March 16 SOUTH CAROLINA: Psychiatrist disputes Allen a schizophrenic A Charleston psychiatrist has challenged defense experts who said convicted killer Quincy Allen suffers from schizophrenia. Testimony in the sentencing phase of Allens capital murder trial continued Tuesday. Dr. James Ballenger, a Charleston psychiatrist, told a local judge that Allens actions leading up to the summer of 2002 showed characteristics of a serial killer compared to someone with schizophrenia. Allen has already pleaded guilty for a 2002 crime spree in Richland County in which two people were killed. Two more were killed in North Carolina while Allen was on the run from South Carolina authorities. Earlier, a prison expert testified that Allens personal safety and potential harm to himself might be a concern if the 25-year-old received a life sentence. (source: The State) OKLAHOMA: Slaughter's execution brings victims' family relief Convicted murderer Jimmie Ray Slaughter was executed Tuesday, still insisting with his last breaths he was innocent. Slaughter, 57, of Guthrie died at 6:19 p.m. of a lethal injection of three drugs at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary. "I have been accused of murder, and it's not true," he said from the gurney, blinking rapidly. "It was a lie from the beginning. God knows it's true. My children who were with me know it's true. And you people will know it's true someday. May God have mercy on your souls." His execution attracted more media attention than most because of the brutality of his murders and his repeated claims that he was not responsible for the deaths of his former girlfriend and their baby. However, few protesters showed up in the rain outside the prison. Slaughter was the 158th person executed in Oklahoma since 1915 and the 1st this year. Slaughter was convicted of murdering Melody Wuertz, 29, and Jessica Rae Wuertz, 11 months, on July 2, 1991, in Edmond. Prosecutors said Slaughter, then a married nurse, killed them because he was being sued for child support. Both victims were shot in the head inside their home. The killer also slashed Melody Wuertz's sexual organs with a knife and carved symbols into her stomach. "That's just nothing but pure evil, period," said Oklahoma County District Attorney Wes Lane, who witnessed the execution. Slaughter and Melody Wuertz had worked at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Oklahoma City. After the execution, the family of the victims shared with the media their memories of the 2 and said Slaughter had brought his fate on himself. "This is the end of a long nightmare," said Wesley Wuertz, the brother of Melody Wuertz. "What he got tonight was justice ... the result I think of the guidance of God Himself," said Wesley Wuertz, a part-time minister from Kentucky. "Now he's told his last lie. Now he's used and abused his last victim." Melody Wuertz's mother, Susie Wuertz, of Indiana, said her daughter was an independent woman who overcame epilepsy. Of Slaughter, Susie Wuertz said, "He was the predator, and she was the prey." Slaughter said he was a Christian, but acquaintances said he had talked of beliefs in witchcraft and satanism. "He said, 'A demon, a demon told me to do it. ... She was threatening to ruin my marriage," a fellow inmate, Dennis Hull, testified at his 1994 trial. "I'm prepared. My soul is in no jeopardy whatsoever," Slaughter said in an interview March 1. Slaughter said he was shopping with his wife and two daughters in Topeka, Kan., at the time of the murders. He blamed another lover for the murders, saying she was jealous. He said a new kind of scientific testing - brain fingerprinting - proved his innocence. He said the test showed he had no knowledge of "salient facts" about the crime scene. Prosecutors Tuesday called brain fingerprinting "nonsense" and "snake oil." The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals last week said, "We reject the assertion that brain fingerprinting 'evidence' ... is entitled to any weight or may have somehow tipped the scales if it had been presented to the jury." In the interview March 1, Slaughter said, "It takes a while for people to catch on to new ideas ... new concepts." Slaughter was executed Tuesday after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against him. He lost Monday at the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which said: "Although Slaughter contends otherwise, the evidence of his involvement in the murders was overwhelming." His 3 daughters, a son-in-law and a female friend watched from a witness room as he was executed. The daughters sobbed as he turned his head to them and said, "I love you," and "I'll see you soon." He also mouthed, "It's OK," and "Bye." Watching with the victims' family was Richard Wintory, the lead prosecutor at Slaughter's trial, who now lives in Arizona. "It's taken a long time to bring him to the night he's going to face justice. ... I wasn't going to miss the final step." (source: The Oklahoman) NEW YORK: Extra helping of political stumping at V.I.D. forum An unequivocal position against the death penalty helped Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau score points against a serious opponent, Leslie Crocker Snyder, a former Criminal Court judge, at a candidates forum sponsored by Village Independent Democrats last Thursday at St. Luke in the Field School in the West Village. The forum, part of a V.I.D. general membership meeting that drew an estimated 75 people, presented candidates competing for the City Council District 2 seat being vacated by Councilmember Margarita Lopez and those seeking the citywide public advocate position. Morgenthau, who has held his position since 1974, called the death penalty "immoral because the state shouldnt take a life," adding that he had always held that belief. The distinctive characteristic of the death penalty, he added, was that "it is irreversible," and that some of those facing capital punishment do not receive "quality representation" so errors could be made. Snyder insisted the death penalty was "not an issue in this campaign" since it is currently unconstitutional in New York State and would remain so, she believed. She would not, she added, recommend reinstatement of the death penalty should there be a move to do so, but if it were reinstated, she would consider capital punishment for the most heinous crimes. This last comment prompted the only outburst of the evening when a man in the back of the room shouted: "Would you put the needle in yourself?" Snyder ignored the brief interruption. Snyder, making one of the most serious runs against Morgenthau in many years, offered a slight tweaking of the octogenarian Morgenthau by campaigning to be "a Manhattan District Attorney for the 21st century." Attractive and articulate, she stressed the need to reform the Rockefeller drug laws, to control gang activity in schools and housing projects, to oppose laws "skewed against women" and to promote greater sharing of intelligence information among law enforcement agencies at every level of government in the fight against terrorism. Morgenthau boasted about having reduced murders in Manhattan - "from 648 [the year] I began to 91 last year." He pledged a stronger effort against domestic violence, which has "steadily escalated," and said he would work to make "cyber-stalking" a felony. (source: The Villager) INDIANA: No justice for all without funding Our position is: Congress should fund law to help reduce DNA backlog and improve errors in capital cases. A law passed last year to improve the odds against wrongful convictions will be meaningless unless Congress authorizes the money to fund it. So far, that's no certainty. The Justice for All Act was designed to help states clear a backlog of cases awaiting DNA testing, help crime labs become more efficient and improve the training of defense lawyers and prosecutors in capital cases. It also authorizes money for victims' assistance programs over the next 5 years and pushes states to pass victims' rights laws. President Bush signed the legislation in October, but his support has been difficult to gauge. He plugged the need to increase training for defense lawyers and prosecutors in this year's State of the Union address, but the White House has pushed a proposal that would spend only $50 million over three years to do it. That's far from what the Justice for All Act intended. The law authorized $25 million over five years to help states pay for post-conviction DNA testing; $75 million a year was promised to states that implement minimum standards for the appointment of prosecutors and defense counsel in capital cases, a requirement Indiana has already met. The act also provides $151 million a year over 5 years to reduce the backlog of more than 300,000 rape kits and other crime-scene evidence awaiting analysis. Former Gov. Joseph Kernan granted clemency to 2 death row inmates last year because he found serious errors in their cases. A study by the Columbia University School of Law determined that Indiana had an overall error rate of 75 % in capital cases. Fairness and justice demand that states improve reversible mistakes in capital cases. The Justice for All Act would do just that. (source: Editorial, Indianapolis Star)
