August 2 TEXAS: Family finally sees loved one's accused killer in court Lamar Baskin is accused of committing a violent crime spree, including 3 rapes, 3 robberies and 2 murders. Monday, he went on trial for capital murder. Baskin is charged with killing an interior designer at a company warehouse on Hansen in 2002. Monday was been a long day coming for the family of the mother from Alvin. Lamar Baskin watch silently as prosecutors showed jurors scene video of a murder he is accused of committing. Laura Higgins was only 28 when police found her body in December 2002. Her family filled 2 rows of the courtroom and her sister, Sandy Powell, said seeing the police evidence would be tough. "Just something we had to do in support of her. And let this guy know what he took from us," she said. Powell and her loved ones had waited two and a half years for the trial to begin -- ever since the day her little sisters was found dead from a gunshot wound inside a warehouse her company owned. Powell sat just a few feet from Lamar Baskin, who she had never seen before Monday. "It's hard looking at him, wondering, what was he thinking." Police said evidence links Baskin to several other violent crimes, including another killing. But Laura Higgins' family is focused on her murder. Although Baskin faces death if convicted, Sandy Powell said there is something the maximum penalty can't do. "Nothing will maker her come back," she said. "Frankly, as long as he is not out on the street ruining someone else's life, killing somebody else, I don't care what happens to him." Baskin's attorney said that no evidence ties his client to the scene. He also said that an acquaintance of Baskin who told police that his client was at the warehouse that night couldn't be trusted. Prosecutors said they would be calling witnesses for at least 2 more days. (source: KHOU News) ************************ Lawyers say suspect in capital murder case is mentally retarded ----Prosecutors dispute claim that would make man ineligible for the death penalty Lawyers for a man charged with capital murder for the 2002 slaying of a woman at a Hobby Airport-area office park said Monday their client was not eligible for the death penalty because he is mentally retarded. Lamar Baskin, 45, is accused in a series of robberies, shootings and sexual assaults in Houston-area office parks in late 2002. He is accused of shooting at least five people, two of them fatally. Testimony began Monday in the ex-convict's capital murder trial, in which prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for the shooting death of Laura Powell Higgins, a 28-year-old wife and mother who was gunned down at the Hobby Business Park on Dec. 20, 2002. Higgins, an interior decorator for Perry Homes, had stopped by her company's furniture warehouse near Hobby Airport after work. "Everyone in her family knew something was terribly wrong when she failed to pick up her daughter, Sydney, from day care," Assistant District Attorney Di Glaeser said during her opening statement Monday. Suspect earned a GED Baskin sat silently in court wearing a black blazer, disheveled hair and a long, unkempt beard. His lawyers, Katherine Scardino and Allen Isbell, say Baskin has mental retardation and is ineligible for the death penalty under a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that bars such executions. One recent test showed Baskin had an IQ of 65. The traditional cutoff for mental retardation is 70. Prosecutors Glaeser and Denise Nassar dispute the claim, pointing to the GED Baskin received in prison and his operation of a furniture moving business years before his arrest. Defense lawyers say Baskin only worked for the company and did not run it. If Baskin is convicted, jurors will decide during the punishment phase whether he has retardation. Ballistics tests show the bullet that killed Higgins came from the gun used in at least 3 similar office park shootings, prosecutors said. At least 3 people have identified Baskin as the man who robbed them at gunpoint in 2002, prosecutors said. Baskin, who lived on Telephone Road, has been in jail since his February 2003 arrest in an unrelated robbery. Accused in string of crimes Among the 2002 crimes prosecutors attribute to Baskin were the Dec. 7 robbery and shooting of Jose Reyes at an office park in the 7300 block of Harwin; the Dec. 17 robbery and shooting of William Davis, a small business owner, at an office park at Bissonnet and Braesburn; and the robbery and shootings of Edward Cole and Paul Winters at an office park on Clementshire in southeast Houston that same day. Authorities also accuse Baskin in the fatal shooting of print shop owner Raffique Karamath on Dec. 6, 2002, at an office park in the 6100 block of Jessamine. In 1992, Baskin was sentenced to 30 years in prison after being convicted of auto theft in Harris County. He was paroled after serving 5 years. ************************* Death row inmate sees hearing reset In Richmond, a hearing to determine whether Texas death row inmate Milton Mathis is mentally retarded has been rescheduled for next month. Attorneys for Mathis, 26, and the state were to have argued today before state District Judge Brady Elliott in Fort Bend County, but defense attorneys asked for more time to prepare. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals earlier this year halted Mathis' execution 1 day before he was to have been sent to the death chamber for fatally shooting two men in December 1998. The hearing has been set for Sept. 6. (source for both: Houston Chronicle) NORTH DAKOTA----re: federal death sentence Judge denies death penalty appeal A federal judge has ruled against attorneys representing murder suspect Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. in their bid to get the federal death penalty overturned. U.S. District Court Judge Ralph Erickson said the Federal Death Penalty Act is not unconstitutional simply because it doesn't spell out the grand jury's role in death penalty cases. Also in the 32-page order, Erickson instructed federal prosecutors to turn over more details about their case to Rodriguez's attorneys. Richard Ney, a Wichita, Kan., attorney representing Rodriguez, claimed that federal prosecutors are "jerry-rigging" the death penalty process in an attempt to meet a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision. In January, the court ruled that juries, not judges, must consider all evidence that could affect a defendant's sentencing. To meet the ruling, federal prosecutors included a list of aggravating factors that the grand jury considered in indicting Rodriguez in May 2004. If Rodriguez is found guilty, the aggravating factors could be used to seek his execution. U.S. Attorney Drew Wrigley has said his office will seek the death penalty for Rodriguez if a jury convicts him in the kidnapping and death of 22-year-old college student Dru Sjodin. Rodriguez, held in the Cass County jail, has pleaded not guilty. Ney argued there is no provision in the Federal Death Penalty Act that allows a grand jury to consider aggravating factors. But Erickson said grand juries should be free to "pursue its investigations unhindered by external influence." In deciding other motions, Erickson ordered prosecutors to provide Rodriguez's attorneys with more information by Aug. 12 about their case. Among other details, the defense is entitled to know more about how the government intends to prove that Rodriguez killed Sjodin after substantial planning and how it hopes to prove she was "killed in an especially heinous, cruel and depraved manner ...," the order says. "It will help us understand what the government is alleging and how they intend to go about proving that," said Robert Hoy, a Fargo attorney who also represents Rodriguez. "We're talking about a case in which a man's life is at risk, and it appears the judge is trying to make sure the defense has all the information it needs," Hoy said. Several attempts to contact Wrigley for comment Monday were unsuccessful. Sjodin disappeared in November 2003 from a mall in Grand Forks, N.D. Searchers found her body in April 2004, near Rodriguez's hometown of Crookston, Minn. Erickson also ordered prosecutors to provide Rodriguez's attorneys with transcripts of grand jury testimony and to release a tentative witness list 60 days before the trial, which is set for March 2006. Prosecutors and Rodriguez's attorneys will argue other motions during an Aug. 19 hearing. Ney has filed other challenges to the government's intent to seek his client's execution. (source: The Forum) ALABAMA: Judge dismisses juror from case In Fayette, the jury hearing Devin Moore's capital murder case has one less member after a day in which most of the action took place out of the jury's earshot. Judge James E. Moore refused to discuss why a juror was dismissed Monday, and the lawyers and other court officials were equally tight-lipped. The jury seated a week ago had 12 jurors and 4 alternates. After a 2-hour delay in the start of proceedings Monday, only 15 people took their seats. Devin Moore is accused of killing Fayette police Officers Arnold Strickland and James Crump and dispatcher Leslie "Ace" Mealer in June 2003. He is charged with 6 counts of 3 different capital murder charges and could face the death penalty or life in prison if convicted. Moore pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of serious mental defect. His lawyers say that he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, which triggered the shooting. They also say he was programmed to kill by compulsively playing video games. The case received large amounts of news media coverage, and Judge Moore called a large jury pool in hopes of getting an unbiased jury. Judge Moore could be heard mentioning pre-trial publicity Monday from a bench conference at one point not long after testimony started at 11 a.m. The jury also went home early as lawyers tilted over the admissibility of evidence. District Attorney Chris McCool asked the court to admit autopsy reports on the 3 victims. However, defense attorney Jim Standridge objected because the pathologist who conducted the autopsy is not available for questioning. Dr. John Glenn went on medical retirement from the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences after conducting autopsies and before the start of the trial. McCool said Glenn's doctor said Glenn is unable to testify. "We're confronted by a post-mortem conducted by Dr. Glenn," Standridge said. "The defendant never got the opportunity to cross-examine Dr. Glenn." Standridge objected to the admission of the evidence both on legal precedent and constitutional grounds. However, Judge Moore overruled his objections and agreed to admit the reports. Standridge also objected to prosecutors' plans to have a doctor who was not present at the autopsy give testimony about the autopsy report. Judge Moore did not rule yet on the issue. McCool also asked the judge to order the defense to turn over background materials that projected defense witnesses used to determine that playing the video game "Grand Theft Auto" might have compelled Moore to shoot the officers. McCool said he didn't believe that any theories presented about video games would be accepted by the scientific community. He asked for all materials used in helping them to form their opinions. Testimony in prior cases and rulings on the admissibility of evidence is important in expert testimony. "I don't know that there will be any testimony on video games based on prior [cases], because I don't know if there are any prior [cases]," Standridge said. "I didn't anticipate that the testimony on video games would have a scientific basis," he said later. Prosecutors had tried to get information from the defense experts unsuccessfully, McCool said. The judge ordered the defense to turn over all literature and documents like interviews with the defendant used to form their opinion. In open court, former Jasper police Officer Tim Kilgore testified to evidence that linked Devin Moore to two burglaries in Jasper. He was arrested originally while driving a white Toyota stolen from a glass shop. It was across an alley from a dry cleaner where Kilgore claimed to have found a Mountain Dew can with Moore's fingerprints. Moore also was wearing clothes missing from the dry cleaners when he was arrested. Standridge's cross-examination revealed that prosecutors did not have the Mountain Dew can in their possession. The jury heard more testimony about the crime scene. Prosecutors showed jurors more photos of the scene including photos of Mealer's body. One showed wounds in his hands while another showed wounds in his head. Other witnesses testified that the chain of evidence remained unbroken and uncorrupted. Court is scheduled to reconvene at 9 a.m. today. (source: The Tuscaloosa News) *********************** Take a breather on death penalty Alabamians overwhelmingly support capital punishment in principle, but a sizable number have grave concerns about capital punishment in practice. That's the undeniable conclusion from a new poll by the Capital Survey Research Center in Montgomery. According to a survey of more than 850 registered voters, almost 71 % of Alabamians favor the death penalty. But only 47 % believe capital punishment is fairly applied in Alabama, and a striking 80 % believe an innocent person could be put to death under the current system. Perhaps not so surprisingly, 57 % said they support putting a hold on executions until the questions of fairness and accuracy can be resolved. Are Alabama leaders listening? State Sen. Hank Sanders, D-Selma, for years has tried to get his legislative colleagues to call a temporary halt to executions. But the effort has come to nothing, even though at least 37 local governments and more than 300 churches, businesses and political groups have signed a petition in support of a moratorium. Attorney General Troy King not only refuses to consider a moratorium, he pitched a fit when an esteemed Birmingham lawyer merely proposed the Alabama State Bar publish a pro/con brochure on the issue. What is it that Alabamians get that their leaders don't? They obviously recognize that giving government the power to take life is an awesome and serious thing. They recognize that if we're going to grant it to our government, it needs to be administered in a way that is as fair and foolproof as possible. They know the recent history of DNA exonerations - where seemingly airtight cases have been found full of holes - casts doubt on the accuracy of the entire criminal justice system. That doesn't mean they suddenly don't believe in capital punishment. Clearly, that's not the case. But according to the findings of a respected polling operation, most Alabamians believe it's time to take a breather to make sure the death penalty is carried out correctly. Are our leaders listening? (source: Opinion, Birmimngham News) USA: Prisons Raise Patrols for Inmate Suicides Troubled in love, prison inmate Garry Owens wrote a suicide note with a suicide-resistant pen, then asphyxiated himself with a bedsheet laced through his jail cell window. Owens was the fifth Ohio prisoner to kill himself this year, following a record 11 deaths in 2004 and four in 2003. Ohio, Connecticut and Iowa have dealt recently with spikes in inmatesuicides. Prison systems have responded by ordering more frequent guardpatrols, replacing lace-up shoes with slippers, increasing the recreationtime for prisoners in mental health units and removing fixtures in cellsthat inmates could use to hang themselves, such as smoke detector covers. State officials in Connecticut also asked courts, prosecutors and police totell prisons more about an incoming inmate's mental health. "Some of the people that end up committing suicide show very little interms of indicators," said prisons spokesman Brian Garnett. "The more youcan delve in what's in their head and their background, the better chanceyou have of protecting them." In Connecticut, where jails and prisons are operated under the same system, there have been 13 suicides since April 2004, including 4 this year. Four inmates committed suicide in two years in Iowa on a new unit for mentally ill prisoners, raising immediate concerns since the unit was meant to improve life for such inmates, said Dr. Ed O'Brien, Corrections Department medical director. Among several changes, the prison system began checking suicidal inmates every five minutes instead of every 15 minutes, searching cells for material inmates could use to attempt suicide and training staff to better recognize suicidal behavior. Consultants caution prison systems against ever letting their guard down against suicides. "You're constantly putting out fires, dealing with one crisis after another, so after a period of time, when inmate suicides are no longer a daily concern or a daily crisis, then a system will turn to something else that happens to be on the front burner," said Lindsay Hayes, a prisons consultant Ohio hired last year. Officials at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility say Owens, 31, was distraught over the end of a relationship with another inmate and his death was probably not preventable. One guard was fired and 2 more are being investigated for whether they monitored him closely enough. In 2002, 166 inmates in state prisons committed suicide, or about 5 percent of the 3,101 inmate deaths that year, according to the most recent data available from the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics. About 6 percent of inmate deaths in 2001 were suicides. On average, the suicide rate is 13 to 15 deaths per 100,000, compared to 11 deaths per 100,000 in the general community, Hayes said. Prisoners most at risk for suicide include new inmates, those with mental health problems and those segregated as punishment -- in a smaller cell, with no recreation time or personal belongings. In New York State, the country's 4th-largest prison system, 2 of the 8 inmates who killed themselves last year were in segregated cells. In 2003, 4 of 14 inmates who committed suicide were in segregated cells. "Just like in the outside world, there are people whose suicides are long-term decisions, and there are people whose suicides are snap decisions," said James Flateau, spokesman for the New York Department of Correctional Services. At the prison consultant's recommendation, Ohio in April began screening segregated inmates with previously identified mental health problems, as well as inmates in protective custody, for suicidal tendencies. Inmates whose condition raises concerns are placed on suicide watch, which can include 24-hour-a-day monitoring. Owens was in a cell by himself for attacking his ex-lover as the two passed in lines on the way to lunch, said Ed Voorhies, warden at the maximum-security prison. Owens was serving a sentence of 15 years to life for a 1993 slaying. The next evening, on June 4, sitting in Cell 13 on the north wing of Lucasville's J2 block, Owens wrote a note addressed to his ex-boyfriend on a prisoner complaint form. He used a short, bendable pen designed to keep inmates from hurting themselves. Voorhies said Owens then threaded a bedsheet through the bars of the small window in the door of his 6- by 8 1/2-foot institutional green cell, wrapped the sheet around his neck and dropped down, strangling himself. On the Net: U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/ Prison Reform Advocacy Center: http://www.prisonreform.com/ (source: Associated Press)
