August 10 OHIO: Death row inmate spared execution because he is mentally retarded A man who was sentenced to die for killing a 10-year-old boy cannot be executed because he is mentally retarded, a judge has ruled. Darryl Gumm, of Hazard, Ky., was convicted in 1992 for the beating death that year of Aaron Raines of Cincinnati. Gumm, 39, and another man lured the boy into an abandoned building, where he was beaten with a board, a pipe and a slab of concrete when he refused to perform oral sex on the men, prosecutors said. A Hamilton County Common Pleas judge ruled Tuesday that Gumm was mentally retarded and was exempted from execution by a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Atkins v. Virginia. "I think it was a correct decision," said Kate McGarry, a New Mexico attorney who represented Gumm. She said it apparently was the 1st ruling in Ohio that voided a death sentence because of mental retardation. "We believed that we had met all 3 prongs of Atkins," McGarry said. "We were able, through teachers, records and psychologists to show that to the judge." A 6-3 Supreme Court majority ruled in the case that people arrested for a killing will not face a potential death sentence if they can show they are retarded, generally defined as having an IQ of 70 or lower. The court left it to states to develop their own systems to ensure that mentally retarded people are not executed. Judge Dennis Helmick entered the ruling Tuesday. He gave the state until Oct. 3 to notify the court whether the ruling will be appealed. A call to the attorney general's office late Wednesday was not answered. "Gumm committed an unforgivable act," Helmick wrote in his ruling. "Aaron Raines and his death are not lost on this court. But above all, this court must follow the law. "Darryl Gumm has proved he is legally mentally retarded." Michael Bies, 33, also of Hazard, Ky., was convicted with Gumm and sentenced to death. His attorney made similar retardation arguments, but was rejected twice by a Hamilton County judge last year. The state public defender's office could not immediately reach the attorney who represented Bies. (source: Associated Press) ARIZONA: High court upholds convictions, death penalty in HOA shootings The Arizona Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a man's murder convictions and death sentence in a fatal shooting spree at a homeowners association meeting in a suburban retirement community. The justices unanimously rejected a wide-ranging appeal that included an argument that Richard Glassel was unfairly denied leniency because jurors heard crime-impact testimony from victims' weeping relatives. Glassel was sentenced to death for the 1st-degree murders of 2 people, Nila Lynn and Esther LaPlante, at the association meeting in April 2000. He also was sentenced to 351 years in prison on 30 counts of attempted 1st-degree murder of others attending the meeting. Glassel had owned a home in the retirement community but moved to California after disputes with Ventana Lakes Homeowners Association officials over parked cars, landscaping and other issues. The shooting occurred a year after he moved from the retirement community. He went to the meeting site with several guns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. Glassel's appeal argued that prejudicial effects of Lynn family members' testimony was exacerbated by weeping which spread from the testifying family members to at least some jurors. However, the Supreme Court said the survivors' "powerful and emotional" statements were relevant and that the courtroom atmosphere was not unconstitutionally unfair to Glassel. "Senseless murders usually generate strong emotional responses," Justice Michael D. Ryan wrote for the court. "It is not unreasonable, therefore, to expect that murder victims' family members will often come to tears when making their impact statements. Nor is it unreasonable to expect that some jurors will also have emotional reactions when hearing the victims' families accounts of the loss they have suffered." Wednesday's opinion also reiterated a previous ruling in which the Supreme Court said widower Duane Lynn was not permitted to recommend a life sentence instead of death. That ruling cited a 1991 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that said survivors' recommendations would inflame and distract jurors. "What makes victim statements relevant is the evidence of the impact of the crime," Ryan wrote. "Thus, a victim's recommendation of what sentence should be imposed in a capital case, whether for or against the death penalty, is simply not relevant." The court also rejected arguments on behalf of Glassel that the trial court was wrong to find him mentally competent to stand trial and that more thorough questioning of potential jurors' attitudes on the death penalty and leniency in sentencing should have been permitted. The case is State vs. Glassel, CR-03-0022-AP. On the Net: Arizona Supreme Court: http://www.supreme.state.az.us (source: Associated Press) TENNESSEE: Fugitive couple wanted in courthouse shooting arrested in Ohio A fugitive inmate and his wife, wanted in a brazen courthouse escape and shooting in Tennessee, were captured Wednesday night at an Ohio motel, authorities said. George Hyatte and Jennifer Forsyth Hyatte were in a room at an America's Best Value Inn in Columbus and were arrested without a struggle, said Mark Gwyn, director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. "We have found weapons," he said. "We don't know if it's the murder weapon, but we're processing those as we speak." On Tuesday, authorities say Jennifer Hyatte, 31, ambushed two guards as they were leading her 34-year-old husband from a courthouse hearing in Kingston, Tenn. Guard Wayne "Cotton" Morgan was fatally shot in the escape. Gwyn said the Hyattes would be brought back to Tennessee on warrants for 1st degree murder. They were arrested nearly 300 miles north of Kingston. Jennifer Hyatte had some injuries, he said, but he declined to elaborate. Federal authorities got a tip around 9 p.m. that the couple was in the Columbus motel, and officers surrounded it, said John Bolen, a supervisor for the U.S. Marshals Service in Columbus. Authorities called the couple's room and told them they were surrounded. The couple came out of their room peacefully and surrendered, Bolen said. They didn't say anything during the arrest, he said. Earlier in the day, authorities had track down a van the couple were believed to have used in the escape outside a Kentucky motel just south of Cincinnati. The couple was gone, but Gwyn said authorities knew then that they were getting close. Blood had been found in the motel room, and an employee at a nearby restaurant told federal agents she had given directions that day to a couple she later recognized as the fugitives. Jennifer Hyatte had been a prison nurse when she met her husband, and was fired last year for sneaking food to him. A few months later, she got permission from the warden to marry George Hyatte, a man with a long and violent criminal record. Before the escape, George Hyatte had been in court on a robbery charge. His escape was at least the 5th time has gotten way from law enforcement officials. The other escapes were from local authorities in east Tennessee in 1990, 1991, 1998 and 2002. (source: Associated Press)
