Feb. 16 TEXAS: Before execution, killer thanks his supporters----Inmate 4th to die in Texas this year; he was convicted of killing a cabdriver Clyde Smith Jr., convicted in the 1992 murder of 1 Houston cab driver and charged with the slaying of another, was executed Wednesday, becoming the 4th man to be put to death in Texas this year. Smith thanked his lawyer and a handful of supporters. He did not acknowledge the family of one of his victims who watched his execution. "I want to thank you all for being here and for your love and support. ... I love you all," he said to his lawyer and 4 European pen pals who befriended him during his prison term. Smith, a Charlotte, N.C. native, was pronounced dead at 6:17 p.m. Smith was executed for the Feb. 6, 1992, robbery and death of 45-year-old Yellow Cab driver David E. Jacobs. Police said he used the same gun to rob and kill Victor Bilton, a 51-year-old United Cab driver on March 22 that year. Smith, who was 18 at the time of the slayings, stole $230 and a watch from the drivers to help pay off a rental car and his girlfriend's bills, he told investigators. Smith confessed to robbing and killing both drivers. Jacobs' murder landed him on death row. Dwayne E. Bilton, Bilton's younger brother, kept a grim expression during the seven minutes the lethal dose coursed through Smith's veins before he was pronounced dead. He said he loaned his brother the money to renew his cabdriver's license when he hit hard times. His brother drove his cab "with dignity" for 6 months before his slaying, he said. "I'd have to say I was bland when I saw the life leave Clyde Smith," he said. "I was standing 3, 4 feet from the right arm that ruined our family, that ruined the Jacobs family." No members of Jacobs' family attended the execution. Smith has maintained his innocence since his 1993 trial, saying that while he was involved in the robberies, someone else pulled the trigger and killed both cabdrivers. In a recent death row interview, he said the confessions he recorded upon his arrest in April 1992 were tainted by pressure from homicide investigators. "I never said I should get off scot-free," he said. "But I don't feel like the part I played in it should've led to me being on death row." Kenneth Bilton, 43, Bilton's son, said he did not expect Smith would acknowledge his crimes. "Only he knows what he did and didn't do. He can lie through his teeth for reporters to write down," he said. "It's between him and his maker." Smith's execution ended a decade of failed appeals and motions, the last of which came from the Supreme Court just hours before his execution, denying a motion for stay. Most of his past appeals contested his 1993 trial, in which his trial lawyer did not present evidence about Smith's troubled and abusive childhood to the jury that sentenced him to death. (source: Houston Chronicle) NEW HAMPSHIRE: House rejects bill to repeal death penalty In Concord, the New Hampshire House today soundly rejected a bill to repeal the death penalty. The House voted 200-to-137 to kill the bill, which would have reduced capital murder crimes to 1st-degree murder with a mandatory punishment of life without parole. The Legislature voted to repeal the death penalty in 2000, but then-Governor Jeanne Shaheen vetoed the bill. Lawmakers tried again in 2001, but failed to pass the repeal bill to Shaheen's desk. New Hampshire last executed someone in 1939. No one is on death row and no capital murder trials are pending. Repeal supporters argued the risk of executing the innocent was too great to leave the law on the books. But death penalty supporters said some crimes are so heinous they deserve the ultimate punishment. (source: Associated Press) OKLAHOMA: Man could get death penalty in slaying of Arkansas dancer In Norman, a jury has convicted a man in the death of an Arkansas ballerina, who was attending the University of Oklahoma when she was abducted, raped and killed during the Christmas holidays nearly 10 years ago. Anthony Castillo Sanchez was convicted of rape, sodomy and first-degree murder in the death of Jewell "Juli" Busken, 21, of Benton, Ark. The dance student's body was found Dec. 20, 1996, near Lake Stanley Draper in far south Oklahoma City. District Judge William Hetherington told jurors the penalty phase of the trial would begin Thursday and should end by Friday. Sanchez, 27, could get the death sentence for the murder conviction. After finding Sanchez guilty Wednesday, the jury recommended 40 years in prison and a $10,000 fine on the rape count and 40 years and a $10,000 fine on the sodomy count. Sanchez showed no emotion as the judge read the verdict. But after Hetherington polled the jurors and called attorneys to the bench for a brief conference, Sanchez rose to his feet. "Mr. and Mrs. Busken, I swear to God I didn't kill your daughter," Sanchez told the Busken family. "I swear to God." Deputies quickly surrounded Sanchez, who then sat down. One woman left the courtroom in tears. Later, news footage showed several law officers carrying Sanchez by his arms and legs out of the courthouse down a ramp and sidewalk. That prompted protests from some of Sanchez's family members. "Did you see them take him out like he was a dog?" asked Sanchez's sister, Sharon Fox of Wilson, her voice trembling with emotion. "Did you all see that? It looked like they treated him worse than a dog. It was awful. "He didn't do it. He tried to tell the Buskens he didn't do it. He didn't do it. He doesn't know their little girl. This is what you call a system that's just? It's not!" After the judge dismissed the courtroom, members of Busken's family hugged, wept and shook hands with members of the prosecution team. "Today was the day we were waiting for," Busken's mother, Mary Jean, said afterward. "The family is very happy today," Cleveland County District Attorney Tim Kuykendall said. "We are (too) that someone has been held accountable for killing Juli Busken." Sanchez's attorneys weren't available for comment. Closing arguments began after Sanchez's attorneys rested their case without calling any witnesses. Sanchez was asked if he wanted to testify but told the judge his attorneys told him not to take the stand. Prosecutor Richard Sitzman said during closing that "incontrovertible" evidence shows Sanchez killed Busken after abducting her from outside her apartment in Norman. Testimony during the trial showed DNA evidence found at the crime scene matched that of Sanchez. After closing arguments, members of Sanchez's family questioned the evidence and made an emotional plea to reporters outside the courtroom. Sanchez's stepmother, Cathy Hodge of Ardmore, acknowledged her son had a history of legal trouble, but proclaimed his innocence. "He has not always been perfect," she said. "He's gotten in trouble, but that doesn't make him a murderer." Sanchez's sister wailed, "It ain't right. He didn't do it. He was only 17. There's a real man out there who did it." Sanchez was accused of rape and 2nd-degree burglary in 2001 in Norman. He pleaded guilty to the burglary but the rape charge was dismissed at the state's request. While serving his sentence in a Lawton prison, a state-mandated DNA sample was taken from him. The sample is required from all violent offenders and convicted burglars. The sample from Sanchez matched DNA evidence taken from the scene of Busken's murder, prosecutors alleged. (source: Associated Press) ILLINOIS: Runge convicted; jury considers death sentence After finding Paul Runge guilty last week in the Feb. 3, 1997, rape of a Northwest Side mother and daughter, the jury was set to decide Tuesday, too late for deadline, on whether Runge should get the death penalty for his crime. Check www.pioneerlocal.com for that information. It took about an hour for the jury to decide Feb. 10 that Runge was guilty of 2 counts of 1st-degree murder. The charred bodies of Yolanda Gutierrez, 35, and her 10-year-old daughter, Jessica Muniz, were found after firefighters responded to a small fire in their apartment on the 3100 block of North Laramie Avenue in Chicago. Gutierrez's father, Ramon Rivera, asked if he wanted Runge, 36, to be sentenced to death, Rivera replied, "Of course." Speaking to reporters shortly after the jury verdict was announced, he said family members were satisfied with the decision. "We really didn't have any doubt that the man was guilty," Rivera said. Runge is also accused of 5 other murders that occurred between 1995 and 1997. Two of those victims lived on Chicago's Northwest Side and two were killed in Runge's former residence in Glendale Heights. In a series of videotaped confessions, he told police and prosecutors that the killing spree began with the murder of Stacey Frobel, 35, who was slain in Runge's Streamwood townhouse. Her body was cut to pieces with a saw, and parts later were found scattered on either side of the Illinois-Wisconsin border. The seven murders occurred while Runge was on parole. He had been convicted 10 years earlier in the rape of a 14-year-old girl, and was released from prison after serving part of his sentence. In that case, the victim managed to escape and tell police. Assistant State's Attorney Bernard Murray said Runge did not want to go back to jail and Runge decided that he would be careful to make sure his next victims didn't get away from him. In a videotaped confession that was played for the jury, Runge described how he bound Gutierrez and Muniz with duct tape, raped them, and slit their throats. Murray said Runge set their bodies on fire to hide any physical evidence. DNA samples were taken from Jessica's body, but Runge was not yet connected to the crime when he was taken into custody on a parole violation in May 1997. A positive DNA match was confirmed in 2001, which left a one in 32 trillion chance that it could have been someone else, Assistant State's Attorney John Dillon said. Murray said, "It was 4 1/2 years before he was arrested (in connection with their murders). He almost pulled it off." When Chicago police detectives and prosecutors confronted Runge with the DNA results, he admitted his involvement in the crimes and agreed to be interviewed on camera. In the tape, Runge described the killings of Gutierrez and Muniz. The conviction ended a two-week trial that turned into a battle of experts. The defense tried to prove Runge was insane, and therefore innocent, because he suffered from sexual sadism and was "under the influence of overwhelming sexual urges." Dr. James Merikangas, a specialist in neurology and psychiatry, testified that Runge was at the mercy of his urges, which built up over time and culminated in an explosive frenzy. Merikangas said the signs of Runge's sexual sadism were lesions on his brain and other "subtle signs of brain damage" he said he found after examining magnetic resonance images of Runge's brain. Merikangas said Runge would appear normal 95 percent of the time, until his urges built up so much that a switch would snap, triggering a rush of "pure animal instinct." The prosecution countered with testimony from other mental-health specialists. Dr. Helen Mayberg, an expert in neurology, mocked Merikangas' findings, and said he misidentified one part of Runge's brain. To Mayberg, Runge had "a normal, healthy-looking brain." In closing arguments Friday, Assistant State's Attorney John Dillon said, "The evidence in the case you heard is overwhelming. He called Runge "shrewd, cunning and manipulative." Dillon said: "How convenient. 95 % of the time he's perfectly normal, but when he is raping women and slitting their throats, he's insane. He only loses control when there is no one there to witness it." While Dillon repeatedly raised his voice and referred to Runge as "Mr. Insane," Runge sat motionless in his chair and stared down at the defense table. Dillon said, "The only insanity in this courtroom is if you don't make him face the responsibility for what he did." Runge showed no emotion when the guilty verdict was read, resting his chin on his clasped hands. After the trial, family members of Gutierrez and Muniz hugged each other in a spontaneous display of emotion outside the courtroom. (source: Edison-Norwood Times Review) USA: Jury Selection for 9/11 Plotter----Judge seeks panelists who can set aside anger over the terrorist attacks and fairly decide whether Moussaoui should be put to death 2 Muslim immigrants were qualified as potential jurors. So was a career Navy veteran once assigned to the Pentagon who almost lost a friend on Sept. 11. So was a young woman seeking to become an FBI agent, who believes Zacarias Moussaoui may still be conspiring to attack the United States. One by one Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema asked a diverse group of prospective jurors whether they could put aside their anger over the 2001 terrorist attacks and fairly decide if the only man in this country who has admitted to being a Sept. 11 conspirator should be put to death. The jury pool was drawn from northern Virginia, including nearby Arlington, where 189 people were killed when one of four hijacked aircraft was flown into the Pentagon. But Brinkema has said she is convinced she can find an impartial panel of 12 jurors and six alternates. With the penalty phase of Moussaoui's trial to begin March 6, Brinkema began individual questioning of about 500 potential jurors - identified only by number - asking about their feelings on a variety of issues such as terrorism, airport security and the Islamic faith. By the end of the day, the judge had qualified 15 of the 24 potential jurors she had questioned and asked them to return later for additional scrutiny. In April, Moussaoui pleaded guilty to capital murder and confessed that he collaborated with the Sept. 11 terrorists. But he said his mission was to fly a separate plane into the White House. Jurors must decide two key issues: whether Moussaoui's refusal to warn the government that the attacks were coming makes him eligible for the death penalty and, if so, whether he should be executed or spend the rest of his life in prison with no parole. The judge lifted her ruling of the previous day banning Moussaoui from the courtroom for interrupting the proceedings. Lawyers said the 37-year-old defendant wrote the judge a note promising to behave, and on Wednesday he sat quietly in the courtroom. At one point he told the judge he did not want to miss his early-afternoon prayer time, and as it turned out, the proceedings recessed in time for him to pray. When he was escorted out by federal marshals for the lunch break, he could be heard rasping under his breath, "God curse America." Defense lawyers objected when Brinkema qualified some potential jurors and told them to return early next month for final selection. Defense lawyer Gerald Zerkin complained about the Navy veteran because, the attorney said, "he knows someone who was at the crime scene." But the judge said "just because they knew people who worked at the Pentagon" was not reason alone to excuse them from the final jury panel. The veteran, an elderly man with 30 years active and reserve duty, said he had once worked at the Pentagon and had a friend who was working there when the plane hit. "I remember him telling me it was very loud and surprising," he said. "He ran faster than he ever had in his life." The judge also qualified as potential jurors a Muslim woman from Pakistan and a Muslim man born in Kabul, Afghanistan. She also qualified a woman who worked as a secretary for the CIA in the 1960s and later worked for the Drug Enforcement Administration in Afghanistan. A teacher who wants to be an FBI agent said she thought Moussaoui "may be in a conspiracy even now with people outside the country to harm the United States." She was qualified. So was a man who said he thought the FBI missed several opportunities to stop the attack. (source: Los Angeles Times)
