June 25
TEXAS:
Don't let Texas be the last
Our Texas legislature cannot ignore the fact that the days of the death penalty
are slowly coming to an end. There are now 17 states that have abolished the
death penalty, and 5 of those repeals have happened within the past 5 years.
Death sentences are at a historic low in Texas and nationwide. Prosecutors,
juries and judges are less and less comfortable with the death penalty being a
just alternative.
Texas lawmakers are supporting repeal of the death penalty more and more. The
time is now.
Do not let the last execution in the U.S. happen in Texas. We need to show that
Texas has grown beyond that.
Bill Betzen, Dallas/Oak Cliff
(source: Letter to the Editor, Dallas Morning News)
OKLAHOMA:
Mental-health trial resumes in Oklahoma killings
Testimony has resumed in a non-jury trial to determine if a man charged in the
2009 killings of his girlfriend and her 4 young children can face the death
penalty.
Monday's proceedings against Joshua Durcho are focusing on his mental capacity
— not the slayings of Summer Rust, her 3 daughters and 1 son. The outcome of
the pre-trial proceeding will determine whether prosecutors can seek the death
penalty against him.
Oklahoma law bars death sentences if a defendant meets the state definition of
mental retardation, which includes an IQ of 70 or below and "significant
limitations in adaptive functioning."
An autopsy revealed that Rust and her children died of asphyxiation,
suffocation and strangulation.
Jury selection for Durcho's 1st-degree murder trial is scheduled to begin Sept.
17.
(source: Associated Press)
CALIFORNIA:
Green faces death penalty ---- Jurors have recommended it and Earl Ellis
Green’s sentencing for killing Police Officer Ryan Bonaminio likely will hold
to it
Earl Ellis Green faces a possible death sentence Monday, June 25, for the 2010
beating and shooting death of Riverside Police Officer Ryan Bonaminio. The Iraq
War veteran died while chasing Green on foot during what started as a traffic
stop on the edge of Riverside’s Fairmount Park.
The jury that convicted Green of first-degree murder also recommended the death
penalty for the 46-year-old parolee.
Bonaminio’s family members, including his father Joe, are expected to address
the court during the sentencing hearing. Green also could speak to the court,
if he chooses.
Green’s defense attorneys have filed papers seeking either a lesser sentence of
life in prison without parole, or a new trial. Both motions are standard when
the convicted person faces capital punishment.
In seeking the lesser sentence, defense attorneys ask trial Judge Jean P.
Leonard to review independently the factors of mitigation and aggravation in
the case and make her own determination about whether Green deserves the death
sentence. They point to Green’s childhood of abuse and abandonment.
Prosecutors said Green’s tough upbringing is no excuse for reducing his
sentence — Green’s siblings underwent the same childhood struggles and became
upstanding citizens, with only one older brother having a record of petty
thefts, but no violence.
The new trial motion claims the proper verdict for Green during the guilt phase
of the trial was second-degree murder.
Defense attorneys had sought that verdict since the opening day of testimony,
when they conceded a mountain of evidence showed Green was the man who killed
Bonaminio. They said Green’s mental state and recent ostracization from his
family lessened his culpability.
Prosecutors argue in their filings there is clear and substantial evidence to
support the jury’s first-degree murder verdict. Green’s behavior was rational
the night of the slaying and Green’s actions after the murder were geared
toward evading discovery and capture, they said.
On the night of the Nov. 7, 2010 slaying, the dashboard camera in Bonamino’s
patrol car showed Green jumping from a stopped semitrailer and fleeing — with
the 27-year-old officer following on foot — along the eastern edge Fairmount
Park, just north of downtown Riverside.
The rig had been reported in a nearby non-injury vehicular hit-and-run
collision. It actually had been stolen shortly before that, but the theft had
not been discovered when Bonaminio pulled it over.
A witness said Green gained a big lead in the foot pursuit after Bonaminio
slipped and fell on a muddy patch. But Green came back and clubbed the downed
officer on the head with a metal bar he was carrying, then got control of the
officer’s service handgun and used it to shoot Bonaminio once in the head.
Bonaminio had managed to stand up during the attack and told Green twice,
“Don’t do it.”
Green, evidence showed, could have just kept running from the scene after the
officer slipped.
The dashboard video camera also caught Green returning to the semi less than
two minutes after he ran from it with Bonaminio in pursuit, and driving off
into the night.
(source: The Press-Enterprise)
OHIO:
Man Could Get Death Penalty For Pregnant Woman's Murder
A Franklin County jury convicted Keywan Conner 10 days ago of aggravated
murder. Today, he could be sentenced to life in prison without parole, or be
given the death penalty.
A Central Ohio man could be sentenced to death row Monday after he was
convicted 10 days ago of aggravated murder.
A Franklin County jury convicted Keywan Conner of the murder of Tenishia Latham
in Feburary.
Latham was 6 months pregnant when she was murdered. Her baby survived, but has
developmental problems because of her premature birth.
Her husband Larry survived as well, after being shot in the back of the head.
Now, it's up to the jury to decide if the punishment of life in prison fits the
crime -- or the death penalty.
Investigators said Conner shot Tenishia and her husband Larry in their Clinton
Township home over drugs.
Their 3 children were sleeping upstairs. Larry was the key witness in the case.
The jury of 9 women and 3 men deliberated for about 17 hours over 3 days before
convicting Conner, and spent 2 nights sequestered at a Columbus hotel.
Monday, they'll hear final statements from the defense.
This is the 1st death-penalty jury trial in nearly 3 years in Franklin County,
and the last time a jury recommended the death penalty was in 2003.
The jury must unanimously agree on a recommended sentence.
(source: NBC News)
PENNSYLVANIA:
Appeal request granted in death penalty case
A Fayette County man’s homicide retrial has been delayed so his attorneys can
appeal the trial judge’s decision to allow aggravating circumstances, which are
required in order to seek the death penalty.
Mark Breakiron, 50, was sentenced to death in 1988 for the slaying of
Smithfield waitress Saundra Marie Martin in a German Township bar. He won a new
trial on appeal.
The judge who will preside over the new trial, Steve Leskinen, ruled earlier
this year that the aggravating circumstances of torture and robbery can be
introduced. Breakiron’s attorneys objected and sought Leskinen’s permission to
appeal to Commonwealth Court before the start of the new trial.
Leskinen last week granted the attorneys certification to appeal to the higher
court. In an accompanying order, Leskinen continued the trial, which had been
set to start in August, until the appeal is decided.
(source: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)
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