August 22 TEXAS----impending execution Man to die tomorrow for fatal stabbing, bludgeoning----Convicted killer set to die Tuesday evening There's little doubt that Robert Alan Shields had been in the house next door to his parents' home where a 27-year-old woman was found repeatedly stabbed with a kitchen knife and beaten with a hammer. His fingerprints and bloody shoeprints were in the laundry room of the Friendswood home where Paula Stiner's husband found her body in September 1994. She was covered with blood, lying near the washer and dryer. Shields used her credit card within two hours of her death to buy a suit. When he was arrested within a few days later about 50 miles away, he had her car. But lawyers trying to block his execution Tuesday in Huntsville were arguing in the courts that Shields, then 19, was trying to defend himself and never intended to kill Stiner. She had left her job at a Pasadena insurance agency early in 1994, and may have surprised the intruder at her home where he took a shower after spending the night in their garage unknown to them. "If the death penalty is reserved for the worst of the worst, this is certainly not it," said Richard Ellis, Shields' appeals attorney. "At worst, this was a trespassing that got ugly and resulted in a tragic death and there was no intent to kill." Michael Guarino, the former Galveston County district attorney who prosecuted Shields at his 1995 capital murder trial, disagreed. "He absolutely chose to butcher her," Guarino said. "He could have burglarized the home and taken valuable things. But that wasn't his intent. His intent was to take the car and kill her." Shields would be the 12th Texas inmate to receive lethal injection this year in the nation's most active death penalty state. "I have not heard any news, but it's not looking so good," Shields, 30, said in a letter posted on an anti-death penalty Web site. "Do you people see how insane it is to know the exact date an time of your own murder and sit patiently waiting for it. Its definitely playing with my mind. "It will not be long before my blood too is greasing the wheels of Texas Death Machine." Testimony at his trial showed he probably broke in to the Stiners' home using a screwdriver taken from his parents' garage. Shields had moved out earlier, saying he couldn't live under his father's rules after a 1992 theft and burglary arrest resulted in probation, which he disregarded. Police told his mother of the killing, and she alerted officers of her son's possible involvement after learning a wood-handled screwdriver like the one belonging to her husband had been used in the break-in. She also said she found items out of place in the garage, along with her son's pager and a shirt, court records showed. She provided phone numbers of his acquaintances, and police traced him to The Woodlands, where Shields had friends and was living in empty houses. Shields also had been arrested earlier in 1994 for auto theft in Florida after breaking into a car in Friendwood and stealing a checkbook and credit card. In July 1994, 2 months before the Stiner slaying, he was involved in stealing credit cards and a cell phone from another car, according to testimony. "He had a string of offenses we were able to show at the punishment phase," Guarino said. A social worker at his trial testified Shields had consumed alcohol continuously since he was 14, and by the time he was 17, "70 to 75 % of Shields' time was related to procuring, using or recovering from drugs and alcohol," a court document said. At least seven other Texas inmates have execution dates later this year, including Frances Newton, 40, set to die Sept. 14 for the 1987 fatal shootings of her husband and 2 children. ON THE NET----Texas execution schedule: http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/stat/scheduledexecutions.htm Robert Shields Web page: http://www.1prison.com/shields.html (source: Associated Press) ************************************ Grand jury indicts 3 on capital murder charges 3 Port Arthur residents were indicted Thursday on charges of capital murder more than a year after a home invasion robbery in which a Morgan City, La., man was killed. Kendrick Dewayne Bush, 26; Yama McPherson, 25; and Sean Flythe, 19, are accused of breaking into a duplex at 1003 Sabine Ave. on June 27, 2004, and shooting 42-year-old Edward Houston to death. If convicted of capital murder, the 3 suspects face life in prison or the death penalty. None of the suspects had been arrested as of Thursday afternoon. McPherson's telephone number was disconnected, and there was no listing for Flythe. When reached at home by telephone, Bush seemed surprised to hear of his indictment. However, after he was asked if he wished to respond to the charge, the line went dead. A call back was unanswered. In other indictments handed down by the grand jury Thursday: * A Florida man was indicted on a charge of failure to stop and render aid in addition to the manslaughter charge he was indicted on last month. Both are connected to a traffic death earlier this year. Michael Arthur Moore, 28, is accused of leaving the scene after the March 20 wreck that killed motorcyclist Joseph Eugene Thomas Sr., 27, of Port Arthur. If convicted, Moore, who is free on a $75,000 bond, faces as many as 20 years in prison and fines up to $10,000 on the manslaughter charges. There was no penalty range noted for the new charge. According to Enterprise archives, Thomas was hospitalized with severe head injuries after a truck in the oncoming lane of the Martin Luther King Memorial Bridge pulled into his lane, forcing him to slam on his brakes and sending the bike into a slide. The lanes were in a "no passing zone," police said. Moore turned himself in the next day. * A Nederland man was indicted on a charge of aggravated sexual assault. John Edward Kratt, 38, is accused of raping a Beaumont woman in her back yard on July 10. If convicted, Kratt, who is being held in the Jefferson County Correctional Facility on bonds totaling $150,500, faces as many as 20 years in prison and fines up to $10,000. According to a probable cause affidavit, a 42-year-old woman walked outside just after 9 a.m. because she thought a man was trying to steal her lawnmower. The man, who was armed with a knife, attacked her and raped her. The victim later identified the suspect in a photo lineup. (source: The Beaumont Enterprise) **************************** JURY SELECTION BEGINS FOR BEHEADING CASE In Gilmer, jury selection will begin Monday for the 2nd of 3 men accused of beating a man to death, then beheading him and setting the body on fire. Scott Narramore, 34, was charged with murdering Joe Carroll Nickelbur Jr., 32, of Gilmer in April 2004. Nickelbur was bludgeoned in the throat after Narramore and the two other men confronted him about "giving bad drugs to their girlfriends," according to witness statements reported in an arrest affidavit. The 3 men dragged the body to their car and dumped it in a pasture in northwestern Upshur County, the affidavit states. A rancher discovered the body and left the area to summon authorities, but when deputies arrived, the body was decapitated and on fire. Narramore has been held in the Upshur County Jail on a $1 million bond since his arrest. Scott Narramore's brother, Jeremy Narramore, was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to 10 years in prison earlier this month at his trial for the same crime. The 3rd man involved in the incident, Jason Fredrick Baughman of Ore City, is expected to accept a plea bargain for 20 years in prison, but final agreements have not been made yet. (source: Tyler Morning Telegraph) ******************** Woman may face death penalty----Capital murder case opening today marks a first for Nueces County For the 1st time in the nearly 160-year history of Nueces County, prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against a woman. 14 jurors, 2 of them alternates, were to report today for the capital murder case against Maria Raquel Rivas, whom prosecutors and her lawyer describe as a professional prostitute. Ms. Rivas, 30, is accused of handing a knife to her boyfriend last year so he could kill a Liberty County man. Her boyfriend was convicted but wasn't sentenced to death. "It is kind of unusual," Grant Jones, Ms. Rivas' lawyer, said of the possible punishment facing his client. "I'm not sure they've picked the right case here, but we'll see." Gender not a factor The prosecutor, Gail Gleimer, said gender is not a factor and that the death penalty is an option even though Ms. Rivas is not accused in the actual killing. "The guy was the stabber; but the evidence was she brought him back and she handed him the knife, so she had a big participation," Ms. Gleimer said. "There are other factors that are going to come into evidence that will show her state of mind, her history and her intent to make it not that difficult for the jury to see she's a primary person." Ms. Rivas' boyfriend, Leonard Haskins, was convicted of killing James Haynes in March 2004. Mr. Haynes, 44, of Dayton, Texas, was in Corpus Christi on a construction job when he was robbed and stabbed after Ms. Rivas brought him to Mr. Haskins' apartment for sex. Mr. Haynes, according to testimony, ran from the apartment, got into his truck and drove off, eventually running into a utility pole. An emergency medical crew responding to what they thought was a traffic accident found him slumped over the steering wheel. They also found he had been stabbed in the chest. He never regained consciousness. Mr. Haskins, 21, identified by authorities as a crack dealer, was convicted in June of capital murder. A Nueces County jury, however, spurned the death sentence and instead gave Mr. Haskins a life prison term, meaning he's not eligible for parole for at least 40 years. If jurors convict Ms. Rivas, they will choose punishment of either life in prison or death. A new law signed in June by Gov. Rick Perry that gives jurors a 3rd option of life without parole applies to murders committed on or after Sept. 1. Nueces County was created in 1846 out of San Patricio County, where on Nov. 13, 1863, Chepita Rodriguez was hanged for the ax killing of a South Texas rancher. It would be 135 years before another woman was executed in the state. Karla Faye Tucker was put to death in 1998 for using a 3-foot-long pickax to hack to death a Houston man during a 1983 burglary. 2 years later, 62-year-old great-grandmother Betty Lou Beets went to the death chamber for fatally shooting her fifth husband to collect insurance and pension benefits. Next month, Frances Newton is scheduled for lethal injection for the 1987 shooting deaths of her husband and 2 children at their Houston apartment. In Ms. Rivas' case, court files indicate she had been kicked out of school for marijuana-related reasons and tested positive for cocaine when she was brought to an emergency room by her mother in 1990 after suffering a seizure. She was 14 at the time, medical records showed. Drug problems By 2001, when she was hospitalized for infected wounds on her body, records show she had a $50-a-day cocaine habit, also was dealing drugs and told medical personnel she had had been freebasing cocaine at age 15. Ms. Rivas has previous convictions for burglary and cocaine possession and was released from a state jail in 2003 after a conviction of possession of a controlled substance, Texas Department of Criminal Justice records show. She's been jailed in Corpus Christi since her arrest about 3 weeks after Mr. Haynes was killed. In the fall, Nueces County prosecutors will be seeking the death penalty in the trial of another woman, Angela Cruz Rodriguez, 31. She is charged in the July 2004 stabbing death of a Corpus Christi convenience store clerk who was robbed of $1.25. DEATH ROW INMATES 410 inmates on Texas death row 9 who are women 347 people executed in Texas since 1982 2 who were women (source: Associated Press) ************************************ Sitting judges not sitting pretty----Most money to run comes from lawyers Until the last district and court at law election, it was almost unheard of for an incumbent judge to be unseated, local attorneys and judges said. But that was before Lisa Gonzales beat longtime incumbent County Court at Law 2 Judge Hector de Pena Jr. and Tom Greenwell beat sitting district judge Martha Huerta in 2002. Now, when it comes time to run, sitting judges expecting to draw an opponent hit the campaign trail early and try to raise as much money as possible to stave off potential challengers. "What had traditionally been safe ground wasn't any longer," District Judge Sandra Watts said. "Now challengers consider running because of the success of Tom and Lisa." Local attorneys who often shore up the campaigns of their favorite judges, say Greenwell has collected a lot of money from supporters to try to prevent him from drawing an opponent. To date it has worked. Though potential opponents have until Jan. 2 to announce, so far there are no takers. Greenwell is at the top of the fundraising pack for the district judges' seats, sitting on $85,237. Like last time, most of that money is coming from local doctors. "I think that the contributors and support from the past were there, but what I did not have last time when I was not the incumbent was the lawyer money," he said. "4 years ago I had support from lawyers but because I was not running against an incumbent I was not getting the financial support. Now that support is coming." One of Greenwell's early supporters, Dr. Keith Rose, said the money is there for Greenwell this time from both the doctors and the lawyers because he has proven that he is a good judge. "Doctors just want a fair shot," Rose said. "He is the most refreshing thing to happen to the courts in a long time. Both sides, attorneys and doctors, can go in knowing they are getting a fair trial with Greenwell. He is smart and honest and you can't ask for anything more than that."Of the judicial candidates, Watts has collected the 2nd highest amount, raising $36,707. Since she has not drawn an opponent, it is a decrease from the same reporting period during her 1st campaign in 2002 when she raised $66,700 and was certain of an opponent. If an opponent announces, Watts will be in position to pick up more contributions because she is respected, local attorneys said. "By and large what it's (contributions) based on is track record," said local attorney Craig Sico who donated $5,000 to Watts' campaign. "The biggest concern is the competence they illustrate in the courtroom." District Judge Jack Hunter, who has raised $19,000 to his closest challenger Angelica Hernandez's $5,475, has had only two challengers in his 20 years on the bench. He now faces Hernandez in the Democratic primary and Republican prosecutor James Sales in November 2006. "The landscape has changed tremendously," Hunter said. "Republicans have made inroads and I think incumbents will continue to get opponents in the future." But those challengers are facing an uphill battle to get financing to run against the incumbents, Greenwell, Hunter and Watts agreed."Traditionally, most of the money comes from lawyers in judicial races," Greenwell said. "For a challenger to raise money, they need to go outside of the legal profession and that is very difficult. That money then must come from personal friends and family and business money which typically is not going to be there or folks who contribute by party affiliation." Local attorney Fred Jimenez, who is leading in the fundraising race to take over the 148th district judge's seat that Rose Vela is vacating with more than $11,000 in contributions so far, said people have been generous. His challengers Guy Williams and David Jones have not raised any funds according to their finance reports. "I understand that these races can get expensive, so I don't have an idea how much I need to raise," he said. "I have raised the most money from the other lawyers that I know, but people in the community are starting to make a lot of small contributions too." (source: Corpus Christi Caller-Times) ************************** Longtime judge of 103rd state District Court to retire After hearing countless felony cases and lawsuits, Judge Menton Murray Jr. will soon be slowing down his pace. Murray, 63, wont be running for re-election, so he will leave the 103rd state District Court in Brownsville at the end of 2006. But, hell keep his robe handy for assignments as a visiting judge, he said. Murray earned his undergraduate and law degrees at the University of Texas. A large man with a deep, booming voice, Murray admits he played football at Harlingen High School, but modestly says his son Trey - now a mechanical engineer - was more of a standout than he was. "I think I was second team, all-district, or something like that," Murray said. The judge was a familiar figure in the courthouse coffee shop, in the days before heightened security, passionately discussing football with lawyers, bailiffs and janitors. Murrays father was in the Texas Legislature for 26 years and also was a lawyer. His mother Betty, now a widow, is a world traveler and has also been active in historical committees, the judge said. Murray said hes had a varied career in law. "I started out in the Attorney Generals Office in Austin, condemning right-of-way for the interstate highway system," he said. "I was there a couple years, then I came down here and I was the city prosecutor at the municipal court here in Harlingen. I did that almost 2 years. Then I went to the (Cameron County District Attorneys) office for almost 4 years." He was elected judge of Cameron County Court-at-Law No. 2 and began duties there in 1981, Murray said. In 1985, Gov. Mark White appointed him as the first judge of the nearly created 357th state District Court, where he served in 1985 and 1986 until he lost an election to Judge Roy Valdez. Murray practiced law for two years in Brownsville, then defeated Jane Brasch for the post of judge of the 103rd state District Court. She had been appointed by Gov. Bill Clements after the death of Judge Diego Leal. Murray has remained on the bench of the 103rd since 1988. He cant point to any particular case that stands out above all the others, Murray said. "There were some interesting cases," he said. "There were some cases with funny stories and there were cases that were certainly important." A dispute in 1985 between Harlingen and Primera over a sewage treatment plant Harlingen wanted to build on Wilson Road ended up in his court, Murray said. At issue were the boundary lines between Harlingen and its small neighbor. "That was an interesting case because of the way we submitted it to the jury," he said. "They had to fill in the map and decided who got what, how we divided it. It was one of the longer cases Ive tried." However, Harlingen never built the sewer treatment plant. "I've only tried one capital murder case, death penalty case, and that was on assignment in Hidalgo County of all things," the judge said. "The guys still on death row, as best I understand it." Murray said he looks forward to serving as a visiting judge because he will just be able to try cases. "I'm really getting weary of the administrative load, the juvenile department, the (adult) probation department, hiring and firing auditors in Willacy County, the bail bond board, task force on indigent defense, all those records and forms." He's one of a few still in the Cameron County legal community who started out in the old courthouse, the 1912 Dancy Building in Brownsville. He is looking forward to seeing the restoration of that building completed, he said. He likes being part of the legal profession, Murray said. "I've enjoyed it and I will continue to enjoy it," he said. "And, frankly, I think Im pretty good at it. But it sort-of fits my personality and I think Im a better judge than I was a lawyer." Murrays wife Lori was a teacher at Marine Military Academy and recently retired. The two plan to do more traveling than has been possible while both were working full-time, the judge said. "I tried golf a while back and concluded that the good Lord didnt intend for me to play golf, or he would have helped the ball get closer to the hole more often," Murray said. (source: Harlingen Valley Morning Star) ARKANSAS: Womans compassion for inmates spawns advocacy program Carol Curry first saw the relatively flat stretch of land ringed by rugged Searcy County hills that would become her home while on the arm of a long-haired husband looking for enough land to build a house and raise goats. Over the next 30 years, she divorced, raised a son, drove a van that ferried Medicare patients to doctors appointments, worked as a bail bondsman, sobered up and ran for sheriff. At age 53, Curry, once a self-described "hippy chick," has found her calling: trying to make life better for as many of the states 13,200 prison inmates as she can. In the process, shes turned her 54 acres into the center of prison advocacy in the state. A plan to house ex-cons alienated her neighbors, who forced her to back away from creating a postrelease center on the property. She has instead concentrated on improving the spelling of those still serving time, and assisting in locating and transporting inmates visitors to and from the prisons. With the help of an inheritance from her mother, Curry has bought thousands of dictionaries for inmates. "Im a spelling freak. And what other resource shows you how to pronounce a word, use it in a sentence and find out what it means?" she asked, seated in a room at the end of a weathered mobile home that serves as her office. The dictionaries she buys online are cheap - $3.76 each - which helps conserve funds. "You cant even buy a pack of cigarettes for that much," she said, gesturing to a pack of Marlboros on the desk. Curry asks only one thing in return: a name of someone whom inmates want to visit them. Curry then plugs those names into a database that matches up inmates with loved ones, with whom she often shares long weekend rides to remote prisons. Word has spread throughout the prison system. To date, Curry has sent more than 2,000 dictionaries to Arkansas inmates. "Im writing on behalf of the dictionary. Ive receive [d] it. I thank you so much for it. I have no idea why you are doing this. But it is a blessing to know people care like yourself," an inmate at the Cummins Unit wrote recently. Dressed in a long, denim dress punctuated by quilted patches, Curry talks with her hands. But her long, thin arms fall to her side when shes asked how successful her car-pool program has been. "Its been extremely difficult," she said, adding that shes made 45 matches since starting her nonprofit Living in Truth Inc. in 2001. "But when it happens, it works out good for the inmate. They get a visit. And it works for their visitor. People dont go advertising, Ive got a son in prison, and when you spend a day driving together, you realize youre not alone." Curry is used to encountering difficulty when navigating the lines between the free and incarcerated worlds. After her mother died in 1998, she suddenly had enough money to concentrate full time on prison issues, something she had become passionate about after meeting death row inmate Eugene Perry, who was executed in 1997. Her interest heightened after a friend went to prison for growing marijuana. He wasnt the same when he got out, she said. "His whole body was tense. We went to the supermarket, and he couldnt decide which [type] of Coke to buy; he was overwhelmed," she said. Her friends re-entry shock never really evaporated, and he ended up back in prison, she recalled. The more former inmates she met, the more convinced Curry became that someone needed to offer help getting them through their incarceration and parole. Her 1st idea to build Aframe units on her land to house a half-dozen parolees ran into sizable opposition from county residents, who lobbied the Quorum Court to pass an ordinance regulating halfway houses in the county in 2002. Keith Preuitt, who has dated Curry since his release from the Calico Rock Unit in 2000, has been a reluctant convert to Currys vision. "To be honest, I didnt think it was a worthwhile thing," said 1 Preuitt, who served 3/2 years for forgery and receiving stolen goods. "But there can be a success rate." Still, getting a letter from a former inmate who is back in prison can be frustrating, he said. Currys older brother Jim Kraft also was initially skeptical. He thought her time might be better spent helping the homeless or AIDS patients. "You think, Do they really deserve it?" said Kraft, 55, who lives in Minneapolis. "But you think again, and they really are thrown out on the street without much preparation. Im glad somebodys willing to do it." Curry also gets involved in inmate grievances. This spring, she took up the cause of Willie Bogard, an inmate at the Cummins Unit who said correctional officers beat him after he struck a female officer. Prison officials say the case is still under investigation. Donald Bogard, Willies uncle, said Curry helped the family navigate the prison bureaucracy from their home in Concord, Calif. "She did a great job for us," Bogard said. "She helped us get through a system I wasnt too familiar with. She became a liaison." Prison officials also acknowledge her efforts, especially the ride-sharing. "Not many groups make an effort to help inmates, and we applaud those who do," said Dina Tyler, spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Correction. "Too often, people are locked away and forgotten. We dont want that to happen because most of them are coming home one day, and they need something or someone to come back to." Other states, such as California and Pennsylvania, have well-established, powerful inmate lobbies. The Pennsylvania Prison Society has existed since 1787 and has legislative power to appoint citizens as official visitors to investigate complaints. Spokesman Catherine Wise said the society has contracts with the state for about $1 million to provide services to the states elderly inmates. "Youre a better advocate if you have a good relationship with government," she said. Curry has financed Living in Truths operations almost entirely from her inheritance without any help from the state or private foundations. But the dwindling funds wont last forever. "We really need to find someone who is very rich and has a brother in prison," she said, only half-jokingly. But if that unlikely benefactor never appears, Preuitt predicted that Curry would "spend her last red dime" helping inmates. "Shes very defiant. If someone tells her that it cant be done, shell find a way to do it." (source: Arkansas Democrat Gazette) ILLINOIS: Aaron Patterson conviction: Putting a lid on Chicagos Pandoras box? The path toward justice for Aaron Patterson took a detour July 29 with the delivery of a guilty verdict in his recent trial on charges of drug and weapons violations. Co-counsel on the defense Paul Camarena informed The Final Call that an appeal is planned on the grounds of reports from psychiatrists that Mr. Patterson suffers from PTSD - a result of withstanding torture in the 80s, compounded with 17 years behind bars, not knowing whether he was going to be executed for a crime he did not commit. "No one ever doubted his ability to understand the proceedings, but he was not able to work with his attorneys," Atty. Camarena explained of the two-prong criterion to determine whether a client is fit to stand trial. "What happened in court was a direct result of those illnesses," he added, referring to objections by Mr. Patterson, which on one occasion actually led to a physical fight with the lead counsel on the case, Tommy Brewer. "These major episodes in court prejudiced him in the jurys mind." Justice delayed is justice denied After Mr. Patterson was arrested in 1986 for allegedly murdering a couple, he was bound, beaten and suffocated during hours of interrogation aimed at forcing a confession. While in custody, he found a paper clip and scratched a message into a bench: "Aaron 4/30 I lie about murders. Police threaten me with violence. Slapped and suffocated me with plastic. No lawyer or dad. No phone." In 1989, he was sentenced to death row. After spending 13 years on death row, and 17 years in prison, for a crime he did not commit, he received a pardon in January 2003 by then-governor George Ryan, who also declared a moratorium on the death penalty in the state of Illinois as one of his last acts in office. "In April of 1986, Aaron Patterson was tortured by Area 2 Violent Crimes detectives, under the direct supervision and with the active participation of Commander (Jon) Burge," Gov. Ryan explained at a press conference announcing his pardon of Mr. Patterson and three other men. "The record in Mr. Pattersons case shows that he was one of the last of the approximately 60 known victims who have alleged torture by Chicago Police detectives at Area 2 Police Headquarters from 1972 to 1986." During his remarks, Gov. Ryan informed that "much of the evidence of this systemic Area 2 torture and abuse had not emerged at the time of Mr. Pattersons trial in 1989." Evidence that had emerged since his trial included the recanting of testimony of the 16-year-old witness who said Mr. Patterson made an admission to her; no physical or forensic evidence at the crime scene to link him to the murders; fingerprints at the crime scene do not match his; and an affidavit that a man who was the acquaintance of the victims committed the crimes and subsequently committed a similar crime. "It was on the basis of this evidence, as well as the incompetence of his trial lawyers that the Illinois Supreme Court sent Mr. Pattersons case back to the Cook County courts for a new hearing into whether this evidence requires that Mr. Patterson receive a new trial a year ago, There clearly has, however, been no rush to do justice," Gov. Ryan continued in his remarks. "Here we have four more men who were wrongfully convicted and sentenced to die by the state for crimes the courts should have seen they did not commit. ... Thy are perfect examples of what is so terribly broken about our system. These cases call out for someone to act. They call out for justice. They call out for reform." In June 2003, Mr. Patterson filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Chicago, the Chicago Police Department and Cook County State Attorneys Office, among others, seeking $30 million in compensation for his torture, a case that is still pending. He refused a settlement offer of $4 million from the city. Yet, on August 5, 2004 - just weeks before Lt. Burge was scheduled to appear for his deposition - Mr. Patterson was picked up by the police on the weapons and drug charges, in what his supporters suggest is a backlash to his federal lawsuit. The arrest concluded a five-month sting operation from the U.S. attorneys office that included an undercover informant and wiretapping. Pandoras box opened Attorney Demetrus Evans, the first federal defender to take Mr. Pattersons case the day after his arrest last year, recounted her efforts to effectively represent her client, despite a series of frustrations: denials of her motions, events that appeared to indicate to her behind-the-scenes conversations and decisions to which she was not privy, her client being forcefully removed from his cell to appear in court despite his request not to appear in court one day, "purposeful omissions" from court transcripts - all of which led to her walking out of the courtroom, and eventually being removed from the case. However, she maintains, that the motion to withdraw her as lead attorney stems from her reputation of being a "fighter." "Some of it was stupidity and some of it was pure ignorance. Some of it, I firmly believe, was just plain hatred," she shared. She recalled a line of questioning by the prosecution during a hearing to discuss one element of Aarons defense, wherein he stated that the governments informant put himself in harms way. According to Atty. Evans, when the prosecution asked if he meant the informant would be harmed by him, Mr. Patterson said the harm is coming from the government, and asked him if he was not familiar with the El Rukn trial? "He talked about these witnesses and how witnesses were set up with prostitutes, and how they gave them money. The things that he brought out, you could just hear a penny drop on the carpet. I didnt know it and I had no idea that Aaron knew it and that it was going to come out then. But when he started talking about it, you can believe that the courtroom was packed," she said. "People were going out and calling on their cell phones and almost every supervisor in the U.S. attorneys office was in the courtroom. So, I knew, oh my gosh, we are opening up a can of worms here, that have been sleeping for a long time and people dont want it woken up. Nobody wanted to hear about it. It was making me cringe." She unsuccessfully attempted to cut short the prosecution line of questioning. "I don't know if Chris (Niewoehner) just didnt know or if he wanted to see how much Aaron knew about the U.S. attorneys office in this district and how they prosecute," she said, "and he knew a lot. He knew a lot of dirty things." A chilling coincidence "We cannot let them slaughter this soldier in silence," implored Fred Hampton Jr., chairman of the Prisoners of Conscience Committee (POCC), who also stated for the record that Mr. Patterson has been made the Chairman of Defense for the POCC. Not only did he use his $100,000 of the compensation received along with his 2003 pardon to bond out of prison Nathson Fields, who spent time on death row with him, but within his year of freedom, Mr. Patterson grew into a frontline community leader and activist, running for local political office, and campaigning for the Anti-Terrorism Bill against police terrorism. The Aaron Patterson Defense Committee, along with other dedicated supporters from the community, said they are determined to continue the fight for his freedom, despite their experiences of harassment in the courtroom, some over certain articles of dress that included army-fatigue pants, a t-shirt of Dr. Martin Luther King, and a t-shirt with the picture of Chairman Fred Hampton Sr. and the words, "You can kill a revolutionary, but you cant kill the revolution." Delores Quinn, a 58-year-old diabetic, charged that she was forcefully pulled out of her seat and out of the courtroom because she did not get up fast enough, due to her severely swollen foot and ankle, when everyone was ordered out the court. Supporters contend their mistreatment only reflects the unfair treatment that Aaron Patterson received in court. "It is so disheartening, the way the system has tracked him, gone after him and got him off the streets," lamented Mr. Fields. "We lost a great leader. He was the type of guy who would help anybody. It is a travesty." Sentencing for Mr. Patterson is scheduled for Dec. 2. Atty. Camarena told The Final Call that, because he would be in Tanzania in November, Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer set the sentencing for the first week in December. Originally, the sentencing was announced in court for Dec. 4, which turned out to be a Sunday and a chilling coincidence - it is the date when police assailed the Chicago headquarters of the Black Panthers with 98 rounds of bullets in an early morning raid in 1969, assassinating Chairman Fred Hampton and Defense Captain Mark Clark. Laying in the bed next to Chairman Fred Sr. was Akua Njeri, who was 8 months pregnant with their son, Fred Jr. Ms. Njeri, chair of the December 4th Committee, has also worked with the Aaron Patterson Defense Committee to free him. One day, while outside the courtroom, she told The Final Call that she was surrounded by several U.S. Marshalls and escorted upstairs in an elevator to a floor where nearly 15 other officers were standing in a hallway. She said she was informed that she had made a threat against the U.S. attorneys office. Randall Samborn, spokesperson for the U.S. attorney's office declined to comment on the alleged threat. John OMalley, of the press office for the U.S. Marshalls Office, confirmed that Ms. Njeri was brought upstairs for an interview, but she refused to make any comment. He said she was subsequently escorted out of the building and banned from entering the building. A week after the incident, approximately 40 law enforcement agents, who witnesses say identified themselves as FBI agents, came to her house, blocking off the streets at 7 a.m. with bullet-proof vests and dogs, Ms. Njeri said, adding that they questioned her on Aaron Patterson, her support of his case, and the supposed threat that she made against the prosecution. "This whole process has been to intimidate people and stop them from supporting Aaron Patterson. I love Aaron, as a mother. He fought for our people and he continues to fight. We have to work harder," she insisted full of emotion. "I dont care how scared we are, how tired we are. We need a groundswell of support all over the country, demanding his freedom." Aaron Patterson, #21664424 Metropolitan Correctional Ctr. 71 W. Van Buren Chicago, Illinois 60605 (To contact the Aaron Patterson Defense Committee, call (773) 250-7229.) (source: The Final Call USA: Victim-impact statements play crucial role in justice U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens is no fan of impact statements made by victims' families in the sentencing phase of capital murder cases. In a recent address at an American Bar Association meeting, Stevens said such statements sometimes serve "no purpose other than to encourage jurors to decide in favor of death rather than life on the basis of their emotions rather than their reason." Justice Stevens may -- and probably does -- disagree, but let's hope victims' families are never cut out of the process. The impact a crime has had on a family should be part of the evaluation process to determine what punishment is appropriate and seeing that "justice" is done. One reason there has been a push for a so-called victims' bill of rights is because crime victims or their families are too often left out of the loop. Some have trouble learning about rescheduled hearings, proposed plea agreements or other legal proceedings. A murder victim's family shouldn't be expected to sit quietly on the sidelines with no role in the sentencing phase. That is especially true when the person convicted in the killing is able to bring in witnesses to testify about a troubled childhood, recent conversion to religion or other "emotional" issues. In Illinois, victims of violent crimes and their immediate family are permitted to present an impact statement at a sentencing hearing. The statements must be prepared in conjunction with the prosecutor before the hearing. Appeals of death sentences are automatic in Illinois, and the state Supreme Court could overturn the sentence if it determines that jurors -- to use the words of Justice Stevens -- decided "in favor of death rather than life on the basis of their emotions rather than their reason." As long as humans -- whether they are judges or jurors -- are making these decisions, emotions will play a role. At times that can be a weakness of our system, when, as Stevens said, emotions overrule reason. But that human touch is also a strength of our system. (source: The Pantagraph) ******************************* Law and disorder----If your mechanic turned out as many bad repair jobs as our criminal justice system turns out bad verdicts, he'd be thrown in jail On August 4, "DNA clears prisoner after 25 years," we read of yet another person released after spending 25 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. An August 6 story about the execution of Roy Roberts raised serious questions about his guilt. I have a growing file of approximately 150 such articles. Why is there is no public outrage? If this were negligent garage mechanics causing fatal accidents, or accountants whose clients ended up in jail for tax evasion, or doctors performing needless surgery, the public would be screaming for justice. These professionals would be prosecuted, fined or thrown in jail, and maybe lose their careers, all at the hand of lawyers. But lawyers and judges, operating under rules they create, are immune from prosecution for their words and actions during a trial. Additionally, they are provided with ideal scapegoats: witnesses and juries. "The jury decided guilt or innocence based on the evidence presented in court," they will say. But lawyers and judges have so much power controlling the flow of information in court that it would make a North Korean propaganda minister envious. Lawyers and judges conduct discussions at trial out of earshot of the jury, covering points that could decide the case. Judges often allow a lawyer on either side to block evidence and testimony that could exonerate the innocent, or convict the guilty. Inept, underpaid lawyers try cases against financially powerful and court-savvy lawyers who know how to dominate a trial, with judges usually turning a blind eye to such imbalances. "Expert witnesses" can be hired by lawyers in order to get inaccurate information on the court record. So who has the real power in court? Must we still hear the fairy tale that juries decide cases? Under these conditions, even the best-intentioned jury could send a man to prison for 25 years for a rape he did not commit, or convict and execute an innocent man for a murder he did not commit. Juries often deserve our empathy. Besides having to sort through the various legal deceptions, they are often called upon to decide cases of a specialized nature for which they may have no particular training. The ideal of a "jury of one's peers" becomes more remote as specialization increases. In many European countries, the jury is specifically matched to the topic of the trial, making it more difficult for the jurors to be deceived. A trial revolving around the topic of electronics, for example, would have a jury capable of following the arguments. In some countries, these jurors are even allowed to ask questions that have not been previously screened by the judge. The defenders of our system will usually cite the appeals system, but its efficacy (and record) is checkered at best. Once something becomes a matter of court record in the first trial, including by means of the questionable and unjust practices listed above, that bit of testimony or evidence, however false, can, if not properly challenged, slide right through the appeal process and stay on the court record as factual and true. This can include final decisions from previous cases. The "convicted rapist" was lucky: DNA came to his rescue after 25 years. No such luck for Roberts. How many more innocent people are still in jail? How many innocent people have we killed with this system? Would attorneys ever voluntarily relinquish their lucrative hold on American society? The trial lawyers' lobby is one of the most powerful and well-financed in Washington. Until we fix this broken system, we must, for example, stop capital punishment. Our system is neither mature enough, nor exacting enough, to mete out such final decisions. (source: Orange County Register (Harry H. Arzouman - The Corona del Mar resident is an inventor who chronicled his experiences in the court system fighting to protect his patents in his book, "Patent privacy".) NEW YORK: Judge Looks Death in Face Talk about a life and death situation. If you ever wonder what the job of a Federal District Court judge entails, consider the caseload of Nicholas Garaufis, who until June had 8 death penalty cases on his docket. Garaufis sits on the bench of the U.S. District Court in Brooklyn. A lifelong Democrat from Queens, he was appointed to the bench by former President Bill Clinton. So far he's had one heck of a year, highlighted by presiding over the death penalty trial of Joseph Massino, the Bonanno mob boss turned informant who, among other things, was charged with ordering the murder of Gerlando "George From Canada, I-Don't-Know-His-Last-Name" Sciascia. After Massino flipped on everyone he knew with the exception of his wife, his plea allowed him to escape the death penalty. In June, Garaufis sentenced Massino to 2 consecutive life sentences, which will almost certainly be dramatically reduced at a future date. But Garaufis was only getting started. His calendar for the rest of 2005 and 2006 is already full. Garaufis' busy docket includes 350 pending civil cases and some 300 criminal defendants, 68 of whom are members of the Bonanno crime family, who will be tried in three separate multi-defendant mob trials. And among those 300 defendants are a highly unusual 7 additional death penalty cases. Although Garaufis declined to comment on his morbid workload, that's a lot of weight to drop on the pillow at night. Even for a man who at his congressional hearings and swearing in vowed to uphold the law of the land that calls for a federal death penalty. The looming death penalty cases Garaufis will preside over include USA v. Ronell Wilson, Index #04CR1016. Wilson, aka "Rated R," is charged with the March 10, 2003, cold-blooded murders of NYPD Detectives Rodney Andrews and James Nemorin in Staten Island during an undercover gun-trafficking sting. In a 30-count federal indictment, the U.S. attorney general's office charged that Wilson was part of a violent narcotic trafficking and racketeering gang called The Stapleton Crew operating in the Stapleton projects that specialized in drive-by murders, attempted murders, dope peddling, obstruction of justice, carjacking, robbery and firearm offenses. The U.S. attorney general already has certified Wilson's as a death penalty case that will be coming to trial in Garaufis' courtroom in 2006. The other six death penalty cases are still under review for certification by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Among those cases is USA v. Vincent Basciano, Index #05CR60. Basciano is charged with being the acting boss of the Bonanno crime family in an 18-count RICO indictment for "predicate acts of murder, murder conspiracy, attempted murder." In the same indictment, two more mobsters face the sayonara syringe: Dominic Cicale and Anthony (Ace) Aiello are charged with racketeering and murder. On a secret prison tape made by Massino, Basciano describes Aiello as "a good kid, Joe, your Luca Brasi." Luca Brasi was Don Corleone's main button man in "The Godfather," which proves that in mob circles life often imitates art and can get you sentenced to death. The 5th and 6th death penalty defendants Garaufis will preside over are Tyrone Hunter and Adrian Tayne, Index #05CR188. Hunter was arrested this year for the 1987 murder of Allen (Weiner) Goines, a suspected police informant. Federal prosecutors charge that back in 1987 Hunter, Tayne and their East New York drug crew "tied Goines to a chair, doused him with alcohol, and set him on fire." Then they extinguished the flames with a bucket of urine. Then they choked Goines with a dog leash until they thought he was dead. Hunter and his pals,prosecutors say, then dumped Goines in a car to dispose of the body. But en route Goines awakened and tried to escape. So the Hunter crew shot him and ran him over with the car. Still, the Terminator-like Goines survived. Then on Nov. 26, 1987, after Goines was released from the hospital, Hunter sent a hit team to shoot Goines dead. The 7th death penalty case Garaufis will preside over is that of Gerard Price, Index #05CR492, another accused drug gangster, this one from the Gowanus projects. In the indictment caption Price's aliases are listed as "Crime" and "Bloody Crime." Price is accused of racketeering, murder, and drug charges. Last year Garaufis sentenced Price's cousin Joseph Price to life imprisonment on similar charges. It is highly unusual for that many death penalty cases to come up in the courtroom of a single judge. But if Attorney General Gonzales certifies each one, and these defendants are all convicted, Judge Nicholas Garaufis will have the task of sentencing 7 people to death in the year to come. And that's only part of the job of a federal judge. (source: Column, Denis Hamill, New York Daily News) OHIO: State fires 2 guards over handling of inmate suicide A cop killer on Ohio's death row who committed suicide in May was likely dead almost 4 hours before his body was found, indicating a breakdown in the system for checking on inmates, according to a report on the suicide released Monday. The state said it fired two prison guards over the handling of the May 7 suicide of Martin Koliser, sentenced to die for killing a Youngstown police officer in 2003. Under prison procedures, a guard should have checked on Koliser twice an hour. Instead, the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction believes a check was made about 1:30 a.m. and again about 5:20 p.m., according to the report released at the request of The Associated Press. The report found numerous other problems with the handling of the suicide at Mansfield Correctional Institution, including inadequate documentation of guards' activities at night, broken first aide kits and a failure to regularly carry out suicide drills. The report follows February's unsuccessful escape attempt from death row in which 2 inmates built a ladder from sheets and rolled-up newspapers and magazines. In that incident, prison officials blamed "gross deficiencies in supervision" and reprimanded several administrators, including the warden. Collectively, the 2 problems look bad coming so close together, prison system spokeswoman Andrea Dean acknowledged Monday. (source: Associated Press)
