May 10 VIRGINIA: Case to be reviewed? It was not known late yesterday whether the controversial death penalty/DNA case of Derek Rocco Barnabei involved low-level DNA testing and would be included for review. In Barnabei's case, DNA testing showed that he had intercourse with the murder victim. Barnabei, executed in 2000, said he and the victim had consensual intercourse but that he did not kill her. Shortly before Barnabei was executed, further DNA tests were conducted of fingernail clippings, but that testing also implicated him. Barnabei maintained his innocence until the end. Then-Gov. Jim Gilmore ordered the testing of the clippings over the objections of Barnabei's lawyers, who wanted their own experts to make sure the package containing the nails had not been compromised and to have someone independent of the state monitor the testing. Barnabei's lawyer, Seth A. Tucker of Washington, said he was not sure if the test on the clippings would qualify the case for review. However, he said he planned to ask Gov. Mark R. Warner to have Barnabei's case reviewed. There are at least 2 other controversial death-penalty/DNA cases in recent Virginia history: Roger Keith Coleman and Joseph Roger O'Dell. However, the DNA testing in those cases was performed by independent laboratories after they were sentenced to death. Both men also maintained their innocence. (source: Richmond Times-Dispatch) ILLINOIS: Jury weighs death penalty in shooting of federal witness A defense attorney today pleaded for the life of a Chicago podiatrist convicted of killing a handicapped woman who planned to testify against him in a Medicare fraud case. Attorney John Beal contends Doctor Ronald Mikos was suffering from depression, drug abuse and a degenerative brain disorder when he shot federal witness Joyce Brannon in December of 2002. Mikos was convicted in the case last week, and a hearing is being held to determine his sentence. Prosecutors say anything less than the death penalty would be insufficient. They contend Mikos fired 6 slugs into Brannon's head and neck to ensure her silence. Her grand jury subpoena was found lying near the body. If jurors decide against capital punishment, Mikos will be sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison without hope of release. (source: Associated Press) NORTH CAROLINA: Inmate fails in appeal to disallow execution A Superior Court judge has denied death-row inmate Charles Walker's claims that he is ineligible for the death penalty, one of his attorneys confirmed. Judge John O. Craig III has informed all attorneys of his decision but had not yet finalized a court order, defense attorney Jonathan Megerian said Monday. The defense has asked Craig not to change Walker's stay of execution while they appeal his decision to the state Supreme Court. "We're disappointed in the judge's ruling but we feel he gave very careful consideration to the arguments we made," said Paul M. Green, Walker's other attorney. "We will be seeking further review of his decision because we think he's making a mistake." Meanwhile, Walker's attorneys filed another round of appeals Monday, claiming the state withheld evidence that could have changed the outcome of the man's capital murder trial. Walker, 40, was sentenced to death 10 years ago for his role in the 1992 murder of 20-year-old Elmon Tito Davidson Jr., a Greensboro resident. Davidson was lured into a southeast Greensboro apartment, where Walker and two others tortured him, according to court testimony. Davidson was beaten, cut and shot before being dumped in a nearby trash bin, witnesses said. Authorities never found his body. After exhausting his initial appeals, Walker was granted a stay by Craig just four days before his scheduled execution Dec. 3. The judge wanted to hear further from defense attorneys, who claimed new issues made their client ineligible for the death penalty. They contended that Walker was convicted based solely on the uncorroborated testimony of five witnesses who labeled Walker as the mastermind to escape harsher punishment for themselves. They also claimed that a jury incorrectly recommended a death sentence by attributing the aggravating conduct of two co-defendants to Walker. The co-defendants decided to cut up and shoot the victim on their own when Walker was not present, the defense claimed. The new claims filed by Walker's attorneys came after Craig ordered the state to turn over two investigative files in March. The defense says information in those files could have been used during the trial to shred the credibility of a number of co-defendants who testified against Walker. The files involve police investigations into a shooting and homicide in the same neighborhood and during the same month as Davidson's murder. They involve some of the same people who testified against Walker. Prosecutors denied Monday withholding any evidence. There's no feasible way to know about and turn over every police file that refers to a particular witness, said Howard Neumann, the chief assistant district attorney who prosecuted the case. "There's not any evidence that says Charles Walker didn't do this," he said. UPDATE So far: A Superior Court judge stayed the execution of death-row inmate Charles Walker late last year to hear further arguments from his defense attorneys that the man is ineligible for the death penalty. The latest: The judge denied Walker's claims, though his attorneys filed another round of appeals Monday. What's next: Walker's attorneys plan to appeal the judge's decision to the state Supreme Court. Another hearing may also be scheduled in Superior Court regarding their newly filed claims. (source: News & Record) FLORIDA: Evidence shapes retrial in murder----Jury selection begins in the case of a man on death row because of his ex-wife's testimony. A 13-minute phone conversation with a man who later committed suicide. A .22-caliber pistol introduced into evidence that wasn't the murder weapon. And most important, an entry in a date book. Those are among the critical elements in the retrial of Michael Mordenti, a St. Petersburg used-car salesman convicted in 1991 in the murder-for-hire of a 54-year-old woman found shot and stabbed to death in a horse barn on her Odessa ranch. Mordenti, 63, who has spent the past 14 years on death row, was granted a new trial in December after the Florida Supreme Court concluded Hillsborough prosecutors withheld critical evidence that cast doubt on Mordenti's primary accuser: his ex-wife. Jury selection began Monday in front of Hillsborough Circuit Court Judge Barbara Fleischer. The trial is expected to last well into next week. At his 1st trial, prosecutors painted Mordenti as a contract killer who lured Thelma Royston into the barn and then savagely killed her on June 7, 1989. Mordenti, prosecutors said, became involved in the murder after his ex-wife, Gail Mordenti, met with Royston's husband. Larry Royston had told friends he and his wife of 19 years were divorcing, and that she was planning to take a large chunk of his assets. About that time, Larry Royston had lunch with Gail Mordenti, Michael Mordenti's ex-wife, and a $17,000 murder-for-hire plot was hatched. Acting on a tip 9 months after the murder, homicide detectives questioned Gail Mordenti. "What would happen to me," she asked detectives, "if I tell you what happened?" Prosecutor Lee Atkinson cut a deal. If she would cooperate, she would receive immunity. Gail Mordenti admitted she set up the murder. She also told detectives that after unsuccessfully approaching three other men to commit the murder, she found someone who agreed: Michael Mordenti, her ex-husband. Charged with plotting to kill his wife, Larry Royston killed himself in March 1991, the night before his trial was to begin. 4 months later, it was Michael Mordenti's turn to go on trial. His defense attorney, John Atti, said Mordenti rejected the state's offer of a 4- to 7-year sentence in exchange for a guilty plea. There was no physical evidence linking him to the murder, and the case hinged on the word of Gail Mordenti. But jurors found him guilty and recommended he die. Among the evidence introduced by the prosecution was a .22-caliber revolver. The gun was determined not to be the murder weapon. Prosecutors also introduced evidence of a 13-minute cell-phone call between Michael Mordenti and Larry Royston on the day of the murder. But Mordenti said the two were talking about the purchase of a boat. A key piece of evidence the prosecution never showed to the defense, and never shared with the jury, was the date book. Gail Mordenti testified she met with Larry Royston in late February or early March 1989 to plan the murder. But in her date book, she noted her meeting with Royston occurred on April 11, 1989. Mordenti's appellate lawyer argued that by then, Gail Mordenti was living with the man who would be her next husband, Michael Milligan. Why, the defense argued, would she approach 4 men, including her ex-husband, but not Michael Milligan? "There is absolutely no question that the withheld date book would have assisted Mordenti in the impeachment of Gail, the state's critical witness," the Florida Supreme Court said in its ruling. Gail Mordenti is expected to take the stand again as a star prosecution witness. And the state is again seeking the death penalty. But this time, Michael Mordenti is represented by Martin McClain, a seasoned defense attorney who has won new trials for others on death row. Monday, in the back row of a courtroom packed with potential jurors, Kathleen Mordenti sat with her notepad. She and her father write and call each other often. Mordenti's daughter from his 1st marriage, she said the years on death row have taken a toll on her father, and that she knows he is innocent. "He's walking out of here with me next week," she said. (source: St. Petersburg Times) ************************** Prosecutors seek death in Panama City Beach police killing Prosecutors have decided to seek the death penalty in the shooting death of a Panama City Beach police sergeant. Robert J. Bailey, 22, of Milwaukee has confessed to killing Kevin Kight, 34, during a traffic stop on Easter while on a spring break drinking binge. Deputy Public Defender Walter Smith said he took Monday's decision against Bailey for granted. "That was clear from the initial reports that they were handling this case as if it were going to be a death case," Smith said. "In fact, I'm not even concentrating on the guilt or innocent part of this case. I've been assembling information to assist me in the penalty phase." Bailey is accused of shooting the officer twice with a gun pulled from under his seat. Interviewed in jail, he said he did not remember firing 3 rounds from a 9 mm handgun. Kight stopped the vehicle for a traffic violation on a beachfront street lined with hotels and condominiums filled with tourists. (source: Associated Press)
