March 3 TEXAS: Bryan man indicted in 2003 raid A Bryan man whose 2 sons were convicted in connection with a deadly 2003 raid on the home of a College Station rap producer was indicted Thursday on a capital murder charge. Willie Davis' 2 sons - Chad and Trey Davis - were accused of hiring a trio of Georgia gunmen to confront Tommy Andrade after he stole $100,000 in money or drugs from the brothers. Andrade and one of the gunmen were killed in the encounter. The eldest Davis, 66, originally was charged with tampering with evidence after police said he drove the 2 surviving gunmen back to Georgia, where their multiple gunshot wounds were treated by an off-duty nurse. Brazos County Sheriff Chris Kirk said Thursday that recent investigative findings led prosecutors to seek a higher charge. He declined to elaborate. Willie Davis could have faced up to 10 years in prison for the tampering charge. Capital murder is punishable by life in prison or the death penalty. Chad Davis was sentenced last year to life in prison after being convicted of capital murder. Trey Davis, also originally charged with capital murder, was sentenced earlier this year to 40 years in prison for burglary of a habitation and robbery as part of a plea agreement. Thomas Parent, considered to be a middleman who recruited the gunmen, was sentenced last month to 35 years in prison for engaging in organized criminal activity and burglary. Gunman Bradley Padrick has been sentenced to 40 years in prison. Boris "Short Fat" Mogilevich, thought to be the other surviving gunman, has not been captured. Willie Davis, arrested Thursday on the capital murder charge, was among more than 3 dozen people indicted by a Brazos County grand jury. An indictment is not an indication of guilt, but rather that the grand jury shows there was enough evidence to warrant a trial. (source: The Bryan-College Station Eagle) ************ Father denies abuse in Clint Young hearing Convicted double murderer Clint Young's appellate hearing in 238th District Court Thursday raised questions of sexual abuse by his father, William Young Jr. of Irving, who denied the accusations. Cross-examined by defense attorney Ori White of Fort Stockton, the 54-year-old welder denied having ever abused his youngest son, his 2 older sons, two daughters or a grandson. "That is not true," Young said. "It was fabricated." However, he acknowledged being arrested in the mid-1990s in North Carolina for hitting Clint Young in the face and upper torso. "He had told me to 'shut up, (pejorative),' and I popped him up beside the jaw," William Young said. "I never hit him with a 2-by-4 and never hit him in the nose with a belt buckle." The sexual issue was raised by affidavits signed last April in Longview by 31-year-old Dano Young and his common law wife Crystal Deshotel of Alvarado; but Dano Young told Judge John Hyde and prosecutors Ralph Petty and Eric Kalenak he was first manipulated for two days with crack cocaine and liquor by Austin mitigation specialist Lisa Milstein. "I lied to her so she would buy me drugs," Dano Young said, noting Milstein was working for Austin lawyer Gary Taylor, who been appointed to handle Clint Young's appeal. "It was wrong for me to lie, but I'm here to straighten it out. "My dad is not a bad man. He has worked hard all his life and has never laid a hand on us other than whipping our butts when we deserved it." When asked by White if Milstein knew he was lying or believed he was truthful, Dano Young said, "Right off, she was trying to make Dad look like a child molester." Dino Young, 32, of Irving then testified Milstein contacted him when he was an inmate at Upshur County Jail in Gilmer. "I told her Dad didn't sexually abuse us and he never has," the defendant's elder brother said. "Dano visited me later and said they drove around and she was buying crack and they were smoking it." Both of Clint Young's brothers acknowledged having served state penitentiary terms. With more than a dozen spectators present during the hearing's 2nd day, the most poignant moment came when one of the death row inmate's sisters, Christy Jetton of Winnsboro, became too emotional to testify. She had not seen her brother since he was convicted on 2 counts of capital murder and given the death penalty in April 2003. Young killed Doyle Douglas of Ore City near Longview and Samuel Petrey of Eastland near Midland during a November 2001 carjacking spree. Jetton, a longhaired brunette, looked at her 22-year-old brother at the defense table and began to cry. Young also lowered his shaven head and wept. His other sister, Sharon Gentry of Vivian, La., has not been called. "Are you worried about your brother?" White asked Jetton. Unable to answer, she was excused and the 1st state's witness, Texas Ranger David Hullum of Eastland, testified about finding evidence of Douglas' death in the victim's white 1995 Pontiac 2-door car on an Eastland County oil lease on Nov. 26, 2001. "I found 2 spent .22-caliber shell casings and five live rounds on the floor," said Hullum. Testimony was scheduled to continue today and conclude this afternoon, when Hyde could either rule on White's motion to grant Young a new trial or take the case under advisement. (source: Midland Reporter-Telegram) USA: Executions wrong Capital punishment is a cruel, unjust and an expensive way to kill someone legally. It's wrong. Let's say someone from your family was put on death row; would you want them dead or alive? I would say alive. I know no one likes to pay taxes. To keep someone on death row costs about $53,000 a year, money that comes from state taxes. If there are 5 people on death row a year, that costs taxpayers about $265,000. That's a lot of money. Constant appeals by lawyers can mean a person on death row could stay there for 10, 20 or even 30 years. Some people have even gone before a judge or jury more than 60 times. That takes up a lot of court time and money. However, until our country comes up with a fair, unbiased, colorblind and balanced system for dealing with capital crimes, I'd rather save the money and save a life. JULIE KNODT - Mount Laurel (source: Letter to the Editor, Cherry Hill Courier Post) ********************** Lives set adrift by sudden freedom----Wrongly convicted men share their post-release stories After "Exonerated" and the endless parade of cable TV shows about people who were wrongly imprisoned and later set free on the basis of DNA evidence comes "After Innocence," a documentary focusing on what happens to them afterward. An outgrowth of the Innocence Project, the nonprofit legal collective put together by former O.J. Simpson Dream Teamer Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld, "After Innocence" examines the post-prison experiences of 7 men, any of whose stories could be the stuff of an inspired-by-a-true-story drama. The most striking of them is probably Nick Yarris, who spent 23 years on death row and was the 140th person to escape execution through post-conviction DNA testing. Yarris, who fits the stereotype of the bulked-up, disciplined and philosophical prison survivor, spent years in solitary confinement, but he appears more fortunate than most. He channeled his righteous indignation into the inspirational tone of a motivational speaker and aids those who might be tempted to give up hope. Yet when he visits the neighborhood in which he grew up, his iron-man pose dissolves: "I'm a ghost in my own life," he tells the camera. Still, he seems to have found a place for himself, which cannot be said for the sad-eyed Dennis Maher, who was released after 19 years in jail. He returns to his childhood home to live with his parents, sleeping on a fold-out couch. It is exceedingly difficult to watch him attempt to enjoy a family birthday party more appropriate for the person he was 2 decades before. One of the major points made in "Exonerated" is that wrongful convictions are in some cases secured by prosecutors determined to make or clear a case, even if it contains contradictions. Other times, they have been the result of sincere eyewitness testimony. One seemingly open-and shut case was that of college student Jennifer Thompson-Canino, who, as she was being brutally raped, memorized the features of the man assaulting her. On her testimony, Ronald Cotton was given a life sentence and served 11 years before another man's confession to the crime was confirmed by DNA testing. Today, Thompson-Canino speaks publicly to law enforcement and advocacy groups about the problem of misidentification, often in tandem with Cotton. The 2 have become friends. Director Jessica Sanders has made a more even-handed film than "Exonerated," which, powerful and effective as it was, tended to demonize law enforcement. Nevertheless, this is an advocacy film, one that argues that the wrongfully convicted deserve compensation or, at least, assistance in re-entering society, both psychologically and professionally. "After Innocence" is, without making it overly obvious, anti-death penalty on the grounds that a just society cannot afford to make any mistakes that we cannot attempt to rectify. (source: Detroit Free Press) DELAWARE: 'Good riddance' Capano----Fahey's brother likely sees killer for final time in court as convict gets life in prison While he still has some federal appeal options left, there was a sense of finality about convicted killer Thomas J. Capano's appearance Thursday at the New Castle County Courthouse. It marked the end of Capano's state appeals, and his trip to Wilmington may have been one of the last times he'll ever leave the walls of a prison. It also marked the end of Capano's status as a death row inmate. In January, the Delaware Supreme Court upheld his conviction for the 1996 murder of Anne Marie Fahey but overturned his death sentence. On Thursday, Superior Court Judge T. Henley Graves had only 1 option: He made the state Supreme Court's ruling official, sentencing Capano to life in prison without possibility of probation or parole. It took about two minutes, and it made Capano just "another lifer, just a dime a dozen" in the words of Fahey's brother, Robert. U.S. Attorney Colm F. Connolly, who prosecuted Capano and sat in on Thursday's proceeding, called it "the beginning of the end." Capano filed a federal appeal in January, but legal experts familiar with the case have said that petition does not have much of a chance of overturning Capano's murder conviction now that he's no longer on death row. He has to prove not only that state courts were wrong, but also that Delaware judges committed an "unreasonable" error. During the federal appeals process generally, a defendant does not appear at proceedings. "This could very well be the last time he'll be in a courtroom," said assistant U.S. attorney Ferris W. Wharton, who prosecuted Capano with Connolly and remains assigned to the case. Len Sosnov, a professor at Widener University School of Law, agreed. "The odds are he'll never see a courtroom as part of his federal habeas [action]," Sosnov said. "Good riddance," said Kevin Fahey, another of Anne Marie's brothers, as he left court Thursday. Capano, 56, with his feet shackled and dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit, looked older and overweight. Once clean-shaven, he wore a wispy white beard. He didn't scan the courtroom for friendly faces, and there were apparently none to be seen. Fahey's friends and family filled the front row and the rest of the 40 or so people in the room appeared to be members of the media or court personnel. Connolly said it was clear from Capano's appearance that he has paid a price, and continues to pay a price, "for what he did June 27, 1996." Kathleen Fahey-Hosey, the victim's sister, said Capano "looks awful. But that is OK with me." Capano's attorney, Joseph M. Bernstein, would not discuss his client's well-being, but said "prison life isn't conducive to good heath." He said Capano's health concerns are treated like everyone else's in prison. Capano only said two words in court -- "Yes sir" -- when Graves asked whether he was declining his opportunity to address the court. He didn't express any remorse for murdering Fahey, his former lover, and dumping her body at sea, nor did he profess his innocence. Bernstein told Graves that the court had no discretion in the sentence, so "from the defense side, we have nothing to add." Wharton told Graves that although Capano avoided a death sentence, he will not avoid dying behind bars, "which is as it should be." Graves then condemned Capano to live the rest of his days in prison, and expressed a hope that the sentence "would bring, or start to bring, some closure to the family and friends of Ms. Fahey." Connolly said he hopes Capano is kept in solitary confinement, where he has been held since he was sentenced to death, to prevent him from mingling with other prisoners and finding someone to threaten or harm people who testified against him at trial. Fahey-Hosey said outside court that true closure probably will happen for her family only when Capano is dead and they can stop visiting courthouses to ensure Anne Marie gets justice. Not that the Faheys are upset that Delaware Attorney General Carl C. Danberg decided not to pursue the death penalty a second time. Fahey-Hosey said earlier she did not want to have to go through the lengthy and painful court proceeding that would be needed. But, she said, it is getting better -- every year the family has to go to court less and less -- and they are all moving toward a resolution. "Based on how he looked today, that might not be that long," she said. "The sooner, the better." WHAT'S NEXT: Capano has filed a petition in U.S. District Court in Wilmington seeking to overturn his murder conviction, alleging mistakes by the judge and ineffective counsel by his attorneys. District Judge Kent A. Jordan is reviewing it. (source: The News Journal ) CALIFORNIA: S.C. Upholds Death Sentence in Beverlywood Murder The California Supreme Court yesterday narrowly upheld the death sentence imposed on a construction worker convicted of fatally stabbing an emergency-room nurse in her Beverlywood home. In a 4-3 decision, the justices rejected the contention that there was insufficient evidence that Jose Francisco Guerra attempted to rape Kathleen Powell. Such evidence was essential to Guerra's 1st degree murder conviction and to the special-circumstance finding, as Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Leslie W. Light, who has since retired, threw out allegations of premeditation, lying-in-wait, and burglary before the case went to the jury. Guerra, who was doing renovation work on the house next to Powell's prior to the 1990 murder, was picked up for questioning after his fingerprints were found in the victim's blood. Under interrogation, he first denied being in the house, then when told that the prints were discovered, said he was drunk and might have gone in and found the victim already lying dead. Fellow construction workers, however, testified that Guerra frequently visited Powell, who occasionally gave the construction workers food and spoke with them in order to practice her Spanish. Powell, they said, had complained that he came in to her house all of the time. They also testified that Guerra had talked and used gestures suggesting he was interested in Powell sexually, and that they had tried to explain to him that she had no romantic interest in him and that he should stay away from her house. Guerra testified that he stayed behind after work on the day of the killing because he intended to swim in the pool at the house that he and his co-workers were remodeling. He said he heard screaming next door, ran over to the house, and saw Powell lying in blood and briefly attempted to lift her. He did not report the crime because he was scared and did not know how to call 911. He lied to the police, he said, because he was afraid they would beat him, which he said was a common occurrence in his native Guatemala. While there was no direct evidence that he sexually assaulted her, prosecutors argued that his expressed sexual desires and his persistent entry into her house, combined with the facts that Guerra had stayed behind after his co-workers left the job site on the day of the killing and that the victims breasts had been poked several times and slashed before she was killed, was enough to prove an attempted rape Light ruled that there was enough evidence of a rape attempt to send the felony 1st-degree murder charge and the special circumstance allegation to the jury. Justice Ming Chin, writing for the high court, agreed. The justice cited People v. Holloway (2004) 33 Cal.4th 96, in which the court held that where the defendant entered the victims residence and attacked her, intent to rape could be inferred, despite a lack of physical evidence of a sexual assault, from other physical evidence. The court in that case relied on the condition of the victim's body and evidence of the defendant's attempted rape of the victim's sister in holding the evidence sufficient. Chief Justice Ronald M. George and Justices Joyce L. Kennard and Marvin Baxter joined in Chins opinion. Justice Kathryn M. Werdegar, joined by Justice Carlos Moreno and Presiding Court of Appeal Justice Arthur Gilbert of this districts Div. Six, sitting on assignment, dissented. While Guerra was clearly guilty of murder, Werdegar wrote, the evidence of intent to rape was much weaker than in Holloway. "In the present case, the evidence shows neither disrobement, nor indications of bondage, nor the recent or contemporaneous attempt to rape another victim....In determining the nature of Powell's wounds is substantial evidence that defendant killed her in the commission of rape or attempted rape, the majority extends Holloway beyond what the opinion will support," the dissenting jurist argued. The case is People v. Guerra, 06 S.O.S. 1101. (source: Metropolitan News-Enterprise) NORTH CAROLINA: Judge hears argument in lawsuit against executions In Raleigh, a judge says a Cary man who sued the state on grounds that executions are offensive to Christians has until Monday to file more information before a decision is made on the lawsuit. Superior Court Judge Robert Hobgood ruled yesterday that death penalty opponent Jim French and the state have until 5 p-m on Monday to file any additional information with the court before he issues a decision. French's lawsuit said state executions violate his religious freedom, but he never made that argument during the 30-minute hearing yesterday. He spent his 30 minutes challenging the statutes that govern executions. Hobgood's decision could influence the execution of Patrick Lane Moody, who's scheduled to die March 17th for the 1994 murder of Donnie Ray Robbins in Davidson County. An attorney for the state argued that French lacks standing to file the lawsuit. NEW JERSEY: Multiple killer gets life in prison -- Nurse, 46, says he injected 40 of his patients A nurse who killed at least 29 patients was sent to prison on Thursday for the rest of his life after his victims' loved ones angrily branded him "garbage" and a "monster" who ruined lives and shattered their faith in the medical profession. Charles Cullen - one of the most prolific killers the U.S. health care industry has ever seen - escaped the death penalty after making a deal with prosecutors to tell them which patients he killed with hard-to-detect drug injections. He received 11 consecutive life terms at a tense hearing in which he came face-to-face with his victims' families for the 1st time. "You betrayed the ancient foundations of the healing professions," Superior Court Judge Paul Armstrong said as Cullen stood motionless, his eyes closed. Cullen, 46, pleaded guilty to murdering 22 people in New Jersey and trying to kill 4 others. He will be sentenced later for 7 murders and 3 attempted murders in Pennsylvania. Cullen has claimed to have killed up to 40 people during a career that spanned 16 years and 10 nursing homes and hospitals. He was fired from 5 nursing jobs and resigned from 2 others amid questions about his practices. But he always managed to find another job, in part because hospitals did not share their suspicions for fear of being sued. New Jersey lawmakers have since passed legislation protecting nursing homes and hospitals from legal action when reporting disciplinary actions taken against employees. About 60 relatives of the victims attended the sentencing. Cullen, wearing a sweater over an open-collar shirt, sat quietly during much of the hearing. As the family members spoke, he kept his eyes closed, frustrating some of the relatives. "In case he forgot what my mother looked like, look into my eyes now," said Richard J. Stoecker, whose mother was murdered in 2003. Cullen declined to make a statement, disappointing families who had hoped to hear him explain why he committed the crimes. John Shanagher, whose father was murdered, said his family "will never feel safe in a hospital again. We will never feel we can trust the medical profession again." Dolores Stasienko of Kitty Hawk, N.C., said Cullen "will always be known as the monster." She held a photo of her father, Giacomino "Jack" Toto, 89, who was murdered in 2003. "After today, we will finally toss aside his name and face, like the garbage he is," said Emily Stoecker, whose mother, Eleanor, was killed. Other relatives talked of how the killings ruined marriages, careers and schooling. "My heart, it aches for my son," said Mary Strenko, whose 21-year-old son was Charles Cullen's youngest victim. "I walk around with a hole in my heart." Cullen has admitted to using lethal doses of medications - usually the heart medication dig oxin - to kill patients. He told authorities when he was arrested in 2003 that he killed "very sick" patients, and he described the slayings as mercy killings. (source: Associated Press)
