Feb. 13 TEXAS----new execution date Derrick O'Brien has been given an execution date of May 16; it should be considered serious. (sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin) PENNSYLVANIA: Rendell signs 3 death warrants Gov. Ed Rendell on Monday signed 3 execution warrants, including one for serial killer Harvey Miguel Robinson, who murdered 3 women in Allentown in the early 1990s. Rendell also signed warrants of execution for Michael B. Singley and Tedor Davido. Robinson, 31, was convicted of raping and murdering 2 women and a teenager during an 11-month period between 1992 and 1993. He was convicted in November 1994 of the murders of Allentown residents Joan Burghardt, 29, Charlotte Schmoyer, 15, and Jessica Jean Fortney, 47. Robinson's execution is scheduled for April 4. Singley, 29, pleaded guilty to the November 1998 murder of Christine Rohrer of Chambersburg in August 2000. He was also convicted in the murder of James Gilliam, but was sentenced to life imprisonment in that case. Singley was sentenced to death for Rohrer's murder in June 2001. His execution is set for April 6. Davido, 30, was found guilty of raping and killing his girlfriend, 20-year-old Angelina Taylor, in December 2001. Davido is scheduled for execution on April 11. Rendell has signed 51 death warrants since taking office in 2003. (source: Associated Press) SOUTH CAROLINA: SC Supreme Court rules man on death row cannot stop appeals The state Supreme Court ruled Monday a man sentenced to die for killing a York County deputy is not mentally competent to drop his appeals and be executed. Mar-Reece Hughes was convicted and sentenced to death in 1995 for shooting officer Brent McCants during a 1992 traffic stop. Co-defendant Dwayne Eric Forney was convicted in a separate trial and sentenced to life in prison. Hughes' case will be sent back to a lower court where the appeals will continue. Chief Justice Jean Toal split with the court, writing in her dissent that she feels Hughes is competent to waive his right to appeals. (source: Associated Press) OKLAHOMA: Jury to consider death sentence for Oklahoma County defendant An Oklahoma County jury will decide tomorrow whether to sentence to death a man convicted of killing a 19-year-old pregnant woman in 1999. Ricardo Blonner was convicted today on five felony counts, including 1st-degree murder, in the November 1999 death of Danielle Nicole Scott. The jury deliberated for about 2 hours today before returning its verdict. The panel will decide tomorrow if he should be sentenced to death or life in prison. Blonner is 1 of 2 men charged in Scott's slaying at a Del City apartment she shared with her fiance and their daughter. Co-defendant James Patrick Lesley Junior was convicted of murder in November 2002 and sentenced to life in prison. (source: Associated Press) CALIFORNIA: Judge weighs alternatives to execution by lethal injection A federal judge in San Jose is weighing alternatives to California's current lethal injection procedures as he nears a decision Tuesday on whether to allow the state's next execution to proceed on Feb. 21. In a brief order, U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel today asked for input on possible alternatives to the lethal injection method that is being challenged by convicted rapist and killer Michael Morales, who is scheduled to be executed next week. Morales' attorneys have argued that lethal injection amounts to cruel and unusual punishment, an argument being pressed in numerous states around the country. Fogel, who last week indicated he may be willing to stay the execution to conduct a full-blown examination of the lethal injection issue, plans to rule on Morales' case by the end of the day Tuesday. The order he issued Monday asked state prosecutors and Morales' lawyers to provide input on two options that could allow the execution to proceed in a different manner. One of the options raised by the judge would involve using just one drug, sodium thiopental, to carry out the execution. Right now, California -- and most other states -- use that drug first to render an inmate unconscious, and then administer two other drugs to complete the execution. Opponents of the three-drug protocol argue that the second drug, which paralyzes the inmate, masks evidence of excruciating pain from the third drug, sodium chloride. Fogel also asked both sides to address whether the execution could proceed if all three drugs are administered, but only with a court-approved medical device or expert to ensure the inmate is unconscious before being put to death. Morales is on death row for the 1981 rape and murder of a 17-year-old Lodi girl, Terri Winchell. In addition to raising the lethal injection challenge, Morales has asked Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for clemency. But the clemency case has been thrown into serious doubt amid allegations that the chief investigator for Morales' defense team has fabricated evidence to support the bid for a reprieve. Today, David Senior, Morales' lead lawyer, withdrew declarations from 5 jurors who'd been quoted previously as saying they oppose the execution. Prosecutors produced evidence from the jurors last week refuting the statements, which had been submitted to the governor. State prosecutors say the withdrawal of the declarations is a concession that the material was fabricated. Senior did not immediately respond to a phone call today. Morales is also represented in the clemency case by Kenneth Starr, the former Whitewater prosecutor who is now dean at the Pepperdine University law school. Morales, who argues he should be spared, still has support from the judge who sentenced him to die; the judge wrote a letter to the governor saying that perjured testimony from a jailhouse informant tainted Morales' 1984 trial. San Joaquin County prosecutors oppose clemency, saying Morales' crime was particularly brutal. The attorney general's office also filed documents today arguing that Morales' latest bid for a reprieve in the California Supreme Court has been discredited by the allegations against the defense team's investigator. (source: Mercury News)
