Oct. 6
TEXAS----impending volunteer execution
Execution carried out after delay...2nd inmate in as many days to face
death chamber tonight
The execution of Edward Green III was carried out shortly after 8 p.m.
Tuesday at the Huntsville "Walls" Unit after nearly a 2-hour delay pending
a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court.
Attorneys for Green had hoped discrepancies by the Houston Crime Lab would
deem a stay of execution.
In a brief final statement, Green addressed the families of his victims,
Edward Perry Haden, 72, and 63-year-old Helen O'Sullivan, who he gunned
down in Houston in 1992.
"To the O'Sullivan and Haden families, I do not come here with the
intention to make myself out to be a person I am not," Green said. "I
never claimed to be the best person."
To his own family and friends, Green apologized for the pain he caused.
"I am not the best father, son or friend in the world. I did the best I
could with what I had," he said.
In the end, Green asked that "God forgive us on this day."
The lethal dose was administered at 8:11 p.m., and after a few deep
breaths, and a few unintelligible words, Green was pronounced dead at 8:21
p.m.
In the room where his family stood to watch the death penalty carried out,
Green's mother Edith A. Hawkins sobbed and cried and collapsed and was
aided out of the room, while another witness was placed in a wheelchair
briefly.
Following the execution, Annette O'Sullivan, 22, whose grandmother was
killed, said her heart goes out to the Green family.
"My family knows what it's like to lose a loved one," she said. "The
difference here is he's had time to prepare and tell his family that he
loves them and everything he wants to say to them.
"We did not have that opportunity," she said, adding that she had worried
the execution could be stopped. She said the week leading up to the
punishment had been an "emotional roller coaster" because of the problems
with the crime lab.
She added that she was glad Green apologized in his last statement, but
said that couldn't take away the fact he killed her grandmother and Haden.
Green's' 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.
Much of the controversy surrounding the police lab is on reliability of
DNA testing procedures. No DNA evidence was used in Green's case; his
attorneys had questioned the reliability of ballistics evidence presented
at his trial.
Gov. Rick Perry refused Monday to impose a blanket moratorium on Harris
County executions. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, voting 6-0,
refused a clemency request from Green.
Hours before he could be taken to the death house, Green's lawyers asked
the parole board to reconsider its vote, saying a meaningful review of the
case "is simply not possible" until all of the newly found evidence is
catalogued.
The board refused. Perry also rejected a 30-day reprieve, which he is
empowered to grant.
"The main evidence leading to Green's conviction is his own confession to
these brutal and senseless murders," the governor said.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the state's highest criminal court,
and the U.S. Supreme Court refused to grant a stay.
Green's execution was the 14th this year in Texas and the 1st of 2 on
consecutive days this week.
Peter J. Miniel is set to die tonight, and has chosen not to seek further
appeals.
He was convicted in 1988 for the May 1986 murder and robbery of
20-year-old Paul Manier at Manier's North Harris County apartment.
Miniel has confessed to the crime, in which he and a co-defendant James
Russell attacked Manier, striking him in the head with a heavy glass beer
mug, stabbing him 39 times in the neck and back and beating him about the
head with an automobile shock absorber. The 2 made off after the murder
with a stereo system and $20.
In an interview from death row last week, Miniel said it was time to be
honest about the crime that has kept him on death row for 18 years.
"I wanted to talk to the family for many years," Miniel said. "Basically,
I wasn't going to beg for their forgiveness, but I wanted to apologize and
apologize to the courts because I originally pleaded not guilty.
"It was originally like a fight, but it should have never escalated that
far. I don't remember everything, but I know the other guy started
stabbing him and he wouldn't die. I started hitting him with the
absorber."
Miniel said events in his family life led him to a life of violence and
trouble with the law from an early age. He said he knew he had problems,
but never really knew where to turn for help.
"I grew up with a lot of animosity, a lot of anger. I've made my peace,"
he said. "I think we all have a purpose, and when we die, we can start
another life. I asked my attorney 2 months ago to stop fighting. I felt
like it was my time."
In the weeks leading up to his execution, Miniel has completed the
Christian book series "Left Behind." He has asked that the state take care
of his body after his execution, as not to burden his family. He will call
his mother for the final time today when he arrives at the "Walls" Unit.
(source: Huntsville Item)
VIRGINIA:
Muhammad's Fairfax Case Officially Ends
The Fairfax County murder case against John Allen Muhammad formally ended
yesterday when a judge rejected the prosecution's request to reconsider
his ruling last week dismissing the case.
Muhammad's attorneys successfully argued that prosecutors had violated
Muhammad's right to a speedy trial by issuing a "detainer" for him in
January of this year in the Prince William County jail but not bringing
him to trial in Fairfax until October. Virginia law requires that a jailed
defendant be tried within five months of arrest unless the defense waives
that right, and a 1993 appeals court decision ruled that a detainer,
though not a legally defined process, carried the same weight as an
arrest.
Fairfax Circuit Court Judge M. Langhorne Keith on Friday cited the 1993
ruling as precedent in issuing his order to dismiss all Fairfax charges
against Muhammad. Fairfax prosecutors quickly filed a motion asking Keith
to reconsider, but yesterday he declined.
Keith's ruling cannot be appealed. Virginia prosecutors may appeal only
rulings on constitutional questions and suppressions of statements. And
though the right to a speedy trial is found in the U.S. Constitution,
Keith based his decision on Virginia law, which says that a jailed
defendant who isn't tried within 5 months "shall be forever discharged
from prosecution for such offense."
Fairfax Commonwealth's Attorney Robert F. Horan Jr. did not return a call
yesterday seeking comment. He previously argued that a detainer was no
more than a request for notification when a prisoner was to be released,
and he noted that Fairfax specifically had instructed the Prince William
jail not to arrest Muhammad.
Peter D. Greenspun, one of Muhammad's court-appointed attorneys, said the
prosecution's arguments for reconsideration of the dismissal "were exactly
the same as they previously made, so we hoped for and expected the exact
same result."
Fairfax had charged Muhammad, 43, with the Oct. 14, 2002, slaying of FBI
analyst Linda Franklin in Seven Corners. Co-defendant Lee Boyd Malvo was
convicted of the same killing last fall and sentenced to life in prison.
The ruling does not affect charges in any other jurisdiction against
Muhammad in the 10 sniper slayings committed in the Washington region in
October 2002, or killings in Alabama and Louisiana committed in September
2002. It also does not affect Muhammad's first set of convictions, in
Prince William, for which a jury last fall sentenced him to death. The
appeal of that case, before the Virginia Supreme Court, is expected to be
argued next month.
But the only other Virginia murder case pending against Muhammad may also
be in jeopardy. Muhammad is accused in the Oct. 11, 2002, slaying of
Kenneth H. Bridges in Spotsylvania County. Authorities there also filed a
detainer for Muhammad in Prince William, meaning the same legal argument
could be made for dismissal of the case. Greenspun said yesterday he did
not know if he or Jonathan Shapiro, who both represented Muhammad in his
first 2 trials, would be appointed in Spotsylvania.
(source: Washington Post)
CALIFORNIA----new death sentence
Death penalty ordered in murder---Man raped, killed immigrant in 1998
A judge sentenced Jason Donaldson to death Tuesday for the 1998 rape and
murder of a Vietnamese immigrant in Alhambra.
In May a Pasadena Superior Court jury convicted Donaldson, 35, of brutally
killing Khen So Tran, 46, in August of 1998. The jury recommended that
Donaldson, who is already serving life in prison, be put to death.
Judge Michelle Rosenblatt upheld that recommendation on Tuesday, after
denying Donaldson's motion for a new trial.
Rosenblatt described the killing as "cold' and "vicious,' and gave a long
account of Donaldson's history of violent carjackings, shootings, and
prison assaults.
"It is the order of this court that you suffer the death penalty,'
Rosenblatt said.
The case went unsolved for 2 years after Tran's body was found in the
trunk of her car. She had been raped and beaten to death. Her car had been
set on fire.
The state's DNA lab announced a "cold hit' in 2000 one of the first of its
kind in Los Angeles County and prosecutors charged Donaldson with Tran's
murder.
At the time, he was already serving 250 years to life in prison for
carjackings.
Donaldson represented himself at trial. During the guilt phase, he argued
he was innocent and claimed his girlfriend gave him an alibi. He argued he
had consensual sex with Tran the day she died, but said she was alive when
he left her.
Once jurors dismissed those arguments and found him guilty, Donaldson put
up no defense during the penalty phase and said he welcomed execution.
When the jury returned with a vote for death, Donaldson nodded his
approval.
In the months since, Donaldson's formal sentencing has been delayed many
times as he sought to challenge the guilty verdict.
Donaldson made a motion last week for a new trial, arguing that "newly
discovered' documents showed 2 teenage witnesses saw Tran alive after she
was supposed to have been killed.
Stirling argued the documents had been turned over to the defense long ago
and that, even if they hadn't been, they contained nothing that would have
altered the jury's verdict. Stirling said the teenagers' recollection of
the timeline two years after the fact could not be relied upon.
Rosenblatt agreed, and denied Donaldson's motion before sentencing him to
death.
(source: Pasadena Star-News)
******************
Prosecution in Peterson Killing Rests Case
Prosecutors rested their murder case against Scott Peterson on Tuesday,
having presented 174 witnesses trying to convince jurors he was a cheating
husband who killed his pregnant wife and lied to police and family alike
to try to cover his tracks.
The prosecution ended its 19-week case by portraying the defendant as a
man on the run. Modesto police Detective Jon Buehler said Peterson had a
load of new camping gear and nearly $15,000 in cash when he was arrested
April 19, 2003, near San Diego.
Peterson was arrested soon after the remains of Laci Peterson and her
fetus washed ashore not far from the marina where Peterson launched his
boat the previous Christmas Eve. He could face the death penalty if
convicted.
Prosecutors allege Peterson killed his eight-months-pregnant wife in their
Modesto home on or around Dec. 24, 2002, then dumped her body into the
bay. Defense lawyers maintain someone else abducted and killed Laci.
Prosecutors have put together a detailed web of circumstantial evidence to
cast suspicion on Peterson. The prosecution couldn't point to a murder
weapon, a crime scene or even a cause of death, but legal experts said a
detailed narrative from Modesto Detective Craig Grogan helped improve the
prospects for their case.
On Tuesday, Buehler testified that when Peterson, 31, was arrested, he had
a backpack and an overnight bag stuffed with everything from hunting
knives and a water purifier to snorkeling and fishing equipment to a
shovel and duct tape. Much of the camping equipment had been purchased a
month earlier, Buehler said.
The camping equipment was found in a used red Mercedes he had bought using
his mother's name, Jacqueline. Peterson also had several changes of
clothes, four cell phones, 2 driver's licenses -- his and his brother's --
and 6 credit cards, including 1 in girlfriend Amber Frey's name.
But defense lawyer Mark Geragos showed photos of similar clothes and
equipment found in Peterson's truck months earlier, portraying him as a
man who simply lived out of his vehicle.
On the day he was arrested, Peterson drove a circuitous nearly 170-mile
route in Southern California in what prosecutors suggested was an attempt
to evade police.
Defense lawyers have maintained Peterson was trying to elude media
scrutiny.
In the trunk of Peterson's car were several flyers advertising a reward
for Laci Peterson's safe return, Buehler said. Peterson also had packed
"The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For?"
Frey had given him the book, along with a card dated Feb. 16, 2003. "I can
only hope that this will come to an end soon," she wrote. "I wish I could
go back in time. I'm praying for you and your family."
Experts disagreed on whether the last day of testimony was as dramatic as
it needed to be to stick in jurors' minds.
Chuck Smith, a former San Mateo County prosecutor, said the prosecution's
case "ended with more of a whimper than a bang."
But Paula Canny, a defense lawyer and former prosecutor who has been
watching the trial, said the prosecution showed that Peterson "lied to
everybody."
"The strongest evidence the prosecution has is what Scott Peterson said
and what Scott Peterson did," she said.
Geragos will begin calling witnesses when court resumes next Tuesday.
Observers expect him to present experts who will contradict scientific
evidence like the age of the fetus and law enforcement officers who will
shore up the defense's accusation that police targeted Peterson and failed
to look at other possible suspects.
(source: Associated Press)
