Sept. 21 OHIO: A call to action in Spirko case John Spirko was supposed to die Tuesday. 2 weeks ago, the governor delayed the execution so the Ohio Parole Board could take another look at the case. Kudos to Gov. Bob Taft for doing the right thing and to the parole board for asking for another clemency hearing. Also, many thanks to all of you who wrote letters to the governor and to the parole board. The new clemency hearing is on Oct. 12. Since the last hearing, more concerns have surfaced about the credibility of the man who helped put Spirko on death row. Spirko was convicted of killing Betty Jane Mottinger, a postmaster in rural Elgin, Ohio. She was stabbed to death in 1982. Paul Hartman was the lead postal inspector investigating the murder. Spirko was convicted based almost entirely on Hartman's word. Hartman's credibility has already been questioned. Hartman never taped his interviews with Spirko and never had Spirko sign any written statements. He lured Spirko into implicating a friend, Delaney Gibson. But before the trial, Hartman had photos, receipts and witnesses that showed Gibson was out of state at the time. That evidence was filed away and the State tried the case using the phony Gibson connection. This year, Hartman told at least three people that he never believed Gibson was involved and that he told prosecutors so before the trial. Now Hartman says he said that to purposely mislead a reporter and Spirko's attorneys. But Postal Inspector Gregory Duerr recently wrote the parole board to say that Hartman was the subject of an investigation by the Postal Service regarding complaints about his behavior. Duerr wrote, "I witnessed unprofessional comments and, in some instances, conduct bordering on criminal." Duerr, who worked with Hartman in the Cleveland office, wrote, "most if not all inspectors in Cleveland have concerns about what is transpiring." Add this to the list of doubts about Spirko's guilt. No physical evidence links Spirko to the crime. 8 years ago, John Willier, who was once a suspect in the murder, told prosecutors in Wyandot County that Dale Dingus committed the crime. (Dingus denies it.) Willier and Dingus painted houses in the area. The body was wrapped in a cloth splattered with paint. While Willier was in prison on a drug trafficking conviction, an inmate said Willier admitted killing the postmaster over a botched shipment of drugs. Steven Drizin, legal director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University School of Law, has called this "one of the weakest death-penalty cases" he has ever seen. In March, The Plain Dealer asked the U.S. Postal Inspection Service for all documents about an inquiry into Hartman's investigative tactics from the late 1990s. The agency wouldn't release them. Spirko's lawyers have asked the state attorney general's office to demand all documents pertaining to Duerr's complaint. The office should comply. A man's life depends on it. Every postal inspector with concerns about Hartman needs to come forward and speak up. They should contact Gary Croft, chairman of the Ohio Parole Board, at 1050 Freeway Drive North, Columbus, Ohio 43229. Or fax him at 614-752-0600. As Duerr wrote: "It appears an individual who did not commit the crime is going to be executed." (source: Column, Regina Brett, Cleveland Plain Dealer) ********************** Killer wants court to drop death penalty----'Horrifying' childhood claimed In a case one justice said "touched a nerve," an attorney for convicted murderer Troy Tenace urged the Ohio Supreme Court yesterday to set aside his death sentence because of his "horrifying" background. Tenace, 43, was twice convicted in the 1994 killing and robbery of 76-year-old Edward Kozlowski, of Toledo, for whom he'd done repair work in his Wamba Avenue home. His first conviction was overturned. Both juries returned death sentences, but the Supreme Court will reweigh the factors arguing both for and against imposition of the death penalty. While no justice could remember a case in which the court found a convicted murderer's childhood alone warranted reversal of a death sentence, several justices used words like "horrific" in describing Tenace's upbringing. Chief Justice Thomas Moyer pointed to Tenace's home life in which he was introduced to drugs and crime by his mother and abused by her boyfriend. "This man started at ground zero when he became an adult," he said. "He has no help from his parents. Why should we put him to death?" Justice Alice Robie Resnick, however, countered that Tenace's life of crime could also work against him. "I recognize that his childhood was certainly not desirable," she said. "He did go through some terrible things, but there's a point in everyone's life where you have to take some responsibility. We've seen people who have come out of situations like this where they've accomplished great things." Should the court overturn his sentence, Tenace would face life in prison with the possibility of parole. However, his attorney, Jeffery Gamso, said Tenace would be in his 80s before he would become eligible. Although now on death row at the Mansfield Correctional Institution, Tenace also faces a sentence of 25 years to life in New York for a similar murder in which he slit a woman's throat during a robbery of her home. Mr. Gamso conceded that Tenace, a drug addict, was responsible for Mr. Kozlowski's death, although he argued his crime should have been involuntary manslaughter. Tenace has maintained that his decision to leave Mr. Kozlowski gagged and to pull the phone cord from the wall showed he intended to leave him alive while he made his escape. The elderly man suffered a broken nose, head injuries, 3 fractured ribs, and severe bruising of his neck, suggesting strangulation. Mr. Gamso argued not all aggravated circumstances favoring death are created equal, and that "felony murder" provides a lower hurdle for Tenace to clear. "In this family, with this background, you do resort to lawlessness...," he said. "There is no getting around it. Troy is damaged goods." But Justice Maureen O'Connor told Mr. Gamso that Ohio law doesn't provide a scoring system in which 1 aggravating circumstance weighs more than another. Assistant Lucas County Prosecutor Craig Pearson reminded the court it has never reversed a death sentence based solely on childhood background, even in cases worse than this one. "If you're going to do it, it has to be a worse scenario than presented to the court in this case," he said. *********************** Plea bargain spares killer from possible death penalty In Wauseon, a 24-year-old Lucas County man who killed his disabled father-in-law on Valentine's Day to get the man's pain medication pleaded guilty yesterday to aggravated murder and aggravated robbery in an agreement that eliminates the possibility of the death sentence, but might keep him in prison for life. Jonathan Ray Haas, who entered the plea in Fulton County Common Pleas Court, faces a minimum of 23 years to life in prison and a maximum of 33 years to life in prison for killing and stealing from James Daniel Briscoe, a retired Jeep worker and Vietnam veteran, in his eastern Fulton County home. Haas, of western Lucas County, is to be sentenced in the fall. Aggravated murder is an automatic 20 years to life in prison, and Haas pleaded guilty to a gun specification that adds three years to that sentence. Aggravated robbery calls for a sentence of between three and 10 years that can be served at the same time as his other prison term, or it can follow that sentence. In the plea agreement, prosecutors and the Briscoe family agreed to drop the other four charges against Haas: a 2nd count of aggravated murder, aggravated burglary, burglary, and theft of drugs. He was accused of taking the narcotic pain reliever OxyContin from his 56-year-old father-in-law, who was hurt severely in a traffic crash in 2002. The agreement also calls for prosecutors to refrain from recommending a sentence for Haas. Judge James Barber ordered a presentence investigation by a court probation officer with sentencing to follow. Such reports typically are completed in 4 to 6 weeks. Haas, who turns 25 on Saturday, pleaded guilty during a court appearance that had been scheduled as a pretrial. He was to go on trial in January. He was being held in the Corrections Center of Northwest Ohio, Stryker, without bond. Mr. Briscoe, who died of a gunshot wound to the head, was found at the foot of a flight of stairs in his home at 3669 Fulton County Road S, south of Metamora, by one of his daughters when she got home from school on Feb. 14. Mr. Briscoe's older daughter, Cheryl, who was married to Haas in June, 2003, had been separated from Haas for seven months when he killed her father. She filed domestic violence complaints against Haas late last year, including a statement that he threatened to kill her. They have a daughter. (source for both: Toledo Blade) OKLAHOMA: New trial ordered in slaying The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals ordered a new trial Thursday for an Oklahoma City man convicted of killing a 3-year-old girl in 2000. The appellate court tossed out the 1st-degree murder conviction and death sentence of James Lawrence Mitchell III, saying inadmissible evidence was presented at his trial. Mitchell was convicted of the July 23, 2000, death of Charita Rashawn Frerene and sentenced to die by lethal injection. He also was convicted of child abuse and child sexual abuse. The court also ordered a new trial for Mitchell on the child abuse conviction and ordered the child sexual abuse charge be dismissed. It said an error occurred in instruction to the jury on the child abuse charge, and there was insufficient evidence to convict Mitchell on the child sexual abuse charge. The murder conviction was thrown out and a new trial ordered because hearsay evidence was allowed to be introduced during the trial, the court said. Detective Willie Edwards was permitted to testify that Kyree Rogers, half brother of the slain girl, told him Mitchell picked up Charita by the ankles and slammed her head into the ground numerous times, the opinion said. During the trial, Kyree, who was 7, testified and denied he made that statement to Edwards, the Court of Criminal Appeals said. The trial court abused its discretion when it admitted Kyree's statement to Edwards as substantive evidence when Kyree denied making it, the court said. (source: The Oklahoman, Sept. 16) NEW JERSEY: Slain Randolph girl's mom pushes for death penalty----Grand jury to review killing Laurie Parks has a talk with her teenage daughter every day. Not across the kitchen table, but at the girl's gravesite at Millbrook Cemetery in Randolph. "I sit down and I talk to her about day-to-day things. How my day went. It makes me feel like we're still close," the Randolph mother said Tuesday. The 18-year-old man accused of stabbing and dismembering Parks' 16-year-old daughter, Jennifer, on July 30, was brought to state Superior Court in Morristown Tuesday for a brief conference on his murder charge. Morris County Assistant Prosecutor Ralph Amirata said the case will be presented to a county grand jury, but gave no time frame for the presentation. He said the state is still awaiting the results of toxicology tests conducted on the slain girl, who would have been a sophomore this fall at Randolph High School. Prosecutor Michael M. Rubbinaccio said no decision has been made yet on whether to ask the grand jury to authorize a death penalty prosecution for accused killer Jonathan Zarate, a high school drop-out who lived next door to the Parks family on Old Brookside Road. Laurie Parks, in a telephone conversation after Zarate's court appearance, said she hopes the state pursues the death penalty. "I feel if you take a life, you give a life," she said. She said her grief has been overwhelming some days, for herself and Jennifer's father, David, and that she hopes to start counseling soon. She hasn't been ready so far for therapy, she said. "I'm not doing good right now. It's very hard," she said. Family members held a memorial at a church in Danville, Pa., over the weekend for Jennifer, mainly for relatives who were not able to attend her funeral in August. She said she also has plans with Randolph High School to start a scholarship in her daughter's name that would help a student pursue college studies in editing or writing, Jennifer's passion. The mother said she never knew her daughter was talking to Zarate. Neighbors have said Zarate and his younger brother used to torment Jennifer but she recently had become friendly with the 18-year-old. Police said that around 2 a.m. on July 30, Zarate either called the girl next door or communicated with her via their computers and invited her to walk over and watch television. An argument broke out, and Zarate has allegedly admitted he beat the girl with a metal pole, stabbed her, choked her and then severed both her legs so he could fit her body into a steamer trunk. Police said Zarate then enlisted the help of his now-15-year-old brother and a 16-year-old acquaintance from Clifton to try to dispose of the trunk by dumping it over a bridge in Rutherford into the Passaic River. The trio was spotted around 3 a.m. on July 31 by passing police officers before they could dump the trunk in the water. Rubbinaccio said his office is also still considering whether either juvenile should be tried as an adult. The office has until Sept. 30 to make the decision. Both youths are being held in the county juvenile detention center on charges of hindering apprehension and unlawful disturbance of human remains. Zarate's defense lawyer, Anthony Fusco, said he is in the process of hiring mental health experts to evaluate Zarate and the state of mind he was in when the alleged murder was committed. (source: The Daily Record) VIRGINIA: Officer's son wants ex-inmate examined----Suit: Investigators took advantage of Earl Washington Jr. Defending his dead father's name, the son of a state police officer wants his own expert to determine if former death-row inmate Earl Washington Jr. is mentally retarded. A lawsuit still pending against the late investigator, Curtis Reese Wilmore, claims that Wilmore and another investigator took advantage of a retarded Washington and fed him details of a crime to which Washington confessed. Washington, 45, was nearly executed for that crime, the 1982 capital murder of Rebecca Lynn Williams of Culpeper. DNA testing in 1993 and in 2000 led to Washington's pardon and release from prison. Washington, who went on to file a suit to prove his innocence, claims he was particularly susceptible to Wilmore's interrogation tactics, which allegedly included feeding him enough details about the crime until he "got it right." The trooper's son, Curtis Todd Wilmore, and a representative of his estate, is asking U.S. District Court Judge Norman K. Moon to approve a two-day examination of Washington by a Richmond-area psychologist, Edward A. Peck III. Psychiatrists who have examined Washington say he is mildly retarded, eager to please authorities and could easily be led into a false confession by interrogators. Wilmore's motion questions that widely held view of how Washington confessed to a murder that DNA testing has all but proved he did not commit. The request notes that Washington's claim that his confession was fabricated "relies heavily upon the assertion that [he] is mentally retarded." "In this case, a professional examination is critical to [Wilmore's] ability to evaluate Washington's mental condition and properly assess how that mental condition impacted events at the time of Washington's interrogation," the request argues. Victor M. Glasberg of Alexandria, one of Washington's lawyers, said it is unlikely they will oppose the request. Yesterday, a hearing on the request was set for Oct. 5. Since his release in 2001, Washington has married and has been living quietly with the assistance of a program for the developmentally handicapped in Virginia Beach. No state official has apologized to Washington, and some maintained he was still a suspect. The suit, filed in 2002, is set for trial next April in Charlottesville. Other defendants have been dismissed from the suit and Wilmore's estate is the sole remaining defendant. 10 years after the confession was obtained and about a year before he died, Wilmore expressed doubts about Washington's guilt. Those doubts and concerns, recorded in 1993 in his own notes and in a memo written by an assistant Virginia attorney general, now focus the case squarely on Wilmore. Wilmore worried that he may have planted crime-scene information in Washington's mind that the killer left a shirt at the scene -- and the gullible suspect had been taken in. But Wilmore "didn't express any doubts about Earl's guilt when it mattered," said Peter Neufeld, one of Washington's lawyers. Neufeld said Wilmore lied when testifying in Washington's trial and only expressed doubts when Washington's execution loomed and DNA tests were pending. Wilmore's testimony at Washington's trial brought out the inconsistencies in statements Washington made to police. Among other things, Wilmore testified that Washington initially said the victim was black. Williams was white. William G. Broaddus, a Richmond lawyer representing Wilmore's estate, said that, "if he hadn't talked about those inconsistencies on the stand, Earl Washington might well be dead right now." Wilmore was with the state police for 34 years until his retirement in 1993. He died 18 months later, in 1994, at the age of 62. Wilmore's son, Curtis Todd Wilmore, said this month, before the request was filed, that he does not want his father's name tarnished. Wilmore, 43, of Staunton said he believes DNA has proved Washington innocent. But, he said, "somebody's trying to put a spin on this thing for some reason -- trying to make [his father] look like a bad guy and that's as crazy a thing as I've ever heard." "There's no way in the world that he would try and pin something on anybody whatsoever." (source: Richmond Times-Dispatch) ILLINOIS: Ryan up for Nobel prize As George Ryan waits for a jury to be selected in his federal corruption trial, another type of panel is mulling over his past deeds. For the third time, the Norwegian Nobel Committee is reviewing Ryan's efforts to abolish the death penalty in order to decide whether he should win the group's prestigious international peace prize. The winner of the Nobel, who receives worldwide notoriety and a check for $1.3 million, will be named Oct. 7. "I'm confident he's going to win this time," said University of Illinois law professor Francis Boyle, a death penalty opponent who first nominated Ryan to the Nobel committee in 2003 after the governor imposed a moratorium on the death penalty because a number of convictions of death row inmates had been overturned. Soon after being nominated, Ryan cleared out Illinois' death row of 167 convicted murderers and rapists, winning accolades from death penalty opponents throughout the world. At the same time, however, his lengthy tenure in office was being investigated by federal prosecutors, who accuse him of racketeering, conspiracy, mail fraud, lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and tax fraud. Boyle said Ryan's legal troubles shouldn't diminish his role in leading the movement to abolish capital punishment. "It's a totally separate thing in my mind," said Boyle. If Ryan doesn't win, Boyle said he would likely renominate the 71-year-old former chief executive from Kankakee. "I see no grounds to change course," said Boyle. "Indeed, Gov. Ryan has really reopened the debate on the death penalty here in America." The 2004 Nobel Peace Prize went to Kenyan environmentalist Wangari Maathai. (source: Pantagraph Publishing Co.) ******************* Jurors probed on Death Row views Former Gov. George Ryan's public corruption trial isn't about his historic decision to clear death row, but the defense seemed to hone in on that issue Tuesday, the second day of jury selection. Prosecutors even complained that Ryan's attorney, Dan Webb, took "two bites at the apple," at one point saying Webb twice provided a potential juror with details about Ryan's 2003 decision even as she said she knew little about it. Webb later told another juror about Ryan's decision to place a moratorium on executions, when the potential juror said he didn't know about Ryan's policy decisions while governor. RYAN TRIAL HIGHLIGHTS U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer is to place 10-minute limits on juror questioning today. 17 potential jurors set aside -- 9 of them on Tuesday -- plus 1 juror Pallmeyer must still rule on. About a dozen potential jurors tossed Tuesday. Prosecution: Gets defense to stop asking jurors about vanity license plates, saying it misstates the case. Turns the tables on tactics by defense by asking their own "conditioning" questions, including whether jurors are prepared to come back with a guilty verdict if they find reasonable doubt. Defense: Continues to probe jurors on Ryan's death penalty stance even as prosecutors accuse defense of "taking 2 bites of the apple" at one point by bringing in specifics about Ryan's decision to clear death row. Quote of the Day: "I think I've seen you on television one time. You look familiar," one potential juror says to defense attorney Dan Webb as he questions her. The woman later says she could vote not guilty if the prosecution didn't prove its case, then looking at the government lawyers' comments: "But ... they all look so nice." U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer told Webb to limit the details he gives jurors while questioning them. Last week, she instructed the pool of 300 jurors not to listen to media reports or do any independent research on the Ryan case, with the thinking that jurors should only consider evidence allowed at trial. Judge to add time limits Pallmeyer previously ruled that jurors shouldn't hear about Ryan's policy decisions while in office, including those concerning Death Row. Ryan was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for that decision -- a legacy at odds with the criminal charges he now faces. Webb said the Death Row decision draws such an emotional response in people, he needs to probe and sometimes lead to make sure that those judging Ryan won't have issues with it. Ryan, 71, is on trial with lobbyist Lawrence Warner on charges he steered state contracts and leases to friends like Warner and took gifts, vacations and cash for himself and family. He's also charged with lying to the feds. Warner is accused of shaking down state vendors for lobbying business while giving Ryan and his family cash and loans. The jury questioning, in its second day, aims to pluck out those who say they cannot be fair and unbiased. In an attempt to empanel 18 jurors, lawyers are trying to set aside at least 46 -- and possibly up to 60. Then each side can strike a total of 28. But selection is moving slowly. After a 2nd full day, just 9 jurors were set aside, bringing a total of 17 in 2 days, plus 1 juror Pallmeyer must still rule on. Pallmeyer, who originally wanted opening statements to begin today, on Tuesday said she would put 10-minute time limits on lawyers questioning. (source: Chicago Sun-Times)
