July 10 NEVADA----impending execution // volunteer July 22 execution set for strangler A Nevada death-row inmate who says he no longer wants to pursue any appeals has been scheduled for execution July 22. Terry Dennis was convicted by a Reno jury for the March 1999 strangling of Ilona Straumanis. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to die by a three-judge panel. "Basically, I took a life, and I'm ready to pay for that with mine," said Dennis, 57, when he abandoned his state court appeal in March. Prisons Director Jackie Crawford set the date after U.S. District Judge Phil Pro rejected a petition on July 6 by Reno lawyer Karla Butko to file an appeal on Dennis' behalf, saying she lacked the status, in view of the defendant's opposition to continuing the fight. But Pro authorized Butko to take the appeal to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Bob Wieland of the attorney general's criminal division said the San Francisco appeals court set a tight schedule to hear the appeal. Butko's opening brief is due Monday, the attorney general's answer Thursday, and her reply brief is due July 16. Dennis would be the 11th Nevada inmate put to death since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1977. The most recent Nevada execution was Lawrence Colwell, 34, put to death March 26. All but one of the inmates - Richard Moran - abandoned further appeals. He was executed in March 1996 after exhausting all his appeals. And all but the first to die, Jesse Bishop in October 1979, were put to death by lethal injection. He was the last man to die by cyanide gas in Nevada. Daryl Mack, 44, was set for execution in February, but that was halted by Washoe District Judge Jim Hardesty after Mack and his lawyers decided to continue his appeals. Mack is convicted of murdering 2 Reno women. Dennis killed Straumanis in a drunken rage at a Reno motel after the two had spent several days partying. His lawyer argued Dennis is mentally ill and an alcoholic. He said the case doesn't warrant a death sentence, and that the prior crimes used to support execution were up to 20 years old and minor. The prosecution said he had planned to kill the victim all along and told investigators the woman was "prey" to him. (source: Nevada Appeal) ALABAMA: Alabama has oldest inmate with execution date set At 74, double-murderer James Barney Hubbard, the oldest person on Alabama's death row, also would be the nation's oldest inmate executed since the U.S. Supreme Court permitted executions to resume in 1976, a death-penalty historian says. Hubbard's execution by lethal injection for killing a Tuscaloosa woman who befriended him is set for Aug. 5 at Holman Prison near Atmore. Assistant Attorney General Clay Crenshaw said Hubbard has exhausted his appeals after 27 years, but he has been near execution before only to win a delay. Hubbard's attorney, Alan Rose of Boston, through a spokesman declined to comment on any renewed appeal and did not respond to an e-mail inquiry. Hubbard, who has maintained his innocence during the lengthy appeals, recently was moved from Donaldson Correctional Facility in Bessemer to Holman. Warden Grantt Culliver said Hubbard spends his time reading and watching television. He hasn't exercised outside, but he has participated in a prison religious group. Bill Hayes, a Florida-based capital punishment historian, said Hubbard will be the oldest by far in the current series of executions that date to 1976. He said 24 inmates in their 60s have been executed nationwide in that period. The U.S. Supreme Court, in its 1976 landmark ruling, reinstated the death penalty by upholding new death penalty laws in Florida, Georgia, and Texas as constitutional. The court also held that the death penalty itself was constitutional under the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and ended a 10-year moratorium on executions in which reforms were completed. Hayes said the oldest person executed in the 20th century was 83-year-old Joe Lee of Virginia in 1916, but Larry Traylor, a spokesman for the Department of Corrections in that state, said Lee's actual age was in dispute and he may have been 68. But there have been at least 16 others in their 70s and 80s executed, according to Hayes' research. Nationwide, about 3,400 inmates await execution in the 38 states that allow capital punishment. A survey by The Associated Press in death-penalty states found at least two states - California and Arizona - with inmates in their 80s with no execution dates set. California has about 650 inmates on death row, the nation's most clogged. Arizona apparently has the nation's oldest - 88-year-old Viva Leroy Nash. Several other states have inmates in their 70s awaiting execution. The oldest inmate on Indiana's death row is Richard D. Moore, who turned 73 on June 5. On the only federal death row, also in Indiana, the oldest prisoner is 52 years old. In Florida, John Vining, 73, has been through the federal court system once and had new appeals denied by the Florida Supreme Court on May 20. William Cruse, 76, was convicted in the slayings of six people in 1987. However, he was declared mentally incompetent in 2002. The oldest inmate Florida has executed was 72, in 1951. The oldest in Texas, with 456 death row inmates and frequent executions, is 66-year-old Jack Smith. Since 1982, the oldest offender executed in that state was 66. Ohio has one 74-year-old and one 78-year-old inmate, each early in his federal appeals process and not nearing execution. In Alabama, Hubbard's age is not an issue for Tuscaloosa County District Attorney Tommy Smith, who prosecuted Hubbard for the killing that put him on death row. Hubbard wasn't elderly when he killed and Smith said the issue is the "unconscionable delays" on appeals that allowed him to stay alive. "You need to get to a final point expeditiously," Smith said. Hubbard first went to prison in 1957 for a second-degree murder conviction in the death of David Dockery in Tuscaloosa County. He was released in 1976 and killed again the next year. His 2nd victim, 62-year-old store owner Lillian Montgomery, was shot 3 times and robbed of her gold and diamond wristwatch and about $500 in cash and checks. She had befriended Hubbard and "sponsored" him to gain his release in 1976, Smith said. Hubbard had moved into her home next door to the store she ran on U.S. Highway 82, according to court records. In a police statement, Hubbard said he had been drinking whiskey with Montgomery and claimed she committed suicide. Prosecutors introduced evidence that she couldn't have fired the fatal shots on Jan. 10, 1977. Hubbard was twice convicted in her death. An appeals court overturned the 1st conviction. But he was again sentenced to death at retrial and last year the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review it. The victim's son, Jimmy Montgomery, 66, a Tuscaloosa businessman, said he and his sister plan to attend the execution. "I hope it will be over," Montgomery said. "He shot her with a pistol I'd given her." Another son, 58-year-old Johnny Montgomery, a Birmingham-area real estate agent, doesn't plan to witness the execution, saying he feels "powerless" over what goes on with Hubbard and has never communicated with him. "One time I could have taken care of this guy with my own hands if they let me," the younger brother said in a telephone interview. "God has given me peace with this. I have forgiven him." Alabama's last execution was Aug. 7, 2003, when Tommy Jerry Fortenberry died by lethal injection. (source: Associated Press) OHIO----impending execution Family prepares for execution of killer Stephen Vrabel still refuses to say why he shot his girlfriend in the head, then stuffed her body in his refrigerator 15 years ago. During an interview Friday at the Mansfield Correctional Institute, Vrabel wouldn't discuss the circumstances leading to the shootings of his girlfriend and their 3-year-old daughter, Lisa, but didn't deny killing them. He is scheduled to be executed on Wednesday. Vrabel said he doesn't owe anyone, including the family of his girlfriend, Susan Clemente, an explanation. "I have nothing to say to those people," he said. For Clemente's family, the reason she was killed is no longer important. They simply want Vrabel to be executed. Seventeen members of Clemente's family and two close family friends from Naples, Fla., plan to travel to Lucasville for Vrabel's execution Wednesday. Vrabel dropped his appeals and asked to be put to death. "I'd rather be dead than be alive in prison," he said Friday. The tight-knit Clemente family has relied on each other to live through their grief. They're doing the same to get through Vrabel's execution. 6 family members will witness the lethal injection, the maximum number the state will permit, including Susan's father, son, 2 brothers and 2 brother-in-laws. "This could have tore all of us apart, but it didn't," said Linda Aey, Susan's sister. "We just helped each other. We're close and we love each other." Anthony and Norma Clemente have spent 49 years in the house where they raised Susan and their 4 other children. It's in a Struthers neighborhood of modest, well-kept homes that don't reflect the tough economic times in the Youngstown area. Struthers is the same suburb where Vrabel shot 29-year-old Susan and their daughter on March 3, 1989, with a handgun he bought that day. Prosecutors never established a motive. On Friday, Vrabel said he bought the gun to protect his family after hearing that strangers were walking through his backyard and the woods near where they lived. "The notion that I purchased that gun with the intent of murdering my family, I just tell you that's not valid," he said. At the time, Vrabel told police he didn't know why he shot Susan. He said with their 3-year-old daughter "freaking out" at the sight, he shot her in the head, figuring it was best because her mother was dead and he was going to jail. He fled their apartment, but returned days after the killings and placed Susan's body in the refrigerator and Lisa's in the freezer along with her favorite stuffed animals, a bear and a bunny. Vrabel said Friday he had hoped to slow their decomposition and increase the chances they could be resuscitated. "Part of the reason for the bodies in the refrigerator was a belief that they would come back to life," he said. "Now I don't know if that was from psychotic depression." Vrabel continued to live in the apartment for a month. During that time, he completed final exams in 2 courses he was taking at Youngstown State University. He got an "A" on his sociology exam. The bodies were discovered when Susan's brother-in-law Michael Aey went to the apartment to collect overdue rent money. Vrabel was driving in suburban Cleveland when he heard of the discovery. He stopped at a church and confessed to a priest and then to police. Vrabel was always a quiet man, according to the Clemente family. They said Susan seemed to be happy during their relationship. The family never saw any potential for violence. "You never saw that in him," said Norma Clemente, Susan's mother. After spending 5 years at a psychiatric center, Vrabel was ruled competent to stand trial in 1995 and was convicted of 2 counts of aggravated murder. A divided Ohio Supreme Court upheld Vrabel's death sentence by a 4-3 vote last year. Chief Justice Thomas Moyer argued that Vrabel didn't fall into the category of killers for whom the state's death penalty was reserved because of his mental health problems. Vrabel, 47, would be the second Ohio death row inmate to voluntarily abandon court appeals to speed his execution since the state resumed executions in 1999 with Wilford Berry, who was called "The Volunteer." Ohio has executed 11 other men since then, including four this year. Vrabel has 1 witness attending the execution, his sister, Karen Kovalt. She could not be reached for comment. Vrabel told a psychiatrist in February that she respects his decision to drop his appeals. Last week, the Ohio Parole Board unanimously recommended that Gov. Bob Taft not spare Vrabel's life. Taft can let the death sentence stand or reduce it to life in prison. Susan Clemente is remembered by her family a shy woman who always had a smile on her face. She was an athlete who set track records at Struthers High School and loved the outdoors. Her daughter, Lisa, was a feisty child with curly brown hair. "We didn't get the chance to see what her personality could have been," her grandmother said. Vrabel said time spent with his daughter was the most satisfying of his life. "She was a perfect child," he said. "She was born premature. I don't know if somehow she sensed how lucky she was to have made it because she was really tiny when she was born. She was just a happy child. She never threw tantrums." (source: Associated Press) SOUTH CAROLINA: Greenwood school shooter gets reprieve----State Supreme Court orders competency hearing The man sent to death row for killing 2 8-year-old girls during a shooting spree at a Greenwood elementary school has at least one more chance to avoid execution. The state Supreme Court has ordered a hearing to determine if 35-year-old Jamie Wilson is competent to be put to death. With all of Wilson's formal appeals exhausted, this could be his final chance to avoid the death chamber. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear his case, clearing the way for his execution. His lawyers immediately asked for a stay, and state justices granted it last month before setting an execution date, the state attorney generals office said. A date has not been set for Wilson's competency hearing, which is at least several months away. Wilson's mental state has been an issue ever since Wilson, then 19, killed the girls and injured seven other students and 2 teachers at Oakland Elementary School in September 1988. He pleaded guilty but mentally ill in a bid to spare his life, but a jury sentenced him to death. In all of his appeals, Wilson's lawyers have argued his mental illness, including schizophrenia, kept him from understanding what he was doing at the school was wrong. "His condition has only gotten worse in prison, his lawyer," John Blume said. "He's really unable to take care of himself," Blume said. On death row, inmates say they often have to clean up after Wilson, who soils himself. Wilson's lawyers plan to argue he should not be put to death because he does not understand the nature of his sentence and cannot assist his lawyers. They also have said that Wilson is the only inmate in the country sent to death row after a judge found he was unable to control himself or his actions. But in court papers asking the justices to reject the stay, lawyers from the state attorney general's office offered several examples from prison staff that they say show Wilson knows what is happening in his case. After a federal judge overturned his death sentence in January 2003, a prison employee reported that Wilson said he "had a new court case going on - I might be off death row." The 4th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals reinstated Wilson's death sentence about a year later. The latest delay has frustrated victims of the shooting and their families, prosecutor Townes Jones said. But they understand the criminal justice process just has to run its course. "That's just the nature of the criminal justice process, from a prosecutors standpoint," Jones said. "It can be very rewarding and, at the same time, it can be very frustrating." (source: Associated Press) USA/JAPAN: Ex-soldier Jenkins fears extradition, execution Now that repatriated abductee Hitomi Soga has been reunited with her husband, Charles Jenkins and 2 daughters in Jakarta, attention has shifted to whether the 3 will come to Japan. Government officials warn the issue will not be easy to resolve because the U.S. government has remained steadfast in its expressed intention to see Jenkins court-martialed for desertion and 3 other charges despite behind-the-scenes negotiations between the 2 governments. Soga, 45, has said she hopes her husband and daughters will come to Japan to live with her. A senior Foreign Ministry official said Friday, "What's important is how the 4 feel about it," suggesting the government will put priority on the wishes of the family. It has been reported that Jenkins, 64, is worried that he will be handed over to the U.S. government if he comes to Japan. The daughters, Mika, 21, and Belinda, 18, are also said to be reluctant to come to Japan. Therefore, the 1st hurdle for Soga is to persuade her family to live in Japan. "Mr. Jenkins is worried about a worst-case scenario in which he could face capital punishment," the senior Foreign Ministry official said. "We need to eliminate his fears by explaining past rulings and cases." Kyoko Nakayama, who advises the Cabinet Secretariat on the North Korean abduction issue and is accompanying Soga, may try to ease Jenkins' concerns in this regard, government officials said. In addition to persuading Jenkins, negotiations with the U.S. government also are needed. Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda said Friday: "We can't assume anything because it involves complicated legal matters. We have sounded out (the U.S. government) and received negative responses," indicating there is little likelihood that Jenkins will get special treatment from the U.S. government such as a pardon or waiver of indictment. After behind-the-scenes negotiations, the Foreign Ministry has won a promise from the U.S. government that it will not seek the handover of Jenkins while he is staying in Indonesia with his Japanese wife and their daughters. But the U.S. government is firm in its insistence that it will seek his handover if Jenkins comes to Japan--under the Japan-U.S. Treaty on Extradition and the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement--to indict him on desertion and other charges. Citing the lack of any clause to punish desertion in the Self-Defense Law, some government officials have said Japan can refuse U.S. demands to hand over Jenkins because the Japan-U.S. Treaty on Extradition requires that the act in question must be defined as a crime in both countries. There is also a strong body of opinion in the government that it would not be good to have such a confrontation with the nation's key ally. Another suggestion is for the government to hand over Jenkins first, and then seek a suspended sentence or pardon from the United States. A Foreign Ministry official said, "To get leniency from the United States, Mr. Jenkins must express remorse about deserting." (source: Yomiuri Shimbun)
