Jan. 26 TEXAS: Rangers' role at crime lab stirs debate----City and state officials disagree on scope of the external review Houston officials and state lawmakers may have agreed that the Texas Rangers should oversee investigations of problems at the police crime lab, but differences lingered Tuesday over the scope of their involvement. The state Department of Public Safety indicated that - at the request of Police Chief Harold Hurtt - the Rangers would limit their role to supervising the cataloging of thousands of pieces of improperly stored evidence found last year in the Police Department property room. But state Sens. John Whitmire and Tommy Williams, who Monday urged Hurtt to immediately bring in an external investigator, said the Rangers should be able to examine any aspect of the lab. "They need to do whatever it takes to do a true and independent review and audit of the Houston crime lab to bring credibility to the forensics being conducted by HPD," said Whitmire, D-Houston. The Police Department's forensic work has been under scrutiny for more than two years, during which errors in analyses from several lab divisions, including DNA, ballistics and serology, have been exposed. HPD officials declined to comment on the Rangers' specific role, but Hurtt is expected to address the issue today. DPS officials indicated details of the Rangers' role had not yet been worked out. Williams said overseeing the effort to inventory the 280 boxes of mislabeled evidence should be the first, but not the only, task for the Rangers. That work has been going on since August without outside supervision. "The first thing is to get them in there and get our arms around the problem," said Williams, R-The Woodlands. "My top priority is that we get someone in there who can vouch for what's going on." Hurtt had not planned to bring in outside investigators until April, after completing a months-long process to hire a "project leader" to guide efforts to address the crime lab problems and regain public confidence in its forensic work. A spokesman said Tuesday that Hurtt still intends to hire an outside investigator this spring. Meanwhile, critics of the crime lab - and of investigations into its problems - welcomed the Rangers' involvement, saying scrutiny from outsiders is essential. "People who are really interested in solving the problem have been stymied at every turn by the fact that HPD and the (Harris County District Attorney's) Office have controlled all of the information and every aspect of the investigation," said David Dow, director of the Texas Innocence Network. The network, which includes law, journalism and criminal justice students from several universities, investigates cases in which people may have been wrongly convicted. "This is a very important 1st step in extracting control from the agencies who are basically responsible," said Dow, a professor at the University of Houston Law Center. He acknowledged, however, that there are limits to what the Rangers can accomplish, since they are not forensic scientists. The Rangers are a division of the DPS but are separate from the state's crime labs, which themselves have had problems with DNA analysis. Williams said he thinks the Rangers are well-equipped to study HPD's problems. "This is the state's most elite and best investigative team," Williams said. "They have credibility." (source: Houston Chronicle) ********************** Police nab man charged in the death of his girlfriend's baby A 20-year-old man accused of killing his girlfriend's 1-year-old daughter was arrested on the East Side on Tuesday afternoon, 4 days after police charged him with capital murder. Acting on a tip, police arrested Robert Hernandez at a Deluxe Inn in the 3300 block of Interstate 35 North, police spokeswoman Sandy Gutierrez said. Hernandez is being held on $1 million bond. Hernandez was walking down the stairs from a 2nd-floor suite rented by another man when police nabbed him, Gutierrez said. The other man's name has not been released, but Gutierrez said he faces a criminal charge alleging he played a role in trying to prevent Hernandez's arrest. Police suspect Hernandez caused the injuries that killed 1-year-old Clarissa Ramos, who died at University Hospital on Jan. 12 from severe head injuries suffered a day earlier. Doctors diagnosed swelling of the brain, dehydration and bleeding in the baby's eyes, according to an arrest affidavit. She was unresponsive and not breathing when paramedics responding to a 911 call about an injured child arrived at Kathy Drive. The girl's skin had a bluish tint, her forehead was bruised and her body temperature was about 10 degrees below normal, the affidavit said. One doctor told investigators the baby had been dehydrated for about 24 hours. Hernandez gave police 3 explanations for the child's injuries, the affidavit said. Initially, he said he was working in the back yard with her mother, Sindy Riojas, when the baby fell out of a playpen in the bedroom. They ran into the house after hearing a thump and found the girl lying on the floor, he told police. The affidavit said Hernandez later told police the baby had fallen from a high chair, then said he had been throwing her into the air and failed to catch her, causing her to crash onto the tile floor. Doctors said none of those stories is consistent with the injuries the baby suffered, the affidavit noted. It also said he was the only adult home when the baby was injured. (source: San Antonio Express-News) NORTH CAROLINA: Death penalty moratorium back before N.C. lawmakers Proposals to put executions on hold and use a state-run lottery to help fund education are again on the table for state lawmakers, among the 1st bills introduced Wednesday as the General Assembly convened its 2005 session. The bills were among several introduced in the House, while the Senate will consider measures that include a ban on the sale of violent or sexually explicit video games to minors. A bill to put executions on hold for 2 years while the fairness of the death penalty is studied (was introduced). The Senate approved a moratorium bill in 2002, but the measure has stalled in the House. In the 2003-04 session, Republican Co-speaker Richard Morgan opposed the idea, and he and Democratic Co-speaker Jim Black agreed not to take up the subject. But speaking Wednesday after he was elected sole speaker, Black signaled his readiness to bring the issue to the floor, saying he believes "we need to review and reform our death penalty laws and protocols." "He more or less said we should have a hearing on it," the bill's sponsor, Rep. Paul Miller, D-Durham, said. "I think there's also support in the House to at least bring the issue up to a vote, and I think we have bipartisan support." Miller, like Black in his speech, noted a number of recent cases in which people awaiting execution have seen their sentences or convictions overturned. >From 1973 to last October, 117 death row inmates have been exonerated in 25 states, including 5 in North Carolina, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. The most recent in this state was Alan Gell, who was freed in February after a jury hearing his murder case a second time decided he was innocent. He had won a new trial after a judge said prosecutors illegally withheld evidence. Those cases have raised questions about whether capital case defendants are fairly represented and tried, or whether race plays a part in their trial or sentencing. "Even last session, there would have been a good chance for passage (of a moratorium bill), it's just that we didn't get to that point," Miller said. "Even if you are for the death penalty, the last thing you are for is for the wrong person to be executed." (source: Associated Press) OHIO: The American dream that died in a cell waiting for execution Kenny Richey left Edinburgh for the United States on Christmas Eve 1982, a skinny, fresh-faced teenager, filled with dreams of starting a new life with his American father, Jim. By the time I visited him on death row in Ohio in the summer of 2000 - after he had already spent 13 years waiting for the state to execute him - he was barely recognisable from the photos Id seen in the fading newspaper clippings. The trademark moustache was still there, but his frame was bloated and heavy. He looked utterly exhausted, his skin was extremely pale and blotchy, his eyes were red-rimmed. He walked slowly, his gait hampered by the shackles he was forced to wear throughout the interview. He had made an effort to spruce himself up, though, and smelled strongly of aftershave. I was there to discuss his case, and to ask him what really happened on the night the state prosecutors said he had started the fire which caused the death of 2-year-old Cynthia Collins. At first, Kenny obliged, and painted a picture of wild parties, drinking and drug-taking which did not reflect well on anyone involved in the events leading up to the fire - including him. But his steadfast refusal to admit guilt - even though he was offered a plea bargain which would have reduced his sentence to 11 years - never once wavered. It became obvious Kenny had his own agenda for the interview, though. Visits on death row were a rarity; visits from 2 young women from his home town even more so. Not surprisingly, he wanted to chat, and to flirt - and some of the jokes he made about the handcuffs he wore certainly made me and our photographer blush. It was undeniable Kenny had retained what he described as his "Scottish sense of humour," but the deep bitterness he felt towards the US authorities was a constant theme. "I heard about America, a great country and all the rest of it, but its nothing of the sort," he told me. "It's not a great country, it's a poxy country. I don't want to be bloody American no more." To survive death row and the constant battles to prove his innocence, Kenny has clung to every shred of his Scottish identity. He clearly liked the fact that the other death row inmates called him "Scottie." His accent was pure Sean Connery - with the odd American vowel thrown in - and he made himself a tartan hat. He said the old prison he could see from his cell reminded him of Edinburgh Castle, and he told me he wanted to tour Scotland taking photos for a book on castles, lighting them up with halogen lamps. "It's my idea - dinnae take it," he joked. Following the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals decision yesterday, there is no doubt that the first thing on Kennys mind will be getting back to Scotland on the first available flight. He will be desperate to see his mother Eileen, who still lives in Edinburgh, and his fiancee, Karen Torley, from Cambuslang, who has spent the best part of a decade fighting for his release. There is no doubt that his love and gratitude towards Karen are genuine and heart-felt. Few people outside his immediate family have been prepared to endure this exhausting fight for justice, and no one else has done so much to keep his dreams of freedom alive. When I asked him what he would have done without Karen, his answer came in a single word: "Died." But the reality is that Kenny is now 40 and has been incarcerated for most of his adult life. It is stating the obvious to say he can never recapture those lost years. Whether he can prevent the past from wrecking his future remains to be seen, but one thing is sure - he wont want to let the state of Ohio win. (source: Axis of Logic) CALIFORNIA: Convicted murderer Scott Peterson's formal sentencing hearing has been delayed until March 11 to give his defense team more time to prepare. A San Mateo County jury recommended Dec. 13 that Peterson be executed for murdering his wife, Laci, and the couple's unborn child. Judge Alfred Delucchi still has to formally sentence the 32-year-old former Modesto salesman. The original sentencing date was Feb. 25. But Peterson's attorneys, Mark Geragos and Pat Harris, told the judge last week that they needed more time to prepare a motion for a new trial and a request to save their client from capital punishment. (source: San Francisco Chronicle) ***************** The Witness -- "And tonight, my brothers and sisters, we add one Donald Jay Beardslee." OVERHEARD BY JOHN MECKLIN On Jan. 18 I went with my father to the protest against convicted murderer Donald Beardslee's execution at San Quentin. Because the roads leading to the prison had been closed, we had to walk about a mile from the parking area to the gates, where we joined about 400 demonstrators waiting in the biting cold. At the front of the crowd there was a stage and a microphone, and, behind them, 4 blinding lights shone from inside the prison fence. The small sea of people looked like a hazy mass of silhouetted heads, obscured by the mist and the refracted fluorescent light. I could barely make out the guest speakers, but because a 4-foot-tall electronic speaker stood right next to my head, I could hear them just fine. Lecture topics included compassion, forgiveness, human hearts, and Martin Luther King Jr., whose birthday had been celebrated the day before; the odd agitator yelled, "What about the victims?" P> First there was Laura Griffin, 54. Beardslee killed her in 1969. He served nearly 20 years in prison before a team of experts reviewed his case, read about what a model inmate he'd been, and deemed him fit for the real world once more. They freed him on parole -- and 4 years later he killed again. It was 1981, and his new victims were Stacey Benjamin, 19, and Patty Geddling, 23. This time the state sentenced Beardslee to die. "It's a sad thing," mused my father, a vehement opponent to the death penalty, "but if you kill someone you should just be put away on a shelf somewhere, no second chances. What was he doing out?" Surrounding us were many sniffling people. I was sniffling, too, for it was cold and my nose was running, but others were clearly crying. A man suggested, "Let us pray now for our brother Donald." "This is ridiculous," my father muttered. "Do these people feel really sorry for him? That's just not the point." He frowned and blew into his cold hands. "He's a bad man and should be locked in a cell for the rest of his life. We're not supposed to feel sorry for him." But righteousness thundered from the speakers. One man prophesied that some day soon compassion would tumble down the mountainsides like rushing floodwater. Another spoke tremulously of the Valley of the Shadow of Death. I tried to imagine how Beardslee must have felt just then, walking down the halls of death row, in the famous and shadowy Valley. I wanted to think of Beardslee's pain, to be as bighearted as the somber people around me. An upwelling of "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" crawled through the dense crowd. Surely this would do it, I thought, surely now my heart would melt. There were no harmonies, though, and too many singers were off-key. As a rabbi thundered on about justice and the soul, my supper climbed up my throat. In due time, midnight arrived. A woman next to me began to weep. Donald Beardslee was dying. A long moment of silence began; even the agitators hushed up. The warden was supposed to come out and tell us when Beardslee was dead so that everyone could go home, but the silence stretched on. Ten past midnight, a quarter past. We held fast. Some were stoic; many sobbed. The wind off the bay picked up by the minute. 20 past, 25 past, half past -- and then word arrived. "We've just been told," a woman said though the giant speaker, "that Donald Beardslee was pronounced dead at 12:24 a.m." A grave and quiet murmur rustled through the crowd. My father and I turned toward each other and shrugged slightly. As we ambled through the darkness to our car, a man's voice behind us spoke the names, one by one, of all the people ever executed by the state of California. "And tonight, my brothers and sisters, we add one Donald Jay Beardslee." (source: San Francisco Weekly)
