March 23 TEXAS----new execution date Mauriceo Brown has been given an execution date of July 19; it should be considered serious. (sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin) CALIFORNIA: Gang member facing possible death penalty after conviction in 4 murders In Oakland, the most notorious member of an Oakland crime crew known as the "Nut Cases" is facing the possibility of the death penalty after being convicted of 4 murders. Demarcus Ralls was convicted yesterday of 3 counts of 1st-degree murder and 1 count of second-degree murder. The jury also found him guilty of 2 counts of attempted murder and more than a dozen counts of robbery and attempted robber. The 21-year-old Ralls is the 1st member of Nut Cases to go on trial. The gang has claimed responsibility for a crime spree that 5 people dead between October 2002 and January 2003. Because the jury found Ralls guilty of a 2nd special circumstances allegation, he's eligible for the death penalty. That portion of the trial is scheduled to begin Tuesday. (source: Associated Press) FLORIDA: Process behind death penalty recommendations Wednesday it was recommended that Fred Cooper be sentenced to death for the murders of Kellie Ballew and Steven Andrews. However, for that to have happened a Death Penalty Review Committee had to intensely review the case looking at a number of factors to see if he would qualify. Frank DiPlacido, a Fort Myers defense attorney, explained there is, in fact, a process that must occur before someone can be recommended for the death penalty. While Diplacido is currently a defense attorney he spent five years in the state attorney's office as a prosecutor, trying many first degree murder cases. He said the committee is made up of lawyers in the state attorney's office. "Very experienced prosecutors, all of which probably have 10 to 15 years prosecuting experience," said DiPlacido. He explained that this is the type of case that the committee would seek the death penalty. "You have multiple homicides, more than one person killed," said DiPlacido. He went on to say that there are a few things that would prevent a committee from recommending the death penalty. "Somebody who has no prior record, somebody who suffers from mental illness, was acting under duress, or direction of another person," said DiPlacido. In the end, the committee saw overwhelming evidence in the case at hand. The Death Penalty Review Committee believes Cooper should be found guilty and should be put to death. The judge has the final say in the case but the law says he must give great weight to the committees recommendation. (source: WNBC News) OHIO: Death row inmate seeks clemency----Killer scheduled to be 1st from Lucas County to be executed in years Joseph Lewis Clark credits God for keeping him alive when he tried to kill himself more than 20 years ago, but he knows the state of Ohio plans to finish the job on May 2. Now a great-grandfather with a touch of gray in his hair and beard, Clark, 57, sobbed at times during his 1st interview since the Ohio Supreme Court scheduled his execution. "God kept me," said Clark during an interview conducted at the Ohio State Penitentiary at Youngstown on behalf of the Ohio Legislative Correspondents Association. "I tried to take my own life 21 years ago," he said. "I was in the county jail. I guess God kept me alive then. He's been the one who has kept me strong all these years." Clark shot and killed David Manning, 23, on Jan. 13, 1984, during an armed robbery of a Toledo gas station. Clark's taped confession helped convict him, and he was caught with the murder weapon, a 32-caliber handgun. He apologized to the Manning family before the jury recommended a death sentence. He partly blamed his escalating drug addiction for a life of crime that led to the spree that left 2 people dead in separate robberies. He has spent more than half of his life behind bars. He received a life sentence following a separate trial for the murder of Donald Harris, 21, who was shot in the back of the head two days earlier during a robbery of a Lawson Milk Co. store at 4401 Hill Ave. He has exhausted his state and federal appeals. He also shot a man as he robbed him at an ATM machine. The victim survived. "I made mistakes," said Clark. "I felt bad about them after they were over. If I had thought about what I was doing before I did it, maybe I wouldn't have done it." Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro's office plans to oppose Clark's attorneys' attempts at an April 11 clemency hearing to persuade Gov. Bob Taft to grant him mercy. "Joseph Clark went on a brutal crime spree, killing two people and seriously injuring another," said Petro spokesman Kim Norris. "The courts have appropriately reviewed this case and upheld his just sentence and conviction." Clark insisted he had no intention of killing anyone as he followed Mr. Manning, a father of 2 and a clerk at Clark Oil gas station at 3070 Airport Highway, back into the station after he'd finish helping a customer. "This wasn't the 1st time I was watching the gas station," he said. "I robbed it once before." He said he ordered Mr. Manning to open a floor safe, but the clerk did not have the combination. He then demanded cash from the register. "He handed me the money out of the cash register, and as I proceeded to leave, he started saying a few things like cuss words, you know," he said. "I don't know if he realized I was one of the guys who robbed him once before. He started coming toward me with something like a metal rod or something in his hand. "As he was coming toward me, I sort of somehow squeezed the trigger off and shot him," he said. "I just left then. Just left. I didn't know if he was dead." Clark won't be permitted to attend the clemency hearing. Members of the Manning family will be able to testify before the board. Unless the governor intervenes, Clark will become the 21st person, and the 1st from Lucas County, executed in Ohio since the state resumed carrying out the death penalty in 1999. (source: Toledo Blade)
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, CALIF., FLA., OHIO
Rick Halperin Thu, 23 Mar 2006 08:50:22 -0600 (Central Standard Time)
