Oct. 8 PENNSYLVANIA: Death penalty sought against accused killer Beaver County prosecutors will seek the death penalty against an Allegheny County man they say was paid to kill someone. Claron Hanner, 27, of the Knoxville section of Pittsburgh, is accused of shooting Frank Helisek Jr., 53, of New Brighton, on Jan. 19, when Helisek answered the door at his home. Beaver County District Attorney Dale Fouse declined to name who prosecutors think paid Hanner, who has pleaded not guilty, to have Helisek shot. At the time, Helisek's son was in jail and expected to testify for prosecutors in a drug case. Police connected Hanner to the slaying through a cell phone dropped at the scene. (source: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review) CONNECTICUT: Death penalty on trial -- Ross sentencing renews controversy over executions in state Connecticut is not as enamored of capital punishment as states like Texas, Florida and Oklahoma, but it could soon join those states in killing its death row inmates. On Wednesday, an execution date was set for serial killer Michael Ross. A New London Superior Court judge set the date for Jan. 26 after Ross said he wanted to stop the appeals of his death sentence. Ross could be the first death row inmate in this state to be executed since 1960, when Joseph "Mad Dog" Taborsky was killed in the electric chair. Some don't want to see the state perform more executions. Others, though, favor putting some criminals to death, and many observers believe the state is headed in that direction. Ross, who could still appeal in federal court, describes himself as a sexual sadist. He was convicted and sentenced to death for killing 4 teenage girls in eastern Connecticut in the early 1980s. "There is a very definite chance it will happen. Unless he changes his mind, then it will happen," said David Elliot, the communications director for the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty in D.C. Elliot, whose organization is the only nonprofit group in the country that works solely to abolish capital punishment, said that Connecticut politicians "will hear from us. That's not a threat. It's a promise." "Every time an execution date is set anywhere in the country, we urge our members to write letters to the respective governor and the appropriate Board of Pardons and Board of Paroles urging the execution not be carried out," Elliot said. Public Defender Michael Courtney, who represents poor clients facing death but has never represented Ross, said he doesn't think the execution will go forward in January. However, it could happen sooner rather than later, especially if Ross persists in "volunteering" to be killed, said Courtney, who is representing David Stone of New Milford. If convicted, Stone would face the death penalty for the Sept. 21 killing of his girlfriend and their 4-month-old baby. Elliot said the activism of the NCADP doesn't always work at getting clemency for a death row inmate, but there have been occasions when activism has gotten results. The NCADP has about 100 affiliate organizations and thousands of activists throughout the country, including in Connecticut. Elliot's organization sends letters to the powers-that-be in each state, urging against execution. "Every month, thousands of letters get written by our members," Elliot said. Connecticut is not as "in love" with the death penalty as Texas, Florida and Oklahoma are, Elliot said. "The very fact that Connecticut has not carried out an execution since 1960 shows that there is a lot of antipathy in the state," Elliot said. Yet, Elliot and other observers of this issue think it could happen in Connecticut very soon. "I definitely think it's a real possibility and I've been told that by members of the capital defense team as well," said Danbury Public Defender Robert Field, who has defended clients facing death in Connecticut. "It seems as though there's a push to get the death penalty rolling in the state of Connecticut," Field said. Field represented Alex Gray, the Kentucky man suffering from schizophrenia who was recently sentenced to life in prison for killing an elderly couple in New Fairfield. He was facing the death penalty, but as part of a deal worked out between prosecutors and the defense, the capital felony charge - the charge that leads to the death penalty - will not be pursued. "It's incredible to me that we consider killing someone morally wrong, so the answer to that is killing someone else," Field said of his opposition to the death penalty. Elliot said his organization believes that the death penalty is wrong for several reasons. "The death penalty discriminates based on race and class. The death penalty frequently makes mistakes and sends innocent people to death row. The death penalty denies redemption. We don't think anybody is beyond redemption," Elliot said. Yet there are many death penalty proponents, some of whom are the relatives of victims who were savagely killed. The father of a teenager who was killed by Ross, Edwin Shelley, said that he is "elated" to hear about Ross's possible execution. "It will be the 2nd time I've heard the execution date set," Shelley said. "Hopefully, and I do believe, this time it will happen. And I will be at his execution." Laurie Czudak, a good friend of Ronald and Roberta Ahrlich, the victims in the Gray case, said she supports the death penalty. "I have read the description of what happened to Ronnie and Bert. This man does not deserve to live, and I don't feel we need to support him," she said, referring to Gray. "Why should we support these people in jail? They have destroyed a life and the lives of the family members left behind. I am sure the family members go to bed at night wondering why their loved one is gone, and the killer is now in jail, partially supported by their income," Czudak said. (source: Danbury News Times) NORTH DAKOTA: N.D. governor candidates disagree on death penalty North Dakota's candidates for governor disagree on whether the man accused of kidnapping Dru Sjodin should get the death penalty. Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. is charged with kidnapping Sjodin, a college student from Pequot Lakes, Minn., who disappeared from a Grand Forks parking lot last November. Her body was found in April. Rodriguez will be tried in federal court rather than state court, so could face the death penalty. Prosecutors haven't said whether they will seek the death penalty. Republican Gov. John Hoeven said he supports executing Rodriguez if he is convicted. Rodriguez has a record of violent sex offenses. Hoeven says the death penalty fits the crime Rodriguez is accused of committing. Hoeven's Democratic challenger, Joe Satrom, says Rodriguez should not be put to death. Satrom said he doesn't support the death penalty for any crime. He said Rodriguez should be sentenced to life in prison if convicted. Hoeven and Satrom were asked about the Sjodin case Friday during a debate sponsored by the North Dakota Associated Press Broadcasters Association. (source: Associated Press) NORTH CAROLINA: Area group seeks stay on executions A group recently formed in Edgecombe County wants state lawmakers to place a temporary halt on the death penalty in North Carolina. The group, which has yet to decide on a name for itself, hopes that a moratorium on executions will possibly prevent any innocent people on death row from dying. During the 2003-04 legislation session, the N.C. Senate passed a bill for a moratorium on executions. The Senate sent the bill to the N.C. House, which has yet to take any action on the measure. "I'm for the death penalty, and I think if someone kills someone they should pay the price. But something needs to be done to ensure that innocent people are not sentenced to death row," said Tarboro Town Councilman Roland Clark, a member of the new group. A moratorium on executions would give the state two years to study the judicial system, said Charmaine Fuller, assistant director of the Carolina Justice Policy Center in Durham. "A moratorium is a temporary suspension of executions while a legislative study commission examines our death penalty system," said Fuller, who helped organize the group in Edgecombe County. "Death penalty trials and appeals would not be suspended during the study, only executions." There are a number of reasons a moratorium needs to be passed by lawmakers, she said. "Racial bias taints North Carolina's capital punishment system," Fuller said. Based on studies by the Carolina Justice Policy Center, a black person is 3 1/2 times more likely to receive the death penalty if the victim of the crime is white, she said. "60 % of people on death row in North Carolina are African-American," Fuller said. Innocent men have been sentenced to die in North Carolina, Fuller said. "A good example of an innocent man being sentenced to die is (former death row inmate) Alan Gell, who is white, of Bertie County," she said. "A judge threw out Gell's conviction after learning that the Attorney General's Office had withheld evidence of his innocence. We need to know if there are other Alan Gells out there on death row." Last month, prosecutors Debra Graves and David Hoke received a reprimand from the N.C. State Bar for withholding evidence in Gell's case, she said. However, the state bar's disciplinary panel ruled that Graves and Hoke can still practice law, Fuller added. "Let me make it clear that a lot of people in North Carolina who support the death penalty think a moratorium on executions should be in place so innocent people don't die for crimes that they did not commit," she said. "The legal system is not always wrong when it sentences someone to die, but one innocent person sentenced to die is one too many." Mary Lawrence-Williams of Pitt County said she joined the group because she thinks a moratorium needs to be in place. "How can anyone sleep at night when an innocent person might be getting ready to die?" Lawrence-Williams said. Ernie Josephs, senior assistant district attorney for Judicial District 7, which includes Edgecombe, Nash and Wilson counties, said he is opposed to a moratorium. He stressed the fact that the General Assembly passed a law called open file discovery, which opens the prosecution's files up to the defense for review. "In our district, it's been the practice for quite a number of years," Josephs said. "That, in a nutshell, is my answer to this group. They need to look at what has happened." The Rev. Stephen Brooks, 36, of Wilson said he hopes lawmakers will pay attention to letters written by the group. "I believe the death penalty should be given when someone intentionally kills someone and there's absolutely no doubt that the person killed someone," said Brooks, a member of the group. "But the idea of an innocent person dying for something they did not do really bothers me." (source: Rocky Mount Telegram)
