July 31 MONTANA----death row inmate seeks to drop appeals Family's killer asks court for execution date A man convicted of murdering 3 members of a Billings family in April 1986 has notified the Montana Supreme Court that he is ready to die. On Friday, David Thomas Dawson filed papers of his "desire to dismiss all appeals and to set an execution date." Dawson was convicted in Billings on Feb. 28, 1987, of kidnapping and robbing David and Monica Rodstein, and their children, Andrew and Amy, and killing all but Amy. Dawson also filed papers this week asking the U.S. District Court to stop any appeals related to his death sentence. Dawson, 46, said he would waive hearings in Yellowstone County District Court. "Defendant understands that there may be need for him to appear in this Court to explain the decision to stop the appeal of his Death Sentence," Dawson wrote. "However, in light of time, expense and even security issue concerns, etc., Defendant would be more than willing to waive any right that he might have to such a hearing." If a hearing is required, Dawson wrote, he will need a court-appointed defense attorney because his "appeal attorneys will not participate." The filings could close a more than 15-year cycle of appeals on the local, state and national level. They do not, however, outline why Dawson wants to give up appeals or why he is seeking an execution date. In 1987, District Court Judge Diane Barz sentenced Dawson to death, which was automatically reviewed by the Montana Supreme Court. Throughout the 1990s, Yellowstone County District Court and the Montana Supreme Court denied Dawson's appeals for a new trial and sentencing. Dawson attempted to avoid the death penalty in another appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, after that court's 2002 decision that juries, not judges, should decide findings of fact in life or death cases. Most recently, Dawson's case was under scrutiny as state officials reviewed the work of Arnold Melnikoff, a former director of the Montana State Crime Lab. Scores of cases Melnikoff worked on were questioned after a Billings man was released from prison because DNA evidence cleared him of the crime. Dawson, then 29, was tried by a jury in Barz's court in February 1987 on counts of deliberate homicide, aggravated kidnapping and robbery. The jury deliberated about 14 hours and returned with guilty verdicts for deliberate homicide of the three Rodsteins, four guilty verdicts for kidnapping each family member, and a guilty verdict for robbery. >From the time of his arrest through the trial, Dawson claimed to have been coerced by an accomplice who hid under a bed, but Amy Rodstein testified that no one else was there. Over the years, Dawson's appeals pointed to mitigating factors such as drug use and head injuries, according to Montana Supreme Court records. The Rodstein family died on April 18 or 19, 1986. They were staying at the Airport Metra Inn on Main Street while awaiting a move to David Rodstein's new job in Atlanta. Monica Rodstein was a secretary for Billings School District. Their son, Andrew, 11, was a 6th-grader at Alkali Creek school and Amy, 15, was a Skyview High School majorette. Early on April 18, Monica and Amy Rodstein were packing a car to travel to Nebraska to visit family. David and Andrew Rodstein were to follow later in the week. While they were loading the car, Dawson, using the name John Munroe, checked into the motel and was given the room next to the Rodsteins. Dawson forced his way into their room at gunpoint when Amy Rodstein returned from a trip to the car. 2 days later, after family members and co-workers said the Rodsteins had not arrived, police began looking for the family. Late that evening, officers found the Rodsteins' cars at the motel and began checking rooms. In the room Dawson checked into, they found the bodies of David, Monica and Andrew Rodstein. They had died of strangulation. Amy Rodstein, who was found in the bathroom, had no physical injuries. (source: The Billings Gazette) KANSAS----federal death penalty to be sought Feds to seek death penalty for accused triple killer U-S Attorney General John Ashcroft will allow prosecutors in Kansas City, Kansas, to seek the death penalty against a man accused of killing 3 people. Demetrius Hargrove of Kansas City, Kansas, is serving a 35-year sentence at the U-S Penitentiary in Leavenworth for kidnapping and use of a firearm. He was charged in December with pre-meditated murder. Prosecutors claim Hargrove killed Leavenworth residents Elmer Berg and Misty Castor in February of 1998, during a drug trafficking crime. They say he murdered Tyrone Richards, also of Leavenworth, in June 1998 to prevent him from testifying at a federal trial. Hargrove, of Kansas City, Kansas, also is charged with conspiracy to commit murder, stemming from jailhouse phone calls to arrange for killing a witness. (source: Associated Press) CALIFORNIA: THE PETERSON TRIAL ---- Judge rejects defense bid to dismiss case; Erroneous testimony by detective is called a simple mistake The judge in the Scott Peterson double-murder trial denied a motion Thursday to dismiss the case against the former fertilizer salesman, rejecting defense assertions of prosecutorial misconduct and saying a police detective's erroneous testimony would not affect the outcome of the case. Defense attorney Mark Geragos said prosecutors had repeatedly failed to turn over evidence, as required by law. But the focus of Geragos' legal challenge was testimony by Modesto police Detective Al Brocchini, whom the defense attorney accused of trying to cause a mistrial because the case wasn't going well for prosecutors. After a short hearing with lawyers in a Redwood City courtroom, Judge Alfred Delucchi refused Geragos' request, saying errors are to be expected in a case in which more than 40,000 documents are being entered into evidence. "In a case of this length and magnitude, these things are going to happen," Delucchi said. "Unfortunately, it keeps happening with Detective Brocchini; that's just the way it is." Geragos clearly anticipated the ruling, even telling the judge during the hearing that he'd jokingly told a reporter he'd buy him a Mercedes-Benz if Delucchi granted his request. In his oral argument before the judge, Geragos said that what he really wanted was for the judge to give a verbal admonition to the jury about Brocchini's testimony. At issue was a statement Brocchini made in court earlier this month about a tip Modesto police received from a friend of Peterson's from his days at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Brocchini testified that the tipster had said Peterson bragged to him about the way he would dispose of a body -- and offered a description that closely resembled what police say happened to Peterson's pregnant wife, Laci, who was reported missing on Christmas Eve 2002. Scott Peterson said he went fishing that day, but police believe he was actually getting rid of his wife's body on San Francisco Bay. Peterson is standing trial for the murder of his wife and the couple's unborn son. The tipster said Peterson had told him that if he were trying to get rid of a body, he would wrap a bag around its neck with duct tape and weigh its hands and feet with anchors, Brocchini testified. When Laci Peterson's body washed ashore in Richmond in April 2003, a piece of duct tape was found sticking to her tattered maternity pants. Geragos later determined that the tipster had never mentioned the duct tape, and accused Brocchini of embellishing the story to inflame the jury and possibly force a mistrial. He cited a 1998 case in Stanislaus County in which a mistrial was declared after Brocchini made what a judge said were prejudicial remarks from the witness stand. The defense in that case said Brocchini had done so on purpose to cause a mistrial, though the judge later determined that wasn't the case. "He knows what happens when he does something like this is the court is going to grant a mistrial," Geragos said of Brocchini. But Delucchi seemed skeptical. "I don't see what the gain is here (for Brocchini to force a mistrial)," Delucchi said. In any new trial, he pointed out, the defense could point to his earlier blunder and make the prosecution and police look bad. Prosecutor Rick Distaso called Brocchini's erroneous testimony a simple mistake. At the least, Geragos said, Delucchi should tell the jury, "with a little bit of gravitas," that Brocchini's duct-tape testimony wasn't true. But Delucchi rejected that request as well, pointing out that Brocchini had testified that he hadn't found the informant's tip credible. On another matter, Delucchi ruled against a defense request that unaired portions of an interview that ABC's Diane Sawyer conducted with Peterson be shown to the jury. The prosecution plans to show jurors the aired version, which was taped a little more than a month after Laci Peterson vanished. Prosecutors hope to show that the story Peterson tells Sawyer contradicts what he told police. For example: Peterson told Sawyer that he disclosed his affair with Amber Frey to detectives the night his wife was reported missing. Investigators say they didn't learn of Frey until she contacted them almost a week later. Peterson also told Sawyer that Frey was his first and only affair. It turns out, according to prosecutors, that he had at least one other affair just after he and Laci married. What's more, Peterson tearfully told Sawyer he was too distraught to go inside the nursery that the couple had set up for their unborn son. A police officer testified last week that when investigators searched Peterson's house in February 2003, the defendant was using the room to store extra furniture. Defense attorneys argued that the edited interview is prejudicial to their client. They said the unedited tape would show Peterson's range of emotions during the interview. They also complained that the prosecution had sliced the edited interview to omit a segment in which Sawyer said Peterson had called after the interview to admit that he had not told police about Frey that first night. Delucchi agreed with an ABC attorney that the unaired segments of the interview are the network's property and do not have to be released. Prosecutors also lost a media-related request, when Delucchi refused to compel staff members from the Modesto Bee to testify to the authenticity of photographs the newspaper took of Peterson on the night of a vigil for his missing wife. Distaso said the pictures "show the defendant with a big smile on his face -- as happy as can be." Karl Olson, a lawyer representing a group of Northern California newspapers including The Chronicle, argued that there were hundreds of people at the vigil that night and that any of them could testify to Peterson's range of emotions. (source: San Francisco Chronicle) USA: Kerry Favors Bin Laden Trial in U.S. John Kerry said Friday he would put Osama bin Laden on trial in U.S. courts rather than an international tribunal to ensure the "fastest, surest route" to a murder conviction if the terrorist mastermind is captured while he is president. "I want him tried for murder in New York City, and in Virginia and in Pennsylvania," where planes hijacked by al-Qaida operatives crashed Sept. 11, 2001, Kerry said in his first interview as the Democratic presidential nominee. The Saudi-bred terrorist is suspected of plotting attacks that have shed blood across the globe, not just in the United States. Kerry suggested he would place the highest priority on avenging American deaths. He called the Bush administration's attempt to create a Muslim security force in Iraq an overdue act of desperation. "Great idea," he said. "Should have been done from the very beginning." Kerry, fielding questions about foreign policy, presidential politics, abortion and the death penalty during a 12-minute interview with The Associated Press in this GOP-leaning Hudson Valley community, took Bush and his Republican allies head-on. "They don't have a record to run on so all they can do is attack," Kerry said. He was responding to Bush, who a few minutes earlier had said from the campaign trail that Kerry had no significant achievements in Congress. Word of the criticism drew a chuckle from the fourth-term senator, who wore an open-collar shirt and slacks. "That's the response to a positive campaign," he said sarcastically. The night before, in his hometown of Boston, Kerry accepted the Democratic nomination at a convention scripted to project a positive, upbeat image to independent voters. The Democratic National Committee launched a one-week, $6 million ad campaign that features images of the convention, and party officials expect the DNC ads to turn negative this summer. Noting that federal law limits his influence over DNC ads, Kerry didn't rule out airing his own ads critical of the White House. "I'm going to certainly reserve the right to respond to these people if they continually hack away," he said. On the Muslim force initiative pushed by Saudi Arabia, Kerry said "Why is that being done as an act of desperation today rather than two years ago before a lot of lives were lost?" He said it was yet another lost opportunity to build a coalition that would help ease the U.S. burden in money and lives. "A change in the presidency is essential to our ability to restore our respect" in the world, Kerry said. Replied Bush spokesman Steve Schmidt: "John Kerry's decision to characterize progress in the war on terror as an act of desperation is his latest attempt to inject politics and opportunism into a subject that should unite Americans." Kerry has long been an opponent of the death penalty, but in recent years has made an exception for terrorism. The former prosecutor said crimes like rape and child murder do not warrant the highest punishment. "It's certainly terrorizing to the person who's undergoing it. I understand that," Kerry said. "But terrorism is a political act to terrorize a nation, to try to challenge a way of life and a standard.. It's just a different act." He said bin Laden deserves to die. "I would go the fastest, surest route of conviction, and in my belief that would be a trial for murder in the United States," the Democrat said when asked if he would seek to try bin Laden at The Hague. Stepping gingerly into another social issue, Kerry reiterated that he believes that life begins at conception - and that a woman has the right to choose whether to abort. Asked whether he believes abortion is taking a life, Kerry said a fetus is a "form of life." "The Bible itself - I mean, everything talks about different layers of development. That's what Roe v Wade does. It talks about viability. It's the law of the land." The Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v Wade ruling legalized abortion in America. "I don't believe personally that it's the government's job to step in and take my article of faith and transfer it to somebody who doesn't share that article of faith," said Kerry, a Roman Catholic. (source: Associated Press) ********************** DNA debate One of my friend's first dates after a divorce was with a psychologist. When he advised her that she manipulated reality, she looked him in the eye and cheerfully admitted, "I do!" She needed to manipulate reality to keep going in the direction she wanted. The same thing is being done with the death penalty. Its supporters have consistently manipulated reality about the fairness of the nation's justice system, the ability of jurors to leave their prejudices behind when they go into the deliberation room and the possibility that innocent persons may have been executed. When it became impossible to deny that the death penalty was fraught with problems, everyone jumped on the DNA bandwagon. With DNA, reality was manipulated in an attempt to convince us that the chance an innocent person would be put to death is almost nil. DNA testing is a panacea for the real problems surrounding the death penalty. Only 19 of 114 people freed from the nation's death rows have been exonerated because of DNA evidence. Jorge Melendez, No. 99, is a prime example. Melendez served almost 18 years on Florida's death row before a 15-year-old taped confession exonerated him. He later learned that both the prosecutor and his court-appointed attorney were aware of its existence all those 15 years. In his interview for my radio program today, Melendez says that as his sentence reached the 15, 16 and 17th years, he was glad that he wasn't in Texas, alluding to the Lone Star State's "fast track to the needle" appeals process. "I would been dead by then," he said. (source: Kathy Clay-Little is publisher of African American Reflections and host of "Community Round Table" Saturdays at 10 a.m. on KSJL 810 AM; San Antonio Express-Mews) GEORGIA: DA seeks death penalty in murder case Prosecutors will seek the death penalty for a man suspected of murdering an elderly Tifton woman. Investigators believe Holsenbeck beat Hancock, stole her car, then dumped her body in a wooded area. 33-year-old Waylon Holsenbeck remains in jail tonight, charged with the June murder of 76-year old Mary Hancock. Paul Bowden is also asking a judge to issue a gag order in the case. Holsenbeck is set to enter a plea in the fall. (source: WALB TV News, July 30)
