May 27 TEXAS: Death penalty case opens door for appeals -- Memorandum encourages courts to review cases against Mexican citizens A death penalty case that has received international consideration has opened the door for appeals in a gruesome 1992 Progreso case. Brownsville lawyer Larry Warner represents Roberto Moreno Ramos, sentenced to death in the 93rd state District Court in Hidalgo County for killing his wife and children in 1992 at Progreso. Ramos, a Mexican citizen, who was living in a colonia near Progreso, killed his wife and two children Feb. 7, 1992, with a hammer and buried them under the bathroom in his home, Hidalgo County law enforcement officials said. He then laid a new tile floor in the bathroom. Warner plans to take Ramos case back to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals for a second review. Ramos case is one of more than 50 cases that may be affected by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the case of Jose Medellin, sentenced to death in Texas in 1994 for the rape and murder of two teenage girls, Warner said. The Medellin case was appealed to the International Court of Justice at The Hague in the Netherlands. Warner was a participant in that session, he said. The International Court of Justice ruled that the United States had violated the rights of Medellin and 51 other Mexicans because they were not advised of their right to be contacted by their consul when arrested, as required under a treaty between the 2 nations. President George W. Bush later issued a memorandum encouraging courts to review death penalty cases against Mexican citizens, Warner said. The U.S. Supreme Court delayed making a decision in the Medellin case, stating it has to go through every possible review in Texas courts first, Warner said. Medellin is 1 of 5 gang members sentenced to death in 1994 for the rapes and murders of 2 teenage girls. (source: Valley Morning Star) ************************* Legal defense spending coming in under budget In Bequmont, changes in the way Jefferson County appoints lawyers for poor defendants seem to be saving money. If indigent defense spending continues at the pace seen so far this fiscal year, the county will come in almost $110,000 under budget on Sept. 30, according to County Auditor Patrick Swain's figures. In November, felony courts moved from a broad rotation system to $100,000 a year contracts with nine defense attorneys. Criminal District Court Judge Charles Carver said he expects the new system to save money as older cases with previously appointed lawyers move through the system. Already, the new system is moving cases more quickly because contracted lawyers focus on their assigned courts, he said. Layne Walker, 252nd District Court judge, said the new system is working well "for right now" but will have to be evaluated yearly. Walker said he hopes the contracted lawyers will be able to keep up with the heavy demand for trials caused by the numerous repeat offenders in the system now. "They all want trials instead of the old days when you could take the case down and get it resolved with a plea," Walker said. In the two misdemeanor courts, reducing bond amounts from $500 to $200 this fiscal year has dropped indigent defense costs tremendously, County Court-At-Law No. 2 Judge Lupe Flores said. His court is on pace to come in more than $60,000 under budget on indigent defense costs. County Court-At-Law No. 3 Judge John Paul Davis said the change in bond amounts has allowed more defendants to hire the lawyers of their choice instead of using court-appointed ones. His court also is on pace to come in more than $60,000 under budget. State grant funding might reduce county indigent defense spending even further, though perhaps not as much as a Texas Comptroller's report indicated. Bryan Wilson, grants administrator for the Texas Task Force on Indigent Defense, told Commissioners Court and judges at a Thursday workshop that discretionary grants are available to help with new programs, such as setting up a public defenders office or purchasing teleconferencing equipment to allow judges to arraign jail inmates from a different location. Multi-year grants require progressively higher county matching funds, Wilson said. A comptroller's report released last month estimated Jefferson County could save $625,000 by obtaining discretionary grants of $125,000 a year for the next 5 years. The report also estimated savings of $685,126 a year if the county moved to a public defenders office. "I suspect that the more time you spend with the comptroller's report, the less confidence you will have in it," Commissioner Mark Domingue said after Walker questioned the numbers. "I agree," Walker said. Wilson said some counties have faced increased, rather than decreased, costs setting up a public defenders system, but tried it with the help of a discretionary grant. "Sometimes you're getting a better deal paying on a contract system or some other system," Wilson said. "Each community is unique." The county already gets state indigent defense grants through a funding formula and will continue to do so unless spending falls below a $1.3 million baseline. This year, the county budgeted $1.78 million for indigent defense and is on track to spend $1.67 million. Swain said after Wilson's presentation that a single-year discretionary grant sounded like it would be most helpful for the county, perhaps to aid in buying equipment. (source : The Beaumont Enterprise) *********************** Lucero gets death sentence----Jurors deliberate for 5 hours One by one, 251st District Judge Pat Pirtle polled the somber jurors. And one by one, their answers spelled death for Jimmie Lucero. After about 5 hours of deliberations, the 7-woman, 5-man jury emerged from the jury room Wednesday to a courtroom packed with the victim's family members and meted out a death sentence for Lucero, who showed little emotion as the judge read the verdict. Lucero, 47, was convicted Monday of capital murder in the Sept. 6, 2003, shotgun slayings of 3 next-door neighbors - 71-year-old Pedro Robledo, his 72-year-old wife, Maria, and their 31-year-old daughter, Fabiana - at the family's home in the 1700 block of East Sixth Avenue. At least one of the jurors teared up as Pirtle announced the verdict. Another female juror gruffly said "yes" when asked whether she agreed with the decision. Guadalupe Robledo, a survivor of the triple shooting, wept as she left the courtroom with family members and neighbors. Prosecutors alleged Lucero killed Pedro Robledo with a shotgun blast as he pulled up in his car at the family's home in the 1700 block of East Sixth Avenue shortly before 10 a.m. that day. Before killing the Robledo patriarch, Lucero fired a blast that narrowly missed Socorro Robledo, who barely escaped in his truck, prosecutors said. The state claimed Lucero then burst into the home, shot Maria Manuela Robledo to death on her couch and broke into a bedroom, where he fatally shot Fabiana Robledo and severely wounded her sister, Guadalupe. "Justice was definitely served by the death penalty in this case," 47th District Attorney Randall Sims said after the verdict was announced. Sims said the victim's family was relieved but also saddened by the verdict. A victim-witness counselor said family members didn't wish to discuss the case. "They're glad that it's over. It's been very hard on them," he said. "They also have a great sense of relief that justice was done by the jury today. They're also sad that it means the death of another individual, but under these circumstances that's what justice required." Defense attorney Joe Marr Wilson, accompanied by co-counsel Max Peck, paused for a moment after the verdict and gently broke the news to Lucero's mother, Adella, who put her hand to her face and cried as she made her way to the elevator. Lucero's sister, Mary Ann Thomason, had tears in her eyes as she thanked the defense team. "Certainly we're disappointed. We had hoped that the jury would see that Mr. Lucero's life was not worthless. We respect their decision. It's very difficult for them," Wilson said. During closing arguments, prosecutor Chuck Slaughter said the crime was a heinous one that begged for the death penalty. No punishment, he said, could ever fit the crime, and cited a series of assaults, break-ins and other crimes he said showed Lucero was a continuing threat to society. "He murdered three people. He tried to murder 5," Slaughter said. "Think about the undisputed fact of the massacre of the Robledo family." Peck, in his closing remarks, said the crime was a horrible one but asked jurors to consider a life sentence in the case. Lucero, he said, would be an older inmate when he goes to prison and would not likely be a problem behind bars. "Jimmie Lucero is not going to go home at the end of the day today," he said. "Obviously, we're asking you to give him life in prison." Wilson, in the defense's final closing statement, pulled out a coin and said Lucero, like a coin, had two sides: good and bad. He painted Lucero as a dutiful son who loved and cared for his mother, and a man who "flipped out" and killed 3 of his neighbors. Wilson said Lucero had trouble relating to adults, but seemed to get along best with children, a reason Wilson suggested that Lucero spared the life of Fabiana Robledo's 18-month-old son during the shooting. "If he's a one-man, mass-murder killing machine, why did he pull that boy away? That tells you he is not devoid of humanity," Wilson said. "A death sentence is for someone who has no worth, who's no good. ... God's not through with him yet." As he began his closing statement, Sims paused and played jurors a 911 tape of the shooting, and the terrified screams of Fabiana Robledo and her sister, Guadalupe, filled the quiet courtroom once again. He spoke of the three members of the Robledo family who were forever silenced by Lucero's shotgun blasts and of young Fabian Robledo, who watched Lucero gun down his mother and now cries whenever he hears the wail of a police siren. "He sure helped that family. He sent 3 of them to an early grave, and he did it all in front of an 18-month-old kid," Sims said, angrily. Justice, he said, demanded nothing less than death for Jimmie Lucero. "He slaughtered and massacred the heart of the Robledo family in less than 2 minutes," Sims said. "Those who died scream from their graves for their justice." (source: Amarillo Globe-News) *********************** New option for jurors should become law There are many sound reasons why Gov. Rick Perry should sign the bill giving juries the option of sentencing convicted capital killers to life in prison without the chance for parole. Perry would get that opportunity if the bill passed by the House advances to his desk. That can happen if the Senate concurs with amendments the House attached to the legislation. We urge the Senate to concur. Sending the measure to a conference committee could jeopardize its passage. Here are the best reasons why the Senate should concur and the governor should sign it: -It would keep dangerous offenders where they belong. The U.S. Supreme Court banned executions of defendants who were 17 or younger when they committed their crimes. "Life" imprisonment in Texas translates to at least 40 years, meaning that a teenager sentenced to life now could get out of prison in his or her 50s. A killer further hardened by 40 years in the Texas prison system is an unpleasant prospect. Jurors retain the option of sentencing adults to death. -Texas finally would provide juries with sentencing options available in other states. 47 states have the life without parole sentencing option. Polls show that Texans overwhelmingly favor the death penalty as well as the life without parole option. The huge margins by which the legislation passed the House and Senate reflect that support. The governor would be wise to note that the life without parole measure was a compromise supported by prosecutors, victims' rights and civil rights organizations. Prosecutors wanted a tough law that maintained the death penalty. They got that. Defense lawyers and civil rights organizations pressed for life with and without parole and the elimination of the death penalty. Those groups got one of those options. This is not an ideal bill. Eliminating the death penalty wasn't going to happen, so the next best thing would have been to provide juries three options: Life with parole, life without parole and the death penalty. Given the political climate, however, the compromise is as good as it's going to get. Although the bill falls short, it is a big improvement. Jurors now have a way of dealing with dangerous criminals other than putting them to death. When it reaches his desk, the governor ought to quickly sign this legislation. (source: Editorial, Austin American-Statesman) INDIANA: Execution Date Sought For Inmate Who Killed On Furlough----Man Convicted In '89 Slaying Of Ex-Wife The state attorney general's office has asked the Indiana Supreme Court to set an execution date for a man convicted of beating his former wife to death in 1989 while out of prison on a brief furlough. The request to set an execution date for Alan Matheney was made this week, office spokeswoman Staci Schneider said. Matheney was convicted of forcing his way into Lisa Bianco's home in Mishawaka a few hours after his release on an 8-hour pass from a prison. As their two daughters fled in terror, Matheney chased Bianco into the street and beat her outside a neighbor's home with an unloaded .410-guage shotgun. Matheney, 54, formerly of Granger, had been serving an 8-year sentence for a 1987 assault on his former wife when he was released on the furlough. Bianco, who had divorced Matheney in 1985, was not notified of Matheney's furlough despite assurances from prison officials that she would be informed if he was ever released. The state's prison furlough program was suspended after Bianco's death and later reinstated with tightened restrictions that would have prevented Matheney's release. The state already has executed three people so far this year, most recently Gregory Scott Johnson, 45, early Wednesday for beating and stomping an 82-year-old Anderson woman to death in 1985. A June 22 execution date is scheduled for Michael Lambert for the 1990 slaying of a Muncie police officer. The state has asked the Supreme Court to set execution dates for 2 others: Arthur P. Baird II of Darlington for the 1985 murders of his pregnant wife and his parents, and Kevin A. Connor of Indianapolis for the 1988 slayings of 3 people. (source: The INDYChannel) MASSACHUSSETTS Resident takes on death penalty issue At Boston College High School, the virtues of students to aspire to is "open to growth, intellectually competent, religious, loving, committed to doing justice." For Canton resident and BC High student Austin Stack it's a lesson in the "commitment to doing justice" that resonates most loudly with him. He recently starred in the play "Dead Man Walking," which deals with the death penalty. "There was a time when I would be absolutely for the death penalty," he said. "To be honest I'd be quick to say 'he deserves to die.'" In the stage adaptation of the Tim Robbins film "Dead Man Walking," Stack plays the victim's father. But, Stack emphasized that his view changed to opposing the death penalty because of his experience at BC High, a Catholic, Jesuit school with 1,300 students enrolled. "The BC High way of thinking is kind of behind the play," he said. Through a special invitation from Tim Robbins, who also wrote the stage adaptation of the movie, Jesuit schools were encouraged to perform the adaptation to open up discussion about the controversial issue of the death penalty. In "Dead Man Walking," a nun provides counsel not only to a death row inmate but also to the families of the victims of his crimes. "Being so graphic, so real makes it hit you towards your heart," Stack said. Martin Scorsese directed the movie. Asked what made him change his view on the death penalty, Stack responded, "I think it's important to put yourself in somebody else's shoes." At 18, this BC High senior is preparing to graduate and attend Stonehill College. He hopes to become involved in film, ideally as a director (Scorsese is his favorite). For graduating seniors, the curriculum requires they perform 150 hours of community service. Stack is busy this year with volunteering at the Brockton VA bowling with vets and CYO dances at his local Catholic church as well as starring in the school play. Of the most important lessons he learned from the play, he said, "I think I'd say judgment. It goes back to what Ms. Griswold [an assistant director] says, 'you really can't judge someone until you've been there.'" Prior to "Dead Man Walking," he had been in a one-act play and directed a 17-minute video based on a Raymond Carver short story. Stack wasn't originally slated to play in "Dead Man Walking" due to his scheduling constraints. However, the director, who is also one of Stack's coaches, knew of his interest and asked Stack to step in after another student slated to play the part unexpectedly dropped out. So what is about acting, that draws Stack? "Since I was little, I always like to pretend," he said. "One week I'd be Batman; next week I'd be Indiana Jones. Drama to me is pretending." Stack said he hopes to continue with drama in college. The 18 year old may be on the verge of adulthood, but he said a strong appeal to becoming a director is what Hollywood director Steven Spielberg once said when asked what he likes about his job: he never had to grow up. (source: Townonline) PENNSYLVANIA----new death sentence Porchia's killer sentenced to die -- Jerry Chambers was also sentenced to 73 to 146 years for beating the girl, 3, and her sisters. His lawyer said he would appeal the guilty verdict. The South Philadelphia man convicted of murdering 3-year-old Porchia Bennett should be executed for the 2003 crime, a jury decided yesterday. Jerry Chambers, 33, looked away and showed no emotion when the jury forewoman announced the verdict. He later told Common Pleas Court Judge Renee Cardwell Hughes: "I'd like to say I'm sorry." Hughes sentenced Chambers to death, plus 73 to 146 years in prison for repeatedly beating Porchia and her 3 older sisters. All four girls were hit with fists and broom handles and whipped with extension cords and belts while living in Chambers' apartment. Chambers also molested Porchia's sisters. "You truly did inflict torture, not only on Porchia Bennett, but upon her surviving sisters," Hughes told Chambers. "They will never recover from what you have done to them." The sisters, now 6, 8 and 12, still bear physical scars from the beatings and are in foster care. Porchia - who weighed just 20 pounds - died Aug. 17, 2003. Investigators have said they believe Chambers threw her into a radiator after he caught her watching him have sex with Candice Geiger, the girls' aunt. Jurors convicted Chambers of first-degree murder and related charges on May 20. Yesterday, they unanimously determined that Chambers should be put to death because of Porchia's young age and because she was tortured. Those factors, the jury decided, outweighed mitigating evidence that Chambers had no previous serious criminal history and that he was "under the influence of extreme mental or emotional disturbance" when Porchia was killed. A psychologist hired by the defense testified Wednesday that Chambers has a lengthy history of auditory hallucinations, mental illness and substance abuse. Defense attorney Charles P. Mirarchi 3d said he planned to appeal the guilty verdict. During the trial, Mirarchi argued that Chambers was so addled by daily crack cocaine use that he could not have formed an intent to kill. Tuesday, Chambers rejected an agreement that would have spared his life in exchange for waiving all appeals. After the jury announced its decision yesterday, Assistant District Attorney Richard Sax said: "We commend the jury for following the law - as hard as that was to do. I get no feeling of joy, or victory, or relief whatsoever. It's just sadness, and it's the end of a very sad chapter in Philadelphia." Porchia's death ultimately changed the way the city searches for at-risk children and responds to hotline reports. Three days before Porchia was killed, a neighbor called the city abuse hotline to report that Porchia's 10-year-old sister had severe bruises on her face. Two days later, when a social worker arrived at the apartment, no one answered the door. The social worker left a note and did not call police. Porchia was pronounced dead the next day. Throughout nearly four weeks of trial and sentencing hearings, none of Porchia's relatives came to the courtroom to watch the proceedings. Only Homicide and Special Victims Unit detectives came day after day to sit in support behind the prosecutor. "These three girls, with the exception of their new foster parents, had the same support of blood relatives after Aug. 17, 2003, as they had before Aug. 17, 2003 - none. Zero," Sax said. Last week, the jury of 6 women and 6 men also convicted Porchia's mother, Tiffany Bennett, and aunt of lesser charges. Bennett, 29, was convicted of 4 counts each of felony conspiracy and endangering the welfare of children for allowing the girls to live with Chambers for nearly a year. She faces 28 to 56 years in prison. Geiger, 20, was found guilty of 3rd-degree murder for participating in the beatings. She faces 48 to 96 years in prison. Both are jailed without bail, awaiting July sentencing hearings. (source: Philadephia Inquirer)
