April 21 PENNSYLVANIA: PA Governor Rendell Signs Execution Warrant Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell today signed a warrant for the execution by lethal injection of Joseph Carmen D'Amato of Philadelphia County. D'Amato's execution is scheduled for Thursday, June 16. On February 9, 1983, D'Amato was convicted of 1 count of 1st-degree murder and sentenced to die for shooting Anthony Patrone whom D'Amato feared intended to betray him in an insurance fraud scheme. D'Amato was formally sentenced to death on July 25, 1984. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court affirmed his death sentence on May 22, 1987. In March 1989, D'Amato filed a pro se petition for post-conviction relief. During the next 10 years, he filed 3 amended post-conviction relief petitions, as well as a habeas corpus petition. Habeas relief was denied on June 24, 1996. A warrant was first issued on July 13, 1999. The execution was stayed by the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County pending the resolution of post-conviction proceedings, which had been pending in that court for more than ten years. Post-conviction relief was denied on February 14, 2001, and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court affirmed that decision on March 29, 2005, thereby lifting the stay. D'Amato, 54, is an inmate at the State Correctional Institution at Greene. Governor Rendell has now signed 35 death warrants. CONTACT: Nina Tinari, Pennsylvania Office of the Governor, +1-717-783-1116. (source: Pennsylvania Office of the Governor) NORTH CAROLINA----possible military death sentence Guilty Verdict Could Mean Death Penalty For Akbar A military jury on Thursday afternoon convicted an Army sergeant of murder in a grenade and rifle attack on his comrades 2 years ago in Kuwait. The 15-member panel deliberated for less than 3 hours before returning the unanimous first-degree murder and attempted murder verdicts against Sgt. Hasan Akbar. He now faces a possible death sentence when the sentencing phase of the court-martial takes place next Monday. Akbar, who celebrated his 34th birthday on Thursday, showed no emotion when the verdicts were read. His parents were also in the courtroom and likewise displayed little emotion. Akbar was charged with killing 2 officers and injuring 14 others in a March, 22, 2003, attack on members of the 101st Airborne Division stationed in Kuwait shortly before the beginning of the war in Iraq. Authorities said he rolled four grenades into the tents of sleeping soldiers and then opened fire on them in the ensuing chaos. Army Capt. Christopher Scott Seifert was killed by the grenade blast, and Air Force Maj. Gregory Stone was shot in the back during the attack. Although Akbar admitted to the attack, his lawyers maintained it wasn't planned out. They said he had suffered from mental illness for years, was under extreme stress while deployed and was the subject of numerous racial taunts from fellow soldiers because he is a black Muslim. "This was not a well thought out, premeditated plan. He was running on fear and emotion," defense attorney Maj. Dan Brookhart told jurors in his closing argument Thursday morning. But prosecutors said Akbar sought "maximum carnage of his fellow soldiers" during the attack. During closing arguments, the prosecution displayed two entries from the soldier's diary on a large-screen television in the courtroom. "I may not have killed any Muslims, but being in the Army is the same thing," he wrote on Feb. 2, 2003. 2 days later, he wrote of U.S. troops, "As soon as I am in Iraq, I am going to kill as many of them as possible." (source: NBC News) OHIO: State to appeal ruling throwing out death sentence The state will appeal a federal court decision that threw out the conviction and death sentence of a man with dual U.S.-British citizenship found guilty of killing a 2-year-old girl in an apartment fire. Attorney General Jim Petro said the evidence supports the conviction of Kenneth Richey in the 1986 death of Cynthia Collins. Petro wants the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to delay its decision overturning Richey's conviction while he appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court. The high court traditionally hears very few appeals of this sort. Prosecutors say Richey intended to kill his ex-girlfriend but ended up killing the child in the fire in the northwest Ohio town of Columbus Grove. Richey maintained he did not start the fire, although he acknowledged being so intoxicated that night that he did not remember everything that happened. The federal appeals court on April 15 affirmed a panel's 2-1 decision from January that Richey received incompetent legal counsel at his trial. The judges ordered Ohio to retry Richey within 90 days or release him. The case has received wide attention in Great Britain, where filmmakers produced two documentaries questioning Richey's guilt. British citizens and politicians wrote thousands of letters to news organizations and government offices to protest his conviction. Petro's petition contains no overriding reason for the court to hear the case, said Ken Parsigan, Richey's attorney. (source: Associated Press) IOWA: Death penalty will be part of sex abuse law debate Iowa lawmakers say they'll provide up to 8 million dollars more to enhance the state's efforts in treating and monitoring sex offenders. In addition, Senator Larry McKibben says he'll insist on a death penalty debate next week when the 50-member Senate considers legislation designed to get tough on those who commit sex crimes. "I think if you polled Iowans...by a strong majority they'd tell us to have the debate," McKibben says. But Mike Gronstal, a Democrat from Council Bluffs who is Co-Leader of the Senate, has said he'll block McKibben's attempt to debate the death penalty. "I guess what I'm asking him to do and what I hope Iowans ask Senator Gronstal...to do is allow us to have a debate and a discussion on this," McKibben says. McKibben will propose a very limited death penalty for those convicted of 2 serious felonies -- one of which must involve the murder of a child. "I have not had one person tell me that we shouldn't be pushing for a debate on the death penalty for child killers in this state," McKibben says. As for the spending connected to tougher laws for those who commit sex crimes, Senator Bob Dvorsky, a Democrat from Iowa City, says legislators have their eyes wide open and realize getting tough on sexual predators will cost the state money. "We're not only going to talk the talk but walk the walk and put the money in there and the resources that are needed," Dvorsky says. Senator Keith Kreiman, a Democrat from Bloomfield, says legislators are committed to ensuring sexual predators sentenced to prison go through a treatment program. "The better the treatment, the more effective the treatment, then frankly, the fewer victims," Kreiman says. The discussion on the sex offender bill came today (Thursday) during a Senate subcommittee meeting. Senator Chuck Larson, a Republican from Cedar Rapids, says a task force will be formed to review Iowa's sex offender treatment program, the Sex Offender Registry and other related matters. "It's a very, very difficult subject and the committee has been extremely cautious in how we've approached these issues because the fact of the matter is if it's not drafted properly, legal loopholes can be created that would result in the whole law being struck down," Larson says. (source: Radio Iowa) FLORIDA: Gay Killers Death Penalty Upheld----Florida says murderers sexuality relevant to his premeditated killing of another gay man The Florida Supreme Court has unanimously rejected the final possible state appeal of a death sentence for Donald W. Dufour, a gay man convicted by a jury in the cold-blooded murder of another gay man in the course of a robbery in 1982. Among the claims rejected by the court was Dufours contention that his case was prejudiced by the prosecutions introduction of evidence about his homosexuality. The courts decision, in a case that has lingered for more than 20 years, was not attributed to any individual justice. The courts April 14 decision relates that the trial evidence included testimony by Stacey Sigler, Dufours "former girlfriend," that he told her in September 1982 that he intended to "find a homosexual, rob and kill him," and then he asked her to drop him off at a nearby bar and wait for him to call. "About one hour later," writes the court, "appellant called Sigler and asked her to meet him at his brothers home. Upon her arrival, appellant was going through the trunk of a car she did not recognize, and wearing new jewelry. Both the car and the jewelry belonged to the victim." According to evidence offered by the prosecution, Dufour met the victim in the bar, drove with him to a nearby orange grove, robbed him and shot him twice, once in the back of the head and, "from very close range, through the back." Dufour told Sigler that he had killed a man and left him in an orange grove. 2 other prosecution witnesses, apparently members of a gang with whom Dufour associated, described by the court as his "close associates," testified that Dufour told them he had shot a "homosexual from Tennessee in an orange grove with a .25 automatic and taken his car." Dufour was convicted by a jury 2 decades ago, and in the penalty hearing, evidence that Dufour had been convicted of first-degree murder once before in Mississippi, had been a heavy drug and alcohol abuser since childhood, had a sexually abusive father and an older brother who was gay and was himself sexually attracted to men was presented. Psychiatric testimony marked him as having anti-social behavior, showing little signs of a conscience and having average intelligence. The court-appointed psychiatrist found him mentally competent at the time of the offense and during his trial. Dufours homosexuality became an issue since the main witness against him, Sigler, testified that he was specifically seeking out a gay man to rob and murder that night. During the penalty phase, Dufours straight brother, Gary, testified that Dufour had been "exposed to homosexuality by his brother George." George refused to cooperate with Dufours trial lawyer or have anything to do with the defense, but Gary testified that Donald Dufour was gay, and another "close associate" testified that he "liked guys." Dufour was sentenced to death and exhausted his direct appeals, but raised a variety of new claims and won the right to a post-conviction evidentiary hearing. Gary, his gay brother, finally testified on this occasion, and described the alcoholism of their father and his violent episodes, Donalds own problems with alcohol and drugs as well as his "homosexual lifestyle." The court found that this testimony merely duplicated Garys testimony and didnt change the state of the record. In appealing this ruling, Dufour argued to the Florida Supreme Court that the testimony about his homosexuality prejudiced the case against him, but the court did not buy the argument, noting that much of it was introduced by his own defense witnesses and that the overwhelming evidence against him made it unlikely that prejudicial testimony had changed the outcome. Florida courts, like those in most states, will entertain the argument that prosecution attempts to use a defendants sexuality to undermine his credibility or suggest that he has a criminal character are unfairly prejudicial. However, the courts also recognize that evidence about homosexuality can be "relevant to establish state of mind and motive." The court found that, in light of Siglers testimony, "testimony pertaining to Dufours homosexuality was thus relevant to demonstrate motive or his state of mind at the time of the murder, and it was not directed to illuminate his character or propensity to engage in criminal conduct." Dufour has one last shot at trying to get the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene in his case, but that seems most unlikely in light of the Florida courts thorough and lengthy opinion. (source: Gay City News) CALIFORNIA: Condemned inmate, portrayed as Charles Manson, gets off death row A federal appeals court on Thursday overturned the death sentence of a man who killed a Riverside convenience store clerk in 1981, ruling a defense attorney doomed his client to death row by comparing him to Charles Manson. When jurors were considering whether to recommend a life or death sentence after convicting Richard Boyde, his attorney argued that Boyde's misdeeds, like Manson's, were a result of having been raised in California's jails and prisons. Attorney Malcolm MacMillan told Boyde's jury that he was struck by a scene in the movie "Helter Skelter," when Manson informed his jury "I'm a child of your prisons." MacMillan then told jurors that Boyde "to a certain extent, is a child of your institutions." Judge Alex Kozinski, a President Reagan appointee and one of the court's more conservative members, was flabbergasted by that defense. "It is difficult to conceive of any possible justification for referring to a notorious mass murderer in trying to persuade the jury to spare Boyde's life," Kozinski wrote for the unanimous 3-judge panel. In 1971, Manson and three female followers were convicted in Los Angeles of murder and conspiracy in the 1969 slayings of 7 people, including actress Sharon Tate. MacMillan, an Upland private attorney who was the Riverside public defender at the time, said "Hindsight is 20-20." "Clearly, the argument could have been made without mentioning him, but I was making the argument that my client was the product of the prison system," MacMillan added. Boyde's appellate attorney, Robert Darby, said the case was an extreme example of ineffective assistance of counsel. "Given the fact that Judge Kozinski is fairly conservative, the fact that he felt it was so egregious as he did says it all," Darby said. State prosecutors declined comment on whether they would appeal, saying the decision was under review. Boyde, who had been in and out of jail for robberies and assaults since his youth, was convicted of murdering Dicki Lee Gibson, an Arlington High School wrestling and football coach who was clerking at a 7-Eleven store Boyde robbed. Boyde and his nephew kidnapped Gibson and killed him in a nearby orange grove after taking $33 from the cash register. Boyde claimed his nephew, Carl Ellison, pulled the trigger. Ellison testified against Boyde and is serving a life term. The appeals court's decision upholds Boyde's conviction and commutes his death sentence to life without parole. If the decision stands, Riverside County prosecutors have the option of retrying Boyde with a new jury in an effort to put the 48-year-old back on death row. A spokeswoman for Grover Trask II, the Riverside County district attorney, was not immediately prepared to comment. The appeals court also said MacMillan failed to adequately represent Boyde because he did not inform jurors during the penalty phase that Boyde was routinely beaten by his parents who were sexually molesting his sisters. "The jury may well have had sympathy for Boyde because of his damaged childhood," Kozinski wrote. The case is Boyde v. Brown, 02-99008. (source: Associated Press)
