August 17 NEW JERSEY: Death penalty still possible in Morales trial A Superior Court judge rejected defense attempts to take the death penalty off the table for accused killer Irvin Morales on Tuesday, and set a November date to begin jury selection in the 5-year-old murder case. Morales' public defenders argued that prosecutors withheld evidence from a grand jury last year that could have negated the death penalty. Judge N. Peter Conforti disagreed, saying the "credibility issues" in the evidence would be best decided by the jury in the upcoming trial. "There's no evidence (presented by the defense) that would rise to the level of 'clearly exculpatory,'" Conforti said. Morales, 41, of Brooklyn, is charged in the Sept. 10, 2000, slaying of his 18-year-old girlfriend, Linda Marie Wilson, whose bullet-riddled body was found behind a Sparta office building just off a Route 15 exit ramp. In a supplemental indictment handed up last year, a grand jury charged that Morales killed Wilson in the course of committing another crime - kidnapping - and killed her to cover up the same crime. In New Jersey, grand juries must determine whether such aggravating factors exist to allow prosecutors to seek capital punishment. At Tuesday's hearing, Morales' two public defenders argued that the supplemental indictment should be dismissed because, they said, prosecutors held back evidence from the grand jury that could have disproved their "timeline" of the murder. Morales, a onetime Sussex County resident, allegedly shot Wilson once in the neck in the Bronx, after which prosecutors say he kidnapped her and drove her to Sparta. There, in a remote wooded area near Blue Heron Road, he allegedly shot her 6 more times to "finish her off," in the words of Essex County public defender Joseph Krakora. Wilson is supposed to have been killed Sept. 10, a Sunday, but her body was not found until the following Wednesday. Krakora said some forensics experts have called into question both the time of death and the order of Wilson's bullet wounds. "The grand jury was misled into thinking that one wound ... was inflicted before the others, and that's simply not the case," Krakora said. "If we know for a fact that the killing happened on Monday morning ... that evidence directly negates the state's theory (supporting) capital punishment." Assistant Prosecutor Michael Briegel responded that the conflicting forensics experts' theories are a "credibility issue," and that the exact time of the killing has no real effect on the aggravating factors. "I don't think the time frame is as crucial as Mr. Krakora would argue," Briegel said. After denying the motion, Conforti scheduled a conference with attorneys on Oct. 18 and set jury selection to begin on Nov. 28. Conforti, who is moving to preside over criminal cases in Morristown next month, is to return to Newton to hear the Morales case. November will not be the 1st time potential jurors have convened in anticipation of a Morales murder trial. Early in 2004, proceedings were halted after the defendant - a sometimes volatile presence in the courtroom - attempted suicide in the Sussex County jail. A prosecutor later termed the attempt, and another that followed it, "suicidal gestures." The defendant has since undergone extensive mental evaluation, and last month he was transferred to a state prison so he could avail himself of the services of psychiatrists who specialize in treating inmates. Morales, dressed in the beige jumpsuit worn by state prison inmates - a sharp contrast with the bright orange county jail uniform he had worn for nearly 5 years - sat quietly and did not speak during the 20-minute hearing. (source: The New Jersey Herald) PENNSYLVANIA: Ruling frees inmate from death penalty In Philadelphia, a federal judge has thrown out the murder conviction and death sentence of a man who has spent nearly half his life on death row, citing faulty jury instructions and a deficient defense lawyer. Herbert Baker, 44, will go free unless prosecutors retry him within 6 months. Prosecutor Thomas W. Dolgenos said Tuesday he was not sure whether Baker would face another trial. "It's more than 20 years old," Dolgenos said. "I imagine it will be very tough to retry." Baker was tried along with two accomplices in a 1984 robbery that ended in the death of 38-year-old William Gambrell. The other 2 men were sentenced to life in prison while Baker, the alleged gunman, was sentenced to death. U.S. District Judge Anita B. Brody said Monday that jurors, if not for faulty instructions, might have chosen to convict Baker only as an accomplice, given inconsistent witness statements. (source: Associated Press) MARYLAND/USA: Trial Shows Language Barrier in Md. Court Marta Goldstein's laptop glows with a list of troubling words, such as "fuerza contundente," which is Spanish for blunt force, and "salpicadura de sangre," which means blood splatter. After 25 years as an interpreter, Goldstein still keeps the list handy as she helps during the murder trial of 2 Mexican men accused of nearly beheading 3 young children. The killings have tested how law enforcement handles cases involving people who speak Spanish in a city that saw a 46 % increase in its Hispanic population from 1990 to 2000, according to the U.S. Census. While police have done more to boost the number of Spanish-speaking officers in recent years, critics say more must be done. "Courts are ill-equipped to deal with people who don't use English as their 1st language, and there is an enormous amount of work that the legal profession must do in order to meet the unmet needs of the Latino population," said Doug Colbert, a University of Maryland law professor. Other states have also experienced problems as their Hispanic populations have grown. In Florida, the state Supreme Court Racial and Ethnic Bias Study Commission started addressing issues relating to court interpreters in 1991. Now the state hires full-time interpreters. "So they're not just outside contractors who are working sporadically," said Laura Rush, general counsel in the office of the Florida state court's administrator. In most Maryland counties, Goldstein said, interpreters are hired on contract to work in court. An attorney for a nonprofit group that has tried to help the mother of one dead child called access to interpreters "pathetic." Laura Varela, an attorney for the Baltimore office of CASA of Maryland, said the parents were confused by the case and needed a court companion to help explain legal issues. Varela said she tried to find a Spanish speaker in the Baltimore state's attorney's office to help, but she was told the office didn't have anyone available. "There is a problem for the victims of crime, and I think something needs to be done," she said. In the current case, three children were killed while alone in their apartment in May 2004: Ricardo Espinoza, 9, his sister Lucero, 8, and their cousin Alexis Espejo Quezada, 10. The men accused of the killings are relatives -- Policarpio Espinoza, uncle of the dead children, and Adan Canela, a cousin. The victims' parents have expressed doubts that the 2 men are the killers. Prosecutor Sharon Holback has aggressively questioned family members, who have appeared reluctant to provide answers. Language barriers have become significant in the trial as defense attorneys focused on whether the men fully understood their rights during police questioning hours after the bodies were found. Occasional strains have also been obvious. Interpreters have appeared frustrated by long, complicated questions from attorneys, forcing them to ask lawyers to repeat themselves. At one point, a prosecutor and interpreter even squabbled over where the interpreter could stand in the courtroom. Goldstein said such problems aren't unique to Baltimore. "We need to bring the courts up to date with equipment and interpreting issues, and that's everywhere," she said. Joe Perez, president of the Hispanic National Law Enforcement Association, said local governments also need to do more to reach out to Hispanic communities and offer additional training to municipal workers. "Maryland, in general, is behind the times in literature, translator services -- all the way across the board," he said. But small steps are being taken. In 2003, the Baltimore prosecutor's office received a grant to translate brochures on the criminal justice system for the Hispanic and Korean communities, said Joe Sviatko, a spokesman for the state's attorney's office. Sviatko said the prosecutor's office has bilingual staff members, but they were not hired specifically to work as interpreters. The Baltimore Police Department also has about 100 Hispanic officers on a force of about 3,000, said Maj. Edward Schmitt, director of personnel. The department has other officers who can speak Spanish, but he didn't know how many. "As you watch society change, the police department has to change with it, and we're attempting to move along with those lines," Schmitt said. (source: Associated Press) ARIZONA/MISSISSIPPI: 2 Cases Added to DPIC Innocence List, Bringing Total to 121 The Death Penalty Information Center recently became aware of 2 older capital cases in which the defendants had been sentenced to death but were later acquitted at re-trial. We have added Christopher McCrimmon of Arizona and Larry Fisher of Mississippi to our innocence list, bringing the total number of people released from death row on the basis of innocence to 121 since 1973. McCrimmon is the 8th person to be exonerated from Arizona's death row, and Fisher is the 2nd death row exoneree from Mississippi. A brief description of the cases follows: Christopher McCrimmon was convicted and sentenced to death for a triple murder that occurred in Tucson's El Grande Market in 1992. 2 other co-defendants, Andre Minnitt and Martin Soto-Fong, were also sentenced to death for the same crime. At McCrimmon's trial, one juror hesitated about his vote for conviction. The trial judge met with the jury, which then shortly returned a unanimous guilty verdict. The Arizona Supreme Court overturned McCrimmon's conviction in 1996 because of the judge's undue pressure on the jury. (Arizona v. McCrimmon/Minnitt, 927 P.2d 1298 (1996)). Subsequently, it was discovered that the lead prosecutor against all 3 co-defendants, Kenneth Peasley, presented false evidence in the original case. With this knowledge, McCrimmon was quickly acquitted at his re-trial in 1997. (See Arizona v. Minnitt, 55 P.3d 774, 779 (2002) (vacating co-defendant Minnitt's conviction and sentence and barring re-trial because of deliberate prosecutorial misconduct)). In commenting on the prosecutor's deceit, the Arizona Supreme Court wrote: "The record is replete with evidence of Peasley's full awareness that [evidence he presented] was utterly false. Peasley's misdeeds were not isolated events but became a consistent pattern of prosecutorial misconduct that began in 1993 and continued through re-trial in 1997." (See J. Toobin, "Killer Instincts," The New Yorker, Jan. 17, 2005). In 2004, the Court unanimously voted to disbar Peasley, stating that his behavior "could not have been more harmful to the justice system." (Ibid.). Peasley had twice been selected as the state prosecutor of the year. Both McCrimmon and Minnitt remained incarcerated on other unrelated charges. Soto-Fong, whose conviction has not been overturned, was removed from death row because he was a juvenile at the time of the crime. (See also, J. Barrios, "Case Discarded: Tucson Convict Off Death Row," Arizona Daily Star, Oct. 12, 2002). Larry Fisher was charged with the rape and murder of an 18-year-old high school student in Meridian, Mississippi in 1983. A series of similar crimes had occurred in the same area and the pre-trial media coverage of the case was extensive. Fisher asked for a change of venue but was denied. He was convicted and sentenced to death in 1984. The Mississippi Supreme Court reversed his conviction and sentence because the saturation media coverage required a change of venue: "In a very real sense Fisher's guilt was announced by the news media of Meridian, Mississippi, loudly and long before a Lauderdale County jury was ever impaneled to hear the case. By this he was denied his right to a fair trial before the trial began." (Fisher v. Mississippi, 481 So.2d 203, 206 (1985)). Fisher was re-tried 2 months later in a different county and was acquitted of all charges. (See Fisher v. Mississippi, 532 So.2d 992, 994 (1988) (upholding his conviction in a different case)). Fisher remained incarcerated because of a separate rape conviction. DPIC's innocence list includes those former death row inmates who have been acquitted of all charges related to the crime that placed them on death row, dismissed, or who have been granted a complete pardon based on evidence of innocence. (source: Death Penalty Information Center)
