April 11 TEXAS: Texas people smuggler faces death penalty again A truck driver convicted last month for his role in the deaths of 19 illegal immigrants he was smuggling across Texas in a sweltering trailer will face the death penalty again in a new trial, prosecutors said today. A jury found Tyrone Williams, 34, guilty of transporting illegal immigrants but deadlocked on 20 other charges that could have sent him to the death chamber in the deadliest United States immigrant-smuggling tragedy. In a hearing today, prosecutors told US District Judge Vanessa Gilmore they will retry Williams on a conspiracy charge that could result in lethal injection. Government lawyers have not decided whether to ask Judge Gilmore to retry Williams, himself an immigrant from Jamaica, on 19 other counts that also could carry a death sentence. Williams was convicted on those counts last month but jurors did not answer questions about Williams' level of responsibility that could have sent him to death row. Judge Gilmore told prosecutors she considered the matter closed, meaning Williams faced no more than 20 years for each of the 38 counts on which he was convicted. But she invited prosecutors to try changing her mind with legal briefs. Williams picked up at least 75 immigrants near the US-Mexico border and abandoned them in the sweltering trailer of his truck in Victoria, Texas, 144km southwest of Houston. He was paid $US7500 ($NZ10,517) to make the trip. The dead succumbed to asphyxiation and hyperthermia. The truck had a refrigeration unit that was not turned on, and survivors told the jury the desperate immigrants tried to tear holes in the truck and knocked out the back lights to signal their distress to other drivers. Williams abandoned the immigrants when he discovered they were dying, according to testimony in the trial. 3 accused co-conspirators are scheduled for trial on October 17. If prosecutors decide to pursue the death penalty against them, Judge Gilmore said Williams will join them. If Williams remains the only one among 14 defendants to face death, his trial is set for December 5. (source: World News Story) ********************** Bill would allow more lawyers to argue capital cases ----HB 268 removes provisions that require court-appointed lawyers to have direct capital experience A bill passed by the Texas House last week that would change standards for court-appointed attorneys in capital cases is drawing debate as it makes its way through the Senate. House Bill 268, authored by Rep. Terry Keel, R-Austin, evoked criticism from the American Civil Liberties Union, the Texas Defender Service and the Equal Justice Center because it removes the provisions that require court-appointed lawyers to have direct experience in arguing capital cases. Currently, lawyers must have been appointed as a second-chair defender in one capital trial before they can be eligible to lead. Keel's bill would expand the pool of eligible lawyers to include former capital prosecutors. Keel defended the bill by citing the many other qualifications added to the list by the bill, including previous involvement in jury selection for a death penalty case. The bill would also bar lawyers who had been found to have provided ineffective assistance by a federal or state court from being appointed to defense. "Right now we have a system where the best possible attorneys are not being appointed," Keel said. "The standards allow ineffective and inexperienced lawyers and exclude better-qualified lawyers, such as briefing lawyers in appellate cases and former prosecutors who appoint capital juries." John Niland of the Texas Defender Service, a non-profit law firm that specifically handles capital cases for those who cannot afford attorneys, said expanding the pool of eligible lawyers was an unnecessary move by Keel, calling capital defense a complicated processes that was best met with experience. "More lawyers doesn't necessarily mean better lawyers," he said. Keel dismissed the Texas Defender Service as a handful of lawyers trying to keep the pool small in order to protect their own interests. "Their lawyers have not done a good job, and they know that," Keel said. Some critics of the bill have also raised concerns because HB 268 could potentially qualify Texas for a fast-track appeals system under the 1996 federal Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act. Under the act, if a state "provides standards of competency for the appointment" of appellate attorneys, as Keel's bill does, the state could qualify for special procedures that include shortening the time allowed for filing an appeal from a year to 6 months. Keel dismissed the claims, saying the same critics who are accusing the bill of lowering standards for indigent defense are claiming it would apply such high standards that Texas would qualify for this federal statute. If the bill is adopted by the Texas Senate, Keel said the qualifications for state-appointed capital and appellate lawyers would be the strongest in the nation. Still, Niland said he feels that the bill would hurt indigent defense in the state. "There is a trend among many to try and maximize the death verdicts and reduce the time between conviction and execution," he said. "I can't imagine what their motives can be, because they can't be good." (source: The Daily Texan) ****************************** Mom accused of killing baby she said rolled off bed A southwest Houston woman has been charged with capital murder in the death last month of her 6-month-old son from injuries consistent with "shaken baby syndrome," officials said. An arrest warrant was issued for Shantia Jackson, 23, whose son, Jalen, was pronounced dead March 8 at Memorial Hermann Southwest Hospital. Capital murder charges may be filed if the victim is under 6 years old at the time of death. Investigators also questioned Jackson's husband about the child's death, but he was not charged. "She was the one who was with the baby," said Estella Olguin with Child Protective Services. "He was not at the house at the time it was happening." Jackson told police her son rolled off the bed and hit a nightstand at their apartment in the 8800 block of Boone. Though she said Jalen was gasping for breath after the accident, she telephoned her mother and husband before calling for help, according to the criminal complaint filed against her. During an autopsy the next day, a Harris County medical examiner detected broken blood vessels in the child's eyes, a fractured vertebrae and skull hemorrhages. The boy's death was ruled a homicide caused by blunt force trauma to his head and neck. He "could not have suffered these injuries by falling off a bed or by hitting his head on a nightstand," the affidavit stated. Olguin said the symptoms were consistent with victims of shaken baby syndrome. Police said Jackson gave differing accounts of what happened inside the apartment to firefighters at the scene and to homicide detectives. Jackson told detectives Jalen was taking a nap on her bed and fell to the floor while she was in the bathroom. However, she told a paramedic that the child fell while she was checking on his brother in another room, according to the affidavit. CPS officials took custody of the child's older brothers, ages 6 and 1. "They are still with their paternal grandparents," Olguin said Sunday. (source: Houston Chronicle) USA: Death penalty use does not make sense Would you trust your life to a system that is only accurate 89 percent of the time? Well, many states across the country do, including Indiana. Every day, we entrust matters of life and death to a capital punishment system that rightly convicts only eight out of every nine people. This propensity toward error is one of the reasons why the capital punishment system in this country is broken and needs to be abolished. My arguments on this matter deal not with morals, but with facts. I realize that by using moral arguments, I'm no more likely to convince someone that "eye-for-an-eye" justice is repulsive than someone is to convince me that punishing murderers with state-sanctioned murder is acceptable. I believe I have a better chance of changing minds through evidence and education. The death penalty has a record of error in this nation. An 89-percent success rate might be enough for a B+ in class, but is unacceptable when dealing with human life. It is human nature to make mistakes and the judicial system, though highly deliberative, still makes many errors. Since 1973, 117 men have been exonerated from death row after false convictions. Imagine if the irreversible punishment had already been applied before these mistakes were discovered. Secondly, the death penalty is enormously costly. Most people would find it surprising to learn that life imprisonment is actually cheaper than the death penalty. Sure, the state must pay room and board for many years, but those fees are actually nothing compared to the court costs and legal fees that come with specialized capital trials and mandatory appeals. A 2002 report from the Indiana Criminal Law Study Commission found that the costs of maintaining Indiana's death penalty system exceed the projected costs of maintaining a life-without-parole system by 38 %. Instead of raising taxes, Mitch Daniels should pay for a new Colts stadium by abolishing the death penalty. The death penalty also lacks a necessary component of punishment -- a deterrent effect. Of course no one wants to die, but that does not mean that people stop committing capital crimes in order to avoid death. The vast majority of homicides are committed during the "heat of the moment" and are sometimes referred to as "crimes of passion." Often, drugs or alcohol are involved. In either scenario, the criminal's mind is not acting in a logical manner and, therefore, the criminal is not concerned with the consequences of his or her actions. In fact, states without the death penalty have lower homicide rates than states with capital punishment. In my opinion, life imprisonment without the possibility of parole is a much more attractive option. Maximum security prisons are no cakewalk. I cannot comprehend having to sit in a small cell for 23 hours a day for the rest of my life with no other inmate contact. Any thought that this option is letting the criminals off easy is ridiculous. My final point is this: Last year, 97 % of all worldwide executions were done in China, Iran, Vietnam and the United States. At least we're in good company. Related Sites http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news/press/16034.shtml Bedau, Hugo Adam. "The Case Against the Death Penalty." The American Civil Liberties Union (1997). Facts About the Death Penalty. 25 Dec. 2003. Death Penalty Information (source: The Ball Street Daily News - Steve Nawara is a junior political science major and writes 'The sensible southpaw' for the Daily News. His views do not necessarily agree with those of the newspaper) IDAHO: 2nd man goes on trial in execution-style killing A second man is on trial for the execution-style killing of a Caldwell teenager in the desert south of Boise. Robroy Wall is on trial for 1st-degree murder. He is accused of killing Zachariah Street in May 2003. 18-year-old Zachariah Street was shot to death in May of 2003. Ada County prosecuting attorney Pat Owen says the killing was orchestrated by 3 men that the victim considered friends. Owen says one of those men was 24-year-old Robroy Wall, Jr. He is charged with 1st-degree murder. Prosecutors say Wall fired the shot that ultimately killed Street, a crime he allegedly confessed to. "This defendant, Robroy Wall, Jr. was a willing and enthusiastic participant in the senseless murder of Zach Street," said Owen. "Robroy Wall never intended to kill Zach Street, never intended that he be murdered. That was a decision carried out by Jason and Jason alone," The defense attorney is referring to Jason McDermott, who was convicted last month of 1st-degree murder in the Street killing. Wall's attorney confirms his client did shoot Street, but only because he feared McDermott would kill him if he didn't. The 3rd man involved, 17-year-old Daniel Hosford, pleaded guilty to 2nd-degree murder in exchange for his testimony against McDermott and Wall. (source: KTVB News) ILLINOIS/GEORGIA: Block shows film raising criminal rights concerns After hosting several events for the Chicago International Documentary Film Festival, Block Cinema screened the last 4 films on Friday night. Narrated by musician Ani DiFranco, "Fighting for Life in the Death-Belt," was one of those films. The documentary follows legendary, anti-death penalty lawyer Stephen Bright as he tries to save Wallace Fugate, a convicted murder. Bright and his staff from the Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta were followed by a crew of filmmakers for about 6 weeks in the summer of 2002. Fugate admitted he had shot his wife during a domestic dispute, but claimed it was an accident. The film documents how Bright, along with Center lawyer Sanjay Chhablani, an assistant law professor at the College of Law at Syracuse University, tried to save Fugate -- who received a day-and-half trial and 27-minute sentencing hearing. Co-director Adam Elend, 28, said the film is different from others because it documents the story of someone who is factually guilty, but not given a fair trial. "A lot of people have spent a lot of time on the greater moral issue of the death penalty," Elend said. "But we wanted to focus on the injustices of the process." The film also was screened on Saturday in in Chicago. Bright, Former Gov. George Ryan, administrators from NU's School of Law's Center on Wrongful Convictions, and some of Illinois' exonerated attended. Despite Illinois' active death penalty reform movement, most activists still believe the capital punishment system is flawed. Since the death penalty was reinstated in 1979, 18 of the 289 people sentenced to death were exonerated. A moratorium on the death penalty established in 2000 remains in effect. The Center on Wrongful Convictions is nationally recognized, as is the Southern Center for Human Rights. NU's Center has been involved with exonerating 30 individuals, including 11 from death row. In January the Center on Wrongful Convictions represented three of the four Chicago men pardoned by Gov. Rod Blagojevich after were exonerated with the help of Northwestern law professors and DNA testing. The co-directors of the film, Adam Elend and Jeff Marks, discussed their movie and answered questions after the documentary to a crowd of 25 where Marks, 33, said that in the Southern states, death penalty cases are routine. "There are definitely those states who love (the death-penalty) and want to keep it," Marks said. Weinberg junior Ellen Stolar said she came to the viewing because she is interested in the justice system and documentaries. The fusion of the 2 provided her an opportunity to learn more, Stolar said. "I came to see how selfless the people who work in such agencies are," Stolar said. The documentary was introduced by Dan Fields, Communications junior, who is a projectionist coordinator at Block Cinema. "It's part of showing things you couldn't see normally," he said. (source: The Daily Northwestern)
