March 1 TENNESSEE: UT death penalty opponents celebrate Supreme Court decision, continue vigil A group of death penalty foes gathered Tuesday night near the University of Tennessee campus in part to celebrate but also to continue their efforts to abolish state killing in the Volunteer State. The celebration centered around the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to outlaw the death penalty for people under the age of 18. While the celebration was subdued - the group sipped java at the Golden Roast coffee shop - participants were zealous in their disdain for the death penalty. "If we can accept this kind of violence, that it's OK to kill, then we can accept anything," said Eric Johnson, a local Presbyterian minister. The group penned dozens of letters against the death penalty addressed to state elected officials, including Gov. Phil Bredesen. The letters call for the state to take a temporary reprieve from the death penalty and for a separate group to study capital punishment in Tennessee. "We would like a time-out for the death penalty in Tennessee," Lo Presser said. Presser, a UT sociology professor, argues the death penalty is inherently biased and unjust. "If your victim is white, you're far more likely to be sentenced to the death penalty," she said. However, even within a group adamantly opposed to state killing, there appears the same inner conflict and self doubt that others feel when debating capital punishment. "I've had to fight myself emotionally to not be for it," said Knoxville attorney Jessica Johnson. "But it seems the state should not be in the business of killing. We should not be playing God." (source: Knoxville News-Sentinel) ARIZONA: Supreme Court strikes down death penalty for juveniles The U-S Supreme Court ruled today that the Constitution forbids the execution of killers who were under 18 when they committed their crimes. The ruling affects about 70 juvenile murderers, including four on Arizona's death row. They include Martin Soto Fong, Levi Jackson, Kenneth Laird and Tonatihu Aguilar. The state Attorney General's Office says all 5 will be given new sentencing hearings before a judge. (source: Associated Press) VIRGINIA: Teen sniper no longer faces death penalty The U.S. Supreme Court ruling Tuesday barring the execution of juvenile killers means Lee Boyd Malvo can no longer face the death penalty for his role in the 2002 Washington sniper case or other slayings around the country. Malvo, who was 17 at the time of the shootings, has already been convicted and sentenced to life in prison without parole for two of the murders. Prosecutors had planned to try him in other jurisdictions in hopes of obtaining a death sentence. However, Prince William County Commonwealth's Attorney Paul Ebert said that in light of the ruling, he would not pursue another conviction against Malvo. "I see no need to go to the expense and the trouble," Ebert said. Malvo also faced the possibility of a death sentence in Alabama and Louisiana, where he and accomplice John Allen Muhammad are charged with other slayings. In Louisiana, East Baton Rouge District Attorney Doug Moreau said his office would still seek to prosecute Malvo for the slaying of Hong Im Ballenger, who was gunned down in Baton Rouge in the weeks before the sniper spree. "Obviously, we can't seek the death penalty," Moreau said. In Alabama, Montgomery County District Attorney Ellen Brooks said she still plans to prosecute Malvo in the 2002 slaying of a liquor store manager. "I'm just waiting my turn," she said. Muhammad is already on death row in Virginia. Malvo was convicted in Fairfax County in 2003 of murdering FBI analyst Linda Franklin in one of the 10 sniper killings over a 3-week span in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. In October, Malvo pleaded guilty to a slaying in Spotsylvania County; prosecutors agreed in return not to pursue the death penalty there. He was given another life sentence. Virginia had been chosen to prosecute Malvo first because it permitted the death penalty for 17-year-olds, while Maryland did not. The ruling Tuesday also means that Malvo, now 20, is free to give a full account of his crimes without fear of additional punishment. His lawyers have hinted that Malvo might be willing to come clean if the death penalty were no longer an option. Cheryll Witz, whose father was fatally shot on an Arizona golf course in 2002, hopes Malvo will now confess to that crime. Malvo and Muhammad have long been suspects in the slaying of Jerry Taylor, but authorities have not charged the pair for lack of evidence. "I want him to say if he killed my father," Witz said in a telephone interview. "Until you have a definitive answer, you don't have closure." (source: Associated Press) ALABAMA: List of 13 Alabama inmates whose death sentence was vacated Alabama inmates whose death sentence was vacated by Supreme Court ruling Tuesday banning the execution of juvenile murderers: -Renaldo Adams, who was 17 when he raped and stabbed a pregnant Montgomery County woman to death in 1997. -James Willis Bonds, who was 16 when he and an accomplice robbed and murdered a Houston County man, beating his face repeatedly with a blunt weapon before shooting him in the head at close range in 1999. -Timothy Charles Davis, who was 17 when he sodomized and stabbed to death a 68-year-old woman at her Coosa County store in 1979. -Mark Anthony Duke, who was 16 when he shot his father, his father's fiance, and cut the throats of her 2 daughters at their Shelby County home with the help of a 19-year-old friend in 1997. -Trace Duncan and Kenneth Loggins, who were both 17 when they picked up a hitchhiker in Jefferson County and beat her to death by kicking her multiple times in 1994. Her body was mutilated and her fingers cut off for souvenirs. -Gary Hart, who was 16 when he murdered a man while robbing a Mobile County seafood restaurant 1989. -James Matthew Hyde, who was 17 when he killed Detective Andy Whitten of the Albertville Police Department in 1995. -William Thomas Knotts, who was 17 when he escaped from a youth detention facility, broke into a house and shot a Montgomery County woman in front of her 2-year-old child in 1989. -Marcus Pressley, who was 17 when he killed a Jefferson County convenience store clerk in May 1996 and then murdered 2 Shelby County pawn shop employees in July 1996. -Nathan Slaton, who was 17 when he raped, strangled and shot a Marshall County woman in 1987. -Shaber Wimberly, who was 17 when he killed a Dale County couple during a burglary by shooting them at close range in the head in 1997. -Gregory Wynn, who was 17 when, in retaliation for being fired from a Calhoun County fastfood restaurant, he killed a woman by beating her with a mop some 40 times in 1998. Wynn kept her teeth as a souvenir. Information from: The Alabama Attorney General's Office, The Death Penalty Information Center. (source: Associated Press)
