Dec. 6
DECEMBER 6, 2017:
TEXAS:
Delacruz appears in court; capital murder trial slated
A San Angelo capital murder suspect appeared in court Tuesday for the 1st time
since his trial was postponed last-minute in July.
Isidro Miguel Delacruz, 27, stands accused in the slaying of Naiya Villegas -
his ex-girlfriend's 5-year-old daughter - on Sept. 2, 2014. Prosecutors are
seeking the death penalty.
119th District Judge Ben Woodward made several rulings on Tuesday and laid out
the rules with attorneys, including the conditions and etiquette to follow on
some of the more convoluted aspects of the trial.
Woodward allowed digital media presence outside of the courthouse and the
McNease Convention Center - where jury selection from a pool of 350-400 people
will take place Jan. 11.
He ruled Delacruz will be addressed as "the accused" and the child will be
referred by her name rather than the "complaining witness."
Trial had been slated to begin July, but Woodward granted a continuance because
of some last-minute disclosures of evidence by local law-enforcement agencies.
Woodward told attorneys he hopes to finish the case in mid-March.
There are 23-pages of potential witnesses to be called.
51st District Attorney Allison Palmer is prosecuting the case.
Defense attorney Robert Cowie, of the Lubbock Regional Public Defender for
Capital Cases, is court appointed.
(source: gosanangelo.com)
******************
Capital murder indictments unsealed against 2 prison inmates in 2006 beating,
arson death
2 prison inmates from Waco have been formally charged with capital murder in
the beating and arson death of a woman in 2006.
Tony Wayne Swinnie, 46, and Gerald Wayne Brown, 60, were charged in sealed
indictments last Wednesday that were unsealed and made public on Tuesday. Waco
police charged Swinnie with capital murder in May 2007 in the June 2006 death
of Gloria Campos Viera, but he was not indicted in that case until last week.
Neither McLennan County District Attorney Abel Reyna nor his first assistant,
Michael Jarrett, returned phone messages Tuesday, leaving it unclear why the
DA's office did not pursue an indictment in the case for more than a decade,
including the last 4 years of former DA John Segrest's term.
One reason could be that Swinnie is serving a life prison term in the August
2006 aggravated robbery of Martha Jane's Liquor Store and a consecutive life
term in the July 2006 assault of a 67-year-old man in Dallas County.
The fire at Viera's house, 512 N. 16th St., was classified as arson, and an
autopsy showed she died from blunt force injuries to her head and neck and
smoke inhalation.
Judge Ralph Strother of Waco's 19th State District Court sentenced Swinnie to
life in prison after a jury convicted Swinnie of smashing a liquor bottle over
the head of Martha Jane Ezar, assaulting her with a cash register and then
threatening Ezar's grandchildren before fleeing that former package store at
1500 Colcord Ave.
In sentencing Swinnie, Strother said, "Mr. Swinnie, you have turned yourself
into a human predator and a modern-day barbarian. You seek out the defenseless
and unsuspecting."
A year later, a Dallas County jury sentenced Swinnie to life in prison after he
knocked out a 67-year-old man with a single punch and robbed him while standing
in line at a McDonald's in Grand Prairie.
Court records show Brown was sentenced to 40 years in prison for arson in 1993
and released on parole in April 2004. He was sent back to prison in March 2011
after violating his parole.
Brown has a projected release date in 2021.
It was not clear Tuesday if the DA's office intends to seek the death penalty
in the 2 cases.
(source: Waco Tribune)
VIRGINIA:
Trial delayed for man accused of killing wife, Prince William officer
Ronald Hamilton - the man accused of shooting 3 Prince William County police
officers after killing his wife last year - won't face a jury until August, now
that his trial has been delayed a second time.
Hamilton's lawyers and county prosecutors agreed on the delay in a Nov. 6
hearing in Prince William County Circuit Court, pushing back proceedings that
were originally set to begin March 5.
The 33-year-old Army veteran is facing a slew of charges, including capital
murder and 1st-degree murder, in connection with one of Prince William's most
high-profile shootings in recent memory. Police believe Hamilton shot and
killed his wife, Crystal, at the couple???s home on Lashmere Court in
Woodbridge, then opened fire on police responding to a 911 call about the
incident. Officer Ashley Guindon was killed, while officers Jesse Hempen and
David McKeown were wounded.
Hamilton's attorneys have indicated in a series of pre-trial motions that they
believe he is mentally unstable, perhaps as a result of his service in the Iraq
War, and have told prosecutors repeatedly that he is willing to enter a guilty
plea if they agree to take the death penalty off the table. But Commonwealth's
Attorney Paul Ebert and his deputies filed a notice in circuit court on Sept.
13 that they intend to seek the death penalty in the case, continuing Ebert's
preference toward capital punishment over the course of his long career.
But it will be months before a jury decides whether Hamilton becomes the 1st
person since 2010 executed for a crime in the county. He was originally set to
go to trial in June, but his attorneys pressed for a delay until March 2018
over concerns about the workload associated with the case. Hamilton is
represented by a pair of lawyers with the state's capital defense program, in
addition to private attorney Gene Hart.
A flap over some of the county's document filing practices has pushed
Hamilton's trial even deeper into 2018.
On Oct. 3, county prosecutors filed notice that they would introduce evidence
at trial about Hamilton's past encounters with law enforcement, including a
series of assault accusations in several different states and domestic disputes
with his wife over the past few years.
That move incensed Hamilton's lawyers, who claimed that the filing came far
later than a court-imposed deadline of December 2016 would allow. In a motion,
they wrote that this delay would "greatly impede" their preparation for trial
by putting them at a disadvantage in investigating those incidents.
In a response, prosecutors stressed that the defense has had access to
information about most of the incidents for months, but they conceded an
"oversight" led to their office only preparing a formal filing in October.
But Hamilton's lawyers argued that it was actually a "pattern and practice" for
Ebert and his deputies to miss similar deadlines, noting that the "issue has
recurred in every death-eligible capital case handled by the specific
prosecutors in this case and their office in the past since at least 2010."
(source: insidenova.com)
NORTH CAROLINA:
Prosecutors mulling death penalty for Pasquotank inmates charged in failed
prison escape
Prosecutors are expected to meet Wednesday morning to discuss a possible
harsher punishment for 4 inmates allegedly involved in a deadly attack at the
Pasquotank Correctional Institution.
The purpose of the hearing is to determine if the state will seek the death
penalty against those inmates accused of trying to escape.
State officials say the inmates started a fire in the facility's sewing plant
in October. According to police, the inmates then tried to escape the prison,
but were caught before leaving the prison yard. During the chaos, several
people were hurt and hospitalized. 4 prison workers died in the attack.
Prosecutors charged the inmates with 1st-degree murder in connection with the
incident. In October, the inmates were indicted on several other charges,
including burning a public building, felony riot and assault with a deadly
weapon.
The prison has remained on the lockdown since the deadly attack. Meanwhile, the
prison's sewing plant where the ambush happened has been closed indefinitely.
The capital penalty determination hearing is scheduled to take place at 11 a.m.
(source: WAVY news)
SOUTH CAROLINA:
Attorneys for man charged with killing 2 during bank robbery in Conway ask for
more time
The man charged with the deadly CresCom Bank robbery this past August appeared
in federal court Monday afternoon and his attorneys pleaded for more time.
Brandon Michael Council Sr., 32, went before a judge for a pre-trial/status
conference and the attorneys who represent him said the case is moving too
fast, saying it is moving at "unprecedented speed" and they can't adequately
represent Council at the pace it's going.
Police say Council killed Donna Major, 59, of Conway, and Kathryn "Katie"
Skeen, 36, of Green Sea, during an armed bank robbery on Aug. 21 in Conway.
He has been charged federally and locally, but Monday's hearing was for the
federal case only. Council pleaded not guilty during a hearing in October.
But prosecutors say the case isn't moving faster than others, noting that the
case is moving at the same rate as Dylann Roof's.
Prosecutors wanted an April deadline for arguments for and against the death
penalty so that the Department of Justice can review.
But Council's attorney's argued that April deadline was too soon and said they
won't be able to prepare reasons against the death penalty that fast.
A final decision wasn't made today.
The judge says he'll be somewhat flexible and didn't set a court-ordered
deadline.
He says he could have status hearings month to month to get updates from
prosecutors and defense attorneys as to where they are in the case.
(source: WPDE news)
GEORGIA:
Shock Belt Tainted Ga. Death Penalty Trial, ACLU Lawyers Say
Lawyers for a Georgia death row inmate are asking for a new trial based on
something the defendant was wearing during his original murder trial: a
50,000-watt stun belt.
NOVA Security Group is the Florida company that makes the stun belt Rodney
Young wore during his murder trial 5 years ago.
A promotional video for the product shows a series of defendants suddenly
attacking people in courtrooms, except for the ones wearing stun belts. They
fall to the ground seconds after they stand up.
"So the whole design is essentially for high-risk security transports and to
enhance courtroom security for inmates or subjects that could be potentially
violent, have a history of escape or escape attempts," said Brian Dillard, an
instructor with NOVA security.
But lawyers for Rodney Young argued last week in court that none of that was
the case for their client.
"In fact, all the testimony at the hearing was that our client was perfectly
peaceful and perfectly well behaved in court," said attorney Brian Stull with
the ACLU's Capital Punishment Project.
"There was a juror in this case, and he actually made a report to the court
officers and said this guy looks very anxious, and that's making me anxious,"
Stull said. "I want you to make sure the security is high because I don't know
why he's looking so anxious. And we know why."
The stun belt, Stull argued, not only terrified his client but made it hard for
him to participate in the trial. Young's lawyers want a new trial, citing the
device and a number of other reasons, including what they say is his
intellectual disability. They expect a ruling to take months.
Young was convicted for the 2008 murder of his ex-fiancee's son in Newton
County.
The use of a stun belt during trial did lead an appeals court in Indiana to
throw out a death sentence there just this August.
The manufacturer said defendants are told how the product works before it's put
on them, and that it's no more threatening than court officers already on hand.
FLORIDA:
State Attorney in hot seat after Gov. Scott demands answers on death penalty
decision
In 6 days, State Attorney Aramis Ayala must answer to Governor Rick Scott as to
why she failed to seek the death penalty in a violent murder case here in
Central Florida.
The State Attorney has not commented on the issue.
Earlier this year Ayala said she wouldn't seek the death penalty in any case in
the 9th Judicial Circuit. The Supreme Court said under Florida law, she has to
review each case individually.
In response, she created a panel within her office to do just that and decide
whether to recommend the death penalty.
Despite their recommendation to seek the death penalty in the case against
Mapp, she didn't file to seek the death penalty.
Retired Judge Eaton says the law is pretty clear and now that the deadline has
passed - death is off the table.
Now he says the question is whether this request from the Governor's Office
could pose a threat Ayala's career as a state attorney.
"The law provides the Governor with the ability to suspend or remove any public
official for malfeasance or non-malfeasance in office, and I don't know if
negligence amounts to malfeasance," said retired Judge Eaton.
According to the notice from the Governor's office, they also ask for the
billing documents from the time Ayala retained an attorney to represent her
case against the Governor in that previously mentioned Supreme Court decision.
She has until March first to supply those.
(source: baynews9.com)
***************
Jury selection begins for man accused of murdering Milton couple, Bay County
man
A man accused of killing 2 people in Milton was in a Santa Rosa County
courtroom on Monday.
Jury selection began for Derrick Thompson. He's charged with 1st-degree murder
in the deaths of Steven and Debra Zackowski.
They were killed in their Milton home in 2014.
Thompson is also charged with killing Allen Johnson in Bay County.
Prosecutors said, if convicted, they will seek the death penalty.
The trial was put on hold in January 2017 while the U.S. Supreme Court decided
on Florida's revision of death penalty trial procedures.
The State Attorney's Office said jury selection could take up to 2 days.
(source: WEAR TV news)
LOUISIANA:
Shreveport man freed from death row files suit in hopes 'injustice never
happens again'
The lawsuit filed by former death row inmate Rodricus Crawford is about more
than justice for Crawford; it's about getting Caddo Parish officials to change
their death-penalty-dealing ways, one of the now-freed man's attorneys said
during a recent interview.
"Rodricus seeks justice not only for himself and for all that he lost, but also
for people who might - God forbid - face similar circumstances," Crawford's
attorney David J. Utter, counsel with The Claiborne Firm in Savannah, Georgia,
said during a Louisiana Record email interview. "This lawsuit provides parish
and city officials do the right thing by examining what went wrong in Rodricus'
case, and instituting checks and balances to ensure such an injustice never
happens again."
Those checks and balances were severely lacking when a Caddo District Court
jury handed down the capital punishment sentence the following year against the
Shreveport man in the 2012 death of his 1-year-old son Roderius "Bobo" Lott,
according to Crawford's lawsuit.
"Mr. Crawford was convicted and sentenced to death based upon false evidence as
a result of the failure of Defendants to conduct an unbiased autopsy based on
professional standards of practice, and to properly train and supervise
prosecutors in Caddo Parish," said the lawsuit filed Nov. 16 in U.S. District
Court for Louisiana's Western District.
"Because of the lack of training and supervision and adherence to professional
standards, the prosecution was illegally based upon both race and religion, and
a complete indifference to the evidence. In addition, Mr. Crawford raises state
law negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress claims; but for
the reckless and willful conduct of defendants, Mr. Crawford would not have
been prosecuted let alone convicted of capital murder."
In his lawsuit filed on behalf of himself and his minor daughter, Crawford
claims he did not receive his constitutionally guaranteed right to a fair
trial. Named defendants in the case include Caddo Parish Coroner's Office,
Caddo Parish District Attorney's Office, Caddo Parish District Attorney James
Stewart, former Caddo Parish District Attorney Dale Cox, Shreveport Fire
Department and Coroner James Traylor. Crawford's lawsuit asks for a jury trial.
The Caddo Parish District Attorney's office did not respond to a Louisiana
Record request for comment.
"Defendants knowingly participated in the investigation, arrest and capital
prosecution driven by Caddo Parish, Louisiana's well-known history of racism
and the arbitrary application of the death penalty," Crawford's lawsuit said.
"But for Defendants' actions, no prosecution and conviction of Mr. Crawford
would have occurred."
Crawford was taken into custody after bruises and other injuries were
discovered on the child's body. Crawford reportedly told police his son had
fallen in the bathroom and Crawford consistently maintained that he had never
harmed his son.
His attorneys also consistently maintained that the jury relied on bad forensic
science, and pointed to strong medical evidence that the child was suffering
from pneumonia and died of sepsis.
"The conduct of the officials in this case, particularly the coroner Dr.
Traylor and the prosecutor, were particularly egregious, outside the norm of a
mistake or error," Utter said. "There was intentional misconduct."
By the time Crawford's conviction was overturned by the Louisiana Supreme Court
in November 2016, Caddo Parish juries were widely noted for having sentenced 5
people to death in 6 years, 38 % of the state's total death sentences.
The state's highest court ordered a new trial for Crawford after finding
serious issues with the case, including unconstitutional exclusion of black
jurors. Louisiana prosecutors dropped charges against Crawford this past April
and he was freed soon after that.
"As the result of Defendants' unconstitutional, negligent and intentional acts,
Mr. Crawford spent 4 years, 9 months, and 6 days illegally in custody,"
Crawford's lawsuit said.
Utter credited Baton Rouge lawyer Cecilia Trenticosta Kappel, his co-counsel in
Crawford's lawsuit who is active with the Capital Appeals Project and the
Promise of Justice Initiative, for much of the work done to exonerate Crawford.
"Cecelia is the real hero amongst the lawyers on the case," Utter said.
Crawford's lawsuit is necessary to get defendants and others to do the right
thing, Utter said.
"Unfortunately, many innocent people who spent time in jail or prison have to
file a lawsuit before officials will do what is right," Utter said, referring
to the overturned murder conviction of Sabein Burgess in Maryland.
"Rodricus only filed because the officials responsible for this miscarriage of
justice failed to apologize and offer to discuss a settlement that provided
justice to him, his family and ensure something like this never happens again
in Shreveport," Utter said.
(source: Louisiana Record)
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