Francis A. Boyle Law Building 504 E. Pennsylvania Ave. Champaign, IL 61820 USA 217-333-7954 (voice) 217-244-1478 (fax) fbo...@law.uiuc.edu <mailto:fbo...@law.uiuc.edu> (personal comments only) -----Original Message----- From: Boyle, Francis Sent: Thursday, March 31, 2005 11:26 AM To: 'Abolish - The Mailing List For People Working to Abolish the Death Penalty' Subject: Terri Schiavo: RIP
Basically, Terri was tortured to death in violation of the Convention against Torture, the US Anti-Torture Act, the Torture Victim Protection Act, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Francis A. Boyle Board of Directors, Amnesty International USA (1988-92) Francis A. Boyle Law Building 504 E. Pennsylvania Ave. Champaign, IL 61820 USA 217-333-7954 (voice) 217-244-1478 (fax) fbo...@law.uiuc.edu <mailto:fbo...@law.uiuc.edu> (personal comments only) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/private/deathpenalty/attachments/20050331/a648f810/attachment.htm From rhalp...@mail.smu.edu Thu Mar 31 11:28:24 2005 From: rhalp...@mail.smu.edu (Rick Halperin) Date: Tue Aug 16 12:15:43 2005 Subject: [Deathpenalty]death penalty news----TENN., IND. Message-ID: <pine.wnt.4.44.0503311128170.3300-100...@its08705.smu.edu> March 31 TENNESSEE: Suspect in Tennessee death may have ties to other cases----Hitchhiker accused of killing woman who gave him a ride A man wanted in the death of an Oklahoma woman whose body was found in Tennessee last week was arrested Wednesday in northwestern Pennsylvania and may have ties to other crimes, Erie County District Attorney Brad Foulk said. Bobby Joe McCauley, 30, is accused of killing 29-year-old Amanda Bateman. He was brought late Wednesday before Erie County District Judge James Dwyer on charges of 1st-degree murder and being a fugitive from justice. He is being held on a $1 million cash bond. "Mr. McCauley is a person of interest -- to us, the Pennsylvania State Police, and potentially to the FBI -- in other investigations," Foulk said. Henderson County, Tennessee, authorities issued a warrant for McCauley's arrest after finding Bateman's body March 23 in Natchez Trace State Park off Interstate 40 in western Tennessee, according to Jennifer Johnson with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation in Nashville. Authorities were pointed to McCauley after a phone call he made to a family member on Bateman's cell phone. "McCauley called his mother and said he had killed someone," Johnson said. Bateman had earlier called her own family, saying she had given a ride to a stranger in Memphis, Tennessee. She was en route from Chandler, Oklahoma, to visit her parents in Franklin, Tennessee -- about 200 miles northeast of Memphis -- but never arrived. Her car later turned up near Dallas, Texas, with McCauley's fingerprints in the car, Johnson said. McCauley is a diagnosed schizophrenic and has not been on his medicine for the condition, Johnson said. McCauley was arrested about 3 p.m. Wednesday at a Harbor Creek, Pennsylvania, truck stop, just northeast of Erie along Interstate 90, following a tip called into an FBI field office in the state. According to Foulk, McCauley was captured without incident by state and local law enforcement officers, along with FBI agents, as he stood at a pay phone. Foulk said the suspect has been cooperative with investigators and told them he knew why they were there. "He indicated he was hitchhiking and was just passing through Erie County," said Foulk. Bateman's mother, Ann Phillips, said her daughter made it a practice to give rides to strangers. "She picked up hitchhikers. She felt that was her way of serving God, by helping people," Phillips said. "We really don't approve of it. We felt it was too risky for her to do, but she felt that it was a good thing." David Phillips, her father, said Bateman picked up hitchhikers so she could share her Christian faith. "She has done that all over the country and this is the first problem case, but she -- probably even knowing that something like this would have happened -- she'd still do it ... and died for people's sins." The McCauley case bears some similarities to a string of unsolved murders across at least six states over the last 3 years. In February 2004, investigators from Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee and Mississippi met at Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation headquarters to compare notes on at least 7 murder cases, but considered several others. The female victims in the earlier cases range in age from 19 to 47 and had a striking number of similarities: - Most were last seen at truck stops along Interstate 40 in Oklahoma. - Most of the victims' bodies were found dumped along highways. - Most had a history of prostitution or were known prostitutes. - Most of the victims' bodies were found naked, with no other belongings in the area. - Some were sexually assaulted. In the McCauley case, Bateman was traveling along I-40 in western Tennessee when she allegedly picked McCauley up. The interstate runs through Natchez Trace State Park, where her body was found. Authorities have not released information on how Bateman was killed or the condition of her body. Asked if there was a connection between McCauley and the unsolved cases, Johnson said: "Anything that fits this M.O. (manner of operating) will be looked at, certainly. We can't rule anything out." (source: CNN) INDIANA: Indiana town less angry at suspect No matter the season, good weather or bad, he would sit in front of his mother's trailer, often stoned, watching traffic go by, his friends say. He had dropped out of school in ninth grade, and five years later had no job, no car, no driver's license and no apparent plans for the future. Now, charged with murdering a 10-year-old girl who may have stumbled upon methamphetamine being consumed or made in late January, Charles James "Chuckie" Hickman has become a symbol of the depravity and callousness that the drug can wreak on even the quietest town. Hickman told police that he wanted only to frighten Katlyn "Katie" Collman, to keep her quiet, according to court papers. But he could face the death penalty after being accused of leaving Katie to drown in a creek, with her hands tied behind her back. Hickman, 21, has pleaded not guilty to felony murder and criminal confinement and is being held without bail in the Jackson County Jail, pending a trial scheduled for Oct. 26. He also was charged earlier this month with an unrelated felony -- child molestation. Authorities say he had sex with a 13-year-old girl. Despite the heinousness of the accusations, Crothersville's rage seems directed more at the drug, meth, than at Chuckie, as he is widely known. Community leaders say that is in part because Hickman comes from a hard-working family that has lived in the small town for generations: An uncle on his father's side works for the city street department, and two relatives on his mother's side teach in the Crothersville schools. One taught Katie. The lack of venom directed at Hickman also may be explained by the fact that few people who know him think he could have acted alone in Katie's murder. "Chuckie could never have pulled this off himself -- he doesn't have the guts or heart to do it," said Christina Wilkins, 28, a friend and neighbor who trusted Hickman so much she let him play video games and basketball with her 6-year-old son. "He's a follower," Wilkins said. Crothersville Police Chief Norman Ford said investigators have heard similar assessments and are investigating whether others played a role in Katie's death, which drew national media attention, including a front-page story in The New York Times. The only others charged so far, Timothy O'Sullivan Jr., who owns the truck in which Katie allegedly was driven to the creek, and a 17-year-old juvenile, declined to be interviewed about Hickman or the crime. Both are charged with giving false information to investigators. They have pleaded not guilty. Hickman, who has no criminal record as an adult, according to Crothersville police, declined to comment for this story, as did his appointed lawyer, John Plummer III of Bedford, Ind. Hickman's mother, Sandra, told The New York Times that her son was addicted to methamphetamine but that he had falsely confessed to involvement in Katie's murder for fear of being killed himself. She and other family members, including Hickman's father, Donald, who lives in Seymour, Ind., have recently declined to answer any questions about him. Katie's father, John Neace, said he knew Hickman by face but not by name and that he had nothing to say about him. Hickman's friends say it was no secret that he had used drugs for years -- starting as young as age 13 -- and often was under the influence. Randall Bowman, a 17-year-old friend and neighbor who was expelled from Crothersville High School in 9th grade, said: "Everybody knew he was getting high. You could tell by the way he acted." Affected by divorce Former teachers said Hickman never recovered from his parents' divorce in 1994, when he was in 5th grade in Crothersville. "He was a little boy starved for love," said Janet Hall, his 5th-grade teacher. "You would yell at him, then hug him." She said she unsuccessfully implored his parents to come in for conferences and warned that if they didn't get a handle on him, Chuckie would be lost. "You can tell when somebody is turning a corner," she said. Hickman's parents both worked at factories in Jackson County, and together they grossed about $1,300 a week the year they were divorced, according to court papers. His mother was awarded custody of Chuckie and his older sister, Traci, and raised them in a 14-foot-wide mobile home worth $12,900 on Armstrong Street, Crothersville's main drag. By the time Chuckie Hickman got to 8th grade, he was acting out in class and getting suspended, said retired teacher William Nagle, who now serves on the Crothersville city council. "He wasn't mean," Nagle said. "He just wasn't motivated." Friends and teachers said Hickman had endearing qualities. "He loved his mother to death," said Christina Wilkins, and he didn't put others down, she said. "Chuckie had a soft heart," Bowman said. "Everybody liked him." Even after dropping out of school, Hickman retained his passion for basketball, playing in the city park. "He could really shoot the three," said Kevin Ainscough of Columbus, Ind., another former classmate. Matt Wilkins, Christina's brother and Chuckie's best friend, said that until he moved away three years ago, the pair often walked the 3 miles to Square Pond to try to catch bass and bluegill. Settlement from accident At age 18, Hickman came into what was for him a small fortune -- a $35,000 settlement won because he was thrown from a car during an auto accident when he was a child, Matt Wilkins and several other friends said. Ford, the Crothersville police chief, who responded to the accident, said Chuckie was 2 or 3 years old at the time and was cut severely; he still bears a scar across his forehead. Ford said Hickman's family pursued a claim in Washington County courts. There is no record of a verdict or settlement there. Matt and Christina Wilkins said, however, that Hickman told them he used part of the money to pay off his mother's trailer, which is still listed in county records in her name. Matt Wilkins said he used other cash to buy used cars, though at the time, Hickman's learner's permit had been suspended for failing to pay a ticket, state records show. Asked why somebody with no license to drive would buy a car, Matt Wilkins said, "That's just Chuckie." Friends say Hickman had recently been spending increasing amounts of time with 2 friends who lived nearby and who Wilkins said she urged him to stay away from -- Curtis Collman Jr., 28, (no relation to Katie) who pleaded guilty last month to manufacturing meth, and Jeff Tatlock, 22, who was charged with making the drug in December when the house he was renting blew up. Authorities say he was putting the final touches on a batch of meth. Tatlock has pleaded not guilty. Hickman also had been spending more time at the Penn Villa apartments. Hickman told investigators that Katie had seen residents making or using meth at the complex, FBI Special Agent James Douglas Koons said in an affidavit. The people Katie had seen were concerned that she "would tell someone about what she had seen, so they decided to scare her with the hope that she would be intimidated enough to keep her observations to herself," Koons wrote of his interview with Hickman. Police have not identified the people Katie saw, but according to the affidavit, Hickman said Katie was brought to his residence, where her hands were tied. A plan was hatched to take her to Cypress Lake, 19 miles north of Crothersville, after dark to scare her into silence. Hickman first told investigators that Katie fell into a creek that runs out of the lake and that he might have "bumped" her into the water. Her body was found there Jan. 30, 5 days after she disappeared. Hickman's friends, meanwhile, are left with their questions, their doubts. They say they can't picture him hurting a child, or anybody else. Christina Wilkins said Hickman is so sensitive that he cried a few months ago when she accused him of stealing her lighter, which he had inadvertently pocketed. "Chuckie is not a monster," she said. (source: The Couirer-Journal)
