July 1 NEW YORK: Either Fix the Death Penalty or Throw It Out One of the campaign promises that helped George Pataki wrest the governor's seat from Mario Cuomo was Pataki's promise to push for the return of the death penalty to New York state. Voters were sick of the ever-rising violent-crime and wanted capital punishment on the books. Pataki carried through swiftly, in 1995, but no person has been executed in the state in the 9 years since. Now, according to the state Court of Appeals, one of the mazes within that death penalty law labyrinth has led to a dead end, and the death penalty has been put on hold. In a 4-3 decision, the court decided that flaws in the law put judges in a position where a juror may be coerced into voting for the death penalty even if that juror does not find, after trial, that the case warrants execution of the guilty party. As phrased, according to the court, jurors might go against their convictions in the given case and recommend death for fear that the convicted party would be left with the possibility of parole if not executed. The judges reasoned rather than let a person go free, a juror might accept death as the penalty, which is clearly coercion. This is a gap that can't be put on hold. Bills are going to be introduced at the special session of the state Legislature that is all but inevitable this summer, and language clarifying the law must be passed at that session, not put on hold until January. Locally, for the 1st time the Rensselaer County District Attorney's office is planning to file for the death penalty in 2 cases, and the Albany County DA plans to seek it in the case of a man accused of killing a police officer. The Legislature should have no choice. The original law is theirs, the people of the state want it on the books, so fix it. And after the preliminary fix, it should be explored in more depth for other ways to make it more practical for prosecutors. Barring that, the law should be repealed until such time as the Legislature can come up with a workable law. Worse than having no death-penalty law in the books is having one that is merely cosmetic, since it is so flawed as to be virtually useless. (source: Editorial, Troy Record) TENNESSEE: Pike Convicted on New Charges Death row inmate, Christa Gail Pike has been convicted of trying to strangle a fellow inmate at the Tennessee Prison for Women. The crime involved another infamous inmate, Natasha Cornett. A jury in Nashville found Pike guilty. The 28-year-old will be sentenced later. Pike is already under a death sentence for the torture killing of fellow Job Corps student Coleen Slemmer, a crime that happened in Knoxville. Pike will be sentenced later on the new conviction of attempted first-degree murder. Authorities say inmate Patricia Jones was unconscious when Gail was finally pulled off of her. Throughout the trial, Pike's lawyers maintained their client was acting in defense of Natasha Cornett, whom Jones had apparently threatened several times. Cornett is serving three life sentences for the deaths of Vidar, Delphina and Tabitha Lillelid, members of a Knox County family killed after Cornett and other teens picked them up from a Greene County Rest Area. (source: Associated Press) ***************************** Appeal Denied For Tn. Death Row Inmate William Glenn Rogers will remain on death row. An appellate court on Wednesday upheld the Montgomery County man's death sentence in the rape and murder of a 9-year-old girl. Jackie Beard was abducted in July of 1996 while picking blackberries near her house. Her remains were found 4 months later at the Land Between the Lakes natural area nearly 50 miles away. Rogers originally denied involvement and then said he accidentally ran over the girl. He questioned whether the trial court had enough evidence to convict and sentence him to die. He challenged several other trial court decisions and said the death penalty is unconstitutional. But a 3-judge panel of the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals upheld the trial court's decision. (source: WBIR-TV News) CALIFORNIA: Judge to hear more in death-row case Testimony will continue July 23 in the case of death-row inmate Kevin Cooper, whose lawyers have been trying to delay his execution. U.S. District Judge Marilyn Huff in San Diego has been hearing testimony and re-examining evidence in the case. Cooper's lawyers contend he deserves a new trial, while prosecutors say the evidence of his guilt is overwhelming. In 1985, a San Diego jury convicted Cooper, a prison escapee, of butchering 4 people to death in San Bernardino County: Douglas Ryen; his wife, Peggy; their daughter, 10-year-old Jessica; and a house guest, Christopher Hughes, 11. The trial was moved to San Diego because of pretrial publicity in San Bernardino. In February, Cooper was within 8 hours of execution when a federal appeals court ordered investigation of the evidence. Huff has been hearing testimony from witnesses and must decide what scientific testing should be conducted on hair and blood evidence. (source: San Diego Union-Tribune) SOUTH CAROLINA----re: new federal death sentence) South Carolina man sent to federal death row A jury chose a death sentence Wednesday for Chadrick Fulks in the abduction and death of Alice Donovan of Galivants Ferry, making him the 1st person in South Carolina to receive a federal death sentence. The decision also makes Fulks the first person in the nation to receive a federal death sentence in a case with no body, federal prosecutors said. The jury reached its decision in 4 hours, ending a sentencing trial that lasted about a month. After the trial, one juror said, "He is evil, pure evil." "It was a just and proper verdict," said U.S. Attorney Strom Thurmond Jr. Prosecutors already have their eyes toward the fall, when they will try Branden Basham, the second defendant in the same case. Defense lawyer John Blume said: "With a decision in 4 hours or less, it clearly shows the defense didn't do their job. It was my job." Blume said Fulks cried after the decision was read and asked Blume to call his mother. Fulks' parents did not attend the trial. Fulks, 27, will be sent to federal death row in Terre Haute, Ind., in about 2 months, lawyers said. His death sentence was for the charges of carjacking resulting in death and kidnapping resulting in death. He will be sentenced within 2 months on 6 other charges. Until then, he will remain in a Columbia-area facility. He is expected to appeal, Blume said. Fulks and Basham were accused of carjacking Donovan Nov. 14, 2002, from the parking lot of Wal-Mart in Conway and then dumping her body. They also have been charged in the death of Samantha Burns, a West Virginia college student who disappeared Nov. 11, 2002, from a mall near Huntington, W.Va. Neither woman's body has been found. Juror Sylvia Allison said jurors were split early in the day 10-2, but after they deliberated and took a secret ballot, the decision was unanimous. "I don't know who we had to convince because it was secret ballot," she said. She said based on the evidence it was clear Fulks was "evil." She and other jurors said they hope their decision leads to closure for the victims' families. Allison said she understands their pain because her husband was murdered in 1971 while trying to stop an argument. The experience had no bearing on her decision, she said. "It's a good feeling," said juror Mary Ellen Huggins of Mount Pleasant. "You want to be able to help the family." Huggins said defense testimony that Fulks was abused as a child and had brain damage did not excuse the crime. "I understand he had a rough time, but that's no reason for doing what he did," she said. She said she feared Fulks would be a danger to others if he were sentenced to life in prison. Donovan's disappearance began as a missing person case and grew to an investigation that spanned 7 states and included many other crimes. Prosecutors said the case was made more difficult because the two men had to be tried separately. "It meant one was going to blame the other, and there was no body," Thurmond said. "It was an uphill battle." Prosecutors convinced jurors that Fulks made many of the decisions when he and Basham were together, starting with their escape from a Kentucky jail until Basham's arrest. Defense lawyers said Basham acted independently and he was the more dangerous of the 2. Defense lawyers introduced evidence that Fulks suffered from brain damage and is limited in his abilities to make decisions and control impulses. Assistant U.S. Attorney Johnny Gasser said he aimed to counter those argument in his closing statement and refocus the jury on the evidence prosecutors presented. "I wanted them to grasp the enormity of what he did to Samantha and Alice," Gasser said. "The jury looked at just how egregious his conduct was to Samantha, Alice and to so many other victims in his life. (source: Myrtle Beach Sun News) FLORIDA: Local Death Penalty Cases Could Be On Hold It's a question about the cost of justice and if changes in Florida's legal system could further delay death penalty cases that already take years to prosecute. One such cases is the murder trial of Latroy Bouknight. Police arrested the 24 year-old on murder charges in October of 2002. He's one of three people suspected of shooting 2 brothers and their aunt. The First Coast News I-Team has learned these changes could mean private attorneys working state acases could ask to be taken off their assignments. Bouknight's attorney, Michael Edwards, was the first to ask a judge to be reassigned. Edwards was appointed by the court two years ago to handle Bouknight's case. He says, "I said to the court that I reluctantly file this motion because I don't like leaving Mr. Bouknight stranded." Edwards says the reason for filing the motion surrounds the wording in a document obtained by our I-Team. According to Edwards, "In order to be paid the going rate in each locality, I would be required to sign an agreement, a contract for services." Starting July 1st under the revisions per Article V, the state would place pay caps in the contracts for private attorneys handling death penalty cases. That's because the county would no longer handle these contracts. Edwards says, "For a capital murder case, that's 3500 dollars which is not reasonable given the severity and the time consuming nature of the case." Edwards says that amount of money usually lasts about 6 months. At this morning's hearing, State Attorney Harry Shorstein told the judge, "The state did take the position this morning and will continue to take the position that it's inappropriate for these attorneys to withdrawal." Death penalties cases like Bouknight's usually take years to head to trial. Attorney withdrawal's could further delay juries from hearing these cases. Shorstein adds, "If the courts were to allow these attorney's to withdrawal, it will have a devastating impact." But Edwards says he no other choice. "I shouldn't have to worry about when I'm preparing for this major week and a half long trial for Mr. Bouknight whether or not I'm going to be paid any amount of money." We're told several lawyers involved in death penalty trials could soon file similair motions for withdrawal. The judge handling the Bouknight case has delayed his decision for 2 weeks. A 2nd judge assigned to handle these contract revisions will hold an emergency meeting Thursday to further discuss how they plan on handling this issue. Bouknight's case for now remains on schedule for trial in January. (source: First Coast News) *********************** Prosecutors Seek Death Penalty For Man Accused Of Murdering Woman, Infant In Jacksonville, prosecutors announced Thursday that they're seeking the death penalty against John Mosley Jr., accused of murdering a woman and her 10-month-old son. Mosley, 39, was charged with killing Lynda Jean Wilkes, 40, and her baby, Jay-Quan Mosley. Prosecutors said his crimes are so heinous that he should die if he's found guilty. A 15-year-old who provided information to police was also charged as an accessory to murder after the fact. Officers said he did not take an active role in the killings. The boy, a Northwestern Middle School student, is not being identified because he is a juvenile. He was ordered held in secure detention until his arraignment. Information from the teen led police to Wilkes' body in woods near Waldo, and also led police to search a Valdosta, Ga., landfill for four days looking for Jay-Quan's body. The baby was never found and is assumed dead. Mosley, who was already in Duval County Jail on charges of having sex with a teenaged girl, has maintained his innocence. Wilkes, who had four other children, and her baby were last seen April 22, when they met Mosley to discuss child support payments. A court had ordered Mosley to pay Wilkes support for the boy, but he denied being the father. According to police records, the teen told police that Mosley called him after abducting Wilkes and Jay-Quan and witnessed Mosley strangle her with his bare hands. The report also said Mosley had the teen hold a plastic bag open as he put Jay-Quan in the bag, tied it closed and put it in the back of his SUV. Wilkes' badly burned body was dumped in Alachua County, near Waldo, on April 23, according to the tipster who officials said was with Wilkes at the time. Wilkes' remains were found April 30. Channel 4 learned that the 15-year-old charged as an accessory is the brother of the teen Mosley was accused of having sex with. Mosley was also formally indicted Thursday morning on 2 counts of 1st-degree murder. (source: Associated Press) ALABAMA: Alabama Attorney General calls for speedy death penalty 'It is not enough just to chase justice, we must enforce it, and it is my promise to the people of Alabama that I will do just that.' - Troy King, Alabama Attorney General Alabama Attorney General Troy King vowed June 22 to do whatever he can to speed up death penalty reviews that delay executions. "We are not going to let these appeals gather dust any longer, if needed we will force judges to rule on appeals that have sat on their desks for months or even years," King said. "The victims are seeking justice, and that is just what they are going to get." King said on average inmates spend 13 years on death row, and many death penalty appeals have been pending for 2 or 3 years. King recounted a watershed event from his youth that made him a strong supporter of capital punishment. He recalled growing up in Elba, where Coffee County Sheriff C.F. "Neil" Grantham was shot to death in 1979. A jury convicted his killer, Billy Joe Magwood, of capital murder 2 years later, but twenty-five years later Magwood remains on death row. "I was able to go from being in elementary school to being the Attorney General and he still sits in prison," King said. "That is outrageous." Bryan Stephenson, an anti-death penalty activist from Montgomery said the 13 years spent on death row before execution is only an average. "Most prisoners spend much less than that, and it would surprise you how many are proved innocent before they are killed," Stephenson said. "These reversals speak for themselves, and if there is even a chance that the state is killing an innocent person, it should not be carried out," Stephenson said. "We cannot expect to teach people not to kill by killing ourselves." A spokesperson from Lt. Gov. Lucy Baxleys office commented on the reason inmates appeals drag on for years. "The reason for these hang-ups is funding," she said. "The state of Alabama needs to budget more money towards the justice system in order to move these appeals along." King said he believes funding is not the issue. He believes some of the cases have languished partly because assistant attorney generals have feared judges would reverse convictions on technicalities if prosecutors pressed too hard. King said if these cases deserve to be overturned, it is "better to do it sooner than later." Although, he agrees all cases need a fair resolution, he said, "I seek justice for the victims, and this justice comes at a price. "These are not people that have been arrested for shoplifting, they have committed heinous acts and barbaric murders and they deserve to pay for their crimes," King said. "Punishment must be swift and sure or it is just simply not effective." "It is not enough just to chase justice, we must enforce it, and it is my promise to the people of Alabama that I will do just that," he said. Kings plan is to petition courts aggressively and speed up appeals using force against appellate judges who refuse to rule. He said delayed appeals cost taxpayers a lot of money. "These acts call for expensive punishment, but drawing the sentencing and appeal process out is only going to cost the people of Alabama more money." (source: The Auburn Plainsman) ******************* Death penalty review sought An anti-death-penalty organization in Alabama is reinforcing its push for a moratorium on executions here in the wake of a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision involving a condemned man in Texas. But Alabama Attorney General Troy King says any such freeze is unlikely, and an attorney for several death-row inmates in Alabama acknowledges the issue in the high court's decision revolved around a state law that is "unique" to Texas. The U.S. Supreme Court sent back to a lower court the case of Robert Tennard, a Texas death-row inmate with an IQ of 67, finding that the jury should have been allowed to consider Tennard's IQ before sentencing him to death for the murder of a neighbor. According to the American Association of Mental Retardation, a person who scores 70 or below on an IQ test usually is considered to be mentally retarded. The association notes that because of the standard of error in such tests, the ceiling score may go up to 75. Death-penalty opponents in Alabama have stepped up their advocacy in hopes that the Texas case might prompt the state to put a hold on executions and re-evaluate its use of capital punishment. "We need to take a look at things," said Esther Brown, executive secretary of Lanett-based Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty. "For some reason, we are turning a deaf ear and a blind eye to the grave injustices inherent in the capital punishment system in Alabama." Currently, there are 194 death-row inmates in the state, said Brian Corbett, spokesman for the Alabama Department of Corrections. The state attorney general says five to 10 of those inmates are appealing their cases based on claims they should not be executed due to mental retardation. King said the Texas case will have no bearing on executions in Alabama. "I'm not in favor of executing mentally retarded people, but I have a fundamental disagreement with people who say that this forms a basis for a moratorium on the death penalty," King said Wednesday afternoon. In fact, he added, Alabama is "somewhat ahead of the curve" when it comes to dealing with cases in which the mentally retarded are accused of crimes. He said the Alabama Supreme Court has recognized a three-prong test, established by the American Association of Mental Retardation, that specifically addresses the matter. "The 1st prong is that they have an IQ of 75 or less," King said. "The 2nd is that they exhibit evidence of their disability before the age of 18, and the 3rd is that they exhibit poor behavioral skills or adaptive functioning. "If those 3 prongs are met, then under the American Association of Mental Retardation guideline ... the person is mentally retarded," he said. "The Supreme Court of Alabama has acknowledged this test, and we proposed rules that would give it some permanence and we supported legislation that would codify it." Montgomery attorney Bryan Stevenson is currently representing several death-row inmates in cases in which the defendants are appealing based on claims of mental retardation. Stevenson, who is also executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative of Alabama, doubts the Texas case will impact Alabama. "Texas has a unique statute that has been criticized for unfairly limiting the discretion of jurors, and that's the issue that has prompted the court's most recent decision," he said Wednesday. Alabama has no such limitation. However, Stevenson said, the issue of placing a moratorium on executions remains critical in Alabama. "I think the reasons for a moratorium are apparent when you look at the death penalty in Alabama on its own terms," he said. "We have dozens of prisoners who can't get adequate representation; we are sentencing way more people to death per capita than in any other state in a manner that can't be explained by crime rate or legitimate factors." King said the state is taking measures to speed up death penalty reviews that have significantly delayed executions. He said the average Alabama death-row inmate spends approximately 13 years and four months on death row before being executed. "We ask victims in Alabama to wait too long for justice," the attorney general said. (source: The Montgomery Advertiser)
