July 29 IOWA----re: federal death penalty New trial for Dustin Honken denied; now awaits sentence A federal judge on Friday denied a request for a new trial by Dustin Honken, the methamphetamine dealer who was convicted last fall in the 1st death penalty case in Iowa in more than 40 years. Honken was convicted of multiple counts of murder and conspiracy in the 1993 execution-style slayings of 3 adults, including 2 federal witnesses, and 2 children in Mason City. The jury recommended the death penalty for Honkens role in killing the 2 children. In his ruling, U.S. District Judge Mark Bennett concluded that Honken had received a fair trial, and that the weight of evidence against him was overwhelming. Earlier this month, defense attorneys argued that the verdict was tainted because of a jury tampering incident and that Honken deserved to be acquitted or be granted a new trial. The juror, a woman, was excused midway through the penalty phase of the trial because she said her boss had made inflammatory comments to her about the case, including, "Fry him, fry him." "While the court has grappled with every ruling and every instruction in this case, in an effort to make this trial as free from error as the court could possibly make it..." Bennett wrote, "the court has no residual doubt about its conclusion that there has been no miscarriage of justice that would warrant a new trial." The ruling clears the way for Bennett to sentence Honken. A sentencing date has not yet been scheduled, court officials said. (source: Associated Press) OHIO: Prosecutor seeks death penalty Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters will seek the death penalty against 2 local teen suspects. Deters announced death penalty indictments Thursday for 19-year-olds George Williams, of Avondale, and Matthew Carrovillano, of North College Hill. He also reiterated the need for city officials to help police combat what he called "a level of lawlessness not seen in Cincinnati before." Williams faces charges of aggravated murder and aggravated robbery in the July 19 shooting of cab driver Timothy Deger in Green Township. Carrovillano was indicted on charges of rape of a child under 13, child endangering, murder and two counts of aggravated murder in the July 20 rape and murder of his girlfriend's 18-month-old daughter, Kaylee Schnurr. "I believe both these defendants - with the evidence we have - deserve to be executed," Deters said. The cases will be the 2nd and 3rd in which Deters has sought the death penalty since returning as prosecutor at the beginning of the year. When Deters was prosecutor from 1992 to 1998, he sent 22 men to death row. Deters said prosecutors would seek the maximum penalty in the 2 cases because the evidence was "overwhelming" and the crimes warranted it under Ohio law. "These are the statutes I swore to uphold," he said. "If you don't like the death penalty, go up to Columbus and change it." He said the two cases highlight an emboldened criminal element in the city and an atmosphere of lawlessness that did not exist when he was prosecutor 6 years ago. "This is outrageous behavior," he said. "Right now in the city of Cincinnati there are many young people with weapons who are willing to use them." Part of the problem, Deters said, is that police aren't being allowed to do their job properly. He cited the fact that Cincinnati Police Chief Tom Streicher is working with about half a command staff because of court and union fights over how high-ranking officers should be hired and promoted. Accusations of racial profiling are another hindrance, he said. "We have a big problem here and I think we need to let the police do their job." The grand jury also indicted two others Thursday in the cab driver's death. Police say Williams' cousin Andre Woodcock, 19, of Mount Auburn, and sister Mary Rosemond, 23, of Walnut Hills, were accomplices in the shooting, although investigators believe Williams fired the shots that killed Deger. A handgun believed to be the murder weapon was recovered. Woodcock and Rosemond face charges of aggravated murder and aggravated robbery, for a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole for 33 years. "They knew when they got in that they were going to rob that cab. It is a senseless and tragic death of a good guy," Deters said. Williams has a long juvenile rap sheet that includes at least 2-dozen run-ins with law enforcement since 2000, Deters said. "He is a career criminal if you can be one at age 19," he said. The death penalty is possible for Carrovillano in part because of a 1997 state law that provides for a death specification for the "purposeful murder of a child under 13." He said Thursday that Schnurr's mother was not to blame in the toddler's death. "She never left that baby's side," he said of her vigilance during the time her daughter spent in the hospital following the beating. "The only thing she's probably guilty of is picking a horrible boyfriend." (source: Cincinnati Post) ILLINOIS: Former death row inmate convicted in drug and gun trial A federal jury today found an ex-death row inmate guilty of federal gun and drug charges, accepting allegations he trafficked in heroin, marijuana and firearms, CLTV reported. The verdict came on the second day of deliberations in the trial of Aaron Patterson. The trial was marked by repeated outbursts, including an attack on his own attorneys, that got Patterson barred from court. Gov. George Ryan pardoned Patterson, 41, of a murder conviction and freed him from Death Row in January 2003. Patterson took advantage of his notoriety by becoming an outspoken community activist. But in April 2004, he was back behind bars. The federal charges accused him of brokering a series of heroin sales between an alleged pusher and a confidential source who was working with the government. He also was accused of selling marijuana and buying 4 guns - illegally since he is a convicted felon. During his trial, prosecutors used Patterson's own words - recorded by an undercover informant - to describe a man seeking to re-establish "his land," or gang leadership, through the sale of marijuana and heroin and the purchase of "thumpers," or weapons. But defense attorney Tommy Brewer said his client was set up in a scripted government sting. Throughout the case, Brewer and co-counsel Paul Camarena argued that their client was seeking replica guns as part of an elaborate countersting Patterson said he was staging with the secret cooperation of an undercover government informant. Jurors deliberated for 3 hours Thursday and resumed deliberations this morning. They returned the guilty verdict about 3 p.m. (source: Chicago Tribune) *************************** Ex-Illinois Death Row Inmate Convicted In Chicago, a former death row inmate whose case helped launch an emotional campaign against the death penalty in Illinois was convicted Friday of drugs and weapons violations following a tumultuous trial. Aaron Patterson, 41, turned down an offer to hear the verdict by teleconference. He had been banished from the courtroom after defiantly refusing to be cross-examined and shouting to the jury that he was the victim of "a legal lynching." Patterson could get from 15 years to life in prison when federal Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer sentences him. The sentencing was scheduled for Dec. 4. Defense attorney Tommy Brewer told reporters after the verdict that "(Patterson)'s angry at authorities as he should be, but he's not an evil person." He said the tumult surrounding the trial _ one lawyer was released from Patterson's defense team before the trial started after she staged 2 tearful walkouts in as many days _ provided ample fodder for an appeal. Patterson spent 17 years in prison, 13 of them on death row, for a double murder he insists he did not commit. He says he was framed by Chicago homicide detectives who tortured him. In January 2003, then-Gov. George Ryan pardoned Patterson as one of his last acts in office, saying there was no credible evidence against him. Ryan also pardoned 3 other men and commuted the sentences of all other death row inmates to life without parole. Patterson emerged from prison saying he would dedicate his life to exposing corruption and police misconduct. He filed a lawsuit against city and county officials who sent him to death row and turned down a $4 million settlement offer from the city. Prosecutors used witnesses and secretly made recordings to convince jurors that Patterson brokered a series of heroin sales to a government witness, sold marijuana and illegally bought 4 guns, including a MAC-10 machine pistol. Patterson claimed he had sought to buy replicas - not real guns. His attorneys told jurors that he was investigating wrongdoing by law enforcement officials and ended up being set up by the very officials he had been investigating. Federal prosecutors scoffed at that claim. "He was using that guise to cover up his gang activity and his drug deals," First Assistant U.S. Attorney Gary Shapiro said. (source: Associated Press) NEW JERSEY: Once on death row, killer receives 30 years more in prison A man whose death sentence was overturned in a 1991 murder case will instead serve 30 years in prison. Charles "Crazy Eddie" Reddish admitted in June to killing Yeda Sheron "Dede" Rosenthal of Cherry Hill as part of a plea deal to spare him the death penalty. A jury previously convicted Reddish, but the state Supreme Court overturned it last year. Judge Linda G. Baxter sentenced him Friday to 30 years in prison without the possibility of parole. Reddish, 44, will serve that sentence consecutive to the 2 life sentences he is serving for a murdering his girlfriend and sexually assaulting her 14-year-old daughter in 1995. With the combined sentences, he will have to serve a total of 85 years before he is eligible for parole. During Friday's sentencing, Rosenthal's brother, Blaine Rosenberg, complained that his sister's body was never found. Reddish told Rosenberg that he would be willing to take investigators to where he left it, in a remote area along the Delaware Bay in Cumberland County, said Bill Shralow, a spokesman for the Camden County Prosecutor's Office. Assistant Camden County Prosecutor Mary Alison Albright said that after 14 years in an area of tidal waters, there is no chance any remains would be found. (source: Newsday)
