Sept. 30
ALABAMA:
Appeals Court Upholds Death Sentences
In Montgomery, an Alabama appeals court has upheld the death sentence
given to Alonzo Burgess for the 1993 beating deaths of a Colbert County
woman and her 2 daughters.
The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals Friday upheld Burgess' death
sentence. He was convicted for the January 1993 murders of his live-in
girlfriend, Sheila Nnodimele, and her 2 daughters, 14-year-old Latoria
Long and 8-year-old Alexis Nnodimele.
The 39-year-old Burgess beat the 2 girls to death with a bumper jack
assembly post sometime after they returned home from school on Jan. 29.
Court records said when their mother returned home from work that morning
and discovered the bodies, Burgess beat her with the tire jack, then
strangled and suffocated her.
The appeals court also upheld the conviction and death sentence of
24-year-old Brandyn Josephe Benjamin. He was convicted in the November
2000 shooting death of businessman Jimmie Floyd Lewis. Lewis was shot to
death when he was robbed of about $40 in the parking lot of a Dothan Mall.
(source: Associated Press)
OHIO:
Board recommends denial of clemency in drug territory slayings
The Ohio Parole Board on Friday recommended that Gov. Bob Taft deny
clemency to a man who shot to death three alleged rivals and their visitor
in his Youngstown drug territory 14 years ago.
"The aggravating circumstance of a wanton, calculated, horrific,
cold-blooded, execution-style killing of four defenseless young men
greatly outweighs any proffer of mitigation," the board's unanimous report
said in the case of Willie Williams Jr.
At a clemency hearing on Monday, the men's relatives detailed how their
deaths still hurt their families. A prosecutor said Williams deserved no
mercy for shooting the men in the head, and defense attorneys said their
client told them not to argue for it.
Williams, 48, is the first inmate to face death for such a large one-day
mass murder since Ohio resumed executions in 1999. He is scheduled to die
by lethal injection on Oct. 25. He has no remaining appeals.
Williams killed Alfonda Madison, William Dent and Eric Howard because he
wanted to regain control of drug trafficking at the housing project, court
records show. A 4th man with no involvement in drugs, Theodore Wynn Jr., a
recently discharged Air Force sergeant, was killed because he stopped by
Madison's house when Williams was there on Sept. 1, 1991.
He was arrested but escaped from jail the next month. Three months later,
he broke into a juvenile jail and held a guard and a receptionist hostage
in an unsuccessful attempt to kill the 3 accomplices because of statements
they had made to police.
Four days is the shortest time within the 7-day time limit the board has
reached a decision, prisons spokeswoman Andrea Dean said.
Taft can either accept the recommendation or change Williams' sentence to
life in prison without parole. Taft's legal staff will review the report,
spokesman Mark Rickel said.
The state has put 17 inmates to death since resuming executions in 1999,
including Herman Dale Ashworth on Tuesday. He also did not seek clemency.
ON THE NET - Clemency reports:
http://www.drc.state.oh.us/public/clemency.htm
(source: Associated Press)
