Jan. 28 NEW MEXICO: Florida prisoner, Catholic bishops lobby for death penalty repeal Juan Melendez spent 17 years on Florida's death row. With the present and the future lost to him, he dwelled on what was good from the past - and on his faith. "You put yourself in the hands of God the best you can, and you grow in faith," Melendez said Thursday. Melendez attended a news conference featuring New Mexico's three Roman Catholic bishops, who urged lawmakers and Gov. Bill Richardson to abolish the death penalty. "We are unconditionally pro-life," said Archbishop Michael Sheehan, who endorsed the alternative of a life sentence without parole. New Mexico, one of 38 states with capital punishment, has had a death penalty since before it was a state; county sheriffs hanged criminals in territorial times. The 1st state execution was in 1933, and since then nine men have been killed. The most recent, after a lull of 41 years, was child-killer Terry Clark in 2001. Sheehan said that was a "sad day." "I think there was kind of a pall that hung over the state with the news ... about the execution of that man," the archbishop said. Sheehan called Melendez an "eloquent witness" to the inhumanity of capital punishment and the potential for executing innocent people. Melendez walked out of prison in January 2002 after 17 years, eight months and one day. His conviction for the 1983 killing of a cosmetology school owner had been overturned by a judge who said prosecutors withheld evidence and jurors never heard testimony about another man who admitted to the murder. Melendez, born in New York and raised in Puerto Rico, said he spends his time lobbying against the death penalty and counseling young farm workers in Puerto Rico to keep them out of trouble. "I have no time for hate," he said. Bishop Ricardo Ramirez of Las Cruces said the quality of advocacy in the courtroom for those who can't afford the best lawyers is problematic. "It's the poor, it's the minorities, that wind up on death row," Ramirez said. Sheehan, Ramirez and Bishop Donald Pelotte of Gallup met Thursday with the Democratic governor, a longtime backer of capital punishment. A spokesman for Richardson, Gilbert Gallegos, reiterated after the meeting that the governor "supports the death penalty with proper safeguards." Sheehan, however, appeared to hold out hope that the governor would change his mind. The archbishop said Richardson "wants to hear all of the arguments and he wants to see what happens in the Legislature. But I think he has moved more towards being open to what we're talking about." A repeal bill is slated for introduction in the House next week that would redirect death penalty resources to victims' services. There are 2 men currently on New Mexico's death row, Timothy Allen of Bloomfield and Robert Fry of Farmington. (source: Associated Press) ALABAMA: Jury convicts son in parents slaying A jury found a 29-year-old man guilty of capital murder Thursday in the slayings of his parents in their Monroe County home during an argument over the family vehicle and his drug abuse. The guilty verdict for Timothy Jason Jones came at about 2 p.m. after about an hour of jury deliberation. His trial was held in Birmingham because of publicity in Monroeville where his father was a prominent physician. Jones asked the court to sentence him to death during a sentencing hearing after his conviction. "I'm a monster," Jones said. "I deserve to die." The jury later Thursday recommended the death penalty with a 10-2 vote. The sentencing date was set for March 10. Prosecutors played an 80-minute taped statement for jurors in which Jones described the killings. A metal pipe and a knife were used in the slayings of Dr. Tim Jones and his wife, Nancy Jones. Jones' attorney, Dennis Knizley of Mobile, contends his client, who pleaded not guilty, is mentally ill and incapable of planning such a crime. In his statement, Jones said he struck his father in the head several times, then went inside to the bedroom of his mother and struck her repeatedly in the head on Jan. 29, 2004 He said he went back outside and stabbed his father until his heart stopped, then went inside to stab his mother. When the knife wouldn't enter her chest, he said, "I had to cut her jugular." He said he killed them to end their suffering after he had made their lives miserable because of his drug abuse. The defense called only two witnesses - 2 psychologists who testified that Jones had a troubled past and had been overindulged by his parents. They testified that his problems began when his parents told him at age 9 he was adopted. He soon began acting out at school, and began drinking alcohol stolen from his parents. By the time he was 11, he was smoking marijuana. Soon, he was smoking crack cocaine. He quit school by the age of 16, and entered more than a dozen drug and alcohol treatment programs across the country and one in Australia, the witnesses said. Both testified that Jones has a 7-year-old daughter and an infant daughter born since his arrest. District Attorney Tommy Chapman of Evergreen said the murders occurred when Jones wanted to use a family-owned sport utility vehicle, but his parents wouldn't allow it. Jones later crashed his mother's Mercedes-Benz near Russellville on the day of the killings after traveling to pick up his girlfriend in Muscle Shoals. He was captured in a police chase. In closing testimony, one psychologist, Tom Bennett of Mobile, testified that Jones was "psychologically disturbed for a number of years" and was developmentally arrested in adolescence or younger. Bennett said Jason Jones had difficulties weighing the "criminality of his actions and the consequences." A second psychologist, Steve Van Rosen of Mobile, said Jason Jones used many illegal drugs. "You name it, he's tried it," said Van Rosen, who said the defendant was competent to stand trial, waive his rights and make a statement. Van Rosen diagnosed Jones as having a personality disorder. (source: Associated Press) OHIO: Richey: My anger over the lost years Kenny Richey spoke for the 1st time last night of how he was finally looking forward to returning home to Scotland to fulfil the dreams he has been denied during 18 years on death row. The life he feared would end in the death chamber has now taken on fresh meaning, he said, after a federal appeal court in the United States overturned his conviction and sentence for the murder of two-year-old Cynthia Collins. "At last its over - well, almost over. Its been a living hell," he said, speaking exclusively to The Scotsman from Mansfield Correctional Institution in Ohio, where he has been imprisoned since 1986. "Im all right. Im going through mixed emotions right now. On one hand Im happy that I got the decision that I did, but on the other hand Im extremely angry that its taken so long and extremely angry that Ive lost so much of my life. "One of the first things I plan on doing is lying on the grass at night and watching the stars. Ive not done that in years. I plan on opening my own pub - I dont want to get a lot of drinking in, I just miss being in one. "And the 1st meal I want is haggis. Ive not had haggis in 21 years since I came to America." Richey, 40, is now awaiting word from state prosecutors on whether they will appeal against the ruling that overturned his conviction and sentence, a move that would delay the prospect of his release for months if not years. Alternatively, they could take the case to a retrial or offer a plea bargain under which he would be pressured to admit to a lesser charge in order to win instant freedom. "There probably will be an offer, but Im not taking it. Even if it was the only way of getting out, I wouldnt take it. Its a matter of honour," said Richey, who has always pleaded his innocence and has previously turned down a plea deal that could have secured his release years ago. "They offered it then and they can offer it now, but bargainings off - no bargains, no deals, no nothing." Instead, he wants prosecutors to take him back to court for a whole new trial - a move that he says will clear him once and for all for lack of evidence. "I want it to go to a retrial, Id like that," he said. "Then I can walk, because we have the evidence that proves my innocence." In the ruling handed down by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday, Richeys original trial lawyer, William Kluge, was criticised for having conducted a deeply flawed defence that compromised Richeys right to a fair trial. "Richey was clearly prejudiced by his attorneys deficiencies," the ruling stated. Reacting to the ruling last night, Richey said: "Personally, I think the bloody guy was a moron. I wondered if he was just working for the prosecution." He added: "Finally, I got the decision I want. I was expecting the appeals judges to perhaps overturn part of the sentence on a particular issue and give me 15 years to life, but they went way beyond my expectations." As to when he is finally released, subject to further legal moves, he looks forward to thanking those who helped him, including anti-death penalty advocates and lawyers including Ken Parsigian, who has worked pro bono on the case for 12 years. "I will be campaigning against the death penalty when I get out. And I have to pay tribute to my attorneys - they have done a fantastic job. "Without them Id be dead, Id have been executed. I couldnt have asked for a better job. Its nice to have the support I have had and it would have been incredibly disheartening without it. "But life will never be normal. Its beyond getting back to normal. This has affected all my family - my dad, my mum, whos been on her own for the last 18 years. I was supposed to be with her and they took that away from me. "If you are found not guilty and cleared, you get $30,000 [16,000] per year for as many years as you have been in prison. But $30,000 wouldnt be compensation for even a month of what I have been put through - not even $30 million would. Money cant make up for what Ive lost." The Scot, who has joint British-US citizenship, left this country in 1983 at the age of 18 to go and live with his father in Ohio. In June 1986, shortly before he was due to return home to take up a job as a nightclub bouncer in Edinburgh, he was arrested and accused of setting fire to the home of Hope Collins, his former girlfriend, in Columbus, Ohio. But the case against Richey - that he had climbed over a shed, into a flat and set fire to it - was flawed from the start. Richey had broken his hand a week earlier and it was in a plaster cast. He was also seen by a witness as he collapsed drunk in some bushes nearby, and so could not have committed the crime, his supporters claim. (source: The Scotsman) ***************** Son of longtime death row inmate may meet his father Sean Richey never had much hope of getting to know his father, a former Marine sent to Ohio's death row after a murder conviction 2 decades ago. But when the 19-year-old answered a knock on the door at his home Thursday, he was shocked to learn he might get that chance. Reporters told him that Kenneth T. Richey's conviction had been thrown out, and they wanted to know what he thought about it. "This is nuts," Sean Richey said, shaking his dark mop of hair. "This isn't something that happens every day." Kenneth Richey, 40, was put on death row in 1986 and stayed there until Tuesday, when the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned his conviction and sentence. He had been convicted of starting a fire that killed a 2-year-old girl, but the 3-member appeals panel ruled that he received a shoddy defense. A lower court was directed to order a retrial for Richey within 90 days or set him free. The elder Richey, who has dual U.S.-British citizenship, became something of a celebrity in Great Britain, where two documentaries that questioned his guilt were made. British citizens wrote thousands of letters protesting his conviction. Celebrity activists, even Pope John Paul II, supported his cause. "I didn't know how big this case was," Sean Richey said. "Susan Sarandon and all of these celebrities and the Pope? Oh, my God!" Sean Richey says he knew little about his father and nothing about the stir his case has made around the world. His mother, Wendy Richey, mostly shielded him from any information, he said, though he does remember reading one or two letters from his dad. Wendy Richey wasn't home Thursday afternoon and didn't immediately return a request to call The Associated Press. Sean Richey showed reporters a photograph of a man he said was Kenneth Richey while in the Marines and confirmed that he was his son. Richey said he always wondered about his father but never wrote back. "I wanted to write to him," said Richey, relaxing at his mother's rambler in jeans and a black sweatshirt. Lighting a cigarette, he said, "But what do you say to someone you've never met?" Sean Richey has had some scrapes with the law - including a conviction for assault - and he never graduated from Brainerd High School. He has plans to finish high school and then go to college, he said. Meeting his father might help him understand his own behavior, he said. His father left when he was just 4 months old. "That would fill an empty spot," he said. "Things haven't been the easiest because of that." It was too early to say how he would reach his father or when, Richey said, but he's determined that the 2 would meet. Sean Richey has a young daughter his father has never met. "I'm scared, kind of, of what kind of person he is, and what that makes me," he said. "But intrigued, too, to know him." Kenneth Richey has said he did not start the fire that killed the Ohio girl. Prosecutors claim the fire was intended to kill Richey's ex-girlfriend. Asked whether he thought his father was guilty, Sean Richey said: "I hope not." "19 years on death row is enough time for anybody to repent for what they did or didn't do," he said. (source: Associated Press) PENNSYLVANIA: Retrial sought in Altoona double homicide case----Defense wants charges dropped Getting the mistrial was considerably easier than what comes next -- trying to win dismissal of 2 homicide charges. William Darwin Thompson, 23, faces the death penalty if convicted of killing an elderly Altoona couple in March 2002. Raymond Bracken, 83, and his wife, Marjorie, 81, were found stabbed to death in their Spruce Avenue home on March 20, 2002. Prosecutors charged Thompson, claiming that he killed the couple to obtain money for drugs. His trial began Monday. On Tuesday, in an unexpected turn of events, Thompson won a mistrial after it was discovered that an FBI agent's administrative report from Raymond Bracken's autopsy was never turned over to the district attorney, and therefore never given to Thompson's defense attorney, Steven P. Passarello. More than that, though, the report contained information alluding to wounds on Raymond Bracken's back that were not consistent with the knife blade found at the scene and believed to be the murder weapon. The FBI agent also wrote in his report that the possibility of another weapon could indicate a second attacker. Passarello read the report in court Tuesday and immediately asked Blair County Judge Hiram Carpenter III for a mistrial. The judge granted it, and the jury, brought in from Cumberland County to hear the case, was sent home. The case, in just its 2nd day, was over. "They've chosen to ignore that evidence in their zeal to prosecute this gentleman," said Passarello. The information in the report, and the fact that it was never turned over, Passarello believes, proves prosecutorial misconduct, which could be grounds for dismissal of the charges against Thompson. The defense will seek to have the charges dropped based on double jeopardy laws, which provide that a person cannot be tried twice for the same crime. The defense attorney plans to present his arguments at a hearing scheduled for Feb. 10 in Hollidaysburg. But District Attorney Dave Gorman believes the issue is being blown out of proportion. He said it was a simple mistake that the agent never turned in his report to the district attorney, and the information contained in it is wrong anyway. "I don't believe there's any basis for any type of prosecutorial misconduct," Gorman said. "It was an inadvertent oversight." Gorman contends there was never talk of a second attacker and that the wounds on Raymond Bracken's back were not stab wounds, but abrasions. Blair County Coroner Patricia Ross and Gorman believe they were caused by the heating grate in the floor where Raymond Bracken was found. They claim that the assailant stomped on the victim's chest -- he had some broken ribs -- slamming him into the grate, which caused the impressions on his back. The autopsy report on Raymond Bracken clearly states that all of the stab wounds were consistent with the paring-knife found at the scene, Gorman said. He believes the agent misheard a conversation at the autopsy regarding the abrasions -- not the stab wounds. There was discussion that the abrasions may have been caused by the knife's handle after the blade broke off, Gorman said. Gorman hopes to prevail at February's hearing and that Thompson will be brought back to trial on the homicide charges. "We are all very frustrated and disappointed with the turn of events," Gorman said. "Justice has not been served." Jeff Killeen, the supervisory special agent for the FBI's Pittsburgh division, said his office is looking into what happened with the report. "We will do what we can to move this case forward," Killeen said. Pittsburgh defense attorney Anthony M. Mariani said that for Passarello to succeed with a motion to dismiss the charges with prejudice, he must first prove that the newly discovered information is exculpatory, and 2nd, that the prosecution purposely withheld it. Mariani doesn't think that will happen in this case. Even the possibility of a 2nd weapon or suspect does not necessarily absolve Thompson, Mariani said. According to the prosecution, police found Raymond Bracken's ring, checkbook and telephone at the house of Thomspon's girlfriend. They also claim Thompson's blood was found at the scene, and that blood from the Brackens was found on Thompson's jacket. Mariani called what happened with the agent's report a misunderstanding. "It happens sometimes. It's nobody's fault." (source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) *************** Abraham To Kick Off D.A. Campaign Veteran prosecutor Lynne Abraham will formally kick off her campaign Monday for a 4th full term as Philadelphias district attorney. The tough-talking Democrat was appointed the citys top prosecutor in 1991. She was unopposed in her 1st election in 1993, defeated Republican defense attorney Jack McMahon in 1997 by a 3-to-1 margin and won another landslide victory in 2001. Her official re-election announcement at City Hall is expected to be attended by many of the citys top Democrats, and her longtime supporters include Mayor John Street and Gov. Ed Rendell. Abraham is expected to face at least one opponent in the Democratic primaryformer prosecutor Seth Williams. Known for her vigorous support of the death penalty and her willingness to publicly criticize judges she views as soft on crime, Abraham was a judge for 15 years before becoming district attorney in 1991. (source: Associated Press)
