August 12 TEXAS: Mother, convicted killer transferred to state prison Police say move means closure Angela Camacho was silent for the duration of a 6-hour trip to a state prison Thursday where she will serve a life sentence for her part in the murder of her three children in 2003. County deputies said Camacho was quietly transferred to a prison near Gatesville early Thursday. "She ate her breakfast, she ate her lunch, but didnt say a single word the whole trip," Cameron County Sheriffs Department Capt. Javier Reyna said. "She didn't even say thank you." Camacho wore shackles on her feet, a chain on her waist and handcuffs around her wrists for the drive to the womens prison. Two deputies accompanied her. The 25-year-old Matamoros native pleaded guilty on June 30 to acting with her common law husband John Allen Rubio to strangle, stab and behead their three children in March 2003. Rubio was convicted of the capital crime and sentenced to death in November 2003 at his own request. He has since filed an appeal. Camachos case spent 2 years in court, delayed by questions about her mental health and ability to stand trial. She entered into a plea agreement on June 30 and avoided the death penalty, receiving life instead. Camacho had been held at a Cameron County jail for female inmates until her 4 a.m. transfer Thursday. Officials with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice would not confirm if or where Camacho was being housed Thursday evening but said she had been entered in their system that day. Brownsville Police Chief Carlos Garcia said Camacho's transfer brings closure to a city that was shocked by the grisly crime. "Justice has been served and now it's time to close this chapter for the family, for the department and for the city," Garcia said. Under state law, Camacho is eligible for parole in 2043. (source: Brownsville Herald) DELAWARE: Killer of pregnant woman appeals death sentence----Lawyer challenges Delaware law Almost 9 years after a jury convicted Brian D. Steckel of raping and strangling a pregnant 29-year-old woman, he is sitting on death row appealing his sentence. Steckel's attorney, Joseph M. Bernstein, argued in Delaware Supreme Court on Thursday that executing Steckel would be a failure of justice because the state's death penalty law is unconstitutional. Loren C. Meyers, chief of the appeals division for the Delaware Department of Justice, contended the death penalty law is constitutional and therefore, the death sentence should be upheld. Both attorneys said arguments in Steckel's case are a preview for arguments on whether to overturn convicted killer Thomas Capano's death sentence for killing Anne Marie Fahey in 1996. After Steckel raped and strangled Sandra Lee Long at her Prices Corner apartment in 1994, he set the apartment on fire. Before his capture, he called The News Journal to brag about the killing. During his trial, he sent a copy of Long's autopsy to her mother, writing "Read it and weep. She's gone forever. Don't cry over burnt flesh." Bernstein told the five-justice panel that the jury should have been informed that finding Steckel guilty of rape and other felonies related to the murder automatically made him eligible for the death penalty during the sentencing phase of the trial. The lack of clarity on that point misled jurors, he said, because the judge instructed them that their role in the sentencing phase of the trial was merely to advise him whether Steckel should be sentenced to life in prison or death. Jury trials on 1st-degree murder charges are broken into two parts under Delaware law. First, jurors must decide if a defendant is guilty or not guilty of the crimes. If they find the defendant guilty, they must answer two questions. They must decide whether the murder involved at least one aggravating circumstance, such as the killing occurring simultaneous to a rape or robbery. Then they must determine whether this and other aggravating circumstances outweigh mitigators, such as the defendant's upbringing and mental health. In some murder cases like Steckel's, the jury must answer yes to the first question if they've already found the defendant guilty of another felony, like rape, related to the murder. The jury's sentencing votes do not have to be unanimous. The final decision on whether to impose life in prison or death is up to the judge. Bernstein's arguments in part rely on a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down death penalty laws in Arizona and four other states that allowed judges, not juries, to decide if a convicted killer is eligible for execution. Bernstein agreed the Ring v. Arizona decision generally does not apply to convictions handed down prior to the 2002 Supreme Court decision. However, he said it can when a miscarriage of justice is involved. Meyers said even if Delaware's justices agree the Ring decision applies in the Steckel case, he said there was no error in how the trial court applied the death penalty law. He said there is no reason to believe the jury took its role deciding Steckel's guilt or innocence less seriously because they would have to weigh a death sentence by finding the murder included aggravating factors. (source: The News Journal) OHIO: Spirkos legal team continues to seek delay in execution Attorneys for a man scheduled to be executed Sept. 20 for the 1982 slaying of the Elgin postmaster will file another legal argument today with the states highest court opposing a request by state attorneys to keep the execution on schedule. John Spirkos defense team argues in a legal brief to be filed today with the Ohio Supreme Court there would be no harm delaying the execution and it would give all sides more time to consider pending legal issues. Spirkos team has issues pending in three different courts seek-ing to delay the execution. Spirko is on death row scheduled to die for the abduction and murder of Elgin Postmistress Betty Jane Mottinger. She was abducted from the post office Aug. 9, 1982. Her skeletal remains were found a month later in a soybean field in Findlay. Spirko later became a suspect after he contacted investigators offering to trade information on the Mottinger slaying in exchange for help on a case that put him in a jail in Toledo. Inves-tigators quickly developed Spirko as a suspect after learning he knew a lot more about the crime that was not made public. State prosecutors filed their argument Wednesday with the Ohio Supreme Court saying Spirko is covering old ground by raising the same unsuccessful issues he previously raised on appeal. Besides the Ohio Supreme Court, Spirko has motions to delay his execution pending in U.S. District Court in Toledo and the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. (source: Lima News) ALABAMA: A Fayette County jury recommended that Devin Moore should die for murdering 2 Fayette Police officers and a dispatcher in June 2003. The all-white jury of 11 women and 1 man reached its 10-2 decision about three hours after Judge James Moore charged them. Jurors emerged from the jury room in tears and cried openly as the judge read the sentence of death. A collective gasp could be heard from both the defendant's and victims' families. On Tuesday, the jury found Moore guilty on six counts of capital murder in the deaths of officers Arnold Strickland and James Crump and dispatcher Leslie "Ace" Mealer. The jurors' decision is a recommendation, and sentencing now falls to Judge Moore. He called for a sentencing investigation by the probation officer and set a sentencing date of Sept. 30. In his 1st capital murder case, District Attorney Chris McCool said he knew how hard the decision was for jurors. "It's easy to sit around saying, 'I'm for the death penalty,'" McCool said. "When you're the one trying to implement it or the juror trying to decide it, it takes on a whole different light." McCool told the jurors in closing arguments that the decision would be hard and that it should be. But he told them that justice had to be done. Victims' family members said they knew it was tough. "I want to thank all the jurors for their boldness and braveness," said Glen Strickland, brother of Arnold Strickland. "They did what they had to do. I know it hurt." While victims' family members hugged each other, there was no celebration. There was satisfaction, but no joy. "I still don't have Arnold," Strickland said. "I still don't have peace because there will be appeals. But justice has been done in Fayette County. At least we can have a little bit of closure." Willie Crump, whose testimony brought jurors to tears Wednesday, again had tears in his eyes after the verdict. It brought to an end a difficult four-week process and 2 years of living with the death of a man he called an "ideal son." "It's miserable to have to go through this," he said, his voice choked with emotion. "It's like you go through the whole thing again." But Crump said he was glad the jury recommended the death penalty for Moore. Crump's ex-wife, Martha Crump, said her son Julian had just returned from visiting his father when he was killed. The 9-year-old boy will forever live with the fact that his father was murdered, she said. "It helps some," she said of the verdict. "But nothing will ever replace James for Julian." June Mealer, "Ace" Mealer's stepmother, said she was glad that justice was done, but the toll was heavy. Mealer's death contributed to the declining health and eventual death of her husband in March, she said. "It's been just about more than I could stand," she said. Across the aisle in the courtroom, one of Moore's relatives cried. As he was led from the courtroom, cuffed at the wrist and ankles, she called out, "We love you baby." McCool and defense attorney Jim Standridge, both powerful orators, dueled for jurors' hearts in closing arguments. Standridge said the case was about "how we treat our children," referring to the abuse Moore suffered as a child, according to testimony. McCool said the case was about justice. He said society had a right to defend itself and that societal right is called capital punishment. He also referred to the shootings of the 3 men as an attack on the community. "The time may come when killing 3 police officers merits a life sentence," McCool said. "I do not believe it is this day. I do not believe it is this place. I do not believe it is this time." McCool invoked the images of victims' families in his statement, urging the jury to think of the victims as men, not just police officers. While Standridge characterized Moore as a victim of a terrible life who was "sentenced to hell from the moment he came into this world," McCool called him a "calculating, cold-blooded killer." (source: The Tuscaloosa News) NORTH CAROLINA: Closing arguments could begin as early as Monday in the trial of a man accused of 2 counts of murder in the shootings outside last year's North Carolina State University football season opener. The prosecution and defense rested the cases Thursday in the murder trial of Timothy Wayne Johnson, 23, who's charged with two counts of 1st-degree murder in the death of Chicago businessman Kevin McCann and Camp Lejeune Marine Brett Harman. Jurors got Friday off because lawyers and Judge Osmond Smith will confer about the instructions jurors will receive before deliberations. One decision that could be made during the charge conference is that jurors will be allowed to consider other charges, such as 2nd-degree murder. The final witnesses in the trial were 2 psychiatrists who evaluated Johnson and provided conflicting opinions about his mental state at the time of the shootings. Dr. Moira Artigues, a forensic psychiatrist in private practice who began her testimony for the defense Wednesday, was cross-examined Thursday by prosecutor Jeff Cruden, who asked whether she thought Johnson shot because he meant to be mean. "I think you have people out there who are ... callous and lack empathy," Artigues said. Cruden characterized Johnson as someone who executed an escape plan to elude arrest after the shooting. He talked about how Johnson drove home from the fairgrounds, wiped fingerprints from the gun, called for someone to drive him to dispose of the gun, threw the pistol in a lake, cut and dyed his hair and dumped his bloody clothes and shoes. After the defense rested, the prosecution called Dr. Nicole Wolfe, a forensic psychiatrist from Dorothea Dix Hospital in Raleigh, as a rebuttal witness. Wolfe testified that she wasn't convinced that Johnson has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. She testified that at the time of the ADHD diagnosis, he was more likely dealing with depression resulting from family turmoil. The defense has argued that Johnson had a diminished capacity at the time he shot Harman and McCann. But Wolfe concluded from her evaluation that Johnson formed a specific intent to kill Harman and McCann, a requisite for jurors to convict him of 1st-degree murder. (source: Associated Press) ************************* When her youngest son, Elmer Ray McNeill Jr, was sentenced to death on April 9, 1996 in a Wake County courtroom, Roberta McNeill yelled to him as sheriff's deputies led her son away: "Hey! I love you! I'll always love you!" Since that day, McNeill has endured a gut wrenching wait not knowing if her son will live or die. What has been especially difficult has been the loneliness McNeill, 65, and her husband, Ray McNeill, 70, have felt at having a child condemned to die. "You can't talk to anyone about it; they have closed minds," McNeill said. "If he was convicted, he was guilty. They don't want to hear about it. "... They don't even think about the fact that they have a family. It's just someone who's going to be executed. They don't think he's got a mother or a father, possibly a wife and children, sisters, brothers. They don't think that they're destroying another family." Since her son was sentenced to death for the Sept. 19, 1993 murders of John Ray and Mike Truelove, the McNeills have made the approximately five-hour drive from their Summerville, SC home to Raleigh's Central Prison once or twice a month to visit their son, who is now 35. The McNeills had some of their emotional burden lifted recently when they met Sheila Stumph and Scott Langley, a young couple who last September rented a house on Dorothea Dr. a few blocks from Central Prison and opened the Raleigh Catholic Worker Hospitality House. The couple offer support, meals and a place to stay for families visiting loved ones on death row. There is no charge to stay at the worker house. Langley estimates that about 15 to 20 family members of death row inmates have come by to spend the night, visit or to have a meal since the house opened. When Langley and Stumph went to Washington DC recently to participate in a fast and vigil to abolish the death penalty at the US Supreme Court, the McNeills decided to join them. Roberta McNeill said the four-day event, called Starvin' for Justice 2005, was the first time she realized that there were people in the world who understood her plight. "It was a great experience," said McNeill, who had never participated in a public event against the death penalty. "I wasn't by myself in the world. I found out there were a lot of people besides myself who were against the death penalty. Before I got involved I just didn't realize there was anybody who you could talk to." Both Roberta McNeill and Peggy Kandies, the mother of NC death row inmate, Jeff Kandies, spoke during teach-in sessions on the sidewalk in front of the Supreme Court. The fast began June 29, the date in 1972 when the US Supreme Court halted all executions. July 2, 1976 was the date that the Supreme Court allowed executions to resume. Stumph said having the three parents of death row inmates at the fast showed another side to the capital punishment issue. "Just their physical presence there I think was so important because they're the faces that we don't see," Stumph, 28, said. "People think of these quote, unquote 'monsters on death row,' but they don't think about these inmates have parents, that they have children, that they have wives, they have husbands and things like that, and I know for me, their presence makes visual how the cycle of violence continues; the death penalty creates one more victim." Roberta McNeill said that during her son's trial her husband noticed a vein in her neck was pulsating. After the trial ended, McNeill saw a doctor, who said her blood pressure was "extremely high." A heart checkup showed McNeill had an enlarged heart and 2 leaking valves. Although she had no previous history of high blood pressure, McNeill has also had 2 strokes. "It's just the stress. The stress will kill you," she said. "It's like having your child kidnapped and his life threatened and there's not anything you can do about it, because nobody's going to help you. I hear about mothers dying while their sons are in jail." In the 10 years the son she calls Ray has been on death row, Roberta McNeill has never been permitted to touch him. "It makes you feel helpless, because there's nothing you can do to help him except talk to the lawyer," she said. "It's terrible. You know he's hurting, and you can't put your arm around him. It's like ignoring a child when he's hurt." While Ray McNeill usually "puts on a good face" when his parents visit, "lately he's been real anxious," Roberta said. "You can tell he's worrying because it's getting so close [to the end of his appeals]. He gets frustrated because he can't do anything. He can tell his lawyer this, that and the other thing, but he can't make the lawyer do it. He's got no control at all." Langley, 28, said he and the others fasted during the 12 hours each day that the vigil went on. Participants came from as far away as Alaska, California and Canada, he said. "I think it's extremely important to maintain public witness against state executions," Langley said. "And by standing publicly, especially in Washington, DC, in front of the Supreme Count, which hands down so many of these rulings that are effecting death row prisoners and death row families. I think it's a powerful statement to people that are passing by." Stumph and Langley moved to Raleigh from Haley House, another Catholic Worker community in Boston. Langley said their idea was to combine the Catholic Worker tradition of hospitality and political activism with resistance to the death penalty. "We felt called to work against the death penalty on a deeper level," he said. Both Roberta McNeill and Langley support the effort to pass a moratorium on executions in North Carolina. Langley is not pleased that the General Assembly did not pass a full moratorium. (A compromise measure was slated for consideration as The Independent went to press.) "We're put in a situation where we're saying, 'OK, we can save some of them, hopefully, but we're not going to be able to save everybody.' And it's kind of like picking and choosing and playing this role of who's going to live and die," Langley said. "It's just hard to settle for less, because the loss of one life is one too many. "I guess we have to be optimistic that this is a step in the right direction. It's out of our hands. It's the politicians that are making the call. What can we do? It's hard." Said Roberta: "I'm hoping for more than [a moratorium] but that's a good start." (The Raleigh Catholic Worker holds a weekly vigil against the death penalty on Monday from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. in front of Central Prison. For more information, call: (919) 833-4129.) (source: The (Durham, NC) Independent Weekly)
