Oct. 5 TEXAS----execution Convicted killer Green executed as appeals fail Condemned killer Edward Green III was executed tonight despite his attorneys' pleas to halt the execution, citing problems at the Houston police crime lab. "I do not come here with the intention to make myself out to be a person I am not," Green said in a brief final statement. "I never claimed to be the best person. I am not the best father, the best son or the best friend in the world. "I did the best I could with what I had." Green said he had no hate in his heart or bitterness, adding to his family and the relatives of his 2 victims, "I can only apologize for all the pain I caused you. May God forgive us on this day." As the lethal drugs began taking effect, Green wheeze and grimaced. He said something unintelligible and gasped. 10 minute later at 8:21 p.m. CDT, he was pronounced dead. Green's mother sobbed uncontrollably as she watched her son die. She collapsed and had to be assisted from the room. A second witness was placed in a wheelchair briefly. The lawyers, 2 state senators from Harris County and the Houston police chief wanted executions stopped for all county cases until authorities can review some 280 recently discovered boxes of evidence that had been mislabeled and improperly stored. Attorneys said the boxes could contain something relevant to Green's double murder case, but prosecutors said all evidence involving Green had been accounted for. Green becomes the 14th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Texas and the 327th overall since the state resumed capital punishment on December 7, 1982. Green becomes the 88th condemned inmate to be put to death this year during the tenure of Governor Rick Perry. Green also becomes the 46th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 931st overall since executions resumed on January 17, 1977. (sources: Associated Press & Rick Halperin) ********************** A Texas man was put to death by lethal injection on Tuesday for killing an elderly Houston couple in a 1992 robbery. The execution came after a last-minute appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court failed and just days after lawmakers proposed a halt in executions in the area owing to problems with the examination of evidence by the Houston Police Department. Edward Green III, 30, was condemned for killing Edward Haden, 72, and Helen O'Sullivan, 63, who were sitting in O'Sullivan's car on Aug. 31, 1992 at a stop sign when Green ordered Haden out of the vehicle at gunpoint. When Haden didn't respond quickly enough, Green fired 3 shots through the car window, hitting Haden twice and O'Sullivan once. 2 Democratic state senators from Harris County asked Republican Gov. Rick Perry to impose a moratorium on executions of prisoners convicted there after Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt called for a halt until a review of hundreds of boxes of evidence found in a police warehouse this summer is completed. Perry rejected the request on Monday. A spokeswoman for the governor said procedures in place to review individual death row cases offered adequate safeguards for condemned prisoners. A Texas state court also rejected a request for a stay made by Green's attorneys seeking a review of evidence in the case. Green had confessed to the crime. Harris County, of which Houston is the greater part, sentences more people to death than any other county in the United States. It currently has 162 inmates on Texas death row. At least one person has been freed and 40 other convictions are under scrutiny because of the police department's poor work, officials have said. A late appeal on Tuesday to the U.S. Supreme Court seeking a stay delayed Green's execution for 2 hours. In a final statement while strapped to a gurney in the death chamber, Green apologized to Haden's and O'Sullivan's relatives. "I come with no hate in my heart or bitterness," he said. "To my family and to you people, I can only apologize for all the pain I caused you. May God forgive us this day." Green was the 14th person executed in Texas this year and the 327th since the state resumed capital punishment in 1982, 6 years after the U.S. Supreme Court lifted a national death penalty ban. Both totals lead the nation. Texas has 10 more executions scheduled for this year, 7 of which are convicts from the Houston area. The next execution is scheduled for Wednesday night. (source: Reuters) ***************************** 17-Year Death-Row Inmate to Go Free----Death-Row Inmate to Be Freed After 17 Years for Crime He May Not Have Committed In San Antonio, prosecutors dropped murder charges Tuesday against a Texas man who spent 17 years on death row for a crime he may not have committed. Ernest Willis, 59, was convicted in 1987 of setting a fire that killed 2 sleeping women in Iraan, Texas, about 230 miles west of San Antonio. Earlier this year, U.S. District Judge Royal Furgeson threw out the conviction on the grounds Willis did not receive a fair trial and ordered that Willis be tried again or freed. Pecos County District Attorney Ori White filed a motion to dismiss the charges, saying Tuesday there were strong indications the fire was an accident. He said there was no motive in the case and a close relative of Willis' was barely able to escape the burning home. James Blank, Willis' lawyer, said he hopes his client will be released from prison as early as Friday. In his July ruling, Furgeson said that the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals erred by dismissing evidence that Willis did not receive a fair trial. Defense lawyers discovered after the trial that jailers had treated Willis' back pain with large doses of anti-psychotic drugs, which left him too dazed to meaningfully confer with his attorneys. They also learned that prosecutors had failed to disclose a psychologist's report saying Willis was not dangerous a key issue in any death penalty case. The case took another odd twist years later when another death row inmate confessed to setting the fire. David Long claimed he had set the fire to get even with Willis' cousin, who was staying at the house. Willis would be the 8th death-row inmate freed in Texas since capital punishment resumed in 1974. (source: Associated Press) PENNSYLVANIA----new execution date Execution date set for mass murderer Gov. Ed Rendell signed a death warrant Tuesday for George Banks, a former prison guard who killed 6 adults and 7 children during a 1982 shooting rampage in Wilkes-Barre. The governor set an execution date of Dec. 2 for Banks, now a 62-year-old inmate at a maximum security prison outside Philadelphia. If the state keeps its schedule, Banks would become the 3rd person put to death in Pennsylvania since 1976, and the 1st since the 1960s to go to the death chamber involuntarily. Pennsylvania's three previous executions were carried out only after the condemned men voluntarily ended their appeals and asked to die. Banks' attorneys have fought for 2 decades to prevent his execution, but may be running out of avenues of appeal. His case has been before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court three times. Each time, the judges refused to overturn his conviction. A federal appeals court twice overturned Banks' death sentence because of a potentially confusing jury instruction, but both times the decision was reversed by the U.S. Supreme Court. A federal judge lifted the stay preventing Banks' execution in September. It was unclear whether Banks' legal team is planning another appeal. His lead attorney, Al Flora, did not immediately return a phone message. Rendell also signed a death warrant Tuesday for Robert Champney, a Schuylkill County man convicted in a murder-for-hire scheme. Champney is likely to seek a stay of the execution order, defense lawyers said. (source: Associated Press) *************************** PA Governor Rendell Signs Execution Warrants Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell today signed warrants for the execution by lethal injection of Ronald Grant Champney of Schuylkill County and George E. Banks of Luzerne County. Governor Rendell set Champney's execution for Tuesday, Nov. 30 and Banks' for Thursday, Dec. 2. In October 1999, Champney was convicted and sentenced to die for shooting 37-year-old Roy Bensinger in a murder-for-hire scheme arranged by the victim's wife. Champney was formally sentenced to death on Nov. 17, 1999. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court affirmed the judgment in an opinion dated Sept. 24, 2003. Champney did not seek reargument. On Feb. 20, 2004, Champney filed a petition for a writ of certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court. Certiorari was denied on June 28, 2004. Champney, 53, is an inmate at the State Correctional Institution-Greene. In June 1983, Banks was convicted and sentenced to die for 12 counts of first-degree murder. During a shooting rampage in Wilkes-Barre, Banks murdered 13 people with an assault rifle. Seven of the victims were infants and children, including 5 of his own. On Feb. 13, 1987, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court affirmed the judgments of the sentence. On Feb. 14, 1989, Banks filed for post-conviction relief under the Post- Conviction Relief Act. The PCRA court denied post-conviction relief, and that decision was affirmed by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on March 27, 1995. An execution warrant was first issued in this case on Feb. 15, 1996, but the execution was stayed by the U.S. Middle District Court to allow Banks to pursue federal habeas corpus relief. On March 21, 1996, Banks filed a habeas petition, and the Middle District denied relief on Aug. 30, 1996. Banks appealed to the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals. While his Third Circuit appeal was pending, Banks filed a 2nd PCRA petition in state court on Jan. 14, 1997. The PCRA court denied Banks' second PCRA petition, and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court affirmed the decision on March 2, 1999. In the meantime, on Sept. 19, 1997, the Third Circuit vacated the district court's decision and directed that Banks' habeas petition be dismissed without prejudice as a "mixed" petition. The district court did so on Oct. 24, 1997, and also vacated the stay of execution. On March 9, 1999, a new execution warrant was issued. Banks returned to federal court, filing a second habeas petition and obtaining a stay of execution. In an opinion filed Aug. 18, 1999, the district court again denied relief. On Oct. 31, 2001, the Third Circuit reversed the district court's decision on a jury instruction question and granted Banks a new sentencing hearing. The U.S. Supreme Court granted the Commonwealth's petition for writ of certiorari, reversed the Third Circuit and remanded the case. On remand, the Third Circuit reinstated the remainder of its previous opinion granting habeas relief and vacating Banks' death sentences. The U.S. Supreme Court again granted the Commonwealth's petition for writ of certiorari. On June 24, 2004, the Court reversed the Third Circuit decision. On remand, on Aug. 25, 2004, the Third Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of habeas relief. On Sept. 7, 2004, the district court lifted the stay of execution it had previously imposed on Aug. 18, 1999. Banks, 62, is an inmate at the State Correctional Institution-Graterford. Governor Rendell has now signed 26 death warrants. CONTACT: Nina Tinari, Pennsylvania Office of the Governor, +1-717-783-1116. (source: Pennsylvania Office of the Governor) KENTUCKY: Death Row inmate loses his final appeal A Fayette County man on death row for a double homicide lost his final regular appeal yesterday, which would allow state officials to schedule his execution before the end of the year. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to grant a review of the appeal by Thomas Clyde Bowling Jr., who was convicted of shooting and killing Edward and Tina Earley in April 1990 -- and wounding their 2-year-old son, Christopher, in the foot -- outside their family dry-cleaning business in Lexington. A spokeswoman said Attorney General Greg Stumbo will soon ask Gov. Ernie Fletcher to issue a warrant scheduling Bowling's execution. Fletcher's general counsel, John Roach, said he will review Bowling's case and make a recommendation to the governor on whether to sign the death warrant. Fletcher has said he supports the death penalty in appropriate cases, Roach said. However, attorneys for Bowling are working on several actions to block his execution. The latest is a lawsuit seeking a ruling that Bowling is mentally retarded, which would bar his execution under federal and state law. That lawsuit also claims Bowling, 51, did not commit the murders that have brought him to the brink of execution. The defense theory is that the Earleys gave police information about drug dealers, who then killed them in retaliation, using Bowling to buy a gun, provide a car and take the fall. "It is extremely easy to frame someone who is mentally retarded," said the suit filed by Bowling's attorneys, David M. Barron and Susan J. Balliet of the state Department of Public Advocacy. The attorneys said Bowling has never gotten a hearing during his appeal on the claim that he did not commit the murders. No motive was offered at the trial. But Rosie Earley of Lexington said prosecutors proved Bowling killed her son and daughter-in-law. Earley, who has raised her grandson since his parents were killed, was glad the Supreme Court declined to hear Bowling's appeal. "They should get it over with," she said of the execution. The fight over Bowling's fate will play out on a number of fronts in the coming weeks. In one lawsuit, his attorneys argue that the state's method of carrying out lethal injection is unconstitutionally flawed, in part because the particular mix of chemicals the state uses would likely cause horrific pain. Barron said a judge struck down a challenge to the electric chair in that lawsuit, but allowed the challenge to lethal injection to go forward. On another front, Bowling's attorneys filed the lawsuit regarding retardation in Fayette Circuit Court last Friday. Kentucky law bars executing seriously mentally retarded people. One test of that is an IQ of 70 or below. The lawsuit says Bowling scored 74 on an IQ test when he was 14. But the suit argues the margin of error in the test means Bowling's IQ might have been as low as 69. And in a precedent-setting 2002 opinion, the U.S. Supreme Court cited a standard that defines retardation at an IQ as high as 75, and did not require evidence of serious retardation, the lawsuit said. Bowling's lawsuit argues that the limits Kentucky places on claims of retardation in death-penalty cases violates the Supreme Court decision. The state also needs a method for raising a claim of retardation on appeal, the lawsuit says. The lawsuit said there is ample evidence of Bowling's mental deficits. He was slow to develop and appeared to get worse after a bout of scarlet fever at age 3, having trouble even grasping how to play hide-and-seek. Bowling, recommended for special education in the first grade, failed the second grade and finally quit school after spending nearly 3 years in the ninth grade in Perry County, the lawsuit said. As an adult, Bowling struggled even in menial jobs and couldn't count money well enough to figure out whether he had enough for candy. When he tried to learn to cook, the only thing he could fix was grilled-cheese sandwiches, the lawsuit said. Bowling's attorneys plan other arguments for him and will seek authorization to pursue claims on retardation in federal court if necessary. They also will ask Fletcher for clemency, Barron said, and have begun gathering signatures for that request via the Internet. Kentucky has executed 2 men since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. Harold McQueen, 44, was put to death in the electric chair in July 1997 for killing a clerk in a 1980 Richmond store robbery, and Edward Lee Harper, 50, convicted of killing his adoptive parents in Louisville, was executed by lethal injection in May 1999 after withdrawing his appeals and asking to die. (source: Herald-Leader) IOWA---federal death penalty trial Prosecution Rests In Death Penalty Trial The prosecution wrapped up its case in the federal murder trial of Dustin Honken. Prosecutors ended their case Tuesday with testimony from a state criminologist. Victor Murillo said bullet fragments taken from the gravesites matched ammunition fired from the kind of weapon allegedly used in the killings, a Tec-9. Under questioning by the defense, Murillo said it's only a possibility that the rounds were fired by that specific model. The defense will present its side Wednesday, and is expected to finish by Thursday. U.S. District Judge Mark Bennett expects closing arguments and jury instructions on Monday. The man is accused of killing 5 people, including 2 children, in a drug slaying in 1993. The bodies were found in 2 separate graves in 2000. All 5 were shot to death. This is the 1st death penalty case to be heard in Iowa in more than 40 years. Iowa has no death penalty, but the federal system allows the death sentence. (source: TheIowaChannel)
