August 6 CALIFORNIA: High court OKs death for killer ---- Findings on mental competence stand The California Supreme Court upheld a San Mateo County man's death sentence Thursday for murdering a 15-year-old friend in 1981 and a 12-year-old stranger in 1984, killings that the trial judge ascribed to the defendant's "delight in doing evil." Jon Dunkle also pleaded guilty to a third murder, of a 12-year-old Sacramento boy in 1985, and was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole for that crime. Thursday's unanimous decision was largely devoted to defense claims that Dunkle, who was twice admitted to a mental hospital before his 1989 trial, should have been found incompetent to stand trial. He was found competent by a judge in 1988 and by a jury in 1989. Two psychiatrists testified that Dunkle was schizophrenic or delusional. But the state's high court said the jury was entitled to believe testimony by a third psychiatrist that Dunkle was faking mental illness and by jail guards that he seemed normal except when called into court. That's not the last word on his mental competencey, said Dunkle's appellate lawyer, S. Michelle May. She said Dunkle has been involuntarily medicated in prison for years because "even the Department of Corrections found that Mr. Dunkle was so mentally disordered that he was incompetent to make his own medication decisions." The same judge who found Dunkle competent to stand trial ruled in 1999 that he was incapable of assisting his lawyer in a separate appeal, and appointed a guardian for that purpose, May said. That appeal, pending before the state Supreme Court, focuses on Dunkle's mental condition and his trial lawyer's alleged incompetence. Dunkle, now 44, lived in Belmont in November 1981 when 15-year-old John Davies disappeared from a home where Dunkle often went to visit him and his brother. The teen's parents, Joan and Jim Davies, became leaders in a Bay Area effort to find missing children and spent more than $20,000 trying to locate their son, a computer whiz at Serra High School. The killing was still unsolved in October 1984, when 12-year-old Lance Turner disappeared from soccer practice at Ralston Intermediate School and was found stabbed to death that evening at nearby Waterdog Lake. Two years later, Dunkle, serving a prison sentence for burglary, admitted both killings to a cellmate and later to the FBI, the court said. He drew a map that led police to the remains of John Davies, who had been stabbed to death. A psychiatrist quoted him as saying that he first became aware of wanting to kill someone in the 6th grade and that while alone with Davies, "I thought to myself, 'You have got someone out alone in the middle of nowhere. Here is your chance.'" Dunkle also admitted murdering 12-year-old Sean Dannehl, who was knocked off his bicycle in a Sacramento park and stabbed to death in July 1985. In sentencing him to death, Superior Court Judge Judith Kozloski said those who are overcome by the horror of Dunkle's crimes might imagine he suffered from an emotional illness "to protect ourselves from the very real fact that some people in the world delight in doing evil." Dunkle, she said, "has systematically feigned mental problems" and stabbed Lance Turner 23 times "for the perverse pleasure of seeing a human being suffer and die." Dunkle's lawyers argued that the statements showed the judge was driven by personal feelings as well as religious beliefs, citing Koz-loski's comment that the defendant should "look beyond this earth for forgiveness." But Justice Joyce Kennard said the judge's comments simply reflected her "appreciation of the terror and grief felt by the victims and their families." The case is People vs. Dunkle, S014200. (source: San Francisco Chronicle) FLORIDA: Testimony aims to keep Meyer off death row David Jeffrey Meyer's childhood in Indiana was solitary, poor, nasty and brutish, witnesses told jurors in his 1st-degree murder trial Friday. His mother, when she was around, was "pathetic and filthy," and had little idea how to care for Meyer and his 2 siblings. At one point, one of her husbands had bullied her into prostitution to supplement their income. Meyer, 48, never knew his father. He often lived with his grandmother, described as domineering and controlling; she wouldn't let him play outside of the house. He turned inward, and eventually dropped out of school when he could no longer take being picked on. And as a young man, he developed a lifelong habit: carrying a knife wherever he went. Meyer, who faces the death penalty, was convicted Wednesday of first-degree murder in the March 8, 2004, stabbing death of local lawyer Fred Parker, 66. The 2nd part of his trial, known as the penalty phase, began Friday. Paula Saunders, one of Meyer's public defenders, presented family members, a neighbor and a psychologist to establish "mitigating factors" to lessen the severity of his crime. Seven or more jurors must agree in order to recommend the death penalty to Circuit Judge Kathleen Dekker. While that recommendation is not binding on her, the judge must give it "great weight and deference," according to law. The idea is to convince jurors to save Meyer's life by explaining the adversities he faced and his failure to overcome them. Barbara Rather, Meyer's ailing aunt, testified by video from Indiana Friday. She recalled the young David as "very quiet; he didn't have social skills." "He was kept in, kept away, from everything and everybody," she said. When Meyer lived sporadically with his mother, also named Barbara, she would spend her money on "trinkets" and cigarettes, letting the children go hungry, Rather added. After David was born, the mother married a man who abused her. Rather, who cried during her testimony, remembered Meyer's mother once saying her husband forced her to prostitute herself, sometimes with several men in one evening. Richard Rather, Meyer's cousin, said he and other family members would have to protect Meyer from getting into fights picked by other children. He also testified by video. Fed up, Meyer started carrying a knife at 14, a habit he never quit, the cousin said. Nancy Alexander, Meyer's neighbor when he lived with this mother, also testified by video from Indiana. She called Meyer's mother "naive and promiscuous" and clueless about parenting. Meyer's sister, for example, didn't have a toothbrush, she said. The mother worked at a local truck stop, where she socialized with a steady string of truckers, often spending the evening in their truck cabs. She would come home and tell Alexander how the man of the moment "loved her and they were going to get married ...." "She was just a mess," Alexander said. "But you had to like her, or feel sorry for her, I don't know which." Jill Ricke, a Tallahassee psychologist, said Meyer's childhood was "full of chaos, with little nurturing." She also said Meyer suffers from chronic stress. While she didn't mention Parker, she said Meyer perceives threats where often there are none. Perhaps the most emotional moment came when Betty Fuentes, an investigator for the Public Defender's Office, said she had found Meyer's biological father in Arizona. For almost 50 years, the man never knew he had a son in Indiana, she told jurors. He first said he would help the defense team, Fuentes said, but had a change of heart and told them he wanted no contact with them or Meyer. Parker was killed outside Tally's Grille, a restaurant in the Market Square shopping center. He had stopped to use a public restroom in a hallway adjacent to the eatery, where he ran into Meyer. He later walked in, collapsed and died on the restaurant's floor. Meyer was caught when a Tallahassee police officer spotted him on an upper walkway of the North Monroe Street Motel 6 3 days after the killing. Throughout the day, Meyer sat mostly with his hands clasped and head pointed down. Testimony continues Monday. (source: Tallahassee Democrat) *************************** Gov. Bush orders Florida authorities to preserve DNA evidence Gov. Jeb Bush signed an executive order Friday requiring authorities to preserve DNA evidence in certain older cases so it can be used to determine if defendants may have been wrongly convicted. "The destruction of this evidence could potentially enable the innocent to be wrongly convicted and the guilty to go free," the order read. It comes just two days after 67-year-old Luis Diaz, who was imprisoned for 26 years as the "Bird Road rapist," was released in Miami after DNA evidence from 2 of the rapes excluded him as the attacker, casting doubt on 5 cases for which he was serving time. DNA testing also set Wilton Dedge free last August after 22 years in prison on a false charge of rape. He went before the Legislature this spring to ask the state to pay him for his lost wages, the money his family spent on his case and for the attorneys who fought on his behalf. Those issues remain unresolved. The Friday order requires government agencies in possession of physical evidence to preserve it until post-conviction DNA testing may be requested by inmates still serving time for crimes that occurred 2 or more years before Oct. 1, 2001. That's when a law went into effect to open a window of opportunity for such convicts to request DNA testing. It initially was 2 years, then extended by the Florida Supreme Court to Oct. 1, 2005 and now beyond that by the governor. The order applies to any investigating law enforcement agency, the clerk of court, and the prosecuting authority. Florida is among 3 dozen states with laws to allow post-conviction DNA testing. Agencies could dispose of DNA evidence under the governor's order only if defendants fail to request testing within 90 days after written notices of pending destruction are sent to defendants, their lawyers, prosecutors and the attorney general. (source: Associated Press) MISSOURI: Jurors divided on death penalty----Judge to sentence Lightfoot to life A federal jury on Friday hung up on whether to recommend execution for a man convicted of killing a federal witness. That means that U.S. District Judge Fernando Gaitan Jr. will sentence Xavier Lightfoot to life without parole. Jurors on Tuesday convicted Lightfoot of conspiring to murder the witness, murdering the witness and conspiring to rob a credit union. Jurors found that Lightfoot, while in prison, orchestrated the June 8, 1998, murder of John Wayne Hogsett. Hogsett, who lived as a woman under the name of Jovan Ross, was helping the FBI in the investigation of robberies of a credit union and two jewelry stores in Nebraska. Hogsett and Lightfoot lived together in a Kansas City house, and Hogsett became upset because Lightfoot was hiding stolen property there, according to trial evidence. On Friday, jurors hung up 6-6 on whether to recommend life without parole or death after deliberating several hours Thursday and Friday. A unanimous decision is required for death. Defense lawyer Charles Rogers said, "We appreciate the hard work the jury put in, and we are very happy Mr. Lightfoot was not sentenced to death." Todd Graves, U.S. attorney in Kansas City, was not available for comment. Key evidence at trial included testimony from Cornelius Peoples, a co-defendant of Lightfoots who hired hit men to kill Hogsett. Both Peoples and Lightfoot were previously convicted in 1999 and sentenced to life for the murder, but those convictions were overturned. Last year, Peoples pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against Lightfoot in exchange for a sentencing range of 15 to 25 years. In closing arguments of the death penalty phase Thursday, defense lawyer Cheryl Pilate reminded jurors of the character of Peoples and other co-defendants who testified against Lightfoot. "All these people, dangerous, violent people - all got incredibly sweet deals," she said. Her client alone faced death, and she reminded jurors of his loving family and of his problems and misfortunes growing up. "We are asking you in all humility to resist death," she said. "There has already been enough death. We are asking you to promote life." Federal prosecutor Jeffrey Valenti countered that jurors should impose the death penalty for the lost life of the victim, a federal witness. The killing "is an assault on the criminal justice system," he said. Since the 1999 trial, 3 other men have been convicted in the case. Carl Haskell was sentenced to life for killing Hogsett. Curtis Barfield was acquitted of the murder but sentenced to 5 years for conspiring to kill a federal witness. Anthony Hunter pleaded guilty to witness tampering and was sentenced to 15 years. (source: Kansas City Star) OHIO: Petro wrong to push execution An innocent man might soon be put to death in Ohio. His name is John Spirko, and he was convicted of the murder of Elgin postmaster Betty Jane Mottinger. He's set to receive a lethal injection Sept. 20. Mr. Spirko was convicted by a jury and had the benefit of appeals through the state system. His conviction has been reviewed and upheld in the federal courts. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to review his case. He has been on death row for more than 20 years. But that's not the complete story. A Newsweek investigation into the death penalty in 2000 included the Spirko case as 1 of 5 cases nationally "where there may be big questions." Meanwhile, a federal appellate judge wrote last year that "a striking fact about the record in this case is the complete absence of any forensic evidence linking Spirko to the crime. There are no fingerprints, footprints, fibers, blood or stolen items to bolster the state's case. Nor is there any written or recorded confession of guilt by Spirko or incriminating testimony by a witness who turned state's evidence." The conviction, he wrote, is based on "3 shaky pillars." One of those pillars is the testimony by an eye witness who was "100 % sure" that a man named Delaney Gibson - a close associate of Mr. Spirko and principal accomplice to the crime, according to the prosecution's theory - was at the post office when the victim was abducted. That pillar has started to totter. The lead state investigator of the murder, who's now retired, gave recorded statements earlier this year that he concluded, before trial, that Delaney Gibson had nothing to do with the murder, and said he discussed why with prosecutors. None of this information, though, was revealed to defense attorneys or the courts during the criminal case - and Delaney Gibson was never prosecuted. This disclosure has led to serious charges by serious lawyers that their client's conviction and sentencing to death was obtained by prosecutorial misconduct. Thomas Hill, a former federal prosecutor who practices with a law firm in Washington, is Mr. Spirko's lead attorney. He says he's "convinced that John Spirko did not abduct and murder Betty Jane Mottinger," and he's "equally convinced that had the state played fair at his trial ... John Spirko would not have been convicted, let alone sentenced to death." The matter is now before U.S. District Judge James R. Carr in Toledo, who is deciding whether to take a 2nd look at the case. He suggested in court on July 20 that the attorney general "join in a request directly to the Supreme Court of Ohio to lift its execution order, giving me the time I need before the scheduled date of execution ... to conclude the proceeding in front of me." Attorney General Jim Petro's office wouldn't accommodate Judge Carr and ensure he has a full chance to weigh these serious claims. Mr. Petro is entitled to argue Mr. Spirko is guilty and was fairly convicted. But pushing for an execution by rushing proceedings that call into question prosecutorial integrity is wrong - potentially dead wrong. (source: Editorial, Dayton Daily News)
