Jan. 23 CALIFORNIA: Paying the price----Beamon, lawmakers seek death penalty for random shootings A gang member who fires bullets randomly and kills someone, even unintentionally, should be eligible for the harshest possible punishment, local leaders are saying. "This would be Mynesha's Law," said the Rev. Reginald Beamon, a San Bernardino community activist and a one-time gang member in Compton. Mynesha Crenshaw was only 11 years old when gang members fired into a Del Rosa apartment complex and killed her on Nov. 13. Police have said the gunmen were trying to kill Mynesha's stepfather, Vincent Hatfield. In December, state Sen. Nell Soto, D-Ontario, and Assemblyman Joe Baca Jr., D-Rialto, called for a special circumstance on unintentional shootings like Mynesha's that would allow prosecutors to seek the death penalty in a murder conviction. Beamon is pledging his support along with other members of Mynesha's Circle, a community partnership created by The Sun in tribute to the little girl lost. They hope to meet with lawmakers this week, Beamon said. "We need stiffer penalty sentences for people who do random shooting at houses," he said. "When you just randomly shoot into somebody's house, you're just trying to kill anybody who's home, and therefore most of the time it's innocent people - grandmothers, little children." There are 22 special circumstances, but none of them addresses the murder of a child or unintentional deaths by shooting. The San Bernardino County District Attorney's Office has charged the 7 suspects in Mynesha's killing with murder, 2 counts of attempted murder and conspiracy. Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty, leaving each suspect to face about 100 years in jail if convicted. Cheryl Kersey, a deputy district attorney in the agency's gang-prosecution unit, said the 22 special circumstances on the books adequately cover the bases. But a jury must find intent in the action if the death penalty is to be sought for a gang member, according to the wording of the state penal code. "If only they hadn't put that word 'intentionally' in there," Kersey said. "Mynesha was not the target, obviously." Soto spokesman David Miller said the legislator hopes to unite the community to combat the gang problem. "She's very connected with and interactive with the community, and that often leads to bill ideas," Miller said. "She would certainly welcome the discussion with (Beamon)." Soto's office is still researching the bill, but she might be able to introduce it in the state Senate this year, Miller said. Baca Jr. said his office is also working to find ways to hold gang members accountable once they are released from jail. "We need a better line of communication once they're convicted of a felony or a gang crime," he said. "I'm always looking for ways to tighten the laws and get rid of any loopholes." He suggests using GPS technology to track parolees who have committed high-profile violent offenses or are known gang leaders. Kersey said she is going to reserve judgment until a law is drafted. "I'd like to see what they propose if they get that far," Kersey said. "It's good because they're thinking about it, but it's all about the follow-through." The death penalty is often a contentious topic, especially in religious circles. Beamon, who is closely involved with the faith community, attends Living by Faith Ministries in Loma Linda. Still, he said he would strongly support the death penalty in a case like Mynesha's. "That could be my kid, and I would be for it if that was one of my kids," he said. (source: San Bernardino County Sun) ****************** Bill proposes 2-year halt on death penalty The California Moratorium Bill, currently on the desk of the State's Assembly Committee on Appropriations, is attempting to halt the death penalty in California for 2 years if successfully pushed through the Legislature. The bill passed the 1st hearing with the Assembly Committee on Public Safety on Jan. 10, with a 4-2 vote. Additionally, the bill is enjoying support from state organizations, law enforcement, prosecutors and judges who all claim the death penalty system needs reform. The temporary standstill of Assembly Bill 1121 asks the state of California to give the death penalty a 2-year break in order to re-examine the functions and effectiveness of the permanent punishment. Stefanie Faucher, program director of Death Penalty Focus, an organization which advocates against state executions, lauded the California Moratorium Bill, citing that she believes there are flaws in the current system. "We believe that a temporary halt on executions is something we all can agree on," Faucher said. "We need to make sure we're getting the right people." There are currently 645 inmates on death row in California. Opponents of the California Moratorium Bill assert that technological advances, as well as the "numerous" checks and balances within the system, prevent the execution of innocent people. Groups such as the Police Officers Research Association of California and the California Police Chiefs Association include those against the bill, who question whether the state's current system should be amended. "This bill highlights the unfortunate aspect of the death penalty - namely that the convicted murderer appropriates for himself the sympathy and concerns that more properly belongs to the murdered [victims]," according to the California Police Officers Association and Police Chiefs Association in the text of AB 1121. Supporters of AB 1121 argue that the death penalty is biased toward people of a certain race and income. The Santa Clara Law Review, a survey conducted in September 2005, included statistical findings that experts say support these claims. A project summary showed that 80 percent of executions in California were of persons convicted of killing white citizens, while 27.6 percent of murder victims are white. It is also known that the murderers of non-Latino whites are over 4 times more likely to be sentenced to death than those who kill Latinos and over 3 times more likely to be sentenced to death than those who kill African-Americans citizens. UC Davis School of Law Faculty Member Jennifer M. Chac??whose research focuses on criminal procedure, criminal and immigration law, said that she feels there is a correlation between money and the likelihood of a death sentence in California today. "There is evidence that race does play an important role in capital sentencing," Chac??aid. "It's also clear that class plays an important role. People who can afford good lawyers do not wind up on death row." Chac??oted that while initiatives like California's AB 1121 may not be able to abolish the death penalty, it will raise awareness of human rights issues echoed by some regarding state executions. "We are seeing moratoria being declared in a number of states," Chac??aid. "Although information about the longstanding racial disparities in capital sentencing [have] not put a stop to the death penalty, concerns about fairness and innocence are having some effect.? We'll have to wait and see whether this trend continues." (source: The California Aggie) US MILITARY: US military issues new execution regulations In a little-noticed move, the U.S. Army has issued new regulations governing the death penalty, raising speculation that the military might be preparing for its first execution since 1961. "This publication is a major revision," said the document issued January 17 and signed by Sandra Riley, administrative assistant to the secretary of the Army. "This regulation establishes responsibilities and updates policy and procedures for carrying out a sentence of death as imposed by general courts-martial or military tribunals," the document said. There are currently six men on military death row in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. One, Dwight Loving, is believed to be the leading candidate for execution. "We're worried these new regulations might be a sign they are getting ready for an execution," said David Elliot of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. Loving, an Army private stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, was convicted of murdering 2 taxicab drivers in 1988. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld his sentence in 1996. The United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces rejected his latest appeal last month. It is unclear what, if any, legal resources, he has left at his disposal. The execution would have to be approved by President George W. Bush to go ahead. In the last military execution to take place, Army Pvt. John Bennett, convicted of the 1955 rape and attempted murder of an 11-year-old Austrian girl, was hanged at Fort Leavenworth on April 19, 1961. 2 servicemen were sentenced to death last year. Sgt. Hasan Akbar was convicted of killing two military officers in Kuwait in 2003 during the opening days of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. A jury also sentenced Senior Airman Andrew Witt for stabbing to death his wife and another airman. Most of the changes in the new regulations were technical, clarifying the role of various officers in the execution procedure. However, one change would make it possible for executions to take place at sites other than Fort Leavenworth. "This new regulation appears to allow officials at appropriate levels with appropriate coordination to determine the location of an execution on a case-by-case basis," said Sheldon Smith, an Army public affairs specialist, in an e-mail to Reuters. Anti-death penalty activists said this theoretically opened the way for foreign terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, who might in the future be sentenced to death by military commissions, to be executed at the prison. Currently, 10 Guantanamo Bay detainees have been charged with various offenses, but none of these are capital cases. (source: Reuters) INDIANA----impending execution Panel Recommends No Clemency For Man Facing Execution The Indiana Parole Board recommended unanimously on Monday that Gov. Mitch Daniels not grant clemency to convicted killer Marvin Bieghler. Bieghler is scheduled to die by lethal injection early Friday at the state prison in Michigan City. Bieghler was convicted of the 1981 deaths of a rural Howard County couple, Tommy Miller and his pregnant wife, Kimberly Jane Miller. The parole board's recommendation is not binding on Daniels. Bieghler's attorney, Brent Westerfield, said his client deserves clemency because of questions over whether he committed the slayings. (source: Associated Press) FLORIDA----impending execution Alabama man who killed Pensacola officer in '82 set for execution Condemned inmate Clarence Hill, scheduled to die Tuesday for the 1982 slaying of a Pensacola police officer during a bank holdup, pressed his fight Monday to stop his execution. Hill lost an appeal in federal court in Tallahassee Saturday and had appeals pending with the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta and the U.S. Supreme Court, said Carolyn Snurkowski, a death appeals attorney for Attorney General Charlie Crist. Hill's appeals have contended the 3 chemicals used in Florida's lethal injection method of execution is cruel and unusual punishment because it causes pain. Snurkowski said the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled against inmates in 4 other states on the same grounds. Hill, who is scheduled to die at Florida State Prison in Starke, also claimed the he should not be executed since he is mentally retarded. But that argument was rejected by the state Supreme Court, which noted that a mental evaluation of Hill showed he was mildly retarded and his IQ was 16 points higher than the standard of 70 or below. Hill, 48, who has converted to Islam and taken the name Razzaq Muhammad, says on a Web site,, that he and his friend, Cliff Jackson, both of Mobile, Ala., were high on marijuana, cocaine and beer when they decided to steal a car and drive to Pensacola and hold up the Freedom Federal Savings Bank. A teller tripped an alarm. Pensacola police Officer Stephen Taylor, 26, and his partner, Larry Bailly, responded, stopping Jackson as he ran outside. Hill came up behind Taylor and shot him in the back from point-blank range, killing him. He also shot Taylor's partner, Officer Larry Bailly, who returned fire, hitting Hill several times. Jackson was shot by another officer as he tried to flee. All 3 survived. On a Web site, Hill claimed he does not remember shooting the officers. "I didn't see anyone get shot at any time," he wrote. "I'm pleased my friend is alive, and very sorry for the police officer who died and the one who was shot. I am not saying I am all innocent. I know I did a lot of things wrong that day which I am not proud of, and I wish I could begin October 19th, 1982 all over again. I would spend it with Allah with the love and knowledge I have today." Florida's execution procedure is patterned after the process used by other states using lethal injection. Strapped to a gurney, inmates are given three drugs. The 1st deadens the pain, followed by injections to paralyze the body and the 3rd to cause a fatal heart attack. The state Supreme Court, by a 6-1 vote, rejected a request for a hearing on a 2005 study that concluded that a painkiller given condemned inmates as part of the execution cocktail may wear off before the inmate dies. The court ruled earlier this month that the study by Dr. David A. Lubarsky, chairman of the department of anesthesiology at the University of Miami, was inconclusive. Taylor's 1st cousin, Gary Mace, plans to watch the execution with Taylor's brother, Jack Taylor Jr., and Taylor's sister, Linda Knouse. 2 other sisters will be unable to attend, Mace said. "It is something we have to carry through for Steve," Mace said Monday. "I have forgiven Mr. Hill for what he had done, but God is the one who has to judge. I do feel compassion for his family. It is two families brought together by tragedy." Taylor's partner, Bailly, through the Pensacola Police Department, refused to comment on the execution. Hill's accomplice, Jackson, was sentenced to life in prison. If Hill is unable to get a last-minute stay, he would be the 61st inmate executed in Florida since 1976, when executions resumed after a 12-year moratorium, and the 257th since 1924, when the state took that duty from individual counties. Hill's death is 1 of 2 scheduled this month, after the state executed only one inmate in 2005. Arthur D. Rutherford, who is scheduled to die on Jan. 31, also challenged the state's use of the execution drugs. Rutherford, 56, killed 63-year-old Stella Salamon at her home in Santa Rosa County in 1985. Rutherford had done some repair work for the woman, whose body was found submerged in her bathtub, where she had been drowned or asphyxiated. Hill survived a death warrant signed in 1989 by Gov. Bob Martinez. He is one of about 3 dozen inmates still alive after having previous warrants signed more than a decade ago. Hill has not been a model prisoner in his years on death row, receiving disciplinary actions for possession of contraband, fighting, disobeying officers, possession of unauthorized beverages and defacing state property. (source: Associated Press) *********************** Death row inmate back in court In Taveres, a 37-year-old man on death row for killing a teller and leaving another one paralyzed in a botched 1999 Mount Dora bank robbery was back in a Lake County courtroom today in hopes of getting his sentence reduced to life in prison. Defense attorneys are arguing that there are mitigating factors that should lessen the sentence against Fred Anderson Jr., who was convicted of 1st-degree murder, 1st-degree attempted murder, robbery and grand theft with a firearm in the robbery at a United Southern Bank branch. Among the mitigating factors: Anderson was sexually molested as a pre-teen, officials said. Also, forensic psychologists have been called to testify about Anderson's mental state. Heather Young, 39, was killed in the robbery and her co-worker Marishia Scott, 32, was shot in the arm, neck and spinal cord. Last year, Scott settled a negligence lawsuit with the company that installed the bank's security system. Scott's lawyers argued that Anderson decided to rob the bank because he could see the surveillance-system videocassette recorder in an office in full view of the public. (source: Orlando Sentinel) *********************** Ruling: Suspects face death penalty----Florida judge rules 3 men who allegedly murdered ex-Lowell couple, 4 others, will get death penalty 3 men will face the death penalty in the August 2004 slayings of 6 people in Florida, including a former Lowell couple, after a judge rejected the argument that sending the men to death would be unconstitutional. The men, Troy Victorino, Jerone Hunter and Michael Salas stand to face trial April 10 on 6 counts of 1st-degree murder as well 8 other felony charges, including cruelty to animals. Florida Circuit Judge William A. Parsons last week rejected a defense attorney's argument that the state's death penalty is unconstitutional. Parsons' ruling coincided with the state attorney's office release of about 50 pages of evidence and documents pertaining to the case. Included in the documents is a series of letters penned by 2 of the suspects, Salas and Robert Anthony Cannon. The slayings were the culmination of a chain of events that began when Erin Belanger, then 22 and a former resident of Lowell, discovered that Victorino had been illegally squatting in her grandmother's temporarily vacant home in Deltona, Fla. She subsequently had police remove Victorino from the property. In the process, Victorino's Xbox video-game console and some articles of clothing were left behind. Enlisting the help of Hunter, Salas and Cannon, Victorino allegedly decided to reclaim the items on his own terms. Florida attorneys believe that on Aug. 6, 2004, the 4 men, armed with aluminum baseball bats, stormed the house and found Belanger and her 30-year-old fiance, Francisco Ayo Roman, also formerly of Lowell, home along with 4 other people -- Michelle Nathan, 19, Anthony Vega, 34, Jonathan Gleason, 17, and Roberto Gonzalez, 28, all of whom were Florida residents. The suspects then allegedly proceeded to bludgeon and slash all six people and a pet dog to death. The murders, which shocked the quiet Orlando suburb, caused waves of grief locally that continue to resonate in the hearts of family members and friends affected by the crime. "There will never be closure," said Bill Belanger, Erin Belanger's father, a resident of Hudson, N.H., who has said in the past that he hopes the killers get the death penalty. "My only child is dead. I'm angry, I'm hurt, I'm brokenhearted. The person that I was prior to August 6 is gone, and he's never coming back." Belanger plans on being present for every second of the court proceedings, including, he hopes, the conviction, sentencing and execution phases. Upon hearing the news that the 3 suspects will face death if convicted, Benjamin Bonilla, the brother of Roman, said, "I'm glad they are facing the death penalty. They murdered 6 people." Bonilla, who lives in Lowell, also plans to go down to Florida but not until after a conviction has occurred. Some of the documents released by the state attorney tell of how Victorino and Hunter spent nearly an hour inside the home murdering the 6 people. In one of the letters, released Thursday, Cannon, who has already pleaded guilty to all counts and will receive life in prison without parole in exchange for his testimony, writes that after Victorino killed and then abused the bodies of some of the victims, he came out and bragged about it. Salas, who denies murdering anybody but admits to disposing of a knife he claims Hunter used to slit the throats of some of the victims, showed remorse over his involvement, and said Hunter and Victorino were the true perpetrators the crime. "He took great pleasure in what he did," Salas wrote of Hunter. "Don't let him fool you. He is coldhearted like Troy. He loved what him and Troy did." Salas added that he hopes Victorino will "fry." (source: Lowell Sun)
