death penalty news May 2, 2005
KANSAS --- possible federal trial: Cheever death penalty deadline set A 23-year-old man charged in connection with the death of Greenwood County's sheriff in January of this year was back in U.S. District Court Thursday. A scheduling conference for Scott Cheever of Virgil was held before U.S. District Judge Monti Belot. Cheever is among six people who have been charged in connection with the Jan. 19 shooting death of Matt Samuels. Jim Cross, public affairs officer for the U.S. Attorney's Office, said a scheduling conference takes place before a judge and involves attorneys for both the defense and prosecution. Cross said attorneys and a judge will discuss how a case is going to be scheduled, what legal procedures will occur when and the deadlines which will be applied for the various matters which need t be taken up. On March 9 a federal grand jury returned indictments against a total of six people in connection with the Samuels case. The six were originally charged in Greenwood County District Court. Samuels, 42, who had been sworn into his second four-year term of office on Jan. 10, died nine days later in a shooting which occurred in the small community of Hilltop, about 6 miles northwest of Virgil in northeast Greenwood County. He and two deputies were attempting to serve warrants on an individual at a rural residence in Hilltop. Cheever faces the possibility of the federal death penalty in connection with the charges which have been filed against him. It will ultimately be up to the U.S. Attorney General to decide if the federal death penalty should be sought. Cheever has been charged with one count each of murder while using a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime; murder of a witness to prevent the witness from communicating to law enforcement authorities that the defendant was committing a drug trafficking crime; conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine; attempting to manufacture methamphetamine; and establishing an operation to manufacture methamphetamine. He has also been charged with two counts each of using and discharging a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and with illegally possessing a firearm after a conviction on a felony charge. At Thursday's hearing, Cross said, Belot said he wanted to know by June 30 whether federal prosecutors will be seeking the death penalty for Cheever. At this point, he said, prosecutors are waiting for the capital crimes unit of the U.S. Department of Justice to complete its process before determining whether the federal death penalty will be sought. Perhaps within the next week or so, Cross said, what is known as a superceding indictment is expected to be filed against Cheever. While superceding indictments are not particularly unusual, he said, they also usually make only minor changes in the charges and "for the most part" do not result in the introduction of "anything real significant" about the criminal matters involved in a case. "As a general rule," he said, "we don't see that many" superceding indictments "which make many changes in the case." (source: El Dorado Times) MARYLAND: Death penalty opponent to speak The author of "Dead Man Walking" will discuss her ongoing work in advancing social justice through abolishing the death penalty at 7 p.m., Thursday, in Mount St. Mary's Knott Auditorium. The lecuture concludes a weeklong series designed to promote public discussion of social justice issues and is sponsored by Mount St. Mary's University, the Mount's chapter of the Campaign to End the Death Penalty, and Callings, a Mount program of theological exploration funded by the Lilly Endowment. For more information, contact Trudy Conway, chair of the Mount's philosophy department, at 301-447-5368. Sister Helen Prejean, a prominent voice in the national abolition movement, is committed to bringing young people to a fuller awareness of the Catholic Church's social teachings. After her order assigned her to be the spiritual advisor to convicted murderer and death row inmate Patrick Sonnier, depicted in her book and played by Sean Penn in the movie "Dead Man Walking", she became an advocate against the death penalty. Since Sonnier's execution, she has spoken around the country and written two books, including "The Death of Innocents," which tells of the executions of two innocent men (source: gazette.net)
