Feb. 2 MARYLAND----impending execution Evans' appeal on execution turned down----Judge rejects claim over state's procedure A U.S. District Court judge denied last night a request from death row inmate Vernon Lee Evans Jr. to postpone his scheduled execution, ruling that "it would be an exercise in speculation" to find that Maryland's lethal injection procedure exposes Evans to a substantial and unnecessary risk of pain and suffering. Evans, 56, who could be put to death as soon as Monday for the 1983 contract killings of 2 Pikesville motel clerks, had challenged the state's execution procedure in a federal lawsuit on the grounds that it violates his constitutional protection against cruel and unusual punishment. He lost a similar lawsuit in state court Tuesday. In a decision issued about 7 p.m., Judge Benson E. Legg found that Evans had failed in his challenge of Maryland's execution procedure in general and in his claim that decades of drug use have so ravaged his veins that the lethal injection method would leave him at a particular risk of unnecessary and excruciating pain. 2 doctors testified that intravenous heroin abuse - including as recently as 4 years ago - left Evans without any peripheral veins, such as those in his arms and legs, that could support the flow of the 3 drugs that Maryland uses in lethal injection. As a result, an intravenous line would have to be inserted into one of three major veins in a surgical procedure that should be done by a specially trained doctor, Dr. Thomas Scalea, a surgeon and physician- in-chief of Maryland Shock Trauma Center, testified. If done improperly, the insertion of such a "central line" IV could cause Evans to bleed to death or suffocate before the chemicals stopped his heart, Dr. Mark Heath, a Columbia University Medical Center anesthesiologist, testified. But 2 paramedics and a nurse assistant - all assigned primary or backup roles on the "execution team" to be used next week in Evans' case - found otherwise. A Queen Anne's County paramedic who testified yesterday by telephone - and without providing his name - told the judge that the inmate's veins "didn't show outward signs of disease or compromise." The nurse assistant, who works at the Baltimore Washington Medical Center and whose identity also was not revealed, wrote in an affidavit that the team found that Evans' arm veins were "visible to the naked eye" and "healthy enough ... to support an IV catheter and fluid administration." Legg wrote in his decision that although use of a central line would eliminate any concern over the suitability of Evans' veins, "it is not this Court's prerogative to dictate a set of best practices for each execution." Of the 38 states that impose the death penalty, 37 use lethal injection. All but 2 of those use the same 3-drug protocol as Maryland. Evans was sentenced to death in 1992 for the fatal shootings of David Scott Piechowicz and Susan Kennedy in the lobby of the Warren House Motel. Evans has several legal motions pending before Maryland's Court of Appeals and a petition pending with the U.S. Supreme Court. (source: Baltimore Sun) ************ Man scheduled for execution for Pikesville killings With their client scheduled for execution next week, lawyers for Vernon Lee Evans Jr. have asked Gov. Robert Ehrlich to grant clemency, arguing Evans is the victim of 3 "catastrophic failures" of the justice system. In a petition for clemency delivered to the governor Jan. 30, Evans' defense team said he was not the gunman in the April 1983 shooting deaths of 2 motel clerks in Pikesville. At trial, Evans was convicted of accepting $9,000 from drug kingpin Anthony Grandison to kill 2 witnesses scheduled to testify against him. Evans, according to the conviction, then executed David Scott Piechowicz and Susan Kennedy at the Warren House Motor Hotel. "In a shocking lapse," Evans' original lawyers lost track of the one eyewitness who could prove that a person much taller than Evans was the gunman, the petition states. That witness never testified. Evans has admitted that he was involved in a conspiracy to kill the motel clerks. Maryland law, however, stipulates that only the gunman can face the death penalty, the petition states. In the petition, the defense team also claims that previous defense counsel failed to present mitigating evidence - including details of abuse Evans suffered throughout childhood - that could have dissuaded the jury from imposing the death sentence. Finally, the petition argues that race may have played a factor in Evans' sentencing. A University of Maryland study concluded that Maryland prosecutors are more likely to seek the death sentence against black defendants accused of killing white victims. At Evans' trial, the prosecutor used most of his 'strikes' to exclude African-Americans from the jury, the petition says. Meanwhile, Evans' lawyers are pressing court appeals that challenge the legality of Maryland's death penalty proceedings. Evans' lawyers appeared in U.S. District Court Jan. 27 to argue that the state's execution procedure constitutes cruel and unusual punishment, violating the constitution. Jeffrey O'Toole, one of a dozen Washington lawyers and legal workers on Evans' defense team, said Maryland's lethal injection procedure is "seriously broken. It's the wrong cocktail. It doesn't carry enough anesthetic." The "cocktail," O'Toole said, could leave an individual semi-conscious but paralyzed at the time that the heart-stopping drug is injected. Consequently, the person would endure extreme pain but would not be able to give any indication of his or her condition. Evans' team, along with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the American Civil Liberties Union and Maryland Citizens Against State Executions, filed a civil law suit based on a similar claim. On Jan. 31, Evans' lawyers appeared in court seeking a temporary restraining order that would prevent Maryland from executing Evans until the legality of the lethal injection protocol is determined. Lawyers, however, do not know when they will receive rulings on any of the appeals. "Everything is in limbo right now," said Elizabeth Weller, a member of Evans' defense team. Evans is scheduled to be executed during the 5-day period beginning Feb. 6. (source: MyWebPal.com) NORTH CAROLINA: Lawyers: More Reforms to Improve Death Penalty System In Raleigh, defense lawyers told state lawmakers today that more changes are needed in North Carolina's justice system to ensure death-row inmates aren't wrongfully executed. They said that would include access to legal reforms that have been passed since they were convicted. Those reforms include a life without parole sentence that prosecutors can now seek in murder trials. Mecklenburg County defense lawyer Henderson Hill said there's just NO way citizens can have confidence in the justice system the way it's currently run. The lawyers were testifying before the House Select Study Committee on Capital Punishment. (source: ABC News) *************** DA to review case of ex-boss, judge----Decision criticized as conflict of interest by law professor at UNC Union County District Attorney Michael Parker will review allegations of felonious conduct by his former boss and a sitting judge, and then decide "what further action, if any, is appropriate." It's not clear if that means Parker will ultimately decide whether to press changes against former Union County District Attorney Ken Honeycutt and District Judge Scott Brewer. Parker said he would not comment beyond the news release issued Wednesday. He said he will spend at least the next 45 days "sorting, cataloging and indexing more than 2,000 documents" about the N.C. State Bar's allegations against the 2 former prosecutors. Parker's announcement on his role in the closely watched case drew immediate criticism. UNC Chapel Hill law professor Richard Rosen said Parker's links to Honeycutt and Brewer are an obvious conflict of interest. He said Parker should have asked the N.C. Attorney General's Office, if not federal investigators, to take the case. "He (Parker) knows the people involved. It's a charge of corruption in that office. I don't see any way ethically that the same office can handle this," said Rosen, a criminal-law expert. Parker would not answer questions about possible conflict of interest. The N.C. State Bar accused Honeycutt and Brewer of lying and hiding evidence during a death-penalty case that put a man on death row for seven years. The bar turned its case against the men over to Parker because Parker has jurisdiction. The bar, a regulatory group that licenses lawyers and investigates grievances, said the 2,000 pages contain evidence of felony obstruction of justice and subornation of perjury. It said Honeycutt and Brewer hid or lied about deals made to a star witness in exchange for his testimony. Honeycutt and Brewer have denied the allegations. Honeycutt recommended that Parker, then his chief deputy, replace him when he retired and went into private practice in 2004. Brewer is now a judge in Parker's district. If Parker, who is up for election this November, ultimately determines he has a conflict of interest or another problem, he can request the State Bureau of Investigation to take the case at any time, according to the N.C. Attorney General's Office. (source: Charlotte Observer) SOUTH CAROLINA: Family of murdered woman outraged by new trial The son of an elderly Florence woman who was murdered in 1992 said his family is outraged by the S.C. Supreme Court's recent decision to grant the man convicted of her slaying a new trial. Robert Lee Nance was convicted in 1992 of murder, 1st-degree criminal sexual conduct, first-degree burglary, assault and battery with intent to kill, and armed robbery in the death of 73-year-old Violet Fraley. But this week, the state's highest court overturned Robert Lee Nance's conviction because his lawyer was heavily medicated during trial, called just three witnesses and didn't even plead for his client's life during sentencing. "We hold that this case represents a very rare situation where counsel failed to provide an adversarial challenge to the prosecution," Chief Justice Jean Toal wrote in the unanimous decision. "We find it most compelling that in the present case counsel abandoned his role as defense and in fact helped to bolster the case against his client." The court said Nance's original attorney was taking prescription drugs during the trial and suffered from pneumonia, alcoholism and congestive heart failure. Nance's co-counsel had only been practicing law for 18 months and interviewed only one family member, Nance's mother said. "The South Carolina Supreme Court rightly identified this as a classic example of how not to try a death penalty case," William M. Nettles of Columbia, Nance's attorney, told The Associated Press. "The defense did not bring the jury all the information they needed to make an intelligent decision." But Fraley's son, Van Fraley of Florence, said despite the circumstances of Nance's representation, his family doesn't think Nance deserves a new trial. "There is absolutely no doubt whatsoever of his guilt. There's a preponderance of evidence," Fraley said. "Mr. Nance acted as the judge and jury, and my mother had no appeals and no reviews. Mr. Nance sentenced her to death," he said. "Yet, now our legal system is now heavily balanced on the side of Mr. Nance, the man who committed the crime. Everything is being done to protect his rights. As far as I'm concerned, his rights were thrown away the moment he committed the crime." Violet Fraley and her husband, Robert, then 78, were attacked at their home after a man knocked on their front door about 10 p.m. and asked to use the telephone. The man said his truck was broken down, and Robert Fraley told him he could use the phone in his shop to call for assistance. When the man said he did not have a flashlight to see his way to the shed, Robert Fraley left the door to get him a flashlight. Robert Fraley testified that as soon as he returned and unlatched the door to give the man the flashlight, the man forced his way inside and began stabbing him with a screwdriver. At some point, Violet Fraley entered the room and tried to help her husband as he tried unsuccessfully to escape the intruder. When the intruder demanded money and the keys to the couple's car, she retrieved both, handing over the keys and $194 in cash. Robert Fraley testified that he pleaded with the man not to kill him and his wife, but the intruder replied he was going to kill them both. He then raped and killed his wife. Robert Fraley suffered severe injuries in the attack but ultimately survived after 13 days in the hospital. In the early morning hours following the attack, Nance was arrested after he was pulled over driving the Fraleys' Cadillac. At the time of his arrest, he had blood on his clothes that was later determined to be that of Violet Fraley. The car also contained a bank envelope that was taken from the Fraleys' home during the attack. Van Fraley said the financial burden of a new trial will ultimately fall on the taxpayers of Florence County, a fact he said "ought to outrage taxpayers." But even worse, Van Fraley said, if Nance is granted a new trial, his 92-year-old father, the only eyewitness to the crime, will have to return to the witness stand and relive the horrible trauma of that night. "I can't even think about what that would do to him," Van Fraley said. "But my hope is that it will never come to that," he said. "The S.C. Attorney General will appeal this ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court, and our family is very hopeful that the recent appointment of Samuel Alito will have a positive impact in overturning this incomprehensible ruling by the S.C. Supreme Court." (source : The Florence Morning News) VIRGINIA: Lifting of attorney fee caps is urged----Stolle, Albo seeking support for bill aimed at fending off lawsuit 2 state lawmakers are trying to fend off a threatened federal class-action lawsuit with legislation that would lift the pay caps for court-appointed attorneys. Sen. Kenneth W. Stolle, R-Virginia Beach, and Del. David B. Albo, R-Fairfax, yesterday held a news conference at the General Assembly, joining with proponents of increasing pay for lawyers who are appointed to represent indigent defendants. Stolle and Albo are seeking to rally support for their legislation that would remove the pay caps and instead allow the court to set an hourly rate based on the type of case. Albo called himself and Stolle "two very hard-on-crime guys" who think the caps are unfair and prevent appointed counsel from providing adequate representation to defendants who can't hire a lawyer. "We [in Virginia] probably incarcerate violent offenders longer than any other state in the nation," Stolle said. "If we're going to do that, and we're going to utilize the death penalty on a frequent basis, we have to have confidence in the criminal-justice system." Better pay for lawyers who defend accused criminals is "not very popular or sexy. You can't run for re-election on it," Stolle said. "But this is a constitutional right that we have got to protect." Albo equated the work of court-appointed attorneys to "community service." The draft lawsuit claims the current Virginia system violates the Constitution's guarantee of the right to effective and competent counsel to everyone charged with a crime. William R. Van Buren III, president of the Virginia Bar Association, and Steven D. Benjamin, a prominent defense attorney and member of the Virginia Indigent Defense Commission, joined the state lawmakers in urging that the caps be removed. Also, in a joint statement yesterday, two former Virginia attorneys general, William G. Broaddus and Richard Cullen, said the Virginia system "does not pres- ently provide a fair opportunity to many indigent defendants." Cullen and Broaddus encouraged the General Assembly "to resolve the issue of adequate pay for court-appointed attorneys so the federal courts will not be called upon to intervene in this important issue." Benjamin said the threat of litigation has "never been secret." The issue in Virginia has a history that goes back to the early 1970s. The commission oversees 25 public-defender offices, as well as one appellate office, four capital-defender offices and 1,200 certified court-appointed attorneys. "We hope the legislature will grasp the courage to address this issue," Van Buren said. He said the Virginia Bar Association is for the Stolle and Albo legislation but has taken no position on the lawsuit. Should the legislation fail, a representative for the Washington law firm of Covington & Burling said, the firm would consider filing suit, charging that Virginians are being denied their right to counsel and due process. "We are up for a federal court battle any day of the week," said Sarah L. Wilson, an attorney at Covington & Burling and a former federal judge. "There is plenty of justification for a lawsuit," Stolle said. "But litigation muddies the water instead of making the waters clear." (source: Richmond Times-Dispatch)
