July 12 MISSISSIPPI: Triple killing appeal scheduled----Mississippi Supreme Court to hear Louisiana man's case Aug. 11 The appeal of a Louisiana man sentenced to death for killing his son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter has made its way to the Mississippi Supreme Court. The justices have scheduled oral arguments for Aug. 11 in Jackson to hear from attorneys for death row inmate Alan Michael Rubenstein, 51, of Marrero, La. Rubenstein was convicted in Pike County in 2000. Prosecutors said Rubenstein killed Darrell Perry; his wife, Evelyn; and their daughter, Krystal, to collect on a $250,000 life insurance policy. The Perrys, also from Marrero, were discovered shot to death in a cabin in Summit where they had come to work through marital difficulties. Krystal was strangled. Prosecutors said Rubenstein had arranged the trip and reported finding the bodies. During the trial, Rubenstein testified he collected the insurance policy and "blew" the money. Prosecutors said several years previous, Rubenstein was beneficiary on a policy for Harold Conner Jr., who was shot and killed while on a hunting trip with another man in Louisiana. The shooting was ruled an accident after the other hunter told authorities he tripped over his gun and it fired. Rubenstein attempted to collect on the $240,000 insurance policy, but the claim was denied. Rubenstein sued to collect the money, but a court ruled against him, noting the circumstances of the death. The case is among a number of appeals the court has scheduled for oral arguments in July and August. Dozens of other appeals will be decided on briefs submitted by prosecutors and defense attorneys. In the other death penalty case, justices have scheduled arguments for July 27 in the appeal of Fred Sanford Spicer Jr., who was convicted and sentenced to death in 2003 in George County. Prosecutors said Spicer was arrested in October 2001 after he was stopped in Pascagoula while driving a vehicle registered to a man found dead at his home. Authorities said a deputy found the body of Edmond Herbert, 42, also of George County, when he went to the man's house to ask why Spicer had his vehicle. (source: Associated Press) VIRGINIA----stay of impending execution Va. Man Granted Stay of Execution----High Court Agrees To Consider Case Just 4 1/2 hours before his scheduled execution, Virginia death row inmate Robin Lovitt was given a reprieve yesterday by the U.S. Supreme Court, which stayed his sentence until the fall, when it will consider whether his case deserves a hearing on its merits. The decision was relayed to attorneys about 4:30 p.m. after a tense day of waiting among many involved in the case -- and after Lovitt's family had bidden him goodbye, not knowing whether he would be put to death. Lovitt's sister Tonglya Carter was gathered in a room with other relatives when word came. "I jumped up and said, 'He got the stay! He got the stay!' " she recalled. "And everybody started screaming. Everyone is so excited." Lovitt's case had raised legal questions as seldom heard before in capital punishment. 4 years ago, a court clerk mistakenly destroyed nearly all the evidence from his trial, including DNA from the pair of scissors that was used to kill Arlington pool hall manager Clayton Dicks, 45, in a robbery there in 1998. Lovitt's attorneys, including former independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr, had argued that Virginia's mistake took away Lovitt's last chance to prove his innocence -- through post-conviction DNA testing, which other inmates have used to clear themselves. They also had argued that Lovitt's original trial attorneys had failed to mention their client's upbringing at his sentencing, which could have persuaded a jury to recommend life in prison instead of death. In its brief, 1-paragraph stay, the Supreme Court did not decide the DNA issue or any others. But such stays are rare. Mary Dicks, mother of Clayton Dicks, said 4 of his sisters had taken off work and driven nearly all the way to Jarratt, near the North Carolina border, to see the execution when they got a call that it had been stayed. They had wanted to witness it, she said, because they felt that Lovitt deserved the same fate he had given to Dicks. Mary Dicks said her children didn't want Lovitt to "walk the ground anymore." In sharp contrast, Carter and other relatives of Lovitt's had visited him in Virginia's death house in Jarratt earlier yesterday. As the hours ticked by, Carter said, Lovitt, 41, remained stable and positive. But as time went on with no word -- and as Carter got calls from friends saying they were keeping the family in their prayers -- Carter finally broke down. "I was an emotional wreck," she said, still floating with relief. She praised the efforts of Lovitt's volunteer attorneys and said: "God is good, and prayers really do help." Lovitt's attorneys released only a brief statement saying they were pleased. "We are hopeful that when the members of the court return in the fall, the court will review the important issues raised in Mr. Lovitt's petition and reverse the judgment of the lower court," said the statement from Kirkland & Ellis, which took the case on a pro bono basis. In their Supreme Court petition, Lovitt's attorneys argued that with the increasing importance of DNA evidence, decisions in the Lovitt case "will have far-reaching consequences for the administration of the death penalty in this country." Other courts had sided with the state attorney general's office, saying the destruction of evidence by an Arlington court clerk was not done in "bad faith." The high court petition also focused at length on a decision by Lovitt's trial attorneys not to tell the jury about Lovitt's "horrific" childhood in a home with drug use and physical and sexual abuse. The attorney general's office, supported by the lower courts, had argued that Lovitt's experienced attorneys had made a strategic decision not to introduce his background, which could have hurt as much as helped him. Mary Dicks was discouraged about the stay. "I don't know what they're doing," said Dicks, who sat through the 1999 trial. "They ain't got the wrong boy. . . . If they got the wrong man, why did they keep him in jail 6 years?" Dicks said she believed that Starr -- one of the nation's best-known lawyers -- had somehow played a role in the stay of execution. "I knew that Ken Starr man, when he came up here, [the courts] wouldn't do nothing." Prosecutors had argued that Lovitt was high on crack when he was confronted by Dicks while trying to steal the cash register. Lovitt grabbed a pair of scissors from a container near the register and stabbed him 6 times, they said. 2 men walked in on the scene, with one taking the stand at trial to say he was "80 %" sure Lovitt was the killer. The other evidence against Lovitt included a jailhouse informant's testimony. Lovitt told police that he emerged from a restroom to see someone else in a fight with Dicks and that he ducked back in to avoid trouble. When he came out, Dicks appeared dead, he said, and he sought to leave quickly but then decided to take the cash register drawer, which contained about $200. The drawer was found at his cousin's house, through some woods, behind the pool hall. The scissors were found discarded in the woods. (source: The Washington Post) NORTH CAROLINA: State Lawmakers Start New Push On Death Penalty Debate----Under New Proposal, No Moratorium, But Courts Can Stay Some Executions State lawmakers against the death penalty say they do not have enough votes in the state House to put executions on hold in North Carolina, but Tuesday, they will move forward with at least part of their plan. Under a proposed plan, there will still be a 2-year study on the death penalty, but there will not be a moratorium. Executions can still occur, but courts could stay an execution if the case relates to the study. "There are some problems in our criminal justice system in North Carolina when innocent people end up on death row," said House Majority Leader Joe Hackney, sponsor of the moratorium bill. "The worst thing would be for us to execute somebody and then at the conclusion of the study, the Legislature decide that this kind of case or this type of person who should not be executed," said Richard Taylor, of the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers. Some critics argue it gives Superior Court judges too much power over death penalty cases that were already decided. "It's essentially having a lower level judge overrule the higher-level judge, which is unacceptable," said Rep. Paul Stam, R-Wake. Stam said he is also worried about the study itself. He argues it could be made up of political appointees with a specific agenda. Supporters said it will not have advocates from either point of view. (source: WRAL News) ARIZONA: Jury to consider death penalty for man convicted of killing 5 women Jurors will begin hearing testimony today on whether a Phoenix man convicted of killing five women deserves the death penalty. Cory Morris was convicted by the same jury yesterday of 5 counts of 1st-degree murder in the deaths of women he lured into his camper and strangled during sex. The women, some of whom were allegedly prostitutes, were killed in 2002 and 2003 in a downtown Phoenix neighborhood. Prosecutors say Morris left the bodies to decompose in his trailer before eventually dumping them in the blighted neighborhood. (source: Associated Press)
