August 21 MISSOURI: Van Buren Man faces the Death Penalty A Van Buren man will face the death penalty for allegedly gunning down a Missouri state highway Patrol Sergeant. 28 year old Lance Shockley pleaded "not guilty" earlier this week. Shockley is accused of killing Sergeant Carl Dewayne Graham Jr. The 37 year old was found dead March 20th outside his Van Buren home. Shockley is being held without bond in Cape Girardeau county jail. (source: Associated Press) NORTH DAKOTA: Death Penalty Motions Heard In Dru Sjodin Murder Case In Fargo, attorneys argued motions Friday in North Dakota in the death penalty case against Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. Prosecutors said they will seek the death penalty if Rodriguez is convicted in the death of University of North Dakota student Dru Sjodin. He's awaiting trial. Defense attorney Richard Ney argued in Fargo that Rodriguez's 1980 conviction in the attempted kidnapping and stabbing of a Crookston, Minn., woman shouldn't be used against him. Ney said since the woman didn't identify Rodriguez as her attacker until after she was hypnotized, the conviction was tainted. U.S. Attorney Drew Wrigley said the conviction was solid and Ney's argument that it shouldn't be used in the death penalty case is premature. (source: Associated Press) MISSISSIPPI: Smith backs judicial reforms Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Justice James W. Smith Jr. joined 48 other state high court leaders this month in support of preventing wrongful criminal convictions. The Conference of Chief Justices approved a resolution Aug. 3 that asked Congress to kill the proposed Streamlined Procedures Act, which could curb death penalty appeals. Only Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Wallace B. Jefferson voted against the measure, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Some opponents say the act would restrict federal courts from considering petitions from state prisoners who claim their constitutional rights were violated or had evidence, such as DNA, to prove their innocence, the center stated. The justices asked Congress to study current death penalty laws before approving new bills. (source: The Clarion Ledger) KENTUCKY: Debate rages over bills aimed at death penalty appeals Diana Harrington waited 22 years to see her family's killer put to death in March. For Harrington, who doesn't consider herself a death penalty advocate, that was too long to wait for Donald Ray Wallace Jr.'s sentence to be carried out in the 1980 deaths of Harrington's sister, Theresa Gilligan; her husband, Patrick Gilligan; and their young children, Lisa and Gregory, while burglarizing their Evansville, Ind., home. "My frustration is the fact that it has always seemed that the criminal takes precedence over the victims," Harrington said of repeated appeals and delays in that case. Now, Harrington is in favor of pending legislation in Congress that would curtail a death-row inmate's ability to appeal in federal court. The bills, though, have drawn the ire of state Supreme Court judges around the country, including Kentucky's chief justice. The measures, proposed in May by U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., and in June by U.S. Rep. Daniel Lungren, R-Calif., would restrict some state prisoners from filing habeas corpus petitions - often a last-ditch effort by death row inmates - in federal court. Habeas corpus allows a federal judge to review whether errors in state court violated a defendant's constitutional rights. The bills, now in committee, would not affect cases in which a defendant is arguing innocence - with new DNA evidence, for example. Opponents of the death penalty and others say that the bills, if enacted, would unfairly hamper defendants' ability to ensure that their constitutional rights are upheld. "Federal court would be basically foreclosed," said Ernie Lewis, Kentucky's chief public defender. "That would be deeply troubling." Kyl cites federal statistics showing that the number of habeas corpus appeals before U.S. district judges, including non-death-penalty cases, nearly doubled between fiscal years 1994 and 2003, from 13,359 to 23,218. The number before U.S. Courts of Appeal went from 3,799 to 7,025. Kentucky Rep. Anne Northup, R-3rd District, said she supports the measure because a decade or more is too long to finalize a conviction and the bills would streamline appeals "For victims and their families, this endless litigation and uncertainly makes closure almost impossible," Northup said in a statement. Fayette Commonwealth's Attorney Ray Larson, a proponent of the death penalty, said appeals of "legitimate issues" are appropriate but should not go on for years, with the same arguments being made over and over. But, the legislation would effectively remove a safety net in the judicial system and is an unfair response to the fact that new technology is opening new doors for appeal. said University of Louisville law professor Les Abramson. "The success that some people have had in terms of challenging their convictions because of DNA evidence is sort of being turned against the general population of people who are seeking habeas review" based on other grounds, Abramson said. Proving innocence "seems to be the relatively narrow channel that's going to be left if this act passes," he said. Kentucky's Chief Justice Joseph Lambert voted for an Aug. 3 resolution by the Conference of Chief Justices calling on Congress to drop the current push and study the issue further. "I see no need to change this fundamental law now," Lambert said in a statement. In Kentucky, death sentences for four defendants have been overturned on such petitions since capital punishment was reinstated in the United States in 1976, Lewis said. In the most recent, U.S. District Judge Jennifer Coffman ruled in 2001 that James E. Slaughter, who was sentenced to death in 1983 for fatally stabbing the owner of a Jefferson County clothing store, is entitled to a new penalty phase for his trial. That case is currently before the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Thomas Ransdell, the lawyer Victor Taylor who is on death row for the slaying of two Louisville teenagers in 1984, said habeas appeals ensure that the death penalty is used fairly. "It's not a waste of time," he said. (source: The Courier-Journal)
