Oct. 4 VIRGINIA: Justices Refuse to Hear Case of Condemned Virginia Man 3 months ago, the Supreme Court granted a last-minute stay of execution to a Virginia inmate who argued that the state's loss of crucial evidence had deprived him of the right to prove, by DNA testing, his innocence of the murder for which he was sentenced to death in 1999. The purpose of the stay, granted less than 5 hours before the scheduled execution, was to permit lawyers for the condemned man, Robin Lovitt, to file a full-scale Supreme Court appeal. On Monday, the 1st day of its new term, the court rejected that appeal without comment. The stay of execution will now automatically dissolve, leaving a grant of clemency by Virginia's governor, Mark Warner, the only way for Mr. Lovitt, 41, to avoid execution. The court's action, in which Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. did not participate, runs counter to the impression created by several recent death penalty rulings that the Supreme Court is becoming more receptive to arguments raised on behalf of death row inmates. Mr. Lovitt's appeal, filed by Kenneth W. Starr, the former solicitor general and independent counsel, contained 10 references to the most recent such ruling, Rompilla v. Beard, which the court issued in June. In that case, the justices overturned a death sentence after concluding that the defendant's lawyer, in failing to search his background for facts that might persuade a jury to spare his life, had fallen below minimum constitutional standards for legal representation. One argument in the case on Monday, Lovitt v. True, No. 05-5044, was that Mr. Lovitt's original defense lawyer had failed to present evidence of childhood abuse at the hands of a stepfather who gave the boy alcohol and narcotics before he was 10. "By now, there can be no question," Mr. Starr asserted in Mr. Lovitt's Supreme Court brief. "Any competent counsel must conduct a thorough investigation of the defendant's background because the jury cannot reliably impose the death sentence without considering the petitioner's individual life history." The brief added, "But that is not the law of the land as applied in the Fourth Circuit." In April, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond rejected Mr. Lovitt's petition for a writ of habeas corpus. The other principal argument in the case concerned the destruction of evidence by a Virginia court clerk, after Mr. Lovitt's conviction had become final in state court but before he had filed a federal court petition. The evidence was a pair of scissors that had been used in the fatal stabbing of the manager of a pool hall in Arlington, Va., during a robbery there. The prosecution's theory was that Mr. Lovitt had used the scissors to pry open the cash register drawer and to stab the manager, Clayton Dicks, who caught him in the act. Mr. Lovitt's fingerprints were not on the scissors. DNA testing at the time showed the blood on the scissors to be that of the victim. The testing was inconclusive for the DNA of anyone else. Mr. Lovitt's lawyers wanted a new, more modern test that they said would exclude him, and the appeal argued that discarding the scissors had resulted in "profound unfairness." The brief said: "The commonwealth's wanton conduct has forever deprived Lovitt of a right, safeguarded under Virginia law, to test DNA evidence that had the potential to establish that he was wrongfully convicted." Ordinarily, courts require a showing of bad faith before hearing an appeal based on loss of evidence by the officials responsible for maintaining it. There was no such showing in this case. Just as the Supreme Court did not explain, on July 11, its reasons for granting a stay of execution, the court gave no reason on Monday for rejecting the appeal. For the new term, the court has accepted five cases that deal with death penalty issues. One, House v. Bell, No. 04-8990, presents the question of what standard a death row inmate must meet for a federal court to hear a claim of innocence based on new DNA evidence. That case will be argued in January. The Lovitt appeal was one of hundreds of cases the court turned down on Monday as it began the new term. Because Chief Justice Roberts had not yet been confirmed when the justices held their conference on these cases a week ago, he was listed as not having participated in any of the actions. (source: New York Times) OHIO: Death-row move to Youngstown OK'd Ohio's male death-row inmates will soon move from Mansfield to Youngstown after a federal judge on Monday rejected an effort to temporarily block the move. Lawyers for the prisoners argued in August that the move to the supermax Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown will be an undue hardship for them because the facility lacked adequate space for death-row inmates to meet privately with attorneys, cells are smaller and rules are more restrictive, among other reasons. U.S. District Judge James Gwin denied the motion because he said there was not enough evidence to support it, in part because the move had not yet taken place. "No one comes forward with certain evidence regarding what conditions will exist for death row inmates at OSP," Gwin wrote, referring to the Ohio State Penitentiary. "Instead, both [sides] offer mere forecasts and speculation as to what the condition will be upon transfer." But lawyers for the prisoners who tried to stop the move were somewhat heartened that the judge agreed to revisit the issue. Gwin put off making a final ruling on the issue until after the move. The judge said in his ruling he was concerned about the issue of private meeting space. He also wants to make sure the prisoners get 35 hours of recreation time outside their cell every week, as state officials promised. "It's a split decision," said Staughton Lynd, an attorney for the prisoners. "The judge is waiting to see before making a decision." Men on death row have been housed at Mansfield since 1995. The state claims it would be cheaper to imprison the 194 male death-row inmates in Youngstown. The lone woman on death row is housed at the state prison in Marysville. JoEllen Lyons, spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, said she could not give a specific date when the inmates will move because of security concerns. "We hope the move takes place as soon as possible," she said. (source: Cleveland Plain Dealer) CONNECTICUT: Way cleared for penalty hearing in double murder case The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear the appeal by a Bridgeport man who could now face the death penalty in a double murder case. The court's refusal clears the way for Russell Peeler Jr. to face a state penalty hearing that could put him on death row for ordering the murders of an 8-year-old boy and the boy's mother. In October 2004, the state Supreme Court upheld Peeler's conviction on capital felony charges. Peeler was convicted of plotting the murders in 1999 of Leroy "B.J." Brown Jr., 8, and his mother, Karen Clarke, 30. The state court at the time also granted an appeal by prosecutors, who argued that Judge G. Sarsfield Ford improperly imposed a life sentence when the jury deadlocked during sentencing. Prosecutors successfully argued the judge should have declared a mistrial, and allowed the state to pursue a second hearing. That state court ruling led to the appeal by Peeler's defense attorney. "We expect to proceed with a new death penalty proceeding in the near future," Bridgeport State's Attorney Jonathan Benedict, said Monday. Peeler already was serving a life sentence for other crimes, and the only way he faced punishment for the killings was to be sentenced to death, prosecutors argued. According to testimony, Peeler and his brother, Adrian, ran a crack cocaine ring in Bridgeport that earned them thousands of dollars a week. In 1999, Russell Peeler was to be tried for the murder of Rudolph Snead Jr., a former partner in the drug ring and Clarke's boyfriend. B.J. had seen an earlier attempt by Russell Peeler to shoot Snead and was expected to be a key witness at that trial. Days before that trial's start, the boy and his mother were found shot to death in their Bridgeport duplex. The state Supreme Court last year overturned Russell Peeler's conviction for Snead's murder. The high court ruled that the trial court should not have disqualified his attorney in that case. Adrian Peeler was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and sentenced to 20 years in prison. The Supreme Court earlier this year rejected his appeal. (source: Newsday) FLORIDA: Death-row inmate on trial again----Oscar Ray Bolin Jr. is accused of killing a woman in north Tampa. In Tampa, jury selection began Monday in the 8th murder trial of death row inmate Oscar Ray Bolin Jr. Bolin, 43, is facing the death penalty for the 3rd time in the 2-decade-old murder of Natalie Blanche Holley. Holley, 25, was kidnapped in January 1986 as she left the north Tampa Church's Chicken where she worked. Her body, stabbed and bloody, was found the next day in an orange grove in north Hillsborough County. Holley was the first but not the last woman Bolin would be accused of killing. On Dec. 5, 1986, authorities found the body of Stephanie Anne Collins, 17, after she disappeared from a parking lot in Carrollwood. Investigators later that same day found the body of Teri Lynn Matthews, 26; she had been beaten, raped and stabbed. In 1991, Bolin was convicted of murdering Holley and Collins after 2 separate trials. A year later he was convicted of killing Matthews. But, those convictions were overturned in 1994. In 2001, he was sentenced to death for a 3rd time for the murder of Matthews, and the Florida Supreme Court upheld that conviction last year. Bolin is scheduled to be tried again on charges he murdered Collins after the current trial ends this week. (source: St. Petersburg Times)
