Dec. 14 MARYLAND: Death Row Inmate Appears Before Judge Convicted murderer Kenneth Abend won't find out until next week whether a judge will grant him his life. In January of 2002, Abend was convicted of killing his landlord, Laverne Browning and her daughter-in-law, Tamie Browning. There is no jury in this case, so Abend is depending solely on Judge Pamela North to make the decision. In a statement to the court today, Abend told the judge that he now recognizes the value of human life. The defense says that Abend suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and was abusing PCP. His attorneys say those things caused Abend to black out, and that he doesn't remember the murders. However, prosecutors argue that Abend made a bad choice to use drugs, and is trying to use his difficult life and mental disorder as excuses for the killings. Judge North says she will take about a week to consider the case before announcing a sentence. The judge had previously refused to hear statements from the family of the victims before she made her decision - but later changed her mind. (source: WJZ News) VIRGINIA: Murderer's execution set----But it may not occur Jan. 7; officer's killer has more appeals A man convicted of capital murder in the shooting death of a Winchester police officer has been scheduled for execution. Edward Nathaniel Bell, 40, is scheduled to die Jan. 7 for the slaying of Sgt. Ricky Timbrook in October 1999. The Virginia attorney general's office sent the formal execution date to the Winchester clerk of court's office last week, The Winchester Star reported. Bell was found guilty of Timbrook's murder and sentenced to death in May 2001 in Winchester Circuit Court. Since then, Bell has been appealing his sentence. He is on death row at the Sussex Correctional Facility in Waverly. Timbrook was looking for a probation violator when he saw Bell and pursued him on foot. Prosecutors said Bell shot Timbrook in the face because he feared the officer would find him carrying a gun or drugs. Bell, a Jamaican national, also faced a deportation hearing the next week. Bell's former attorney, Roy Bradley, who has handled all of Bell's state appeals, said he is not sure if he will represent Bell in a forthcoming round of federal appeals. In the past year, Bradley and attorney Scott Servas handled Bell's state appeals, including arguments on a habeas corpus petition filed in March 2003. Bradley argued that Bell had a questionable mental state at the time of the shooting. The Virginia Court of Appeals denied the petition in November. Bell can now file a federal habeas corpus petition in U.S. District Court and then take his case to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Bradley said. His last resort would be the U.S. Supreme Court. Winchester Commonwealth's Attorney Alexander Iden said that because Bell still has a few appeals left, he doubts the execution will take place Jan. 7. Virginia has executed 94 inmates since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. (source: Richmond Times-Dispatch) TENNESSEE: Death row cases demand most thorough scrutiny For non-lawyers, the gist of yesterday's court ruling on Abu-Ali Abdur'Rahman is not easy to grasp. The complexity of the crime, of the case and of Abdur-Rahman himself makes the dissection of the court's ruling that much more difficult. But this aspect of the case is simple: Abdur'Rahman's contention of prosecutorial misconduct has never been seriously considered by any state or federal court. This state and this nation should not allow a person to be put to death when such a basic issue of justice has not been fully explored. Yesterday, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals released its long-awaited decision that sends Abdur'Rahman's case back to the district court. The central issue before the court was whether a so-called Rule 60 motion to consider new evidence conflicts with a federal law that limits death penalty appeals. Abdur'Rahman was convicted of murder and sentenced to death in 1987. On federal appeal, his attorneys made several claims, including a claim of prosecutorial misconduct. His attorneys claimed the prosecutor didn't turn over evidence to the defense attorney, that he made misleading statements and that he improperly prepared witnesses. Those claims were dismissed by federal court because the claims weren't raised in an earlier application to the state Supreme Court. Afterward, the Tennessee Supreme Court, in response to a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, revised state rules and clarified that a death row inmate did not have to include every allegation in every appeal in order to have claims considered at a later date. The prosecutors for the state have continued to argue that the rules in place at the time of the appeal would not allow a death row inmate to appeal on new grounds. The dissenting Sixth Circuit judges agreed, saying that the federal law limiting death row appeals trumps Rule 60. Yet the majority of the court agreed that the district court was wrong to dismiss Abdur'Rahman's claims of prosecutorial misconduct on procedural grounds. Since several other death row inmates, including Philip Workman, have made similar claims, the decision could significantly broaden the ability to appeal capital punishment cases. Taken literally, the judges dissenting in this case seem to argue that new evidence that substantially changes a case should not be considered even when a person's life is at stake. They say federal law trumps rules of procedure, but they are essentially arguing that procedure trumps the effort to get all the facts on the table. This is not the last day in court for Abdur'Rahman and Rule 60. The rigid position taken by the dissenting judges has been adopted by other courts in other regions of the nation. It may eventually be adopted by the U.S. Supreme Court. But it defies the essence of justice. (source: The Tennessean) LOUISIANA: Judge hears pretrial issues in Angola killing A state district judge sorted through defense requests for information Monday during a three-hour hearing for 5 Louisiana State Penitentiary inmates accused of killing a security officer. Although 20th Judicial District Judge George H. Ware Jr. and attorneys in the case resolved some issues related to the required exchange of information about witnesses and evidence, the proceedings also suggested the 1st trial won't be any time soon. Ware set deadlines for attorneys to submit required information, repeating several times he is "trying to move this along." Family members of slain Angola security Capt. David C. Knapps, 49, watched the proceedings, as they have since a West Feliciana Parish grand jury indicted the so-called "Angola 5" in March. Knapps was beaten and stabbed to death in the educational building of Angola's Camp D during a Dec. 29, 1999, escape attempt. Inmates also kidnapped and held two other security officers hostage during the incident. The grand jury indicted Jeffrey Cameron Clark, 44; Barry Edge, 44; David Mathis, 28; Robert G. Carley, 36; and David Brown, 31, on 1st-degree murder charges. The state is seeking the death penalty. Ware set a Jan. 28 conference call among the 10 court-appointed defense attorneys and prosecutors to determine whether the state has completed its scientific analysis of evidence, including a study of the crime scene by an expert who has seen the lab reports on the evidence. Jefferson Parish Assistant District Attorney Roger Jordan, one of the prosecutors, said the State Police Crime Lab is doing DNA testing on some of the evidence. Ware also said the Jan. 28 conference call will involve setting time limits for the defense to examine and test the physical evidence and to inspect the crime scene. "That's what I hope to accomplish," Ware said. The defendants will be tried separately but Jordan said he and Assistant District Attorney Thomas Block won't decide who will be tried 1st until after hearings are held on motions to throw out statements given during the investigation. R. Neal Walker and Alison Steiner, Mathis' attorneys, sought extensive information on how execution by lethal injection is carried out in Louisiana, indicating they plan to attack the constitutionality of the execution method. Jordan said his office does not have the data requested, and Ware told Walker to submit subpoenas for his signature directing the state Department of Public Safety and Corrections to furnish the information. Attorneys for several other defendants indicated they plan to challenge lethal injection, with Mark Marinoff, lead counsel for Brown, noting that case law in capital crimes "is changing every day." The defense attorneys also plan to focus attention on the manner in which prison officials obtained statements from the defendants and inmate witnesses, with Walker saying a strong argument can be made that any incriminating statements were the result of beatings inflicted on the convicts. "There were some improprieties. ... (It) sounds to me like Abu Ghraib on the Mississippi," Walker said, referring to the recent Iraqi prison torture scandal. Ware declined to order Jordan and Block to outline in detail each defendant's role in Knapps' slaying, a request made by several of the attorneys. "We want to know who did what with what weapon," said Clay Calhoun, Brown's other attorney. Jordan argued the motions were a "fishing expedition." "We don't have to give them our theory of the case," the prosecutor said. (source: The Advocate) SOUTH CAROLINA: Condemned mans attorneys argue for new trial A federal judge heard arguments Monday on whether a man sentenced to death should get a new trial because a juror contacted news organizations before the case was completed. Branden Basham was convicted this fall of kidnapping and carjacking in the death of Alice Donovan of Galivants Ferry on Nov. 14, 2002. But before the jury sentenced him to death, phone records show, forewoman Cynthia Wilson contacted 5 Upstate news organizations. One employee from WSPA-TV in Spartanburg has testified that she received a call from Wilson, who is from the town of Lyman in the Upstate. However, U.S. District Judge Joe Anderson said Monday he would contact the two other television stations and 2 newspapers to see if any employees at those organizations remember taking a phone call from the juror. Anderson is trying to decide whether Bashams death sentence should stand or if he should receive a new trial. He also could rule that just the penalty phase should be repeated because the juror contact came after Basham was convicted. (source: The State)
