[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----N.C., S.C., N. MEX.

[Rick Halperin]

Dec. 12



NORTH CAROLINA----new execution date

Execution date set for Cumberland killer Marcus Robinson


Convicted killer Marcus Reymond Robinson, sentenced to death in 1994 for
the shotgun murder of another teenager, is scheduled to be executed Jan.
26, the state Department of Correction announced Tuesday.

Robinson, 33, was sentenced to death in Cumberland County Superior Court
for the June 1991 death of Erik Tornblom. He also was sentenced to 40
years in prison for robbery with a dangerous weapon, 10 years for larceny
and 5 years for possessing a weapon of mass destruction.

Robinson's appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court was dismissed Oct. 30,
triggering the scheduling of his execution.

Tornblom was 17 when he gave Robinson and Roderick Sylvester Williams Jr.
a ride from a Fayetteville convenience store. Tornblom was forced to drive
to a field where he was shot in the face with a sawed-off shotgun.
Tornblom's wallet and car were taken.

Williams, 32, was sentenced to life in prison in 1995. He was a schoolmate
of Tornblom's.

(source: Associated Press)






SOUTH CAROLINA:

Mahdi faces years of appeals after death sentence----Solicitor: Murderer
is 'by far the coldest' that he's seen


Despite having pleaded guilty to murdering an off-duty Orangeburg police
officer, Mikal Deen Mahdi will now face years of appeals after being
sentenced to death.

First Circuit Solicitor David Pascoe said Mahdi's receiving a death
penalty sentence following court proceedings last week put him on track
for a long appeals procedure.

"It's a long process," Pascoe said. "It'll be years" before Mahdi's
appeals are exhausted.

On Nov. 30, Mahdi, on trial for the brutal murder of Orangeburg Department
of Public Safety Capt. James Myers, entered a guilty plea which was
accepted by Circuit Court Judge Clifton Newman.

Mahdi's decision required Newman to render a decision as to whether he
should spend his life in prison or receive the death penalty.

Newman's decision last Friday made the 23-year-old Mahdi the youngest of
the 61 death row inmates in the state.

"In considering the appropriate sentence to be imposed, I am acutely aware
that I am being called upon to determine what few of my brethren and
sisters on the bench have been called to do," Newman wrote in his
sentencing order. "It is being the sole judge of whether Mr. Mahdi should
be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole or death
by electrocution or lethal injection. It is an awesome task -- which I do
not take lightly."

Newman cited incidents of Mahdi's disruptive behavior, such as threats to
kill corrections officers and the discovery on numerous occasions of
homemade weapons "and other contraband in the Defendant's cell."

The Third Circuit judge went on to describe the emotional pain inflicted
upon Myers' family and friends before handing down the death penalty for
Mahdi.

"Today, the Defendant also seeks mercy -- the same mercy that perhaps
Capt. James E. Myers sought for an instant before Mikal Deen Mahdi fired
nine bullets into Capt. Myers' body from one of Captain Myers' prized
weapons, before setting his body on fire with matches and diesel fuel
belonging to Captain Myers," Newman said. "In considering all the evidence
of this case, I have concluded that the only appropriate punishment for
the murder of Captain James E. Myers is death."

Defense attorneys Glenn Walters and Josh Koger could not be reached for
comment Tuesday on the strategy of pleading guilty.

However, Pascoe speculated that Mahdi's decision may have been an attempt
"to get credit for pleading guilty and pleading for mercy" from Newman.

In the past two years, there have been several similar capital cases in
the state in which the defendant has pleaded guilty while facing the death
penalty. Of the 5 Pascoe is familiar with, only two resulted in the death
sentence being handed down from the bench.

Based on cases from around the state, Mahdi's sentence could be eight to
15 years away from being carried out.

Mahdi's verdict will go before the state Supreme Court, then direct
appeals will have to be addressed, as well as post-conviction relief
hearings.

If those state-based appeals fail to relieve Mahdi of the sentence, he'll
have federal appeals to exhaust before he is executed.

But for now, Mahdi will be housed at the Leiberman Correctional Facility
in Ridgeville, where he will remain until his sentencing date has been
finalized.

Leiberman is by nature a maximum security facility, handling all of South
Carolina's Death Row inmates.

Tensions ran high 2 weeks ago after Calhoun County deputies located a
homemade key in Mahdi's mouth. The now-death row inmate told authorities
he had made the key, about the size of a jewelry box key, at the
Department of Corrections.

Prior to the proceedings, Newman had ruled that Mahdi should not be
shackled for fear it might prejudice the jury. But with the discovery of
the tiny key, the judge ruled that stricter measurements were called for.

Rumors of an escape attempt made their rounds during the proceedings as
well. The rumors had Mahdi using a fishing line to retrieve something
outside his cell window to facilitate his escape, or punching holes in his
cell's ceiling to make his getaway.

Pascoe said he investigated Mahdi's cell and security measures surrounding
the holding facility. The tales, Pascoe said, had no substance to them.

"But he is dangerous," Pascoe said. "This is a guy who, when he is in
Super Max, he was able to make a handcuff key. Super Max is 24-hour
surveillance."

Mahdi makes the 12th inmate on death row from the First Circuit, which
encompasses Orangeburg, Dorchester and Calhoun counties.

But of his fellow prison mates, Mahdi may yet stand out as morbidly
unique.

"I've participated in the prosecution of hundreds of murderers," Pascoe
said. "And he is by far the coldest, or has the coldest heart of all of
them."

(source: The Times & Democrat)






NEW MEXICO:

Faced with death, he gets life ---- James Smith took plea in face of
potential death sentence.


In Clovis, it's not exactly what the family of murder victim Laura
McNaughton wanted on the day after a judge ruled her accused killer could
be executed if convicted.

They wanted Dr. James Smith, a former Clovis dentist, to die.

Instead, faced with the potential for a jury to deliver a death sentence,
Smith, 37, took a plea deal which spared him from execution but sentenced
him to life in prison plus 27 years.

After a 3-hour hearing on Monday, District Judge Joe Parker agreed with
prosecutors that there was sufficient evidence to make Smith's scheduled
June 1 trial a death-penalty case.

Then this morning Smith entered an Alford plea in which he did not admit
guilt but agreed there was sufficient evidence to convict him of
1st-degree murder in McNaughton's death

On Monday prosecutors laid out the disturbing details of the killing of
the 30-year-old waitress and mother of 2.

It was Dec. 9, 2005, when she was reported missing and the next day when
hunters found her battered body in a ditch. She had been strangled and
beaten.

In front of the courtroom today, the victim's family let Smith know the
pain his actions caused them.

"The worst night; I looked my kids in the eye and tell them that some man,
some human took their mother away," McNaughtons ex-husband Duffy
McNaughton said.

"That choice was taken away in one violent night by this animal over
there," Paul Rosser, her uncle, added.

(source: KRQE News)