Jan. 9 TEXAS: 2nd arrest made in deaths of 3 in Edna A man wanted in connection with the August shooting deaths of 3 people at a home in Edna has been arrested trying to cross into the United States from Mexico, authorities said. LeJames Norman, 20, was being held Sunday at the Jackson County Jail on $1 million bond. He was arrested Friday night at an international bridge in Brownsville, Edna Police Chief Clinton Wooldridge said. Norman and Kersean Ramey, 20, of Edna, are accused in the deaths of Celso Lopez, 38, Samuel Justin Roberts, 24, and Tiffani Marie Peacock, 18. Ramey was being held in the jail on an unrelated charge Dec. 12 when he was charged in the deaths of the 3. He was indicted on capital murder charges on Dec. 16. An arrest warrant was issued for Norman on Dec. 11. Wooldridge said the case would be presented to the grand jury. Police suspect the three died in a robbery gone bad, the Victoria Advocate reported in its Monday editions, citing an arrest affidavit. The affidavit says the robbery was discussed for several days and that one of the victims recognized the masked attackers by their voices. (source: Associated Press) ************************* Evidence hints at worngful death penalty execution Ruben Cantu was executed for the 1984 murder of Pedro Gomez on Aug. 24, 1993. However, a recent Houston Chronicle article by Lise Olsen suggests Texas may have executed the wrong man. Olsen tracked down Juan Moreno, the sole eyewitness to the murder, whose testimony convicted Cantu. Now, more than 20 years after the crime took place, Moreno has reversed his statement. In a conversation with Olsen, Moreno stated that Cantu "was innocent. It was a case of an innocent person being killed." According to a police report of the crime, on Nov. 8, 1984, Moreno and Gomez fell asleep in a in San Antonio, Texas, that house they were renovating for Morenos wife. 2 "Latino" teens - one 13 or 14, the other around 19 - awoke them by shining a floodlight in their faces. When Gomez realized the teens were armed, he quickly drew his own rifle and shots were fired. Gomez was shot 9 times by the older teen and left for dead. Moreno was also shot 9 times, but managed to crawl outside to his pick-up truck where the police found him at 11:58 p.m. Detective James Herring of the San Antonio Police Department was assigned to the case. During his first questioning, Moreno provided little information besides identifying 2 Latino teens, 1 older than the other. According to the Houston Chronicle, Herring did not speak Spanish and Moreno spoke little English. Herring spread the word of the crime around the local high schools, and a shop teacher at Cantu's high school told the detective that kids were saying Cantu had committed the crime. Cantu, a special-education student from a rough neighborhood of San Antonio, was considered a local legend for his involvement in the "Grey Eagles" gang. He was in an auto-theft ring and often drove stolen cars across the border for a couple thousand dollars. The police had arrested each of Cantus brothers. Cantu had also been tried for juvenile murder but had been acquitted of the charges. When Herring received word from the shop teacher, he returned to Moreno with a lineup of photographs, including one of Cantu; Moreno did not identify Cantu as the shooter. On March 1, 1985 Cantu was involved in an altercation with off-duty San Antonio police officer Joe De La Luz while at a local pool hall. According to police reports, Cantu shot De La Luz 4 times, despite being "unprovoked." Cantu later testified that he was threatened during a dispute over a game. Charges were never brought against Cantu. During the 2 days after the incident, 2 detectives questioned Moreno, seeking an identification of Cantu. The 1st detective, Santos "Sam" Balleza, recently told the Chronicle that he felt Moreno would never be able to make a positive identification. The 2nd detective, Edward Quantinilla, however, was able to produce a positive identification from Moreno. Moreno then signed and dated the back of the Cantu photo. The photo that was submitted into evidence during Cantu's trial, however, was not dated and signed by Moreno. Cantu, 17, and David Garza, 15, were arrested and prepared to stand trial. According to Andrew Carruthers, Cantu's defense attorney, the entirety of the prosecution's case rested on Moreno's testimony. Bruce Baxter, the prosecutor in the trial, did not produce a murder weapon, a confession or fingerprints placing Cantu and Garza at the crime scene. "The prosecution's case was Juan Moreno sitting there with a quivering hand unequivocally identifying Ruben Cantu," Carruthers said. In the penalty phase of the trial, De La Luz testified that Cantu shot him during the pool hall altercation. This, according to Carruthers, allowed the prosecution to prove two important elements for seeking the death penalty - the act was deliberate, and Cantu would be dangerous in the future. The De La Luz shooting paired with Cantus previous trial for juvenile murder proved to the jury that Cantu was a violent threat to society, Carruthers said. Since Cantus execution in 1993, both Moreno and Cantus co-defendant, Garza, have presented information that proves Cantus innocence. "The police were sure it was [Cantu] because he had hurt a police officer," Moreno said in the Chronicle article. "They told me they were certain it was him, and that's why I testified. That was bad to blame someone that was not there." Garza has since signed a sworn affidavit stating that Cantu was not the man at the crime. Stanford Law Prof. William Abrams, a current trial defender in death penalty cases, said Moreno's recent remark must be viewed carefully. "I would want to know more about the circumstances of this and why do we believe this witness now when he recants," he said. "How do we know hes credible now as opposed to then?" Carruthers expressed similar apprehensions. "Why didn't he come forward when Ruben was still alive and say this?" he said. "When there are things like a witness who 20 years later changes his statement, you can't correct that after the guys executed." Sam Millsap Jr., who served as San Antonio's district attorney during the Cantu case, expressed similar apprehensions about eyewitness testimony and the death penalty. Millsap, who "was personally responsible for all decisions relating to capital murder cases in terms of how they would be prosecuted," now admits that following recent studies surrounding eyewitness testimony, he would not have proceeded as he did in the Cantu case. "As far as I'm concerned you can't assume that eyewitness testimony is going to be reliable," Millsap said. "If I had that decision to make over again, 20 years later, and the question that was put to me was: Do we prosecute somebody, seek the death penalty, based on the testimony of a single eyewitness? I think the way I would resolve that question today is I would say 'no.' The system simply does not protect the innocent." Since 1976, 122 inmates have been exonerated from death row. However, according to Abrams, the U.S. population is more concerned about the capital punishment system than the actual killing of prisoners. "I think people are more concerned about the process rather than the ultimate issue," he said. "People are concerned that the process does not facilitate the finding of truth and innocent people are being sentenced to death and executed. I think in principle many - if not most - people still believe the death penalty is appropriate, at least for examples of terrorism or horribly massive types of killing." (source: The Stanford Daily) NORTH CAROLINA: N.C. State Bar: Complaint about prosecutors was late----Misconduct was alleged in 1996 murder trial in Union County The N.C. State Bar, which had charged 2 former Union County-based prosecutors with lying, cheating and withholding evidence in a murder trials, has decided that defense attorneys didn't file their complaint against the prosecutors in time. The State Bar had charged Kenneth Honeycutt and Scott Brewer in connection with their actions in a 1996 murder trial that ended in a death sentence. Honeycutt, the former district attorney in Union County, has since retired to private practice; Brewer, a former assistant prosecutor, is now a district judge in Richmond County. The ruling issued Friday interpreted the State Bar's rule on deadlines for filing complaints against lawyers. It did not address whether the former prosecutors had committed misconduct in the trial of Jonathan Hoffman. Hoffman was sentenced to death in 1996 for the robbery and murder of Danny Cook, a jewelry store owner in Marshville. In April 2004, Hoffman won a new trial after seven years on death row. A cousin, Johnell Porter, who was facing prison terms in South Carolina and in federal prison, testified against Hoffman. The State Bar said Honeycutt agreed to reward Porter for his testimony at trial with immunity from state and federal prosecutions, money and a reduction in his federal sentence. Porter said recently that he made up the testimony about Hoffman in order to get the deal. The State Bar also charged that Honeycutt and Brewer hid the deal from the jury, the trial judge and Hoffman's lawyers. It also said the former prosecutors altered documents concerning the deal when submitting material to a judge. Lane Williamson, a Charlotte lawyer who headed the disciplinary panel that heard the case, called the rule on the deadline hopelessly ambiguous and suggested the rules be rewritten. "It is one of the worst cases of prosecutorial misconduct I've ever heard of," said Mike Howell, one of Hoffman's lawyers. "They lied to try to put a man to death, and then lied to cover it up, and they still won't admit it." Williamson asked the State Bar to submit a memo on the deadline issue next week, before the panel issues its written order, indicating a slight possibility that the ruling could change. (source: Associated Press) NEW HAMPSHIRE: Death penalty to be debated In Concord, both sides of the death penalty debate will be represented Tuesday before the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee. One group of legislators will present a bill that repeals the death penalty, while another will ask for expansion of the circumstances under which the penalty can be called for. House Bill 1422, sponsored by Portsmouth Democrat Jim Splaine, changes current law to provide life in prison without the chance of parole as the only penalty for capital murder. Testimony on that bill will be heard by the committee at 10 a.m. Immediately following at 10:30 a.m., members of the committee will take testimony on HB 1292, sponsored by Rep. David Bettencourt, R-Salem. That bill would remove all restrictions in existing capital murder statutes and would permit any person charged with knowingly causing the death of another to be sentenced to death. "This is an issue Ive been involved with since the 1970s," Splaine said. "I was also primary sponsor of the legislation that passed both the House and Senate in 2000. The bill was vetoed by the governor shortly after passage." Splaine said he believes life in prison is a more severe penalty than death. "Every day when one (awakens) and every day (when) they go to sleep, they will realize they are behind bars - until they die," the Portsmouth representative said. "They will experience the noises, smells and confinement of prison for the rest of their lives." Bettencourt said he had no feelings about which penalty would exact the higher toll on a convicted murderer. His concern in filing his bill is strictly a matter of equality. "New Hampshire's current death penalty laws are based entirely on who has been killed," the Salem Republican said. "That strikes me as contrary to the principles on which this nation was founded and creates a second class of citizens." "Everybodys life is equally precious," he said. Bettencourt admitted, however, that he is not "a big fan" of the death penalty, and feels it should be "used sparingly and only when the murders have been committed in the most heinous ways." He said he would support Splaines bill rather than continue the current system of laws that creates distinctions among murder victims. State law allows the death penalty to be considered if the person killed is a law enforcement or corrections official. Splaine pointed out that since New Hampshire has not executed anyone since 1939, removing the death penalty reflects current prosecutorial practices and may even save the state some money. Those savings were confirmed by fiscal notes from the states Administrative Office of the Courts and the Judicial Council, which appear as footnotes to Splaines bill. "This bill may result in a savings to the judicial branch because there would be no penalty phase trial, which is required in a death penalty case, and because life-in-prison cases are less hard fought than cases in which the death penalty is a possible outcome," the AOC wrote. The council wrote that while the costs involved in bringing capital murder cases forward would remain, "in general terms, these costs do not usually approximate or equal those associated with a complete capital trial and sentencing phase, and all the subsequent appeals that may result from a conviction under the death penalty." Neither group could estimate what the savings would be. The House committee will take testimony on the 2 bills and decide which, if either, it will recommend for passage by the entire House. If the House accepts the committees recommendations, the approved bill will be forwarded to the Senate for another public hearing and committee vote. (source: Portsmouth Herald) CALIFORNIA: Sheriff: Killer should get death penalty County Sheriff Don Horsley called for the death penalty in the killing of Officer Richard May on Sunday, as one officer in Millbrae emphasized the importance of closure - something his department has never gotten in the 1998 murder of one of their officers. Horsley said suspect Alberto Alvarez would face 1st-degree murder charges. "I think this will be a death penalty case," Horsley said. "I think the murder of a police officer merits the death penalty." The last police officer killed in San Mateo County was Millbraes David Chetcuti, who was shot with a high-powered rifle on U.S. Highway 101 on April 25, 1998. Marvin Sullivan, the suspect in the killing and a diagnosed schizophrenic, remains in the state hospital system after being found incompetent to stand trial numerous times and might never be sentenced for the crime, Millbrae Sgt. James Vangele said Sunday. Vangele said the department "never really got closure" in the murder of Officer Chetcuti - the only Millbrae police officer ever to be killed in the line of duty. "It's a very disappointing, bitter end for us," Vangele said. "It almost seems like the criminal justice system didn't totally serve us." The last time an officer was killed in the county before Chetcuti was in June 1988, when East Palo Alto Officer Joel Michael Davis was shot while pursuing robbery suspect Ronald Price. Price was later convicted of 1st-degree murder. East Palo Alto police Chief Ronald Davis said Sunday that police in the city and throughout the county were hit hard by the loss of Officer May, but that the department would continue to fight drugs, gangs and "evil." "It is now time for us to grieve together and come together as a family," Davis said. "We will not be deterred by senseless acts of violence." (source: San Francisco Examiner)
