July 25
TEXAS----new execution date
Arthur Brown has been given an execution date of October 29; it should be
considered serious.
Executions under Rick Perry, 2001-present-----263
Executions in Texas: Dec. 7, 1982-present----502
Perry #--------scheduled execution date-----name---------Tx. #
264-------------July 31-------------------Douglas Feldman-----503
265-------------Sept. 19------------------Robert Garza--------504
266-------------Sept. 26------------------Arturo Diaz--------505
267-------------Oct. 9---------------------Michael Yowell-----506
268------------Oct. 16--------------------Larry Hatten-------507
269-------------Oct. 29-------------------Arthur Brown-------508
270------------Nov. 12---------------------Jamie McCoskey-----509
271------------Jan. 15---------------------Rigoberto Avila, Jr.----510
272-----------Feb. 5-----------------------Suzanne Basso-------511
(sources for both: TDCJ & Rick Halperin)
*******************
Erath County grand jury indicts alleged killer of Chris Kyle
The man who allegedly shot and killed the author of "American Sniper," Chris
Kyle, and his friend, Chad Littlefield, was indicted Wednesday by an Erath
County grand jury, according to District Attorney Alan Nash.
Eddie Routh, the former Marine accused of killing Kyle and Littlefield Feb. 2
at a gun range at Rough Creek Lodge was indicted for capital murder.
If convicted, Routh could face the death penalty.
"We are restricted by what we can say at this time," Nash said following the
indictment.
Judge Jason Cashon has placed an order restricting law enforcement officials,
the prosecution and defense from communicating with the media.
Nash said he does not know when a trial will begin.
Stephenville attorney Shay Isham and Fort Wort attorney Warren St. John are
representing Routh.
Routh's family has said in the days and months leading up to the double
slaying, Routh had been deeply troubled and had been at the Dallas V.A. Medical
Center on Jan. 29 for an outpatient, follow-up visit.
His parents, Raymond and Jodi Routh, had reportedly begged the hospital not to
release their son the week before because he was suicidal and they feared he
would hurt someone else, Isham said in a previous interview.
Kyle was a former Navy SEAL who served 4 tours in Iraq. He was dedicated to
helping veterans with post traumatic stress disorder, a condition Routh was
reportedly struggling with.
Jodi Routh had reportedly sought Kyle's help with her son's treatment.
Kyle and Littlefield had taken Routh to the gun range for a form of therapeutic
target practice when Routh turned on the men, shooting and killing them both.
Routh is being held on a $3 million bond at Erath County Jail.
(source: waxahachietx.com)
*********************
Iraq war veteran indicted in death of former U.S. military sniper
An Iraq war veteran accused of gunning down former U.S. Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, a
decorated military sniper, at a Texas shooting range was indicted by a grand
jury on Wednesday.
Eddie Ray Routh, 25, faces a capital murder charge for allegedly killing Kyle,
38, and a neighbor of Kyle's, 35-year-old Chad Littlefield, with a
semiautomatic pistol in February at a shooting range near Fort Worth.
The charge is punishable by life without parole or the death penalty.
The victims were at a shooting range designed by Kyle at the Rough Creek Lodge,
an upscale retreat about 50 miles southwest of Fort Worth that offers horseback
riding, fishing, golf, shooting sports and other outdoor activities.
Kyle and Littlefield took Routh to the shooting range to try to help him relax
and deal with personal problems, police have said.
After the shooting, Routh drove in Kyle's truck to his sister's home in
Midlothian, a Dallas suburb, and confessed to shooting the 2 men.
In a 911 call to Midlothian police, Routh's sister and her husband told the
dispatcher that Routh suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and had
recently been a patient at a mental hospital.
Routh was on active duty in the Marines from 2006 to 2010, and is currently a
reservist. He served in Iraq in 2007 and in Haiti following a devastating
earthquake there in 2010, and received several medals, including 1 for good
conduct.
Kyle served 4 combat tours of duty in Iraq and elsewhere, and he won 2 Silver
Stars and 5 Bronze Stars for bravery, according to his book, "American Sniper:
The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History."
After leaving the Navy, Kyle founded Craft International, a firm that provided
combat and weapons training to military, police, corporate and civilian
clients.
Kyle is the co-author of another book, "American Gun - A History of the U.S. in
Ten Firearms," which will be published in May.
(source: Reuters)
CONNECTICUT:
Petit family killer on death row could ask for new trial after 'defense was
never told about 911 calls where police refused to send hostage negotiator to
deadly Connecticut home invasion'
--Joshua Komisarjevsky sentenced to death in 2011 for brutal murders of
Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11
--Defense attorney Walter Bansley said if he was aware of the 911 calls 'it
would have made for a different defense'
--Newly-released phone calls reveal that police officers doubted that the Petit
family were in danger ahead of their deaths in July 2007
A convicted killer who held the Petit family hostage before murdering the
mother and 2 daughters may ask for a new trial, his attorney said on Tuesday.
Joshua Komisarjevsky is on death row after Jennifer Hawke-Petit was raped and
strangled to death and her daughters, Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11, were tied
to their beds and died when the house in Cheshire, Connecticut was set alight
on July 23, 2007.
The girls' father Dr William Petit was the only survivor who managed to escape
the flames after being beaten and tied up.
Attorney Walter Bansley told courant.com this week that his client may seek a
new trial because he was unaware of the existence of the 911 calls.
Some of the calls, posted online by the Hartford Courant, revealed that
Connecticut police decided against sending a hostage negotiator to the Petit
family home on that fateful morning and told a SWAT team to hold back.
Mr Bansley told the newspaper: 'There is no doubt that if we were aware of
those calls we would have tried to use them at trial and it would have made for
a different defense.'
The defense attorney said that he is discussing whether the information creates
grounds for a new trial along with lawyers handling Komisarjevsky's death
sentence appeal.
Mr Bansley said that the failure to turn over evidence in a death-penalty trial
- where the judge allows almost everything to be included - is a 'big legal
issue'.
On the 6th anniversary of the horrific killings, the Hartford Courant published
calls from law enforcement sources showing that officers with the Cheshire
Police Department doubted the danger underway at the household.
They were also outside the home when the murders were carried out and before
the home was burned to the ground, it has emerged.
Police were first alerted to trouble at the house when Hawke-Petit was taken to
a Bank of America and forced to withdraw $15,000, where she told the teller she
was being held hostage.
When a police officer went to the bank 23 minutes after the initial 911 call,
he told a dispatcher in a recorded phone call that he doubted the accuracy of
Hawke-Petit's story.
'She came into the bank, she tried to get some money out,' Lt James Fasano told
the dispatcher.
'One of the accounts was in her husband's name, and then she says, "Well, my
kids are at home tied up". So we don't know if they really are or if she was
just trying to get money out at this point.'
He added that she had entered the bank alone and appeared calm, and that her
captor had said nothing would happen to her as long as she handed over the
money.
The phone calls also include one in which a hostage negotiator Eric Granoth is
told he was not needed at the scene.
'I need to know whether you want me in or not,' he said in a 15-second
conversation with dispatcher Donald Miller. 'I am the hostage negotiator and I
got paged.'
Miller then asked Deputy Chief Joseph Popovich if he wanted the negotiator, and
Miller can be heard telling Granoth 'not at this time' before hanging up.
New Haven Public Defender Thomas Ullmann, who represented Hayes, said: 'The
fact that a hostage negotiator, listening to what was going on during the
dispatch communications, felt compelled to call central police headquarters
offering his assistance and then being turned away is shocking.'
Miller then received a call from SWAT team member Kerry Nastri, who asks
whether they should start suiting up and head to the scene - but Miller said
officers said they would call on them if they were needed.
10 minutes later, Nastri called back to say they were going there anyway.
Also shocking is how the police have never performed a review of the incident.
Town Manager Michael Milone would not provide a reason for this, nor one for
why the hostage negotiator was told not to go to the home.
Cindy Renn, Jennifer Hawke-Petit's sister, told the Courant that authorities
have never carried out a review of the incident or their actions. 'Nobody in
that department ever looked at what they did or didn't do right or wrong,' Renn
said.
'Admit when you make mistakes and do better the next time and save people's
lives.'
An HBO documentary that aired on Monday included a timeline that placed police
at the house before Hawke-Petit was raped or the house was set on fire.
(source: Daily Mail)
GEORGIA:
Why Georgia can't kill Warren Lee Hill; The state's new lethal-injection law
undermines its repeated attempts to kill one of its death row inmates
Warren Lee Hill should already be dead. But thanks to Georgia, which for years
has feverishly pursued the death-row inmate's execution, as well as an unlikely
and fortunate series of events, he has somehow managed to stay alive.
Hill, who was sentenced to death in 1991 for murdering inmate Joseph Handspike
while already serving a life sentence for killing his then-18-year-old
girlfriend Myra Wright, has avoided death by lethal injection on 3 separate
occasions this year. In February, 1 reprieve came with less than 30 minutes
before his execution - Hill had already eaten his last meal. During the past
month alone, a judge halted 2 more scheduled executions.
The reason Hill, who has an IQ of 69, isn't dead yet has little to do with the
long-standing claims over whether the execution of "mentally retarded" inmates
(the court's phrase, not ours) constitutes cruel and unusual punishment and
violates his Eighth Amendment rights. It's because Georgia's new controversial
- and arguably unconstitutional - "Lethal Injection Secrecy Act" has breathed
new life into Hill's case - and stymied the state's goal of seeing him die.
The secrecy law, which the General Assembly passed in March as a tacked-on
amendment to an unrelated sex offender bill, keeps confidential the names of
companies that supply the state with pentobarbital, the drug used in lethal
injections. The measure, state lawmakers and attorneys say, protects companies
from being harassed by anti-death penalty activists and allows the state to
restock its drug supply with relative ease.
Gov. Nathan Deal signed the bill in May and it went into effect on July 1. The
very next day, Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens scheduled another execution
for Hill on July 15 ??? the first under the new secrecy law. Department of
Corrections officials would not have to disclose the parties involved in the
execution or the people buying and selling the drugs. But as the Associated
Press discovered, the pentobarbital obtained for Hill's death was mixed by a
compounding pharmacy, which critics say is an unreliable and unsafe source for
the drugs.
"It's not necessarily about pentobarbital, it's about where are the ingredients
coming from. Who is compounding the drug? Right now, all we know is that it's
from a compounding pharmacy from out of state. That does not inspire
confidence," says Hill's attorney Brian Kammer.
In its attempts to streamline the process of moving inmates from death row to
the execution chamber, the state's new secrecy law instead thwarted its own
efforts to execute Hill. It's helped the inmate live longer than anyone, even
his lawyers, ever expected.
In addition, Georgia's adamant protection of its new statute has resulted in
heightened scrutiny over its hypocritical stance on transparency. In some
cases, the state likes to posture as a champion for transparency on behalf of
the public. Case in point: Days before Hill was given his most recent stay,
Olens browbeat the Environmental Protection Agency for allegedly failing to
disclose documents, saying: "We deserve a government that conducts business in
a transparent manner, especially when its actions have a direct impact on all
of us."
But when it suits the state's own agenda, as in lethal injections, it's more
than happy to use secrecy to carry out its mission. In this case, Georgia's
actions indicate that the protection of pentobarbital suppliers has become more
important than giving Hill, a citizen with rights, an unobstructed chance to
defend himself.
The state's secrecy law, oddly enough, has helped Hill. Hours before Hill's
scheduled July 15 execution date, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Gail Tusan
granted him a temporary stay of execution after his lawyers raised concerns
over the statute. 3 days later, Tusan extended Hill's stay indefinitely and
said the law might unconstitutionally limit access to information Hill and
others would need to defend their rights in court. Thanks to an unexpected
delay in the court transcript's delivery, the state was unable to hastily
appeal Hill's indefinite stay before the execution warrant expired.
Looking ahead, the odds that Hill dies by lethal injection before September are
dwindling by the minute, but are still possible. The state is still expected to
challenge his indefinite stay of execution. The question is when. Georgia's
Supreme Court will be in recess throughout August. Likewise, the Georgia
Department of Corrections will need to obtain a new execution warrant and
purchase more pentobarbital. Those tasks will be harder to do with an
indefinite stay in place as well as more scrutiny and awareness about Georgia's
secrecy law.
Moving forward, Hill's lawyers will fight for his life in two distinct legal
battles. One will be the long-running Eighth Amendment case over the execution
of "mentally retarded" inmates. The second focuses on the state's secretive
stance toward lethal-injection drugs. The legal team already seems to be
winning the latter fight, which could help buy Hill enough time to let the U.S.
Supreme Court take a thorough look at his constitutional challenge in late
September.
Ultimately, Kammer says, the fight over Hill's mental condition offers the
better chance to save his life for good. But it's one that had previously hit a
dead end before the state's secrecy law started to unravel.
In a way, Hill's executioners - the state lawmakers, the attorney general, and
the Department of Corrections - gave his lawyers another shot at saving his
life. If the courts ultimately continue to side with Hill, it'll be as much the
state's doing as it is his legal team's expertise.
(source: Creative Loafing Atlanta)
FLORIDA:
State shouldn't execute severely mentally ill killer
The battle over John Errol Ferguson's execution is not about who he is - a
cold-blooded killer - but about who we are as Floridians. Ferguson is severely
mentally ill and has been that way for more than 40 years. His execution is on
hold while his mental state and the legal standards for killing someone who is
mentally ill are being argued in federal court. The state and federal standards
are in conflict, and the more reasonable federal standard should prevail and
prevent from being executed a man who has raging hallucinations and thinks he's
the Prince of God.
There is nothing redeemable about Ferguson or his heinous crimes. In 1977 he
participated along with 2 accomplices in the massacre of 6 people during a home
invasion in Carol City while looking for drugs. On his own Ferguson murdered 2
teenagers 6 months later, raping the girl. Ferguson, now 64, is a deranged,
dangerous killer who should never have been out on the streets.
As far back as 1965 Ferguson had been found to suffer from "visual
hallucinations." In the early 1970s, he was sent to state mental institutions
where doctors diagnosed him as "grossly psychotic" and someone who doesn't
"know right from wrong." He was found to be paranoid schizophrenic, delusional,
explosive and aggressive. And in 1975, a doctor wrote presciently, "This man is
dangerous and cannot be released under any circumstances." In less than a year,
Ferguson would be free.
Ferguson's lawyer, Christopher Handman, is now in a legal race to save the
mentally ill man from execution. Only a last-minute reprieve by the federal
courts prevented his execution last month. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals will review whether the proper constitutional standard for executing
the mentally ill is being applied, with briefings scheduled this month.
Florida is embracing an interpretation of competency for execution so pinched
that it would virtually extinguish limits on executing the severely mentally
ill. The state says Ferguson is aware that he is being put to death and that he
committed murder, and is therefore competent to be executed. A trial judge in
Bradford County accepted this view, as did the Florida Supreme Court, which
failed to block the execution.
But Handman persuasively argues that the standard of competency established by
the U.S. Supreme Court in a 2007 decision requires a rational understanding of
the reason and effect of the execution. And since Ferguson is floridly
delusional, believing that, as the Prince of God, he is being executed so he
can save the world from communism, among other paranoid delusions, he cannot
rationally connect his crimes to the punishment or perceive the finality of
execution.
An objection to Ferguson's execution by Laurel Bellows, president of the
American Bar Association, says law and tradition have long held that mentally
ill offenders be treated differently. Now the courts have to uphold those
humane standards.
(source: Editorial, Tampa Bay Times)
*******************
'Prince Of God' Inmate Set To Be Executed
A Florida death row inmate is trying to get the U.S. Supreme Court to spare his
life after Gov. Rick Scott signed his death warrant Tuesday. If taken up, the
case could affect mental-fitness standards for execution and help determine
whether federal courts must defer to state courts.
John Errol Ferguson's lawyer is appealing to the high court after an Atlanta
federal appeals court lifted a stay on his execution on Tuesday. Ferguson was
convicted of 8 Miami-area murders in the 1970s. But attorney Chris Handman
says, Ferguson has never understood his execution would mean permanent death.
"Mr. Ferguson thinks he's being executed because he is the right hand, or the
prince, of God and that nothing is going to happen to him afterward," Handman
says. "That's not a rational understanding."
He says the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that people must understand what
execution means before they can be put to death. He says in lifting the
execution stay, a federal court judge wrote that the Florida Supreme Court had
incorrectly ignored federal precedent, but the appeals court was bound by
deference to the state.
Without action from the U.S. Supreme Court, Ferguson is set to be executed Aug.
5.
(source: WFSU)
***************************
Justin Boyles and Charles Massey Indicted on 1st Degree Murder; May Face Death
Penalty
A St. Johns County grand jury on Monday indicted Justin Adam Boyles, 24, and
Charles Danny Massey, 38, both of 6 Holly Road in Palm Coast, on first-degree
murder charges in the killing of Edward Scott Mullener on June 13 or 14.
Mullener died either in Flagler County or just across the county line in St.
Johns, where his charred body was discovered in the still-burning trunk of his
car in Flagler Estates the morning of June 14.
The grand jury also indicted Boyles and Massey on kidnapping to commit or
facilitate a felony, a first-degree felony that carries a penalty of up to 30
years in prison.
If convicted, Boyles and Massey could face the death penalty. They will be
tried in St. Johns, not in Flagler, however, because trial takes place where
the murdered body is discovered.
The indictment was secured by Assistant State Attorney Jacquelyn Roys, the
likely prosecutor in the case. Roys just won the conviction of Flagler Beach
murderer Paul Miller, the 66-year-old man who shot and killed Dana Mulhall, his
neighbor, in February 2012, over an argument about Miller???s dogs. Miller is
serving life in prison without parole.
Mullener's murder, according to the 2 men's arrest reports, was the result of a
love triangle gone sour, and involving Boyles, Mullener and Antoinette Heart, a
35-year-old resident of the Hammock, where most of the people involved in the
case lived within a few minutes' distance of each other. Heart had sought to
break up from Mullener. Mullener was not accepting the break-up, and had gone
to Heart's house, pounding on her door or windows, when Heart summoned Boyles,
who allegedly began to fight with Mullener outside the house. Boyles was then
joined by Massey and Cheryl Leggett, Massey's girlfriend, as Massey and Boyles
allegedly continued to beat and torture Mullener, finally driving him away the
evening of June 13.
The violence had unfolded at 19 Sanchez Ave. in Palm Coast's Hammock. Mullener
was found the next day in his car along a logging road in Flagler Estates, the
undeveloped subdivision that straddles the St. Johns and Flagler county lines.
There are a few houses developed on the St. Johns side.
Mullener's is the 4th Flagler County victim of murder this year, though 1 of
the 4 - that of Dennie Cayton, whose body was found in a marsh behind a
Covington Lane house in early January - is believed to have been killed by
stabbing in December. His killer is at large. The killer is still at large in
the case of Zuheily Roman Rosado, the convenience store clerk murdered
execution-style in February.
In June, Erick Niemi, 42, of 26 Ryken Lane, allegedly confessed to killing his
landlord, Leonard Lynn, 76, at the same address in late May. Niemi was indicted
on 1st-degree murder charge last week.
(source: flaglerlive.com)
*****************************************************
State Attorney's Office pursues death penalty for woman's murder; SAO will
pursue death penalty against James Rhodes
Channel 4 has learned that the State Attorney's Office is pursuing the death
penalty against 21-year-old James Rhodes.
Rhodes waived his 1st appearance in court Wednesday afternoon after being
arrested Tuesday on charges of murder and aggravated assault with a deadly
weapon.
Investigators said Rhodes is the man who robbed the Brentwood Metro PCS store
Saturday night and fatally shot the clerk on duty, 20-year-old Shelby Farah.
Hours after Rhodes waived his 1st appearance, a grand jury indicted him on 1st
degree murder charges, which means the death penalty could be put on the table.
"Ms. Corey, right now, is focusing on, showing the grand jury enough evidence
to establish first degree murder so she can therefore go for the death
penalty," said Defense Attorney Gene Nichols. "That felony that he committed,
robbing her with a firearm and then killing her, not only gives Ms. Corey
enough to go to a grand jury to suggest a 1st degree murder case punishable by
death, but it appears it was committed cold, calculating, with multiple other
aggravators at play."
Farah's mother, Darlene, told Channel 4 the maximum punishment will be the only
justice for her daughter's death.
"I'm going to make sure, even if it takes the last breath in my body, he needs
to get the death penalty," said Farah.
Nichols warns that there are many legal hurdles ahead for Farah's family,
including mitigating factors and character witnesses for Rhodes. He points out
that because Rhodes is so young, his age could weigh on the jury.
"Is it going to be more difficult to get a death penalty against a young person
than it would be someone 30 or 40 or 50? Sure. A jury is going to take his age
into account," said Nichols.
Rhodes is scheduled to be arraigned August 14 and is being held in the Duval
County jail without bail.
(source: News4jawx.com)
ALABAMA----impending execution//volunteer
Execution set in Ala. Thursday for Andrew Lackey
Alabama death row inmate Andrew Lackey is scheduled to be executed at Holman
Prison in Atmore by lethal injection for the 2005 Halloween night beating and
shooting death of an 80-year-old Limestone County man.
Lackey's execution is set for 6 p.m. Thursday. He would be the 1st person
executed in Alabama since Christopher T. Johnson of Escambia County on Oct. 20,
2011. Executions in Alabama have been slowed partly because of a legal dispute
over the drugs used.
Lackey was convicted of killing Charles Newman at Newman's Limestone County
home. Authorities said Lackey apparently was seeking money.
Lackey has dropped his appeals and court records show he has not tried to block
the execution.
Prisons spokesman Brian Corbett said the 30-year-old Lackey has been visited
this week by relatives.
(source: Associated Press)
ARKANSAS:
Hearing postponed for suspect in Ark. girl's death
A judge has rescheduled a mental evaluation status hearing for an Arkansas man
charged with killing his 6-year-old neighbor.
Zachary Holly was scheduled to appear in court Thursday, but a judge this week
pushed that hearing back to Aug. 30.
A court order filed Tuesday says a mental evaluation report about Holly isn't
finished yet.
Holly has pleaded not guilty to capital murder, rape, kidnapping and
residential burglary in the November death of 6-year-old Jersey Bridgeman in
the northwest Arkansas city of Bentonville. The young girl's death ended a
short life marred by abuse. Her father and stepmother were sentenced to prison
after being convicted of chaining her to a dresser in 2011.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Holly.
************************
McDaniel addresses legislators on executions
Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel is meeting with state legislators to
discuss what he says is a broken death penalty system.
McDaniel appeared before a joint meeting of the House and Senate Judiciary
Committees on Wednesday.
Arkansas hasn't executed a death row inmate since 2005, and McDaniel said
earlier this month that he doesn't expect that to change anytime soon.
The state doesn't have any pending executions. Gov. Mike Beebe said Wednesday
he doubts an execution will take place while he's still governor. Beebe has
said he doesn't have immediate plans to schedule executions even though
McDaniel has asked him to do so.
Wednesday's committee meeting comes as Arkansas and other states grapple with
legal challenges and a shortage of drugs used in lethal injections.
(source: Associatedj Press)
OHIO----impending executuion
Kasich won't spare Cleveland killer from execution Billy Slagle
Gov. John Kasich rejected clemency yesterday for a condemned Cleveland killer
who stabbed his victim 17 times, overruling a rare plea for mercy from the
prosecutor overseeing his case and support from nearly half of a parole board
that previously voted unanimously against the inmate.
Gov. John Kasich's decision left death row prisoner Billy Slagle with few
options before his Aug. 7 execution date for killing neighbor Mari Anne Pope in
a 1987 burglary while 2 children she was watching were home.
Kasich followed the recommendation of the Ohio Parole Board, which voted 6-4
last week to turn down Slagle's request for clemency. As is his custom, Kasich
didn't explain his decision in his statement.
The entire board ruled against mercy 2 years ago for Slagle, but that was
before the election of new Cuyahoga County prosecutor Tim McGinty and a change
in his office's approach to capital punishment.
McGinty, who is applying new criteria to both old and new death penalty cases,
has said he doesn't believe his office could obtain a death sentence for Slagle
today. McGinty pushed for life without parole, arguing that without that option
in 1987, jurors trying to ensure that Slagle would never go free chose the only
option before them: a death sentence.
The parole board didn't buy McGinty's argument. "The egregious nature of
Slagle's crime and circumstances surrounding it outweigh the mitigation present
here," the board wrote in its ruling, which called the slaying "unprovoked,
merciless, and completely senseless."
Attorneys for Slagle, 44, long argued his sentence should be commuted to life
without parole, citing his age - at 18, he was the minimum age for execution in
Ohio when the crime happened - and a long history of drug and alcohol abuse.
"Billy was exposed to alcohol from the womb to the crime," Joe Wilhelm, a
federal public defender, said at a July 8 hearing.
Before Kasich's decision, Wilhelm had said he was encouraged that 4 members of
the parole board had voted to spare Slagle.
Messages seeking comment were left for Slagle's attorneys and for the
prosecutor.
The woman whose children Pope was watching the night she was killed welcomed
Kasich's announcement.
"Justice has been served," Lauretta Keeton of Brook Park in suburban Cleveland
said in a phone interview.
"It has taken too long," said Keeton, 57, a retired medical assistant. "This
should have been settled a long time ago."
The parole board members who supported clemency cited McGinty's change of
position, with one noting that Slagle's "age and immaturity at the time of
offense significantly mitigate his sentence."
In 1996, Ohio law changed to allow jurors to choose between execution and life
without parole. In 2005, lawmakers added a provision allowing prosecutors to
pursue life without parole in non-death penalty cases.
"Slagle's case is a close call," Cuyahoga County assistant prosecutor Matthew
Meyer told the parole board at the July 8 hearing. "We can't in confidence tell
you that had it happened today, this would be a death case."
Meyer said the recommendation for mercy was not meant to diminish the heinous
facts of Pope's death.
Friends of Pope told the parole board that sparing Slagle would dishonor the
jury's original sentence.
It's unclear whether a sitting Ohio prosecutor has ever asked that a death row
inmate under his office have the sentence commuted.
Cuyahoga County has long had a reputation for heavy use of capital punishment
indictments with relatively low numbers of death sentences. McGinty had
promised to reduce the number of death penalty charges when he ran for the
office.
(source: Columbus Dispatch)
****************************
Ohio governor refuses to spare killer from execution
Ohio Gov. John Kasich on Wednesday officially rejected clemency for a condemned
Cleveland murderer, despite a prosecutor's rare plea to commute his sentence to
life without parole.
Kasich announced his decision not to grant mercy to death row inmate Billy
Slagle, who was convicted in his neighbor's 1987 stabbing death.
Attorneys for Slagle, 44, have long argued that he deserves clemency because he
was just 18 at the time of the stabbing, and was a drug addict and alcoholic
with a chaotic upbringing.
Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty -- who has recently spoken out against
capital punishment -- previously said he doubts Slagle would receive the death
penalty if he were tried under the justice system today.
Friends and family of victim Mari Anne Pope said sparing Slagle would have
dishonored the jury's sentence.
(source for both: mynews4.com)
*********************
Trial of man who held women hostage for 10 years may start next month
The trial for the Ohio man accused of holding three women captive for a decade
may begin in early August, officials said Wednesday.
However, attorneys for Ariel Castro said they are talking to prosecutors about
a possible plea deal, The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer reported.
Castro, 52, appeared in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court during a hearing
devoted to discussions about the exchange of evidence.
Assistant County Prosecutor Blaise Thomas told Judge Michael Russo his office
had supplied more than 4,000 documents to the defense. However, Castro's
attorneys complained their team had not received evidence fast enough.
Castro has pleaded not guilty to 977 counts that include rape, kidnapping and
aggravated murder.
Craig Weintraub, one of the defendant's attorneys, told the judge a plea deal
could be reached if prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty.
County Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty has previously said he would ask for the
death penalty for Castro, but has not yet included that specification in the
charges.
(source: UPI)
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