July 8 VIRGINIA----new (non-serious) execution date Execution date set for Justin Wolfe An execution date has been set for Justin Michael Wolfe, the Centreville teen convicted of planning the murder of his marijuana supplier in 2001. Prince William Circuit Court Judge Lon E. Farris scheduled Wolfe for a July 27 execution date last week, according to the Circuit Court, Department of Corrections and Attorney General's Office. Circuit Court Administrator Robert Marsh said Farris signed the execution order after a conference call with the attorney general and Commonwealth's Attorney Paul B. Ebert. Marsh said he believed Wolfe's attorneys were also called. "Having determined that the Supreme Court has denied habeas corpus relief to the defendant, this Court hereby orders that the death sentence of Justin Michael Wolfe be carried out on the 27th day of July, 2005, at such a time of day as the Director of the Department of Corrections shall fix," the execution order reads. The date is considered a false date, according to Jack Payden-Travers, director of Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. Wolfe won't be executed at the end of the month because he still has appeals to pursue in federal courts, Payden-Travers said. "They set what we call a false date. Virginia does this. It has almost the affect of psychological warfare against prisoners," Payden-Travers said in a phone interview. The VADP considers the transfers psychological weapons because the inmate is placed on deathwatch at Greensville, Payden-Travers said. Deathwatch entails prison officials removing the inmate's personal belongings and clothes from his cell. The items are shipped to the inmate's next of kin while the inmate wears a paper gown and is wakened every 15 minutes, Payden-Travers said. "That hasn't started with Justin yet," Payden-Travers said. Inmates are moved from death row at Sussex I State Prison in Waverly to the execution facility at Greenville once an execution date is considered likely, Department of Corrections spokesman Larry Traylor said in a phone interview. The inmate is moved four days before the execution date. Traylor said he was unaware of any transfer of Wolfe. While an inmate is on deathwatch at Greenville, he has access to television, a phone and visitors, Traylor said. Emily Lucier, spokeswoman for the Attorney General's office, said she couldn't comment on any move or potential move of Wolfe for security reasons. Wolfe, 23, was convicted of the murder-for-hire shooting death of his marijuana supplier, Daniel Petrole Jr., 21. Wolfe, Petrole and gunman Owen Merton Barber IV, of Chantilly, had all been members of a marijuana ring operating throughout Northern Virginia. Wolfe was indebted to Petrole; Barber was indebted to Wolfe. The quantity of high-grade marijuana discovered in Petrole's Braemar town house was one of the largest ever seized in Prince William. Wolfe's attorneys filed a habeas corpus appeal with the Virginia Supreme Court in March 2004. That appeal was dismissed, Wolfe's former attorney William Douglas Wham said in a phone interview Thursday. Wham said he and his co-counsel, Jerry C. Lyell, are no longer able to represent Wolfe and that a new counsel would be continuing his appeals in federal courts. Once that final appeal within the Virginia system was exhausted, the attorney general's office is free to seek an execution date from the Circuit Court judge, Payden-Travers said. "They go right back to the Circuit Court, where the judge is obligated to honor [the request]," Payden--Travers said. (source: Potomac News) ********************************** Hampton NAACP fights murderer's death sentence -- The group spoke out about the Atkins case after his parents complained that he hasn't been treated fairly. The Hampton branch of the NAACP is asking York County Commonwealth's Attorney Eileen Addison to spare the life of convicted murderer Daryl Atkins, who faces trial later this month on the question of whether he's mentally retarded. "If the Supreme Court decided that executing the mentally retarded was cruel and unusual punishment based on his [Atkins'] case, why is it necessary for the prosecutor to push for death?" Hampton NAACP President Carmen Taylor asked Thursday. Atkins, 27, received a death sentence for the 1996 killing of 21-year-old Langley airman Eric Nesbitt. An appeal of his conviction led the U.S. Supreme Court in 2002 to bar execution of the mentally retarded. But the high court didn't make a decision about Atkins' intelligence level and sent the matter back to state courts. On July 25, a jury will be asked to decide whether Atkins meets the criteria for mental retardation - defined in the state code as a person with significantly below-average intellectual functioning and limited behavioral and social skills, originating before age 18. People with IQs under 70 are generally considered retarded, although the score could deviate by 5 points in either direction. Atkins scored 59 on an IQ test in 1998. Since the Supreme Court decision, Atkins' IQ was 74 on a test given by a defense expert, and he scored 76 on a test given by a prosecution expert. About 100 witnesses are expected to testify for the defense and prosecution at the upcoming trial. Taylor said the Hampton National Association for the Advancement of Colored People branch decided to speak out on his case recently after Atkins' parents made a formal complaint to the civil rights organization. "They felt his rights were violated in the first part of the first trial," Taylor said. "They feel like their son was discriminated against." The NAACP can't address the previous trial, Taylor said, but the organization is concerned about Atkins' treatment in the upcoming trial. Taylor said some members of both the Hampton and Williamsburg NAACP chapters met with Addison in recent months to learn about the case. Addison told them Atkins was on the borderline of mental retardation and that assessment made Taylor wonder why Atkins' family can't be relieved of the possibility that he could be executed. "If a person's guilty of murder and doesn't have full capacity to make rational decisions, should that person be given the death penalty?" Taylor said. "Does his sentence have to be death instead of life imprisonment? How will the community benefit from his execution?" Addison couldn't be reached for comment about the NAACP meeting. Attorneys for both sides have been asked not to comment about the trial. But Williamsburg NAACP president Oliver Tabb said he met with Addison, along with Taylor. Taylor said she hasn't discussed Atkins' mental abilities with his parents. But Atkins' father told her Atkins couldn't properly function on his own and he'd have to take care of him for his entire life, she said. Atkins was convicted of capital murder after he and William Jones abducted Nesbitt outside a Hampton 7-Eleven, forcing him to withdraw money from an ATM. Atkins shot Jones eight times on an isolated road in York. Jones received a life sentence plus three years after he cooperated with prosecutors. Atkins, who pleaded not guilty to capital murder, was sentenced to death. Taylor said she plans to meet with attorneys during the NAACP's national convention, which begins Saturday, to see if the organization's national office would take a stand on Atkins' case. She added that many death row sentences have been commuted to life terms following the Atkins decision, so she wants to know why that's not happening in his case. Taylor is also concerned that the jury might not contain many African-Americans. Atkins, is black. Nesbitt was white. "Minorities, not just African-Americans, are given harsher sentences," Taylor said. "This is just another case." (source: Daily Press) SOUTH CAROLINA: State Supreme Court delays execution The state Supreme Court has delayed the execution of a man sent to death row for killing his parents so the inmate can file an appeal. James Robertson had received permission in February to drop all his appeals and be put to death. But with his execution just weeks away, Robertson filed court papers last month saying he deserved a new trial because his defense attorneys were ineffective and prosecutors committed misconduct during his 1999 trial. The justices rued unanimously Thursday to give Robertson time to file the appeal, called post-conviction relief. Robertson has acted as his own attorney since 2002. Last month, Robertson told The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer in a phone call from death row he is considering filing the appeal because he has decided he isn't ready to die. The prosecutor who sent Robertson to death row denies the misconduct allegation. Robertson stabbed his mother to death and beat his father with a baseball bat and claw hammer in their Rock Hill home in November 1997. Prosecutors said he wanted to collect his share of a $2.2 million inheritance. (source: Associated Press) CALIFORNIA: Break in Brothers' Killings Expected - Prosecutors plan to file murder charges in 2001 slayings of a dead police officer's sons. A lawyer is serving time for embezzling their funds. A gunman dressed as a postal worker knocked on the door of an Inglewood home 4 years ago. He pushed his way in and fatally shot two brothers who had recently been awarded a $380,000 life insurance settlement for their mother, a Los Angeles police officer who died of cancer. Detectives had long suspected the killings were connected to allegations the brothers had made just before their deaths that their attorney had embezzled much of the life insurance payment. Authorities today are expected to announce a break in the case. Prosecutors plan to charge a friend of the attorney - Timothy Mack - with murder, said district attorney spokeswoman Jane Robison. Both Mack and the lawyer, Angela Fawn Wallace, are behind bars after being convicted of embezzling the settlement from the brothers - a verdict that came after their deaths. According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, Mack was being held Thursday at North County Correctional Facility awaiting a court appearance today on murder charges. Wallace has not been charged in connection with the killings. The mystery of the brothers' killings has long haunted Inglewood officials, who on Thursday expressed hope that the case might finally come to a conclusion. "In this case, there were two young people that had inherited money from their mother, and of course it appeared to be a professional hit that was placed on these 2 youngsters, so obviously I was concerned," said Inglewood Mayor Roosevelt F. Dorn. The court appearance marks a turning point in a long investigation by Inglewood police detectives in the killing of Howard Byrdsong, 20, and his 18-year-old brother, Jontrae. It's a story that began in June 2000 when Wallace approached the Byrdsongs at the funeral of their mother. Shiree Arrant had been a Los Angeles police officer who raised the brothers on her own. She had developed a cancerous brain tumor. At the time of the funeral, Wallace was a once high-flying attorney who had fallen on hard times. She had once practiced out of a Beverly Hills office, representing prominent clients such as basketball legend Magic Johnson and rap star Dr. Dre. But in 1998, Wallace pleaded no contest in State Bar Court to seven counts of professional misconduct, including mishandling a client's money. She was suspended from the bar for 2 years. At the end of their mother's funeral, the Byrdsongs agreed to hire Wallace to help them settle their mother's estate, including the life insurance money and her home, both of which were left to Howard Byrdsong, according to court documents. The insurance company agreed to pay the brothers $380,000 to settle the policy. Prosecutors later alleged that Wallace deposited the insurance check in an account in Howard Byrdsong's name using a forged power of attorney, prosecutors have said. Wallace then began spending the money on herself without the Byrdsongs' permission, pocketing some of the cash for herself and writing checks to pay a friend's legal fees, prosecutors alleged at the embezzlement trial. An angry Howard Byrdsong contacted prosecutors to investigate the theft. Wallace allegedly sent a representative to him in May 2001, offering to pay him $268,000 if he withdrew the complaint, which he refused to do, prosecutors said. Then that May 7, Mack allegedly dressed as a bank employee and urged Howard Byrdsong to sign a $125,000 settlement that would release Wallace from any liability - a proposal he also shot down, prosecutors alleged in the embezzlement trial. Then on June 6, a man wearing a U.S. Postal Service uniform approached the family friend's home where the sons stayed. According to police, Regina Martin opened the door, and the man said he had a package for the Byrdsongs and needed one of them to sign for it. After Martin asked why she couldn't sign for the package, the man struck her in the head with a pistol, officials said. Then one of the sons walked into the living room and the gunman allegedly shot him in the chest. He then tracked down the other son in a back room and shot him in the head, police said. The killings immediately seemed peculiar to authorities - not just because of the disguise but because the brothers were executed while the family friend was allowed to survive. The case took another turn when detectives learned that the brothers had filed a complaint against Wallace. As Inglewood detectives investigated the killings, Los Angeles County prosecutors charged Wallace and Mack with embezzling the money from Arrant's life insurance policy. A jury convicted them in December 2002, and both are serving six-year prison terms. Though Inglewood police have long thought of Wallace as a suspect in the shootings, the district attorney's office declined to say whether Wallace was a suspect. Robison said the district attorney's office plans to charge Mack, 49, with the brothers' killings, as well as the unrelated murder of Norman Fields. Authorities said that killing was in retaliation for the death of Mack's brother. Prosecutors will decide later if they will pursue the death penalty against Mack, Robison said. Though the Inglewood detectives who investigated the brothers' killings could not be reached for comment, Mayor Dorn praised the Police Department for never giving up on the case. "I know that when you do great investigative work, sometimes it takes a long time, even though you're doing the best you can possibly do," Dorn said. "You can only act when you have developed evidence that you can take before a grand jury and a jury." (source: Los Angeles Times) *************************** San Quentin Warden Fired Over Health Spat The warden at San Quentin State Prison was removed Thursday after the prison system's inspector general found that she discouraged her medical staff from cooperating with attorneys in an inmate health care lawsuit. Jill Brown has the right to continue working at the department as an associate warden, although it is not clear if she will, corrections spokesman Todd Slosek said. "My observation is she inherited a big mess at San Quentin," said Alison Hardy, a staff attorney for the nonprofit Prison Law Office, which represents inmates in the class-action lawsuit. "She wasn't able to lead the prison out of a bad problem." U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson last week took control of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation health care system. He acted after a team of medical experts reported that medical care at San Quentin were so bad that it was dangerous to house new and sick inmates there. Brown's demotion stems from a confrontation during a visit to the prison earlier this year by Hardy, said another Prison Law Office attorney, Keith Wattley. San Quentin's health care manager, Dr. Robert Chapnick, had asked to talk with Hardy privately. Brown responded by "sending a clear message ... that prison staff are not to cooperate with attorneys who are in the prison by court order," Wattley said. The Prison Law Office filed a complaint, which was investigated by the inspector general. A prison spokeswoman said Brown would not be available for comment. She was appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last year. Jack Stokes, San Quentin's acting chief deputy warden since April, was named acting warden in her place. (source: Associated Press)
