Jan. 14 NORTH CAROLINA----impending execution Judge denies brain damage claim in pending execution A Rockingham County judge denied a plea Friday from a condemned inmate who argued he should be spared from execution because of an organic brain problem. Superior Court Judge Edwin Wilson ruled the claim could have been raised in previous appeals and wasn't allowed now. Wilson did agree to have a hearing Tuesday on the claim by Perrie Dyon Simpson that his trial judge, James C. Davis, told jurors during their deliberations that Simpson would be out of prison within 5 years if they gave him a life sentence. Defense experts said Simpson suffered from right frontal lobe syndrome, which is a disorder of the ability to control impulses. They said if jurors had been aware of the problem during trial, they might not have voted for a death sentence. Simpson is scheduled to die Jan. 20 by lethal injection at Central Prison in Raleigh. He was convicted of killing retired Baptist preacher Jean E. Darter. Darter died Aug. 27, 1984 after being beaten in the face with a glass soda bottle at his home in Reidsville. He was tied to his bed, his forearms cut repeatedly with a blade from his own razor and belts wrapped around his neck. Simpson, then 21, and his then 16-year-old girlfriend, Stephanie Eury, had received food from Darter the previous day, prosecutors say, and went back to get money. They stole a radio, 3 boxes of tissue, a flashlight and a laundry basket on the day of Darter's slaying. Eury also was convicted of murder and is serving a life prison sentence. Simpson confessed to the killing and has since said in a video produced by the defense that he regrets his actions. (source: Associated Press) ***************** N.C. Bar says ex-prosecutors broke the law----Bar says 2 lawyers persuaded witness to lie, obstructed justice N.C. State Bar officials say two prominent former prosecutors committed felonies during a death-penalty case that put a man on death row for 7 years. In a challenge to its own disciplinary committee this week, the bar filed a memorandum detailing the allegations against former Union County-based prosecutors Ken Honeycutt and Scott Brewer. The memo said the men committed felony obstruction of justice and subornation of perjury (pushing another person to lie under oath) in the 1996 murder case. The bar, a regulatory group that licenses attorneys and investigates grievances, had already filed its own charges against the men. But the disciplinary committee dismissed the complaint last week, ruling the case had missed a filing deadline. The bar disputes that, saying the deadline doesn't apply to felonious misconduct. The bar cannot file criminal charges; at most, it could revoke Honeycutt's and Brewer's law licenses. A criminal investigation would have to start in Honeycutt's former Union County District Attorney's Office, which has jurisdiction. The attorney general's office said Parker could request a State Bureau of Investigation probe. DA Michael Parker, Honeycutt's hand-picked replacement, said Friday he hadn't received the case from the bar. The bar's case began in August, when it charged Honeycutt and Brewer with lying to win a case it says they likely wouldn't have won otherwise. They are accused of deliberately hiding deals to secure reward money and reduce prison time for the star witness, Johnell Porter, in the death-penalty murder case. They also are accused of putting Porter on the stand to give false testimony about the concessions. Defendant Jonathan Hoffman spent 7 years on death row before winning a new trial in 2004, which is pending. The case has drawn the attention of death-penalty opponents concerned about wrongful convictions resulting from prosecutorial misconduct. Some states have placed moratoriums on their death penalties, citing the same concerns. "The conduct they did is a felony," said Mike Howell, one of Hoffman's former lawyers. "I'm just thankful Jonathan Hoffman is alive. He would have been put to death unjustly." In written responses to the bar filed in October, Honeycutt, now in private practice, and Brewer, a district judge in Rockingham, both denied lying or hiding anything. Honeycutt on Friday said he could not comment until appeals were complete. Brewer could not be reached, but his attorney has previously declined comment on his behalf. The men also have argued that the bar filed its complaints too late. The bar requires grievances be filed within 6 years of the alleged offense, or within one year of the "discovery" of the alleged offense. Attorneys who handled Hoffman's appeal said they didn't discover the prosecutors hid evidence from the court, including the judge, until mid-2003. The bar's disciplinary committee dismissed the charges because of that deadline rule, but it also called the rule "ambiguous" and asked the bar to weigh in on the deadline debate. In the bar's Wednesday memo, bar counsel Carolin Bakewell conceded the rule "is not a model of clarity." And she wrote that the bar urges "an expansive rather than strict" interpretation of the rule." The rule should be strictly construed not to deprive the State Bar of the power necessary to carry out (its) mission," she wrote. Friday, disciplinary committee member Lane Williamson, a Charlotte attorney, said it wasn't appropriate to comment on the case. The disciplinary committee hasn't filed its dismissal yet, and it could change its decision based on the bar's challenge. Once the committee files its decision, either side can appeal it. (source: Charlotte Observer) VIRGINIA: Governor Finds New Middle Ground in Death Penalty Debate Criminal justice was not high on Mark Warner's to-do list when he was elected governor of Virginia in 2001. And he did not mention the subject in his farewell address to the legislature on Wednesday. But in 4 years as governor, Mr. Warner has incrementally and with little fanfare established groundbreaking policies on the use of DNA testing to confirm, or challenge, criminal convictions, many of them in death penalty cases. Last week, he became the 1st governor to order a DNA test involving a man who had already been executed. The actions of Mr. Warner, who leaves office on Saturday, have established new middle ground in the polarized world of death penalty politics. Unlike former Gov. George Ryan of Illinois, who ordered a moratorium on executions in 2003, Mr. Warner has not called for halting executions, and he still supports capital punishment. His goal, he has said, has not been to undermine the system but to make sure it works. "It's not like he wants to be a DNA or criminal justice crusader," said Ellen Qualls, Mr. Warner's spokeswoman. "It is not his hope that his actions will help the death penalty abolition movement. In each case, he's just tried to pick the right course." But because Mr. Warner, a Democrat barred by law from a consecutive term, is considering a run for president in 2008, his actions are being scrutinized for political motives. Critics say those are clear. "He's heading for Iowa," said Michael Paranzino, president of Throw Away the Key, a nonprofit group that supports the death penalty. Mr. Paranzino was referring to the Iowa caucuses that formally kick off the presidential campaign season. Mr. Paranzino and other critics of Mr. Warner say the governor, who has tried to cast himself as a centrist on fiscal issues, gun control and other policies, has moved left on criminal justice to win support from liberal Democratic primary voters. Iowa has no death penalty, and caucus voters there tend to oppose capital punishment, political experts say. New Hampshire, whose primary immediately follows the Iowa caucuses, has the death penalty but has not executed anyone since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976. "This merely raises his profile among those voters," Mr. Paranzino said. Mr. Warner's supporters strongly dispute that. They argue that any gains he makes during the primaries from questioning capital punishment would become setbacks in the general election, when Republicans might attack him as soft on crime. They also say that Mr. Warner's faith in DNA technology and his desire to make the justice system more effective fit his style as a nonideological manager whose biggest concern is making government work. "As part of having a premier crime lab and supporting the death penalty, you want to find the truth and make sure people have confidence in that system," Ms. Qualls said. Mark Rozell, a professor of public policy at George Mason University in Virginia, said he saw "little political traction" for Mr. Warner in death penalty issues because Democratic primary voters seemed more concerned about abortion, judicial nominations and the war in Iraq. But Mr. Rozell also said Mr. Warner's approach could appease liberals while not angering conservatives. "There is a little bit for everybody in his stance," he said. Regardless of motives, Mr. Warner has gone further than other governors in using newer, more sophisticated DNA tests to review prosecutions, many of which relied on less precise technologies, experts said. In the last 2 years, he ordered 2 sweeping reviews of DNA testing and other forensic analyses by the state's nationally acclaimed crime laboratory. The 1st was prompted by the case of Earl Washington Jr., a retarded man who came within days of being executed for rape and murder before a DNA test by the laboratory raised questions about his guilt in 1994. He was pardoned in 2000. But those tests were faulty, leaving open the possibility that Mr. Washington was involved in the crime until an independent DNA test proved his innocence in 2004. As a result, Mr. Warner ordered an independent audit that was highly critical of the state laboratory. Last year, Mr. Warner ordered testing of genetic material found in the files of a former crime laboratory analyst. 3 people were exonerated after requesting DNA tests from those files, and at the urging of the Innocence Project, a legal clinic based in New York, Mr. Warner ordered sophisticated DNA tests on a random sample of material in the files. Those tests, involving about 30 cases, cleared 2 more men. Mr. Warner then ordered DNA testing on all of the analyst's files where convictions had been reached and genetic materials still existed. Those materials, from cases dating from 1973 to 1988, could involve scores of cases, experts said. Late last year, Mr. Warner granted clemency to Robin Lovitt, a convicted murderer on death row, because a clerk destroyed forensic evidence that could have undergone DNA tests. Last week, he became the 1st governor to order DNA tests in the case of a man who had been executed for murder. The new tests found that the man, Roger K. Coleman, was almost certainly guilty of the murder for which he was executed in 1992, Mr. Warner announced on Thursday. Critics said Mr. Warner probably knew the tests would prove Mr. Coleman's guilt and was therefore taking no risks in ordering them. But death penalty critics said the decision paved the way for other governors to use DNA to review death penalty convictions, even after executions. "He has set an example for governors all over the United States," said Peter Neufeld, co-director of the Innocence Project. "It's the governors' responsibilities to go out and do DNA testing in these cases. That is the only way you can enhance the integrity of the criminal justice system." (source: New York Times) FLORIDA: Seeking death penalty a trying process----Officials unsure whether execution will be sought in Forest slayings case It's too early to say whether or not Leo Boatman, 19, will face the death penalty if he is charged and later convicted of the 2 murders in the Ocala National Forest murders last week. "A lot of people don't understand it," said Chief Assistant State Attorney Ric Ridgway. "You know people say, 'It's a horrible crime, the person should die'. . . But it's a lot more than that." Deciding whether to seek the death penalty, Ridgway explains, is a two step-process. The first part involves looking at both aggravating and mitigating circumstances. The 2nd is deciding whether a death sentence would be upheld by appellate courts. "It wouldn't be appropriate to expend resources and taxpayer dollars into a case that wouldn't survive the appeals process . . . It wouldn't be responsible," he said. Florida law recognizes several aggravating circumstances, including whether the crime was "especially heinous, atrocious or cruel"; whether the defendant has a previous felony or violent crime conviction; whether the victim was very young or elderly; and whether the killing was "cold, calculated and premeditated." Mitigating circumstances include factors such as history of mental disorders, previous physical or sexual abuse, the age of the defendant, the lack of a significant criminal record and whether the defendant was under extreme duress. Boatman has not yet been charged by the State Attorney's Office in the slaying of 26-year-old Santa Fe Community College students Amber Peck and John Parker. According to investigators with the Marion County Sheriff's Office, on Jan. 4, the Largo man shot both students with an AK-47. Their bodies were found by family members last Saturday. In Florida, a grand jury must decide whether to hand down an indictment on first-degree murder charges within 21 days of his arrest, according to Assistant State Attorney Rock Hooker. The prosecutor does not want to comment on the merits of the case, since he is handling the case. If he is indicted, it usually takes a year a more to take a case to trial, said Chief Assistant Public Defender Bill Miller. Some take up to 5 years, he said, and one reason is that there is a backlog of such cases. "Is this number 11?" Miller mused this week in a phone interview. JUDGE'S FINAL DECISION Fifth Circuit Judge David B. Eddy sentenced William Kopsho to die last year for killing his estranged wife. It was a first for Eddy. Jury members, in a 9-3 vote, also felt that death was appropriate. The same jury presiding over the murder trial also presides over the penalty phase, and a judge must take the jury's recommendation very seriously. "Obviously it's a very difficult decision for any judge to make. But in this situation, I thought it was an appropriate sentence," Eddy said, explaining that "the fact that it was carried out in such a cold, calculated and premeditated manner" weighed in on his decision. "These are extremely difficult cases to try. They're difficult to all those involved." The Boatman case may bring other issues. "From what I read in the paper, anti-social disorder comes to mind . . . I'm confident that any competent defense attorney will use that, if in fact Leo Boatman is indicted or found guilty," Eddy said. Jury selection is much more difficult. "The jury selection process is different, including having to pick 12 - not 6 - jurors, plus alternates. The jury is actually told what the potential penalty in the case might be," Eddy said. "They're asked whether or not they have any religious or moral objections with the death penalty . . . It usually takes a lot longer to pick a jury." THE PROSECUTORS The process is also no picnic for prosectors. "The trials that I have done where the death penalty was imposed . . . at the end of it you certainly don't feel elated or happy," Ridgway said. "But you're satisfied because it's the right thing to do." Ridgway also said that prosecutors typically don't consult with the victim's family before they make the decision, nor until it the case is close to trial. "Almost always we meet with the family then. They have to realize that you're starting a 15- to 20-year process. And the family has to understand they're facing 15 to 20 years of litigation. And a lot of families don't want to go through that," he said. There are currently 4 men from Marion County facing the death penalty. Ian Lightbourn, 45, was sentenced to death in May 1981 for assaulting and murdering 41-year-old Nancy O'Farrell, the daughter of a prominent horse farm family in an apparent burglary attempt. Anthony Ponticelli, 39, was sentenced to die in 1988 for killing two brothers, Nicholas and Ralph Grandinetti, for cocaine and money on Nov. 28, 1987. In 1995, Loran Kentsley Cole, 39, was convicted of the murder of 18-year-old Florida State University student John Edwards and the assault of his sister. The 2 were camping in the Ocala National Forest. Cole's accomplice, William Chris Paul, was sentenced to life in prison. William Kopsho, 52, was found guilty of murdering his estranged wife, Lynne Kopsho in 2005. Kopsho abducted Lynne from their mutual workplace on Oct. 27, 2000. When she tried to escape, he shot her 3 times. (source: Star-Banner) ************** DNA evidence clears St. Petersburg man in 1981 rape, robbery A 45-year-old St. Petersburg man who has spent more than half his life in prison for armed robbery and rape will be freed after DNA evidence created "significant doubt" about his guilt, prosecutors said Friday. The Hillsborough County State Attorney's Office said it will support a defense motion to vacate Alan Crotzer's 1982 convictions and 130-year prison sentence. His attorneys say the DNA evidence excludes him as the rapist, and a statement from a co-defendant further supports his contention that he wasn't even at the crime scene. "After carefully weighing all available evidence, the State Attorney's Office has concluded that significant doubt exists as to Mr. Crotzer's guilt in this case," the office said in a statement Friday. Pam Bondi, the office's spokeswoman, declined to comment further on the case until after a Jan. 23 court hearing. Crotzer's attorneys with the Florida Innocence Initiative told him of the development in an afternoon conference call, said Sam Roberts, a Fordham University law student who has worked closely with attorneys on the case. Roberts described Crotzer as "overwhelmed, emotional and overjoyed." "I think it will be some time before he can get his mental arms around it," Roberts said. Crotzer, now 44, and brothers Douglas James and Corlenzo James were convicted of robbing a Tampa family in 1981. Douglas James and Crotzer were also convicted of kidnapping and raping a 38-year-old woman and a 12-year-old girl at gunpoint. A victim picked Crotzer out of a lineup. But Douglas James now says Crotzer is innocent. He said he and his brother were the rapists and a longtime childhood friend was their accomplice. A jury found Crotzer guilty of 2 counts of sexual assault, armed robbery, burglary, aggravated assault and false imprisonment. The James brothers also got long prison sentences. Crotzer could have been released from the Polk Correctional Institution on Friday, but he asked that it be delayed until after the court hearing so arrangements can be made for his shelter and support, Roberts said. "He knows it's going to be a whirlwind," Roberts said. "He's pretty overwhelmed right now." DNA evidence has been used to clear at least 172 people wrongly convicted of crimes in 31 states since 1989, according to the Innocence Project, a legal clinic that seeks to exonerate inmates through DNA testing. (source: Associated Press) OREGON: State makes its case for Lawson death sentence The state presented its case Thursday for why convicted murderer Samuel Adam Moen Lawson deserves the death sentence. "There are some cases where the crime is so horrible, the circumstances are so cold, (that) it calls for the ultimate punishment. This is one of those cases," said Senior Deputy District Attorney Rick Wesenberg. But Lawson's attorney, Peter Fahy, reminded jurors to grant Lawson life in prison rather than the death penalty if they have the slightest doubt. "Society will be absolutely safe with Sam Lawson locked in prison," he said. Lawson, 30, was convicted last month of shooting to death Noris Hilde and shooting and critically injuring his wife, Sherl, in a county campground in 2003 in order to steal their pickup. Jurors must consider if the murder was deliberate and if Lawson poses a future threat to society. Even if everyone agrees with those questions, they do not have to sentence him to death. If they do not sentence him to death, 10 jurors must agree to grant him the possibility of parole after 30 years in prison. Otherwise the judge will sentence him to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The state called several witnesses in support of its case. The state grilled an ex-girlfriend, Shakota Wilson, on an incident where Lawson allegedly picked her up by the throat and shoved her into a door, then threw her on the ground to get her car keys. She called the police and he spent the night in jail. She said that was the only time he was ever violent. But she did call police during a later period during which they were both threatening each other, and he threatened to burn down her house and harm her horse. She said Lawson was generally a calm and kind person, and that she had the anger problem. She said her methamphetamine addiction and drinking problems at that time took a toll on Lawson, to the point where he eventually left her. "You've got to push pretty far to get him to be aggressive in any manner," she said. She told jurors through tears that she would be devastated if Lawson were sentenced to death. A high school friend, David Anderson, told jurors about a time Lawson shot a feral cat that had been a nuisance on Lawsons adoptive parents' property in Port Orford, an area outside of town where people tended to dump stray cats. Another time the 2 got in a physical fight because he accused Lawson of stealing beer from his truck. During cross examination, Anderson said overall Lawson was an easygoing person, and that he too would be devastated to see Lawson receive the death penalty. Sherl Hilde and her 14-year-old daughter also took the stand and spoke about how Noris Hildes death affected them. "Now there isn't a place on earth I want to see, and absolutely nothing I want to do," Hilde said. "I know that when my daughter graduates, Im going to have to sit there alone. He's still the last thought before I go to sleep, I dream about him all night. Hes my first thought in the morning." Salem-based psychiatrist George Suckow also testified about Lawson's potential to commit future violent acts. "It is my opinion that he has a propensity for further acts of violence to society," he said. He used police reports, a transcript of Lawson's testimony, defense witness statements and other information from the trial to reach that determination. He said he based his conclusion on several factors, including Lawson's general indifferent attitude, the incident in which he shot the cat, his violent history with Wilson and the fact that he was taken out of his home and put in foster care, which implies he had an abusive family life. He couldn't discuss the details of that history, however - that Lawson's father was allegedly abusive, and his father and siblings have criminal records, discussed earlier outside the presence of the jury - because the judge excluded that information earlier in the trial. In addition, Suckow said armed robbers tend to be more violent than other criminals because of the planning and intent to kill. On cross examination, he admitted that he was not able to do a full diagnosis of Lawson's mental state. He also said that predictions of future violence have only about a 30-% accuracy rate, meaning 7 in 10 are incorrect. The case will resume Tuesday with the defense's case. (source: The News-Review)
