July 7 PENNSYLVANIA: DA to seek death penalty in slaying Northumberland County District Attorney Anthony J. Rosini filed notice Tuesday that he will seek the death penalty if Fredil Rodriguez-Fuentes is convicted of 1st-degree murder in the slaying of Carly Snyder. Mr. Fuentes, 23, lived next-door to Ms. Snyder, 20, of 130 Upper Market St., Milton, and he was arrested the same day she was found stabbed to death inside her apartment. Ms. Snyder was stabbed 37 times but prosecutors have not indicated what they believe the motive for the killing was. Mr. Rosini said Wednesday prosecutors will try to prove that the death penalty is warranted because torture was used and the killing happened while Mr. Fuentes was allegedly committing other felonies - aggravated assault and trespassing. Under Pennsylvania law, the death penalty may only be applied in cases where a defendant is found guilty of 1st-degree murder. If a defendant is found guilty of 1st-degree murder, a separate hearing is held for the consideration of aggravating and mitigating circumstances. A death sentence is allowed under state law if at least 1 of 10 aggravating circumstances and none of 8 mitigating factors are found to be present. The death penalty notice was filed to coincide with Mr. Fuentes formal arraignment Wednesday morning in Northumberland County Court. In a short proceeding before President Judge Robert B. Sacavage, the charges against Mr. Fuentes were read to him and he entered not guilty pleas. During Wednesdays proceedings, a translator relayed all of the discussion to Mr. Fuentes in Spanish. The defendant is a Honduran native who has been in this country illegally for several years, borough police have said. The county has provided a translator for all of Mr. Fuentes court appearances. Police and prosecutors have said he can communicate in English to some degree but how well isnt clear, making the translator necessary. (source: The Daily Item) FLORIDA: Defense pleads for delay to trial in Deltona slayings Attorneys representing the accused ringleader in the Deltona mass murder have put their biggest complaint in writing -- there isn't enough time to prepare for a September trial. Though they say they are working diligently, attorneys for Troy Victorino say they need at least another year to review thousands of pages of documents, audio and video tapes, DNA analysis, blood splatter evidence and other items. Defense attorney Michael Nielson's motion asks the judge to set a new trial date no sooner than Sept. 1, 2006. Victorino, 28, and three 19-year-olds -- Robert Anthony Cannon, Jerone Hunter and Michael Salas -- each are charged with 6 counts of murder and 8 other felonies for the Aug. 6, 2004, beating deaths of 6 friends in a Telford Lane home. The state is seeking the death penalty. During monthly status conferences with prosecutors and Circuit Judge William A. Parsons, defense attorneys have routinely argued they need more time to prepare for trial. Parsons has said it's too early to make that decision. The judge is expected to hear the motion during this month's conference next week. State Attorney John Tanner said his office would argue vigorously to keep the trial on track for its Sept. 26 trial date. "They've (defense attorneys) had more than enough time," Tanner said. "They can be ready." He said defense attorneys have completed about 40 depositions, averaging about one a week since they began in October. "That's not diligent work," Tanner said. The state attorney said being ready for a murder trial within 13 months isn't extraordinarily speedy. He said when he first took office in 1989, prosecutors concluded cases in an average of less than 180 days. The Florida Supreme Court has set similar standards for criminal cases, stating they should be resolved in 180 days. Tanner said he believes it's important to get this case to trial soon to protect a critical witness he believes is in danger. "Every month that goes by is another month something tragic could happen to him," he said. "We would lose a significant part of our case." Nielson did not return calls Wednesday. In his motion, filed last week, he said depositions would continue until the current trial date and additional penalty phase work would require more time. The motion also says the defense may need more than 3 experts to properly defend against the evidence, and they have received only 60 % of the results. Tanner said defense attorneys would have all lab results from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement by next week. The mother of victim Michelle Ann Nathan said she wants to see this case go to trial sooner rather than later. "Us as a family need some closure," Kay Shukwit said. "To drag it on is just more agonizing." Shukwit said she feels defense attorneys have had plenty of time to review evidence, talk to their clients and speak with others involved with the case. "This has been such a hard year for us," she said. "I just would like to have a little bit of closure with some of this." (source: Daytona Beach News-Journal) ************************* Suspect in Tampa tot's hit and run death charged with murder A manhunt for a driver who allegedly tried to run over his ex-girlfriend with his pickup but instead fatally struck a toddler playing in a yard next door ended Wednesday with an arrest in a hotel room. Federal and local law enforcement officers arrested Derrick McNeal, 36, at a Best Western hotel in Brandon just before 6 p.m. after receiving a tip about his whereabouts. Tampa police had asked the U.S. Marshals Service for assistance in their search for McNeal, Detective Henry Duran said. McNeal was charged with murder and attempted murder. He was previously wanted on charges of aggravated stalking, throwing a deadly missile into an occupied vehicle and opposing an officer without violence. Police said McNeal saw his ex-girlfriend Tosha Shoundra Montgomery sitting outside a friend's house Monday and tried to run her over. Instead, McNeal hit a car, ran over a fence, drove through the yard, hit the two children, bumped Montgomery and crashed into the house, police said. 2-year-old Demontay J. Simmons died at the scene and 4-year-old Toshayla Hall was treated for minor injuries. Police said McNeal fled the scene and abandoned his red Dodge pickup truck. McNeal had told a Tampa Tribune reporter by phone Tuesday that he lost control of the pickup after being shot at as he drove past the house where Montgomery was sitting. (source: Associated Press) NORTH CAROLINA: Suit seeks clemency records The News & Observer Publishing Co. has sued Gov. Mike Easley to force him and his successors to make public any records relating to decisions to spare the life of a death-row inmate or pardon someone for a crime.The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Wake County Superior Court, seeks access to any documents Easley uses to reach a decision and asks the court to formally declare them public records. Melanie Sill, the newspaper's executive editor, compared the issue to open courtroom proceedings. "A judge rules, but it doesn't mean no one else gets to hear the testimony," she said. "It's too important a decision to happen in total secrecy." The public has an "inherent and fundamental right to know, understand and evaluate the clemency process," the lawsuit states. In order to do that, the lawsuit says, all related records must be available for review. The newspaper filed suit after the governor declined to release the records. The lawsuit has not changed the governor's mind, said Andrew Vanore, one of Easley's attorneys. "Of course not," Vanore said. "This governor is the first governor in history, certainly as far as I'm aware of, that has ever made any clemency documents public." Under the state constitution, governors enjoy a unique power to grant reprieves, commutations and pardons for all offenses except for impeachment. State law requires each application for a pardon to be made in writing and to be signed by the applicant. The applications must also say why the pardon should be granted and be accompanied by a copy of the indictment, verdict, and judgment of the court in the case. Easley's office releases applications for clemency, the names of the people supporting the bid for clemency and any documents granting clemency. He keeps confidential letters of support or opposition to an application for clemency and other related records. The News & Observer has asked for access to all of these documents for several years. "We think there is strong public interest in the arguments people make over granting pardons or clemency to convicted criminals," said Orage Quarles III, The News & Observer's president and publisher. "The decision is the governor's, but there's no reason the other material shouldn't be public." Easley began releasing some of the documents -- but not any letters -- several months ago because he thought it was the "correct thing to do," Vanore said. In a June 21 letter to Hugh Stevens, the newspaper's attorney, Vanore wrote that the governor's clemency records do not fall under the state's public records law. He quoted from a 2001 lawsuit, saying that the state constitution views clemency as the "exclusive prerogative" of the governor. Vanore also referenced a lengthy 1991 letter from Gov. Jim Martin to the media, legislature and the courts, among other recipients, explaining why records regarding decisions to pardon someone or commute a sentence must remain confidential. That letter made the argument that people writing in support of or opposition to a petition for clemency would not be as candid if they knew their communication would be made public. "Experience has taught me that if people know that what they write or say to me in confidence will reach the public eye or ear, they either will not express themselves or will do so in a way that they feel will make their views acceptable to the public," Martin wrote. "Fear of ridicule and reprisal is understandable. Too much is at stake for me to allow that fear to interfere with input into the clemency process in death penalty cases." (source: News Observer) ********************* Prosecutors will seek death penalty in N.C. drive-by shooting Prosecutors will seek the death penalty against the man accused in the fatal drive-by shooting of nursing student as she watched television at a friend's house. Robert Amos Farmer, 28, of Catawba County, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Erica Payne, 18, on Feb. 7. A trial date has not been set. Farmer's prior record was the main reason for pursuing the death penalty, said Tammy West, administrative assistant at the district attorney's office. On June 3, he was found guilty of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill. Payne, a nursing student at Catawba Valley Community College, was shot four months later while she was at a friend's house watching television. A bullet from a small-caliber handgun went through the wall of the mobile home and struck Payne in the heart. 3 other men in the car also were arrested and charged with murder. A 4th man faces accessory to murder after the fact charges for housing the 4 suspects. Those men have not been indicted, West said. (source: Associated Press)
