Nov. 23
CALIFORNIA: Accused Killer Pleads Not Guilty----Man facing retrial in the death of an O.C. girl is charged with 4 murders in the 1970s. An accused serial killer who has been behind bars for 25 years for allegedly killing a 12-year-old Huntington Beach girl pleaded not guilty Tuesday to slaying four women in Los Angeles County. Rodney James Alcala, 62, was indicted on the charges in September after detectives said they had linked him to blood and DNA evidence from the 1970s crimes. Jill Barcomb, 18, was found bludgeoned and strangled Nov. 10, 1977, 3 weeks after she moved to California from Oneida, N.Y. Nurse Georgia Wixted, 27, was beaten and strangled Dec. 16, 1977, in her Malibu apartment. Legal secretary Charlotte Lamb, 32, of Santa Monica was strangled with a shoelace and found June 24, 1978, in the laundry room of an El Segundo apartment complex. Keypunch operator Jill Parenteau, 21, was found on June 13, 1979, strangled in her Burbank apartment, pillows propping up her nude body. All 4 women had been sexually assaulted. Robin Samsoe, who lived in Huntington Beach, was kidnapped as she bicycled to a ballet class a week after Parenteau's death. Her body was dumped in the Angeles National Forest. Alcala was arrested soon after Robin's slaying and was convicted and sentenced to death twice. Both convictions were overturned on appeal, and he has remained behind bars awaiting a 3rd trial. A hearing will be held Jan. 13 in which an Orange County judge will decide whether the charges for all 5 victims will be consolidated into 1 trial. Lawyers for Alcala have asked that he be tried separately on the murder charge involving Robin. ******************** Barbershop Regulars Take Sides Over Tookie----Should Tookie die? It was the question of the day at L.T.'s barbershop in South Los Angeles, and there was no shortage of sermons, many of which were shouted loudly enough to rattle the photos of Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and Nelson Mandela. "These are my heroes!" bellowed shop owner Lawrence Tolliver, who doesn't have much use for four-time killer Clarence Tookie Williams, co-founder of the Crips gang - even if he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. The barber thinks he should be executed as scheduled on Dec. 13. Tolliver, facing fierce opposition from regular patrons of his clip joint, wasn't buying their argument that Williams had somehow redeemed himself with the anti-violence books he penned on death row. A man on death row would write or say anything to keep alive, Tolliver said. "Changed, redeemed, found God - it doesn't matter," he insisted, scissors in one hand and comb in the other. "When you're sentenced to die, you're supposed to die." Ordinarily, Tolliver would have had at least one vote of support, but his 80-and-then-some partner Eddie Ford was off duty at the moment. "You know what Mr. Ford would say," Tony Wafford said. "Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. I'll kill him myself." That wasn't how Tolliver's customers saw it. Fred McDaniels, whose wife was murdered 15 years ago by a man now serving a life sentence, said he wanted his wife's killer put to death at the time of the crime. But he has since softened on the death penalty, and in the case of Williams, McDaniels has doubts about his guilt. "If there's doubt," McDaniels said, "you can't kill a man." Fair enough, Tolliver said. But the murders were not exactly whodunits. Williams has lost all appeals in the 1979 shooting deaths of a 7-Eleven clerk and a motel owner, his wife and their daughter. In the first case, a witness said Williams had smoked PCP before the crime and "laughed hysterically" at the groans of the dying man. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's the only one who could save Williams now, and he hasn't tipped his hand yet on whether he'll grant clemency. Kevin Pickett was among those in the barbershop jury with doubts about Williams' guilt. He used to lift weights in the same gym as Tookie Williams 30 years ago. "It's difficult for me to believe he killed four people in that manner," said Pickett, who recalls Williams as an iron-pumping behemoth who didn't need a gun to intimidate or hurt anyone. Forget his guilt or innocence in the murder cases, argued Wafford, adding that as a gangster, Williams didn't do the damage that mobsters Meyer Lansky and John Gotti did. Williams shouldn't be killed, Wafford said, because the government shouldn't be in the business of executing people, particularly when black men are disproportionately represented on death row. Gender, race, social standing, money - that's what decides whether an accused person lives or dies, Wafford argued loudly enough to be heard in Sacramento. Even Tolliver had to admit he had a point. "The downside of capital punishment," he acknowledged, "is that all you do is kill black people." But speaking of statistics, Tolliver said, the customers in his shop shouldn't forget that they are more likely to be killed by a black man than anyone else. Tookie apologized for all the decades of mayhem, death and suffering in Los Angeles caused by street gangs, Tolliver went on, but he hasn't apologized for the murders of those 4 people. If Williams confesses and apologizes, Tolliver said, then he'll support clemency. Wafford listened patiently, then weighed in against the death penalty for Williams or anyone else. "Is that the best we can do in so-called civilized society, in this great Christian nation?" he asked. "What we're missing is the problem. Kids don't have simple stuff. Do you remember music in the schools? They've got no books now, but they've got metal detectors. Killing Tookie doesn't change a thing." "All the jobs are gone," Pickett said. "All of our fathers had jobs." One patron, who didn't take a stand on the execution, did complain about the cost of keeping Tookie alive nearly 25 years after he was sentenced to die. This drew a sneer from Wafford, and then Tolliver went ballistic. "We are not monolithic," he roared. "You say everybody who doesn't agree with you thinks like a white man. I want [Tookie] to be a man and say he did it. 'I am responsible for my actions.'" To test the purity of the arguments, one patron tossed out a question: If a white man killed 4 little black girls, should he be executed? Wafford's answer was quick. No, he said flatly. Tolliver nearly blew a gasket. "Put down from all of us," Tolliver instructed me, "we say he's a liar." "It's wrong to kill a man," Wafford insisted. "I stand on that." What about Saddam? I asked. Wafford paused ever so briefly before repeating his stand on the death penalty. What about Osama bin Laden? A longer pause by Wafford; same answer. But McDaniels - the man whose wife was murdered - said yes, if they ever find him, Bin Laden should get the hot squat. "I'd rather execute O.J. than Tookie," one man offered. I suggested that Tolliver might not be the lone holdout for execution if Rev. Roger Smith, a regular contestant in the daily wrangling, were there. Tolliver managed to reach him by phone just after he'd finished a round of golf. "I believe in redemption," Rev. Smith told me, "but if you run afoul of man's law, you have to pay the price even if you're redeemed." 2 votes for execution. At least a dozen for clemency. Wafford grabbed the phone and said to Smith: "Jesus wouldn't do that, pastor." (source for both: Los Angeles Times) **************** INSIDE DEATH ROW -- At San Quentin, 647 condemned killers wait to die in the most populous execution antechamber in the United States Death Row at San Quentin State Prison is an antiseptic form of hell, nearly devoid of the things, like intimacy and love, that give life value. Living here is a numbing gray slog for the 647 condemned killers who sit, year after year, waiting to die on the nation's most populous death row. Behind the prison's granite walls, quarried by inmates more than 150 years ago, is a stark environment of concrete floors and clanging cell doors. It is a monotonous, controlled, alternately boring and spooky place that echoes with the shouts of lost souls. This world, with its lime green execution chamber looming in everyone's consciousness, is the destination for those deemed unsuitable to ever again step foot in the civilized world. Yet, there is a civilization inside San Quentin, where hopes still survive amid the hopelessness. "Human beings will always make the best situation that they can for themselves in any kind of situation," said prison spokesman Vernell Crittendon, who has spent 29 years as an officer at San Quentin. The scheduled execution of Stanley "Tookie" Williams on Dec. 13 has focused international attention on San Quentin's death row and the battle over its replacement. The California Department of Corrections wants to spend $233 million on a new facility with 768 cells, a project death penalty opponents and Marin County officials would like to prevent. Williams, 51, a co-founder of the Crips gang in Los Angeles, was sentenced to death for murdering a convenience store clerk in Whittier (Los Angeles County) and two motel owners and their daughter during robberies in 1979. After 8 years on death row, he renounced gangs and wrote the 1st of 9 books warning children against the gang life. He has been nominated repeatedly by supporters for Nobel Prizes. His case has become a rallying cry for those who believe rehabilitation should count for something, preferably a commutation of his sentence. Williams is 1 of 3 death row inmates whose executions are anticipated this winter. Fresno County crime lord and white supremacist Clarence Ray Allen, who is the oldest condemned prisoner, has a tentative execution date of Jan. 17, the day after his 76th birthday. Michael Morales, a convicted murderer from Lodi, is expected to be given an execution date soon. Execution is not the usual fate of death row inmates. On average, those who are executed spend 16 years in prison before they get a date with "the needle." So far, there have been 11 executions since the death penalty was reinstated in 1978. 12 condemned inmates have committed suicide and some 30 have died of natural causes during that time. "I've found that living a life of inactivity and non-productivity makes some inmates desire the sweet taste of death," Crittendon said. "I've talked with several who have said they would not appeal their death sentences." The death row population is increasing by about 30 inmates a year. The quality of their lives is dictated by a prison caste system unique to San Quentin. There are, in actuality, 3 death rows. About 68 condemned inmates are housed in the original death row, built in 1934. Called North-Segregation, this quiet cell block houses the privileged class, those inmates who get along with other prisoners and don't cause trouble. Williams is a North-Seg resident. So is Richard Wade Farley, the bespectacled 57-year-old convicted killer of 7 people during a 1988 rampage in Sunnyvale. "This is my retirement plan," Farley said wryly, as he sat behind a wire mesh fence playing chess in the cell block hallway with another inmate last year. About 415 less fortunate condemned inmates live in the East Block, a crumbling, leaky maze of a place built in 1927. It is a giant 5-story cage, echoing with the incessant chatter and shrieking cacophony of prison. David Carpenter, the infamous "Trailside Killer," is an East Block inhabitant. At 75, Carpenter, a convicted serial killer who terrorized hiking trails in Marin and Santa Cruz counties in the early 1980s, is the 2nd-oldest prisoner on the row. "We have people here who slit their children's throats, banged their kids' heads against the wall and killed them," Crittendon said, describing the types of people who inhabit the cells. But even among the condemned, moral distinctions are made. When Robert Alton Harris was being led away to his execution in 1992, Crittendon said, the inmates yelled "baby killer," and taunted him with references to his decision to eat the unfinished hamburgers left behind by his murder victims. The prison code exists even in the Adjustment Center, where the "worst of the worst" are held under heavy guard and in isolation. These inmates get their exercise in 8-by-10-foot cages watched over by gun-wielding guards. The Adjustment Center is where Richard Allen Davis has lived since he was convicted for the kidnap and murder of 12-year-old Polly Klaas in Petaluma in 1993. Davis has been assaulted and spat upon by other inmates at least 3 times. Besides killing a child, many inmates blame Davis for the 3 strikes law. "He's very well aware that any inmate, if they get a chance, will attempt to kill him," said Lt. Michael Barker, who is in charge of the unit. Richard Ramirez, the satanic killer known as the "Night Stalker," is also in the Adjustment Center, where he has continued to receive fan mail from adoring women even while exposing himself to children in the prison's visiting area, according to Barker. Details like that quickly spread among the inmates on death row, where there are few secrets. Prison officials marvel at the ability of inmates to pass on even the tiniest bits of overheard conversation from guards, prisoners and guests. "The inmate network system is incredible," Barker said. "They are ingenious in the way they get information." Despite the bleakness, humanity is still evident on Death Row. The inmates spend most of their time reading, playing chess or basketball, going to church or taking college courses. "I have a lot of hope," said 39-year-old double murderer Richard Moon during a rare tour of death row last year. "They could abolish the death penalty." Many condemned inmates actually have Web sites from which they solicit pen pals, including Moon, who claims on his Web site to have found God and been forgiven. San Quentin was completed in 1854 as California's first penitentiary. It was built on land purchased for $10,000 just 30 years after a Licatuit Indian chief named Quentin was defeated there by Mexican soldiers. The rudimentary prison, complete with a dungeon and whipping post, was soon overcrowded with 300 swindlers and cutthroats drawn to San Francisco by the Gold Rush. The 1st hanging at San Quentin was in 1893. A total of 215 people were hanged there until 1937, when the Legislature approved lethal gas in place of the noose as the state's official method of execution. From then on, San Quentin was the only place in California where executions could occur. During the next 6 decades, 196 prisoners were gassed. That unfortunate group includes one of the inmates who helped weld the gas chamber together when it arrived in pieces from the manufacturer 68 years ago. The inmate, who welded the chamber's roof and side walls, was released and eventually got himself arrested for murder. In 1945, he was marched into the chamber he had helped build, his expert welds plainly visible as he took his final breath, Crittendon said. It wasn't long after that execution that a double-jointed inmate wriggled free of his restraints inside the gas chamber. Crittendon said the warden, fearing what might happen next, ordered the execution to continue. As horrified witnesses watched, the man ran around frantically inside the chamber trying to escape the lethal fog before he finally collapsed and died, curled up in a corner, Crittendon said. 9 people have been executed by lethal injection since 1995, when the gas chamber was ruled cruel and unusual punishment. But "the big jab," as the inmates call it, is still carried out inside the gas chamber, its infamous welds visible to this day. Many of San Quentin's original buildings are still in use, including the old dungeon, where the torturous isolation cells are now used for storing evidence. Corrections officials insist the prison is so dilapidated and overcrowded that a new death row must be built if California is going to continue holding condemned inmates at San Quentin. As it is, the inmates are so dispersed around the prison that double or triple escorts are sometimes needed to move inmates from one place to another, often around blind corners and through less-secure areas, increasing the likelihood of trouble. A few years ago, gang members were foiled in an elaborate plan to take over the Adjustment Center. One of the leaders, Paul "Roscoe" Tuilaepa, reportedly told prison officials after he was captured that the intent was never to escape. "We just wanted to kill every guard we could get our hands on," he said. Safety measures have been taken since then, such as the implementation of an inmate classification system and a program that places prisoners in compatible groups during exercise. Although the prison is safer than it was in the 1970s and 1980s, according to Crittendon, death is always lurking. "Human life is very fragile," he said, defining the one overriding fact of life on death row. (source: San Francisco Chronicle, Nov. 20) *********************** Death Penalty Case----Jesse James Hollywood will face the death penalty for his role in the murder of Nick Markowitz. The announcement came today in a Santa Barbara County Superior Courtroom. Hollywood is accused of ordering the kidnap and murder of then 15-year-old Nick Markowitz. After 5 years on the run, Hollywood was caught hiding out in Brazil in March. Hollywood's story is the basis for a new film due out in February called "Alpha Dog" starring Justin Timberlake. The Defense wanted Deputy District Attorney Ron Zonen off the case, claiming an improper relationship between Zonen and the movie writer. The Judge, however, denied the recusal motion. "You're asking a hometown judge to dismiss a hometown D.A. and it's very difficult. Although there's reasons for it, it's very difficult, and you can't divorce yourself from that fact," said Defense Attorney Alex Kessel. Hollywood is due back in court on December 13. (source: KSBY News) IOWA: Culver wants to reinstate death penalty Secretary of State Chet Culver, who is seeking the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, on Friday outlined his plan to reinstate the death penalty for "the most heinous" crimes, such as the kidnapping and murder of a child. However, Culver said he opposes the Senate Republican plan for the death penalty - which would apply to offenders who kidnap, rape and murder a child - because it does not include strong enough provisions to protect against wrongful conviction. "I do believe that in the most heinous situations involving the most heinous crimes, that the death penalty is warranted," he said, during the taping of the Iowa Public Television program "Iowa Press." Culver said he would support reinstating the death penalty for people convicted of three crimes or combinations of crimes: murdering a police officer, certain terrorist acts and kidnapping and murdering a child. His plan also would include a guarantee of the right to adequate appeals, access to DNA testing, and other elements intended to assure that an offender is guilty. Culver is the only one of the leading Democratic candidates who supports the death penalty. This has led to attacks from other candidates who say he is out of line with the party's tradition of opposing capital punishment. The candidates on the other side of the issue include former Iowa Department of Economic Development director Mike Blouin, Rep. Ed Fallon and Secretary of Agriculture Patty Judge. "Mr. Culver does not seem to understand that Iowa already has the equivalent of the death penalty. It is life in prison without the possibility of parole," said Blouin campaign manager Tim Gannon. Gannon said the current system means offenders die in prison, but allows for the reversal of wrongful convictions. Also, he said a life sentence costs taxpayers less than the cost of setting up and administering the death penalty. While giving new details about his death-penalty plan, Culver also sought to downplay the issue. He said reinstating the death penalty would not be a high priority if he is elected, ranking behind his plans to boost the economy and improve schools. "It's not on the top of my list of things to do," he said. Senate Republicans proposed this year to reinstate the death penalty, but the plan was blocked by Senate Democrats, who share control of the chamber in a 25-25 tie. (source: Quad City Times, Nov. 20) OHIO: Ohio Supreme Court strikes one of man's 2 death sentence In Columbus, the Ohio Supreme Court struck down a death sentence on Wednesday for a man convicted of killing a 3-year-old girl but the ruling doesn't remove him from death row. Cleveland Jackson Jr. was sentenced to death for shooting both 3-year-old Jayla Grant and 17-year-old Leneshia Williams in the head in a January 2002 robbery in a Lima apartment. 6 other victims were wounded after being herded into the kitchen. The shootings stopped when the two robbers ran out of bullets, the ruling said. Jackson's half brother, Jeronique Cunningham, also was sentenced to death. The justices let stand the death penalty for killing Williams, saying the multiple shootings outweighed any evidence in support of his character. Jackson's attorneys should have been able to tell prospective jurors Jayla's age during questioning to find out if that would make them more likely to impose the death penalty, said the 6-1 ruling by Chief Justice Thomas Moyer. The case was returned to Allen County Common Pleas Court for a new sentence on her death only. Some jurors wrote in their questionnaires that they don't think penalties are strong enough for people who hurt children. "The trial court here was on notice that some prospective jurors harbored a strong bias in favor of imposing death for murderers of children," Moyer wrote. "If an issue of bias surfaces before trial, it is the trial court's responsibility to conduct an adequate inquiry." Justice Alice Robie Resnick disagreed only with the part of the ruling overturning the death sentence for Jayla, saying she believed the questioning was thorough enough to seat a fair jury. On the Net: http://www.sconet.state.oh.us (source: Associated Press) ********************* Execution set The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction said Tuesday that John R. Hicks, convicted of killing his mother-in-law and stepdaughter in 1985 in Hamilton County, is scheduled for execution by lethal injection on Tuesday. Hicks, of Westwood, strangled his mother-in-law, Maxine Armstrong, 56, bought cocaine with money he stole from her, then returned to her Cincinnati apartment and killed his 5-year-old stepdaughter, Brandy Green. (source: Cincinnati Post) ************************ Ohio Sup Ct decision summary in Cleveland Jackson case MEDIA RELEASE -- DECISION SUMMARIES Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2005 Court Affirms One Death Sentence in Lima Murders, Remands Second for Resentencing state v. jackson, case no. 2002-1604 allen county common pleas court The Supreme Court of Ohio today unanimously affirmed the aggravated murder convictions of Cleveland Jackson of Lima for the January 2002 shooting deaths of 3-year-old Jayla Grant and 17-year-old Leneshia Williams. The Court voted 7-0 to uphold Jackson's death sentence for the killing of Williams. A 6-1 majority, however, vacated a 2nd death sentence for the killing of Grant and remanded that portion of the case to the trial court for resentencing. The Court said resentencing was necessary because the trial judge erred when he denied a pretrial request by defense lawyers to inform prospective jurors that one of the murder victims in the case was a 3-year-old, and did not allow them to question jurors during voir dire about their potential bias in favor of the death penalty for a defendant convicted of killing a child. Williams and Grant were killed and 6 other adults and teenagers were shot during a drug-related robbery committed by Jackson and his half-brother, Jeronique Cunningham. The Supreme Court affirmed Cunningham's convictions and death sentences for the murders of Williams and Grant on Dec. 30, 2004. According to trial testimony in the case, Jackson and Cunningham both armed themselves and went to the home of Shane Liles, an acquaintance from whom they had purchased crack cocaine earlier the same day. While Jackson took Liles aside to discuss a purported drug purchase, Cunningham pulled a gun and forced the other 7 victims into a small kitchen where he made them crouch or sit on the floor against a wall and demanded their money and jewelry. After Jackson robbed Liles of a small amount of drugs and $400-$500 in cash, Liles denied having any other drugs or money in the house. Jackson brought Liles into the kitchen with the others, and when Liles again denied having any more money, shot him in the back. Survivors testified that both robbers then emptied their guns into the seven remaining victims crouched on the floor, killing Grant and Williams and severely wounding most of the others. One of the wounded lost her left eye, another lost the use of his right arm and a 3rd suffered profound brain damage and was in a coma for 47 days. The survivors identified Cunningham and Jackson as their assailants and the two were arrested shortly thereafter. The defendants were tried separately. In June 2002, three weeks after Cunningham was found guilty on all charges and sentenced to death in a highly publicized trial, an Allen County Common Pleas Court jury was empanelled to try Jackson. Following a trial at which all of the survivors testified and several were in the courtroom during the sentencing phase, the jury convicted Jackson of 2 counts of aggravated murder with death penalty specifications. He was also convicted of aggravated robbery and 6 counts of attempted aggravated murder. After hearing aggravating and mitigating evidence during the penalty phase, the jury recommended and the court imposed separate death sentences for the murders of Williams and Grant. In today's decision, written by Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer, the Court rejected 11 of 12 assignments of legal and procedural error advanced by Jackson's attorneys as grounds to reverse his convictions or reduce his sentence. Among the rejected arguments was a claim that the trial court erred by immediately excluding 4 prospective jurors who expressed reservations about the death penalty, without giving defense counsel an opportunity to establish by questioning that they could follow the law in passing sentence on Jackson. "The trial court dismissed prospective jurors Nos. 222, 228, 300 and 301 without giving defense counsel an opportunity to inquire into their views on capital punishment," wrote Chief Justice Moyer. "Although it might have been preferable for the trial court to permit defense counsel to question these jurors, the trial court did not abuse its discretion. Each juror unequivocally stated that he or she could not fairly consider imposing the death penalty. Thus, in each instance, there was a sufficient basis to support the trial court's decision." The justices also denied a claim by Jackson's attorneys that the trial judge improperly restricted their questioning of prospective jurors about prior exposure to media coverage of the case, and especially to coverage of Cunningham's trial for the same crimes, which had attracted extensive media attention just a few weeks earlier. The Chief Justice noted that "The voir dire in this case was not cursory: it lasted 5 days and covered nearly 1,300 pages of transcript." He wrote that: "The court, as well as counsel, individually questioned prospective jurors regarding the source of their knowledge of the case, whether they had formed any fixed opinions regarding appellant's guilt or innocence because of their exposure to pretrial publicity, whether they could decide the case solely on the evidence presented at trial, and whether they could deliberate in a fair and impartial manner. Following thorough questioning, the trial court readily dismissed members of the venire (prospective jurors) who had formed fixed opinions due to pretrial publicity or were otherwise unsuitable." The Court did find reversible error, however, in the trial court's denial of repeated defense motions to inform prospective jurors that one of the victims in the case was a 3-year-old, and to allow voir dire questioning about jurors' views on imposing the death penalty on the killer of a child. Even without the court identifying one of the victims as a young child, Chief Justice Moyer pointed out that several prospective jurors in the case made voluntary statements during voir dire indicating that they were disposed to favor the death penalty in cases involving the murder of a child. "Protecting children from harm is a common human characteristic, and many people harbor strong feelings and emotions whenever a child is a victim of a violent crime," wrote Moyer. "Some prospective jurors, when presented with this fact, may have been unable to remain dispassionate and impartial when deciding whether the death sentence should be imposed. The possibility that one juror might not have fairly considered sentencing options and may have voted for the death penalty solely because appellant murdered a three-year-old child is too great a risk to ignore." Holding that, "in a death penalty case involving the murder of a young child the defendant is entitled, upon request, to have the prospective jurors informed of that fact and to ask questions that seek to reveal bias," the Court ruled that the trial court in this case abused its discretion by denying Jackson's motions to conduct such questioning. Accordingly, while affirming both of Jackson's aggravated murder convictions and his death sentence for the killing of Williams, the Court voted 6-1 to vacate the separate death sentence for the killing of Grant and remanded that issue only to the trial court for a new sentencing hearing. Chief Justice Moyer's opinion was joined by Justices Paul E. Pfeifer, Evelyn Lundberg Stratton, Maureen O'Connor, Terrence O'Donnell and Judith Ann Lanzinger. Justice Alice Robie Resnick entered a separate opinion in which she concurred with the majority's affirmance of Jacksons aggravated murder convictions and his death sentence for the killing of Williams, but said she would also affirm the trial courts death sentence for the killing of Jayla Grant. Citing a number of past state and federal court decisions that have deferred to the broad discretion of trial courts to set parameters for voir dire, Justice Resnick wrote: "My review of the record (in this case) convinces me that appellant's voir dire of the jury was not unduly limited and that voir dire resulted in a fair and impartial jury. Every juror seated indicated that he or she would not automatically vote for the death penalty upon a finding of guilt, that he or she would fairly consider mitigating evidence and life-sentencing options, and that he or she would follow the court's instructions on the law. I believe that these considerations outweigh any possible prejudice that may have occurred from the trial court's denial of appellant's request that voir dire focus specifically on the age of Jayla Grant." (source: Ohio Supreme Court) INDIANA: Man pleads guilty in execution-style slaying of 3 In Crown Point, an Iowa man has pleaded guilty to the execution-style slayings of 3 people during a robbery in a northwest Indiana home. 27-year-old Kirby Oliver of Burlington has also agreed to testify against his 2 co-defendants -- 23-year-old Sajjad Rasheed and 25-year-old Carl Major, both of Gary, Indiana. Oliver is pleading guilty to 3 counts of murder in the April 5th shooting deaths of 19-year-old Andrew Espinoza, 19-year-old Brittney Hott and 20-year-old Lindsay Davidson at a home in Hobart. Oliver will get 45 years in prison when he's sentenced in March. Oliver and Major have fingered Rasheed as the triggerman. Oliver said Rasheed demanded money and drugs from the victims. Hobart police said all 3 victims were shot in the back of the head. (source: Associated Press) UTAH: Murder Suspect Faces Death Penalty Trial A man charged with strangling, stabbing and beating a 75-year-old woman to death will face a death-penalty trial. After one day's worth of preliminary hearings, a 3rd district judge said she's heard sufficient evidence to try Floyd Eugene Maestas for capital murder and 1st-degree felony aggravated burglary. Maestas may face a 3rd charge for forcible sexual abuse. The judge wants lawyers from both sides to argue their positions on whether accusations against Maestas fit the legal definition of abuse. Maestas is accused of hitting and strangling Donna Lou Bott during a robbery in September of last year. Maestas has a history of violent crimes, especially against elderly people. (source: KSL News)
