[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----LA., N. DAK., CALIF.

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 6


LOUISIANA:

La. Supreme Court upholds death penalty in Metairie murder


Race wasn't the reason that prosecutors removed blacks from the Jefferson
Parish jury that sent a black man to death row in 1996, a narrow Louisiana
Supreme Court majority ruled Wednesday.

The 4-3 decision was the court's second on whether prosecutors
unconstitutionally chose an all-white jury to hear the murder charge
against Allen Snyder, convicted of stabbing his estranged wife 15 times
and killing Harold Wilson, with whom she was talking.

Chief Justice Pascal Calogero and Justices Catherine Kimball and Bernette
Johnson disagreed with the majority, saying Snyder should get a new trial
because a black juror who already had been accepted was removed with a
"back strike."

They said the prosecutor's prejudice was shown by 2 comparisons he made
between Snyder's case and that of O.J. Simpson, who had been acquitted in
1995 of killing his ex-wife and a friend of hers.

The U.S. Supreme Court had ordered Louisiana's justices last year to
reconsider their original ruling in light of a decision it had handed down
2 weeks earlier, overturning a Texas death sentence.

In the Texas case, a black man was sentenced by a jury that included one
black, but prosecutors struck 9 other black potential jurors who had been
found qualified. In Snyder's case, prosecutors used peremptory challenges
to remove 5 black prospective jurors.

One had said at first that she could never consider the death penalty, and
later said she could consider it only in the murder of a child. The
majority ruling, by Justice John Weimer, said defense lawyers never
brought up the question of race for two others during the jury selection,
so cannot bring it up now.

The reasons given for striking the remaining two blacks from the jury pool
were that Elaine Scott was "very weak on her ability to consider the
imposition of the death penalty" and that Jeffrey Brooks, a student
teacher, seemed nervous and, worried about missing work, might choose a
lesser verdict than 1st-degree murder to avoid the penalty phase of trial.

It was Brooks on whom the dissenters focused.

The majority noted that the same sorts of questions asked of Brooks also
were asked of whites, including single mother of a school-aged child.

And, while prosecutors accepted two white men who said they were worried
about missing work, there was a big difference, Weimer wrote. "We note
that both of these men were employed and apparently already had
established careers; Brooks, on the other hand, was attempting to complete
his college courses in order to begin a career in teaching."

Brooks asked to talk to the judge about it, indicating greater concern
than the other 2 men, said Weimer, who was joined by Justices Jeanette
Knoll, Chet Traylor and Jeffrey Victory.

The prosecutor didn't ask in any detail about his student teaching
concerns, and Brooks said "OK" when told that the college dean had told
the judge's clerk he could miss a few days without a problem, wrote
Kimball, who was joined by Calogero.

The prosecutor referred to the O.J. Simpson case during a pretrial
hearing, but then said he would not do so again, or while evidence was
being presented. However, she wrote, the fact that he did refer to Simpson
during the penalty phase made the earlier statements "appear
disingenuous."

The prosecutor was comparing Simpson's testimony about feeling suicidal
after Nicole Brown's murder with testimony that a police officer had found
Snyder suicidal, curled in a fetal position, and repeating, "They're
coming to get me."

The pretrial comment was about allegations of domestic violence common to
both cases, and the later one "referred to the fact that Simpson feigned
suicidal intent," the majority said. "Neither remark referred to Simpson's
or Snyder's race."

It said the prosecutor's reasons for striking Brooks and Scott were
plausible.

Kimball disagreed.

"Considering this injection of racial issues, and the fact that the
prejudicial arguments were made to an all-white jury, I believe it is only
reasonable to conclude that Mr. Brooks was peremptorily challenged by the
State on the basis of his race when the entirety of the facts is
considered," she wrote.

Johnson quoted her earlier opinion: "The prosecutor had no need to make
reference to this defendant not getting away with murder during the
penalty phase of the trial. At this point, the defendant had already been
convicted of the crime, so there was nothing for him to 'get away with.'
The prosecutor utilized the O.J. Simpson verdict to racially inflame the
jury's passion to sentence this defendant to death."

The majority ruling said the justices don't consider the Supreme Court's
order to reconsider the 1999 ruling as a rejection of their original
analysis. "We view the remand as a mere expansion of our review," it said.

(source: Associated Press)






NORTH DAKOTA:

Deliberating if Rodriguez Eligible for Death Penalty


Jurors in Fargo continue to deliberate over whether Alfonso Rodriguez
Junior is eligible for the death penalty.

If jurors decide the Crookston, Minnesota, man is eligible for the death
penalty, they'll return to decide if he should then be sentenced to death
for the kidnapping and killing of Dru Sjodin, a University of North Dakota
student from Pequot Lakes, Minnesota.

The jury began deliberating shortly before noon. This afternoon, the
jurors asked Judge Ralph Erickson to clarify a couple of questions.

They asked whether the intent of the crime had to be formed before or
during the time it was committed. Erickson said it didn't matter.

The jurors also asked for a definition of "protracted loss" in referring
to serious injuries. Then they resumed deliberations.

(source: Associated Press)






CALIFORNIA:

Death penalty sought for 2 men charged in yacht killings


In Santa Ana, prosecutors said Wednesday they will seek the death penalty
for 2 men charged with killing a retired couple for their yacht by tying
them to an anchor and pitching them overboard.

Skylar Julius Deleon, 27, and John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 41, were arrested
in January 2005. Their trial has been scheduled for early next year.

In announcing his decision to seek the death penalty, Orange County
District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said Thomas and Jackie Hawks of
Prescott, Arizona, were murdered "in the most cold-blooded way  tied
together to an anchor, thrown into the deep, frigid ocean, the pressure
rapidly filling their lungs."

A message left for Deleon's attorney was not immediately returned.
Kennedy's lawyer, Winston McKesson, said he was not surprised by the
district attorney's decision, although he reiterated his client's
innocence.

"He didn't do it. He wasn't there," McKesson said, adding there was no
evidence connecting Kennedy to the crime scene.

The Hawks were last seen Nov. 15, 2004. Prosecutors allege Deleon
approached the couple with an offer to buy their 55-foot (16.5-meter)
yacht "Well Deserved."

During a test cruise off Newport Beach, Deleon, Kennedy and another man
overpowered the couple, who were murdered after they signed over the
yacht's title and control of more than $1 million (780,000) in assets,
authorities said.

"This couple literally watched their dreams float away as they were
drowning to death," Rackauckas said.

Their bodies were never found.

Rackauckas said Deleon planned the murder and used his wife and infant to
gain the couple's trust. If convicted, Deleon's 25-year-old wife, Jennifer
Henderson Deleon, could face life in prison without parole. Also charged
in the case were Alonso Machain, 22, of Pico Rivera, and Myron Gardner
Sr., 43, of Long Beach.

Deleon is also awaiting trial in the 2003 death of John Jarvi, 45, of
Anaheim. Authorities allege Deleon met Jarvi while the 2 were on a jail
work-furlough program and killed him during a trip to Mexico to steal
$50,000 (39,100).

In a 3rd case, Deleon has been charged with soliciting the murder of his
father and cousin. Both are expected to be witnesses at his trial.

(source: Associated Press)