Jan. 6 VIRGINIA: Virginia governor orders DNA retested in death penalty case Death penalty opponents praised Gov. Mark R. Warner's order for DNA testing that could determine whether Virginia sent an innocent man to the electric chair in 1992. Warner said Thursday he ordered the tests because of technological advances that could provide a level of forensic certainty not available when initial DNA tests were conducted. If the tests show Roger Keith Coleman did not rape and kill his sister-in-law in 1981, it will mark the 1st time in the United States that an executed person has been scientifically proved innocent, according to death penalty opponents. "This is a proper action for the governor to take," said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Death Penalty Information Center. "It's not right to shy away from a difficult question or even shy away from reopening cases when there is a chance that something new might be learned." Coleman was convicted and sentenced to death in 1982 for the murder of 19-year-old Wanda McCoy, his wife's sister, who was found raped, stabbed and nearly beheaded in her home in the coal mining town of Grundy. His attorneys argued that he did not have time to commit the crime, that tests showed semen from 2 men was found inside McCoy and that another man bragged about murdering her. Coleman was executed May 20, 1992. 4 newspapers and Centurion Ministries, a New Jersey organization that investigated Coleman's case and became convinced of his innocence, sought a court order to have the evidence retested. The Virginia Supreme Court declined to order the testing in 2002, so Centurion Ministries asked Warner to intervene. For months, his legal advisers have been negotiating with Centurion Ministries and with Edward Blake, the forensic scientist who did the initial DNA tests. Blake has kept the DNA sample frozen since 1990 in a lab in Richmond, Calif., and had balked at returning the evidence to Virginia, claiming his lab should do any new testing. Warner, a Democrat who leaves office Jan. 14, said Thursday the negotiations were completed. The first of two samples was sent last month to Ontario's Centre of Forensic Sciences in Toronto, and a 2nd batch will be sent there soon, he said in a news release. "This is an extraordinarily unique circumstance, where technology has advanced significantly and can be applied in the case of someone who consistently maintained his innocence until execution," said Warner, who is considering a presidential bid in 2008. "I believe we must always follow the available facts to a more complete picture of guilt or innocence," he said. A former prosecutor in the case did not object to the tests and said he was confident they would confirm Coleman's guilt. Tom Scott said a mountain of other evidence pointed to Coleman as the killer: There was no sign of forced entry at McCoy's house, leading investigators to believe she knew her attacker; Coleman was previously convicted of the attempted rape of a teacher and was charged with exposing himself to a librarian two months before the murder; a pubic hair found on McCoy's body was consistent with Coleman's hair; and the original DNA tests placed him within a fraction of the population who could have left semen at the scene. DNA tests in 1990 placed Coleman within the 2 percent of the population who could have produced the semen at the crime scene. Additional blood typing put Coleman within a group consisting of 0.2 percent of the population. His lawyers said the expert they hired to conduct the test misinterpreted the results. On the Net: Death Penalty Information Center: http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org Centurion Ministries: http://www.centurionministries.org (source: Associated Press) *********** Warner Orders DNA Testing In Case of Man Executed in '92 Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner has ordered DNA testing that could prove the guilt or innocence of a man executed in 1992, marking the 1st time a governor has asked for genetic testing of someone put to death. The analysis, which began last month, comes in the case of Roger K. Coleman, a convicted killer whose proclamations of innocence -- including on the night of his execution -- raised concern nationwide over whether the wrong man died in the electric chair. Warner's decision marks a dramatic turnaround in Virginia, where officials and judges have routinely refused to reexamine evidence in criminal cases after a defendant's conviction and have been steadfast in their denials of post-execution requests. Results of the Coleman tests, which are being conducted by scientists in a Toronto laboratory, could be announced before Warner (D) leaves office next week. "This is an extraordinarily unique circumstance, where technology has advanced significantly and can be applied in the case of someone who consistently maintained his innocence until execution," Warner said yesterday in a statement. "I believe we must always follow the available facts to a more complete picture of guilt or innocence." If Coleman were exonerated, it would be the first time in the United States that an executed man is cleared through genetic tests. Ira Robbins, an American University criminal law professor, said that if Coleman was innocent, it would sway many Americans who are unsure about capital punishment to oppose it. But even if the tests confirm that Coleman was a killer, he said, it could spark a movement nationwide to test more old cases. "It could be the biggest turning point in death penalty abolition," Robbins said. "Let's assume it comes back that he was proved innocent. Here is the case that the death penalty opponents have been looking for for a long time -- that we have executed an innocent person." Coleman, a coal miner from Grundy, a small mountain town in southwest Virginia, was convicted and sentenced to death in the 1981 rape and stabbing of his sister-in-law, 19-year-old Wanda McCoy. Brad McCoy, who was married to Wanda McCoy when she was slain, said he remains convinced that Coleman killed her and said he's been hurt by the questions raised about Coleman's guilt. "I really don't understand why it's being done," said McCoy, who has remarried and has 2 children. "We keep talking about Roger Coleman as the victim. Wanda McCoy was the victim. I have no doubt in my mind it will prove him guilty. Where does it end?" In recent years, state courts, including the Virginia Supreme Court, have refused requests by Centurion Ministries, a New Jersey-based charity that investigates wrongful convictions, and several media organizations to allow modern testing of evidence gathered at the crime scene. The evidence has been held in a freezer at a California DNA laboratory by Edward Blake, the forensic scientist who performed more primitive tests in 1990 that put Coleman within 2 percent of the population that could have produced the sample. Blake was barred from testing the evidence without permission from Virginia, but he did not return it for fear it would be destroyed. After repeated appeals from Centurion, Warner reversed the state's longstanding opposition and ordered tests early last month. Although it is possible that the results will be inconclusive, Blake said he thinks more advanced testing is likely to produce a more definitive result. Jim McCloskey, Centurion's executive director, yesterday praised Warner's decision. He recalled a meeting with Coleman in the hours before the execution when he promised he'd continue working to prove Coleman's claims of innocence. "It's my expectation that the DNA tests will prove, once and for all, that Roger Coleman is a completely innocent man," McCloskey said. "If I'm wrong then I'm wrong. But with the tests we can find the truth." Virginia -- the 1st state to create a DNA databank to solve crimes -- has become the 1st to engage in widespread genetic testing in old cases in an effort to see whether new technology will uncover any wrongful convictions. After a recent review of 31 old criminal cases resulted in the exoneration of 2 men who spent years in prison for rapes they did not commit, Warner last month ordered the review of thousands of other old cases from the 1970s and '80s, before the advent of DNA testing. In all, 5 men who served 91 years in prison have been exonerated in the state over the past several years. The testing in Coleman's case marks only the second time nationwide that DNA tests have been performed after the death of an inmate facing execution. In 2000, tests ordered by a Georgia judge on evidence in the case of Ellis W. Felker, who was executed in 1996, were inconclusive. Genetic tests exonerated Florida inmate Frank L. Smith in 2000, several months after he died of natural causes while awaiting execution. During Coleman's trial, authorities said there was compelling evidence of guilt, including hair on McCoy's body that was similar to Coleman's and the account of a jailhouse informant. Officials also noted that he had been convicted of attempted rape in 1977. But Coleman maintained his innocence in a series of television and newspaper interviews that generated attention around the world. Coleman said he had an alibi and would not have had time to commit the killing. Defense attorneys also have gathered affidavits from people who said another man boasted of killing McCoy. Time magazine featured his case in a cover story titled "Must This Man Die?" The morning of his execution, as L. Douglas Wilder, the governor at the time, debated his fate, Coleman was secretly taken to a police building for a lie-detector test. He failed. After he was strapped into the electric chair on May 20, 1992, Coleman, then 33, read this statement: "An innocent man is going to be murdered tonight. When my innocence is proven, I hope Americans will realize the injustice of the death penalty as all other civilized countries have." **************************** Jurors Back Clemency for 'Norfolk 4'----Convictions Renounced In Rape-Murder Case 11 jurors say, based on what they know now, they would not have convicted 2 Norfolk-based sailors for the 1997 rape and murder of another sailor's wife. They also contend that 2 other sailors were wrongly imprisoned for the crime, which a 5th man has said he committed alone. Letters and affidavits from the jurors, and from experts endorsing the sailors' claims of innocence, were submitted to Gov. Mark Warner (D) on Wednesday on behalf of the "Norfolk 4." The 4 sailors, who say they were coerced by police into making false confessions, are pressing Warner to pardon them before he leaves office next week. But Warner almost certainly will not make a decision before his term ends, his spokeswoman said yesterday. The stack of documents presented by the sailors' legal team prompted the state Parole Board, which reviews such requests, to ask Warner for more time and resources to investigate, Warner spokeswoman Ellen Qualls said. The governor probably will order the investigation and allow his successor, Timothy M. Kaine (D), to decide whether to grant clemency to Derek E. Tice, Eric C. Wilson, Joseph J. Dick Jr. and Danial J. Williams. The family of the victim, Michelle Moore Bosko, 18, was surprised at the growing campaign to free the men. Carol Moore of Pittsburgh, the victim's mother, sat through 3 trials and numerous hearings, and she said the sailors' confessions were chilling and believable. The 11 jurors who submitted affidavits are from 2 trials. "I don't understand these jurors," Moore said, noting that she had heard from other jurors after Tice's first trial and that they said they had wanted the death penalty as a sentencing option. Moore said she could not believe that four men would confess -- and that 2 would plead guilty and accept life sentences -- if they were innocent. "If you're innocent, you're going to fight tooth and nail for everything," Moore said. William Bosko discovered his wife's body when he returned home from sea July 8, 1997, hours after the killing. Investigators found DNA at the crime scene, but it did not match that of the suspects. Over the ensuing months, Norfolk police, led by Detective Glen Ford, arrested 7 sailors. Four of them -- Williams, Wilson, Tice and Dick -- provided confessions that often did not match up with the evidence, and they soon recanted. Under the threat of the death penalty, Dick and Williams pleaded guilty. Then, Omar Ballard -- already in prison for a similar attack on a woman not far from the Bosko home -- wrote a threatening letter to a friend and admitted killing Bosko. Police checked his DNA, and it matched. Ballard said he acted alone and provided precise details of the crime, right down to the type of knife used, according to court records. He pleaded guilty to rape and murder. He said he did not know any of the other 7 men charged. Norfolk prosecutors dismissed charges against the three men who hadn't confessed, but they proceeded on the theory that all eight men broke into Bosko's apartment and took turns raping and stabbing her. At trial in 1999, Wilson was acquitted of murder but convicted of rape. Tice was convicted of murder in 2000, a verdict overturned on appeal, and was convicted a 2nd time in 2003. In a letter to Warner, 9 jurors from Wilson's trial say they "believe that clearing the names of these 4 sailors is the only right thing to do." The jurors said that they had problems with the evidence and that they became convinced that the men are innocent after learning of Ballard's statements and background, expert analysis of the crime scene and Ford's history of obtaining false confessions. John Subasavage, the jury foreman in Wilson's trial, said in an interview that the evidence was incomplete and that the statements by Wilson and Dick "were the only thing that got [Wilson] convicted. If you throw that out, everything else goes out the window." 2 jurors from Tice's 2nd trial submitted affidavits saying they, too, were convinced of the sailors' innocence. Joy Horvath Imel, one of the jurors, said she initially voted not guilty in the jury room, but hearing again Tice's tape-recorded confession changed her mind. In the meantime, she said, affidavits from experts have convinced her that he was not guilty. "I feel validated," Imel said, "but I feel very badly I helped send this man to prison." Wilson, sentenced to 8 1/2 years, was released last fall and already had a clemency petition pending. Dick, Williams and Tice are serving life sentences and are represented by lawyers from three large law firms who took the case free, at the request of the Innocence Project, a group that works to exonerate people they believe are wrongly convicted. The attorneys filed clemency petitions in mid-November with Warner, hoping he would rule after the election, but before he left office. "We are disappointed that Gov. Warner is likely not going to rule on our pardon petitions," said Donald P. Salzman, the lawyer representing Williams. "But we're happy to hear that he is likely going to order an investigation." (source for both: The Washington Post) ************** DNA tests could have national implications Gov. Warner has ordered the tests to determine if a Virginia man was wrongly executed more than a decade ago. Roger Keith Coleman's last words -- "an innocent man is going to be murdered tonight" -- will finally be put to a test. In a decision that could influence how capital punishment is administered in Virginia, Gov. Mark Warner announced Thursday he has ordered DNA tests to determine whether Coleman was executed more than a decade ago for a crime he did not commit. "This is an extraordinarily unique circumstance, where technology has advanced significantly and can be applied in the case of someone who consistently maintained his innocence until execution," Warner said. "I believe we must always follow the available facts to a more complete picture of guilt or innocence." Should the tests show Coleman was innocent -- a prospect many people familiar with his case say is unlikely -- it would mark the first time in the United States that scientific evidence has shown that an innocent person was executed, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. "Either way the tests go, it will be a very significant event in the national debate over the death penalty," said Paul Enzinna, a Washington, D.C., attorney who asked Warner nearly three years ago to order the tests. Enzinna represents Centurion Ministries, a New Jersey group that investigated Coleman's case and believes he did not rape and murder his sister-in-law in 1981. Coleman was put to death for the crime in 1992, maintaining his innocence in his final words from the electric chair. A possible answer to the questions that have lingered ever since has remained in the California laboratory of Edward Blake, a forensic scientist who preserved a piece of crime scene evidence that Warner now wants tested. At issue is a semen sample taken from the body of Wanda McCoy, who was found dead in her Buchanan County home in far Southwest Virginia. She had been raped and her throat was slashed. Because DNA testing did not exist at the time of Coleman's trial in 1982, authorities could only use blood typing to narrow the pool of suspects to include Coleman. Post-trial testing of the sample made the pool smaller. At the request of Coleman's appeal lawyers, DNA tests were conducted in 1990 by Blake, the California scientist who held on to the remaining sample. Blake's tests put Coleman within 2 % of the population that could have produced the sample. According to the state, additional analysis reduced the range to just 0.02 %. Now that more advanced testing can remove all doubts -- assuming the frozen sample has not deteriorated too much with age -- the remaining evidence will be tested by Ontario's Centre of Forensic Sciences lab in Toronto. Testing has already begun on one portion of the evidence, according to Warner's statement, and a 2nd round is about to begin. Warner said he hopes the results will be available before his term ends Jan. 14. "This is an example of justice triumphing over politics," said Jack Payden-Travers of Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. Payden-Travers had expressed concerns earlier that Warner would stonewall the request to avoid political fallout. "Justice demands, and families deserve, certainty in these cases," Payden-Travers said. "We need to know if the person punished for a crime actually committed the crime." If Coleman is found to have been innocent, opponents of the death penalty are sure to use his case to advance their cause. An immediate effect could be seen in the General Assembly, which once again will consider a bill this year to impose a moratorium on executions. In the past, lawmakers have balked at such proposals, saying they have seen no evidence that the ultimate punishment was exacted in error. "We've had legislators who have said: 'Show me a body, and I'll introduce a bill.'" Should Coleman be exonerated posthumously, Payden-Travers said his response will be: "Here's the body. Where's your bill?" And if the tests go the other way, he said, at least there will be a final resolution to the questions in Coleman's case -- and a precedent set by Warner that Virginia should not use an execution as the death knell to entertaining similar questions in other cases. (source: The Roanoke Times) CALIFORNIA: Clemency for Clarence Ray Allen A letter to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger As people who support disability rights, we have come together to support Mr. Clarence Ray Allen, a Native American (Choctaw) elder with disabilities, who is scheduled to be executed on Jan. 17. We are asking you, Governor, to support Mr. Allens clemency petition for the following reasons: - Prison is a disabling institution for everyone. It has a profound, negative impact on the physical, mental and spiritual health of every person who is incarcerated. - Clarence Ray Allen became disabled because of prison, due to the lack of appropriate health care for his diabetes. As a result, Mr. Allen is now legally blind and relies on a wheelchair because of lack of care and poor care. - People with disabilities in our society are devalued, and our lives are viewed as even more expendable than others when we are imprisoned. Because of this, we are concerned that Mr. Allens humanity is not fully appreciated and respected. - As people who are part of disability communities and/or committed to disability rights, we recognize the large numbers of people with disabilities in prison and on death row as a part of our community deserving our recognition and support. - As people committed to human rights, we recognize the confluence of racism and disability oppression in the specific situation of Clarence Ray Allen. We urge you, Mr. Governor, to support Mr. Allens petition for clemency. We oppose the death penalty and urge you to declare a moratorium on executions in this state. Write to Gov. Schwarzenegger at State Capitol Building, Sacramento, CA 95814 or [email protected] (source: SF Bay View) ************** SCHWARZENEGGER SENDS 75-YEAR-OLD BLIND MAN TO HIS DEATH California Governor ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER has terminated another death row inmate's life after refusing to hold a clemency hearing for murderer CLARENCE RAY ALLEN. The former movie star, who was criticised for refusing Nobel Peace prize nominee STANLEY WILLIAMS clemency last month (DEC05), has yet to overturn an execution ruling. The TERMINATOR star has now rejected 4 clemency requests during his term in office. Wheelchair bound Allen, 75, who is legally blind and suffers from diabetes, will become the oldest person on modern public record to be executed in California when he is put to death on 17 January (06). In clemency papers filed last month (DEC05) Allen's lawyers asked Schwarzenegger to let their client live out his days in jail. They insisted Allen was just a frail old man, who suffered a near-fatal heart attack in September (05). His legal team wrote, "To wheel Mr Allen, a blind, aged, crippled and enfeebled man, into the execution chamber at San Quentin (prison) to be put to death would be a bizarre spectacle that shocks the conscience and offends fundamental notions of human decency. Governor Schwarzenegger, who delivers his State of the State address later today (05JAN06), has given no explanation for his decision. Allen was convicted in 1977 of arranging the 1974 murder of his son's girlfriend. While serving a life sentence at Folsom State Prison, he paid convict BILLY RAY HAMILTON to kill eight people who had testified against him. Hamilton was caught after murdering three names on vengeful Allen's list. (source: contactmusic.com) **************** No clemency hearing for inmate, 75 -- Governor to review written arguments for and against it Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will not hold a clemency hearing for Clarence Ray Allen, the 75-year-old death row inmate who is scheduled to be executed Jan. 17 for ordering 3 murders from his prison cell in 1980, the governor's office said Wednesday. Schwarzenegger will review written arguments for and against clemency before deciding whether to spare Allen's life, spokeswoman Julie Soderlund said. Allen's lawyer had hoped to speak to the governor about why the state should not kill a seriously ill, blind prisoner who uses a wheelchair. "Not to be personally heard adds to our concern about the fairness of the whole process,'' said the attorney, Michael Satris. "Where a person's life is at stake, there ought to be some minimum elements of due process." Schwarzenegger has denied clemency for three other condemned prisoners. He held no hearing before approving the execution of Kevin Cooper, who later won a reprieve from a federal appeals court and is now appealing a new court order upholding his death sentence. The governor ordered a public hearing before the state parole board for Donald Beardslee, who was executed last January, and met privately with opposing lawyers in the case of Stanley Tookie Williams, who was put to death Dec. 13. The governor's office did not explain his decision to forgo a hearing on Allen. Allen, who will turn 76 the day before his scheduled execution at San Quentin State Prison, was a businessman who became the leader of a theft ring in the San Joaquin Valley and was convicted of ordering the 1974 murder of his son's girlfriend. While serving a life sentence at Folsom Prison, he was convicted of ordering three more murders at a Fresno supermarket in 1980, including the killing of a witness from his earlier trial. The gunman, Billy Ray Hamilton, is also on death row. In seeking clemency, and in a separate filing for a stay of execution pending before the state Supreme Court, Allen's lawyers have argued that killing him would be cruel and unnecessary. They said he would be the oldest and sickest man California has ever executed. Allen is legally blind, feeble and unable to walk, and suffered a heart attack in September. Allen poses no risk of harm to anyone if allowed to live out his life in prison, his lawyers said. The state attorney general's office has argued that Allen's crimes showed he was a menace even in prison, and that his long stay on death row was largely due to extensive court appeals. "The fact that Allen has been able to live his life after depriving so many innocent people of theirs is no reason to show him mercy now," Deputy Attorney General Ward Campbell said in a letter to Schwarzenegger. The written materials Schwarzenegger will review include statements supporting clemency by Joseph Grodin, the former state Supreme Court justice who wrote the 1986 decision upholding Allen's death sentence, and Daniel Vasquez, the warden at San Quentin from 1983 to 1993. Vasquez said he saw Allen in prison 2 weeks ago and described him as "a pathetic sight: aged, downcast, dejected, isolated, oblivious to his surroundings, cuffed to his wheelchair, and utterly defeated." (source: San Francisco Chronicle) FLORIDA----impending execution Florida Supreme Court rejects Rutherford appeal 1 of 2 death row inmates scheduled for execution later this month lost an appeal to the Florida Supreme Court on Thursday. The justices without comment unanimously rejected Arthur D. Rutherford's claim that his rights had been violated because he was placed in shackles during the penalty phase of his trial. Rutherford, 56, has a separate appeal pending in Santa Rosa County, where he was convicted of killing Stella Salamon in 1985 at her home. Her body was found submerged in a bathtub. Rutherford is scheduled for execution Jan. 31. The Supreme Court has set oral argument next Wednesday in an appeal by Clarence Edward Hill, 47, who is scheduled to die Jan. 24 for the 1982 shooting death of Pensacola police officer Stephen Taylor during a bank robbery. Hill's lawyer contends his execution would be cruel and unusual punishment in part because he is brain damaged and mentally disabled. (source: Associated Press) ************ State to seek death penalty for suspect Clifford A. Davis struggled to kill his grandfather, choking the old man several times before stabbing his chest, left eye and throat, police say. Davis, 19, had wrapped tape around his grandfather's legs, rendering him unable to move. Before he killed Joel Hill, police say, Davis strangled his 42-year-old mother and had sex with her body. Prosecutors on Thursday announced they are seeking the death penalty against Davis, who admitted killing his mother, Stephanie Davis, and Hill, in December in his mother's Bradenton apartment near downtown. Police used cell phone records to track down Davis at a friend's house in Bradenton the day after the murders. Davis told a friend after the murders that he'd killed two people in a knife fight. One of the people, 77-year-old Joel Hill, had a pacemaker that kept him alive, Davis reportedly told the friend. Davis surrendered without a fight at the friend's house in the 600 block of 60th Avenue Terrace West. City police said Davis had scratches on his left arm and he appeared to have a cut on his right hand. Davis has been indicted on 2 counts of 1st-degree murder and, among other charges, abuse of a dead body. He is scheduled for arraignment this morning in Bradenton. The public defender's office is representing him. Davis has pleaded not guilty. The state's intent to seek the death penalty comes just weeks after prosecutors said Richard E. Henderson Jr., 20, should die for killing his parents, grandmother and 11-year-old brother on Thanksgiving Day in rural Manatee County. Henderson has said he wants to plead guilty to four counts of murder. Like Davis, he confessed to the murders, authorities say. In the Davis case, according to court records, Bradenton police collected this evidence, among many items: Paper towels, bloody, in kitchen sink. Roll of duct tape. Disposable camera. Plastic bowl with towel, razor and hair. 2 pieces of broken knife. Authorities say they found a penny in Joel Hill's mouth. Legend has it, at least according to Greek mythology, that a penny was placed in the mouth of a body as fare for the ferryman who would transport the person to the underworld. (source: Herald Tribune) OHIO: A look at clemency for death row A look at clemency for death row inmates in Ohio: 1965: Former Gov. Michael DiSalle, moved by the clemency decisions he made in office, writes a book titled, "The Power of Life or Death." 1991: Gov. Richard Celeste spares seven death row inmates 2 days before leaving office. 1999: Ohio resumes executions and inmates begin appeals to the state parole board for clemency. 2003: Gov. Bob Taft sets aside the death sentence of Jerome Campbell, a Cincinnati man convicted of fatally stabbing a man who'd befriended him, over concerns about evidence presented to the jury. 2005: Condemned inmate Willie Williams instructs his lawyer, a state public defender, not to request clemency. (source: Associated Press) MICHIGAN: Detroit drug gang founder spared death sentence The co-founder of the notorious drug gang Young Boys Inc. is expected to avoid the possibility of a federal death sentence under a plea deal, the U.S. Justice Department says. Milton Jones, 50, known as "Butch," entered a guilty plea before U.S. District Judge John Corbett O'Meara, U.S. Attorney Stephen J. Murphy said in a news release Thursday. In 2003, the U.S. attorney's office requested the death penalty for Jones and two others should they be convicted of murder. Jones was among 14 people indicted in Detroit in 2001 on charges of selling heroin, cocaine and marijuana during the 1990s. Authorities say the Detroit gang engaged in robberies, kidnappings and murders of rival drug traffickers. Jones was accused of ordering the killings of rivals Mark Grice and Antoine Carruthers. As part of the deal with prosecutors, Jones pleaded guilty to federal drug charges in the case, Murphy said. "Under the terms of the plea agreement, Jones has agreed to cooperate fully with federal authorities," and prosecutors will recommend he get a 30-year sentence, Murphy's office said. It said sentencing guidelines would have called for life imprisonment. O'Meara is scheduled to sentence Jones on April 6. If the guilty plea is accepted then, Murphy said the death penalty request will be withdrawn. Jones wrote an autobiography, titled "Y.B.I.," about his life of crime. In 2001, Jones wrote to federal prosecutors that Youssef Hmimssa, a key witness in a Detroit terrorism conspiracy prosecution, lied to the FBI. Jones was with Hmimssa in the Wayne County Jail and the federal prison at Milan. The terror case later was dismissed. (source: Associated Press) MISSISSIPPI: High court upholds death sentence The Mississippi Supreme Court has rejected arguments from a death row inmate that his appearance in a George County courtroom in shackles tainted prospective jurors and requires he get a new trial. The justices sided with the trial judge who determined any glimpse prospective jurors got of Fred Sanford Spicer Jr. was accidental and did not prejudice the case. Spicer was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death in 2003. The Mississippi Supreme Court on Thursday upheld his conviction and sentence. Defense attorneys argued the U.S. Supreme Court last year found in a Missouri case it is unconstitutional to force capital murder defendants to appear before juries in shackles during the penalty phase of trial. The nation's high court said shackling almost always implies authorities consider the offender a danger, a factor juries weigh in considering a sentence, Spicer argued on appeal. Spicer was arrested in 2001 after he was stopped in Pascagoula while driving a vehicle registered to a man found dead at his home. Authorities said a deputy discovered the body of Edmond Herbert, 42, also of George County, when he went to the man's house to ask why Spicer had his vehicle. The two men lived together, prosecutors said. Prosecutors said Spicer killed Herbert by striking him in the head with a sword while Herbert was sleeping. In his appeal, Spicer argued he was brought into the courtroom in civilian clothes and with leg, arm and waist restraints. When the defense complained, the trial judge concluded the incident was unintentional and those in the courtroom got a fleeting glimpse of the restraints, prosecutors said. Critics of restraints contend prosecutors try to misuse them to scare juries into sentencing people to death. Supporters contend defendants can be dangerous - especially if they know they're facing at a minimum life behind bars. Mississippi Presiding Justice Kay Cobb, writing Thursday for the court, said Spicer failed to prove any glimpse of him in shackles turned the jury against him. Cobb said the U.S. Supreme Court clearly said "being shackled during an entire proceeding, as opposed to being briefly and inadvertently seen entering the courtroom in shackles, is what the Constitution forbids." "Potential jurors possibly observed Spicer shackled in his brief walk of approximately six feet, from the back entrance of the courtroom to the witness room. That would not require a mistrial," Cobb wrote. (source: Associated Press)
