Feb. 17 TEXAS: Briggs case: DA awaits lab tests The case against the man who allegedly murdered 12-year-old Orchard resident Teketria "Teeky" Buggs will not be presented to the grand jury until lab testing is finished and examined by Fort Bend County investigators, said District Attorney John Healey. The suspect, 31-year-old Steve Carrington, allegedly confessed to the crime just hours after the girl's funeral in December. Buggs, who attended Brazos Elementary School, was the subject of a massive search following her Dec. 3, 2005 disappearance. Carrington was the girl's stepfather, and he caught the attention of investigators shortly after the girl's disappearance. He was arrested on Dec. 5 and was kept in the Fort Bend County jail on an unrelated charge of domestic violence. Volunteers for Texas EquuSearch found the girl's body in Brazos River on Dec. 15, shortly after severe storms hit the area. It was from the jail that investigators say Carrington confessed to the murder of the Buggs, who has been described by relatives and friends as a high achieving student with a great interest in her Baptist Sunday school classes. In a strange turn of events, Carrington from jail also allegedly confessed to the 1998 murder of 21-year-old Corey Brooks, which had been a cold case. Carrington has been indicted for 1st-degree murder for the death of Brooks, whose body has never been found. Carrington is in jail without the possibility of bonding out, as a result of his other murder charge. Continued investigation into Buggs' death could determine if Carrington would face either another 1st-degree murder charge or a capital murder charge, punishable by the death penalty. In other developments, a request has been made by the Galveston County Attorney's Office to prevent the release of the autopsy report for Buggs. A media request was first made to the Galveston County Medical Examiner's Office, who performed the autopsy. Officials at the medical examiner's office took the matter to Healey, who indicated he did not want the reports to be released while the case remains pending. On Feb. 9, a Galveston county attorney wrote a request for the AG to resist disclosure, citing the wishes of Fort Bend County officials. "The Fort Bend DA has advised us that the requested autopsy report is information that deals with the detection, investigation, or prosecution of crime, that release of the information would interfere with the investigation, and that is wishes to withhold the requested information - thus, the Fort Bend DA's request invokes the law enforcement exemption," the letter reads. Healey has said releasing the autopsy report could "fan the flames" of public sentiment, and endanger the chance that a fair trial can be held in Fort Bend County. (source: Fort Bend Herald) ************** Man convicted of one count of capital murder A jury late Thursday found Gonzalo Artemio Lopez guilty of kidnapping and slaying a Weslaco man last year because of money owed to a Mexican drug cartel. Lopez, 29, was convicted of one count of capital murder and one count of aggravated kidnapping. He faces an automatic life sentence for the capital murder charge and will be sentenced today for the kidnapping charge. Hidalgo County prosecutors were not seeking the death penalty. Lopezs trial began Feb. 14 in Judge Noe Gonzalezs 370th District court. He was accused of kidnapping Jose Guadalupe "Lupe" Ramirez, 37, at gunpoint from his home, fatally striking him with a pickax and then burying Ramirezs body in a remote area. On March 23, 2005, Lopez led law enforcement officers to a site where he said he and another man buried Ramirez. Fresh dirt and cacti had been planted on the site, located in a remote area off Mile 13 1/2 North FM 88 and Mile 6 West. When officers unearthed Ramirezs body, they found his wrists taped together and a rope around his neck. On Thursday, jurors heard from Julia Zarazua, Ramirezs common-law wife and mother of his three youngest children. Ramirez was watching television in the couples bedroom the morning he disappeared, and she was in the kitchen cleaning up after breakfast when she heard the doorbell ring. Two men forced the door open and asked Zarazua for her husband. The men began walking toward her, leading her to the room where Ramirez was watching television, she said. One of the men - whom Zarazua identified as Lopez by pointing to him in the courtroom - insisted she open the bedroom door. He then pulled out a small gun, held it up against Zarazuas neck and ordered her to open the door, Zarazua said. She went to the kitchen to check on one of her children and when she returned to the bedroom, her husband was on the floor lying on his stomach as the men tied him up, she said. Zarazua demonstrated for the jury how the men held her and her husband at gunpoint. The men escorted Ramirez out at gunpoint and Zarazua said she saw them leave in a red car. About an hour after they left, Ramirez began calling her on the telephone and told his wife he was OK. He called several times that day, but the calls stopped around 7 p.m., she said. The next morning, Zarazua called police. Lopez told police that Juan Lerma of the La Mana drug Cartel from Tamaulipas, Mexico ordered Lopez to pick up Ramirez and collect the $40,000 that Ramirez owed the cartel, according to a written statement he gave law enforcement agents. The cartel had fronted Ramirez marijuana and cocaine that Ramirez never repaid, Lopez told police. Lopez conducted "surveillance" at Ramirezs house the day before he and a man named "Rick" kidnapped Ramirez, Lopez said. Ramirezs family turned over 3 trucks, money and drugs for ransom at a local Home Depot. They took the trucks to the drug cartel in Mexico, but Lopez and Rick kept the money and drugs for themselves. Meanwhile, they kept Ramirez tied up in a shed at Lopezs mothers home. Lopez said he was going to let Ramirez go after his family paid his debt, but Lerma ordered that he kill Ramirez. "I thought to myself, if I dont kill Lupe, Juan and his people would kill me," Lopez stated. Dr. Fulgencio "Frank" Salinas conducted the autopsy on Ramirez and testified that Ramirez died of three "chop-type" wounds to the head, the largest measuring 3 inches long across Ramirezs left eye. The wounds radiated inside Ramirezs skull and caused injuries to his brain. Salinas said he did not know what instrument was used to inflict Ramirezs wounds, but said a machete or a pick ax could have caused them. (source: The Monitor) USA: AMA Opposes Physician Involvement in Executions The following is a statement by Priscilla Ray, M.D., chair, American Medical Association Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs, regarding physician involvement in executions: "The American Medical Association (AMA) is alarmed that Judge Jeremy Fogel has disregarded physicians' ethical obligations when he ordered procedures for physician participation in executions of California inmates by lethal injection. "The AMA Code of Medical Ethics addresses physician participation in executions involving lethal injection. These ethical obligations are set out in detail in ethical opinion 2.06 authored by the AMA Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs. In part, it states: An individual's opinion on capital punishment is the personal moral decision of the individual. A physician, as a member of a profession dedicated to preserving life when there is hope of doing so, should not be a participant in a legally authorized execution. Physician participation in execution is defined generally as actions which would fall into one or more of the following categories: (1) an action which would directly cause the death of the condemned; (2) an action which would assist, supervise, or contribute to the ability of another individual to directly cause the death of the condemned; (3) an action which could automatically cause an execution to be carried out on a condemned prisoner. Physician participation in an execution includes, but is not limited to, the following actions: prescribing or administering tranquilizers and other psychotropic agents and medications that are part of the execution procedure; monitoring vital signs on site or remotely (including monitoring electrocardiograms); attending or observing an execution as a physician; and rendering of technical advice regarding execution. In the case where the method of execution is lethal injection, the following actions by the physician would also constitute physician participation in execution: selecting injection sites; starting intravenous lines as a port for a lethal injection device; prescribing, preparing, administering, or supervising injection drugs or their doses or types; inspecting, testing, or maintaining lethal injection devices; and consulting with or supervising lethal injection personnel. "The use of a physician's clinical skill and judgment for purposes other than promoting an individual's health and welfare undermines a basic ethical foundation of medicine -- first, do no harm. Therefore, requiring physicians to be involved in executions violates their oath to protect lives and erodes public confidence in the medical profession. "As the voice of American medicine, the AMA urges all physicians to remain dedicated to our ethical obligations which prohibit involvement in capital punishment." NOTE: For a full text of the AMA ethical opinion, E- 2.06, Capital Punishment, please visit the AMA Web site at: http://www.ama- assn.org/ama/pub/category/8419.html (source: US Newswire) CALIFORNIA: Schwarzenegger denies clemency for Morales Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declined to grant clemency Friday to a rapist-murderer scheduled to die Tuesday at San Quentin State Prison for murdering a Lodi girl in 1981. Michael Morales, 46, admitted that he murdered and raped Terri Winchell, 17, but said his own life was worth sparing because of his remorse and redemption on death row. "There is no compelling evidence that the jury's punishment is not appropriate in this case," Schwarzenegger wrote. "All the reviewing courts have upheld the jury's punishment. Morales' claim that he is a changed man does not excuse the brutal murder and rape of Terri Winchell." Schwarzenegger has now denied clemency to all 5 condemned inmates who have requested it since taking office 2 years ago. Winchell's mother, Barbara Christian, said she was relieved by the decision, which came as the defense team was holding a news conference in support of clemency at the gates of San Quentin. "We believed the governor would stand by the victim," said Christian. Lawyers for Morales told Schwarzenegger that he should be spared because he accepted responsibility and repeatedly expressed remorse for the murder. The judge who presided over Morales' trial also asked the governor to commute the sentence to life in prison because new evidence casts doubt on the testimony of a key witness. The last time a California governor granted clemency was in 1967 when Gov. Ronald Reagan spared a mentally ill killer. Morales has 2 challenges pending at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which among other things is being asked to block the execution on claims that lethal injection is cruel and unusual punishment. In his clemency petition, Morales said he was led astray by a "manipulative crime partner" who got him drunk and high on the drug PCP on the day of the murder. Morales' cousin Rick Ortega was sentenced to life in prison for his role in the murder. (source: Associated Press) ************* Marin County abandons fight over new death row at San Quentin Marin County gave up its legal fight to prevent the state from building a new death row complex on prime bayfront property where the county had instead envisioned a new commuter ferry port and regional transit hub. The county Board of Supervisors voted in a closed session Tuesday to drop two lawsuits opposed to the new 768-cell, $233 million death row complex at San Quentin State Prison. State corrections officials said Thursday they will break ground on the new facility in June, with completion expected for November 2008. Judges had ruled against the county in both suits, and supervisors decided not to appeal. "I think the board just decided they'd given it their best shot," Deputy County Counsel David Zaltsman. One case accused corrections and finance officials of breaking with procedure in approving a plan to downsize the project after costs ran over budget. A Sacramento Superior Court judge ruled Dec. 16 the county could not block construction of a state project on state land. The county claimed in the other case that the project lacked proper environmental review. A Marin Superior Court judge ruled Jan. 11 the county did not show that the state's environmental report was inadequate. Corrections officials have argued they need the new prison to improve safety at the aging prison. But the county and neighborhood leaders said it would be more cost-effective to build the new death row in a more rural area or house the death row inmates at other state prisons. ************************************* Judges look at death sentence----S.J. MAN'S LAWYERS TELL FEDERAL COURT VERDICT WAS FLAWED Since California restored the death penalty in 1978, Santa Clara County juries have sent more than 2 dozen murderers to death row. None of them has been executed. But on Thursday, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals considered the case of David Allen Raley, who has reached the front of the line among the South Bay's condemned killers. For Raley and other death row inmates, the 9th Circuit is ordinarily the last, best hope of avoiding execution before legal options run out. During an hourlong hearing in San Francisco, three 9th Circuit judges weighed arguments over whether Raley deserved the death penalty for a crime he committed 20 years ago. A decision is probably months away, but if Raley loses in the 9th Circuit, it would put him on a fast track to a firm execution date. Raley has been on death row since 1988, when a San Jose jury recommended the death penalty for kidnapping and attacking two Peninsula high school girls at a deserted Hillsborough mansion, leaving both of them for dead in a ravine. One of the girls died, but the other survived and was the prosecution's chief witness against Raley, a chubby security guard who turned a tour of the old mansion into a day of terror in February 1985. "The memory of the case lingers," said Karyn Sinunu, Santa Clara's chief assistant district attorney. "Raley had such a cold and wanton heart." Few of California's nearly 650 death row inmates have reached such a late stage in the state's notoriously slow death-penalty process. In fact, Raley's case has typified California's sluggish death-penalty system, which has seen dozens of death sentences overturned by the courts while the state has carried out few executions over the past several decades. Raley's case was argued as the state prepares for the possibility of its 14th execution since 1978 -- condemned killer Michael Morales is scheduled to be put to death early next Tuesday unless the courts or governor intervene. Said he was lonely Many of the key players in Raley's original trial are no longer around. Dave Davies, the prosecutor who later was a top supervisor in the district attorney's office, has retired. Bryan Schechmeister, Raley's 1st trial lawyer, died in 1992, the same year the California Supreme Court 1st upheld Raley's death sentence. John Schatz, the judge who sentenced Raley, died 6 years ago. Laurie McKenna, the surviving victim and now 38, has moved out of state. Raley, 43, did not respond to a letter requesting an interview. But on a Web site for California death row inmates seeking pen pals, Raley wrote that he was lonely in prison and was considering ``dropping my appeals." Raley's trip to death row began at the Carolands Mansion, where he worked as a security guard to keep out intruders. Like many local teens at the time, McKenna and her friend, Janine Grinsell, 16, came to the mansion on a Saturday afternoon hoping for a tour. Raley obliged, but at the conclusion of the tour, locked them in a basement vault. After forcing them to take their clothes off, Raley took turns beating and stabbing them, eventually rolling them up in a carpet and stuffing them in the trunk of his car. He drove to his San Jose home, where he played Monopoly with his sister while the wounded girls remained in the car trunk. Later that night, Raley drove the girls to a remote Santa Clara County road and dumped them in a ravine. McKenna climbed to the road and was found the next morning. Grinsell was still alive, but died later that day at the hospital with 41 stab wounds and a fractured skull. Mike Grinsell, Janine's father, declined through a state victims' rights advocate to comment. A jury had little trouble convicting Raley of murdering Grinsell and attempting to murder McKenna. But deciding whether Raley deserved the death penalty has always been a tougher question than resolving his guilt -- and that remains at the heart of his legal fight in the 9th Circuit. During Thursday's hearing, the 9th Circuit judges made it clear that the central issue will be whether the death sentence holds up, not Raley's guilt or innocence. The 1st jury to hear Raley's case in 1987 deadlocked in the penalty phase of the trial, when they were asked to decide if he should get the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole. The district attorney's office decided to retry the penalty phase, and a second jury came back with a death verdict in 1988. Raley's attorneys insist the 2 verdicts show how close the death-penalty issue is in Raley's case, arguing that his 2nd defense attorney bungled the retrial. "Not only was a more favorable result possible," Raley's attorneys wrote in papers filed with the 9th Circuit. "It had already happened." No mental health experts Raley is depicted by his attorneys as the victim of an abusive, alcoholic mother and distant father whose mental troubles were never presented to the jury. In court papers filed with the 9th Circuit, Raley's attorneys point out that no mental health experts testified on Raley's history, a typical standard for death-penalty cases. Raley's jury even asked in deliberations whether there were any experts. Among other things, Raley's current attorneys note that the defense attorney at the retrial, Mary Yale Fukai, had never tried a capital case before, although she assisted in the 1st trial. Schechmeister, Raley's 1st attorney, was considered one of the top death-penalty attorneys in the region. Fukai did not return a phone message. David Bacon, Raley's current attorney, said in an interview that the absence of mental health testimony was a crucial difference in the two trials, particularly because prosecutors introduced new evidence of Raley's unwanted sexual advances to other young women in the retrial. Prosecutors, however, say Raley's crimes warranted the death penalty, and that the jury was well aware of his rocky home life. In court papers, deputy attorney general Violet Lee wrote that Raley has "produced nothing that would made a difference at trial." "People do not commit unprovoked murder simply because they are poorly adjusted," Lee wrote. (source for both: Mercury News) ********************* Investigator's past being examined in execution cases The investigator accused of fabricating juror statements in a bid to win clemency for a man condemned to die Tuesday is under investigation for previous cases she worked on for a state agency that defends death row inmates. Investigator Kathleen Culhane, whose work is being questioned in the case of Michael Morales, was employed by the Habeas Corpus Resource Center between 2001 and 2005, the agency said Thursday. Culhane generated what prosecutors believe were bogus juror declarations from six jurors saying Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger should spare Morales, who raped and murdered a 17-year-old Lodi girl in 1981. Although her work was regarded as high quality, the center said in a statement that it would review her past cases. Executive Director Michael Laurence declined comment. Morales' attorneys, former Whitewater independent counsel Kenneth Starr and Los Angeles attorney David Senior, questioned the authenticity of the declarations Culhane said she obtained and withdrew them from the clemency petition. The California Attorney General's office and prosecutors in San Joaquin County, where the girl was killed, said they were fakes. Some jurors told state investigators they never spoke to Culhane and wanted Morales executed. Juror names were not part of the public record. One juror, Amador Martinez, 72, of Oxnard, who was not 1 of the 6 whose declarations were questioned, recalled meeting with Culhane for about 20 minutes on Jan. 29. The investigator presented a letter of introduction explaining the purpose of her visit and asked Martinez what he thought about the death sentence 23 years later. "I told her that as I recalled it was a real brutal-type case and that I think we, the jury, made the right decision," Martinez said. Martinez described Culhane as "professional, polite, not forceful," and said he never felt pressured by her to say or sign anything. Prosecutors later contacted Martinez to confirm that he had spoken with Culhane, he said. Culhane declined to speak with The Associated Press last week and her San Francisco phone was disconnected Thursday. The address listed on a business card she left with one juror led to a San Francisco business that rents post office boxes. The California Department of Consumer Affairs said she was not a licensed investigator. Her attorney, Stuart Hanlon, said Culhane committed no wrongdoing and that there was no discrepancy with the signatures she submitted and the ones obtained by state investigators. "We're comfortable that she didn't do anything wrong and we want to investigate the case," Hanlon said. Chuck Schultz, a San Joaquin County prosecutor who is urging Schwarzenegger to deny clemency, said the documents were forged and some signatures were misspelled. He doesn't believe Starr or Senior knew they were submitting allegedly false documents, but accused them of sloppy work. "Maybe they thought we were nothing but a cow county out here," Schultz said. "I think there was a little bit of arrogance out there, too." Starr and Senior said they did not know they were submitting questionable evidence to the governor. "We're deeply concerned and distressed that this issue has arisen in the first instance," Starr said, but he refused to comment directly on what happened. He said he was not concerned about his reputation but was focused on Morales winning a reprieve. He and Senior took Culhane's word "in the best of good faith" that her work was authentic. Gerald Uelmen, a Santa Clara School of law professor, said there was no ethical breach by either lawyer because they trusted an investigator who signed sworn declarations that she was telling the truth. In addition, Culhane worked 4 years at the Habeas Corpus Resource Center, which gave her work high marks. "It's a lawyer's worst nightmare. You rely on people you trust and it turns out your reliance was misplaced," Uelmen said. "Unfortunately, these kinds of things do impact on people's reputations." The declarations submitted by Culhane said Morales deserved clemency because some of the testimony at his trial may have been fabricated. Starr and Senior also withdrew a statement allegedly from Morales' former roommate, who testified at trial that Morales practiced choking her before trying to strangle Terri Winchell. Culhane said the woman told her she was coerced to testify. That witness later told state investigators she was not coerced and stood by her testimony. (source: Associated Press) ************************** Inmate may move on a fast track to execution Since California restored the death penalty in 1978, Santa Clara County juries have sent more than 2 dozen murderers to death row. None of them has been executed. But on Thursday, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals considered the case of David Allen Raley, who has reached the front of the line among the South Bay's condemned killers. For Raley and other death row inmates, the 9th Circuit is ordinarily the last, best hope of avoiding execution before legal options run out. During an hourlong hearing in San Francisco, three 9th Circuit judges weighed arguments over whether Raley deserved the death penalty for a crime he committed 20 years ago. A decision is likely months away, but if Raley loses in the 9th Circuit, it would put him on a fast track to a firm execution date. Raley has been on death row since 1988, when a San Jose jury recommended the death penalty for kidnapping and attacking two Peninsula high school girls at a deserted Hillsborough mansion, leaving both of them for dead in a ravine. One of the girls died, but the other survived and was the prosecution's chief witness against Raley, a chubby security guard who turned a tour of the old mansion into a day of terror in February 1985. "The memory of the case lingers," said Karyn Sinunu, Santa Clara's chief assistant district attorney. "Raley had such a cold and wanton heart." Few of California's nearly 650 death row inmates have reached such a late stage in the state's notoriously slow death penalty process. In fact, Raley's case has typified California's sluggish death penalty system, which has seen dozens of death sentences overturned by the courts while the state has carried out few executions over the past several decades. Raley's case was argued as the state prepares for the possibility of its 14th execution since 1978 -- condemned killer Michael Morales is scheduled to be put to death early next Tuesday unless the courts or governor intervene. Many of the key players in Raley's original trial are no longer around. Dave Davies, the prosecutor who later was a top supervisor in the District Attorney's Office, has retired. Bryan Schechmeister, Raley's first trial lawyer, died in 1992, the same year the California Supreme Court first upheld Raley's death sentence. John Schatz, the judge who sentenced Raley, died 6 years ago. Laurie McKenna, the surviving victim and now 38, has moved out of state. Raley, 43, did not respond to a letter requesting an interview. But on a Web site for California death row inmates seeking pen pals, Raley wrote he was lonely in prison and was considering "dropping my appeals." Raley's trip to death row began at the Carolands Mansion, where he worked as a security guard to keep out intruders. As with many local teens at the time, McKenna and her friend, Janine Grinsell, 16, came to the mansion on a Saturday afternoon hoping for a tour. Raley obliged, but at the conclusion of the tour, locked them in a basement vault. After forcing them to take their clothes off, Raley took turns beating and stabbing them, eventually rolling them up in a carpet and stuffing them in the trunk of his car. He drove to his San Jose home, where he played monopoly with his sister while the wounded girls remained in the trunk. Later that night, Raley drove the girls to a remote Santa Clara County road and dumped them in a ravine. McKenna climbed to the road and was found the next morning. Grinsell was still alive, but died later that day at the hospital with 41 stab wounds and a fractured skull. Mike Grinsell, Janine's father, declined through a state victims' rights advocate to comment. A jury had little trouble convicting Raley of murdering Grinsell and attempting to murder McKenna. But deciding whether Raley deserved the death penalty has always been a tougher question than resolving his guilt -- and that remains at the heart of his legal fight in the 9th Circuit. During Thursday's hearing, the 9th Circuit judges made it clear the central issue will be whether the death sentence holds up, not Raley's guilt or innocence. The first jury to hear Raley's case in 1987 deadlocked in the penalty phase of the trial, when they were asked to decide if he should get the death penalty or life in prison without parole. The District Attorney's Office decided to retry the penalty phase, and a second jury came back with a death verdict in 1988. Raley's lawyers insist the 2 verdicts show how close the death penalty issue is in Raley's case, arguing his 2nd defense lawyer bungled the retrial. "Not only was a more favorable result possible," Raley's lawyers wrote in papers filed with the 9th Circuit. "It had already happened." Raley is depicted by his lawyers as the victim of an abusive, alcoholic mother and distant father whose mental troubles were never presented to the jury. In court papers filed with the 9th Circuit, Raley's lawyers point out that no mental health experts testified on Raley's history, a typical standard for death penalty cases. Raley's jury even asked in deliberations whether there were any experts. Among other things, Raley's current lawyers note the defense lawyer at the retrial, Mary Yale Fukai, had never tried a capital case before, although she assisted in the first trial. Schechmeister, Raley's first lawyer, was considered one of the top death penalty attorneys in the region. Fukai did not return a phone message. David Bacon, Raley's current lawyer, said in an interview that the absence of mental health testimony was a crucial difference in the two trials, particularly because prosecutors introduced new evidence of Raley's unwanted sexual advances to other young women in the retrial. Prosecutors, however, say Raley's crimes warranted the death penalty, and that the jury was well aware of his rocky home life. In court papers, deputy attorney general Violet Lee wrote that Raley has "produced nothing that would made a difference at trial." "People do not commit unprovoked murder simply because they are poorly adjusted," Lee wrote. (source: Knight Ridder) ************************ Plan for Morales argued----Attorneys say physicians' role in execution unclear The state's plan to post an anesthesiologist inside the execution chamber does nothing to ensure that Michael Angelo Morales will avoid terrible agony during his scheduled execution Tuesday, attorneys for the Stockton man said Thursday. Too few details are listed in court papers about what the state-hired physician will do during the lethal injection, except to report back later to the federal judge who made the state alter its protocol, Morales' attorneys David Senior and John Grele wrote. "The doctors will have no authority to stop the execution and are not even part of the process in determining what chemicals are administered and when," they wrote, adding that the state's plan "reduces Mr. Morales to little more than a test subject." Morales, 46, is scheduled to die by lethal injection early Tuesday for the 1981 murder and rape of 17-year-old Terri Lynn Winchell, then a senior at Tokay High School. Morales will be the first San Joaquin County man and first Latino executed since California resumed executions in 1992. His attorneys last week argued in the San Jose courtroom of U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel that lethal injection amounts to cruel and unusual punishment. They asked that Fogel delay the execution to flush out the state's procedure. Fogel in response told the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitations to modify Morales' lethal injection by changing the drugs or posting a trained medical expert inside the death chamber. The state chose the latter course. The defense attorneys complained about the state's plan, calling it a "last-minute, cobbled-together effort to execute." Corrections' attorney Bruce Slavin filed a written brief Thursday saying the doctor accompanying Morales to the execution chamber will use "whatever equipment or other techniques he deems medically appropriate." He didn't give details. Slavin also stated the 2 unnamed anesthesiologists hired by the state - one who will stand inside the chamber and the second outside - were free of disciplinary action, responding to Morales' attorneys, who wanted to verify the doctors' backgrounds. Fogel had not approved the state's choice of anesthesiologists by Thursday evening as expected. The California Medical Association denounced the participation of any physician in Morales' execution because the medical profession is dedicated to preserving life. "CMA believes that physicians participation in capital punishment threatens the public's trust of physicians," the association said in a statement released Thursday. "This trust is central to the physician-patient relationship." (source: The Record) ********************* A Look at Marcus Wesson on Death Row 39 men, whose crimes occurred here in the Valley, are on California's death row, awaiting their fate. Action News looked into how mass murderer Marcus Wesson is adjusting to the prison culture at San Quentin. Marcus Wesson has been on San Quentin's death row almost seven months. His life as the controlling head of an incestuous household of women and children ended on March 12, 2004 with the murders of 9 of them. Now, his life is a 41 square foot cell and little contact with anyone. Like every condemned inmate there, Marcus Wesson spends an average of 19 hours a day in his single cell. He Leaves it only for exercise, the health center, the law library or a scheduled visitor. He's always with an armed guard and in handcuffs - often in shackles, just as he was the day he left the Fresno County jail for San Quentin. "He's obeyed all rules," says Vernell Crittendon, from the San Quentin State Prison. "He met our grooming standards immediately when he arrived with having his hair cut." Lt. Vernell Crittendon is a 29 year veteran of the corrections department and long time public information officer for San Quentin and its death row. The east block, built in 1927, is where the majority of death row inmates are housed in 521 single cells, each with just 41 square feet. "He seems to be assimilating very well. He stays pretty somewhat to himself," says Crittendon. "He has received visits, but at this time he's had very, very few visits." Members of Wesson's family confirm those visits, but declined to be interviewed. We do know that except for such visits, Wesson stays in his cell. That's where he has his meals and when he is allowed limited his exercise time, it is in the "walk alone yard." There are 6 so-called inmate yard groups on the east block. Eventually, Wesson will be assigned to one of them. "It's just making the selection on what group he'll be most compatible with," explained Crittendon. "He doesn't seem to have any gang ties or association and has not been involved in any rule violations while here." While the multiple murders which brought him the death penalty are well known in the Central Valley, among other death row inmates Wesson is not. (source: ABC News) ********************** Killer gets death sentence----W.C. man fatally shot guard in bank robbery In Rancho Cucamonga, a West Covina man was sentenced to death Thursday for murdering a security guard during an Ontario bank robbery. Before handing down the sentence, a judge told Joe Henry Abbott he did more than end a promising young life when he cruelly shot 25-year-old Samuel Saenz 3 times in the head. He also destroyed at least 2 families and traumatized a community, the judge told him. "You've made your choices and they've been bad ones," Judge Craig Kamansky said. "It's time you should be held fully responsible." Abbott ambushed Saenz on Oct. 30, 2000, in front of horrified customers at a Bank of America on Euclid Avenue. He hovered in the lobby until Saenz, a Brink's security guard, wheeled a bag of money out of the bank's vault toward an armored car outside. Abbott rushed behind Saenz and fired 2 shots into the Hesperia man's head. As Saenz collapsed to the floor, Abbott began to flee with the money before he stopped, walked back, and fired a 3rd and fatal bullet into the wounded guard's skull. The robbery and killing was so detailed that Abbott, a 36-year-old African-American man, paid a professional makeup artist to disguise him as an elderly white man a day earlier. He fled the bank with about $225,000 in cash, most of which was never recovered. Saenz, a married father of 3, aspired to be a policeman. His mother, brother and aunt told the judge Thursday that Saenz's murder has devastated them. Carmen Ruelas, Saenz's mom, said it has taken her more than 5 years, but she has finally come to forgive Abbott. "One of these days he's going to meet God," she said through heavy tears. "And I hope he has the guts to ask God for forgiveness." Saenz's brother, Servando "Junior" Saenz, was far from forgiving. He wished misery and death upon Abbott. "When they stick that needle in his arm I hope he keeps smiling, just like he has done in this courtroom for the last 5 years," the grieving brother said. "He took my best friend. He took my only brother. And for that I wish him pain and suffering." He then walked out of the courtroom. Saenz's widow, Amelia, came into the courtroom at the beginning of the hearing, but walked out while her relatives addressed the judge. In her absence, Deputy District Attorney Michael Dowd read aloud a letter in which she shared the dark emotions the murder has stirred in her. Amelia wrote her husband's death makes her feel violated and deprived. She also indicated in the letter that she sometimes wants to scream. "How do you raise 3 children in a world of violence?" she said. "I live with that struggle every day." Abbott, dressed in a red jail jumpsuit, said nothing and showed no emotion during the hearing. A jury convicted him of the murder and recommended the death penalty Nov. 1, and Kamansky finalized the deal Thursday in West Valley Superior Court. Abbott must be transported from San Bernardino County jail to San Quentin State Prison within 10 days. He will join 32 other killers from San Bernardino County on California's death row. His death sentence will be automatically appealed to the California Supreme Court. Dowd said it will most likely be decades before Abbott actually faces the lethal injection process. (source: San Gabriel Valley Tribune) TENNESSEE: Supreme Court upholds death penalty for child killer, rapist In Nashville, the state's highest court on Friday upheld the death sentence of a Montgomery County man convicted of raping and killing a 9-year-old girl. William Glenn Rogers was sentenced to die in the 1996 kidnapping, rape and murder of Jackie Beard, who was abducted while picking blackberries near her house. Rogers had a long criminal history -- including alleged sexual assaults on children -- before being convicted of murder and rape. Her remains were found four months later at the Land Between the Lakes natural area nearly 50 miles away. Rogers, who originally denied involvement and then said he accidentally ran over the girl, argued that the evidence presented at his trial was insufficient to support his convictions. "Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the state, we conclude that the proof points the finger of guilt unerringly at Rogers and Rogers alone," Justice Janice M. Holder wrote for the 4-1 Supreme Court majority. Justice Adolpho A. Birch Jr. wrote that affirmed the conviction but dissented on the death sentence because the state doesn't have a process to ensure the penalty is applied uniformly and fairly. Jackie's killing inspired John Carney, district attorney general for Montgomery and Robertson counties, to present a bill to state legislators that called for the revamping of the state's sexual offender registry. Carney carried a photo of Jackie inside his notebook when he advocated for the bill, which went into law Aug. 1, 2004. The law required registration by sex offenders within 2 days of conviction, applying to all convicted offenders, including those no longer on parole and those convicted in other states who have moved to Tennessee. (source: Associated Press) *************** Abdur'Rahman challenges lethal injection Tennessees lethal injection protocol could come before the U.S. Supreme Court after attorneys of death row inmate Abu-Ali Abdur'Rahman appealed a Tennessee Supreme Court decision Wednesday. The Tennessee Supreme Court decided in October that Abdur'Rahman's defense team failed to establish that the states lethal injection protocol is cruel and unusual punishment under the U.S. or Tennessee constitutions. The procedure involves injections of Sodium Pentothal, pancuronium bromide (Pavulon) and potassium chloride and has been in place since 1998. Pavulon, which quickly stops breathing activity, is injected after a dose of Sodium Pentothal puts the inmate to sleep. The Pavulon is followed by the potassium chloride, which stops the heart. AbdurRahman argues in his defense that the use of the neuromuscular blocking agent Pavulon is unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment because of its potential to cause inhuman pain during the execution. In particular, the defense claims the use of Pavulon could mask pain felt by the person killed by lethal injection if the other two agents injected - Sodium Pentothal and potassium - don't work properly. Tennessee has banned neuromuscular blocking agents such as Pavulon in the euthanizing methods of pets. Bradley A. MacLean, one of Abdur'Rahmans attorneys, said the defense expects to know by the end of June whether the U.S. Supreme Court will hear the case. "There's been a lot of activity throughout the country recently on lethal injection," MacLean said. "In fact, there was a ruling earlier this week from a federal district court in California which declared that a lethal injection following the same type of protocol could not go forward unless the state changed the protocol in certain respects. "And so far, [California] has refused to do that," MacLean added. "And so it will be interesting to see what happens there." The national debate increases the chances for Abdur'Rahman's hearing before the U.S. Supreme Court. Only about 2 % of the 7,000 petitions the Supreme Court receives annually are reviewed. However, MacLean believes the AbdurRahman lethal injection case "has a better than normal chance of being accepted because of all the activity thats going on [nationwide]." The state of Tennessee now has 30 days to file a brief in response to the writ of certiorari, which essentially asks the Supreme Court for further review of the records before the appellate court. (source: Nashville City Paper)
