Feb. 28 TEXAS: Are Texas authorities letting death row killers cash in on their crimes? eBay bans the practice of prison inmates selling art and it's illegal in Texas. It's called "murderabilia", selling artwork made by convicted killers. When he was free, killing young women made Anthony Shore infamous and now from death row he's creating a life of fame. Shore, who was blamed for murdering 4 Houston women, strangling them and raping 3 of them, has been profiting by his artwork -- portraits of women, drawings with women provocatively posed and sketches of women and skulls. It's being sold on a Web site called MurderAuction.com, where each "masterpiece" is up for sale to the highest bidder. When 11 News Defenders discovered a Deer Park man behind the illegal money-making, they brought it to the attention of John Moriarty, Inspector General for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, among others. Moriarty said he is now investigating that case and Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal said his office is looking into it as well. (source: KHOU-TV) ********************* Judge criticized for sentence of defendant in trailer deaths----Restaurateur given 30 months, less time than she already has served A prosecutor accused a federal judge of abusing judicial discretion Monday for allowing a member of a smuggling ring blamed for the deaths of 19 illegal immigrants to go free. U.S. District Judge Vanessa Gilmore sentenced Houston restaurant owner Norma Gonzalez Sanchez to 30 months in prison. That's three months less than she already has served, meaning she could be released by Monday night or today. Prosecutors had asked Gilmore to set a stern example in the first sentencing of 1 of 12 people accused of a role in the bungled smuggling attempt. Two others indicted in the case were not accused of involvement in the failed attempt. "This is the first opportunity this court has to send a message to her and her co-conspirators," Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Rodriguez argued before Gilmore pronounced the sentence. Federal guidelines called for a sentence of 57 months to 71 months in prison, but only if the judge found that Gonzalez Sanchez could have foreseen the conditions that led to the deaths. Gilmore concluded that the chain of events leading to the tragedy was "not reasonably foreseeable by this defendant." Gilmore denied Rodriguez's request to delay sentencing until prosecutors can appeal to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Prosecutors have 10 days to file an appeal, which would be their fifth appeal of a ruling by Gilmore in this case. Gonzalez Sanchez, 45, pleaded guilty in November 2004 to arranging to smuggle Faviola Angelica Gonzalez Buendia and Elisendo Cabanas Gonzalez into the United States from Mexico for $1,900 each. Cabanas Gonzalez was one of 19 who died after being sealed, with at least 55 others, in a refrigeration trailer for a journey from Harlingen to Houston. The trailer, with 17 bodies inside or nearby, was found May 14, 2003, at a truck stop in Victoria. Two more riders died later. Autopsies showed the victims died of hyperthermia, asphyxiation and dehydration. Before her sentencing, Gonzalez Sanchez, a naturalized U.S. citizen, pleaded for mercy. "I never thought trying to help people could be so bad and ... that it would end in such a tragedy," she said. She said her 12-year-old daughter was taunted so much about her mother's crime that she was sent to Mexico. Although four others involved in the smuggling operation have pleaded guilty and five others have been convicted, sentencing has been delayed for most until after the second trial of truck driver Tyrone Williams. Gonzalez Sanchez's lawyer, Wendell A. Odom Jr., said his client wanted to end the waiting. One indicted suspect is still at large. Williams, who faces a possible death sentence, was convicted on 38 counts in March 2005, but a jury deadlocked on 20 others. A date for his 2nd trial will be set after an appeals court rules on whether he should be tried on all 58 original smuggling counts, or just the 20 on which the jury deadlocked. 2 other accused smugglers were charged with holding for ransom the 3-year-old son of a Honduran woman who survived the journey in the trailer. One was sentenced to time served and prosecutors dropped the charges against the other. (source: Houston Chronicle) FLORIDA: Jury recommends death sentence 8-4---Judge to decide Eaglin's fate March 31 Dwight T. Eaglin told jurors he didn't expect them to feel sorry for him at his sentencing hearing Monday. The majority of them apparently didn't. The jury voted 8-4 to recommend the death penalty for Eaglin, who was found guilty Friday of the murders of Charlotte Correctional Institution officer Darla Lathrem, 38, and inmate Charlie Fuston, 36, during a failed prison escape in June 2003. Eaglin smiled and nodded his head when the verdict was read. The jury's decision is only a recommendation, although Circuit Judge William Blackwell said he will take the recommendation under serious consideration when he imposes sentence on March 31. The two sentences the jury had to choose from were life in prison without the possibility of parole and the death penalty. Eaglin, 30, took the stand as the last witness for the defense to make a last-ditch effort in convincing the jury to spare his life. He claimed the prison and judicial systems treated him unfairly. "I was in a cell for 34 days with no toilet paper, no soap, no toothpaste, with people telling me I was gonna die every day," he said. "What about those guards that kill inmates? Why aren't they here?" Eaglin told the jury he didn't want their forgiveness and quoted Mark Twain. "'True forgiveness is the fragrance the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it,'" he recited. "But I don't want nuthin' from you people. I'm asking for forgiveness from those who have it to give." Before Eaglin left the stand, he told the jury, "I love you and I forgive every one of you." Lathrem's and Fuston's families both expressed approval of the jury's recommendation. "I didn't detect any remorse from him," said Lathrem's father, David Lathrem, who supports the death penalty. "Murder is taking someone's life unnecessarily, which is never right. But sometimes, there's a reason to kill." Monday was the 1st time the jury -- 8 men and 4 women -- heard about the crime that landed him in the Charlotte Correctional Institution. Eaglin stabbed John F. Nichols Jr., 27, at a St. Petersburg adult establishment, Temptations, on Feb. 27, 1998. In 2001, he was sentenced to life in prison without parole. The prosecutor in that case, Mike Marr, was the first witness to take the stand Monday. The state also called Lathrem's sister, Pat Rollings, and fellow corrections officer Lt. Robert Spears to testify about the kind of person Lathrem was and her contributions to the community. "My baby sister was a gentle, kind, respectful and selfless person," Rollings said quietly while on the stand. No one spoke on Fuston's behalf during the hearing, although his sister, Joyce Fairfield, said her brother probably died trying to help Lathrem. "I think if there was a way he could have helped her, he would have," Fairfield said outside the courtroom. "He had that kind of a heart." Eaglin's defense attorneys tried to put part of the blame on the Department of Corrections and CCI. James Aiken, an expert in prison management, testified that several systems at CCI failed and created a "recipe for a critical event to take place." Aiken said prisoners with Eaglin's record should not be on work details after dark and that more than one correction officer should have been assigned to guard the work crew. Lathrem was assigned to oversee construction work on one of the dorms the night of the escape attempt and murders. Eaglin's co-defendants, Michael Jones, 49, and Stephen Smith, 45, also face 2 counts of premeditated murder for their alleged roles in the deaths of Lathrem and Fuston. Their trials are scheduled for later this year. A Department of Corrections internal investigation released in 2004 specified numerous instances of CCI officials failing to adhere to basic safety procedures and policies. As a result of the department's findings, several CCI officials were demoted. CCI officials could not be reached for comment Monday. (source: Charlotte Sun-Herald) NEVADA: Supreme Court won't review Las Vegas death sentence case The U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to take up the appeal of a Nevada man sentenced to die for the torture slaying of his girlfriend's teenage son in 2002. The nation's highest court offered no comment on the request to review the case of Timmy "T.J." Weber, 32, who also is serving life without parole for killing the boy's mother. Weber and his lawyer, Robert Miller of Las Vegas, wanted the court to overturn the Nevada Supreme Court, which upheld the unusual split penalty verdict in the slayings of 15-year-old Anthony Gautier and 38-year-old Kim Gautier. Miller did not immediately respond Monday to a request for comment. Jurors were told Anthony Gautier died slowly after he was bound with duct tape, gagged with a shirt and left face-down on a bed with a plastic bag over his head and heavy weights his back. Kim Gautier was beaten, strangled and her body was stuffed in a plastic storage container. Weber also was convicted of 2 counts of attempted murder, 2 counts of kidnapping, 4 counts of sexual assault on a child, 2 counts of burglary, 2 pornography-related counts and 3 counts of lewdness. Those charges stemmed from a baseball bat attack on Gautier's 17-year-old son and the son's teacher and the rape of Gautier's 14-year-old daughter. (source: Associated Press) MARYLAND: Judge Imposes Federal Death Sentence for Prince George's Man A federal judge in Greenbelt has handed down a death sentence for a Prince George's County man who kidnapped and killed the son of a Washington police officer. Judge Peter Messitte Monday accepted the jury's recommendation for capital punishment for 23-year-old Kenneth Lighty. In a brief statement Monday, Lighty claimed he was innocent and said he planned to fight the decision. Maryland currently has just 1 other federal death row inmate. Lighty was convicted last fall in the killing of 19-year-old Eric Hayes in 2002. (source: Associated Press) NORTH CAROLINA: U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Appeals Of 2 N.C. Death Row Inmates Execution dates can now be set for 2 men on death row in North Carolina after the United States Supreme Court Monday rejected their appeals Monday. Jerry Connor was first sentenced to death in 1991 for two homicides in Gates County. The state Supreme Court, however, threw out Connor's death sentence because of a constitutional error. He was sentenced to death again in 1995 after a new hearing. Connor's attorney appealed the execution, claiming a juror on the case was biased. Willie Brown was convicted in 1983 of robbing a store in Martin County and killing the clerk. Attorneys for Brown argued that he was mentally ill. (source: WRAL News) IDAHO: Victims' relatives want death penalty, no deals, for Duncan Family members of victims say they don't want the state of Idaho to make a deal with Joseph Duncan the Third, that would let him avoid the death penalty. They say they are against the deal even though it would mean lone survivor Shasta Groene would not have to testify. The 42-year-old Duncan has pleaded not guilty to 3 counts of 1st-degree murder and 3 counts of 1st-degree kidnapping. Shasta's mother and brother were killed, and she and another brother, Dylan, were abducted. Dylan later died at a Montana campsite. (source: Associated Press) GEORGIA: Millionaire goes on trial for wife's 1987 murder----Socialite was gunned down on doorstep of her townhouse Millionaire businessman James Sullivan hired a hit man to kill his Atlanta socialite wife 19 years ago because he feared losing the $1 million she was seeking in their divorce, prosecutors said as Sullivan's trial began Monday. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Sullivan, 64, a Boston native. He was one of the FBI's most wanted fugitives before he was captured in Thailand in 2002. As Lita Sullivan lay dying in her home, her husband got a call at his Florida mansion from a man who said the millionaire's troubles were over, prosecutor Sheila Ross said. "Merry Christmas," the caller told Sullivan, Ross said. Triggerman to testify Sullivan is accused of paying triggerman Phillip Harwood $25,000 to kill his wife. The 35-year-old socialite was shot to death on the doorstep of her Buckhead townhouse by a man carrying a dozen long-stemmed pink roses on January 16, 1987. Ross said Harwood admitted making the Merry Christmas call from an Atlanta area truck stop about 40 minutes after the murder. Ross told jurors that a hearing to discuss property distribution in the divorce was scheduled for the same day Mrs. Sullivan was killed. Ross said she was seeking the Atlanta townhouse, a Mercedes, alimony and jewelry. "The evidence will show the defendant hired a hit man to make sure she didn't get that money," Ross said. But defense lawyer Don Samuel said prosecutors have no real evidence to prove their case. Defense: 'No evidence' "Jim Sullivan did not murder his wife or hire anyone to murder his wife," Samuel told jurors in his opening statements. The last thing he wanted was for anyone to kill her, Samuel said, adding that his client had no reason to do it. Samuel said his client has been the subject of rampant speculation over the years, but he asked jurors to see through it and acquit Sullivan. "There will not be a shred of physical evidence, not one shred of physical evidence that links Jim Sullivan to this crime," Samuel said. He said all the state has is testimony of people who "even today we don't have a clue what they are going to say." Sullivan left the country around the time of his 1998 indictment on state murder charges. Millionaire on the lam He lived in luxury as he eluded authorities on a cross-continent run -- from Palm Beach to Costa Rica to Panama to Venezuela, and then to Thailand, where he married a local woman and bought a condominium in a posh beachside neighborhood. He was extradited to the United States in 2004. Related charges against Sullivan were thrown out at a federal trial in 1992, but the Georgia Supreme Court has ruled that double jeopardy does not prevent Sullivan from being tried again in state court. Harwood and a 2nd man who claims he was also asked to commit the murder are both expected to testify during the trial, which started with jury selection on January 5. It took lawyers in the high-profile case more than a month to seat the jury, which includes 12 jurors and four alternates. There are three men and 13 women among the 16. Harwood is currently serving a 20-year sentence for manslaughter after pleading guilty to killing Lita Sullivan. However, in letters written to the court during the last 2 years year, he has denied involvement in the killing. New witness emerges Earlier this month, as jury selection continued, another witness came forward to claim that James Sullivan had approached him to kill his wife. Bill Hawley, a felon with a 79-page criminal record, is serving time for theft in Florida. He claims he agreed to do it for $50,000. The exact timing of the alleged conversation with Sullivan and further details about why Hawley did not follow through have not been revealed. Defense lawyers sought to exclude the testimony of Harwood and Hawley, but a judge rejected their motion. The Sullivans' troubles started in 1983 in Palm Beach, where James Sullivan bought an oceanfront mansion for $2 million after selling a Georgia liquor company he inherited from his uncle for $5 million. Newly rich, he wanted to break into Palm Beach society. Later, the Sullivans moved to Atlanta. He started seeing other women, and his wife eventually filed for divorce. Last year, authorities exhumed the body of Sullivan's uncle to determine if he, too, was murdered. But test results did not show any signs of foul play. The uncle, Frank Bienert, died in 1975. (source: The Associated Press)
