May 31 NORTH CAROLINA: Judge rejects bid to save cop killer's life----Ruling comes as N.C. House considers bill to put executions on hold Charlotte cop killer Alden Harden's latest bid to save his life and get off North Carolina's death row has failed. Superior Court Judge Timothy Patti has rejected Harden's motion to overturn his death sentences for the October 1993 murders of Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Officers John Burnette and Andy Nobles. Patti's ruling comes just days before the N.C. House may vote on whether to impose a two-year moratorium on the state's death penalty. Mecklenburg Assistant District Attorney Bill Stetzer said it's time for Harden, who has been on death row since 1994, to be executed. "Anti-death-penalty advocates claim they need time to 'study' the death penalty in the state," Stetzer said. "The Harden case has already been 'studied' for more than a decade. At every phase of this decadelong litigation, courts found that Harden was properly convicted and sentenced to death." Stetzer said the state of North Carolina has given Harden eight different lawyers and provided him with experts and investigators, costing taxpayers several hundred thousand dollars. "Andy Nobles and John Burnette took an oath to serve and protect the people of this city," the prosecutor said. "After 10 years of litigation, it is our duty to serve and protect the other officers of this city by executing this cop killer." Defense attorney Nora Hargrove wouldn't comment about Patti's ruling because she hadn't received a copy of it. But she said the N.C. Supreme Court would be asked to review the judge's ruling. "We'll pursue every legal remedy which is available," Hargrove said. That includes, she said, going to the U.S. Supreme Court. Burnette and Nobles were shot to death after responding to a call about a stolen van. Harden shot and killed the two popular community police officers as they chased him through woods near Boulevard Homes. Burnette was 25; Nobles 26. Harden, 44, doesn't deny killing the police officers but claims he killed them in self-defense during a struggle in the woods. Patti, in his ruling last week, said the trial evidence overwhelmingly established Harden did not for fear his life when he shot the officers in the head. Harden claims he didn't get a fair trial because as many as 100 uniformed police officers regularly attended his capital murder trial and created a prejudicial atmosphere. But during a hearing on Harden's appeal, jurors testified that they didn't feel intimidated by the police officers in the courtroom. Patti ruled that the police officers attending the trial did not attempt to influence or intimidate the jurors. Harden also challenged two of the jurors. He claimed one juror, Gail Hamner, read the Bible during the deliberations and relied on it in reaching her decision to sentence him to death. Jurors are only supposed to consider evidence from the courtroom and the judge's instructions. Hamner testified that the Bible did not help her reach her decision on what punishment to impose but rather gave her peace of mind for making that decision. Harden also claimed another juror, Elizabeth Williams, misrepresented her position on the death penalty during jury selection and "now admits that she was an automatic death juror." Williams testified that she based her decision to sentence Harden to death on the evidence and the judge's instructions to jurors on the law. An affidavit handwritten by a former lawyer for Harden said Williams voted for the death penalty for three reasons: "I'm just for the death penalty; the Bible says death is what you should get for killing; and a person should get what they give out." But Williams denied ever telling the defense lawyer that. She testified that "people from the defense" came to her home and had "turned everything (she) said around and made it sound like (she) said things that (she) didn't say." The judge ruled that the evidence during the hearing established that Williams did not base her decision on anything other than the evidence and the judge's instructions. Harden and his attorneys also challenged one of the prosecution's witnesses, Frank Pate, who was 5 when he testified that he saw the shootings. Defense lawyers argued Harden is entitled to a new trial because of newly discovered evidence -- expert testimony about the unreliability of eyewitness testimony by very young children. They said prosecutors probably would not have obtained 1st-degree murder convictions if the boy had not testified. The judge pointed out that Harden's confession, introduced at trial, established that the killer "thought over" his decision to kill the officers. In his confession, Harden revealed that he had made a deliberate and conscious decision to shoot Nobles, who had not even pulled his gun, the judge wrote, and that he shot Burnette because he "couldn't let him go." Frank Pate's testimony, the judge concluded, was not the strongest evidence of premeditation and deliberation. The boy testified that Harden shot Burnette, who was on the ground. "There was ample evidence other than the testimony of the five-year-old Pate at trial to establish the defendant's guilt of premeditated and deliberated murder," the judge wrote. (source: Charlotte Observer) ALABAMA----impending execution Georgia man facing execution for 1984 Talladega murder-for-hire Jerry Paul Henderson faces execution in Alabama by lethal injection on Thursday for the murder-for-hire shotgun slaying of his sister-in-law's husband, a textile worker who raised horses in Talladega County. Henderson, of Calhoun, Ga., has exhausted appeals, said his attorney, Justin Ravitz of Southfield, Mich. For the victim's family, it has been a 21-year wait for closure. Henderson, now 58, was convicted of capital murder in the Jan. 1, 1984 shooting death of Jerry Haney, 33, of Talladega. Haney, a father of 2 children, had 7 sisters and 3 brothers. The U.S. Supreme Court had refused to hear the appeal after the conviction was upheld by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta and Alabama courts. The execution is set for 6 p.m. at Holman Prison near Atmore. "I wish my dad would have lived to see it," said Donald Haney, 57, of Talladega, one of the victim's brothers and a former police officer who had worked on solving the slaying. Another brother, Talladega Police Lt. Billy Haney, 50, said he plans to witness the execution to represent the family, going not out of revenge, but "just a matter of seeing justice come out." "It restores some bit of faith in the judicial system that I've worked for so many years. As far as closure and the loss of my brother, it won't change anything," Billy Haney said in a telephone interview Friday. "This is going to be as touching a moment as the trial itself." The officer said his brother was a person with strong moral values who "provided well for his family." According to testimony, after a fight with her husband, Judy Haney told her sister, Martha Henderson, and the sister's husband, Jerry Paul Henderson, that she would give them all the money she had if they would make sure Jerry Haney wouldn't bother her anymore. The payment was $3,000, according to court records. Henderson, a maintenance mechanic with a 7th-grade education, and Judy Haney were arrested more than three years after the killing when Martha Henderson agreed to wear a recording device and get her husband to talk about the murder. According to the court record, Henderson lured Haney onto the front porch and shot Haney with a shotgun. The first two shots did not kill Haney. As Haney lay on the ground pleading for his life, Henderson finished him off with a 3rd shot, point blank, into Haney's face, according to state prosecutors. Henderson took Haney's wallet. When Henderson got back to Calhoun, Ga., he took approximately $100 out of the wallet and gave that and Haney's Social Security card to Judy Haney. She paid Henderson $30 for his expenses on the trip and kept the remainder of the cash. The wallet was later destroyed and the shotgun was thrown into a river and was never recovered. Over the next few months, Henderson was paid the full $3,000 by Judy Haney for murdering her husband. She paid him in installments of $500, $500, and $2,000, according to authorities. Judy Haney was also convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death, but her sentence was reduced in 1997 to life in prison without parole under an agreement with state prosecutors and the family of the victim. During his stay on Death Row, Henderson waged a lengthy appeal. Ravitz, the Michigan attorney on the appeal, argued in state and federal courts that Henderson's court-appointed trial attorneys had not adequately defended him. According to testimony, Henderson showed remorse for the killing and about a year before he was arrested had a religious conversion because he "couldn't deal" with what he had done. Henderson told the jury that he would not beg for his life but that he believed the Biblical admonition not to murder applied to them in making their penalty phase verdict. The jury voted 10-2 for the death penalty. (source: Associated Press) INDIANA: 2 recent capital cases involved unusual circumstances Governors have often said that ruling on clemency requests in capital cases are the most or among the most difficult decisions they have to make. And two recent requests made to Indiana governors have involved extraordinary circumstances they had to weigh. One request ended with an inmate's life being spared. The other ended in a man being put to death as scheduled last week. Seven inmates were executed during the seven years the late Gov. Frank O'Bannon was in office. As a state senator, he helped write the law that reinstated Indiana's death penalty law in 1977. But before he died in September 2003, O'Bannon granted a 60-day stay of execution for Darnell Williams so scientists could perform DNA tests that defense attorneys said might cast doubt on his guilt. Williams and Gregory Rouster were both condemned for the 1986 murders of Rouster's former foster parents, John and Henrietta Rease of Gary. But a Lake County judge had ruled earlier that Rouster was retarded and ineligible for the death penalty. The tests took longer than 60 days, and Joe Kernan was governor months later when the Indiana Supreme Court set a new execution date for Williams. Justices said the DNA tests were inconclusive and did not undermine other evidence of his guilt. Kernan also supported capital punishment, but he commuted Williams' sentence to life without parole just days before he was to be executed in July 2004. It was the 1st time in 48 years an Indianan governor had granted clemency in a capital case. Kernan said Rouster was more culpable for the crime and it would be unfair to execute Williams for the murders when Rouster's sentenced had been commuted. There were other unusual circumstances in the appeals and clemency requests. The prosecutor who tried Williams and a juror who voted to convict him and recommend the death penalty told the Indiana Parole Board that clemency should be granted. The board agreed unanimously, marking the first time it had recommended clemency in a capital case since Indiana's death penalty was reinstated. Kernan also commuted the sentence of another death row inmate, although that man's execution was not imminent. Gov. Mitch Daniels, who was sworn in Jan. 10, acknowledged to reporters that he had mixed feelings about the death penalty. "If I said I had no reservations or conflicting sentiments, I wouldn't be honest," he said. "I believe, and it's clear the people of Indiana believe, that in the most heinous cases, this penalty is appropriate." Since that statement, two men have been executed. They had asked for clemency, but did not do so through the formal parole board process. Daniels declined to stop the executions. Daniels also denied clemency last week for Gregory Scott Johnson, who was condemned for the beating death of an 82-year-old Anderson woman in 1985. But like O'Bannon and Kernan faced in the Williams' case, there was an unusual aspect to Johnson's request that his life be spared, at least beyond his scheduled May 25 execution date. His attorneys argued for clemency, but at the very least, they wanted a 90-day reprieve to open up the possibility of Johnson donating part of his liver to an ailing sister. The request drew national media attention. The parole board recommended that Daniels deny the requests, and 2 members scoffed at the reprieve request. One said the media attention it had gotten had diverted attention away from the brutal crime Johnson committed. Daniels denied clemency and the request for reprieve, but he did not scoff at it. He said he accepted the sincerity of Johnson's motivation in making the offer to his 48-year-old sister, Debra Otis. But he said the advice of medical experts, including Otis' own specialist, was that she would be better served receiving transplanted organs through the conventional process. "If his proposal had turned out to create a clear, demonstrated medical advantage to his sister, I might well have considered a brief postponement to seek a way to fulfill the request," Daniels said. "But ultimately I was not faced with that decision." But Daniels could face several more execution decisions this year alone. Another man is scheduled to be executed June 22, and is seeking clemency. And the attorney general's office has petitioned the Indiana Supreme Court to set execution dates for 2 other prisoners and is likely to make a third petition in the coming days. (source: Indianapolis Star) ******************** Daniels and death penalty----"The Blade" ambivalent toward executions Its odd that Gov. Mitch Daniels is conflicted about the death penalty. "The Blade" has been decisive about nearly everything else during his short reign, which is why his public discussion about his private ambivalence is unusual. Unfortunately, that ambivalence hasnt moved him to prevent the state from executing 3 men this year. Nor will his inner conflict likely lead him to stop the executions of 4 other prisoners scheduled to die this year, including Joseph Corcoran. Daniels will end up presiding over more executions than any governor since 1938. Although Indianas not close to becoming Texas, putting to death seven men would be more executions by any other non-Southern state since Missouri put to death nine in 1999, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Thats hardly something to cheer about. Niki Kelly's story last week on Daniels' death penalty woes gave readers a unique perspective on the governor. This wasn't the same man who wouldn't apologize for calling House Democrats "car bombers." No, this is a man who met with death-penalty opponents gathered outside his residence on the night of the 1st execution of his term. "I honestly would say on different days I can feel differently about that, but that's because this is a values issue - one that every citizen has to search his or her own heart on," Daniels said. "And the people of Indiana very clearly believe that at least in the worst of cases, the option of the penalty is appropriate, and I agree." Daniels is reframing the argument. While it is true that every citizen should think about the moral ramifications of execution, the governor is the only person besides a judge who can stop one solely at his discretion. He's ambivalent, but he rationalizes his decisions based on a sense of duty to the people. Does that mean if public opinion swayed toward ending executions, that Daniels would follow the will of the people? That's not leadership. If Daniels is open enough to say he's conflicted on this subject, he has both the obligation and opportunity to open debate on the death penalty's merits. What, exactly, does society gain from executions? Deterrence has always been of dubious value in the death penalty debate. The taking of one life does not return a life. If its revenge, then we havent evolved much beyond an eye for an eye, a sad commentary in itself. Too much about the death penalty in this nation is left to happenstance. The death penalty is largely dependent on the race and resources of both the killer and victim, the location of the crime, which judge, jury, prosecutor and defense attorney handles the case. Daniels' admission of ambivalence suggests that no matter how much evidence of guilt, there's some part of him that finds something wrong in executions. If that's the case, he should take the lead of former Illinois Gov. George Ryan and commute the death sentences of the states death row inmates. (source: Journal Gazette) IOWA----federal death penalty trial Jury begins deciding on penalty for Johnson In Sioux City, a jury today will begin deciding what penalty Angela Johnson will be subject to, including whether the death penalty should be considered in her case. Johnson, 41, was convicted last week of 10 federal counts of aiding and abetting in the 1993 murder of 5 northern Iowans. She was found guilty of helping convicted drug kingpin Dustin Honken in the execution-style slayings of 2 federal informants and three others as part of a plot to undermine a federal investigation into Honken's multistate methamphetamine operation. Under federal law, defendants must meet certain criteria to be considered eligible for the death penalty. Attorneys on the 2 sides will present oral arguments before asking the jury to make what's called the gateway decision regarding eligibility for the death penalty. Prosecutors have contended the 5 murders were premeditated and the victims were killed in a cruel in heinous manner. 2 of the victims, young girls, were especially vulnerable, they argued. Johnson would qualify for consideration of the death penalty if the jury agrees with any one of the those contentions. However, if the jury discounts all 3 claims, the only sentence available to Johnson under the conviction last week is life in prison. If the jury does rule that consideration of the death penalty is appropriate, the trial will then enter a death penalty phase. Witnesses would again be allowed to be called by both the prosecution and the defense to argue before the jury before the sentencing. The government would likely argue that Johnson obstructed justice, poses a future danger to society and that relatives of the victims were affected by her actions. The defense might argue mitigating factors which would support a plea for less severe punishment. Last week, attorneys said in court that if a penalty phase is necessary it could last approximately 2 weeks. Johnson's attorneys said a potential witness would be Johnson's former boyfriend, Dustin Honken, who is currently in federal custody. Through his attorneys, Honken made it known during a court hearing that he would invoke his Fifth Amendment right not to testify. The jury deliberated seven hours last week before announcing a verdict that found Johnson guilty of five counts of conspiracy to commit murder as part of a drug conspiracy, one count each for the deaths of Gregory Nicholson, Lori Duncan, Kandace Duncan and Amber Duncan, all of Mason City, and Terry DeGeus of Britt. She also was found guilty of 5 counts of committing murder while engaged in a continuing criminal enterprise -- 1 count again for each of the victims. (source: Associated Press)
