June 12 TEXAS: Grand jury doesn't indict former head of DNA lab A Harris County grand jury on Friday declined to indict the former head of the Houston Police Department's DNA laboratory, who was accused of lying in his testimony in a sexual assault trial 2 years ago. The case against Jim Bolding, who resigned under pressure last year, was presented to the grand jury by the district attorney's office. As recently as last week, in response to a judge's request for a public court of inquiry into the Bolding matter, District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal said the allegations had already been thoroughly investigated. He said he decided to take the Bolding case before another grand jury after a hearing last week on the motion for the court of inquiry. During that hearing, attorneys pointed out that the transcript from a sexual assault trial indicated that Bolding had told jurors he has a doctorate in biochemistry. He does not. The discrepancy was 1st revealed in a September 2003 Chronicle story. An attorney for defendant Keith Grimes alleged that Bolding's statement was intended to add weight to his testimony. While previous grand juries had considered the accusation of perjury -- along with many other allegations of misconduct at the police DNA lab -- none had asked prosecutors to focus on the perjury allegations or to draw up possible criminal charges for them to vote on, Rosenthal said. "I don't present cases back to a grand jury that have been no billed unless there is new information that was not there for the previous grand jury to look at," he said. Bolding was unavailable for comment Friday. He was attending the funeral of his son, Marine Lance Cpl. Todd J. Bolding, who was killed in combat recently in Iraq. Despite the grand jury's decision not to indict Bolding, several local attorneys still hope for the creation of a court of inquiry to look at the accusations of perjury, as well as other problems that have kept the police DNA lab closed since December 2002. Those include shoddy scientific methods and poor working conditions. "Perhaps this will convince higher authorities that a court of inquiry is really needed," said attorney Butch Bradt, one of the lawyers who argued for such a panel last week before state District Judge Jan Krocker. In approving the motion for the rarely used investigative court, Krocker ruled there was probable cause that Bolding had committed aggravated perjury. The motion must now be approved by state District Judge Olen Underwood of Conroe, the presiding administrative judge for the area. Underwood has been out of his office all week. Rosenthal's decision to take the Bolding question back before a grand jury also angered some attorneys. "You can't have the people who presented (Bolding's) testimony in the first place to a jury also present it to a grand jury," said attorney Kathryn Kase, who argued in favor of the special court on behalf of the National Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys. "They've made sure this whole incident is totally swept under the rug. And this goes back to the overall problem: There has been no transparency, and the citizens of Houston have a right to demand that something more be done." Kase is married to Chronicle editor Jeff Cohen. Rosenthal had stated that if Bolding was not indicted by this Monday, the issue of creating a court of inquiry would be moot because the statute of limitations for aggravated perjury will have expired. However, attorney Stan Schneider of the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association said the issue is not moot. "This does not set aside Judge Krocker's finding," Schneider said. "She found probable cause. It just creates more of a necessity for a court of inquiry." After the closure of the HPD lab, prosecutors began a massive retesting of evidence from cases with DNA evidence the lab had processed. One man, Josiah Sutton, was released and pardoned after new tests showed he did not commit the rape for which he served more than 4 years in prison. Two prior grand juries also have investigated the scandal. Also, Harris County's 22 state criminal court judges have called for Rosenthal and his office to step aside and allow for the appointment of a special prosecutor to probe the lab debacle. Rosenthal has refused. (source: Houston Chronicle, June 11) ********************** Double Murder Suspect Caught In East Austin, police arrived to find 2 people murdered in their home early Friday morning. It happened on the 4700 block of Tanney Street. Taylor police caught up with the suspect two hours later in Williamson County. Police now have their suspect in custody. Forty-nine-year-old Edward Scott was arrested around 9 a.m. Friday. He is believed responsible for the stabbing deaths of 25-year-old Maurice Johnson and 12-year-old Kreanna Johnson. "I'm very, very numb. I'm still trying to wonder what and where and when, and why they are where they are," aunt of the victims Mary Nell Dudley said. As the aunt and great aunt of Maurice and Kreanna Johnson, Dudley recalls their memory while trying to make sense of their murder. "Maurice Jermaine Johnson was born with cerebral palsy. He struggled all his life to make it to where he was. He made it," Dudley said. Police found the 2 victims, dead at the scene, after suffering from stab wounds. Investigators believe 49-year-old Edward Lee Scott broke into the home to commit the murders. They say he tried to flee the scene with his former girlfriend Sherly, who also lived at the residence, but she eventually escaped the vehicle to tip police. "They put out a bulletin on Sherly's truck, and the notice was sent to Talyor," APD Lt. Charles Black said. Taylor Police arrested the suspect without incident. Scott is now charged with capital murder. The suspect is currently being held in Williamson County, but he will eventually be transferred to Travis County. Police say this may prove be a case that prosecutors opt for the death penalty. (source: KXAN News) ******************************* Psychiatrist will study Dotson before trial A psychiatrist will evaluate a former Baylor University basketball player accused of killing an ex-teammate, his attorneys said Friday. State District Judge George Allen in Waco approved a defense motion filed Friday to have Dr. William Reid of Horseshoe Bay as a defense witness in the case against Carlton Dotson, 22. Defense attorney Abel Reyna said that he didn't know when Reid will evaluate Dotson but that his findings will help the defense team decide whether to pursue an insanity defense. "I think it will help, but I don't think it's necessarily going to be the decisive factor," Reyna said Friday. Dotson is charged in the death of Baylor forward Patrick Dennehy, 21, who was shot twice in the head in a field near the Waco campus last summer. Dennehy had been missing about 6 weeks when his body was found in July, a few days after Dotson's arrest. Dotson was arrested in his home state of Maryland after calling police from a supermarket, saying he was hearing voices and needed counseling. Officers took him to a hospital, where he contacted the FBI. Later, he denied reports that he had confessed to killing Dennehy. People close to Dotson said he reported hearing voices and seeing visions up to a year before Dennehy's death. Dotson's estranged wife, Melissa Kethley, has said that he became so paranoid and violent that she left him in spring 2003, after which he moved in with Dennehy. Reid has testified in several murder cases, including the April trial of Deanna Laney, who beat her 3 children with stones last year, killing two of them and severely injuring the third. Laney was found not guilty by reason of insanity. Reid testified during the Laney trial that mental health experts expressed more agreement in that case than in similar trials. Reid has said that Laney is a textbook example of Texas' definition of insanity: someone who did not know while committing a crime that it was wrong. (source: Associated Press) OKLAHOMA: Nichols Again Spared Death Sentence In a blow to prosecutors and victims' family members who said death was the appropriate punishment, a 12-member jury deadlocked on whether Terry Nichols should be executed for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing. Jurors deliberated 19 1/2 hours over 3 days before they said Friday they had reached an impasse. It was the 2nd time Nichols escaped the death penalty for the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, which killed 168 people. A federal jury deadlocked on his sentence 6 years ago after finding him guilty of conspiracy and involuntary manslaughter for the deaths of 8 federal agents. A judge sentenced him to life in prison without parole. In the state case, Nichols was convicted for the 160 other victims, and one fetus whose mother died in the blast. Because the jury deadlocked in the sentencing phase, the duty now falls to Judge Steven Taylor. Taylor, who must by law sentence Nichols to life in prison, set the sentencing for Aug. 9. The judge asked jury foreman Peter Mills if more deliberations could lead to a decision. Mills said that would not help. "Three days you have worked on this," Taylor told the jury. "And sometimes this is how cases end. The law anticipates that juries may not reach unanimous conclusions." Mills, reached later by telephone at home, said he did not want to talk about the case. Mary Reeder, whose husband Cecil Reeder was on the jury, said in a telephone interview he was in bed and couldn't come to the telephone. She said he told her the jury voted 7-5 for the death penalty. The jury's decision had to be unanimous. State prosecutors brought the case, which has cost $3.9 million in defense attorneys' fees alone, after Nichols' federal trial. "I think he should die, but that's not my decision," said Beverly Rankin, who was injured in the bombing. "Hopefully, he'll never step foot out free in his lifetime." Bud Welch, who lost a daughter in the bombing but opposed the death penalty for Nichols, said in a telephone interview that the state trial was a waste of money. "It's just a shame that we've paid millions of dollars and spent a tremendous amount of emotions and re-victimized family members to go through this process," Welch said. Oklahoma County District Attorney Wes Lane, who made the decision to pursue the state case against Nichols, denied that the prosecution was conducted solely for the purpose of getting a death penalty. He said it was important for Nichols to be convicted of killing all the bombing victims. Lane also said the state counts would serve as an insurance policy if the federal counts are overturned. "This case has always been about 161 men, women and children and an unborn baby having the same rights to their day in court as eight federal law enforcement officers," he said. Later, Lane said he believes Nichols was spared the death penalty because of "sympathy issues" among some jurors, including his religious conversion since he was arrested three days after the bombing. Prosecutors had argued that Nichols' faith was not genuine but was a "jailhouse conversion" that began about the time the state filed murder charges against him in 1999. Defense attorney Brian Hermanson said his thoughts were with members of bombing victims' families. He said Nichols prayed that "all people can recover from the hate and fear" created by the bombing. Prosecutors said the blast was revenge for the deaths of about 80 people who died in the government siege at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, exactly 2 years earlier. Timothy McVeigh (news - web sites), Nichols' former Army buddy and the mastermind of the bombing, was convicted of federal charges and executed on June 11, 2001, 3 years to the day of the Nichols verdict. They said Nichols helped build the 2-ton bomb of farm fertilizer and fuel oil that was packed into a Ryder truck and detonated outside the federal building. Nichols' trial in Oklahoma began in March and lasted more than 3 months. The jury began deliberating in the trial's sentencing phase Wednesday following days of emotional testimony from victims' relatives and members of Nichols' family. ************************** Nichols Decision Disappoints Some Families Some Oklahoma City bombing survivors and victims' relatives will have to live without the worldly vengeance they sought against conspirator Terry Nichols. Nichols was spared the death penalty for a 2nd time Friday after the jury deliberating his punishment failed to agree on a sentence. "This is our system, and we have to go with it," said Donnetta Apple, who lost her brother in the April 19, 1995, blast. "Maybe it will be revealed to us through a higher power why this happened the way it did." But the relatives and survivors can take solace that Nichols is now a convicted murderer of hundreds -- not just an inmate convicted of manslaughter for the deaths of 8 federal agents. "Of course, we're disappointed," said Darlene Welch, whose 4-year-old niece died in the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. "But our victory comes in that he has been identified as a mass murderer." The jury deliberating whether Nichols should be executed or spend the rest of his life in prison could not reach a decision Friday after 19 1/2 hours. The same jury took only 4 hours to convict Nichols May 26. Judge Steven Taylor will now sentence Nichols, who's already serving a federal life sentence for the lives of the federal agents, on Aug. 9 to life in prison either with or without parole. Nichols was found guilty of 161 counts of 1st-degree murder for the 160 other victims and an unborn child in a state trial that has cost more than $4 million to prosecute. After the jury delivered its final message, several of the dozen or so relatives and survivors who watched the trial shed tears. They remained in the courtroom to watch Nichols be shackled and taken back to the Oklahoma State Penitentiary. "I'm an American and we have this system for a reason," said Debbie Miller, who was injured in the blast while serving on a federal grand jury. "I feel like justice has been served." But Miller, who suffered a concussion and still has migraine headaches, said she was disappointed by the decision. Others were shocked by the jury's inability to assign a death sentence in a state that routinely executes about 10 inmates a year. "He deserved it," said Gloria Taylor, who lost daughter Teresa Lauderdale in the bombing, "for 160 murders of innocent people, men, women and children. What more would it take?" Relatives were mixed, particularly given the outcome, on whether the state had been wise in bringing Nichols to trial on state charges. It cost about $4 million in state money alone to defend Nichols. Jim Denny, whose young children Brandon and Rebecca suffered severe injuries in the America's Kids Day Care Center on the Murrah building's 2nd floor, disagreed with efforts to try Nichols in Oklahoma. "So we spent probably between $5 million and $7 million to get the same thing he (Nichols) already had," said Denny, who said he supported the death penalty and was surprised the jury deadlocked. (source: Associated Press) KENTUCKY: Schneider cites religious beliefs for recusal Catlettsburg Boyd County Commonwealth's Attorney J. Stewart Schneider has recused himself from prosecuting the potential death penalty case against 2 men accused in a May 24 double homicide and arson. In a motion filed Wednesday in Boyd Circuit Court, Schneider said he could not in good conscience make the decision whether to seek the death penalty for Jonathon Nolan and Patrick Campbell because of his religious beliefs. Schneider requests that the Kentucky Attorney General's Office appoint a special prosecutor to the case. Nolan, 24, of Catlettsburg, and Campbell, 21, of Ashland, were indicted Tuesday on 2 counts each of 1st-degree murder, 1 count of 1st-degree arson and 1 count of tampering with physical evidence. Both men are accused in the slayings of Phillip "Bo" Booth, 32, and his wife, Shonda Booth, 26. The Booths were found dead in their home on 10th Street just outside of Catlettsburg following a fire there. An autopsy revealed that Phillip Booth was shot and stabbed and his wife was stabbed before their home was set on fire. Both were likely dead before the fire started, Kentucky State Police said. The victims' bodies were badly burned and had to be positively identified at the state medical examiner's office in Frankfort using X-rays and dental records. Campbell and Nolan were arrested at their respective homes shortly after the fire. Neighbors told police they saw the 2 at the Booths' home and heard gunshots moments before the blaze started. In his motion, Schneider states that he is aware of his oath to uphold the laws of Kentucky, and that the case against Nolan and Campbell contains sufficient aggravating facts to be death penalty-qualified. "(Thus), a decision by the prosecutor to seek the ultimate penalty is a lawful one," he wrote. "The people have every right to expect that this decision will be made by the prosecutor upon grounds based in Kentucky law." However, Schneider states in his motion that besides being a prosecutor, he is also a minister, commissioned by the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). "As such, I am reminded by the writer of I Peter that 'If anyone speaks he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides,'" he wrote. "It is simply not possible to render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's, the discretionary decision to seek the death penalty or not, while rendering unto God that which is God's, the great commandment to love one another." Schneider also states that he has discussed the matter with Assistant Attorney General Scott Sutherland of the attorney general's Office of Special Prosecutions. He said he anticipated "little delay" in the case as the result of his withdrawal. Campbell and Nolan have pleaded not guilty and are being held in the Boyd County Detention Center on $1 million bond. They are scheduled to be arraigned at 9:30 a.m. Friday before Circuit Judge C. David Hagerman. (source: The Daily Independent) ILLINOIS: Friend's freedom eats at convict left behind--Downstate inmate says the same flawed evidence that set his pal free should do the same for him Herb Whitlock learned in May that his onetime co-defendant, Gordon "Randy" Steidl, walked out of prison a free man, four years after Illinois State Police said neither was involved in the double homicide that sent the 2 former drinking buddies to prison. To Whitlock, who continues to serve a life term at Menard prison, Steidl's freedom is not a story about wrongs finally made right. It's a cruel twist of fate. "They are going to let him go and keep me until I rot to death of old age," Whitlock, 58, said in an interview at Menard. "I used to sleep pretty good, but the last couple of weeks, I can't." On Friday, his defense attorneys filed a petition for a new trial in Edgar County based on what happened in the Steidl case in the hope that would lead to Whitlock's freedom. "The facts, the law and the fundamental principles of justice entitles Whitlock to the same relief accorded Randy Steidl: his freedom," states the petition filed by attorneys Richard Kling and Susana Ortiz. Ed Parkinson, of the state appellate prosecutor's office, said he has yet to see the petition but expects to oppose it. Noting that his office still considers Steidl a suspect, he said, "We don't have any reason to believe Herb Whitlock should be released." The petition cites the recanted testimony and discredited physical evidence that led to Steidl's release in the July 6, 1986, murder of newlyweds Karen and Dyke Rhoads in small Downstate Paris, where they were stabbed and slashed before their house was burned. A jury sent Steidl to death row after convicting him of both murders. Whitlock, convicted only in the death of Karen Rhoads, received a sentence of life without parole. An investigation 4 years ago by the Illinois State Police determined that the Rhoadses' murders might have been related to another dozen or so murders in the region and that Steidl and Whitlock had no part in them. New evidence presented In addition to citing the facts of Steidl's case, the petition also presents new evidence. In a videotaped statement attached to the petition, primary prosecution witness Debra Rienbolt, who has recanted her testimony in the case several times, said that in 1987 she took part in five to 10 "mock trials" staged by prosecutors and police. During those mock trials, she referred to a broken vase she claimed to have seen at the murder scene, she said. But prosecutors and police told her to say it was a lamp, in keeping with evidence found at the scene, she said in the statement. "I kept saying it was a vase," she said. "They kept saying it was a lamp, and I finally said, 'Screw it, if you want it to be a damn lamp, it can be a lamp.'" Attorneys can take potential witnesses through testimony, "as long as you don't tell the witness what to say," Kling said. "I don't have a right when I don't like what they say to tell them to say this instead." Can't meet deadline The tape was made Feb. 24 by assistants in the office of Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan, who in March declined to appeal a decision by U.S. District Court Judge Michael McCuskey granting Steidl a new trial. Prosecutors said they couldn't make the deadline, leading to Steidl's release on May 28. Should a judge grant the request for a new trial, Kling and Ortiz hope that would lead to dropped charges against Whitlock, just like in the Steidl case. "They are both clearly innocent of the offense," said Michael Metnick, the attorney in the Steidl case. "The evidence against both was the same. Both cases rise and fall on Debra Rienbolt, who we know is a liar." Whitlock, who has appealed his case to the state Appellate and Supreme Courts and the federal courts, said he has lost faith in the criminal-justice system. "My real mistake was I honestly believed that there was some integrity, that there would be justice in these courts," he said. "They're all hypocrites. I have no belief in the justice system." When he was first arrested, Whitlock was a painter and divorced father of a 14-year-old girl. He admittedly spent much of his free time drinking in bars, often with Steidl, and occasionally using drugs. In 1990 and 1991, while he was in Stateville Correctional Center, his mother and father died. They had taken out a second mortgage on their house to pay his initial trial bills, which have yet to be fully paid off. Fearful of exposing his daughter to the penitentiary, he has not allowed her to visit, though he said he calls her, writes to her and sends her books. He has yet to meet her son--his grandson. For 6 years, he went without a television or radio, instead spending his time reading law books. "All I did day and night was study the law--constantly," he said. "I'm one of the best-read jailhouse lawyers in the state." He has employed many tactics to try to tame his admitted "anger and rage." "I've gotten over 70 self-help books in the last year," he said. "I read them. I study a lot of Buddhism. I do a lot of meditations. I exercise any time I can. That helps relieve the aggression and keeps you focused. I live in the present. I don't think about yesterday. I try not to think about all the wrongs they gave me. "I don't think about where I've been," he said. "What would that make me into if I start pondering all the things I've been cheated of the past 17 years?" (source: Chicago Tribune) MARYLAND----impending execution Latest motion by Oken's lawyers denied----Baltimore Co. Circuit Court refuses to reopen post-conviction proceedings; 2 federal petitions filed in effort to halt execution Steven Oken's lawyers lost another round in state courts Friday in their fight to delay his execution, which is scheduled for sometime next week. The Baltimore County Circuit Court denied a motion yesterday to reopen the post-conviction proceedings, said Kathryn Graeff, chief of the criminal appeals decision in the attorney general's office. But U.S. District Court Judge Peter J. Messitte has agreed to hear an appeal for a stay of execution Monday at 2 p.m. in federal court in Greenbelt. Fred Warren Bennett, one of Oken's lawyers, said Friday he also had filed a motion with the state Court of Appeals seeking a stay of execution and expected to file a petition Saturday with the U.S. Supreme Court. The 2 federal petitions will allege that the method of lethal injection chosen by the state violates the Constitution's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment because it will cause Oken extreme pain, Bennett said. Motions filed with the state circuit and appellate courts questioned the effectiveness of Oken's representation by lawyers at his original trial and in the post-conviction appeal of his death sentence. On both occasions, the lawyers failed to conduct an adequate investigation into Oken's life and did not present facts about his upbringing that might have persuaded jurors he should be sentenced to prison instead of being executed, the motions said. "The ineffectiveness of trial counsel was glaringly deficient," said the petition for a stay of execution from the Court of Appeals. It said Oken's lawyer did not provide evidence to the jury that he suffered from severe brain damage. His trial lawyer also did not hire anyone to conduct a social study of Oken, who was adopted at birth, and did not investigate his birth family, the motion said. It said the result was that jurors were not told that his biological family "had problems with mental illness, drugs and alcohol addiction..." Such evidence "likely would have tipped the scales in favor of a sentence of life without parole in this case," the motion said. Oken was sentenced to die for the 1987 rape and murder of Dawn Marie Garvin in Baltimore County. He also was convicted of killing another woman in Baltimore County and a motel clerk in Maine. Garvin's mother, Betty Romano, said Fridday the family remains confident the execution will take place next week despite the motions filed by Oken's lawyers. ********************** Execution date kept secret from all but a few --- Maryland statute unique for its mystery regarding exact day of death Convicted killer Steven Oken is set to die next week, but only a handful of people know when the execution will actually take place. Maryland's capital punishment statute is unique among the 38 states that have a death penalty, according to current and former Maryland corrections officials. Former Corrections Commissioner Bill Sondervan said he believes Maryland is the only state that prohibits corrections officials from publicly announcing the exact day of an execution. Instead, a judge signs a death warrant that runs for a 5-day period, starting with a Monday. Several historians say the provision dates to the early 20th century, when executions were more likely to draw voyeurs rather than protests. It's not clear whether a specific event prompted the 5-day warrant and the required secrecy or exactly when the change was made. But early 19th-century public executions attracted a crowd, said Seth Rockman, a history professor at Occidental College in Los Angeles who has researched Maryland's criminal statutes. "It could go in any number of directions," Rockman said. "You could have people come out to cheer on the executioner" or crowds might turn out in solidarity with the criminals. Murderers were sometimes transformed into "popular heroes," he said. Prison officials started taking steps as early as the 1820s to make such occasions more seemly, such as moving hangings inside prison walls, he said. Corrections officials say the modern system, including the unknown death date, is focused on keeping the process orderly. "Our goal, as has been the case for many years, is to maintain dignity and reduce spectacle," said Mark Vernarelli, a spokesman for the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services. "This is not a sporting event." A Baltimore County Circuit Court judge signed a warrant in April for Oken to be executed the week of June 14 at a prison in Baltimore. The execution can take place any time between 12:01 a.m. Monday and 11:59 p.m. Friday, although Oken has won a hearing Monday before a federal judge and the state has agreed not to execute him before then. Oken, 42, was sentenced to death for the rape and murder of a White Marsh woman. He was also convicted of murdering his sister-in-law and a motel clerk in Maine. Maryland law dictates that the corrections commissioner schedule the execution date no more than 3 days prior to the "execution window," that begins Monday, Vernarelli said. "Today he would be making his decision on the date and time," Vernarelli said Friday. Security concerns factor into the decision of when the execution will be carried out, and once the date is set, that information is "very tightly controlled," Vernarelli said. He said he could not say how many people would know the execution date in advance, but up to 12 witnesses will be notified shortly beforehand so they can attend. For death penalty opponents, the Maryland law makes it more difficult to mobilize a protest. "It kind of keeps the whole thing under a blanket," said Michael Stark, a spokesman for the Campaign to End the Death Penalty. "I guess I would say it's antidemocratic." During the planning stages of past Maryland protests, Stark said he often has to explain to volunteers that the law dates back to a different era rather than being designed to stifle modern-day protests. But Stark still takes issue with the policy. "People have an important right and obligation to register their dissent," he said. Corrections officials note that protests occur despite the policy. "We always have crowds," said Andy Stritch, a historian and officer with the corrections division. "There's even provision made for them to have an orderly protest if they want to." The corrections department sets aside separate areas outside the prison for supporters and opponents of capital punishment. (source: Associated Press) ************************* Oken's case a challenge in debate on death penalty----Convicted killer's race an issue for some as possible execution nears Next week's scheduled execution of Steven Oken presents a difficult case for all but the most resolute opponents of the death penalty. He fits none of the categories for which recent constitutional challenges have been mounted against the death penalty: He is not poor, black, and was not a minor at the time the crimes were committed. He admitted to the grisly 1987 murder of Dawn Garvin. "This is definitely a poster boy," said Michael Rushford, president of the California-based pro-death penalty Criminal Justice Legal Foundation. Rushford and other proponents of capital punishment hope the execution will signal that Maryland is ready to carry out death sentences, after 6 years of no executions. That is exactly what death penalty opponents fear. "Capital punishment has been propelled by the popularity of these cases," said Michael Stark, the Baltimore-Washington coordinator of the Campaign to End the Death Penalty. As recently as 2 years ago, the state was observing an unofficial moratorium on executions. Gov. Parris N. Glendening commuted the sentence of a condemned man to life in prison without parole, and, in the wake of commissioning a study into racial and other disparities in the use of the death penalty, said he would not sign death warrants. More recently, the prosecution of Washington-area sniper Lee Boyd Malvo, who was 17 at the time of the shootings, prompted debate about the execution of people convicted of crimes committed as minors. Partly because Maryland law prohibits such executions, and a sentiment that Maryland's death penalty was ineffective, both sniper cases were tried first in Virginia. But Oken's case presents none of those complications. Stark said the state chooses to execute people such as Oken, and, a decade ago, John Thanos - white men who admitted responsibility for particularly heinous crimes - before other convicts to avoid the public uproar that accompanies less clear-cut capital punishment cases. Such death-row inmates, along with even more high-profile ones such as serial killer Ted Bundy, executed in 1989 in Florida, help people who are on the fence about capital punishment feel more comfortable about executions, Stark said. Legislators, such as state Sen. Nancy Jacobs, a Cecil and Harford County Republican, have used the families of Oken's victims to justify and promote the death penalty, Stark said. The next in line for execution are African-Americans - underscoring the conclusions of University of Maryland criminologist Raymond Paternoster's analysis unveiled a year and a half ago. "These cases will be tougher, and prosecutors know that," said Jane Henderson of the Quixote Center in Hyattsville, which is anti-capital punishment. "There was a political calculus to executing Oken first." Baltimore County Assistant State's Attorney S. Ann Brobst, Oken's prosecutor, says the contention that Oken is going 1st because he's white and least contentious is "absolute and utter nonsense." She said prosecutors sought the death warrant because his appeals appeared to be over, plain and simple. Despite the fact that Oken has been on death row for 13 years, he's been on more of a "fast track" than others, such as Vernon Evans, sentenced in 1984, because neither Oken's sentence nor his finding of guilt has been overturned. Evans has been resentenced, and each time that happens, it's like starting over, she said. After Oken, it may be a while before Baltimore County is able to get another death warrant signed, Brobst said. Wesley Baker has an argument scheduled before the Court of Appeals in September. A black man, he was also convicted in Baltimore County. Glenn Ivey, state's attorney for Prince George's County, said he is likely to seek a death warrant for Heath William Burch, also black, after the Oken case "is resolved, especially if that is resolved finally." Oken had raised legal issues that, if successful, might have affected Burch, he said. Maryland's 1st execution since the reinstatement of the death penalty was in 1994, when Thanos volunteered. Within 4 years, 2 black killers of white victims, Flint Gregory Hunt in 1997, and Tyrone Gilliam in 1998, were executed. By then, questions of racial and jurisdictional disparities had been raised. Then in 2000 came Eugene Colvin-el, a black man. Shortly before Colvin-el's scheduled execution, Glendening concluded the case against him was insufficient, and he commuted the sentence to life without parole. Glendening also commissioned the analysis by Paternoster to examine whether capital punishment was being administered fairly. Two years later, Glendening blocked the execution of Baker and called an end to executions while the study was under way, effectively delaying death warrants for 3 other black men. When the study was completed, it found that defendants accused of slaying white victims were most likely to be charged with capital murder, and if convicted, more likely to be sentenced to die than people charged with killing minorities. The report said that blacks who kill whites are 2 1/2 times more likely to be sentenced to death than are whites who kill whites and 3 1/2 times more likely to be executed than blacks who kill blacks. It found a discrepancy among jurisdictions in seeking the death penalty, with Baltimore County as Maryland's leader in seeking and obtaining death sentences. Oken fits the pattern in that his case comes from Baltimore County and his victim was white. When Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. took office in January last year, he said he would not back a moratorium on executions, raising the possibility that Maryland could see several executions. Richard Dieter, executive director of the anti-capital punishment Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, said he hopes Oken's case moves Maryland "not to accelerate executions but to address the problems." Bills in the Maryland legislature to impose a moratorium on executions or study discrepancies among jurisdictions in the application of the death penalty have failed. Currently, all 8 condemned men death row are convicted of killing white victims. 5 of the men are black. "Saying look, we executed somebody who happens to be white before we executed somebody who happens to be black is ridiculous. The numbers are the numbers," said Stuart J. Robinson, one of Baker's lawyers. (source: Baltimore Sun) ********************************** Md. families wait for killer's execution The family of Dawn Marie Garvin wants nothing more than to watch the death of the man who raped and shot her 17 years ago, leaving her nude and lifeless body on the bed, a small teddy bear tucked under her arm. Her mother, Betty Romano, plans to be there for Steven Oken's execution, scheduled for next week. Oken was convicted for killing Garvin and 2 other women during a 15-day spree in 1987. "When he's strapped down and waiting on the table, waiting for the witnesses and media to come up and watch him die, that will be a little bit of torture," Romano said. "I take solace in that." Oken's family and lawyers, meanwhile, are working to keep him alive. Oken's mother, Davida, says she doesn't let a day with her son pass without telling him how much she loves and supports him. She said she spends every spare moment visiting and comforting him at the Maryland Correctional Adjustment Center in downtown Baltimore. "What he did, he was sick, and I forgive him," Davida Oken said. "We forgive him and want him to live." The state has said Oken could be executed as early as Monday. A federal judge has agreed to hear an appeal for a stay that day, and lawyers said the state has agreed not to execute Oken before then. If the execution takes place as scheduled, Betty Romano plans to bring the teddy bear with her. Romano had hoped to hold it up for Oken to see before he died, but prison officials told her she couldn't bring anything into the witness room. "I've had it on my bed since the day she died. That's all I have to look at of Dawn's, except for pictures," said Romano, her eyes filling with tears. As Oken's lawyers work to save their client's life, the families of Garvin and Oken agree on one thing: The days leading up to the execution have been excruciating. Davida Oken said her son receives spiritual comfort from a handful of rabbis who have visited him over the last 10 years. While he once practiced Reform Judaism, Oken has embraced Orthodox Judaism on death row, she said, including the morning ritual of attaching tefillin - leather boxes containing biblical passages - to his body. "He's apologized to his God and to us, and I think he's very comfortable with where he is now," Davida Oken said. Garvin's relatives believe they are finally nearing the end of a long, painful quest for justice. As a possible execution date nears, they struggle with feelings of anger and hate they say have only grown stronger over the last 17 years. The family is "counting down the days. I'm hoping it's coming to an end," said Garvin's brother, Fred A. Romano, 34. It was early on Nov. 2, 1987, when Gavin's father found her in her apartment. Oken had raped and assaulted the newlywed before shooting her twice in the head, according to court papers. Over the next 15 days, he also murdered and sexually assaulted his sister-in-law, Patricia Hirt, and Lori Ward, a hotel clerk in Maine, before police captured him in another Maine hotel. After the murder, Betty Romano said she spent weeks poring over newspapers, culling the names of family members of other murder victims. For 8 years she and about 15 other people who lost loved ones to murder met in a support group, but she ended the gatherings in 1996. "I was not only carrying my grief," she said, "I was carrying everyone else's grief." . Fred Romano said his family is united in wanting to see Oken suffer. "Compared to what he did to my sister, he's getting off too easy," he said. "Getting a needle in the arm and going to sleep can't compare to what he did to those girls." (source: Associated Press)
