June 15 OHIO: Viewing Capital Punishment Assistant State Public Defender Steve Ferrell believes Ohioans should be allowed to see executions when they are carried out, either in person or on TV. Ferrell claims more Ohioans would rethink their position on the death penalty if they could actually wintess a human being killed. Ferrell watched the execution of Clevelander Lewis Williams earlier this year, and believes more Ohioans would oppose capital punishment if they knew what it involved. Ferrell thinks most Ohioans approve of the death penalty because they are removed from it. Williams struggled as he was being put to death, and it made headlines around the world. Ferrell says Williams received the death penalty because his lawyer failed to show that he was severely abused by his parents as a child. Ferrell says he is opposed to capital punishment because it is mostly given to the poor, who can't afford good lawyers. (source: WKKJ News) ARIZONA: Prosecutors to seek death penalty in Sedona double-murder case Coconino County prosecutors have decided to seek the death penalty against an Oak Creek man accused of the Feb. 18 murder of a Sedona couple. According to court documents filed Friday in Coconino County Superior Court, prosecutors are seeking the death penalty on 5 grounds against Timothy L. Alcorn, 28. Alcorn is accused of murdering Lawrence Birkner, 54, and his wife, Ruth McIntyre-Birkner. According to information released by Sedona authorities, the bodies of the Birkners were found in their home, which is located in Coconino County, on Feb. 18. They died from blunt-force trauma to the head. The house had been ransacked, and the couple's 2 cars were missing. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for the following reasons, according to court documents: 1. That Alcorn has been or was previously convicted of a serious offense. 2. That Alcorn committed the offense in order to receive items of monetary value. 3. That Alcorn committed the offense in an "especially heinous, cruel or depraved manner." 4. That Alcorn committed the offense while on release from prison or jail or while on probation for a felony offense. 5. Alcorn has been convicted of one or more other murders that were committed during the incident. Timothy Alcorn was arrested in Phoenix the day after the couple's bodies were discovered. One of the Birkner's vehicles, an Acura, was in the parking lot of a motel in which he was staying. Two other people were arrested in the case, Robert D. Alcorn, 30, brother to Timothy; and Timothy Robinson, 21. Robert was also arrested the same day as his brother by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers. Robert had been driving the Birkners' BMW into Arizona from Mexico. According to indictments handed down in the case, Timothy Alcorn; his brother Robert Alcorn and Robinson are each accused of various crimes in connection with the case. Only Timothy Alcorn is accused of murder. The three have been charged with the following: T. Alcorn: 1st-degree murder (2 counts), armed robbery (2 counts), kidnapping (2 counts), burglary, auto theft (2 counts), conspiracy to commit auto theft, trafficking in stolen property, conspiracy to commit trafficking in stolen property, theft of a credit card, fraudulent use of a credit card; R. Alcorn: Trafficking in stolen property, conspiracy to commit trafficking in stolen property; Robinson: Hindering prosecution, conspiracy to commit auto theft. The Birkners had been Sedona residents for approximately a year and a half before their deaths. (source: Arizona Daily Sun) NORTH CAROLINA: Former death-row inmate pushes halt to executions When Alan Gell was first sentenced to death 9 years ago for a murder that he didn't commit, his mother told him to have faith in both North Carolina's judicial system and God. Gell, 29, said his mother was usually right but that particular advice was wrong. Although he was exonerated in February and released from prison, he no longer has faith in the judicial system, he said. But he does believe he experienced life on death row for a reason, which is why he is traveling around North Carolina and telling his story. Monday night, he was in Jacksonville. Gell spoke at First Baptist Church on Broadhurst Road and urged the more than 100 people who attended to ask legislators to vote for a moratorium on executions. "Ultimately, I kept my faith in God," Gell said. " I believe all things happen for a reason. I did have to see some ugly things in our justice system, and I've seen some ugly things since I got out. But I think God allowed me to see things so that I can make changes. I don't want another person to go through what I went through." Gell was convicted of the 1995 murder of retired truck driver Allen Ray Jenkins in Aulander. Gell maintained his innocence for 9 years. He was convicted based on testimony by two teenage girls. Once he was convicted, Gell had access to his files. He discovered all the evidence that was never brought out in his trial. He realized that the prosecution knew he wasn't the person who killed Jenkins, he said. "I knew if that was all in the file, they had to know that I didn't do it," he said. "I had to ask what did I ever do to them that they wanted me dead. I still have no answer for that." The state Senate approved a 2-year moratorium on executions last year so the issue could be studied. It must still be approved by the House. Stephen Dear, the executive director of N.C. Moratorium Now campaign, also spoke Monday. He said the goal is to get state House co-speakers Jim Black and Richard Morgan to bring the issue up for vote this year. "The evidence is clear that there are serious lethal problems," Dear said. "We need to stop and look at what's going on." The moratorium wouldn't stop capital cases from going to trial. Juries could still dole out the death penalty. The moratorium would stop executions until issues, such as the quality of attorneys representing clients in capital cases, the patterns of racial bias, the error rate, the defendants access to evidence and eyewitness testimony are studied. In October 2001, Gov. Mike Easley commuted Robert Bacon's death sentence to life imprisonment. Bacon, who was convicted of the 1987 murder of Marine Staff Sgt. Glennie Clark in Onslow County, spent 14 years on death row. Easley never commented on why he granted Bacon clemency. But death penalty opponents claimed that race was a factor in determining Bacon's sentence. Bacon, who is black, was convicted and sentenced by an all-white Onslow County jury. His co-defendant, Bonnie Sue Clark who was the estranged wife of the murder victim, was also convicted of first-degree murder. Bonnie Sue Clark, who is white, was given a life sentence by a Duplin County jury. Gell said there are other people sitting on North Carolina's death row that shouldn't be there and if his speaking out keeps one innocent person from dying, it's worth it. "For me it will finally be some closure to know the system is working better," he said. (source: Jacksonville Daily News)
