Sept. 21 TENNESSEE: Workman Stay of Execution Upheld by 6th Circuit On September 20 the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals denied a motion by the state of Tennessee's office of the attorney general to vacate the stay of execution of Philip Workman. The state of Tennessee has "stood down" and the September 22nd execution date is a not go. Congratulations to Philip Workman's family, his lawyers and the citizens of the state of Tennessee who believe in substantive justice and constitutional law. Over the past six weeks the Tennessee Coalition to Abolish State Killing has reviewed, in detail, the issues and evidence of the Philip Workman case. Philip Workman was guilty of armed robbery and has to date served some 22 years for that crime. The evidence demonstrates more than reasonable doubt that Philip Workman fired the fatal bullet that tragically took the life of Memphis police Lt. Ronald Oliver. The totality of the evidence supports the theory that Oliver was accidentally killed by friendly fire and that members of the Memphis police department perjured themselves to hide evidence supporting this theory. The Tennessee Coalition to Abolish State Killing will issue a formal statement later this afternoon. Randy Tatel, Executive Director, Tennessee Coalition to Abolish State Killing (source: TCASK) ********************** The state seeks the death penalty in its case against murder suspect Taylor Charged: LaTonya Taylor, 27, of Nashville is charged with three counts of first-degree murder, 3 counts of felony murder - a charge levied when someone is accused of murder while committing another felony - 3 counts of especially aggravated kidnapping and 1 count of especially aggravated robbery. Victims: Scott Myers, 42, of Memphis; William Troy Snell, 18, of La Vergne and Bryan Speight, 29, of Nashville. The case: Statements by witnesses and suspects to police suggest the 3 men were killed when Taylor and co-defendant Percy Palmer, 24, went to the restaurant that night to collect a $400 drug debt from Snell. Neither the police nor prosecutors have ever said if there was any physical evidence to support their case. Details: All 3 of the Captain D's employees were shot execution-style - Myers and Speight were left in the freezer, while Snell was found in his car in a nearby parking lot. It took police more than a year to make an arrest in the case, but even then, neither Taylor nor Palmer was arrested in connection with the slayings. Both were initially arrested on unrelated charges and served with the murder charges after the initial arrests. The prosecution: Will attempt to prove Taylor killed the men with intent and premeditation. The state seeks a death sentence. The defense: Maintains Taylor had nothing to do with the slayings. Suspect's background: Taylor has a history of a troubled childhood and criminal activity. She has been arrested on drug charges before, and earlier this month was found guilty of aggravated robbery, especially aggravated kidnapping and 2 counts of kidnapping for a robbery at an Arby's restaurant in Donelson. Bail: Taylor has been held without bail at the Metro Detention Facility, 5115 Harding Place. ************************ Captain D's slaying case lacks proof, DA concedes The case against LaTonya Taylor may be more about what witnesses didn't see than what they did see, her attorneys think. Assistant District Attorney General Tom Jackson told jurors in his opening statement that the state had no evidence to connect Taylor to the 2000 slayings of three Smyrna Captain D's workers - nor did they ever find the gun used in the three shootings. Paul Bruno, one of Taylor's attorneys, said that is the reason the jury should find his client not guilty. "There was DNA found (in the restaurant) of non-employees, but none to match Ms. Taylor," he said in his opening remarks. "The absence of proof may speak louder than what you do see." Only one witness saw a woman in the Captain D's restaurant after midnight. However, her description of the woman has changed since the crime took place. Taylor, 27, of Nashville and Percy Lee Palmer, 24, are charged with first-degree murder in the slaying of Captain D's employees on July 12, 2000. The 2 are being tried separately; Palmer's day in court has not been set. Yesterday marked the beginning of the testimony phase of the trial. (source: The Tennessean) OHIO: Death Penalty Sought In Double Homicide Prosecutors want the death penalty for a man they said killed his estranged wife and friend. Duane Short was charged with fatally shooting Rhonda Short and Donnie Sweeny at a home in Huber Heights on July 22. Investigators said the shootings took place in front of the Shortss 3 children. A grand jury indicted Short on 6 charges, including breaking and entering and aggravated murder. Prosecutors said Short carefully planned the deaths when they said he purchased a shotgun and then went to a hotel with one of children and sawed off the barrel of the gun so that it could be concealed. They said he then went to the home on Pepper Drive and shot his estranged wife and Sweeny. Short is being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $1 million bond, but prosecutors are going to ask for no bond in this case. According to authorities, Short is scheduled to be arraigned on Thursday. (source: WHIO TV news) MARYLAND: Former Death Row Inmate Weighing Life Sentence Offer A former Maryland death row inmate is weighing an offer from prosecutors for a life prison term. The attorney for Kevin Wiggins, 43, said the sentence would make his client immediately eligible for a parole hearing. Wiggins' death sentence in the murder of an elderly Woodlawn woman was overturned last year by the U.S. Supreme Court. He's been in prison for 16 years. Inmates sentenced to life in prison become eligible for parole after 15 years, minus any credit for good behavior or work service. The governor must approve the parole. Wiggins has maintained his innocence in the September 1988 drowning death of Florence Lacs, 77, who was found dead in the bathtub of her Woodlawn apartment complex. (source: WBAL News) CALIFORNIA: Police: Peterson had theory on missing wife Scott Peterson offered his own theory of what happened to his pregnant wife within 24 hours of her disappearance, the lead detective testified Monday at Peterson's double-murder trial. Modesto police Detective Craig Grogan said Peterson theorized "that she had been wearing jewelry that she inherited from her grandmother and that he'd seen her wearing it on that morning, and when she went into the park a transient had robbed her." Grogan conducted a 3-hour, unrecorded interview of Peterson on December 25, 2003, a day after Laci Peterson was reported missing. Prosecutors allege Peterson killed his 8-months-pregnant wife on or around December 24, 2002, in their Modesto home, then dumped her weighted body into San Francisco Bay. The remains of Laci Peterson and her fetus washed up along a bay shore in April 2003, not far from where Scott Peterson launched his boat that Christmas Eve morning for what he claims was a solo fishing trip. Defense lawyers maintain that someone else killed Laci after abducting her as she walked the couple's dog around the neighborhood. Grogan in other testimony shed light on why police focused on Peterson early in the investigation. The detective said Peterson's alibi couldn't be immediately corroborated, and that he was the last person to have seen Laci. Grogan said it also was suspicious that Scott Peterson washed his clothes immediately after returning home that morning. "That led us to believe that possibly a cleanup had occurred at the house," he said. Previous witnesses have testified that none of Laci Peterson's blood was found in the home. Grogan said it was Scott Peterson's story and "unusual" behavior that led police to seek search warrants for his home and warehouse, where he stored the boat prosecutors allege he used to dispose of his wife's body. Grogan said he grew even more suspicious of Peterson when he searched the warehouse and discovered concrete residue on a boat trailer and 5 circular-like voids in the cement dust. Peterson told police he made a cement anchor at the warehouse for his boat. Prosecutors claim Peterson made five cement anchors, only one of which was found on his boat. They allege he used the other 4 anchors to sink his wife's body. "It looked like a tremendous mess for making one 8-pound anchor," Grogan said. Earlier Monday, Scott Peterson's lawyers continued their attempts to show that police ignored important leads that could have pointed suspicion elsewhere. Detective Ian Frazer of the East Bay Regional Park District police testified about the discovery of Laci Peterson's remains along a rocky shoreline. On cross-examination, the questioning turned quickly to a large plastic bag found near Laci's remains. Defense lawyers have suggested the plastic may have had something to do with Laci's death, although an earlier prosecution witness testified there was no blood or tissue found on the plastic. Geragos noted that Frazer stated previously, outside court, that he and another officer detected a "decomposition" smell on the plastic. Geragos noted the detective was scheduled to testify last month, but the revelation about the smell, provided to defense attorneys before Frazer's testimony was to begin, led to a several-day delay. The delay was due, Geragos said outside court at the time, to "potentially exculpatory" evidence. Frazer testified he told Modesto detectives about the smell before the trial, but Geragos noted that no mention of the smell was found in any Modesto police reports. "Obviously somebody thought [the plastic] was significant, right?" Geragos asked. "That is correct," Frazer said. "I believed there might be a connection." Richmond police Detective Jeffrey Soler testified Monday about the discovery of the fetus near the bay shoreline. He was also present during the autopsy. Geragos seized on the fact that authorities discarded the towel used to collect the remains, counter to most police protocol to save such items for possible evidence. He also noted that the coroner was unable to determine a cause of death or how long the fetus might have been in the water, and that the coroner's opinion was that the fetus was full term. Defense attorneys have argued the child was born alive, implying Peterson couldn't be the killer, but prosecutors maintain the child was expelled dead from the woman's decaying corpse. (source: Associated Press) USA: Dawdling Over DNA Kirk Bloodsworth, the first death row inmate exonerated by DNA evidence, was among those in attendance last week when the Senate Judiciary Committee was supposed to act on a worthy measure that would ensure fairer access to post-conviction DNA testing and encourage states to improve the abysmal caliber of legal representation in capital cases. Kellie Greene, the victim of a vicious 1994 assault who had to wait 3 years before the biological evidence was analyzed, was there, too, to spotlight other key provisions that would expand the funds available to clear up the nationwide backlog of more than 300,000 biological samples waiting for analyses. Unfortunately, too few senators showed up to make a quorum, postponing the showdown on the long-stalled bill until the committee meets today. The legislation combines President Bush's proposal to reduce the backlog of unprocessed biological evidence with watered-down but still valuable aspects of a bill by Senator Patrick Leahy to combat wrongful convictions in death penalty and other cases. It has broad bipartisan support, which was evident last year, when the House approved it, 357 to 67. The measure also has ample Senate backing. The danger is that it will die in the Judiciary Committee because of opposition from the Justice Department to provisions upgrading legal counsel and expanding DNA testing, and to delaying tactics by 3 Republican senators, Jon Kyl of Arizona, Jeff Sessions of Alabama and John Cornyn of Texas. Today's proceeding is crucial. The Judiciary Committee's chairman, Orrin Hatch, the Utah Republican, is one of the bill's main sponsors. Whether the logjam is broken, and justice advances, now rests largely in his hands. (source: Editorial, New York Times)
