June 1 WASHINGTON: Prosecutor weighs odds, pain, costs Spokane County prosecutor Steve Tucker supports the death penalty, but his most famous case is a plea-bargain with a serial killer. In a deal that closed a half-dozen unsolved murder cases, eliminated the prospect of losing a tough, complex case, and saved the county millions of dollars, Tucker got Robert Yates - widely considered a walking advertisement for capital punishment - to confess to killing 14 women in exchange for escaping the needle. The decision - like thousands made every day in lesser cases, but magnified by publicity - brought him a storm of criticism from residents and some of his peers, including King County prosecutor Norm Maleng. So it was with a bit of professional satisfaction that Tucker watched Maleng make the same kind of deal with Green River killer Gary Ridgway, who last December pleaded guilty to 48 killings in exchange for avoiding the death penalty. Maleng cited the relief the guilty pleas brought to many long-suffering families of victims. For prosecutors across the state, the cost of prosecution - in money, time and prolonged misery - often becomes a factor in charging decisions. Taking a capital case to trial can cost millions and force families through a wracking ordeal. "Cost was the last consideration," in the 2000 Yates deal, Tucker said in an interview in his office. "By the time I was finished with Yates, I knew I had done the right thing." Tucker said he was daunted by the prospect of using relatively weak evidence to try Yates for more than a dozen different slayings. Years of appeals loomed, along with doubts that Yates would even qualify for death under the state's convoluted capital punishment law. In the end, Yates admitted to a series of murders, including 6 that were still unsolved, and led officers to the body of one of his victims. He was sentenced to 408 years in prison. Pierce County prosecutors later tried Yates for two murders there, and the jury sentenced him to death. Tucker argues that kept the killer from confessing all his crimes. "He wanted to plead to everything," Tucker said. Now "he has no reason to talk." Along with some withering criticism, Tucker found supporters, including the Washington State Bar Association, which in 2001 gave him an award for showing "exceptional courage in the face of adversity." He was re-elected without opposition in 2002. Mercy tempered with financial prudence made headlines for Tucker again this year, when he decided not to try 17-year-old Sean Fitzpatrick as an adult for firing a gun inside Lewis and Clark High School. Fitzpatrick, who wanted police officers to kill him, ended up critically injured and disfigured when he was shot in the face. Tucker had to weigh the prospect of saddling taxpayers with Fitzpatrick's huge medical bills against a case in which the strict no-tolerance policies for weapons adopted after the Columbine massacre had been so obviously violated. "He needed massive medical care," Tucker said. "It was definitely a consideration in that case." But he also considered that Fitzpatrick heard voices in his head, left a suicide note and obviously never intended to hurt anyone but himself. "This plea agreement requires him to talk to troubled kids, to at-risk kids and to parents' groups," Tucker said. "It will be a benefit to this community." Last year, he negotiated another agreement to spare a murderer the death penalty after a federal court ordered a new trial for Blake Pirtle, who had been sentenced to die for fatally beating and slashing two Burger King employees in 1992. After 11 years on death row, the court overturned the verdict over procedural errors. Families of Pirtle's victims were not interested in having old wounds reopened by a new trial and lengthy appeals, so Tucker cut a deal that gave Pirtle, 35, consecutive life terms without parole. "We're done with him and we're shipping him out of here," Tucker said after the sentencing. (source: Associated Press) INDIANA: Take a new look at death penalty----The issue: Capital punishment Our opinion: Indiana needs to take another look at how it is administered in the state, following the example set by Illinois. Two decisions by the Indiana Supreme Court last Friday raise serious questions about how capital punishment is administered in the state. In one case, the court ruled that Christopher Peterson, now known as Obadyah Ben-Yisrayl but also known as the shotgun killer, should not be executed. He terrorized the region during his crime spree between October and December 1990. He was convicted of killing four people in locations throughout the region and sentenced to die by the judge in his fourth trial. Last week, the court ruled that a 2002 state law requiring a jury's unanimous recommendation for a death sentence means he should not be put to death. Yet on that same day, the court set a July 9 execution date for Darnell Williams. You'll remember that days before Williams was scheduled to be executed last Aug. 1, then-Gov. Frank O'Bannon put the execution on hold so DNA tests of blood found on Williams' clothing could be conducted. Curiously, the Indiana Supreme Court didn't see fit to order the tests even though the DNA results could have settled whether Williams was splattered with the blood of John and Henrietta Rease, a Gary couple shot to death in 1986. The DNA tests now have been done, raising questions in some minds about whether Williams pulled the trigger. Thomas Vanes, a Merrillville defense attorney who was the deputy Lake County prosecutor handling Williams' trial, has spoken in favor of a new trial. So has juror John Gnajek of Hammond. The DNA results, along with other facts that have come to light since the trial, should be presented to a new jury to make sure there is no doubt about Williams' guilt before he is executed. The case should be presented again to a jury to see if it can unanimously recommend the death penalty for Williams, given the new evidence. There also should be a new look at how capital punishment is administered in Indiana, using the Illinois experience as a guideline. In Illinois, 5.7 % of the convicted criminals sentenced to death between 1977 and Gov. George Ryan's 2001 moratorium were later exonerated, according to the Center on Wrongful Convictions. A 2001 review of Indiana's death penalty found no problems with the way the death penalty was administered. But that review was controversial because there was a dissenting report, which was never allowed to be published by the chairman of that review committee, then-state Sen. Bill Alexa. He is now a Superior Court judge in Porter County. Gov. Joe Kernan must establish an impartial panel to study the issue and make its own recommendations about how well the system works and what additional safeguards, if any, are needed to improve it. Indiana needs capital punishment as the ultimate punishment for the most heinous crimes. But the state needs to make sure the penalty is administered fairly. (source: Editorial, Northwest Indiana News) NEW YORK: Death penalty not sought for Booker Lance Booker will not get the death penalty. The announcement came down Tuesday morning from Rensselaer County District Attorney Patricia DeAngelis. Booker has been charged, along with Gregory Heckstall and Michael Hoffler, with conspiring to kill Christopher Drabik back in December. Drabik was gunned down in Lansingburgh. DeAngelis would not comment on her decision to seek a life sentence without parole due to the fact that the cases are still pending. Drabik's family did not comment on the announcement either. (source: CapitalNews 9) ******************* Death Penalty Case Jury Selection Update----Murder Suspect Vernon Parkr The latest round of potential jurors in the Vernon Parker murder trial come to Broome County Court. The 94 men and women must fill out a questionare and discuss any potential hardships that would prevent them from serving. Legitimate hardships include child care and education concerns. It worked for college student Thomas Beylo. Excused Juror Thomas Beylo says, "I couldn't do it. I'm going back to school in mid September and I don't even know if I want to do it otherwise, but with my circumstances, it just wouldn't work out." The potential jurors in court today were actually summoned to appear last month. But a medical emergency in Judge Martin Smith's family postponed that appearance. Commissioner of Jurors, Chris Esworthy says the whole process could take weeks, even months. It was nearly 2 years ago in July of 2002, when mother and daughter Valerie and Devin Spears were gunned down in their Binghamton home on South Washington Street. Police say 35-year-old Vernon Parker, seen here, and 34-year-old Robert Williams were the killers. Parker, Valerie Spear's son-in-law, will go on trial first. Then a separate jury will hear Williams' case. Both men could get the death penalty if convicted. A fact that doesn't scare away some potential jurors. Potential Juror David Woods says, "I can't really say if I would be a good juror or not, but I'm not partial about anything." The next round of potential jurors will be in court Thursday. In total, 2-thousand people were issued summons. The Court will decided how many more people need to be called after Thursday. Vernon Parker is facing the death penalty because he's accused of killing witnesses. Both Valerie and Devin Spears were set to testify against Parker at a trial in Baltimore. That's where Parker was charged with sexually abusing Devin. (source: 12 WBNG) ALABAMA/USA: Another hitch in the death penalty Although the majority of present U.S. Supreme Court justices generally favor capital punishment, the wall of support could be weakening. On May 24, the high court -- in a rare unanimous decision -- decided for the first time that an inmate condemned to death by lethal injection can challenge the sentence as unconstitutional. The Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states plainly that "Excessive bail should not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted." What the amendment does not do is define all of the above. Wisely, the founding fathers left that to the courts. Now comes David Larry Nelson, a convicted killer from Alabama. He and his attorneys have come up with a new twist. They claim that Nelson's veins are so damaged from drug abuse that those administering the death-dealing injection would have to cut deeply into his skin. In medical circles, such a procedure is known as a "cut-down." Usually, it is used as a last resort and can be unpleasant if not painful. In Nelson's case, the justices were told by doctors that the injection procedure could cause severe bleeding and heart problems before the killer drugs could be administered. Interestingly, lethal injection is employed in 37 states. We are happy Michigan is not among them, thanks to our state's long-standing constitutional prohibition of the death penalty. It strikes us as curious that the Supreme Court has unanimously agreed to look at a method of execution that is widely considered far more humane than death in the electric chair, the gas chamber, by hanging or by firing squad. Nelson's crime was grisly and bizarre. He is on death row for shooting a man in the back of the head on Jan. 1, 1978, as the man was having sex with Nelson's girlfriend, who was also shot. She said Nelson had set up the sexual meeting as a robbery plot. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor emphasized that the court does not intend to "open the floodgates to all manner of method-of-execution challenges." "Our holding is extremely limited," she wrote. Nevertheless, the 9-0 decision could spur more challenges to lethal injection. As to Nelson, it remains to be seen if and when he'll be dispatched by the state, and by what method. Alabama Attorney General Troy King has promised that the state will pursue Nelson's execution, and that there are options "far from being cruel and inhumane treatment." Nelson, however, has been on death row for 20 years. That's one of many examples of the legal-system quagmire that capital punishment has become. America is virtually alone among industrialized and democratic nations that put their citizens to death. Hopefully, we are seeing some erosion of support for this barbaric practice. (source: Kalamazoo Gazette)
