Jan. 11 MISSOURI: State Supreme Court denies death penalty hearing for retarded man In Jefferson City, the Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to a mentally retarded man's request to avoid a possible death penalty sentence in Camden County. Alis Ben Johns, 45, is already serving a sentence of life without parole for the 1996 murder of Pulaski County resident Tommy Stewart. While eluding police for 6 months following that killing, he roamed the Ozarks and committed more crimes, including the murder of a Newton County woman, to which he pleaded guilty. In 2001, state prosecutors charged Johns with a 3rd murder in Camden County for which they're seeking the death penalty. But 2 years later, after concluding he is mentally retarded, a Pulaski County court changed Johns' sentence in Stewart's killing from death to life in prison. Johns then sought to use that ruling to prevent the state from seeking the death penalty against him in the Camden County case. After hearing arguments last month, the high court ruled Tuesday that "the state is bound by the earlier judgment of mental retardation" and so cannot seek the death penalty against Johns. In other rulings issued Tuesday, the Supreme Court: -Upheld the death sentence of Michael Tisius, who shot and killed 2 Randolph County jail guards during a botched escape attempt in 2000; -Upheld the death sentence of Earl M. Forrest, who shot and killed 3 people in 2002, including a female deputy sheriff in Platte County. (source: Associated Press) INDIANA: State Prison inmate found dead of apparent suicide In Michigan City, a former death row inmate who repeatedly had asked to be executed was found dead in his cell of an apparent suicide Tuesday, a prison official said. Guards found Charles E. Roche Jr., 42, Hammond, dead during a security check, Indiana State Prison Superintendent Ed Buss said. He used a sheet braided into a rope to hang himself, the Indiana Department of Correction said. Roche was convicted of two murders in 1990, but a federal judge reduced his death sentence to life in prison in 2001. Roche was sentenced to death for the May 11, 1990, shooting deaths of two men. Ernest Graves, 22, Calumet City, Ill., and Daniel Brown, Louisville, Ky., were killed in Roche's Hammond residence, and their bullet-riddled bodies were dumped in Gary. Roche later bragged to friends about the killings. 2 other men, including Roche's father, also were convicted in the killings. In February 2001, a federal judge vacated Roche's death sentence, ruling that he had received ineffective legal counsel. While on death row, Roche repeatedly had asked to die, saying he did not like living under the State Prison's rules. His execution was delayed because of concerns about his mental competency. Roche was being retried in Lake County Superior Court when he died, prison officials said. (source: Indianapolis Star)
