Nov. 18 NORTH CAROLINA----execution N.C. man executed for 1990 murder of wife A 67-year-old immigrant who stabbed his wife to death with a screwdriver after she threatened divorce was executed by injection Friday after the governor rejected his children's' plea for clemency. Elias Syriani was pronounced dead at 2:12 a.m. at Central Prison, where he had visited and hugged his children beforehand after 15 years locked away from their touch. The children - including a son who witnessed the attack and testified against Syriani - argued that letting him live would allow them to restore their connection to their mother, Teresa. In his final statement, Syriani thanked his family and friends who shared "with me my sufferings for 15 years and four months and they so encouraged me." Syriani looked into the witness room, just on the other side of thick glass panes, when he was wheeled on a gurney into the death chamber and smiled at a couple who had visited him regularly for the past four years. His children, brother Tony Syriani and sister Odeet Syriani weren't there, nor were the children. 2 Charlotte detectives, 6 prison employees and 5 reporters watched the execution in addition to the 2 friends. In an animated conversation through the glass, Syriani appeared to say that he wanted his children to be happy and that he loved his wife, who said she wanted a divorce before she was killed. "This is a day of overwhelming sadness," defense lawyer Henderson Hill said after the execution. "Tonight we punished four innocent children already scarred by family violence. ... By taking the life of a man in the process of giving life back to his kids, we betray our own humanity." Russ Sizemore, a lawyer representing the children, said it was "incomprehensible" that Easley denied clemency after hearing from Rose, Janet and John Syriani and Sarah Barbari, who had been raised by their aunt and uncle in Chicago after their mother died. At the time of the killing, Syriani was living apart from his family and was under a restraining order. The children "have traveled so far in the process of healing from the terrible wounds of a horrible domestic tragedy that it is nothing short of cruel that their journey would be violently interrupted tonight by another death, a death entirely within our power to prevent," Sizemore said. Easley said in a statement that he found "no convincing reason to grant clemency and overturn the unanimous jury verdict affirmed by the state and federal courts." Syriani was convicted in the death of his wife, Teresa, 40, who was stabbed 28 times with a screwdriver in Charlotte. She died 26 days later from the attack that happened after her husband stopped her as she drove home from work and tried to get away from him. The children hadn't seen their father on death row until two years ago and have since said they have forgiven him. Part of their forgiveness stemmed from learning about his traumatic upbringing as an Assyrian Christian in Jerusalem and Jordan. Easley has granted clemency twice since taking office in 2001, but has not spared the life of any death row inmate since January 2002. North Carolina governors have granted clemency only three other times since the state resumed executions in 1984 after a hiatus while the U.S. Supreme Court determined its constitutionality. Nationally, clemency was granted 186 times - including 167 commutations by the Illinois governor in 2003 - between 2001 and 2005, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Syriani becomes the 4th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in North Carolina and the 38th overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1984. Syriani becomes the 53rd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 997th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977. There are 3 more executions scheduled across the USA this month, and if all are carried, Robin Lovitt, in Virginia, will become the 1000th condemned inmate to be put to death since the USA re-legalized the death penalty on July 2, 1976. (sources: Associated Press & Rick Halperin) ************************ Eyewitness to a killer's execution----Charlotte man, 67, executed today The door opened at the back of the death chamber and they wheeled Elias Syriani in. He was smiling. He was strapped to a gurney, lying on his back, a blue sheet covering his body, 2 pillows propped under his head. You could see a pink-and-blue beaded necklace around his neck. You could see the edges of a white curtain at the sides of the window. You could not see the IVs in his arms. The tubes ran behind him, out of sight, and in a few minutes they would deliver the chemicals that would kill him. The clock in the witness room at Central Prison said 1:50 a.m. Friday. An execution is such a huge thing but it happens in such a small space. The preparation room, just outside the death chamber, is so tiny you can stand in the middle and touch both walls. The death chamber, maybe half again as big. The witness room, the size of a walk-in closet. 15 of us crowded in there - 6 prison employees, 5 reporters, 2 Charlotte-Mecklenburg police detectives, 2 of Syriani's friends. All that separated us from him was 2 panes of glass. His eyes settled on his friends, Meg and Donald Eggleston, sitting on the front row. They were close enough to touch. But no one on our side could hear him. All we could do was try to read his lips. "I love you," he said to the Egglestons. Then: "I love everybody." This is why he was there on the gurney. Elias and Teresa Syriani were married 15 years and had four children. Syriani had been beating his wife. She got police to remove him from their Charlotte home. She filed for divorce. One night in 1990, as she drove home from work, he waited for her near the home they used to share. He blocked her car with his van. He got out and reached into the car and stabbed her 28 times with a screwdriver. Their son was in the car with her. Syriani spent his last day on earth with his children. After the murder, the kids - Rose, Sarah, John and Janet - wrote their father out of their lives. But 2 years ago, after an emotional visit, they chose to forgive. Last week they met Gov. Mike Easley at their father's clemency hearing. They asked him to stop the execution. When the kids arrived at the prison Thursday morning, Easley still hadn't decided. Russell Sizemore, the kids' lawyer, gave this account: They visited their father from 10 a.m. on, stopping only for short breaks. It was the 1st time they had touched him in 15 years. About 7:30 p.m., Henderson Hill - Elias Syriani's lawyer - got word from the governor's office. He went up to see his client. Guards moved the kids out so Hill could go in. They crossed paths in the hallway and they saw the news in his eyes. Their last chance, gone. They left the prison at 11 p.m., crying so hard they could barely stand. Syriani's family decided they would not witness the execution. He did not want a last meal. At 1 a.m., he stripped to his shorts and was strapped to the gurney. He gave a short statement to prison officials, thanking God and his family and his friends and the prison staff. At 1:40, in the witness room, they dimmed the lights. At 1:50, Syriani was wheeled into the death chamber. Over the next 10 minutes he smiled, grimaced, cried. Mostly he talked to the Egglestons. He mouthed each word carefully. We could pick up only fragments. "I want them to be happy." "15 years." "I hope ... I hope ... I really loved her." At 2 a.m., three unseen executioners plunged syringes into IV tubes. One of the tubes led to an empty bag. The executioners will never know which two of them sent chemicals into Syrianis veins. The 1st chemical was sodium pentothal, to put him to sleep. He smiled at the Egglestons one last time. "With all my heart," he said. He looked up at the ceiling. Under the blue sheet, his chest heaved once. Then his mouth opened and his eyes closed and his head sank into the pillows. Meg Eggleston stood up, hands fluttering. A guard helped her leave the room. The next chemical was Pavulon, a paralyzing drug. The last was potassium chloride, which stops the heart. The blue sheet no longer moved. Donald Eggleston whispered: "Oh, dear God." The heart monitor in another room had to run flat for 5 minutes before death was official. For a long quiet time, there in the dark room, we watched him lie still. 15 years ago, Elias Syriani killed his wife. Friday morning, the state of North Carolina killed Elias Syriani. At 2:12 a.m., the curtain closed. (source: Charlotte Observer) TEXAS----new death sentence Busby is headed to death row----Victim's family praises prosecutors, defense attorneys In Fort Worth , jurors deliberated less than 3 hours on Thursday before deciding that Edward Lee Busby Jr. should die for abducting, robbing and killing retired TCU educator Laura Lee Crane. When jurors filed into the courtroom after reaching their verdict, Busby, 33, bowed his head and clasped his hands as if in prayer. The only time he looked up was when state district Judge Wayne Salvant sentenced him to die by injection. "We have been told by the Sheriff's Department he will be en route to Death Row, if not tonight, then tomorrow morning," said prose cutor Greg Miller, who tried the case with Joe Shannon. "I do think he deserves to be where he is going. "If you look at his criminal history, there is just a pattern of escalating violence and, unfortunately, Mrs. Crane happened to be the last step in the process." As they left the courtroom, Crane's loved ones tearfully thanked the prosecutors, then took the unusual step of expressing their appreciation to defense attorneys Jack Strickland and Steve Gordon. "They performed and provided this man with the best counsel that they possibly could under the circumstances," said Allen Walker, one of Crane's daughters. "We appreciate that. None of us want to do this again." Last week, the jury of nine men and three woman convicted Busby of capital murder for kidnapping Crane, 77, from the parking lot of a grocery store on Jan. 30, 2004. Busby wrapped Crane's head in 36 feet of duct tape, suffocating her in the trunk of her car. Busby later led authorities to Crane's body, which was wrapped in a motel sheet, in a wooded area off Interstate 35 near Ardmore, Okla. Busby's co-defendant, Kathleen "Kitty" Latimer, 41, remains in the Tarrant County Jail awaiting her capital murder trial. Prosecutors have not decided whether they will seek the death penalty against her. To sentence Busby to death, jurors on Thursday had to decide that Busby was a future danger to society and that there were no mitigating factors that would make a life sentence more appropriate. Mitigating factors were defined as evidence that reduces his "moral blameworthiness." During their closing arguments, the defense team conceded that Busby was a future danger. The crux of the case, they said, was whether Busby's poor upbringing, low IQ, learning disabilities and chronic drug and alcohol use were enough to warrant a life sentence. Prosecutors countered that Busby, a thief, a pimp and a drug dealer, wasn't as mentally deficient as the defense team suggested and that he deserved to die for his crimes. After two hours and 40 minutes of deliberations, the jury hit the buzzer, indicating they had reached a verdict. The panel was escorted out of the courthouse after the trial and did not speak with reporters. Busby's mother and two sisters, who traveled from Houston to testify in his behalf, were not in the courtroom when the verdict was read. Strickland said that the family left because they needed to return to Houston, but said he suspects they did not want to hear the outcome. "These are horrible cases for everybody, and the outcome is not good for anybody" Strickland said. "...This is bad business." Walker, Crane's daughter, agreed that the trial was difficult for her and her family, but has said all along that they would accept whatever punishment the jury handed down. "From the very beginning of this ordeal, we have put our faith and trust in the judicial system ... and we feel that our faith and trust has been validated," Walker said. When asked if she forgave Busby, Walker said it wasn't up to her. "Forgiveness is between him and his God," she said. (source : Fort Worth Star-Telegram) ********************** Man Convicted Of Capital Murder Could Dodge Death Penalty A convicted death row inmate from San Antonio could be spared the death penalty if it's proven he's mentally retarted. Guadalupe Esparza was convicted of raping, then strangling 7-year old Alyssa Vasquez. His attorney claims he's has a lower than normal IQ, which would make him ineligible for the death penalty. "Nothing but B.S... ya know, that's all I here. He's just trying to see if they can get it down to life, but hopefully not, he's just saying nothing but lies, and trying to get lower the sentence or something," said the victim's mother Diana Berlanga. The judge is allowing both sides to test Esparza with their own doctors, and are due back in court on January 20th. (source: WOAI News) *********************** COUSINS CHARGED WITH CAPITAL MURDER IN KFC CASE Surrounded by the family members of 5 murder victims, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott announced capital murder indictments against 2 Tyler cousins in the 1983 KFC murders. "Today a Rusk County grand jury handed up five indictments of capital murder against Tyler natives Darnell Hartsfield and Romeo Pinkerton in the execution-style slaying of five victims who were kidnapped from a Kilgore Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise in 1983," Abbott said Thursday in a hastily called press conference at the Rusk County Courthouse entrance. Both Hartsfield, 44, and Pinkerton, 47, are in custody on other charges. At the time of the KFC murders, Hartsfield would have been 22 and Pinkerton would have been 25. Abbott called the name of each slain victim and said justice would be served. "Justice has eluded the families of these victims for too long, and these indictments put us a giant step closer to that day," he said. THE MURDERS On Sept. 23, 1983, several unknown suspects made their way into the KFC restaurant in Kilgore and abducted five people. The suspects then took the 5 victims to a rural oil field on Walter King Road, where they were shot in the head and left for dead. An oil field worker discovered the bodies the next day. Mary Tyler, 37; Opie Ann Hughes, 39; Joey Johnson, 20; David Maxwell, 20; and Monte Landers, 19, were found shot to death. All 5 were shot at least twice. Autopsy reports indicated Mrs. Hughes was shot in the back as she tried to flee and Johnson was shot in the abdomen. The Kilgore Police Department, Rusk County Sheriff's Office, the FBI, the Tyler Police Department crime unit, Texas Department of Public Safety troopers and Texas Rangers all joined in the investigation, scouring the murder scene and the restaurant for clues, but the case soon grew cold. DNA EVIDENCE In 2001, DNA evidence collected on a bloodstained box from the KFC crime scene was fed into the Combined DNA Index System. The database indexes DNA from violent criminals and crime scenes in all states except Mississippi, and allows investigators to enter data and search for possible matches. Shortly after investigators in the case received news there was a match in the system, the case began to inch forward. Lisa Tanner, Texas Attorney General's Office assistant prosecutor, and her team of investigators began working with the Rusk County Sheriff's Department and the district attorney's office in rekindling the case. "The team worked to reconstruct the crime scene, reconnect the evidence and gather DNA from the two men indicted today in an effort to build a solid case with the grand jury," Abbott said. Ms. Tanner and Rusk County prosecutors began presenting the case to special called grand juries as witnesses and investigators filed one by one into the closed chambers. The investigation focused on Hartsfield and several other men incarcerated in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, including Pinkerton. PREPARING FOR TRIAL Abbott said his office is continuing to work with other agencies and the families of the victims for a resolution in the case. "This case will be tried in a court of law and we want it brought to trial as soon as possible," he said. "The events of that night have remained a mystery for 2 decades." However, Abbott could not say when the case would proceed to trial or if the case would be moved to another location because it is so well known in East Texas. Ms. Tanner said events in the past month have sped up the process, but she would not divulge what new information had been received. "It's obviously a huge step. There have been significant developments over the last month, but I can not reveal what they are at this time," she said. Abbott said everything would be divulged through court proceedings and he would not reveal whether there were additional suspects in the murders. A prepared statement from Abbott's office said defendants in Texas convicted of capital murder could be sentenced to life in prison or death by lethal injection and he would not say which his office would be seeking. However, Ms. Tanner and Rusk County prosecutors have previously stated that they would seek the death penalty against whoever was responsible for the murders. Rusk County District Attorney Michael Jimerson said he appreciated the help of the Attorney General's Office. "This is not another step, but rather the beginning of the end of the 22-year investigation and prosecution," he said. KFC Sequence Of Events Sept. 13, 1983 Working at the Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant in Kilgore are Mary Tyler, 37, Opie Hughes, 39, and Joey Johnson, 20. David Maxwell, 20, an off-duty employee, and Monte Landers, 20, are visiting Johnson. At about 11 p.m., Mrs. Tyler's daughter, Kim, arrives. A door is open and blood is on the floor. Sept. 14, 1983 An oil field worker arriving about 10 a.m. at a well in Rusk County finds the five victims. Each had been shot in back of the head. Sept. 28, 1983 DPS appoints Texas Ranger Capt. G.W. Burks of Dallas to oversee the investigation after law officers in Rusk and Gregg counties complain that coordination is breaking down. March 7, 1995 A Rusk County grand jury begins hearing KFC testimony. April 27, 1995 The grand jury indicts James Earl Mankins Jr. on 5 counts of capital murder. Investigators say a fingernail recovered from the clothing of one of the victims matches Mankin's DNA. Nov. 13, 1995 A judge drops capital murder charges against Mankins after more tests establish the fingernail was not his. Dec. 20, 2001 An affidavit names Mankins' wife, Deborah, as a suspect. Feb. 22, 2002 Rusk County Sheriff James Stroud says blood samples from a possible suspect will be compared to crime-scene evidence. Sept. 8, 2003 A new grand jury in Rusk County begins hearing KFC evidence. Jan. 29, 2004 Grand jury members are released after spending five months hearing testimony in the KFC case. Sept. 9, 2004 Police officers search for a witness scheduled to appear before another grand jury hearing KFC evidence. Kyle Freeman said the woman is a person of interest who failed to appear before the panel. Nov. 10, 2004 A Rusk County grand jury indicts Darnell Hartsfield on aggravated perjury charges for allegedly lying about being in the KFC restaurant. July 30, 2005 Romeo Pinkerton is arrested in Tyler on charges of burglarizing Griffin Elementary School, and evading arrest/detention. Oct. 9, 2005 Several lawmen familiar with the case tell the Tyler newspaper they believe there is enough evidence to solve the case. Oct. 26, 2005 A jury finds Darnell Hartsfield guilty of aggravated perjury for lying to a grand jury investigating the KFC case. He had said he was not in the restaurant. DNA evidence indicated he had been there. Nov. 17, 2005 Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott announces that a grand jury has indicted Darnell Hartsfield and Romeo Pinkerton on five counts each of capital murder. (source: Tyler Morning Telegraph) ******************** Convicted murderer says DNA will clear him A man convicted or murder more than 4 years ago and sentenced to die claims he has evidence that will clear his name. His case is set to be heard in court Friday, but he's lost a court battle before and could lose again. In March 2001, Guadalupe Esparza was sentenced to death by lethal injection for the murder of 7-year-old Alyssa Vasquez, who was abducted from her apartment along Pinn Road on June 6, 1999. Police said Esparza went into the apartment and snatched Alyssa while she was sleeping. There were no signs of forced entry. The girl's babysitter and two other children were also in the apartment. Robin Wellbrock, the babysitter, woke up and called police. Wellbrock was charged with injury to a child by omission because she woke up too late. Alyssa's body was found just yards away from the complex, at a nearby business. Authorities say DNA, among other evidence, links Esparza to the kidnapping and strangulation of the young girl. This is not Esparza's first brush with the law. His criminal record dates back to 1984, and includes aggravated sexual assault and drug charges. In a letter to KENS 5 Eyewitness News, Esparza maintains his innocence, and says he believes a DNA test independent of what was used in court will clear him. Court proceedings start at 9 a.m. Friday. (source: KENS 5 Eyewitness News) ******************** Texas needs to change how it defines insanity Texas must again confront whether Andrea Yates is criminally responsible for the deaths of her 5 children. This 2nd look at her case should make clear that the Texas Legislature needs to clarify the standard for determining whether the Texas mother and other mentally ill people are not guilty by reason of insanity. In the 1980s, Texas narrowed the insanity defense by barring defendants from seeking acquittal because their mental illnesses somehow prevented them from controlling themselves. Few responsible experts advocate a return to this easily abused approach. Texas now, like many states, requires a defendant claiming insanity to prove to a jury he or she did not, at the time of the crime, "know" that the conduct constituting the crime was "wrong." Unlike many states, we do not tell juries what the law means by "know" or "wrong." No one questions that Yates was seriously mentally ill when she drowned her children in the bathtub of her Houston-area home. Her illness dramatically affected how she perceived this horrific act. Almost certainly, she psychotically believed that her children would suffer eternal damnation unless she quickly ended their young lives. Her belief that she was ensuring her children's salvation prevented her from having a meaningful appreciation of just how incredibly morally wrong her actions actually were. The jury in Yates' first trial, however, undoubtedly concluded that she understood in some limited sense that authorities would regard her actions as legally wrong. She took precautions against being interrupted as she carried out her plan. She notified authorities when she completed it. Did she know what she did was wrong? This depends on how one defines "know" and "wrong." Yet we demanded that Yates' jury resolve her case without guiding them on what the law means by these critical terms. This uncertainty permitted Dr. Park Dietz, a skillful and appealing witness, to adopt his own version of what the terms mean. On that basis, he persuasively but inaccurately assured the jury that despite her illness, Yates knew her actions were wrong and so was legally sane. This abuse of the imprecise insanity standard occurs in many of the relatively few criminal trials in which insanity is raised. It distorts the trials, and as a result the insanity defense cannot serve its intended purpose. The insanity defense should identify those people who have done terrible things but under such a misunderstanding of the surrounding circumstances that they were not morally to blame for having done so. We can and do protect ourselves from these people by imposing treatment and either confinement or supervision until - and if -they are no longer dangerous. We do not, however, label them simply guilty of morally reprehensible criminal conduct. If the terms "know" and "wrong" are defined as Dietz was permitted to define them, the insanity defense is simply meaningless. Any jury that takes the legal standard seriously will have to find the defendant guilty even when there is overwhelming evidence that the defendant lacked moral responsibility for the conduct. In the last legislative session, a number of lawyers, mental health professionals and concerned citizens urged Texas lawmakers to consider a simple clarification of the legal standard for insanity. "Know" would be changed to "appreciate." "Wrong" would be defined as either legally wrong or morally wrong. This change would not make insanity cases like Yates simple ones. But it would tell juries that they must not reject defendants' claims of insanity simply because the defendants retained some minimal ability to intellectually understand that their conduct was against the law. If Yates were to be retried under the Texas standard as it should be amended, the instructions given to jurors would focus their attention on the real - although difficult - issue: Did Yates, as result of her serious mental illness, have such a distorted perception of the meaning of her conduct that she did not meaningfully appreciate that it was morally wrong? Instead, Yates will be retried for a technical reason: Dietz inaccurately told jurors that the TV show "Law & Order" had shown an episode that might have suggested to Yates that she could kill her children but escape punishment by pretending to be insane. The real error in Yates' first trial, however, was the use of the state's vague insanity standard. This permitted Dietz to testify in a way that deflected the jurors' attention from the real but difficult issue in the case. This defect undoubtedly distorts the trials of numerous other defendants. Most of them are less high profile than Yates. We need to do justice for her, but we also cannot forget less visible defendants. The last Legislature inexplicably refused to acknowledge that Yates' conviction demanded reform of Texas' insanity test. But our need to again consider her case clearly shows we must adopt the reforms that lawmakers rejected out of hand. (source: Editorial; Austin American-Statesman; George E. Dix teaches Texas criminal law and procedure at The University of Texas at Austin) ****************** Death row inmate claims he was mistakenly identified as killer Advocates for a death-row inmate said Wednesday they are asking the Supreme Court to grant Tony Ford a new trial - and make new law in the process - because 2 eyewitnesses misidentified him as the killer. Ford, now 32, has acknowledged driving Van Belton and another man to the Murillo family house in El Paso in December 1991 so they could collect a drug debt. Two men went to the Murillos' door, argued with them, barged inside and opened fire. Armando Murillo, 17, was killed. His mother, Myra Concepcion Murillo, was shot in the head and is permanently disabled. Lisa Murillo was wounded by 1 bullet. The men shot at Myra Magdalena but missed. Myra Magdalena identified Belton as one of the assailants because they knew each other from school. He was convicted of aggravated burglary. The other man, whom Ford claims was the gunman, has not been charged in the crime. Lisa Murillo identified Tony Ford as the shooter. He was convicted in 1993 of capital murder and sentenced to death. His execution is scheduled for Dec. 7. Richard Burr, Ford's attorney for the federal appeals, said Wednesday that Ford's court-appointed attorney in his state trial tried to get money from the court for testimony from Roy Malpass, a professor at the University of Texas at El Paso, that would have cast doubt on Lisa Murillo's eyewitness identification, but the judge refused. Federal appellate courts have denied appeals, Burr said, because an earlier Supreme Court ruling prohibits applying new law retroactively to the defendant making the appeal. New law would have to be made to require judges to allow expert testimony on the unreliability of eyewitnesses. Burr said he and the Innocence Network filed a petition with the Supreme Court in October, asking them to require judges to allow expert testimony on eyewitnesses and grant Ford a new trial. El Paso District Attorney Jaime Esparza said he was confident he had the right man on death row. "In this case we tried him as the shooter, and we convicted him as the shooter," Esparza said. Esparza said the Murillo sisters had nothing to gain by misidentifying Ford. "There'd be no reason for them to identify him if he wasn't in the house," Esparza said. Burr said police found evidence of the Murillo shooting at Belton's house, including the same size ammunition and some belongings of the Murillos. The only evidence police found on Ford was the gray coat worn by the shooter. Ford maintains the shooter borrowed the coat to cover the gun he stuck in his waistband as he walked to the Murillos' front door. Burr said police never tested hairs found on the coat for DNA that might have shown someone other than Ford wore the coat. "The Texas Innocence Network became utterly convinced that Tony Ford is an innocent man," said University of Houston law professor David Dow, who runs the network and held a news conference Wednesday to publicize the Supreme Court petition. Malpass said he has testified in federal appeals of Ford's case that the witnesses were shown a photo array of suspects, including Ford, only after Ford's photo was shown in local media as the lead suspect in the killing. He also showed reporters on Wednesday mug shots of Ford and the alleged gunman, who look similar. The shooter was wearing a knit cap that covered his eyebrows, one of the few strong differences in the men's faces. Malpass also said studies have shown that people of one race often misidentify suspects of another race. The Murillos are Hispanic; Ford and the Beltons are black. "Eyewitness testimony is the most unreliable form of evidence," Dow said. (source: Associated Press) MISSOURI: Attorney general sues to take funds----Female inmates' Web ads pay off Tasha Robinsons personal ad on the Internet says she's from Kansas City, a Virgo, "warm hearted, passionate, sincere." She's also a convicted murderer - imprisoned for what she calls "a bad choice made when I was a teen." "If you are whole-heartedly willing to help me get a second chance in life, please write sooner rather than later," she says in her ad, which includes a color photo of her, smiling, wearing shorts and a low-cut blouse. On Thursday, Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon sued Robinson and 32 other female prisoners over money the women allegedly have gotten from "pen pals" who read about them online. The ads apparently have been popular - and profitable, Nixon said. The 33 women have deposited almost $292,000 in their inmate accounts while in prison, Nixon said. He wants to take their money to help pay for their incarcerations. Some money already has been withdrawn, he said, and it is unclear how much came from pen pals and how much from other sources. "Missouri prisons are intended as institutions to punish criminals and protect society, not as places of business at taxpayers' expense," Nixon said. The women placed the ads on sites such as writeaprisoner.com and pamperedprisoner.com, according to the lawsuit filed in Cole County Circuit Court. They are incarcerated for a variety of crimes, from stealing to drugs to murder. One killed her father and stepmother and once was on Missouri's death row. The state has so far paid close to $2.7 million to imprison the women, Nixon said. A state law allows him to take prisoner assets to help pay for such expenses. The ads are not illegal or doing any harm, said Patrick Peters, a Kansas City defense lawyer. "The end result is, that instead of encouraging contact with the outside world and working toward having people to support you when you get out, they're taking their money," he said. "The state is saying if you make money legitimately, we are going to take it." At least 4 of the defendants are from the Kansas City area, according to their ads. That includes Heather Fibrandt, who is pictured in jeans and a long-sleeve T-shirt. "Hello gentlemen, my name is Heather," her ad begins. "I am 28 years old with light brown hair and pretty blue-gray eyes. I'm 5'4 and weigh 125 pounds. Im in search of a man who can rescue this captive angel." She's serving time for crimes that include manufacturing methamphetamine, and she likes "motorcycles, fast cars and big trucks. "If you want to get to know me," she says, "I'm just a letter away and looking forward to hearing from you." The Web sites also contain ads by male inmates. But officials said the male prisoners dont appear to get much pen pal money. (source: Kansas City Star) KENTUCKY: The power to pardon Kentucky Circuit Judge William Graham borrowed a page from Solomon in his ruling this week concerning the special grand jury that has been investigating abuses of the state's merit system. Graham held, on the one hand, that despite the blanket pardon issued Aug. 29 by Gov. Ernie Fletcher, the grand jury could continue its work. But he also ruled that, because of the pardon, 4 of the 5 indictments issued since then must be dismissed. This might seem like much ado about nothing. The bottom line, after all, is that even if someone is indicted in the merit probe for actions taken before Aug. 29, the charges won't stick. But Graham's ruling has important practical consequences - and involves unprecedented constitutional questions that need to be addressed by the Kentucky Supreme Court. Among them: whether the expansive pardon power given to Kentucky governors can be used to quash a grand jury investigation. Graham held - properly, in our view - that grand juries are beyond the reach of the executive branch of Kentucky's government. If his ruling stands, it means the special grand jury in Frankfort will still be free to issue indictments or reports to the public about its findings, even though prosecutors might be barred from pursuing criminal charges. This is terribly important, because it preserves a means of exposing wrongdoing even in the face of blanket pardons. Attorney General Greg Stumbo, a Democrat who instigated the investigation that led to the special grand jury, had argued that the pardons do not apply to people who have not yet been indicted. The judge, however, declined to specifically limit the scope of a governor's pardon power, which he called "awesome." Governors in Kentucky and elsewhere have historically used their pardon power to right perceived wrongs on behalf of individuals who have been charged, tried and convicted of a crime. Sometimes, to be sure, it is used to make a political statement. Former Ohio. Gov. Richard F. Celeste, for example, in 1991 used his pardon power to release eight Death Row inmates and his clemency power to reduce sentences for, among others, several women imprisoned because of actions they had taken against abusive partners. And at the national level there is ample precedent for sweeping grants of executive amnesty to unnamed persons - those who had fought for the Confederacy in the Civil War, for example. But Fletcher, a Republican, wants a ruling that would expand Kentucky's already-broad pardon power beyond this. When he issued the pardons on Aug. 29, and made them apply even to those who had not yet been accused of a crime, Fletcher was clearly trying to end what he views as a witch hunt by a politically-motivated office-holder. It's one thing for him to protect members of his administration from prosecution. But to shut down such a probe all together is more power than a governor ought to have. After all, there is a check against an overzealous prosecutor built into the system: voters. (It's a check, by the way, that also applies to overzealous governors.) The greater danger comes if Fletcher's argument is affirmed. If a governor can thwart criminal investigations by issuing a blanket amnesty, what's to stop Fletcher or his successors from institutionalizing the practice? Why not just issue pardons on the 1st day in office for anything anyone in the administration might do? Fletcher has appealed Graham's ruling, and the Supreme Court has been asked to take the case directly and bypass the appeals court. Whatever the legal process, we hope the result is a ruling that protects the authority and autonomy of grand juries and preserves the proper segregation of executive and judicial branch powers. (source: Editorial, Cincinnati Post) LOUISIANA: Suspect in 19-year-old's murder arrested A Mobile County man has been arrested and charged in the slaying of a 19-year-old Bayou La Batre woman whose gagged and bound body was found Monday in the Pearl River in Louisiana. Mobile County sheriff's deputies arrested Eric Joseph Buras, 27, about 1 a.m. Thursday. He was held in jail pending transfer to the St. Tammany Sheriff's Department in Louisiana to face 1st-degree murder charges in the death of Katie Wilkerson. Wilkerson's partially clothed body was found in about 2 feet of water in the Pearl River near the Interstate 59 Pearl River turnaround near the Mississippi state line, according to Tiffany Tate, spokeswoman for the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Department. Tate said Wilkerson knew her attacker. The slaying is the latest tragedy endured by the victim's family, who lost their home in Bayou La Batre to Hurricane Katrina, said bayou shipbuilder Joey Rodriguez. Rodriguez's brother employs Junior Wilkerson, the slain teen's father. Rodriguez said the father was shrimping in the Gulf of Mexico Wednesday and had called him on the boat's radio in tears to tell Rodriguez that he'd just learned of his daughter's death. In Louisiana, a 1st-degree murder conviction could bring the death penalty. (source: Associated Press)
