June 22 TEXAS: Perry order begins move off death row More than 3 months after the Supreme Court ruled that juveniles cannot be executed, Texas Gov. Rick Perry today commuted 28 death sentences to life in prison for inmates who were under 18 when they committed capital murder. The Supreme Court forced the commutations with its March ruling that executing juveniles violates the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Texas was one of 18 states that allowed the practice. Perry's order starts the process of moving the inmates off death row. "While these individuals were convicted by juries of brutal murders and sentenced to die for their heinous crimes, I have no choice but to commute these sentences to life in prison as a result of the Supreme Court ruling," Perry said. Perry spokesman Robert Black said that after the court ruled, the state still had to follow legal procedures to commute the sentences. Among the Texas killers affected by the Supreme Court ruling were: - Efrain Perez and Raul Villarreal of Harris County, convicted with 3 others of the gang-rape and beating deaths of Jennifer Ertman, 14, and Elizabeth Pena, 16. Perez and Villarreal were 17 at the time. - Robert Springsteen of Travis County, convicted at 17 in 2001 of the infamous "Yogurt Shop" slayings in which four teenage girls were bound, gagged and fatally shot in the head a decade earlier. - Jorge Alfredo Salinas, who at 17 carjacked a man in Hidalgo County in July 2001, fatally shot him in the head, and left the man's 21-month-old daughter to die of dehydration and exposure strapped in her car seat in a brush area near the Rio Grande. 11 of the juvenile murderers on Texas' death row were convicted in Harris County. 1 of them, Johnnie Bernal, was 1 day shy of his 18th birthday when he shot and killed Lee Dilley as he stood outside a Houston drive-in with his high school prom date. Before moving the inmates, each will undergo classification at a diagnostic unit, probably near Huntsville, where their education, vocational skills and family and medical background will factor into where they will be assigned. While many will be assimilated into the prison system's general population, inmates who have had gang affiliations or continue to have gang ties could remain in more restrictive administrative segregation, which is similar to the conditions they experienced on death row at the Polunsky Unit outside Livingston. For others, it will be their 1st exposure to prison work programs, schooling and jobs within a prison unit. Unlike the restrictive life on death row, where inmates are kept alone in cells 23 hours a day, the commuted prisoners also could be eligible to have cellmates or live in dorms. "There are a number of situations they'll now be able to experience that they just couldn't when they were at the Polunsky Unit," said Michelle Lyons, a Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokeswoman in Huntsville. "Among them will be access to television, which is among the most common complaints we get from our death row inmates, that they do not have television." Current Texas sentencing laws give juries in capital murder cases the choice of sentencing defendants to execution by lethal injection or life in prison with the possibility of parole after 40 years. Last week, Perry signed into law a change that will remove the possibility of parole in life sentences, but the change won't apply to crimes committed before Sept. 1. "This new law will improve our criminal justice system because it gives jurors a new option to protect the public with the certainty a convicted killer will never roam our streets again," Perry said. (source: Associated Press) ************************** Teens have death sentences commuted Almost 4 months after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that capital punishment cannot be applied to juvenile murderers, Gov. Rick Perry on Wednesday commuted the death sentences of 28 Texas inmates who killed before their 18th birthday. "While these individuals were convicted by juries of brutal murders and sentenced to die for their heinous crimes, I have no choice but to commute these sentences to life in prison as a result of the Supreme Court ruling," Perry said. A 29th Texas inmate who was condemned as a 17-year-old, Mauro Morris Barraza of Tarrant County, did not receive a sentence commutation because he is in federal custody, Perry said. The nation's highest court ruled March 1 that subjecting those who committed capital murder before turning 18 to the death penalty violated the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment. The 5-4 decision in a Missouri case involving a man condemned for a killing committed at age 17 compelled Texas and 18 other states that had allowed young offenders to be executed to remove those killers from death row. Texas has executed 13 such offenders since 1985, and lawmakers had resisted several attempts to raise the minimum age for the death penalty before the high court acted. Barraza was condemned for raping and murdering 73-year-old Vilorie Nelson in her Haltom City home on June 14, 1989. Another Tarrant County inmate, Eddie C. Johnson, was among those who had their sentences commuted. Johnson was sentenced to die for the fatal attack on Jeffrey Doolittle, 42. Doolittle was ambushed March 6, 1996, while getting out of his car. He was shot dead as he ran toward his garage at his Fort Worth home. In Texas, inmates serving life sentences are eligible for parole after 40 years behind bars. Critics of Texas' policy allowing the execution of 17-year-olds had called the practice barbaric and out of touch with the mores of modern society. Defenders of the practice often pointed out that in Texas, jurors hear testimony concerning defendants' ages and maturity before deciding whether they should be put to death. (source: Fort Worth Star-Telegram) CALIFORNIA: Death penalty phase of Marcus Wesson's trial delayed In Fresno, a judge delayed the start of the penalty phase until Thursday in a trial of a man convicted of murdering 9 of his children in order to resolve a "legal issue." Judge R.L. Putnam dismissed the jurors on Wednesday morning, saying they would have to wait another day before they could begin to hear the testimony that will help them decide whether Marcus Wesson should get the death penalty or life in prison for his crimes. Last week, the jurors found Wesson guilty of nine counts of murder and 14 counts of sexually abusing several of his daughters and nieces. The judge did not disclose what the "legal issue" is, but he did meet with representatives from a local television station Wednesday. The station, KMPH, reported last Friday that an unidentified female juror had told her husband what the verdict would be in the guilt phase of the trial before it was announced. The woman's husband allegedly told another person, who leaked it to the station. KMPH news director Roger Gadley said the station's attorney told the judge the news organization had the right to withhold the name of the person who called. "We have the responsibility ... to protect the names of people who want to tell us things," Gadley said. Putnam had repeatedly admonished the jurors in Fresno County Superior Court that they were not to talk to anyone about the case until it was over. If the juror is found to be at fault, she could be removed from the panel. Legal experts who have been following the case expect the penalty phase to be short, relying heavily on the testimony that was already given in the guilt phase. On Tuesday, Putnam told prosecutor Lisa Gamoian she could only call family members to the stand, not police officers or others who could speak about the impact of the gruesome case on the community. This cut short Gamoian's list of witnesses to testimony that will probably take only one day, Gamoian said. Wesson's defense attorneys will also rely on family members to argue for their client. Several of Wesson's children and his wife, Elizabeth, remain supportive of the convicted murderer, and cried when the jury found him guilty. Gadley, KMPH's attorney and the employee who took the call about the verdict will be at court Thursday morning for another hearing with the judge and the attorneys in the case. The jury will be back in court for the penalty phase on Thursday afternoon. (source: Associated Press) USA: Amid Supreme Court Victories, Death Penalty Opponents to Gather On the heels of 3 significant U.S. Supreme Court rulings limiting the use of the death penalty, anti-death penalty activists will converge on Washington, D.C. next week for the 12th Annual Fast & Vigil to Abolish the Death Penalty. "This Supreme Court session has seen the abolition of the death penalty for juvenile offenders, and strong rebukes to both prosecutors and defense attorneys that will absolutely reduce the number of people executed in this country," said Abe Bonowitz, a spokesman for the Abolitionist Action Committee. "This year we will celebrate these victories and continue to educate the public about why the death penalty is a bad public policy." "Starvin' for Justice" runs from 12am Wednesday, June 29 through midnight Saturday, July 2 - four days of activities commemorating the historic 1972 and 1976 Supreme Court rulings that suspended the death penalty in the United States and later allowed executions to resume. At a noon hour rally on June 29 and in "teach-ins" each evening, speakers will address various perspectives on the issue. Prominent among the speakers will be David Kaczynski, brother of the Unabomber, Dale Recinella, a leading Catholic theologian, and Diann Rust-Tierney, executive director of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. June 29 marks the 33rd anniversary of the Furman v. Georgia decision suspending executions, while July 2 marks the 29th anniversary of the Gregg v. Georgia ruling allowing executions to resume. Since Gregg, 972 people have been executed in the United States, with another execution scheduled to take place June 30, during the course of the four day protest. This is the twelfth year in a row that the Abolitionist Action Committee has held its annual Fast and Vigil between the dates of these two landmark decisions. Activists, many of whom are fasting the entire four days, are traveling to Washington D.C. from across the United States and beyond. Others are fasting and holding solidarity events throughout the United States and beyond. Highlights of this highly visual and interactive annual event include live music and talks by death row survivors, victims family members, and noted activists. Please see details at http://www.abolition.org/starvin12.html * A "media availability" will be held at 11:45 a.m. Wednesday, June 29 on the sidewalk in front of the U.S. Supreme Court. Leaders from various organizations opposing the death penalty will be available. A public rally, complete with interesting visuals, will begin at noon, and evening "teach-ins" will take place starting at 6:30pm on June 29, June 30, and July 1, and at 5:30pm on July 2. * Consider interviews with activists from your specific state or region. Participants are expected from Canada, Denmark, Alabama, Alaska, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Washington DC, Washington State and others. For more information please visit http://www.abolition.org/starvin12.html The Abolitionist Action Committee is an ad-hoc group of individuals committed to highly visible and effective public education for alternatives to the death penalty through nonviolent direct action. (source: The Conservative Voice) PENNSYLVANIA: Winfield man could face death penalty A Winfield man accused of killing his ex-wife's boyfriend could face the death penalty if he's convicted. Police charged Chad Sasse, 28, of Leasureville Road, with fatally shooting Randall Raida, 29, of Hampton, during an argument in Middlesex Township on Christmas Eve 2004. The district attorney's office is seeking a first-degree murder conviction against Sasse and, if found guilty, he could be sentenced to death. Sasse's attorney, Alexander Lindsay of Butler, filed a motion asking Butler County Judge George Hancher to throw out the possibility of the death sentence, arguing there were no aggravating circumstances to warrant the most severe punishment. If prosecutors seek the death penalty, they must prove there were aggravating circumstances to the crime, such as killing someone during a kidnapping or during the course of another felony. In Sasse's case, prosecutors said other people were at risk when Sasse allegedly shot Raida, namely Sasse's son and ex-wife. Ruby Matthews, 26, who reportedly lived with Raida, had arranged to meet Sasse in a lumberyard parking lot along Route 8 to exchange custody of their 2-year-old son on the evening before Christmas Day, police said. Sasse allegedly shoved Matthews during an argument over alimony or child-support payments. When Raida tried to intervene, Sasse allegedly pulled out a .32-caliber pistol and shot Raida several times in the head and body, police said. Police said Sasse remained on scene and called 911, allegedly confessing to emergency dispatchers that he'd shot someone in the head. Lindsay, in his motion to quash the aggravating circumstances contention, argued there was no evidence to prove anyone other than Raida was at risk. Hancher last week denied Lindsay's request, thereby refusing to eliminate the death penalty as a possible punishment. Hancher's order does not mean that Sasse definitely will face the death penalty if found guilty, but instead leaves it up to the jury during Sasse's trial, which could begin in September. Lindsay would not comment Tuesday on whether he and his client plan to mount an insanity defense. A court administrator said a motion requesting Sasse undergo a mental evaluation was granted earlier this month. Assistant District Attorney William "B.T." Fullerton, who is prosecuting the request, did not return a call for comment. (source: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review) ILLINOIS: Defense psychologist says former death row inmate is disturbed A psychologist testified today in Chicago that former death row inmate Aaron Patterson is suffering from anxiety, depression, paranoia and self-destructive urges. According to defense psychologist Steve Farmilant's testimony at a hearing on drugs and firearms charges, Patterson is close to the level that would require him to be on a suicide watch. The 40-year-old Patterson served 17 years in prison for murder, despite his claim that detectives under former South Side homicide commander Jon Burge tortured him into making his confession. Former Governor George Ryan pardoned him as one of his final acts in office. Patterson is now facing trial starting on charges of selling drugs and attempting to buy 4 guns. He claims he was framed while investigating police corruption. (source: Associated Press) SOUTH CAROLINA: Group sues for better treatment of inmates A Columbia-based advocacy group sued the state and the Corrections Department on Monday, saying the prisons agency does not properly care for mentally ill inmates. The lawsuit, filed in Circuit Court, says the state, the Legislature and the Corrections Department maintain a prison system that "has resulted and continues to result in the infliction of cruel and unusual punishment and the infliction of pain and suffering upon prisoners in its custody." The lawsuit asks the court to order the state to design and pay for an adequate system of treating mentally ill inmates. (source: Associated Press)
