May 13 OHIO: DNA Connects Rape To Death-Row Convict A death-row convict who gunned down a police officer almost 5 years ago is now facing rape charges, ONN affiliate WEWS reported. Quisi Bryan admitted to killing Officer Wayne Leon in 2000 during a traffic stop. Bryan now faces charges in connection with the rapes that happened 11 years ago. Officials said Bryan abducted two women and raped them during the summer of 1994. The women could not provide a description of the suspect, but both women had rape kits taken at the time of the crime. Officials discovered the match when the DNA was put into a system and it matched Bryan's. He will be arraigned on the new charges soon, but a date has not yet been set. (source: Ohio News Network) INDIANA----impending execution Convict Seeks to Delay Death, Donate Liver An inmate condemned to die by injection this month is seeking a reprieve long enough to donate part of his liver to a dying sister. Gregory Scott Johnson is scheduled for execution May 25 for the 1985 murder of an 82-year-old Anderson woman who was beaten, stomped and set on fire. Defense attorneys want Gov. Mitch Daniels to grant Johnson the delay of execution to allow for tests to determine whether the organ is compatible with Johnson's sister. For now, the state has no opinion on whether the reprieve ought to be granted, Deputy Attorney General Steve Creason said, but will weigh in after Johnson's attorneys argue their case Monday. Johnson's 48-year-old sister, Deborah Otis, lives in an Anderson nursing home. Michelle Kraus, Johnson's attorney, said she is a mother and a grandmother who "has much to live for." Kraus said doctors could take a piece of Johnson's liver in what's known as a "split liver" transplant. It could take 2 weeks to two months for him to recuperate, said Dr. Joseph Tector of the Indiana University School of Medicine. About 3 years have passed since the last time a "split liver" transplant was performed in Indiana because there is a risk to the donor, said Sam Davis, director of professional services at the Indiana Organ Procurement Organization. Tector also said patients' chances of survival are much better if they receive a whole liver. Unlike some other experts, Tector said the lethal injection of potassium chloride used in Indiana would not necessarily render the liver unusable after Johnson's death. Johnson told The Indianapolis Star this week that he wants to donate his liver in hopes of giving something positive to society. Johnson's attorneys also are seeking clemency for him from the governor, arguing he might not have been condemned if prosecutors had disclosed evidence that another person might have been at the murder scene. *********************** Baer guilty, death penalty trial phase next week. Jurors rejected defense arguments that a man was mentally ill when he killed a woman and her 4 year-old daughter, convicting him Thursday on murder charges in both deaths. Frederick Baer could face the death penalty for the February, 2004 killings of Cory Clark, 26, and her daughter, Jenna, inside their rural home about 15 miles northeast of Indianapolis. Baer's attorneys had asked jurors to find him guilty but mentally ill, which would have prevented him from being sentenced to death. During closing arguments Thursday, Madison County Prosecutor Rodney Cummings tried to convince jurors that Baer is faking mental illness to avoid the death penalty. Defense attorney Jeffrey Lockwood reminded the jury that five doctors testified that Baer is mentally ill. But two court-appointed psychologists testified Wednesday that Baer knew that what he was doing was wrong despite his mental illness. Prosecutors said Baer robbed and sexually assaulted the woman to feed a drug habit and a deviant sexual appetite. Baer also is charged with raping women in Indianapolis and Hamilton County. (source for both: Associated Press) PENNSYLVANIA: Killer in West Mifflin slaying may face death penalty A Common Pleas Court jury will hear testimony today on whether Dion Horton should be executed or spend his life in prison after he was convicted of one of 2 murder charges yesterday. Horton, 27, of Duquesne, was found guilty of murdering Kenneth Sharp, 24, of Duquesne, and seriously wounding Sharp's then-pregnant fiancee, Rasheeda Pennybaker, 22, of Duquesne. After the jury of 5 women and 7 men deliberated for more than three days, it announced it was unable to reach a verdict on a charge that Horton also had murdered Jeffrey Nichols, 20, of Duquesne, 2 days before the Sharp murder. Assistant District Attorney Bruce Beemer had told the jury that both murders were the outgrowth of a battle for drug-selling turf. Witnesses testified at the trial that Nichols took offense to Horton using his drug runners to sell in Nichols' turf in the Duquesne Place Apartments in Duquesne. When Horton approached him on Feb. 16, 2002, witnesses said, Nichols pulled a revolver. When he did not use the gun and turned to leave the scene, Horton shot Nichols and killed him, witnesses said. Common Pleas Judge John A. Zottola declared a mistrial on that homicide charge. Zottola ordered the jury to return today to hear testimony in the penalty phase of Horton's trial. Last week, Pennybaker gave emotional testimony about staring down the barrels of the shotgun an instant before Horton shot her in the face. She has undergone extensive plastic surgery. Horton and his girlfriend, Latreace Miller, had driven Pennybaker and Sharp to a secluded street in West Mifflin. The couple were shot inside an abandoned garage where they were left for dead. Pennybaker survived, feigning death after a 2nd point-blank blast to her back. She was rescued after she walked to the home of the Rev. Michael Golphin. Her daughter, now 3, was born healthy. Pennybaker, unable to speak for 6 months as a result of her injuries, wrote a statement for police, saying that Horton wanted her and Sharp dead because they knew too much about the slaying of Nichols, and that they "talked too much." Miller, who is in a Virginia prison on unrelated charges, testified that she feared Horton would kill her as well. Throughout the trial, Horton remained impassive, his sad-eyed expression never changing. He remained that way as the jury found him guilty of one count of first-degree murder for Sharp's slaying. He also was found guilty of attempted homicide and aggravated assault for shooting Pennybaker. Beemer is expected to argue that the murder conviction, coupled with the aggravating circumstance of injuring the pregnant Pennybaker while trying to kill her, are grounds to sentence Horton to death by lethal injection. The jury also found Horton guilty of a weapons violation. Defense attorney John Elash will argue for Horton's life. Zottola said yesterday the penalty phase may take less than 2 hours. The jury may be sequestered if deliberations run into tomorrow evening. (source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) MASSACHUSETTS: Poll: Backing is strong for death penalty Gov. Mitt Romney appears to have strong backing among voters for his proposal to reinstate a "foolproof" death penalty system in Massachusetts, according to a poll released yesterday. In a survey of 400 Massachusetts residents, sponsored by the State House News Service and conducted by KRC Communications Research, 65 % of the respondents said they support Romney's proposal, while some 32 % opposed it. KRC Communications pollster Gerry Chervinsky said the new poll shows resident support moving the standard for capital cases from "beyond a reasonable doubt" to "no doubt." "Traditionally, a majority of Massachusetts residents has been supportive of the death penalty. So it's no surprise that this poll would show a majority supporting it," Chervinsky said. "The only surprise could be in the margin, which is a 32-point spread." He added, "The concept of guilty with no doubt, that really resonates with people. No one has ever talked about 'guilty with no doubt.' There has always been "beyond a reasonable doubt.'" The poll -- conducted between May 4 and May 6 and having a 4.8 percent margin for error -- specifically asked residents about Romney's plan to require that irrefutable scientific evidence be the standard of proof of capital cases. Romney's bill would allow the state to execute people convicted of crimes such as terrorism, murder involving torture and murder of a police officer. The death penalty could not be imposed if even a single juror had a "residual or lingering doubt" about whether a defendant was guilty, even if he or she felt the evidence was "beyond a reasonable doubt." But many state lawmakers who oppose the death penalty say that they will not be swayed by this poll or by recent assertions by Romney that an overwhelming majority of people would approve a death penalty for certain heinous crimes. State Rep. Daniel E. Bosley, D-North Adams, an opponent of the death penalty, said that every poll he has seen shows that a large majority of people support capital punishment if they aren't given any alternatives. "Once you start introducing variables, that number goes down. It's once you tell people that more poor people than wealthier people are convicted of capital crimes, that the cost of executing somebody is more than locking them up, or that it doesn't reduce violent crime," Bosley said. Bosley added that "nothing in government is foolproof," and that there are cases where even DNA evidence found at the scene of a crime may not be totally reliable to obtain a guilty verdict. "The governor is playing to people's emotions, rather than using cold, hard facts," he said. "I don't know why the governor is bringing this up. It's just not an issue that comes up. If you poll people, they'll say the issues important to them are health care and housing." State Sen. Andrea F. Nuciforo Jr., D-Pittsfield, who also opposes the death penalty, said he, too, was not surprised by the margin in favor demonstrated by the poll. "The death penalty topic rarely comes up. The conversations with my colleagues have involved health care, education and local aid. We've spent almost no time talking about the death penalty," Nuciforo said. There has not been an execution in Massachusetts since 1947. Massachusetts is one of 14 states without capital punishment, while the state of Illinois has had a moratorium on executions since 2000. Romney filed the death penalty bill in April. The bill called for numerous safeguards to prevent an innocent person from being sentenced to death, including providing capable legal representation to indigent people. Julie Teer, Romney's press secretary, said the poll was "very interesting," but that the governor's support of capital punishment was based on "his deeply held beliefs that the death penalty should be applied in the most heinous of crimes." (source: Berkshire Eagle) RHODE ISLAND: Vote delayed on bill for death-penalty study panel----The measure is sent to a committee, where lawmakers will consider enlarging the proposed panel. A debate on whether to study the possible reinstatement of the death penalty in Rhode Island was delayed this week in the General Assembly when the lead sponsor agreed to send the bill to a committee for a full vetting. The bill had originally been scheduled for a floor debate and vote on Wednesday. But the sponsor, Rep. Raymond Gallison, D-Bristol, said he had agreed to refer the bill to the House Judiciary Committee so he could consider requests to expand the study commission's membership. The committee's nine-member body would have included 5 House members, representatives of the attorney general, the public defender and the presiding justice of the superior court, and one public member selected by the House speaker. Gallison said the American Civil Liberties Union and representatives of the medical community also had asked to participate. The commission would be asked to "study and highlight the issues and controversies relating to the imposition of the death penalty," and report its findings by next March 15. Connecticut and New Hampshire are currently the only two New England states that allow the death penalty in murder cases, and only in certain kinds of murders, including the killing of law-enforcement officers. Connecticut has eight people on death row, including Michael Ross, who was scheduled to be executed early this morning; New Hampshire has none. Gallison has said he was motivated to submit his bill after the recent slaying of Providence Detective James Allen and murder of a 9-year-old Florida girl, allegedly by a registered sex offender who lived nearby. The last time Rhode Island executed someone was in 1845, when the state hanged John Gordon, an Irish immigrant, for the murder of a mill owner. The belief he was put to death based on weak evidence helped lead to the repeal of the state's death penalty in 1852. In 1973, a corrections officer's murder led the Assembly to reinstate the death penalty for murders committed by an inmate at the Adult Correctional Institutions. But the State Supreme Court struck the law down as unconstitutional in 1979. The General Assembly has seen the introduction of death penalty legislation many times since then, including after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, but has never sent a bill to the governor's desk. Governor Carcieri, as a candidate for office in 2002, said he was generally opposed to the death penalty but would "probably say it's OK" in limited circumstances, such as terrorist attacks. But, he said, federal law is available in such cases, and "I would not be an advocate for changing the state law." This week, his spokesman, Jeff Neal, said Carcieri "would be willing to consider the possibility of instituting the death penalty for the most heinous crimes," and did not object to studying the issue. In a survey conducted in the winter of 2004, Rhode Island College pollsters asked state residents: "Do you think there would be any situations in which you would favor the death penalty or do you think you could never favor the death penalty, regardless of the circumstances?" Some 64 % responded that they could condone the death penalty in some cases; another 28 % said they would never favor it; 8 % said they did not know or did not answer. The survey did not include any follow-up questions. In Massachusetts, Governor Romney has proposed reviving the death penalty for murders that involve terrorism or torture, or the murder of law-enforcement officers. His bill includes would-be safeguards, such as a requirement that scientific evidence, such as DNA, links a suspect to the killing. (source: Providence Journal)
