March 6 WISCONSIN: Committee Moves Death Penalty Referendum Forward Wisconsin is one small but important step closer to a referendum on the death penalty. A Senate committee okayed a resolution for a Senate vote that would put an advisory referendum about capital punishment on the ballot. The resolution was sponsored by Republican Senator Alan Lasee of the Town of Rockland. If the Legislature approves the resolution, the referendum could be put before voters as early as September. The referendum itself won't institute capital punishment in the state but it could spur the Legislature to make the death penalty law. Wisconsin hasn't had capital punishment since 1853. (source: WBAY TV News) ************** 2 New Measures To Bring Death Penalty to Wisconsin A single referendum question could tell lawmakers, once and for all, how Wisconsin feels about the death penalty. A death penalty opponent says the move would advance the political debate without providing real information on the issue. No one has been put to death in Wisconsin in more than 150 years, but the case of Steven Avery has compelled some lawmakers to re-visit the debate. "I had a number of constituents call up who were actually crying and said you need to introduce your bill and do something," Sen. Tom Reynolds says. Reynolds calls his legislation the most narrowly crafted death penalty bill in the nation. Anyone convicted of sexual assault, murder and dismemberment or mutilation of another would be eligible for a sentence of death, if DNA evidence is present. Steven Avery, who was wrongfully imprisoned for 18 years, is suspected of raping and killing freelance photographer Theresa Halbach. He has not been tried, but the case's brutality has some lawmakers calling for the death penalty in Wisconsin. "This is why western society, history of mankind may have had the death penalty, for people who have dehumanized themselves with such vile behavior," Sen. Reynolds says. "Those examples are the ones you'd expect a politician to pick out because they're the easier ones to justify," criminal defense attorney Erik Guenther says. The State Bar of Wisconsin opposes the death penalty. Guenther says a system of justice, not of revenge, exists to punish those convicted of heinous crimes. "Punishment with lifetime imprisonment, which is what we have now, does adequately address punishment and is significantly less costly than we as a society accepting the moral compromise to put people to death," he says. But Sen. Alan Lasee wants to put the issue to voters through referendum ... asking, "Should the death penalty be enacted in the State of Wisconsin for cases involving a person who is convicted of first-degree intentional homicide, if the homicide is vicious and the conviction supported by DNA evidence?" "If the majority say yes, then I would introduce a bill next session and take it from there," Sen. Lasee says. But Guenther calls the question slanted, saying it also leaves out important issues, such as the quality of legal representation for a defendant. "The quality of representation affects the ability to question and challenge the presence of DNA evidence. Not all DNA evidence is the same." LaSee's resolution is scheduled to hit the floor on Tuesday. If passed by both houses, the advisory referendum question would go on the September ballot. A committee hearing on Reynold's draft bill is scheduled for Wednesday. (source: NBC News) *************** Senate committee approves death penalty referendum Voters could give their opinions on whether Wisconsin should have the death penalty under a resolution approved by a state Senate committee Monday that calls for an advisory referendum. Voters could see the nonbinding referendum on the statewide ballot as early as September if the resolution is approved by both houses of the Legislature. The measure would ask voters whether the state should punish certain violent criminals with the death penalty. The Committee on Judiciary, Corrections and Privacy approved the bill 3-2 and sent it to the full Senate for possible consideration. Wisconsin's 1853 ban on the death penalty is the longest-standing one of any of the 12 states without it. Attempts to reinstate the punishment - which resulted in 4 hangings in the 1840s and 1850s - have repeatedly failed. ON THE NET----Wisconsin Legislature: http://www.legis.state.wi.us (source: Associated Press) INDIANA: Rios could face death penalty in Alejandra case Simon Rios could face the death penalty in the death of 10-year-old Alejandra Gutierrez of Fort Wayne, Delaware County authorities announced at a news conference Monday afternoon in Muncie. Police found Alejandra's body Dec. 19 in a Delaware County woods near Albany. Her mother last saw her leaving home in the 4000 block of Clinton Street about 9:50 a.m. Dec. 8. Normally, Alejandra would have boarded the bus for Maplewood Elementary School 2 hours earlier, but Fort Wayne Community Schools had a regularly scheduled "delay day." Rios' home is just 2 blocks from Alejandras bus stop. Prosecutors charged Rios with intentional murder, rape and child molesting. The intentional murder charge allows prosecutors to seek the death penalty or life in prison if Rios is convicted, Delaware County Prosecutor Mark McKinney said. Rios initial hearing is scheduled for 11 a.m. March 14 in Delaware County Superior Court, said Sheriff George Sheridan. If convicted, Rios could serve a maximum of 65 years on the murder charge, a maximum of 50 years on the rape charge and a maximum 50 years on the child molesting charge, McKinney said. Rios, 34, told police he and Juan Rosales, 17, who lives in the 4000 block of South Calhoun Street just blocks from Alejandra, dragged her into his van about 10 a.m. Dec. 8 and drove south. Rosales raped the girl first, then Rios, sources said. During the investigation of the girls disappearance, tracking dogs led police to Rios' house. On Monday morning, Rosales was released from custody after serving 77 days in the Allen County Juvenile Justice Center. He pled guilty to lying to police during their investigation of the deaths of Rios wife, Ana Casas, and her three children, Liliana, Kathy and Thannya. Rios also has been charged in their deaths and is being held in the Allen County Jail. Authorities notified the Gutierrez family prior to Mondays news conference that they were charging Rios in Alejandras death, said Jose Luis Gutierrez, Alejandras older brother. He said the family continues to heal but is happy with the recent news. "It's a good thing," he said. Rosales has not been ruled out as a suspect in Alejandra's murder, McKinney said. Delaware County authorities, the Fort Wayne Police Department and the FBI continue to investigate the case. (source: The News-Sentinel) NEVADA: Questions Raised about Nevada Executions A recent U.S. District Court decision that temporarily blocked executions in California could affect Nevada because both states use the same lethal injection procedure -- described as cruel and unusual punishment by death penalty foes. The method for both states is to give condemned inmates three injections. The 1st makes them unconscious; the 2nd paralyzes the lungs; and the 3rd stops the heart. Assistant Federal Defender Michael Pescetta says the California court ruling will be used to bolster the "cruel and unusual punishment" argument that he has raised in many Nevada execution cases over the years. State prisons chief Glen Whorton is waiting to see how the California case concludes before deciding whether any change in this state's execution method is needed. Chief Deputy Attorney General Conrad Hafen expects that Nevada death penalty foes will cite the decision in California, but a court in Nevada would have to rule that this state's execution procedures are cruel and unusual -- and the court could rule just the opposite. (source: Associated Press) CALIFORNIA: Death sentence upheld in killings of Grateful Dead followers The state Supreme Court upheld a death sentence today in the 1985 murders of 2 Grateful Dead followers in a Berkeley campground, despite finding that the defense lawyer failed to do his job. Even if the public defender representing Ralph International Thomas had acted competently by tracking down witnesses to support his client's assertion of innocence, Thomas still would have been convicted and sentenced to death, the court said in a 6-1 ruling. The dissenting justice said the additional evidence might have changed the verdict and that Thomas should get a new trial. It was the 2nd time the court had upheld Thomas' death sentence. His lawyer, Alex Reisman, said Thomas' appeal would proceed in federal court. Thomas, now 51, was convicted of murdering Mary Gioia, 22, of Schenectady, N.Y., and Gregory Kniffin, 18, of Wilson, Conn. Their bodies were found in San Francisco Bay in August 1985, with gunshot wounds to the head. The pair, while waiting for the next Grateful Dead concert, had been staying at a homeless encampment at the Berkeley marina called Rainbow Village. The city of Berkeley had established the compound six months earlier. Thomas, who had been released from prison two years before the killings after serving a 9-year sentence for two sexual assaults, was living in a car at Rainbow Village. The murder weapon was never found, but prosecutors said it was Thomas' high-powered rifle, which he said had been stolen. Another resident testified that he had seen Thomas near the couple shortly before the killings, and police said Thomas had identified Gioia's body from 15 yard away as it was being pulled from the water face-down. The sole defense witness, Vivian Cercy, said she had seen Gioia and Kniffin with a man known as Bo shortly before their deaths, arguing about an object that looked like a gun. Cercy said she had later seen Bo wiping his hands in the tall grass nearby. Thomas' lawyer, James Chaffee, an assistant public defender trying his 1st capital case, did not call any witnesses to corroborate her story. The jury deliberated 5 days before convicting Thomas. The state's high court, which had affirmed Thomas' death sentence in 1992, agreed to review his claim of incompetent legal assistance in 2001. In today's ruling, all seven justices agreed that Chaffee had failed to conduct a reasonable investigation, but the majority said it made no difference. The lawyer could have used investigators at his office to track down other Grateful Dead followers who could have confirmed the existence of Bo, whom several witnesses identified as James Bowen, said Justice Kathryn Mickle Werdegar. One of those witnesses said Bo had told a friend the morning after the killings that he had been swimming in the bay the night before, but stopped talking when a friend jabbed him in the ribs. However, Werdegar said, no available witness could have corroborated Cercy's testimony or provided any concrete evidence that Bo was the killer. The evidence Chaffee failed to obtain "does absolutely nothing to undermine the case actually presented against Thomas," which established his guilt to a "near certainty," Werdegar said. In dissent, Justice Joyce Kennard said the witnesses would have strengthened Cercy's testimony by establishing that Bo existed, had been in Rainbow Village the night of the killings and had talked later about swimming in the bay. The 5 days of jury deliberations showed that the case was "close and difficult" and that additional evidence might have made a difference, Kennard said. The case is Habeas Corpus, S063274. (source: San Francisco Chronicle)
