Nov. 22 TEXAS: Alleged prison gang members indicted for murder A Willacy County grand jury met Monday and indicted several alleged members of the Mexican Mafia for the murder of a Harlingen woman whose remains where found almost two years after she disappeared from a mall parking lot. Special prosecutors from the Cameron County District Attorneys Office presented the case before a Willacy County grand jury Wednesday and returned with an indictment against several suspects in the death of Jo Ann Chavez. The 30-year-old woman disappeared from the parking of Valle Vista Mall in Harlingen in November 2003 and remained missing until a person connected to the case reportedly told authorities where her body was buried. The tip led investigators to Chavezs body, buried on a ranch off Spence Road northwest of Raymondville on Aug. 18. Autopsy results are pending but authorities believe the woman was beaten and then strangled to death out of revenge or because she knew too much about the Mexican Mafia and their operations. Cameron County First Assistant District Attorney Charles Mattingly said several suspected members of the prison-based gang were indicted Monday for Chavezs murder. "These indictments are the result of an ongoing investigation between our office, the Harlingen Police Department and the Texas Rangers," Mattingly said. "We want the victim to have her day in court." Authorities told The Brownsville Herald in a previous interview that they considered making Chavezs murder a death penalty case because she was killed in the course of an alleged kidnapping. Mattingly said the grand jury returned with a 1st-degree murder charge but noted that prosecutors have the option to upgrade the charges as the investigation continues. Although authorities declined to identify the men named in the indictment Monday evening, Mattingly said an undisclosed number of other suspects were also indicted but had not been arrested, yet. (source: Brownsville Herald) ******************** No reversing death penalty----Death was proper TO answer the Nov. 20 Chronicle headline question, "Did Texas execute an innocent man?" the answer is no. In Texas and the rest of the United States, a person is considered innocent until proven guilty by a court of law. This gang member, admitted drug user and thief (Ruben Cantu), who attempted to murder an off-duty police officer in a bar fight, was found guilty in a court of law beyond a reasonable doubt for the murder of Pedro Gomez. A survivor from that incident repeatedly identified Cantu as the murderer before and during his trial. After all his appeals were denied on all of the issues, in 1993, Cantu was executed after being on death row for 8 years. Now, more than 10 years after Cantu's execution and 20 years after the crime, the case is being retried by the media. Should we retry every capital punishment case 20 or more years after the fact? In this case, the legal system worked well, and a guilty person was properly executed for his crime. JEFFERY COFFMAN -- Magnolia ************* Just one's too many THE execution of Ruben Cantu in 1993 is a prime reason why the death penalty should be abolished. It now appears that Cantu was innocent of the murder he was convicted of committing. Executions are not reversible. If Cantu were serving a life sentence with no possibility of parole, he would probably be freed at this time, considering the evidence that has now surfaced showing his innocence. Having only one innocent person wrongfully executed is too many! JIM WELLS -- Houston *************** Leave hunting out IT may be many people's opinion that hunting is rough, but it is outrageous to equate hunting with doing drugs, joining a gang and stealing cars (all criminal acts) the way the story about Ruben Cantu did. This case involved 2 or more people stealing money and murdering 1 person and wounding another. That seems to be in line with doing drugs, running in gangs and stealing, but it has nothing to do with the sport of hunting. TRUETT BYROM -- Pleasanton (source: Letters to the Editor, Houston Chronicle) ****************** Changing Attitudes About The Death Penalty It's the ultimate penalty for the ultimate crime - death sentences are usually reserved for women and men like John Allen Rubio, a Brownsville man convicted of decapitating 3 young children, or Robert "Bones" Garza, a killer a jury found guilty of gunning down 4 Donna barmaids in a rain of bullets. But, hideous as these crimes may be, if you take a poll of people walking the mall on a sunday afternoon, you'll find controversy is quick to spark. Take the Gonzalez family where daughter Evelyn is pitted against her father, a former prison guard. "You took a life; you just forfeited yours, right there," says Larry Gonzalez. "An eye for an eye. I don't believe in it. I think it's worse to sit in a tiny place for the rest of your life," says Evelyn. New statistics released by the justice department this month show more and more people seem to be taking Evelyn's side in the debate. Death sentences and executions are down across the country. And with new sentencing options being given to jurors and new technology casting doubt on the guilt of death row inmates, even prosecutors seem less eager to dole out the death sentence. "Perhaps, we shouldn't have the death penalty. Perhaps, we shouldn't have such a permanent solution to a problem where we have a flawed system to get to that," says former Cameron County prosecutor John Blaylock. Blaylock has put inmates on death row, and as sure as he is of their guilt, his attitude about their punishment has changed. "When I began my prosecution career I was very much for the death penalty," he tells us. "However I've seen it so long now in practice of how it works... And the application is not what I would want it to be. We don't have a perfect system and as a result innocent people are going to be put to death." That realization is enough to keep some jurors from taking any risk of making a deadly mistake. (source: KGBT 4 News) NEW JERSEY: Group seeks to kill death penalty Pushing an emotional issue that could receive renewed scrutiny in the coming months, a policy group yesterday said New Jersey has spent $253 million in the last 23 years on a death penalty that hasn't been used, a figure cited by capital punishment opponents as reason enough to abolish it. The group, New Jersey Policy Perspective (NJPP), contends that money - about $11 million per year - could have been better spent in other areas such as more police officers, grief counseling or child welfare workers. "We're shattering the myth that we would save money by executing people," said Celeste Fitzgerald, executive director of New Jerseyans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. Capital punishment opponents have been lobbying lawmakers to abolish New Jersey's death penalty during the upcoming lame-duck legislative session and replace it with life sentences without parole. Yesterday, they called on acting Gov. Richard J. Codey to quickly take action. While it seemed unlikely that will happen, Codey may support a moratorium to analyze the death penalty, and death penalty opponents will, for the 1st time in 23 years, have a governor as an ally when U.S. Sen. Jon Corzine becomes the governor on Jan. 17. Corzine will be the 1st New Jersey governor since Brendan Byrne to oppose the death penalty. "This is the time and this is the place," said Michael Murphy, a former Morris County prosecutor and Democratic gubernatorial candidate who is helping lead the effort to abolish capital punishment. Sen. Raymond Lesniak, D-Elizabeth, sponsor of the bill that would replace the death penalty with life without parole, said he hoped to get it posted for a vote soon. If not, he said he would reintroduce it during the next legislative session. "We should abolish the death penalty to remove our potential to kill innocent people," Lesniak said. "By replacing the death penalty with life imprisonment without parole we will ensure that murderers are kept behind bars for the rest of their lives." Codey, who is also Senate president, may have a different plan. "Governor Codey would likely support a moratorium to study the application of the death penalty in New Jersey, but he does not support an outright repeal at this time," said Codey spokeswoman Kelley Heck. Maryland and Illinois, have instituted a death penalty moratorium in recent years to study the issue. Since 1973, 107 people have been released from death row thanks to strong evidence of their innocence, according to the American Bar Association. Assembly Speaker Albio Sires, D-West New York, said he will talk to Codey and Assemblyman Wilfredo Caraballo, D-Newark, who sponsored an Assembly version of Lesniak's bill, before deciding whether the bill should be considered during the lame-duck session. Corzine, in the U.S. Senate, has supported a death penalty moratorium, and Corzine spokeswoman Ivette Mendez confirmed Corzine still opposes capital punishment. "We'll be looking at this issue during the transition process and taking a look at the report as well as other available information," Mendez said. Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll, R-Morris Township, a leading legislative conservative, said he would oppose a death penalty repeal. "There are still some offenses where the guilt is clear and there is no other alternative for society to express its disgust and outrage other than this manner," Carroll said. He said lengthy appeals make the death penalty expensive. Carroll called the motions and appeals an "esoteric game that lawyers play." "We've gotten far, far away from the original goals of criminal law, which is separating the guilty from the innocent," Carroll said. While it's not an official moratorium, the state, under a February 2004 appeals court ruling, currently cannot carry out the death penalty until it revises procedures. Corrections officials proposed revisions in September 2004 and held a public hearing in February. The proposals involved putting an emergency medical cart on hand to help revive an inmate who gets a last-minute reprieve and removing secrecy surrounding the execution by cutting contact between an inmate and the news media from 72 hours to three hours before an execution. The new rules were set to be published in September, but Heck said the governor's office sent them back to Corrections for further work. "We didn't feel that they adequately addressed the court's concerns," Heck said. Corrections spokesman Matt Schuman said the proposed revisions, since they weren't published within a year, expired and the process must start over again. That means no execution is imminent. Death row inmate John Martini is closest to exhausting his appeals. He was sentenced in 1991 but is 75 and ailing. The death penalty has often been attacked on moral grounds, but opponents expanded that argument yesterday to fiscal concern. NJPP's analysis found the state has spent an average $4.2 million for the 60 death sentence convictions delivered since 1982. Most of those sentences have been overturned. The state has 10 men on death row but hasn't executed anyone since reinstating the penalty in 1982. The last execution in New Jersey was in 1963. NJPP's Mary E. Forsberg said if the 10 men on New Jersey's death row had their sentences converted to life without parole, the state would pay $15.1 million total on them, if they all lived to average life expectancy. If they remain sentenced to death, the state will pay $845 million, she said. NJPP President Jon Shure said the money spent on the death penalty since 1982 could have otherwise provided grief counseling to 875 victims of violent and traumatic crime or hired more than 150 new police officers per year. NJPP also said the money could have hired more than 200 child welfare specialists per year. In a May 2002 article penned by Corzine and U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., the pair called for a national moratorium on the death penalty until capital punishment is studied by an independent commission. Corzine and Feingold introduced a bill in January 2003 to place a moratorium on federal executions and urge states to do the same as the penalty's fairness is studied, but the bill never advanced and it was never reintroduced. Corzine also introduced a bill that would have required DNA testing for all federal executions, but it also didn't become law. (source: Trenton Times) ******************** STATE COST SO FAR: $253 million to execute no one SENTENCING PANEL: Repeal death penalty, save funds Report: Keeping capital punishment a waste of money VICTIMS' KIN BACK REPEAL Since it was reinstated in 1982, the death penalty has cost New Jersey $253 million and hasn't been used in the state, according to a New Jersey Policy Perspective report released Monday. Representatives of law enforcement, anti-death penalty and victims groups touted the report, titled "Money for Nothing? The Financial Cost of New Jersey's Death Penalty," as a reason to abolish the death penalty in the lame-duck legislative session. "We're shattering once and for all the myth that we would save money by executing people," said Celeste C. Fitzgerald, director of New Jerseyans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. "We have all heard that it is a myth. It is absolutely a myth, and the taxpayers need to know that." Mary E. Forsberg, the research director at NJPP and author of the report, said it would cost $15.1 million to incarcerate the 10 death row inmates for the next 47 years - until the last of them could be expected to die. If capital punishment remains, she said, it could cost the state $845 million over that period, including new cases. While the report aimed to be a financial study without addressing moral questions, it made some passionate pleas. "My daughter was murdered, and I oppose the death penalty," said Eddie Hicks of Galloway, Atlantic County, whose daughter, Jamila, was killed five years ago in North Carolina. Hicks wants the death penalty replaced with sentences of life in prison without parole for murderers. The money saved, he said, could be used to help victims' families or law enforcement. "Perhaps if New Jersey had invested in crime prevention programs that really work instead of throwing $253 million to put a mere 10 men on death row, so many beautiful, innocent people like my daughter would still be alive today," Hicks said. Legislation calling for the elimination of capital punishment has been proposed, but it's unlikely it will be passed before year's end because acting Gov. Codey supports a moratorium to study the death penalty, his spokeswoman Kelley Heck said. Gov.-elect Jon S. Corzine opposes the death penalty and will review the report during the transition period, his spokesman Andrew Poag said. Advocates of repealing the death penalty said the study shows the government spends millions of dollars for nothing. "I think the studies have always shown that it would be cheaper for taxpayers even in the long term if we converted a death penalty to life without parole," said Assemblyman Reed Gusciora, D-Mercer. Sen. Anthony Bucco, R-Morris, said lawmakers should wait a few months for a report from the New Jersey Commission to Review Criminal Sentencing Commission, which is studying the penalties for all crimes. "I'm sure there's an argument for it, and there's an argument against it. . . . I'm in favor of the death penalty," Bucco, who serves on the commission, said. "You're going to let a cop killer get away? A child killer? These are serious crimes that I think we have to address and look at," Bucco said. Michael Murphy, a former Morris County prosecutor, said he and many other law enforcers have changed their minds on the death penalty because the endless trials involved prevent victims from getting any closure. "Legislators of conscience will will have the opportunity to vote to replace our death penalty, which hasn't been imposed ever since its reenactment in 1982, with real life without parole - that's no release, no parole, you stay behind bars until you go out feet first," Murphy said. New Jersey last executed a prisoner in 1963, and capital punishment has been put on hold in the state by court order since February 2004 until new rules are in place. John Martini, 75, who killed a Bergen County businessman, is closest to execution. (source: Asbury Park Press) FLORIDA: Suspect's low IQ may rule out death penalty in Fort Pierce killing The death penalty could be ruled out for a man accused of shooting a local pastor to death during a Bible study 2 years ago. Defense attorneys for Aaron Anderson, 66, said during a Monday hearing that a psychologist recently found he was mentally retarded, scoring 64 on an IQ test. State and federal law prohibits executing the mentally retarded, generally defined as someone with an IQ of less than 70, said defense attorney Mark Harllee. Prosecutors, who earlier filed paperwork seeking the death penalty against Anderson, said they plan to have their own psychologist perform an IQ test on him. Harllee said he wanted the issue resolved prior to trial and a hearing likely will take place soon. The defense also is seeking a hearing on whether Anderson is sane enough to go to trial. 2 of 3 psychologists who tested him found he was competent, while the other ruled he was insane, Harllee said. Harllee said he wants the psychologists to present evidence to Circuit Judge Gary Sweet, who is presiding over the case, and let him determine whether Anderson can stand trial. Anderson is charged with 1st-degree murder and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in the Nov. 4, 2003 death of the Rev. Benjamin Mobley, pastor of End Time Tabernacle Church on Avenue D. He went to the church demanding to see his estranged wife, an assistant pastor; and after being told she wasn't there, he pulled a handgun from his pocket and shot Mobley once in the chest, police said. After a nationwide search that included a profile on "America's Most Wanted," Anderson was located in San Diego and brought back to the state to face the charges. In a statement to officers in California, he allegedly accused Mobley of having an affair with his wife and said the man deserved to die, according to court records. Harllee said a psychologist found Anderson wasn't fully aware of his Miranda rights, which include the right not to speak to police, when he made those statements and is attempting to have them excluded at trial. A date for the next hearing in the case has not been set. (source: West Palm Beach Post) MISSOURI: Death penalty upheld in Amanda Morton murder The state Supreme Court has unanimously upheld the conviction and sentence of David Zink in the 2001 murder of Amanda Morton. Zink's public defender had argued before the Missouri Supreme Court that he received an unfair trial and deserves a new one. The St. Clair County man was sentenced to death last year for the 1st-degree murder of a 19-year-old Strafford woman whose July 2001 slaying prompted area law enforcement to develop better response plans to abductions. (source: Associated Press) USA: Death Row Newsletter A death row inmate wants you to know what it's really like on the inside. He's the editor of a newsletter touching lives in prisons across the country and victims of crime. We don't have the death penalty in Rhode Island, but 34 other states and the federal government do. In those states there's a newsletter circulating among death row inmates and it generates money. Where it goes might surprise you. Dennis Skillicorn, 'Compassion' Editor: "They have this stereotypical picture in your head that you're sitting in a cage somewhere with a light bulb hanging in the ceiling" Dennis Skillicorn says death row inmates shouldn't always be defined by what that brought them there. He's a convicted killer facing execution in Missouri . Skillicorn is also the editor of 'Compassion,' a publication featuring poems and essays by death row inmates from around the country. Some are prayers, asking for peace and forgiveness. Others offer advice about staying out of trouble. All help fund scholarships for crime victims. Skillicorn: "I try to put emphasis on, no matter where you are, no matter what your physical circumstances are, you can make a difference." 'Compassion' is sent to death row inmates nationwide and about 2 thousand paid subscribers, and many death penalty opponents. Donations and subscriptions pay for college scholarships for crime victims. So far seven awards have been handed out, including three in St. Louis. One to the son of a man hit by a car and left to die in Texas, and another to Zach Osborne- a North Carolina teen whose younger sister was raped and murdered. Zach: "Im definitely going to use this money to study criminal justice and become a cop to help prevent this from happening to other families" Skillicorn says he would do anything to take away the hurt from one family from one awful day 11 years ago. He's on death row for the kidnap and murder of Kansas City husband and father Richard Drummond- who offered Skillicorn and another man a ride when their car broke down. Skillicorn: "Nothing I could ever do could extinguish their suffering or their pain" Skillicorn says he's not looking for sympathy, including that of the Drummonds. Skillicorn: "I understand that if Mrs. Drummond wants me executed, I would totally understand that, who wouldn't understand that" He says despite people's views on capital punishment, he hopes his newsletter will teach that criminals can change. Skillicorn: "Ive experienced one thing as editor Ive seen that there's a great deal of talent, experience, and a great deal of compassion from these guys that are incarcerated around the country" There are more than 3400 death row inmates across the country. The organizers of 'Compassion' say the inmates involved get a sense of purpose by working to help families of crime victims get college scholarships. (source: Eyewitness News) ******************** A Killer's Compassion----Death row inmates start a scholarship fund for victims of violence. Dennis Skillicorn, now 45, was only 19 when he and a couple of friends burgled an old man's house and then blew his head off with a shotgun. He was on parole for that crime in 1994, when, loaded on schnapps, speed, and Valium, he went on a drug run with some buddies in Kansas City. When their car broke down and a local businessman offered a hand, the trio stole his vehicle and killed him. Skillicorn and one of his friends then rolled on to Arizona, where they robbed and murdered an elderly couple. Its not too surprising that, as a result, he is in a Missouri prison awaiting execution. But perhaps it is a surprise that, after having inflicted so much harm, Skillicorn is now working to help others afflicted by violence. From his cell, he edits a magazine that recently awarded a $5,000 college scholarship to a North Carolina teenager whose sister was murdered - so that the young man can pursue his goal of becoming a cop. Compassion is written and edited by death row prisoners across the country. Its 8 bimonthly pages are filled mostly with Christian- and occasional Islamic-flavored personal essays, poetry, and artwork, all of it submitted and edited by mail. Compassion has 4,500 readers and has doled out over $27,000 in scholarships ranging from $1,000 to $10,000 to relatives of murder victims since its start in 2001. "It's not an attempt to extinguish the pain we've created. You really can't do that," says Skillicorn, speaking by phone from Missouris Potosi Correctional Center. "But it gives guys like myself an opportunity to give something back to those people that have been victimized by violent crime." Compassion raises money through donations from inmates, supporters, and its 300 subscribers. Its finances are handled by volunteers at St. Rose Parish in Perrysburg, Ohio, which also helps publish the magazine. But it is the inmate editors who review the scholarship applications, the main criterion for which is having lost an immediate family member to homicide. So far, 7 students have applied. "There aren't many who fit the bill and are interested in taking money from death-row prisoners," says St. Rose parishioner Fred Moor. "It's a huge step on the victims part." The most recent scholarship went in June to Zach Osborne, 19, whose sister was raped and murdered when she was 4. "After many long years of wasted fury, I have finally been able to forgive [the killer] for his crime against my family," wrote Osborne, who is studying criminal justice at East Carolina University. "Through realizing this dream [of becoming a law enforcement officer], I would play a key role in preventing situations like this from ever happening again." Skillicorn says his change of heart - what he calls his "Damascus Road experience" - came when the drugs finally ran out at the end of his cross-country crime spree. "I was at the bottom, even for me," he says. "I decided I could no longer be this person." He was arrested that same day. As soon as he was back in a cell, he started reading the Bible and turned his soul over to Jesus. He's now involved in several religious and restorative justice programs at Potosi. He has even gotten married, to a newspaper reporter who covered his trial. Skillicorn acknowledges that some suspect his motives. According to his lawyer, any evidence that Skillicorn has reformed could only come into play in the unlikely event of a retrial or if he petitions the governor for clemency - something that he may do in the next couple of years when his appeals are exhausted. Meanwhile, Zach Osborne is proof that the good works of Compassion's staff won't necessarily change anyones opinion about capital punishment. "I believe in the system," Osborne said when asked his feelings about the death sentence given to his sisters killer. "The jury decided his penalty. If thats what they decided, I guess that's fair." Still, even some law-and-order hard-liners accept the magazine's efforts at face value. "I don't know how they could be working this for selfish ends. Theyre coughing up money and giving it to kids," says Michael Rushford, president of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, a pro-death-penalty advocacy group. "A lot can change in 20 years of sitting in a cell." (source: Mother Jones)
