August 12 NEVADA----impending execution Execution scheduled for tonight She challenged him and set him off, Terry Jess Dennis, still drunk, told the police detective. This woman whose name he couldn't remember, with whom he had been drinking and having sex for days, didn't believe he had killed people in Vietnam -- taunted him, saying he wasn't capable of killing anyone, Dennis told the officer. "I proved her wrong," Dennis said on that March 1999 evening after he had finally swallowed enough vodka to muster the courage to call the police and report: "I have a dead person in my room." A person, he confessed, he had strangled 3 or 4 days before, 1st with a belt and then with his hands. Tonight, after dropping all appeals in his case, Dennis, 57, is scheduled to be strapped on to a gurney in the state's execution chamber for killing Ilona Straumanis, a 51-year-old Russian emigrant who, besides a cousin in Illinois, left behind no trace of family to notify of her passing. "He's ready to go," said Mike Bilodeaux of Portland, Ore., one of Dennis' only friends - most other friends and family are long gone. "He doesn't seem to have any fear of it," said Bilodeaux, who has visited Dennis several times as the execution date approached. "He is determined not to be a doddering old man in the prison, being the target of every punk in the place." But one of Dennis' former lawyers and a federal public defender see it differently. They have argued all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court that the execution is simply a means Dennis is using to carry out a suicide he has been unsuccessful at completing himself. His long history of mental problems clearly shows, they have said in their appeals, that Dennis is not competent to make decisions about his case. The lower courts have ruled otherwise, and a ruling on whether to stay the execution was expected from the Supreme Court by this morning. Dennis could stop it up to the last minute, but his friend said that's unlikely. Drinking binge turns into nightmare He met her on the street in front of a casino, Dennis told detectives. Straumanis had told him that her 2 black eyes were from a man she had been seeing. Dennis invited her to his motel, he recalled, and they remained in the room for almost a week, averaging a fifth of vodka each day, along with some beer. She started asking personal questions, he said. When she pressed him and then challenged him about his ability to kill, he lost it, he told police. He reached down for his belt, put it against her neck and began to strangle her. Then he used one hand to cover her mouth and the other to pinch her nose, he said. Dennis later told police that "he looked at Ilona as being a victim and himself as a predator," according to a transcript of the police interview. "He said that he felt at peace about it and he could do this without giving a f- about anybody," the detective said in his report. "He said she was nobody to him and that he killed her because he knew he could." "He also said that she was easy and that she was really a pathetic soul," the detective said. When police arrived at the motel, Dennis told them that he was a nut, according to reports. He said he had mental problems and had been to the Nevada mental hospital. He also had been drinking a lot, he told police. "I'm certified and I'm registered with the VA hospital," Dennis told the officers. "I've been off my medication for about a week and I think something went wrong." He also said that he had been admitted to the Veterans Affairs hospital in Reno and had been red flagged when he told doctors that he was thinking about killing someone. He was released about a week later, Dennis told police - a decision with which he disagreed. "Somebody should of stopped me somewhere along the line, don't you think?" Dennis told the detective. Alcoholic blackout? Bilodeaux said Dennis remembers nothing of his statements to police. The killing and subsequent interview occurred during an alcoholic binge that wiped out most of his memory, Bilodeaux said. The retired electrician said he knows about these types of events, having been a sober alcoholic for 27 years. "I'm a little distressed about it," Bilodeaux said of the execution. He said he truly believes in the death penalty and said it's appropriate for the murderer who locks 2 people in the trunk of their car and sets it on fire and listens to their screams. "But not this case," he said. "Dennis was in an alcoholic blackout when the murder occurred," he said. "It's not an excuse, but it should count for something," he said. "He just went down the tube," Bilodeaux said. "He's just a regular guy like me." But Bilodeaux said he understands Dennis' decision to drop his appeals. "He didn't want to spend the rest of his life in prison," he said. "No matter where he goes he has to be chained up and shackled. And he's never going to see freedom again. Cruel killing, criminal history Chief Deputy District Attorney Dan Greco views Dennis in a darker light. Greco sought the death penalty in this case not only because he believed from Dennis' statements that he might have had sex with the woman after she was dead - a point dismissed by the 3-judge panel that decided his penalty - but also because of his criminal history. Besides a drug possession conviction in 1970, court records show that Dennis, formally of the Seattle area, had 2 felony assault convictions and served prison time for arson. He also was convicted of 3 theft charges and of driving under the influence. Dennis was convicted in 1997 of domestic battery and served a sentence in the Washoe County Jail, according to court records. He had no job - he collected disability checks - and spent time in the Nevada Mental Health Institute and in West Hills Hospital for drug and alcohol addictions, depression and suicidal tendencies, court records show. A psychiatric evaluation of Dennis done in 1999 found that he was clinically depressed but competent. "He clearly understands the charges against him and he is fully capable of assisting his attorney in preparation of his defense," Dr. Edward Lynn reported. Appeals claim After Dennis stopped his appeals in 2003, the state district court appointed psychiatrist Thomas Bittker to examine him. Bittkner diagnosed Dennis with bipolar disorder, alcohol and drug dependence, post-traumatic stress disorder, mixed personality disorder, borderline and schizoid features. The report stated that Dennis was consumed with self-hatred and that he "both killed the victim and is seeking the death penalty as a convenient way out of life and a way of assuring himself that ultimately he will die." When asked by the court, Bittker said, however, that Dennis has the ability to consult with his lawyer and has a rational understanding of whats happening with his case. The district court concluded that Dennis decision was "knowing, intelligent and voluntary" and the Nevada Supreme Court agreed in a ruling this year and an execution date was set. Dennis' former lawyer, Karla Butko, through the federal Public Defender's Office, challenged those rulings. "In my opinion, he was delusional, when he told the court he was ready to die," she said. In their appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Butko and assistant federal public defender Michael Pescetta said that Bittker's report confirms that Dennis has a history of suicide attempts dating back to 1966 and that he "admits to frequent periods of despair, profound negativity and feelings of hopelessness, helplessness and worthlessness." Their motion pointed out that at a federal district court hearing, Bittker "testified unequivocally that Mr. Dennis' desire to be executed is a product of his mental disorder" and that he wanted to make "the state....his vehicle for suicide." A 3-judge panel at the 9th Circuit denied the appeal, and Pescetta asked for a new hearing on the case before the full court. The appeals court denied the request and he took the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, which had not responded by Wednesday night. (source: Las Vegas Gazette-Journal) TEXAS: Supporters seek life for Death Row artist----Execution scheduled for Aug. 26 When 21-year-old Laury Robertson joined her 11 fellows jurors to decide what punishment James Vernon Allridge III should receive for gunning down a young convenience store clerk during a February 1985 robbery, she voted for the death penalty without hesitation. During a news conference at the state Capitol on Wednesday, Robertson called that vote the biggest mistake of her life. Like the condemned man's lawyers, his brother, a former boss and Academy Award-winning actress Susan Sarandon, Robertson said she is now convinced that Allridge has become a changed man in the 19 years since he and his older brother went on a robbery binge in Fort Worth that left at least four people dead. While jurors heard Allridge described at his 1987 trial as a heartless killer who shot a tied-up 21-year-old Brian Clendennen in the backroom of a Circle K store, Robertson now describes him as a sensitive artist who has served as a model inmate and a mentor to young prisoners. "I don't think anything good would come out of executing James," Robertson said during a news conference where the condemned man's petition to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles for a sentence commutation was made public. The petition contained statements from a retired prison official and a former death row correctional officer that Allridge has been rehabilitated. But Shane Clendennen, the victim's younger brother, said in a recent interview that he intends to make sure that the 6-member parole board hears the other side of the story. He has collected more than 1,000 petition signatures urging the panel to hold to Allridge's Aug. 26 execution date. "We're having to write letters to appeal his appeal," Shane Clendennen said. "He needs the punishment." According to court records and news accounts, James and his brother, Ronald, had carried out at least 20 robberies in the early months of 1995. Ronald Allridge had a long criminal history that included killing a classmate as a 15-year-old in 1977. Ronald Allridge was executed in 1995 for killing Carla McMillen in a Fort Worth What-A-Burger during the spree. James had no criminal record at the time of his arrest. In prison, James Allridge, now 41, has raised money by selling his art works on the Internet. In July, he was visited on death row by Sarandon, who portrayed anti-death penalty activist Sister Mary Prejean in the movie, Dead Man Walking. Sarandon has since become an outspoken critic of the death penalty. Lawyers Lisa Fine of Washington and Jim Marcus of Houston said their client deserves to be punished but not executed. "This was a senseless murder," Fine said. "We are not asking that he be absolved of his guilt, only that he be allowed to spend the rest of his life in prison for what he's done." The condemned man's brother echoed that statement. "In spite of what he's done, he cherishes and lives his life to the fullest that he can," said Darren Allridge, 33, of Fort Worth. "He's not a threat to anybody." Since executions resumed in Texas in 1982, the board of pardons and paroles, which under state law can only recommend that the governor reduce a condemned inmate's sentence, has never voted for clemency or commutation in a death penalty based on an inmate's rehabilitation. (source: Fort Worth Star-Telegram) *********************** Teenager to die for murdering 2 neighbors----Jury not swayed by mom's plea for mercy in killing of Baytown couple Unmoved by his mother's description of him as "a kind and gentle soul," a Harris County jury decided Wednesday that 18-year-old Robert Acuna should die for murdering 2 elderly neighbors in a quiet Baytown subdivision. Prosecutors offered little explanation for why the Sterling High School junior, who worked part time at a fast-food restaurant, shot James Carroll, 75, and his wife, Joyce, 74, last fall. "He has evil in his heart," Assistant District Attorney Renee Magee told jurors as she urged them to return a death sentence. Acuna was 17 at the time of the murders. The U.S. Supreme Court plans to consider later this year whether it is constitutional to execute killers who were younger than 18 when they committed their crimes. If such executions are declared unconstitutional, Acuna's sentence would be reduced to life in prison and he would be ineligible for parole for at least 40 years. Texas is 1 of 7 states with such offenders on death row. Acuna showed no reaction when state District Judge Mike Anderson read the jury's verdict and sentenced him to death. Acuna and his parents lived across the street from the Carrolls, who once paid him to mow their lawn in the Country Club Estates subdivision. Prosecutors said Acuna entered the Carrolls' home on Nov. 12, 2003 and shot them in the head at close range. He was arrested 5 days later at a Dallas motel, where police found the Carrolls' sedan, some of their jewelry and the murder weapon. Witnesses described Acuna as a quiet loner who had begun to project a gangster image, wearing flashy jewelry, a gold tooth and a large belt buckle inscribed with the word "Pimp." Several months before the murders, Acuna was charged with aggravated assault, accused of pulling a knife on a76-year-old man in theparking lot of the San Jacinto Mall. His attorneys urged jurors to consider his youth. "Young folks make bad decisions," attorney Robert Loper said. "You can't look across the table and say he's the kind of person who needs to be extinguished from the face of the Earth." Acuna's parents offered no insight into his actions, saying he was raised in a loving home in a safe, quiet neighborhood. "I just beg you for mercy," his mother, Barbara Acuna, told jurors Tuesday. "Robert has a kind and gentle soul. He's a wonderful person, and the world would not be a better place if he was not here." After hearing the sentence, she assailed prosecutors. "This goes to prove that the Harris County district attorney's office is bloodthirsty," the mother said outside the courtroom. In the weeks leading up to Acuna's trial, the human rights group Amnesty International urged its members to contact Harris County prosecutors and express opposition to the death penalty for the teenager. Sue Gunawardena-Vaughn, head of the group's Program to Abolish the Death Penalty, compared practices here to those of Iran, Pakistan and Congo, all of which have faced criticism from the United Nations for executing criminals for juvenile offenses. "Harris County is going against the trend of everyone else in the country and the world," she said. "Juveniles are different. Their cognitive capacity and decision-making skills are not as honed as adults." Prosecutors said Acuna's crime warranted the most severe punishment allowed. "We're following the law as it stands on the books in the state of Texas," Magee said. The district attorney's office decided in March to postpone seeking execution dates for crimes committed before age 18 until after the U.S. Supreme Court rules on the issue. In her victim-impact statement after the verdict, the Carrolls' daughter, Michelle Cressy, told Acuna to consider the damage he has done to his own family. "When you lie in bed at night, I don't want you to think about my parents," said Cressy, 38. "I want you to think about your mother and yourfather. "You have destroyed them," she said. "I have watched your family all week. I grieve for them, too, not just for me." (source: Houston Chronicle)
