murder of a law enforcement
officer; terrorist attacks that kill at least two people; and murders in prison
by someone previously convicted of murder.
In urging passage of SB 1013 earlier this year, lawmakers insisted repeatedly
that it would not be retroactive, implying it would have no impact on old
cases. But that may not be accurate — a Washington County judge recently deemed
a former death row inmate ineligible for the death penalty.
The defendant in that case, Martin Johnson, had previously been convicted of
raping and murdering a 15-year-old girl in 1998, but was granted a new trial by
the Oregon Supreme Court. Under the new law, the crime Johnson is accused of
committing would not qualify as aggravated murder.
The ruling led lawyers with the Oregon Department of Justice to reexamine their
understanding of SB 1013, and acknowledge in an Aug. 9 email that the
department had misled state prosecutors about the bill’s likely impacts. The
Oregonian has reported that this new understanding could have far-reaching
implications for Oregon’s death row inmates.
In response, the state’s district attorneys, who opposed the bill, called on
lawmakers to make changes.
The revelation also spurred reaction from the bill’s biggest legislative
champions, state Sen. Floyd Prozanski, D-Eugene, and Rep. Jennifer Williamson,
D-Portland.
Prozanski announced that he’d never intended the bill to be so sweeping, and
called on the governor to convene a special session.
Williamson, on the other hand, said the law is working as intended. She said
the new definition of aggravated murder should be used when inmates are granted
new trials or sentencing hearings, and says the law is not retroactive because
it cannot change the outcomes for defendants who have satisfied all of their
options for appeal and post-conviction relief.
Despite that stance, Williamson sent a letter to Brown and legislative
leadership over the weekend signaling she would support a special session.
“I made a commitment to the family of one of the victims impacted this week
that I would inform each of you that I would support Senator Prozanski’s
efforts to change the bill he drafted,” Williamson wrote, even as she defended
her stance on the bill.
She added that she would use a special session to demand increased funding for
victims of domestic and sexual violence — a move some viewed as disingenuous
and which Brown said extends beyond the scope of a special session.
Asked Wednesday how much blame her office shouldered for the confusion behind
the SB 1013, Brown told reporters there were “a lot of people involved in this
bill. I think we all share some responsibility.”
Assuming a special session is convened, it would be Brown’s second as governor.
In May 2018, she called a one-day special session for lawmakers to tweak
Oregon’s tax code.
(source: The Daily Astorian)
*********************
Oregon lawmakers work to clarify new death penalty law----Oregon lawmakers are
trying to clarify a controversial law that reclassifies what crimes warrant the
death penalty. Oregon Gov. Kate Brown said Wednesday she wants to call a
special session.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown said Wednesday she wants to call a special session of
the Legislature because of questions raised whether a new law which narrows
death penalty cases is retroactive.
With the new law taking effect next month, Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum
also said she supports a special legislative session “to make sure our courts,
prosecutors, defenders, victims and others have the clarity and guidance they
need in connection with our most serious criminal cases.”
“We must make sure we get this law right,” Rosenblum said.
The bill narrows the state’s use of the death penalty by substantially limiting
the crimes that qualify.
After Brown signed the bill on Aug. 1, lawyers for Martin Allen Johnson, who
authorities say raped and murdered a 15-year-old girl in 1998 before throwing
her body off a bridge, raised the issue of whether the new law applies to him.
A judge determined the crime no longer qualifies as aggravated murder under the
new law. Other cases could be affected.
The new state law that takes effect Sept. 29 narrows the definition of
aggravated murder, the only crime eligible for a death sentence. The law states
that aggravated murder is limited to killing 2 or more people as an act of
organized terrorism; killing a child younger than 14 intentionally and with
premeditation; killing another person while locked incarcerated for a previous
murder; or killing a police, correctional or probation officer.
House Republican Leader Carl Wilson said repealing the bill might be the best
course in a special session, allowing ample time before the 2020 regular
session to analyze the issue.
“The last thing we should do in this situation is quickly rush something
through a compressed process,” Wilson said. “We do not want to compound the
existing mistake by rushing a ‘fix’ through a daylong session in a hastily
assembled committee.”
Brown, a Democrat, told reporters in a conference call that she expects Sen.
Floyd Prozanski, a Democrat from the university town of Eugene who helped get
the bill passed, to work with others to craft language to address the law’s
retroactivity. Then she would call a special session, expected to last less
than a day in September.
Prozanski said Wednesday it is imperative to move forward with a special
session to provide a fix to the bill. It should clarify that it “only applies
to offenses committed on or after the effective date,” Prozanski said. He is
recommending a special session occur when the Legislature is already scheduled,
from Sept. 16-18.
Wilson, who voted against the bill that passed in the House by a 33-26 vote,
said Wednesday he prefers that any changes to the death penalty be referred to
voters via a ballot measure.
Brown has extended a 2011 moratorium on the death penalty. The last execution
in the state took place in 1997. The death penalty remains legal in 29 states,
but only a handful regularly conduct executions.
Nationwide, 1,500 people have been executed since 1976.
(source: Associated Press)
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