Jan. 25 SOUTH CAROLINA: Death sentence overturned for SC man convicted of deadly '01 stabbing The South Carolina Supreme Court has overturned the death sentence of an Anderson man who pleaded guilty in 2001 to fatally stabbing a man. The justices on Monday said Circuit Judge John Kittredge was wrong when he included his own opinion while instructing Denisona Crisp about whether to choose a jury trial or a judge for his death penalty trial. The justices say Kittredge's comments exceeded his authority. The case will be sent back to Circuit Court because Crisp's guilty plea was also overturned. Crisp already is serving a life sentence for a separate murder. Kittredge had sentenced Crisp to death after a 3-day, non-jury hearing. (source: Associated Press) PUERTO RICO----re: federal death penalty Lawyers seek death penalty in Puerto Rico Jury selection began in the trial of 2 men accused of killing a security guard in an armed robbery - a crime that could bring the death penalty even though the U.S. territory outlawed the punishment after its last execution 78 years ago. Lorenzo Catalan Roman and Hernando Medina Villegas are accused of murder in the fatal shooting March 27, 2002, of Gilberto Rodriguez Cabrera, 31, who was delivering money from an armored truck to a bank when gunmen opened fire and killed him. Three alleged accomplices - Quester Sterling Suarez, David Morales Machuca and Pablo Sanchez Rodriguez - will also be tried on charges of armed robbery and conspiring to interfere with interstate commerce but do not face the death penalty. A pool of 250 potential jurors began filling out questionnaires Monday. Among the questions was whether the potential jurors believe in the death penalty and whether they believe Puerto Rico should become a U.S. state, U.S. District Attorney Humbert Garcia said. The Puerto Rico Supreme Court ruled in 2000 the death penalty violated the U.S. territory's constitution but a year later, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston overturned the ruling, saying the island is subject to federal law. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the decision. Congress restored it for certain crimes in 1988. The death penalty has been invoked in more than 60 cases in Puerto Rico since Congress restored it for certain crimes in 1988, and the 1994 Federal Death Penalty Act was passed. Still, the U.S. Attorney-General has only authorized federal prosecutors to seek it twice in Puerto Rico since. In the last death penalty trial last year - the first in more than 75 years - a jury moved to acquit Joel Rivera Alejandro, 25, and Hector Acosta Martinez, 32, who were accused of kidnapping and killing a grocer in 1998. They were transferred from federal custody to another prison, where they are serving long terms for previous convictions. "If the death penalty hadn't been at issue, the jury might have rendered a different verdict," said lawyer Jorge Luis Armenteros, 33, member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. Puerto Rico has not held an execution since 1927, when farmworker Pascual Ramos was hanged for beheading his boss with a machete. The island outlawed the punishment in 1929, and is now among 12 U.S. states and the District of Columbia that do not allow the death penalty. If Catalan Roman and Medina Villegas are convicted and sentenced to death, they will not be executed on the island. U.S. District Court Judge Juan Perez Gimenez will hear the case. The jurors' questionnaires are due Wednesday, and the defense and prosecution will meet Feb. 9 to evaluate the answers. "Puerto Ricans massively reject the death penalty," said Julio Fontanet, president of the Puerto Rico Bar Association, who added the jury would likely render the same decision. Moreover, many Puerto Ricans say it infringes on Puerto Rico's right to self-government. The island's 4 million people are U.S. citizens but have no vote in Congress. But public opinion may be changing as the U.S. territory sees a jump in crime. The homicide rate has risen, and Puerto Ricans have been clamoring for stricter law enforcement and more severe penalties. There were 793 homicides - mostly drug-related - in 2004, surpassing 780 in 2003. It was the highest rate in 8 years. ***************** U.S. will continue to seek death penalty for crimes in PR The U.S. government will continue to recommend the death penalty in Puerto Rico for people convicted of federal crimes to which the punishment applies, the U.S. District Attorney for the island, Humberto Garcia, said Monday. "We are going to continue recommending it, as we are directed by the Justice Department, in all the cases where the death penalty is a possibility. The final decision is made by the United States Secretary of Justice," Garcia said. Federal Judge Juan Perez Gimenez has before his bench a case in which the death penalty has been requested by Lorenzo Catalan Roman and Hernando Medina Villegas, who allegedly killed a private security guard during an assault in March 2002. (source for both: Associated Press) NORTH CAROLINA: Law student says race a factor in death sentence Paul Cummings appeared calm as his family sat behind him in a New Hanover County courtroom Monday. His lawyers called several people to the stand, hoping to prove that race played a role in his death sentence. If they can prove their case, Cummings sentence could be overturned. Cummings was convicted in August 2004 for killing Jane Head in 2002. He later admitted to the murder, but claimed he was drunk and on drugs at the time of the killing. The new motion to have the case thrown out stems from a discussion during a death penalty class at Duke Law School in September. A student in the class, Stephanie Bradford, took the stand Monday. She says her classmate, Jeremy Eicher, told the class he asked the case's prosecutor, Ben David, during his internship why David didn't let Cummings plead guilty in exchange for life in prison. Bradford says Eicher told the class David responded by saying that he wanted to look fair, and that he couldn't not seek the death penalty against Cummings, who looks white, but is a Lumbee Indian, because he planned to seek death against Curtis Dixon, the man accused of killing UNC-Wilmington student Jessica Faulkner, who was black. Bradford broke down on the stand as she told Judge Jerry Cash Martin she was confident about what Eicher said in class. Ben David, who is now the District Attorney, says race had nothing to do with his decision. He plans to take the stand Tuesday and give his side of the story. As for Cummings, when the hearing is over, he'll be sent back to Central Prison in Raleigh. That is until Judge Martin, who also presided in his death penalty trial, makes a decision. (source: Associated Press)
