Sept. 3
TENNESSEE:
Death Penalty Delay
Philip Workman has come within days of death 3 times before so delays are
not unexpected. In January of 2004, Aubrey Stoddard told us, "Its really
disgusting, but it doesn't surprise me anymore. I really expected it."
Stoddard was shot by Workman the same night Lt Ronnie Oliver was killed
back in 1981. When we talked to him in January, he felt that after nearly
a quarter of a century... its time for Workman's execution. Stoddard says,
"Why should he live? He killed Lt Oliver. He tried to kill me. Someone
like that is just useless to society."
Robert Hutton is one of Workman's attorneys. He says, "I think a huge
injustice would be done if he were executed." Hutton feels Judge Bernice
Donald's delay of execution was the only just thing to do. He explains,
"She stayed Philip Workman's execution while the Court of Appeals is
discussing whether or not we can go back to federal court because of newly
discovered evidence."
The legal question basically boils down to this: there is a federal rule
that allows you to bring a case back to court if new evidence is
discovered. But an act passed by Congress -- the Anti-Terrorism Effective
Death Penalty Act-- seems to be in conflict with that federal rule. So
until the 6th Circuit judges clear up that issue... Judge Donald felt it
was appropriate to delay Workman's death.
Hutton adds, "Because what they are talking about is when a person on
death row who obtains evidence that was not presented before to the court
can go back to show that there is newly discovered evidence that shows the
person is innocent." In Workman's case, a witness who claimed he was there
the night of the shooting, later admitted he lied and was not.
Its not clear when the 6th Circuit will rule on this issue, so there is no
way to tell how long this delay will last. And this decision could effect
many other death penalty cases.
(source: WREG News)
*********************
Workman's execution stayed by federal judge -- Delay is pending a ruling
in Abdur'Rahman case
In Memphis, a federal judge yesterday temporarily blocked the execution of
convicted killer Philip Workman, who had been scheduled to die Sept. 22.
Workman, who has been on death row since 1982, has twice been within hours
of execution when courts stepped in and spared his life.
U.S. District Judge Bernice Donald delayed the execution pending
resolution of a federal appeals court review of a separate Tennessee
murder conviction.
"Obviously we're pleased," defense lawyer Kelley Henry said. "We'll just
wait to see what action the state will take next."
Workman was sentenced to death for killing Memphis police Lt. Ronald
Oliver in 1981.
He has exhausted his appeals in state court, and the Tennessee Supreme
Court voted 4-1 in May to schedule his execution this month.
Donald said Workman's latest federal petition could be affected by a 6th
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals review of the conviction of condemned
murderer Abu-Ali Abdur'Rahman.
The 6th Circuit stopped Abdur'Rahman's scheduled execution last year. He
was convicted of stabbing a Nashville drug dealer to death in 1986.
Abdur'Rahman is asking the 6th Circuit to decide whether claims of new
defense evidence can be presented in federal court after state appeals are
exhausted.
Workman is making a similar argument. The 6th Circuit faces no timetable
for making a decision.
Workman is seeking a federal court review of arguments that a trial
witness lied and that an autopsy X-ray that was found after his conviction
could have affected his jury's decision.
State courts have rejected those arguments and refused to order a new
trial for Workman.
Donald said Workman "has established that he maintains a likelihood of
success" on his attempt to get his arguments heard in federal court if the
6th Circuit decision is in Abdur'Rahman's favor.
"Petition's execution is stayed, therefore, pending the outcome of this
matter," Donald said in her order.
In May, Donald halted the pending execution of another condemned killer,
Sedley Alley, also because of Abdur'Rahman's petition before the 6th
Circuit.
Alley was sentenced to death in 1985 in the murder of a 19-year-old female
Marine in Millington, a small town north of Memphis.
The last execution in Tennessee, that of child-murderer Robert Glen Coe,
was in 2000. The state's previous execution was in 1960.
(source: Associated Press)
SOUTH CAROLINA:
Death-penalty trial set in officer's killing
In his 1st appearance in a South Carolina courtroom, a man accused of
killing an off-duty Orangeburg police officer was formally told Thursday
he will face a death-penalty trial.
Mikal Deen Mahdi,21, handcuffed and wearing a bullet-proof vest, quietly
pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, grand larceny over $5,000 and
2nd-degree burglary.
The Virginia man is accused of the July 18 fatal shooting of off-duty
Orangeburg Department of Public Safety Capt. Jim Myers, 56, at a small
farm Myers owned in rural northwest Calhoun County.
He also has been charged in the July 15 shooting death of a convenience
store clerk in Winston-Salem, N.C. No decisions have been made about
whether he will face the death penalty there, or which state will try him
1st, N.C. authorities said Thursday.
Mahdi is suspected in a multistate crime spree following his May 12
release from a Virginia prison on a conviction for malicious wounding. He
was captured in Florida 3 days after Myers' slaying and was returned to
South Carolina.
Mahdi showed no emotion during his Calhoun County hearing Thursday. He
waived his bond hearing on the South Carolina charges and is being held in
a state prison.
Myers' widow, Amy Tripp, a State Law Enforcement Division agent who found
her husband's body, closed her eyes and fought back tears as the charges
were being read to Mahdi. She declined comment afterward. Robbins declined
to discuss specifics of the case, though he said, "We feel confident in
the investigation by SLED, as well as the Calhoun County Sheriff's
Office."
A trial date hasn't been set, though Robbins said it could be held next
year at this time.
Calhoun County Public Defender Martin Banks said afterward he believes
there are "3 or 4 defenses" in Mahdi's case, though he declined to discuss
specifics.
Banks objected to motions by Robbins to require Mahdi to provide a new set
of fingerprints, as well as hair, saliva and blood samples. Circuit Court
Judge James Williams ruled in favor of Robbins.
Under state law, prosecutors must prove beyond a reasonable doubt at least
one aggravating circumstance before a jury can impose a death sentence on
a defendant. Robbins cited 3 factors in Mahdi's case: murder during the
commission of robbery while armed with a deadly weapon; murder during the
commission of larceny with use of a deadly weapon; and murder during the
commission of burglary.
Authorities said the slaying occurred after Mahdi fled on foot from a Hess
gas station near U.S. 21 and S.C. 22, less than a mile from Myers' rural
property. Deputies were called to the gas station after employees became
suspicious of a man using a credit card. The man ran into the woods and
wasn't located.
A Ford Expedition that Mahdi is accused of stealing in Columbia was left
at the gas station, deputies said.
Mahdi is charged in indictments with stealing Myers' police-issued 2003
Dodge Ram truck and breaking into a building on Myers' property. Myers and
his wife were planning to build a house there.
Several of Myers' weapons and a bulletproof vest were inside the truck,
police said.
The murder indictment against Mahdi said Myers was shot with a .22-caliber
firearm, though Robbins declined Thursday to say who owned the weapon.>{?
Before his capture in Florida, Mahdi pointed a Ruger mini-14 high-powered
rifle - a weapon often used by police - at officers, authorities said.
(source: The State)
GEORGIA:
Officials investigate guard's possible role in death row escape plot
Prison system officials say they suspect 3 death row inmates had inside
help in collecting tools for an aborted escape attempt, and they have
suspended a guard they think may have been involved.
The state Department of Corrections did not release the identity of the
guard. Assistant Commissioner Joe Ferrero said he is under investigation
by the department's internal affairs division.
The 3 convicted killers accumulated saw blades, cash, welding material and
other items hidden in their cells last week. They had cut through wall air
vents in their cells and slipped into a passageway used by utility workers
to gain access to pipes, and were working on cutting through a door that
would have given them access to a lighted hallway.
If they had cut through that door, they would have had to break through
another door before they exited death row at the Georgia Diagnostic and
Classification Prison.
At that point, they would have been on prison grounds, surrounded by tall
fences topped by razor wire. To complete their escape they had hoarded 25
feet of twisted bedsheets fashioned into a rope, green ski masks, dyed
long johns, a flashlight and a map of Georgia.
Warden Derrick Schofield and other officials said the public never was in
danger from the escape attempt.
Schofield said lapses in security at the prison will be addressed. He
pointed to large fans that whirred overhead, making enough noise to
conceal the sounds of inmates sawing bars.
(source: Associated Press)
ALABAMA----new death sentence
Death Sentence for Benjamin
In Dothan, a convicted killer has been given a death sentence.
23-year-old Brandyn Benjamin was found guilty in July for the November,
2000 murder and robbery of 52-year-old Jimmy Floyd Lewis.
Defense attorneys claimed Benjamin had no prior criminal record and should
be sentenced to life in prison without parole.
But, District Attorney Doug Valeska told Judge Jerry White Thursday that
Benjamin deserved the death penalty because he was arrested only after he
bragged about the crime.
The same jury that convicted Benjamin recommended the death penalty by a
10-2 vote.
(source: WTVY News)
