Sept. 21 TEXAS: Suspect can't get fair trial, lawyers say Attorneys for a Mansfield man accused of organizing a group of friends to kill his parents said their client cannot receive a fair trial in Tarrant County because of pretrial publicity. A hearing on the matter, which could result in a change of venue for Andrew Wamsley, is set for Thursday. Rick and Suzanna Wamsley were shot and stabbed to death in their Mansfield home on Dec. 11, 2003. Police have said that Andrew Wamsley and some friends concocted a murder-for-hire scheme so that he could collect on his parents' $1.65 million life-insurance policy. "The news articles and broadcasts regarding the defendant have been published regularly from the time of the defendant's arrest until the present time," attorneys Larry Moore and David Pearson wrote in court documents. Prosecutors have filed affidavits disputing the claims. Andrew Wamsley, 21, is scheduled to go on trial Oct. 3. Girlfriend Chelsea Lea Richardson, 21, of Fort Worth was sentenced to death in May for her role in the killings. The attorneys also said publicity in Richardson's trial was "inflammatory" and "unfair," which has created hostility in the community toward the defendant. Moore could not be reached for comment, and Pearson deferred questions to Moore. Also according to court records, the director of engineering for WFAA/Channel 8 has been subpoenaed to appear before the 297th State District Court as a defense witness Thursday to present the court with a coverage map of its broadcast signal. ****************** Jail food service contract is approved for another year Beans -- even three days a week -- will have to do. Tarrant County commissioners on Tuesday approved the 2nd year of a 5-year contract for jail food service with Dallas-based Mid-America Services, the third contractor in a year to have taken over the job. Sheriff Dee Anderson said inmate complaints about food quality and quantity under Mid-America have dropped from about 100 per month to about 5. "The worst of our complaints now are that they get beans 3 times a week," Anderson said. "It's not going to be gourmet food. We spent too much time in the past worrying about jail food. Now we're in a situation where we can concentrate on more important matters." Mid-America will provide meals at 94 cents a meal -- about $4.1 million for fiscal 2006, which starts Oct. 1. The cost of meals increased about 3 cents each. The contract, which provides three meals a day for inmates, also allows for reduced meal costs based on the jail population. About 3,450 inmates are housed in Tarrant County jails. Mid-America's founder and CEO, Jack Madera, died months after the agreement was signed in 2004. Bob Austin, Madera's second in command, is now president of the company. Mid-America took over the contract after the county rejected 2 other companies. (source for both: Fort Worth Star-Telegram) *************************** Life term without parole just one option - New Texas law allows sentence but doesn't make it mandatory With more executions than any other state, Texas has a tough-on-crime reputation. Yet when it comes to dealing with young criminals, juvenile-justice advocates point to the Lone Star state as a model. In 1987, just as crime rates nationwide were beginning to rise, Texas began a system of what was known as blended sentences for juveniles convicted of serious crimes, said Neil Nichols, the Texas Youth Commission's general counsel. Youths charged with the most serious crimes in Texas still could be transferred to adult court. And until a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling invalidated the death penalty for juveniles, they faced possible execution if convicted. But with blended sentences, juveniles convicted of serious crimes could begin their time in the juvenile system, then transfer at age 21 into adult prisons where - depending on their progress - they could serve up to 40 years before becoming eligible for parole. "That's what gives (an inmate) motivation. He can't just sit on his hands," Nichols said. Advocates of sentencing reform for juveniles say that sort of system gives young criminals a chance to mature, making them better candidates for rehabilitation. Sentencing teenagers to life without parole "goes against a long history in this country of believing in the capacity of society to rehabilitate people when they still are young. This is why we had a separate juvenile justice system," said Temple University's Laurence Steinberg, a psychologist who has been involved in the national debate. "We are not very good at looking at people when they are 16 and predicting what they will be like when they are 30. We know there is a huge drop in violent crime after age 24 or 25," said Steinberg. Ahmad Nelms, 23, a former gang member convicted of killing a Denver man in 1999 when he was 17, said his views have changed significantly in the six years he's spent behind bars. "I never really understood (about the future). I was a kid. I thought it was all just, 'Have fun and hang out.' I was gangbanging it, doing all the wrong things. I didn't understand the big picture." Because he was charged as an adult in Colorado and found guilty of 1st-degree murder, Nelms was automatically sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole. Until Sept. 1, that wouldn't have happened in Texas. But a new law went into effect then, specifically allowing life without parole for young Texas murderers. "Darn," said Paul Rosenthal, when reminded of the change in Texas. "I was just about to say how great it was in Texas." Rosenthal is the legislative affairs director for the Pendulum Foundation, a Colorado Springs group that advocates juvenile sentencing reform. Even with the new law, he said, most serious juvenile offenders in Texas will likely end up with the blended sentences. Unlike Colorado's law, Texas law never mandated life without parole for 1st-degree murder. Furthermore, a hearing was required before a juvenile case could be transferred to adult court. Colorado prosecutors can file a juvenile case in adult court without such a hearing, unless the juvenile is under 14. Texas changed its juvenile-sentencing laws in March, after the U.S. Supreme Court declared the death penalty unconstitutional for anyone younger than 18. Dianne Clements, president of Justice for All, a Texas victims rights group, said there was a fear that dangerous killers who might have faced execution could eventually be eligible for parole just because they were juveniles when they committed their crimes. The idea behind the new law, she said, was to remove the possibility that "17-year-olds can feasibly be out at 57." Although Clements supported the change, she said she remains ambivalent about giving life-without-parole sentences to juveniles. "Do I think it makes a difference in the real-world outcome? No, I don't," she said. Juries, she said, will likely give life-without-parole sentences to young killers who earlier might have gotten the death penalty. "Some crimes," she said, "you just forfeit your right to be in society." Harold "Hal" Gaither, a retired Texas juvenile court judge who testified before the Colorado legislature this spring, said Texas' new law illustrates the political realities of juvenile sentencing reform. "You don't want to appear, from a political standpoint, to be soft on crime when you're talking about the taking of someone's life," Gaither said. "You have to let everybody know that what you're really after is fundamental fairness." 'A sliding scale of criminal responsibility' A Colorado sentencing-reform bill that Gaither backed was vetoed in May by Gov. Bill Owens, after it had been amended to propose only a study of the issue. Supporters of such legislation argue that there's a difference between youngsters and adults, even when those juveniles are tried in adult court for crimes such as murder. "Their brains are simply immature developmentally, which affects their thought processes and ability to exercise self-control," said Barry Feld, a law professor at the University of Minnesota who has written several books on juvenile justice. Feld favors "a sliding scale of criminal responsibility" when it comes to sentencing juveniles, something he calls the "youth discount." "Kids would get shorter sentences than adults on a sliding scale of criminal responsibility. A 14-year-old would get 25 percent of the adult sentence, a 16-year-old would get 50 percent," he said. A life sentence for a 16-year-old would still amount to about 25 years in prison, he said. "Even though they do the same horrific harm as adults, they are simply not as responsible," he said. Society already takes this into account by setting older ages for when juveniles can vote, drive, drink and serve on juries, he said. However, Colorado and most other states hold them as responsible as adults for serious crime. 'Little bitty condensed sentence' Some scoff at Feld's idea. Murder, said Gaither, "is not like the Reader's Digest. If somebody kills somebody with a gun, it's not with little bitty condensed bullets. He's not entitled to a little bitty condensed sentence." He advocates sentencing teen killers for a long time, then making a thoughtful determination whether the person is a good candidate for parole. Steven Drizin is a Northwestern University law professor who co-authored one of the briefs cited by the U.S. Supreme Court in its ruling striking down the death penalty for juveniles. He agrees that teens who kill should be punished but re-evaluated over time. Brain research on teens shows that "adolescents are less culpable (and) it imposes an obligation on society to do what we can to impact these brains in pro-social ways," Drizin said. Feld points out that the U.S. punishes juvenile offenders more severely than other nations. "When I talk about my youth discount, it is not a radical idea," Feld said. The issue 1 in 8 lifers in Colorado - 46 out of 360 - were sentenced for murders committed when they were younger than 18. In the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that ends the death penalty for juveniles, a national debate is emerging over laws such as Colorado's that require life without parole for teens convicted as adults of first-degree murder. - Those who want to change Colorado's law say: New research shows juveniles' brains are not fully developed so their faulty judgment makes them less responsible for crimes than adults. Juveniles could be rehabilitated and should get a chance at parole. - Those who oppose changes to the law say: Inmates serving life without parole took others' lives and have forfeited their right to freedom. The young killers, if released, would pose too great a risk to society. (source: Rocky Mountain News) US MILITARY: Accused killer: I didnt want to leave any witnesses Senior Airman Andrew Witt, on trial for his life here, told friends he killed a fellow senior airman and his wife last year at Robins Air Force Base, Ga., because he "didn't want to leave any witnesses," 2 of his friends testified Tuesday. Witt, who was an avionics technician with the 116th Air Control Wing, is charged with two counts of premeditated murder in the July 5, 2004 stabbing deaths of Senior Airman Andy Schliepsiek and his wife, Jamie, at their home on the base. He is also charged with stabbing the couples friend, Senior Airman Jason King, who survived. Christopher Coreth, who was Witts housemate at the time, told the jurors he spoke with Witt in jail because he wanted to know the truth. Witt told him he went on base that night after Andy Schliepsiek threatened to call Witts first sergeant about making a pass at his wife, Coreth testified. Witt then said he stabbed King and returned to the house "just to finish," Coreth testified. "He said, 'I didn't want to leave any witnesses,'" Coreth said. Staff Sgt. Priscilla Steele, who described Witt as her best friend at the time, also testified to hearing the same quote. Tuesday marked the court-martial's first day of testimony. Witt entered a plea on Sept. 12 of "not guilty to all charges and specifications." The trial is expected to continue through the end of September with the sentencing phase beginning in October. It is the 1st Air Force death-penalty case in more than a decade. The last Air Force execution was in 1954. (source: Air Force Times) ILLINOSI: Lawyers in Ryan case clash over death penalty Prosecutors complained Wednesday that George Ryan's attorneys were telling potential jurors at the former governor's racketeering and fraud trial too much about his opposition to the death penalty, and a defense lawyer said their objection "borders on paranoia." The fresh clash came as the search for a jury to sit through what is expected to be a four-month trial went into its third day, making progress at an agonizingly slow pace. U.S. District Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer says that Ryan's decision just before he left the governor's office in 2003 to commute the sentences of all 167 death row inmates to life without parole is not relevant to the charges against him and co-defendant Larry Warner. Ryan, 71, is charged in a 22-count indictment with racketeering, mail fraud, lying to FBI agents and tax fraud. Prosecutors claim that, among other things, he got loans for his relatives and gifts from Warner while allowing the lobbyist to steer leases and contracts to his clients. Prosecutors are plainly concerned that Ryan's stand against capital punishment could bias jurors in his favor, and Pallmeyer has said defense attorneys may not dwell on it at trial. Chief defense counsel Dan Webb, however, has questioned prospective jurors in detail on whether they know about Ryan's position on the death penalty and how they feel about his action. Prosecutors objected on Tuesday when Webb told one juror that Ryan acted because "innocent men were being executed" and again Wednesday when Webb spoke of a death penalty "moratorium." While 13 death row inmates in Illinois were found to have been wrongly convicted in recent years and were later freed, there has been no evidence innocent men were put to death. Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick M. Collins accused Webb of sending prospective jurors "subliminal and not so subliminal messages" and asked Pallmeyer to curb what he has been saying. "We don't want to inject thoughts into their heads," Collins said. Webb, however, brushed that complaint aside, saying that "the sensitivity on the government's part, I think, borders on paranoia." He said he needed to prod the jurors with information to jog their memories. Ryan's legal team has been striving to find jurors who have not already been biased against him by seven years of news stories about bribes paid in return for drivers licences and other corruption when he was secretary of state from 1991 to 1999 and then governor for 4 years. The investigation, dubbed Operation Safe Road, has dominated Illinois politics. One woman interviewed Wednesday said on a questionnaire filled out last week that "nothing really changes. If you have money and know someone you can usually get by." Asked what she meant by that, she said: "Money seems to talk." Another prospective juror, asked on his questionnaire what he thought about Ryan, said: "He had to know-- he was the governor." A woman who works as a counselor at a suburban college told Webb that all she knew about Ryan was that "there was a conflict of interest and there was a lot of hoopla about it." "What did you hear about that hoopla?" Webb asked. "There was a lot of publicity, there was a lot of hoopla about it," she said. (source: Chicago Sun-Times) ********************* Hurricane doesn't deter death penalty concerns Situated on a table next to the podium, a sole candle burned and the wax dripped slowly down its side, making the presentation by the famous opponent of capital punishment, St. Joseph of Medaille Sister Helen Prejean, as solemn as the life and death issues it posed. As the honored speaker at Elmhurst Colleges annual Joseph Cardinal Bernardin Lecture, Sister Prejean discussed the moral and ethical arguments against capital punishment. The academic discussion turned into one of real consequences as attention was called to the small flame on stage that burned in honor of Frances Newton of Texas. The 40-year-old woman was executed less than two hours before Sister Helen Prejean addressed a crowd of over 1,000 people Sept. 14 inside the Hammerschmidt Memorial Chapel at Elmhurst College. Speaking about a topic she feels most Americans "feel very ambivalent" about, her voice grew heavy and her words slowed during a discussion on the execution that occurred at 6 p.m. Sister Prejean told the crowd that she had met with Newton and was familiar with the case that left doubts of guilt in the minds of many. Sister Prejean said this was another unfortunate example and the topic of her second book, "The Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Executions." She said, "When you read the book, you will be the first full jury they ever had who knows all the facts." Currently touring the country to promote the 2004 book that followed the highly lauded tome published in 1993, "Dead Man Walking," the nun set the tone for the presentation early urging the audience to seriously reflect upon the death penalty. She said, "We're here to talk about life and death. We're here to talk about our country, the social fabric that holds us together. We want to navigate morally, we want to feel the outrage for those who have been killed who are innocent, but we also want to look critically at how our society deals with violence and what our moral response should be." The nun, who worked in Louisiana for over 20 years, also addressed the headlines that were on the minds of many just a few weeks after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast. She acknowledged her personal inconvenience was incomparable to the thousands that are suffering great tragedies as a result of the hurricane. Sister Prejean was too humble to discuss details of how her New Orleans ministry, the Moratorium Campaign, was destroyed and left her staff scrambling to re-establish its headquarters in Baton Rouge. However, she did offer a parallel between the natural disaster and the human-instigated tragedy of the death penalty. She said, "It's a symbol, an emblem of the neglect that's been going on in our cities for a long time. People have been drowning in New Orleans for a long time." She continued to list the systemic problems of Louisianas criminal justice system, which is recognized for having the highest incarceration rate in the country. She said, "That's what we do with poor people who fail. We throw them in prisons- it's a growth industry." Louisiana's problems are evident in the rest of the nation as well, she said. Capital punishment is the legal mechanism by which 1,000 people have been put to death, most of whom were poor. She also pointed out the racial bias that reveals itself through the numbers. She said less than 2 percent of prosecutors seek the death penalty in the estimated 14,000 homicide cases that arise every year nationwide. Of those capital punishment cases, over 80 percent of the victims were Caucasian while over 50 percent of the persons on death row are people of color. "You can't get race out of it. There is no equal justice for all," she passionately proclaimed. Sister Prejean turned her focus toward Illinois during an earlier conversation with the Catholic Explorer. She called it a teachable moment because she believes the state is still in legal limbo about the future of the death penalty. Despite the fact that former Gov. George Ryan is currently facing federal allegations of racketeering conspiracy stemming from his position as Secretary of State in 1990, Sister Prejean praised his efforts while he was governor and lauded him for drawing attention to flaws within the system. In 2000, Ryan was the 1st governor to initiate a moratorium on the death penalty and established a panel to investigate the system as it is applied in Illinois. She said, "Illinois and (former) Gov. George Ryan became a sign to the whole nation, where a politician made a decision it was unconscionable to put innocent people to death for being guilty. Now, youre at that in-between stage. New death sentences are coming out but it's cut tremendously. But youre still making some of the same mistakes." The reliability of "jailhouse snitches" is one example of a flaw that tarnishes the criminal justice system. These kinds of errors cry out for correction before true justice prevails. She urged those examining the system to take into account both parties, the victim and accused person. The nun outstretched her arms to imitate Jesus on the cross and said, "For those of us who are Christians, a great image is the cross -it stretches us across. I learned that the deepest spiritual values are that both of these humans have dignity, and human rights are deeper than what governments give people for good behavior or take away for bad behavior." During a question-and-answer period after her presentation, Sister Prejean tackled the claims of death penalty proponents that the Bible supports capital punishment. Exaggerating the southern drawl, Sister Prejean poked fun at the way people tend to take biblical verses out of context, twisting them to justify almost any activity. She called selective Bible quoting a serious matter. Her solution to the problem is seeking the model of Jesus. "Lets go to Jesus. Jesus consistently in his life taught us and showed us, 'Father forgive them they know not what they do.'" Sister Prejean urged Americans not to tolerate the violence that is so often "vengeance (mistaken) for justice. The death penalty is a paradigm of using violence and coercion to try to keep social order instead of attending to the social fabric. And thats right down the Catholic (teachings) of taking care of the common good." A transitional deacon preparing for the priesthood at University of St. Mary of the Lake Mundelein Seminary, Deacon Brian Sutton gleaned new insight from Sister Prejean. The Elmhurst College alum said the event inspired him to raise everyday awareness about the death penalty in his future parish in the Diocese of Winona, Minn. He said, "I want to do what's necessary for the people to decide we dont need this in our country." (source: Associated Press) NORTH CAROLINA: Judge, former DA will face bar----Nov. date set on charges they lied, hid evidence A former top district attorney and current judge will go before the N.C. State Bar in November on charges of lying and hiding evidence in a death penalty case. The State Bar will rule on charges that former Union County-based District Attorney Ken Honeycutt and Judge Scott Brewer, a former assistant prosecutor in the same district, "engaged in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit" to win a case that the bar says they likely wouldn't have won otherwise. The complaints against Honeycutt and Brewer, filed Aug. 30, will be heard together by a 3-member panel of the bar's disciplinary hearing commission. The men are allowed attorneys and are expected to file responses to the charges in the next two weeks. The hearings are scheduled for Nov. 10 and 11 in the bar's chambers in Raleigh. The bar rarely charges prosecutors, though it said it did not have statistics. Punishments range from a reprimand to the suspension or revocation of a law license. The attorneys are accused of failing to disclose deals to secure reward money and reduce prison time for the star witness in a 1996 murder case. Defendant Jonathan Hoffman spent 7 years on death row before winning a new trial last year. It isn't known whether other cases of Honeycutt's and Brewer's are being investigated, as the bar won't acknowledge any investigation unless it results in charges. Honeycutt retired from office last year and has been working in a private practice in Monroe. Brewer is a judge in Rockingham. (source: Charlotte Observer) **************************** Onslow killer up for parole this year A former Navy corpsman, who was found guilty in 1974 in one of Onslow County's most notorious 1st-degree murder and kidnapping cases, will be considered for parole this year. Marcus Shrader III, 64, was convicted of the 1st-degree murder and kidnapping of Cheryl Potter Boyd. He also was charged with killing 3 other women in the 1970s, including two Jacksonville teenagers, but was never tried in connection to the murders. Shrader was sentenced to death for killing Boyd - a sentence that was converted to life imprisonment after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty was unconstitutional. The death penalty was later reinstated, but Shrader's life sentence remained. Shrader has been eligible for parole since 1986. His case comes up for review every year, but this is the first time his release is being investigated by the state's Parole Commission, said Melita Groomes, executive director of the N.C. Post Release Supervision and Parole Commission. If Shrader is paroled, he will be turned over to the U.S. Marshal Service in order to serve a 20-year sentence for robbing the North Carolina National Bank on Aug. 16, 1974. "We are looking at the possibility of sending him to that federal sentence," Groomes said. There are no guarantees that Shrader will serve out the entire 20-year sentence. Even if he does, District Attorney Dewey Hudson is against the state giving Shrader parole. "I strongly oppose any early release or parole of this defendant," Hudson said in a written release. "This is one of the most dangerous killers ever in North Carolina." Hudson sent a letter of opposition to the Parole Commission on Sept. 1. Hudson, Assistant District Attorney Ernie Lee, Onslow County Sheriff Ed Brown, Jacksonville Police Chief Mike Yaniero and Onslow County Commissioner Delma Collins will address the three-member commission Thursday in Raleigh. Collins and Brown, who were officers at the Jacksonville Police Department at the time of Shrader's arrest, both worked on the case. "He should remain in prison for the rest of his life," Hudson said. Shrader is in a medium-security prison at Eastern Correctional Institute in Maury, which is in Greene County. Since he was placed in N.C. Department of Correction, Shrader has had 67 infractions ranging from weapons possession to profane language, according to the DOC Web site. Shrader's case is among the most well-known and frightening in Onslow County history. He kidnapped Boyd in the parking lot of a Jacksonville post office on Aug. 16, 1974 and forced her to help him rob North Carolina National Bank. After the robbery, Shrader and Boyd returned to her car and they drove to an alley behind a Jacksonville A&P grocery store. Shrader then shot Boyd in the head with a .45-caliber pistol. When Shrader was arrested Aug. 18, 1974, he was charged in connection with four deaths, including Boyd's and that of Tasca Virginia Rader, Cindy Howard and Karen Amabile. Rader was kidnapped in January 1974, allegedly forced to help in a bank robbery and then killed. Howard and Amabile, who were both 15 years old, were strangled and raped in early August 1974 and found on a dirt road in the Bear Creek area, according to a Daily News report. Howard's older sister, Susan Henderson of Jacksonville, has written letters to the Parole Commission and Gov. Mike Easley. She is adamantly opposed to Shrader receiving parole. "We have all gone on with our life, but it is still a part of your life," Henderson said. "You don't want it to consume you. But we will actively take a stand to keep him in prison where he certainly belongs after murdering four people." Henderson doesn't feel confident Shrader will have to serve the entire 20-year federal sentence. "He can get out and live a full life for another 20 years where Cindy never lived 20 years total," she said. When Shrader testified at his trial, he said, he had been having sex with his teenage stepdaughter, Debbie Brown, for two years. Brown had testified that he raped her when she was 12, according to a state Supreme Court decision filed June 1976. Shrader pleaded guilty to kidnapping Boyd and was convicted of 1st-degree murder in Onslow County Superior Court, Hudson said. While Brown testified against him in that trial, she would not testify in other cases, Hudson said. She served seven years of a 15-year-sentence for 2nd-degree kidnapping. Henderson objected to her parole as well and, at the time, presented the Parole Commission with a petition with more than 4,000 signatures on it. The petition didn't seem to have any impact, Henderson said. But she is encouraged that the district attorney's office and law enforcement officials are fighting to keep Shrader behind bars. "To me that means so much to our family that the people of Onslow County are trying to take a stand and keep him in there," she said. "It's meant a lot that they still care after 30 years and that law enforcement will back us and stand behind us. You don't feel like you are alone out there trying to fight." The notice of Shrader's parole consideration was released Aug. 25. The Parole Commission has to make its decision within 90 days of sending out the notice, Groomes said. People can send letters in support or against Shrader's parole to the N.C. Post Release Supervision and Parole Commission, 2020 Yonkers Road, 4222 MSC, Raleigh, N.C. 27699-4222, by fax to (919) 716-3987 or can call (919) 716-3010. (source: The Daily News)
