Jan. 21 TEXAS: TEXAS CIVIL RIGHTS PROJECT----1405 MONTOPOLIS DRIVE----AUSTIN, TEXAS 78741(512) 474-5073 (telephone) * (512) 474-0726 (fax) Death Penalty Activist Sentenced to Jail David Atwood, a long-time anti-capital punishment activist and leader in the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, was sentenced to 5 days in Walker County today for trespassing on state prison grounds in Huntsville on November 17, 2004, while protesting at the execution of Anthony Fuentes. Atwood acted out of civil disobedience, to express his moral and religious objection to the death penalty. It was the 1st time in his life the Houston resident had been arrested. Atwood chose 5 days in jail, rather than a $500 fine, in order express his opposition to the death penalty and avoid paying any money to the county. Atwood was represented by the Texas Civil Rights Project in this criminal matter. Jim Harrington, TCRP Director, called Atwoods decision to engage in civil disobedience "an act of conscience that should stir Texans to further reflect on the justice of capital punishment and whether too many innocent people have been executed by mistake or malice." (source: Texas Civil Rights Project) ****************** Lost Crime Lab Boxes Include Death Penalty Cases----State Senator Calls For Halt On Executions Dozens of death penalty cases are included in boxes of evidence that were mislabeled and improperly stored in the Houston Police Department's Crime Lab, Local 2 reported in an exclusive story Thursday. D.A. Not Worried About Review Of Cases Since August, police have been cataloging the contents of 280 boxes of untagged evidence discovered in the HPD lab. So far, officials have identified evidence in about 8,000 cases. 28 of those resulted in death sentences. The capital murder cases were tried between 1980 and 1986, before DNA testing became standard procedure. Out of the 28 capital cases involved, 20 of the convicted criminals have already been put to death. One died from natural causes. 7 are still on death row. Their executions have not yet been scheduled. "There is some evidence in these boxes that could be now tested for DNA, but of course, it was never tested because we did not do that at the time the evidence was obtained," said Lt. Robert Manzo, with the Houston Police Department. Death penalty opponents say testing should be done immediately for the seven defendants still awaiting execution. "This is a huge question mark over the way that capital punishment is administered in Harris County," said Jared Tyler, with the Texas Innocence Network. Some said it's possible innocent people may have been executed. "It's huge. It raises a very real possibility that Harris County has executed an innocent person," Tyler said. District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal said that the evidence was never lost. He said it was all examined by the lab and made available to the defendant's attorneys at the time of trial. "Everybody's known about this evidence since the crime occurred," he said. "It's not like they just found a bunch of evidence someplace nobody knew about in these 280 boxes. We're going to look anyway. We're going to be careful about that." Rosenthal is making the evidence available to defendants' attorneys as it is cataloged, but said he does not expect any surprises. In spite of that, State Sen. John Whitmire, with the Senate Criminal Justice Committee, is calling for a moratorium on executions. "I just think I would like to be safe and cautious that we not execute anyone until this process of review has been completed -- 6 months or up to a 1-year moratorium," Whitmire said. The city shut the police department lab's DNA section in 2002 because of possible evidence contamination and improper employee training. (source: Click2 Houston.com) *********************** Remembering Larry Robisons Execution On January 21, 2000, the State of Texas executed Larry Robison, a man with severe mental illness. I had been following the case for some months, after learning about it during a panel discussion in Dallas put on by MVFR and after having met his parents at an anti-death penalty conference. I do not know exactly why I drove there, but something compelled me to be present outside the death chamber in Huntsville at the moment of Larrys execution. I arrived in Huntsville a few hours early to see the "Waiting Room Project" at a local museum. When I arrived at the museum where the exhibit was located, I saw the most random thing - a woman holding a baby sheep. She was just standing there in the yard, like it was normal to have a small farm animal cradled in public. The lamb was cute and adorable, and the whole situation was quite funny. But after I thought about it later, the situation became a very meaningful event. I began to think of that little sheep and how the symbolism plays into the fact that I am in Huntsville today because of an execution. "The Lamb of God." the sacrificial Lamb. Biblically, the lamb is the ultimate symbol of sacrifice, just as Jesus was sacrificed on the cross as a death sentence. Jesus, one of the most well-known symbols of the death penalty, is paralleled to the lamb. How appropriate that I should come across such deep symbolism on such a sad day of sacrificial justice. After the museum visit, I ended up making my way to the nearby cemetery for prisoners and those executed whose bodies go unclaimed. I had wanted to take a photograph in the graveyard of the moon rising above the trees. See, Larry had requested tonight for his execution because of the full moon. He believed it made the passing into the afterlife much easier if you died on a full moon night. But unfortunately, it was a cloudy night and the moon could not be seen at all. Now it isnt even noticeable - as if the state snuffed out the moons light as one last mockery in this tragic case. Arriving at the usual gathering spot for the execution vigil brought me the unexpected. Outside those prison walls standing with us were Larrys parents, Ken and Lois. I didnt know that they'd be there and not inside to witness. Apparently Larry didnt want them inside. The events of the evening seem to unfold around Ken and Lois who stood at the yellow police crime scene tape, looking outwardly away from the prison, so as to face the media with the walls of death as their backdrop. It seemed almost as if Ken and Lois were sacrificing themselves this hour to become a photo-op, a set of faces to go along with the story. But I guess in reality theyve sacrificed (like lambs) much of their lives, devoting themselves to stopping Larrys execution and raising support internationally to end the death penalty in the United States. They have become the lambs of the judicial system, the lambs of a cause. And in this hour of horror and pain, Larry too became a lamb, sacrificed for the retribution and repayment of his wrongs to the debt of society. When the clock tower above the doors leading to the death chambers struck 6:00 PM, I witnessed a heart-wrenching thing. I stood no more than ten feet from Ken and Lois at the very minute of their sons execution. We all stood there - helpless. Yet even though the moment had been feared and anticipated for many years, the horror could not have been predicted. I held my eyes on Lois as she clutched a large black and white photograph of Larry and cried a river of tears that never seemed to cease- tears that only a mother could have for a son. I had always been aware of phrase "cycles of victimization," but never before was it so horrifically thrown in my face. I watched 2 parents suffer the agonizing death of a loved one all because a group of other victims had felt that their own pain had to be returned. Larry's crime may have not been returned, but the pain of his victims was replicated in the hearts of Ken and Lois that night. Although tears ran down my face in unison with those around me, I realized that I could never fully understand the immense pain and sorrow that was experienced on that cloudy full moon night (and all nights leading up to it) unless it happened to one of my own family members. But I experienced enough to understand how the death penalty only furthers the horrible pain and personal tragedy that it seeks to prevent. I saw the direct and immediate effects of a sacrifice that was a wasteful taking of another humans life. It was a useless sacrifice that brings no one back to life and does not bring any closure. Instead, it perpetuates the wounds of injustice, loss, and violence in a very premeditated and planned method. That night I gained a glimpse into the souls of those who have lost loved ones to murder. One day this has to stop. The cycle of violence must end. The victimization must cease to perpetuate pain through countless other hearts. I can no longer stand by and watch as killing happens around me, especially killing by the State. No one should kill for me- not in my name. Larry was one more sacrifice that did not need to be made. One more life that need not be lost. For when one person, any person, is sacrificed by our own government, then ultimately justice itself is sacrificed. And when justice is sacrificed, then what can we believe in? (source: Scott Langley, The Raleigh Catholic Worker) FLORIDA: Taped confession plays in Thursday courtroom drama The disembodied voice of the man rattled the length of the courtroom. Rae Hoyer heard it, and she cried. The voice came from a black box sitting on top of a cart near the jury box. It was a tape, recorded more than 4 years ago, of Rodrigus Patten describing how he had killed Hoyer's 57-year-old husband, David. "I took my right hand, and I grabbed him by the neck and, um, you know, I started to strangle him," Patten, 24, told Collier County Sheriff's Office Detective Ray Wilkinson the day after killing Hoyer. "He was so weakened that he, actually, he didn't even try to fight me back." Rae Hoyer has attended just about every second of court since Patten's trial began Tuesday. On Thursday, the jury of 6 men and 6 women heard Patten's confession played on the clunky, obsolete, black tape recorder. And they saw Rae Hoyer cry in fits and starts. Several watched her sob noisily, craning their necks to watch her as they exited the courtroom for the lunch break. Patten of Golden Gate could face the death penalty or life imprisonment if convicted of 1st-degree murder. His attorneys don't deny Patten killed David Hoyer, a Bonita Springs psychiatrist, Jan. 3, 2001, during a mental competency evaluation in an interview room inside the jail. The state rested its case Thursday with the playing of the taped confession. It could blow an enormous hole in Patten's defense - that he's not guilty by reason of insanity. "You know, there's, you got a line," Patten told the detective. "You got right and wrong. You can be right or you can be wrong and, you know, I made that decision in life to just go be wrong." "So this incident of strangling Dr. Hoyer, you knew that was wrong?" Wilkinson asked. "Yes sir. It was very wrong. But, you know, I'm, I figure ... there is a Hell and God is real. We all know God is real but there is some that has chose not to go that way so, therefore, we gonna have to suffer our consequences for the things that we chose to do in life," Patten answered. Jurors will weigh the statement against the validity of Patten's defense - that his schizo-affective disorder prevented him from knowing right from wrong or from appreciating the consequences of killing Hoyer. The statement, in one context, seems to show Patten knew exactly what he was doing. But the defense's main witness, Dr. Alan Waldman, a Gainesville forensic psychiatrist, testified the statement contains plenty of evidence showing Patten was psychotic and killed Hoyer only as a way to please the voice of the devil he heard continuously in his head. Patten had been in the jail since October 2000 on carjacking and kidnapping charges. He had repeatedly complained about his delusions and hallucinations, and he had begged for increased dosages of medication. Instead, the jail medical staff took him off the medicine completely, according to testimony from Vicki Freeman, a mental health counselor in the jail. Waldman testified Patten's relatives had told him he'd had delusions about Satan and had dabbled in Santeria, a religion that combines Catholicism with voodoo. His schizophrenia worsened as he got older and, even though it was treatable, he was misdiagnosed and not cared for properly by the jail medical staff. That led to Hoyer's slaying, with Patten unable to combat Satan's voice in his head ordering him to kill the doctor, Waldman argued. Waldman said the jail staff committed malpractice by failing to adequately treat Patten, pairing Hoyer with a dangerous, undiagnosed, untreated schizophrenic who was not shackled or watched during the interview. And Waldman testified Patten's claims of symptoms are too specific and realistic to be faked by a layman who knows nothing about mental illness or psychiatry. Patten didn't want to kill Hoyer and was afraid of what the devil would do to Patten afterward, Waldman testified. That explains Patten's evasiveness afterward. "He's not a guy who wants to brag about what he did. He's deathly afraid of it. He tried to avoid it and had been complaining to the medical staff, but they didn't do anything. They weren't listening. It's beyond anything I can comprehend," Waldman testified. Waldman said Patten was not sane at the time of the crime. But the doctor boxed himself into a few corners that Assistant State Attorney Dave Scuderi exploited during cross examination. Waldman had testified if Patten had planned to kill Hoyer and wanted to make up an alibi, why would he dream up such specific, grandiose claims about hearing voices and having hallucinations? Patten would just lie and say Hoyer had collapsed on his own, Waldman insisted. But that's exactly what Patten did, Scuderi told Waldman. And it was only after Wilkinson told Patten there was a video camera in the interview room that recorded the attack that Patten came clean the next day. There was no such camera, but Patten didn't know that and asked to speak to Wilkinson the next day to confess. Also, Waldman testified Patten was rambling during two interviews after Hoyer's death. Waldman said Patten's mental illness prevented him from carrying on a coherent train of thought or conversation, and that would have been true around the time he killed Hoyer. But jurors had already heard the 30-minute taped statement to the detective, during which Patten seemed to understand the questions and answer them fully, the day after the slaying. Scuderi also confronted Waldman with Patten's comments about how killing Hoyer was wrong. Waldman deflected that, arguing Patten didn't know it was wrong because he was only listening to the voices in his head and trying to relieve his own suffering by pleasing the devil. Waldman may have damaged his credibility with jurors by quibbling with Hoyer's cause of death. The chief medical examiner who completed the autopsy, Dr. Marta Coburn, testified Hoyer died of manual strangulation. Patten admitted that in his statement. But even though Waldman said he's not a pathologist and wasn't present at the autopsy, he testified he didn't think Hoyer was strangled to death. "I don't know what happened in that room, and neither do you," Waldman told Scuderi. The trial continues in Collier County Circuit Courtroom 2A today, with the end of the defense's case. It's unclear if Patten will testify in his own defense. (source: Naples Daily News) ******************* Vedam indicted for 2nd time Little more than a month after a judge dismissed murder charges against him, a grand jury has indicted Praveen Vedam for a 2nd time in the murder of UF graduate student Sudheer Reddy Satti. Though prosecuting attorneys would not disclose what new evidence has emerged in the case against Vedam, the 18-person jury convened Thursday at the Alachua County Criminal Courthouse to debate the matter. Just after noon, a 1st-degree murder indictment was issued, along with a warrant for Vedams arrest. However, since Judge Robert Cates Dec. 10 dismissal of the initial case, citing insufficient evidence, Vedam, 26, has traveled back to India to be with his ailing father. His attorney, Robert Rush, said he does not know if or when his client will return. "The problem is that he's in India, and we have to cope with that," State Attorney Bill Cervone said. "He may come back, who knows - voluntarily, I mean." If not, the time-consuming extradition process could prove difficult for the State Attorneys Office, Cervone said. "The good thing is that this case relies on things that are not going to disappear, like witnesses, scientific or circumstantial evidence," he said. "So if it took us some period of time to apprehend and extradite him, that would not affect the viability of the case." Rush said he believes the state's case is misguided and questioned whether the prosecution had uncovered new evidence. "I certainly have requested of the state that if they have any new evidence, to let me see what they've got," Rush said. "What do they have thats new? What is it, secret? We don't have secret evidence in the United States - that's what they have in totalitarian countries. So, what evidence do they have? Let's see it because I don't see anything new, and I'm not aware of anything new developing a year after the case was opened." Satti, 24, was found dead Jan. 4, 2004 in his Maguire Village apartment, stabbed more than 30 times. Not 10 days after he helped organize a memorial service for his slain friend and former roommate, Vedam was arrested Jan. 22 for grand theft when University Police discovered Satti's missing Dell Inspiron laptop computer was used at Vedams workplace, Nanoptics Inc. Later, pieces of Satti's computer were recovered within a warehouse near Nanoptics, and its case was found in an air duct at the company with a mixture of blood on it. Some of the blood matched Sattis DNA profile. Vedam was charged with the 1st-degree murder of Satti on Feb. 18. Such charges carry a sentence of either life imprisonment or death. State Attorney's Office spokesman Spencer Mann said that if and when Vedam is tried, prosecutors would not seek the death penalty. But evidence against Vedam always has been circumstantial, Rush said. "Let's get some fundamentals," Rush said. "[In deposition testimony, a UPD officer] said that he was convinced that the person who did the stabbing was left-handed, and Mr. Vedam is right-handed. I would like to know if that was presented to the grand jury." (source: Independent Florida Alligator) CONNECTICUT----impending execution Ross Court Battles Intensify----Urgent Appeals As Date Nears The 1st scheduled execution in Connecticut in nearly 45 years has prompted the state's highest court to schedule its first ever Saturday session, as the legal frenzy over serial killer Michael Ross' imminent execution escalated Thursday. Ross, 45, is scheduled to die by lethal injection minutes after 2:01 a.m. Wednesday. But as of Thursday night, two separate petitions were pending in the state Supreme Court, and the state's public defenders were working on petitions to be filed in federal court today asserting that Ross is mentally incompetent to forgo further appeals and volunteer to be executed. Also Thursday, the state Supreme Court dismissed two new requests by the public defenders - who no longer represent Ross - for a stay of the execution. "I'm surprised all the courts are at such pains to attempt to get these things resolved before the actual execution date," Chief Public Defender Gerard Smyth said Thursday. "There's so much unsettled. It would seem that to do things in a thorough and orderly manner, it would make sense to stay the execution. "Stays of execution are fairly routine around the country when there are still outstanding legal issues to be resolved," Smyth added. The Supreme Court scheduled the extraordinary Saturday session to hear arguments on a petition brought by the Missionary Society of Connecticut. The society claims in its writ of error that a trial judge was wrong Wednesday when he refused to order the state Board of Pardons and Paroles to hold a hearing, at the society's request, on whether to commute Ross' death sentence. Board Chairman Gregory Everett denied the society's request in a letter dated Jan. 6, saying the board would consider applications for clemency only from the condemned killer or his lawyer. Attorney James Wade argued in Superior Court in Hartford this week that the board - formed Oct. 1 to combine the former boards of parole and pardon - has no written regulations or policies. "Allowing the ruling to stand has dire consequences," Wade wrote in his brief filed with the state Supreme Court. "Not only will Mr. Ross die without the benefit of a commutation hearing, but this decision will serve as a dangerous precedent permitting the board to arbitrarily and capriciously engage in ad hoc rulemaking. "If Connecticut is going to enforce the death penalty, the agency exclusively responsible for the final decision on commutation must act in a manner that comports with general principles of administrative law." Under Connecticut law it is the Board of Pardons and Paroles - not the governor - that has the authority to commute a death sentence to life in prison. Only two other death penalty states, Georgia and Idaho, give an administrative agency the power to commute a death sentence. Everett has said the board is not required to have written policies in place. If a request for a commutation hearing is made by Ross or his attorney, Everett said, he will then consider whether to grant such a hearing. Ross signed an affidavit Jan. 9 saying he is not requesting a commutation hearing and does not want one held on his behalf. He is represented by attorney T.R. Paulding, who told Superior Court Judge Robert E. Beach Jr. during Tuesday's hearing that Ross has not wavered. Beach ruled that the Missionary Society - a branch of the United Church of Christ - has no standing to challenge the board's lack of written procedures and dismissed the lawsuit. Wade has said he is prepared to appeal the ruling all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Wade said that absent written rules and procedures, the board's actions are arbitrary and capricious. He argues in his brief that there is a substantial public interest in seeing that the death penalty is carried out in a fair and just manner, and that any "minor inconvenience" occasioned by a stay of the execution "is overwhelmed by the irreparable harm of allowing this ruling to stand - namely, the loss of life without adherence to the law." Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, whose office represents the board, said he is confident the board will prevail and does not believe the court's scheduling of a Saturday session indicates otherwise. "In fact, convening so quickly would tend to indicate the contrary; the court wants to complete its deliberations so they will not force the state to alter the [execution] schedule," Blumenthal said. "The Missionary Society's involvement may be very well-intentioned and well-motivated, but they simply lack standing, which is a legal requirement the Supreme Court has vigorously respected," Blumenthal said. The Rev. Gordon Bates, who focuses on death penalty issues for the United Church of Christ, said he is hopeful the court will stay the execution and examine the issues raised by the Missionary Society. "You can't have a policy without regulations that determine the policy's parameters," Bates said. "This is the last bastion between life and death. If that's not important enough to have it absolutely correct, what is? "This goes to the heart of due process," Bates said. "It's not about whether Michael Ross wants this last component of the justice system to be fair. It's not about what he wants. We're arguing for everyone on death row now and in the years to come." The state Supreme Court also will convene today to hear arguments on whether Ross' father, Dan Ross, and Ross' former public defenders should be allowed to file habeas petitions on Ross' behalf. Habeas petitions are not mandatory appeals. They can be filed in both state and federal court and typically claim that trial lawyers did not adequately represent the convict or make claims of actual innocence. Such petitions sometimes are referred to as "petitions of last resort." Superior Court Judge Stanley T. Fuger Jr. on Jan. 3 refused to permit Dan Ross to act on his son's behalf, ruling that Michael Ross is well aware of his appeal options and is mentally competent to waive them. Attorney Jon Schoenhorn, who represents Dan Ross, says he has a strong argument that no execution should go forward until the completion of an analysis of whether there are racial, ethnic or geographic disparities in the way the death penalty is applied in Connecticut. The state Supreme Court recently directed former Chief Justice Robert Callahan to serve as special master to consolidate any such claims brought by the 6 men now under a sentence of death. Ross has said he wants no part of that litigation, but Schoenhorn argues that may not be his call. "It would be unconscionable to allow a death warrant to be executed when that issue hasn't been decided," Schoenhorn said Thursday. "If that happens, the execution of Michael Ross would have essentially been murder." Fuger in his ruling acknowledged Dan Ross has a stronger case than Michael Ross' former public defenders to intervene and file a habeas petition on his behalf, but concluded that Ross' competency and his representation by private counsel argued against it. Smyth, the state's chief public defender, said his office will file in U.S. District Court in Hartford today appeals of the state Supreme Court's dismissal of its challenges regarding Ross' competence. One federal judge already has issued a strong ruling that Ross is mentally competent, meaning that he understands the legal options still open to him and has made an intelligent, knowing and voluntary decision not to pursue them. On Jan. 10 U.S. District Judge Christopher F. Droney - in a challenge to the lethal injection process brought by Dan Ross and the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut - said the father has no standing to intervene on his son's behalf. "Whatever the wisdom of Michael Ross' decision to forgo additional appeals, that decision standing alone does not suffice to establish his incompetence," Droney wrote. Smyth said he doesn't believe Droney's ruling portends failure for the federal appeals. He said that his office filed more than 150 pages worth of correspondence and affidavits with the state Supreme Court that - notwithstanding the Supreme Court's assessment they did not constitute "meaningful" evidence - make a stronger case that Ross is incompetent. (source: Hartford Courant) *************** Ross execution won't solve state's dilemma In the long and complicated debate over whether Connecticut should execute serial killer Michael Ross, we see one very simple fact: Ross deserves to die. Ross' crimes are ghastly -- he killed eight young women, raping several of them -- and there is no doubt as to his guilt. If, as expected, Ross becomes the first man executed in New England in 45 years next week, his death will come without opposition from most Connecticut leaders, the large majority of the state's residents or Ross himself. Yet while we are utterly horrified at the crimes Michael Ross has committed -- and will feel no sadness at his death -- we do not believe that he should be executed next Wednesday. For some of us, the death penalty is morally unjustifiable no matter the circumstances. But even for many of us who believe capital punishment is sometimes warranted, we contend that Ross' execution next week will only extend a death penalty system that is badly flawed. The brutality of Michael Ross' crimes, and his desire to die, have allowed Connecticut's leaders to brush aside deep concerns about how the death penalty is administered in America. The problems with the death penalty in many states where its use is most frequent -- the possibility of killing an innocent man, or unequal sentencing of criminals on the basis of race or income -- do not apply for Ross, who is white and has admitted his crimes. But the circumstances surrounding Ross' execution, and in particular, his stated desire to go forward with the execution, still raise troubling questions. Because Connecticut law allows death-row inmates to appeal their sentences almost indefinitely, Ross' historic execution will move forward only because Ross wants it to do so. Ross' decision to end his appeals process and instead state his wish to die has naturally put his competence to make such a choice into doubt: Is it ever sane for a man to actively seek his own death? Beyond the issue of Ross' sanity, though, the fact that Ross himself is the driving factor in determining whether he will die means that his case will do virtually nothing to clarify the role of capital punishment in Connecticut. The key question that Connecticut needs to ask, and the one that has been skirted by the state's leaders, is whether executing Ross serves any of the extraordinary purposes that could possibly justify a state's willingness to actively take a human life. The idea that capital punishment deters wrongdoing has long appeared questionable at best, and the experience of the New England states does little to suggest the death penalty is necessary to stop violent crime. And if the death penalty is to be upheld instead for the sake of reserving the most serious punishments for the most despicable acts, or for exacting moral retribution on behalf of the victims, then the fact that Ross' execution accords with his own desires is troubling. For any argument that can be made in favor of the death penalty, Ross' situation poses a grave challenge. Michael Ross' execution, if it proceeds, may prove to be an anomaly in Connecticut history or a sign of changes to come in the state's legal system. Either way, his death will leave the question of when -- and whether -- the state is able to justify the ultimate punishment woefully unanswered. (source: Yale Daily News, Jan. 20) ****************** State To Allow Groups To March During Ross Execution----Ross Scheduled To Be Executed Jan. 26 Death penalty opponents reached a settlement with the state Thursday that will allow demonstrators to march up to the driveway of the Osborn Correctional Institution for Wednesday's planned execution of serial killer Michael Ross. The settlement permits protesters to walk single file up Shaker Road in Enfield and Bilton Road in Somers to within 50 feet of the driveway entrance. ** The 8 murder victims of serial killer Michael Ross: Dzung Ngoc Tu, 25, a Cornell University student, killed May 12, 1981 Paula Perrera, 16, of Wallkill, N.Y., killed March, 1982 Tammy Williams, 17, of Brooklyn, killed Jan. 5, 1982 Debra Smith Taylor, 23, of Griswold, killed June 15, 1982 Robin Stavinksy, 19, of Norwich, killed November, 1983 April Brunias, 14, of Griswold, killed April 22, 1984 Leslie Shelley, 14, of Griswold, killed April 22, 1984 Wendy Baribeault, 17, of Lisbon, killed June 13, 1984 (soure: Associated Press) ** That is about a quarter mile from the gates of the facility where Ross is scheduled to die by lethal injection shortly after 2 a.m. Protesters plan to form a line along the side of the road, holding candles and signs. The state also agreed not to separate death penalty proponents and opponents, according to details of the settlement. In return, the protesters agree not to block traffic, not carry weapons and will refrain from using megaphones or similar devices. "With good will and good faith on both sides, I'm confident this agreement will be workable and successful," said Attorney General Richard Blumenthal. The American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut and other anti-death penalty groups had claimed that the DOC's original plan to establish "protest zones" in fields about 1.7 miles from the execution site violated their constitutional right to free speech. They filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking to gain access to the public roads leading to Osborn. "When you go to church, you do not worship from a parking lot. When you go to witness an execution, you don't stand 1.7 miles away in the most sanitized way possible; you are at the site," said Robert Nave, the head of the Connecticut Network to Abolish the Death Penalty. Ross, 45, has admitted killing eight women in Connecticut and New York during the 1980s and raping most of his victims. He is on death row for the murders of 4 young women in eastern Connecticut. His execution would be the 1st in New England since 1960. Getting access to the historic event has drawn complaints from protesters and the press. The department is allowing 5 media members to view the execution. The remainder of the press corps will be placed at another prison, about 1.5 miles away. After the execution, the witnesses will be bused to a media staging area for a briefing. Correction Department spokesman Brian Garnett said he will then announce Ross' death. He said the execution is expected to take about 15 minutes. The public announcement should go out about 2:30 a.m., he said. "This is as quickly as we can do it so that everyone is given the message at the same time and in an appropriate manner," Garnett said. "What are they waiting to do, get their makeup on for the cameras?" said Frank Keegan, editor of the Connecticut Post. "There is no reason they can't give us a simple 'yes' or 'no.'" Keegan said he won't be able to get the news into any morning papers after 2:15 a.m. Other states handle the public and the media differently. In Texas, where 23 people were executed last year, pro-and anti-death penalty protesters are kept in separate groups about 50 yards from the front door of the Huntsville Unit prison. After emerging from the prison, reporters immediately walk across the street to an administration building to file their stories. In high-profile cases where the number of reporters exceeds the normal five-person media pool, the announcement of the execution is made on the prison grounds at a podium by a prison spokesman before the microphone is turned over to the media witnesses. In Florida, there are up to 12 media witnesses, who are picked up in vans in a pasture across the street from Florida State Prison. They are kept incommunicado until after the execution, when they brought back to the pasture to give their accounts to media who did not attend the execution. In the meantime, the governor's office announces that the execution has occurred. In Missouri, protesters are allowed at a staging area on prison grounds, but several hundred yards away from the building where the executions take place. Media witnesses are allowed to file their stories from a room near the execution chamber immediately after the execution. (source: NBC News) *************** Connecticut and the Death Penalty Connecticut allows the death penalty as an option in the following cases: murder of a public safety or correctional officer murder for pecuniary gain murder committed during the course of a felony murder by a defendant with a previous conviction for intentional murder murder while under a life sentence murder committed during a kidnapping illegal sale of cocaine, methadone or heroin to a person who dies from using these drugs murder during 1st-degree sexual assault multiple murders The sentence is death by lethal injection. Minimum age for death penalty: 18 Executions 1930-1976: 21 Executions since 1977: 0 (source: Court TV) ************************** Connecticut Minimum Age to Receive the Death Penalty: 18 Does Connecticut Forbid the Execution of the Mentally Retarded: Yes Death Row Location: Somers, CT Method of Execution: Lethal Injection Date Death Penalty Was Reenacted after Furman: 10/ 1/ 73 Year of Last Execution: 1960 Does Connecticut Have Life Without Parole: Yes Clemency Process: The Board of Pardons has full authority to grant clemency. The Governor's only authority is his or her ability to grant reprieves. The reprieve is limited to the end of the following session of the general assembly. Capital Offenses: Capital Felony with 9 categories of aggravated homicide. (C.G.S. 53a-54b) Is Felony Murder a Capital Crime: Yes. However, capital felony murder includes only homicides associated with the commission of 3 specific offenses: kidnapping; illegal sale of cocaine, heroin, or methadone; or 1st-degree sexual assalut. (C.G.S. 53a-54b) (Criminal Law Bulletin, "Dimensions of Capital Murder" Acker and Lanier, 1993) Who Decides Sentence: Jury Additional Information: Connecticut Commission Releases Results of State Death Penalty Study The Connecticut Commission on the Death Penalty submitted its report, "Study of the Imposition of the Death Penalty in Connecticut," to the state General Assembly on January 8, 2003. The Commission was created in 2001 by the General Assembly to study the state's capital punishment system and report back with findings and recommendations. The report found racial and geographic disparities in the imposition of Connecticut's death penalty, and called for further study. Among the report's findings are: -86% of the crimes resulting in a death sentence involved a white victim -89% of the 166 capital prosecutions since the state reinstated the death penalty in 1973 came from just 6 judicial districts, and 40% came from Hartford alone. The Commission's report provided legislative recommendations for improving the state's capital punishment system, including: an increase in hourly rates for public defenders in death penalty cases; reinstating proportionality review of each death sentence to ensure that it is not excessive or disproportionate to the sentence imposed in similar cases; video or audio taping of police interrogations and conducting "blind" lineups; mandating pre-trial determinations by capital trial judges to decide the reliability and admissibility of jailhouse informant testimony; preservation of biological evidence; and making DNA testing available to defendants. (State of Connecticut Commission on the Death Penalty, Study Pursuant to Public Act No. 01-151 of the Imposition of the Death Penalty in Connecticut, January 8, 2003).
