Feb. 3 TEXAS: Accused murderer returned to the Valley----A man accused of killing two teens has been found and returned to the Valley An accused murderer who was hiding in Oklahoma has been returned to the Valley. Police say Adrian Osbel Serna shot and killed 2 Roma teens with a single bullet. Serna had been on the run for 4 months. A judge has charged Serna with 2 counts of capital murder. If convicted, he could face the death penalty. Bond has been set at $2 million. (source: KRGV News) ************ Detective speaks of missteps in investigation -- Earrings found at defendant's home were mishandled, not tested for DNA evidence, officer testifies. An earring being used to link Michael Moore to the 2003 slaying of Christina Moore, no relation, was inspected by barehanded investigators when they retrieved it from his yard at the request of his then-wife. Detective John Combs of the Round Rock Police Department testified that in July 2004, police went to Michael Moore's Florence trailer, where they recovered 2 earrings, one of them similar to a pair worn by Christina Moore at her wedding. Those earrings were missing after her slaying. But when pressed by defense attorney Steve Brittain, Combs said that investigators found the earrings on the hood of a lawn mower parked in the yard. Combs testified that he and the other investigatorsweren't wearing gloves when they handled the earrings. Detectives later realized that they didn't have the earrings tested for DNA; as a result, DNA evidence couldn't be used to link the earrings to Christina Moore, Combs said. Neither prosecutors nor defense attorneys asked whether DNA evidence would have been available if investigators had used gloves. Testimony in the trial, the first capital murder trial in Williamson County since 1999, continues Friday. Brittain was just beginning to cross-examine Combs at the end of a short day of testimony Thursday. Michael Moore, 30, faces charges of capital murder, felony murder, aggravated burglary and aggravated kidnapping in connection with Christina Moore's death. If convicted of capital murder, he could face the death penalty. Robert Moore found his wife dead in their master bedroom closet, her throat slit and a handcuff encircling her right forearm, on Sept. 23, 2003. Christina Moore, 35, was 14 weeks pregnant. Christina Moore was probably on her knees in the closet when someone slit her throat because the blood stains were all low on the closet walls and on a nearby dresser, said Bob Henderson, a forensic consultant specializing in blood-splatter pattern analysis. The absence of large amounts of blood on her shins implies that she had her legs tucked under her when her throat was slit, Henderson said. And, he said, a coating of blood on a bench in the middle of the closet indicates she probably slumped over the bench while blood flowed from the wound that cut 1 artery in 2 and damaged another. "There is no way that this occurred with the victim standing upright," he said. "This woman was down on her knees . . . when the bloodshed occurred." Blood found elsewhere in the house came from the closet, Henderson said, but deciphering the splatter patterns in other parts of the house was more difficult. 3 bloody partial shoe prints were found in the bathroom but no where else. Blood in the master bedroom and living room may have been spread by the family's 2 dogs, he said. The couple's West Highland white terrier, Ranger, had blood on his fur, and their black miniature schnauzer, Houston, was standing guard over Christina Moore's body, barking and growling at the 1st officers to arrive on the scene, Combs said. Combs testified that police initially considered Robert Moore a suspect, especially because there was no evidence of a forced entry into the home. They installed tracking devices on his car, checked financial records and interviewed people who knew him, Combs said. Combs said that although police can't rule out Robert Moore as a suspect, they do not think he is responsible. Members of a Bible study group confirmed that Robert Moore attended a morning session Sept. 23, 2003, and co-workers said he was at work as usual that morning, Combs said. It was during an interview in which Combs showed Robert Moore pictures of his wife'sbloody hand that Combs said hedecided Robert Moore wasn't the killer. Robert Moore, who had lost his composure and started crying when he saw the photographs, "perked up" when Combs told him that they had found some tissue from someone else stuck to his wife's finger, Combs said. But Robert Moore "sunk down" again when told it was his tissue, Combs said. "I felt at that point, 'He's not my guy,'" Combs said. (source: Austin American-Statesman) US MILITARY: On the military's death row Current death-sentence inmates confined to the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., according to the Army: - Ronald Gray, a former Army specialist at Fort Bragg, N.C., who was convicted of 2 counts of premeditated murder, 1 count of attempted murder, 3 counts of rape and several other felonies. On death row since April 1988. - Dwight Loving, a former Army private first class at Fort Hood, Texas, who was convicted of two counts of premeditated murder, 2 counts of murder and robbery, and other felonies. On death row since April 1989. - Wade Walker, a former Marine lance corporal at Camp Lejeune, N.C., who was convicted of 2 counts of premeditated murder, 1 count each of adultery and kidnapping, and other felonies. On death row since August 1995. - Kenneth Parker, a former Marine lance corporal at Camp Lejeune, N.C., who was convicted of 2 counts of premeditated murder, 1 count each of armed robbery and kidnapping, and other felonies. On death row since August 1995. - Jessie (cq) Quintanilla, a former Marine corporal at Camp Pendleton, Calif., who was convicted of 1 count of premeditated murder, 2 counts of attempted murder, and other felonies. On death row since January 1998. - Hasan Akbar, a former Army sergeant from Fort Bragg, N.C., who was convicted of 2 counts of premeditated murder and 3 counts of attempted premeditated murder of 16 U.S. soldiers in Kuwait. On death row since May 2005. - Andrew Witt, a former Air Force senior airman from Robins Air Force Base, Ga., who was convicted of 2 counts of premeditated murder and one count of attempted premeditated murder. On death row since October 2005. (source: Times Record News) CALIFORNIA: Prisoners Riot Again At San Quentin; 27 Injured In Brawl 27 inmates were injured Thursday at San Quentin State Prison in a riot where prisoners used weapons made from razors, pens and bed springs, officials said. Roughly 900 inmates were on lockdown after the riot. "It quickly escalated to the point where we had to put out on the radio for all available staff to respond," corrections Sgt. Eric Messick said of the riot, which started before 8:45 a.m. The disturbance began in a dining hall for new inmates. The rioters were believed to be Latinos affiliated with the "Nortenos" gang and a rival group of black prisoners. The noise of the rioting and responding officers then sparked a similar riot in a nearby dining hall, officials said. About 400 inmates were in the dining halls, and an estimated 86 fought Thursday morning, Messick said. The injured inmates were treated and returned to their cells. No staff members were hurt. Authorities said the lockdown status will be reviewed every 24 hours. (source: KTVU News) ************* San Quentin inmates in lockdown after riot About 900 inmates at San Quentin State Prison are on lockdown while officials investigate rioting that injured 16 inmates this morning and yielded 36 slashing weapons fashioned from toothbrushes, wire, bed springs, razors, pens and more, authorities said. The riot started shortly before 8:45 a.m. in a dining hall that serves new inmates, corrections Sgt. Eric Messick said. It involved Latinos who prison officials believe are associated with the Nortenos (Northerners) gang fighting with a group of black prisoners, he said. The noise of the brawl and ensuing response by correctional officers sparked a similar riot in a nearby dining hall. Messick said the 2nd group of inmates may have coordinated with the first and been waiting to hear the officers' whistles as a cue. "It quickly escalated to the point where we had to put out on the radio for all available staff to respond," Messick said. Each of the dining halls holds about 280 inmates. At the time the fighting broke out, one was full and prisoners were filing into the other for breakfast. In all, about 400 inmates were in the dining halls, and an estimated 86 were involved in the fighting, Messick said. The incident drew an emergency response of about 100 officers who used pepper spray, batons and physical force to control the inmates, Messick said. The prisoners were herded into the recreational yard, where 16 of them were found to have suffered non-life-threatening injuries, Messick said. He said 70 inmates had been exposed to pepper spray. 6 black prisoners were slashed or stabbed. All of the injured were treated by prison doctors and released back to their cells. There were no reported injuries to staff members. The prison remained on a heightened level of security until 10:21 a.m. The blocks where the prisoners are housed remained on lockdown, meaning the inmates could not move around San Quentin except to receive medical treatment. The lockdown status will be reviewed every 24 hours, Messick said. In general, the inmates involved in the rioting were parole violators and those serving sentences shorter than 15 years, authorities said. Messick said the riot probably was not connected to a similar incident that occurred Jan. 12, in which 23 inmates and two correctional officers were injured in a fight that broke out in the evening in a dining hall. However, prison officials do think the violence is linked to tensions between the Nortenos and the black prisoners, Messick said. "There have been ongoing difficulties between those 2 groups," he said, including 2 fights in August. The most recent lockdown at San Quentin occurred Jan. 25, when a death-row inmate slashed the arm of a correctional officer. (source: San Francisco Chronicle) ************* Delaying Injustice Would Not Deliver Fairness for the Accused Despite 5 consecutive nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize and a base of celebrity and community support for the governor to grant him clemency, Stanley "Tookie" Williams was executed on Dec. 13, 2005. But there was an important political outcome of Williams' execution. A group of current and former criminal prosecutors mulled a 2-year moratorium on executions, which was initially endorsed by the Democrats in the legislature until a political battle made them fear it could hurt them in the upcoming elections. Hopefully, they now understand what a waste of time it would have been. The aim of the moratorium was supposedly to discover the reasons behind the sentencing of the six men who were wrongfully convicted and released by the state over the last 20 years. But it was presented without any kind of plan for studying the criminal justice system or passing legislation to reform it. A flawless judiciary is nothing but a utopian fantasy, and convictions of innocent men and women are unfortunate consequences, but a simple short-term moratorium is not even the beginning of a solution. It is, in fact, nothing but a cheap cover-up of the deeper problems, and would do nothing to bring justice to those inmates. The better course - and therefore the harder one - would be to put in the long and difficult work needed to improve the opportunities to appeal and negotiate a plea that are currently available to all those on death row. According to Elisabeth Semel, a professor at UC Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law and director of Boalts Death Penalty Clinic, more than 200 of those on death row will wait for 4 to 8 years just for the appointment of a counsel to handle their appeals. Inmates sentenced to life wait even longer. What are the chances that an innocent person will be helped by a 2-year moratorium? How many more might be helped if the Legislature - especially the Democrats who were seemingly willing to support the moratorium - instead focuses its efforts on getting competent, timely representation for these individuals? One cannot say which is worse - the death penalty or life imprisonment - but in the personal opinion of many, the 2 can certainly be compared in their degree of punishment. How much more does a man on death row lose than a man who spends the rest of his life behind bars? It is the former who receives the far greater share of attention and resources, but a study of the legal system and its shortcomings, however, would be far more effective - in the long run - in serving all those who have been wronged at the hands of the state. Executions are carried out at a notoriously slow pace: There have been only 11 done in California in the past 13 years. By the time many inmates are able to appeal and are actually executed, they may well be in a situation similar to Clarence Ray Allen, Californias most recent execution. Allen arranged a triple-slaying in 1980 while serving time for another murder, but was 76 at the time of his execution. 23 years in San Quentin had left him diabetic, legally blind and confined to a wheelchair outside his cell. He had had 2 heart attacks and a stroke and was too weak to grant interviews. Allen's argument was that he was too old to die, and that it would be cruel to kill him. He called San Quentin's health care system chronically deficient, and said that it was "punishment enough." Many have faced a similar predicament. 48 of those on the death row have died in California before appeals ran their course. These people served a sentence that was functionally indistinguishable from a sentence of life in prison, yet they were able to tie up the legal system and demand a greater degree of attention than a person who received the "lighter" sentence in the 1st place. The focus should be on why so many innocent people have been wrongly convicted, and whether the state is capable of fairly enforcing capital punishment at all. Perhaps that was the Legislature's intent, but it only made it to the moratorium part and seemed to have lost interest. The result was a weak temporary measure that neither tried to stop capital punishment nor offered any improved justice to those wrongfully sentenced. If the true aim of politicians is to offer justice to these individuals, including the many more who serve lengthy sentences for crimes they didnt commit, then improving the health conditions of California prisons would be a good place to start. After that, they can take on the responsibility - which only they have the power to assume - of reforming the shortfalls of the legal system. (source: The UCSD Guardian (University of California, San Diego) ) FLORIDA: Death row Spaniard still awaits appeal result in Florida Despite earlier reports from EFE news agency that the death penalty against the Spaniard Pablo Ibar in Florida had been commuted, it now seems that the penalty remains in place. The confusion apparently arose from a press statement issued by the dead mans wife. But the Spanish Embassy in the US have clarified that the Florida Supreme Court have commuted the death sentence against Seth Pealver, a friend of Ibar, who was also sentenced to death for the same triple murder. His appeal was presented a year before his friends appeal. Ibar is still hopeful of getting a reprieve. His lawyer told the press that the Supreme Courts decision has opened the way to a favourable decision for his client. Ibar was sentenced 5 years ago for the murder of the owner of an alternative nightclubin Miami. His lawyer asked Florida Supreme Court for a retrial in 2003. (source: typicallyspanish.com) NEW YORK: Activist will lecture at Notre Dame On Oct. 27, 2000, Sister Camille D'Arienzo served as godmother to a man being welcomed into the Catholic faith. "It was a most extraordinary event," she recalled. Indeed, considering that her godson is on death row -- and that the baptism took place in a federal prison -- few might rate it as anything less than extraordinary. David Paul Hammer has been incarcerated mainly at the United States Penitentiary at Terre Haute since July 1999, the year after he was sentenced to die. Sister D'Arienzo's friendship with him stems from her tireless opposition to the death penalty, which she conducts through writings, lectures and her weekly radio broadcasts on WINS 1010-AM in New York City. Sister D'Arienzo, 73, a member of the Brooklyn Regional Sisters of Mercy, will speak at Elmira Notre Dame High School on Saturday, Feb. 11, at 7 p.m. The event is free and open to the public; free-will offerings will be accepted. Her presentation that night will be "Reconciliation in a Broken World." She noted during a telephone interview that Veronica -- who wiped Jesus' face as depicted in the sixth Station of the Cross -- is an apt model for this theme. "This woman rushes from the crowd and does what she can. It was a public standing with him, sharing the ignominy that was his," Sister D'Arienzo said. "I think she stands for many of us who in some way try to alleviate the pain of others -- encourage those who are hurt by their own sinfulness or the sins of others." She said that she will suggest ways for audience members at Notre Dame to practice reconciliation -- "not on a global or international scale, just in their personal lives." Sister D'Arienzo, who entered the Sisters of Mercy in 1951, has provided social commentary on WINS since 1973. In the early 1990s she began the Declaration of Life, a petition spurred by George Pataki's promise to reinstate the death penalty in New York state while he was campaigning for governor. The nun said that the petition -- which continues garnering signatures to this day -- has likely been signed by more than 50,000 people. She feels her efforts are helping make a difference, noting that overall public support for the death penalty has declined. On the state level, she observed that Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was formerly in favor of capital punishment. "We had hearings before the assembly and to our great astonishment, Sheldon Silver changed his opinion," she said. Now, she said, she would like to see a similar change of heart in Sen. Charles Schumer and Sen. Hillary Clinton, both of whom support the death penalty. Sister D'Arienzo said that Sister Helen Prejean -- whose campaign against capital punishment brought her fame through the book and movie "Dead Man Walking" -- is "a wonderful friend." She lauded the Rochester Diocese's efforts in such matters, saying that Bishop Matthew H. Clark stands strongly against the death penalty. In addition, she has received backing for her cause from Benedictine Father Martin Boler, prior of Mount Saviour Monastery near Elmira, where she has made numerous retreats. "It's my spiritual watering hole. I started going there in 1975 and have tried to go at least once a year," she said of Mount Saviour. Hammer came into Sister D'Arienzo's life after she learned in December 1998 that he was looking for somebody to pray for him, as well as for the soul of a man he was convicted of killing. She was also influenced by the late Pope John Paul II's emphasis on visiting prisoners as an initiative for the Jubilee Year 2000. Hammer, 47, received the death penalty in November 1998 after pleading guilty to strangling a fellow prisoner in April 1996 at the federal penitentiary in Allenwood, Pa. He has had three stays of execution, coming within three days of dying in June 2004. There is currently no set execution date. At Terre Haute he resides in the same prison where convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh was put to death in June 2001. McVeigh was the 1st federal prisoner to be executed since 1963. Sister D'Arienzo visits Hammer twice a year and just traveled to Terre Haute in early January. The friends have also developed a Christmas-card enterprise over the last 5 years, with proceeds going toward children who have been abused. "He does the artwork and I do the marketing," Sister D'Arienzo said, adding that she and her unlikely business partner raised $8,500 this past year. While acknowledging that Hammer is a murderer, she maintains that this fact alone doesn't mean he should be put to death. "Those who order the executions take the lives; they are the murderers. How many murders have occurred in Texas, California and Virginia? What do you say about a person who approves one killing after another? It's very frightening," she stated. (source : Catholic Courier)
