June 14 TEXAS: Texas Immigrant Deaths Ringleader Pleads Guilty The accused leader of a human smuggling ring blamed for the death of 19 immigrants sealed in a truck last year has pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, U.S. Attorney Michael Shelby said on Monday. Karla Patricia Chavez Joya, 26, of Honduras had faced a 58-count indictment, but cut a deal with prosecutors under which she pleaded guilty to only 1 charge of conspiracy to transport and harbor illegal immigrants. She could face up to life in prison, but prosecutor Dan Rodriguez said a lighter sentence would be recommended if she cooperates fully in what Shelby earlier called "the worst immigration smuggling tragedy in our nation's history." Chavez was the 4th of 14 persons indicted in the May 14, 2003 deaths to reach a plea bargain. The immigrants, who came illegally from Mexico, Central America and the Dominican Republic and paid $1,800 each to the smugglers, died from suffocation and dehydration when more than 70 people were crammed into a tightly sealed truck driven from southern Texas toward Houston. The dead included a 5-year-old boy who died in his father's arms. Surviving immigrants told police they clawed holes in the truck and waved to passing drivers for help. The truck was found abandoned at a convenience store in Victoria, Texas, 90 miles southwest of Houston. Prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty for the driver of the truck, Tyrone Williams, who they accuse of fleeing after he saw the immigrants dead or dying inside. Chavez, was to be sentenced on Sept. 13 by U.S. District Judge Vanessa Gilmore. (source: Reuters) CALIFORNIA: Angry Peterson Lawyer's Calif. Mistrial Bid Denied The attorney for Scott Peterson angrily asked for a mistrial on Monday after 2 policemen said the accused double murderer muttered a curse word and threw a flashlight after officers questioned him about his missing pregnant wife, Laci. Defense attorney Mark Geragos complained that the officers fabricated the testimony and that the prosecutor did not tell him such statements were coming. "It's nothing but a cheap shot in a never-ending series of cheap shots by this prosecution and it's absolutely beyond dispute that I'm entitled to that," Geragos complained to San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Alfred Delucchi. "Short of an admonition, I move for a mistrial," said Geragos, who also suggested that Delucchi clear the courtroom because some people in the audience were laughing. Delucchi denied the mistrial motion and told Geragos that he was not in the movies. He pointed out that the new testimony could be helpful to the defense. "It could have been said out of frustration that he lost his wife," Delucchi said. Prosecutor Rick Distaso agreed, and explained that this logic was why he did not bother to warn Geragos. The 2 police officers said they noticed a couple of things out of place when they searched the Peterson home on Dec. 24, 2002: a rug was scrunched against a doorway, some rags were piled atop a washing machine, and 2 mops were outside the house. The officers said that Peterson was evasive as they asked him about his fishing trip that day. "I asked him what he was fishing for," testified Modesto police Det. Matthew Spurlock. "He had this blank look for a second or so, his eyes shifted a bit. And he didn't really answer the question." "I asked what he was using for bait and I got the same kind of response, this blank shifting. He couldn't really answer. Then he said, 'a silver lure,' and he held his hands about seven to eight inches (18 cm to 20 cm) apart." Spurlock testified he asked Peterson to leave the house, and he watched as the fertilizer salesman cursed through gritted teeth and threw a flashlight to the ground. The bodies of Laci Peterson and her unborn fetus washed up in the San Francisco Bay several months later near where Peterson said he had been fishing. (source: Reuters) MARYLAND: Judge to rule Tuesday on delay in Oken execution----Defense is seeking time to argue lethal injection in Md. is cruel, unusual A federal judge said he would rule this morning on convicted killer Steven Oken's bid to delay his execution so his lawyers can argue that Maryland's most recent execution raises doubts about the state's lethal injection procedures. Oken's lawyers said in a hearing Monday that the state provided them with evidence late last week that there had been a leak in the intravenous line that delivered the anesthetic and deadly chemicals during the execution of Tyrone X. Gilliam in 1998. Lawyers for the state did not deny that a leak had occurred, but asserted that the procedure did not constitute a violation of the Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. U.S. District Judge Peter J. Messitte said he would issue a written ruling by 10 a.m. Tuesday. A lawyer for Oken said that development amounted to a "de facto stay of execution." A death warrant permits the state to execute Oken this week. During the 2-hour hearing in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, Oken's lawyers said they are pushing this claim now because the state did not turn over its complete execution protocol and other related material until Friday. Oken filed a public information request for the material last month, his lawyers said. David P. Kennedy, an assistant attorney general for Maryland, said in court that Oken and his lawyers had created "a false emergency" in a last-ditch effort to stop the execution. Death penalty lawyer Jerome H. Nickerson Jr., who recently joined Oken's legal team and who watched the execution of Gilliam, who was his client, said during the hearing that a document the lawyers received Friday "shows deliberate indifference as to what's going on with the IV." Nickerson said a checklist from Gilliam's execution noted a "bad hookup, left arm leaking" and "execution commander issued to go green." He said this showed that corrections officials continued to administer the lethal chemicals even though it appeared that some of the drug intended to put the inmate to sleep had pooled on the floor. Nickerson asked for proof that the executioners are adequately trained and have a protocol in place to stop a lethal injection if there appears to be a problem. As part of his response, Kennedy said: "There will never, never, never be a protocol that will satisfy the counsel of a person being executed." A spokesman for the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services would not comment specifically on the Oken lawyers' latest challenge. "Our goal is to humanely and painlessly carry out the law of the state of Maryland and to do so with dignity and without spectacle," said Mark Vernarelli, the spokesman. Oken was sentenced to death in 1991 by a Baltimore County jury for the rape and murder of Dawn Marie Garvin, a White Marsh newlywed. Oken also was convicted of sexually assaulting and murdering 2 other women: Patricia Antoinette Hirt, his wife's older sister, and Lori Elizabeth Ward, a motel clerk in Maine. During Monday's hearing, Steven Oken's parents, David and Davida Oken, and Garvin's mother, Betty Romano, sat at opposite ends of the courtroom. Romano dabbed away tears as she left the courthouse. Twice before, the Maryland Court of Appeals delayed Oken's execution because of pending appeals, but they ruled 6-1 last week not to interfere with the current death warrant, which went into effect after midnight Monday and is valid through midnight Friday. Monday, the Court of Appeals denied another request by Oken for a stay of execution, based on his claim that he re ceived ineffective counsel at trial. Oken also has asked the Supreme Court to delay his execution. If Messitte rules against the stay of execution Tuesday, Oken's lawyers could appeal that decision to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and then to the Supreme Court. And they have asked Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. to issue Oken a partial commutation of Oken's sentence, from death to life in prison without parole. The governor has said that he will not make a decision until Oken's legal options have been exhausted. Death-penalty supporters and opponents gathered Monday near the maximum-security prison where Oken is being held. Both sides had come in expectation of Oken's scheduled execution but decided to stay even after word spread that it would not take place Monday night. Holding signs that urged an end to the death penalty, activists vowed to return each night until a judge delays the execution or Oken is put to death. "There are many, many ways for us to be made safe from people who commit violent crime," said Stephanie Gibson, 49, an associate professor at the University of Baltimore and a member of Maryland Citizens Against State Executions. "We don't need to execute people." Just up the street, Garvin's friends and relatives joined death penalty supporters, holding placards that referred to "Judgment Day" and proclaimed lethal injection "too humane." "We've been waiting for 17 years," said Cheryl Romano, 58, of Harewood Park, who is a a relative of Garvin. "We've been going through all this pain and agony for Steven Oken to get his due. It's time." (source: Baltimore Sun) ******************** On Death Penalty, Steele Is Silent -- As Md. Execution Looms, Lt. Governor No Longer Voices Opposition On the campaign trail 2 years ago, Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele touted his long-held opposition to capital punishment when trying to connect with voters giving the Republican ticket a serious look for the 1st time. Within weeks of becoming the first African American elected statewide in Maryland, the new lieutenant governor broke ranks with Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. and pledged to address a report that found racial bias in the state's use of the death penalty. Steele vowed to set up a task force, bring all parties to the table and find a way to fix the system. But that has not happened. This week, as Maryland prepares to execute its first convict since Steele took office and as a clemency petition waits on the governor's desk, the lieutenant governor has assiduously avoided making any comments on the subject. "He will not talk about the death penalty, period," is how Steele's press secretary, Regan Hopper, responded to questions on the subject. Steele's silence has been a sore subject for some advocates who have campaigned against capital punishment in Maryland and who believed that Steele, a Catholic who shares their moral objections, would become an influential voice on their behalf. Cathy Knepper, an Amnesty International activist who is fighting the death penalty in Maryland, said she "knocked myself senseless" trying to get a meeting with Steele and was disappointed once they finally sat down in February. "He made it very clear he would go along with Ehrlich's position" on capital punishment, Knepper said. "That was the most clear, unambiguous thing he said." To seasoned Annapolis political observers, such as lobbyist Dick Dowling of the Maryland Catholic Conference, Steele's position is understandable and even expected. The person in the lieutenant governor's post has never been afforded much wiggle room when views depart from the governor's. "I don't think it's fair to put him on the spot. It seems to me he's powerless," said Dowling, who has lobbied for years against capital punishment and is engaged in an aggressive effort to persuade the governor to spare the life of Steven Oken, who faces lethal injection this week, barring any 11th-hour success in court. A federal judge has promised to rule by 10 a.m. today on whether to stay the execution and allow further legal arguments to be heard. District Judge Peter J. Messitte said at a hearing yesterday that he was troubled that corrections officials had waited until Friday to provide Oken's attorneys with a step-by-step plan for his execution. Later in the afternoon, in a two-paragraph ruling, the Maryland Court of Appeals closed the door on Oken's additional appeals through the state. Oken has also submitted a clemency petition asking Ehrlich to commute his sentence to life in prison without parole, but attorneys acknowledge that there is little hope that the governor will spare their client. Ehrlich, a death penalty proponent, said yesterday that Steele has been involved in all of the top-level discussions about pending executions, including Oken's. "Mike's views are heard," Ehrlich said. "He has a religious conviction, and I knew that when I picked him for the ticket." What Steele has not done, however, is fulfill the promises he made after the release in January 2003 of a study on the capital murder system in Maryland. In an analysis of the 6,000 murders from 1978 to 1999, University of Maryland criminologist Raymond Paternoster found statistical evidence that the race of the victim played a significant role when prosecutors decided to seek the death penalty, a finding that mirrors studies in 19 states. Blacks who kill whites are 2 1/2 times more likely to be sentenced to death than whites who kill whites and 3 1/2 times more likely than blacks who kill blacks. Oken, who is white, killed three white women in 1987. Paternoster also found overwhelming evidence that a killer's chances of being sent to death row depend heavily on the location of the murder. A killer who commits the crime in Baltimore County, as Oken did, is 26 times more likely to receive the death penalty than in Baltimore and 14 times more likely than in Montgomery County, the study shows. At the time, Ehrlich declined to comment directly on the findings, saying prosecutors should be free to apply the death penalty as they see fit. But Steele said he found the results "personally troubling." "This report demonstrates the necessity for a closer look at how we handle these cases, from the moment an individual is captured to the moment he is sentenced," Steele told The Washington Post then. At Steele's urging, Ehrlich authorized him to begin a fresh study of the capital murder system. Steele said he would meet with the Maryland State's Attorneys' Association, set up a task force, conduct a county-by-county review and order his staff to begin "making contacts with the different stakeholders on this issue," he told the Catholic News Service in April 2003. In November, Steele told The Post that he hoped to "have something fleshed out for the governor" by the time the legislative session wrapped up in April. But Montgomery County State's Attorney Douglas F. Gansler (D), who heads up the prosecutors association's legislative committee, said he never heard from Steele on the subject. "As far as I know, nothing was done on that at all," Gansler said. Last week, after a public appearance at a fundraiser in Annapolis, Steele brushed aside questions about his efforts as he walked to his car. When asked if he regretted not doing more in advance of the state's 1st execution under Ehrlich's watch, Steele said only, "What kind of question is that?" Then he got into the car and drove away. (source: Washington Post) INDIANA: Account changes in death penalty case An attorney for Darnell Williams is hopeful a statement by a witness, who says some things he may have told police 18 years ago weren't accurate, will help her client avoid the death penalty next month. Attorney Juliet Yackel said the statement by Edwin Taylor "is yet one more piece of evidence indicating Darnell Williams' conviction and death sentence are unreliable." "We believe this underscores the need to exercise caution here. Executing him would surely be an enormous injustice," she said. Staci Schneider, spokeswoman for the Attorney General's Office, said she could not comment because the attorney general had not seen the affidavits. Williams was condemned for the August 1986 shooting deaths of John and Henrietta Rease of Gary. He was convicted along with Gregory Rouster, whose death sentence was later revoked after a court ruled he was mentally retarded. Edwin Taylor, who Yackel described as the prosecution's star witness during the penalty phase of the trial, says in an affidavit that he said some things to police because he feared Williams and Rouster would make him the scapegoat in the murders. "I was so confused and so scared, I might have said things that weren't accurate," he said. Taylor said he never heard Williams threaten the Reases and described Rouster as being threatening on the night of the killings while Williams was drunk and mainly just sat there. "I never told police that Darnell threatened the Reases because I never heard Darnell threaten either Mr. or Mrs. Rease, or even speak rudely to them," Taylor says in the affidavit. Another affidavit from Ronald Lach, who was a crime scene technician for the Lake County Sheriff's Office at the time of the slayings, said he didn't see any blood on Williams' clothing following the shooting. The defense claims that blood found on Williams shorts did not come from the crime scene. Williams was scheduled to die last Aug. 1, but the late Gov. Frank O'Bannon granted a stay for additional DNA testing of blood spots found on a pair of shorts Williams had worn. But the Indiana Supreme Court said last month that DNA tests did not exclude one of the victims as a possible source of the blood, and it set a July 9 execution date. A clemency hearing is scheduled to be held June 21 at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City. A public hearing is set for June 28 in Indianapolis. The Indiana Parole Board will make a recommendation to Gov. Joe Kernan on June 29. Yackel said the affidavits will be used during the clemency hearing and in court appeals. "We went every decision-maker in this case to be fully informed of the totality of the evidence," Yackel said. (source: Associated Press) NEW YORK: Jury Selection Continues For Death Penalty Case And if he is, they'll decide if he should be put to death. Vernon Parker of Baltimore is accused of killing a Binghamton mother and daughter. Valerie and Devin Spears were shot to death inside their home on South Washington street in July 2002. Parker could face the death penalty because he's accused of killing witnesses. Both Valerie and Devin Spears were going to testify against Parker at a trial in Baltimore. That's where Parker was charged with sexually abusing Devin. The original Broome County jury pool of 2,000 people is now whittled down to 400. The court needs to pick a jury of 12, plus alternates, and it could take months. Opening arguments with testimony are scheduled to start in September. (source: WBNG News)
