[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----N.DAK., S.C., MD., MISS., ILL.

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 22



NORTH DAKOTA----federal death sentence given

Dru Sjodin's Killer Gets Death Penalty----Dru Was On Phone With Boyfriend
When Abducted


in Fargo, jurors have sentenced convicted sex offender Alfonso Rodriguez
Jr. to death for the killing of college student Dru Sjodin.

The decision was announced after jurors met for about an hour and a half
Friday morning. Jurors began deliberations on Wednesday afternoon.

Rodriguez looked straight ahead and showed no emotion as the sentence was
announced late Friday morning in federal court. His mother, Dolores, and
sister, Ileanna Noyes cried, as did a number of the jurors.

Members of Sjodin's family looked somber and stared straight ahead. They
shared hugs outside the courtroom.

The same federal jury convicted Rodriguez, 53, last month of kidnapping
resulting in Sjodin's death.

The 22-year-old University of North Dakota student from Pequot Lakes,
Minn., disappeared from a Grand Forks, N.D., shopping mall parking lot in
November 2003.

Sjodin's boss told jurors that Dru finished her work shift at Victoria's
Secret at the mall at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 22, 2003, according to the
St. Paul Pioneer Press. A store clerk at Marshal Fields said Sjodin bought
a purse at 5 p.m. and walked back into the common mall area.

Sjodin's boyfriend Chris Lang testified that Dru had called him at 5 p.m.
to talk about her new purse, the Pioneer Press reported. He then said that
4 minutes into the conversation, he heard Sjodin utter, "OK, OK," before
the line went dead.

Lang said that at first, he just figured the call had been cut off. But he
tried to call her several times and got no answer. Sjodin then did not
show up for work, so her roommate called the police.

The police then found Sjodin's car in the mall parking lot that night, the
Pioneer Press reported. Her wallet, drivers license, student
identification, shopping bag and new purse were found in the car. But
lying next to the car was a knife sheath, the paper reported.

Sjodin's body was found the following April in a ravine near Crookston, in
northwestern Minnesota. Authorities said she was beaten, raped and
stabbed. Her hands were tied behind her back and her throat was cut, The
Pioneer Press reported.

Prosecutors had called for jurors to sentence Rodriguez to death. Defense
attorneys had called for a sentence of life in prison, arguing that
Rodriguez was sexually abused as a child and has brain damage from
exposure to farm chemicals.

The defense said Rodriguez had been anxious about being released from
prison after serving more than 20 years for assaults on 3 women in 1975
and 1980.

It's North Dakota's 1st death-penalty case in nearly 100 years.

North Dakota does not have the death penalty but it is allowed in federal
cases.

(source: TheMilwaukeeChannel.com)

********************

Rodriguez case may revive North Dakota death penalty debate


Alfonso Rodriguez Jr.'s death sentence may prompt the Legislature to
reconsider whether North Dakota should have the ultimate penalty, Gov.
John Hoeven and Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem believe.

Rodriguez's lawyers say they hope their client's sentence stirs another
kind of public discussion - about the wrongheadedness of the death
penalty.

"Hopefully, this case will spur a debate in the state of North Dakota
about the death penalty, and the problems and difficulties that it
raises," said Rodriguez attorney Robert Hoy, who is a former Cass County
prosecutor.

"I think if it were truly a deterrent to crime ... there would be no crime
in the state of Texas, and we all know that that's certainly not the
case," Hoy said.

Stenehjem said the killings of Rodriguez's victim, University of North
Dakota student Dru Sjodin, 22, of Pequot Lakes, Minn., and the recent
slaying of Valley City State University student Mindy Morgenstern, 22, of
New Salem, may revive the issue in the Legislature.

Morgenstern was found dead in her apartment last week, and authorities
said her throat was slashed. A Barnes County jailer who lived in her
apartment building, Moe Maurice Gibbs, 34, has been charged with murder.
Sjodin's body was found in a Minnesota ravine in 2004, and authorities
said she had been beaten, raped and stabbed.

"You have to think about what kind of a reaction the state of North Dakota
needs to offer," Stenehjem said. "I think it's early to say that the
Legislature might take a different approach than it has, but sometimes you
have to look and say, 'Maybe things are changing.'"

Lawmakers have not debated a death penalty bill since 1995, when the North
Dakota Senate defeated the idea. Stenehjem was a Grand Forks state senator
at the time, and he led the opposition to the measure on the Senate floor.

The legislation was introduced in response to the killing of Donna Martz,
of Rock Lake, who was abducted in a Bismarck motel parking lot in
September 1993 by a couple who wanted to steal her car. Martz was bound
and stuffed in the car's trunk, and her body was later found in the Nevada
desert.

Hoeven said he would not include a death penalty proposal in his budget
recommendations to the 2007 Legislature. However, he personally supports
the idea.

"I'm open to that discussion," the governor said. "We need to take very
strong measures for these violent sexual offenses, and we're going to
continue to put tougher laws in place."

Rodriguez attorney Richard Ney, a Wichita, Kan., lawyer who is experienced
in death penalty cases, said he was "saddened ... for the people of North
Dakota" by the jury's verdict.

"It just seems difficult for us to grasp that justice is taking the life
of a child of God," Ney said.

The Rodriguez case was North Dakota's first death penalty case in about
100 years. Although North Dakota state courts do not have the death
penalty, it is available in the federal system. Rodriguez's trial was held
in U.S. District Court in Fargo.

A jury of 7 women and 5 men found there were 4 factors favoring the death
penalty that outweighed a defense list of 30 factors for a life sentence.

Jurors rejected defense claims that Rodriguez should receive credit
because of his childhood exposure to farm chemicals, his neurological or
psychological condition and his offer to plead guilty in March.

The jurors unanimously agreed that Rodriguez suffers from a mental
disorder or impairment. Eight jurors said they believed mercy should count
as a factor to spare his life.

Ney declined comment about the jury's decisions.

"Our focus here should be on the Sjodin family and their loss," Ney said.
"But now it also becomes a focus on the Rodriguez family, and the
execution of their son and brother."

A sentencing hearing has been set for Jan. 5. Ney said he would request a
new trial, and if his motion is denied, he would begin the "long and
involved" appeals process.

"Any human being is compelling" when it comes to saving their life, Ney
said. "Would a doctor say, 'Gee, here's a person, let me find out
something about him before I decide if I'm going to try and save his
life?' Life is worthy of being saved, no matter who it is."

(source: Associated Press)

**************

It's been nearly 100 years since someone in North Dakota was given the
death penalty. It's been abolished since then, but it can still apply in
federal cases.


In the Dru Sjodin case, many are saying they are in favor of the jurors'
decision to put Alfonso Rodriguez to death. State historians say attitudes
periodically change whenever a particularly heinous crime has has been
committed, and then there`s usually a movement to reinstate the death
penalty.

"At last," says a resident. "At last."

Much of the community reaction is in favor of the death penalty for
Alfonso Rodriquez.

"He should have been killed 5 months ago," says another resident.

Many in the community say there's no clash when it comes to religion when
looking at the death penalty.

"I think it`s a good idea and I have no conflict," says one North Dakotan.

Much of the community says they think it is a just punishment.

"I've always thought that if somebody would kill somebody, then they
should probably be put to rest," says a resident.

"I think it's a good thing, says another resident from the Bismarck area.
"Maybe other kids would straighten out a little bit or whoever does all
that stuff, you know."

The last time there was a legal execution in North Dakota was about a
century ago when John Rooney was hanged.

"One thing that's kind interesting is that the abolishing of the death
penalty in 1915 was really only abolishing it for murder and of course
that was the only time that it was ever applied," says Gerald Newborg of
the State Historical Society. "It wasn`t until 1973 that it was abolished
for all crimes in the state."

There were 2 other capital cases in North Dakota after 1905.

"One was where 2 farm migrant workers who killed 2 other farm migrant
workers and one of them admitted the murders and said the other guy killed
1 and he killed 1," says Justice Dale Sandstrom of the North Dakota
Supreme Court. "The 2nd man said no, the 1st guy killed them both."

Both Joe Milo and John Miller were tried at the same time, but spared when
the 1915 state legislature repealed the death penalty. As a part of North
Dakota`s new criminal code, Justice Sandstrom says the 1973 legislature
abolished the death penalty for all state crimes, effective July 1, 1975.

(source: KFYR News)






SOUTH CAROLINA:

State senator proposes death penalty for gang violence


State Sen. Robert Ford says those convicted using guns in street crimes
should face the death penalty.

"It's a message we could send to these thugs who feel compelled to kill
other people," he said Thursday. The Charleston Democrat is a member of
the state Senate's new Criminal Justice System Task Force that began
meeting earlier this month.

Ford suggests that authorities be allowed to seek the death penalty for
those responsible for gang violence, shootings involving drug deals and
drive-by shootings.

Under current law, prosecutors can seek the death penalty in a homicide
only when there are aggravating circumstances such as rape, armed robbery
or kidnapping.

But Ford says as long as criminals know they can kill in turf wars and not
face the death penalty, there's no reason for them to stop shooting.

Ford said he opposes the death penalty himself. But he said because the
death penalty is a sentencing option, it should be used to help combat
street crime.

While the change would affect all communities, Ford, who is black, said
the measure would be especially effective in black neighborhoods.

"It should go on the table, and solicitors should do everything in their
power to seek the death penalty," Ford said.

Prosecutor Ralph Hoisington said many street crimes may already qualify
for the death penalty, depending on circumstances.

Expanding the crimes that qualify for the death penalty does not
necessarily mean more convicted killers will be put to death, Hoisington
said.

He said juries "are very cautious" in putting defendants to death. In most
murder cases in South Carolina, the sentence is 30 years to life without
the possibility of parole, he said.

(source: Associated Press)






MARYLAND:

Evans suit leads to changes----Lethal injections modified after action
filed, execution official testifies


Maryland corrections officials recently modified their lethal injection
procedures, adding better lighting in the room where the deadly drugs are
injected and requiring a nursing assistant who inserts the intravenous
catheters into the condemned prisoner's arms to remain in that room -
perhaps in disguise - throughout the execution, a member of the state's
execution team testified in a videotaped deposition played yesterday in
federal court.

The man - identified only as the execution team commander - said the
changes were made in response to the lawsuit filed by death row inmate
Vernon L. Evans Jr., whose attorneys have challenged Maryland's lethal
injection procedures as unconstitutional and in violation of the Eighth
Amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishment.

A. Stephen Hut Jr., who is leading Evans' defense team, told the judge
hearing the case that the changes are "undoubtedly steps in the right
direction." But he said that the state "essentially plucked low-hanging
fruit," and that the modifications don't go far enough.

He has asked U.S. District Judge Benson E. Legg to incorporate those
changes into a court order that requires Maryland officials to hire
medically qualified people to participate in the insertion of the IV
catheters and in the administration of the lethal doses of drugs, among
other tasks.

Laura Mullally, an assistant attorney general representing the state, has
countered that an execution is not a medical procedure and should not be
held to the same standards as surgery.

Evans, 56, was sentenced to death in 1992 for the contract killings of
David Scott Piechowicz and his sister-in-law, Susan Kennedy. They were
gunned down April 28, 1983, with a submachine pistol at the Pikesville
motel where they worked.

Piechowicz and his wife, Cheryl, also a motel employee, had been scheduled
to testify in a federal narcotics case against a Baltimore drug lord.

The witnesses testified about the changes in Maryland's lethal injection
protocol on the fourth day of trial, which also brought 3 more members of
the state's execution team to the witness stand and the playing of
snippets of videotaped depositions of two other current members and a
former member.

Because team members' identities are protected, they have been referred to
by code names, and the courtroom was closed when they testified, with a
live audio feed piping their comments into another room of the courthouse.
Similarly, video monitors in the courtroom were turned off when clips of
their depositions were played.

A correctional officer who helps mix the drugs and set up the equipment,
identified in court as "Injection Team A," testified that the team
regularly practices the lethal injection procedures on a fake arm that is
placed on the steel, T-shaped table in the execution chamber.

A man who served as execution commander for the May 1994 execution of John
Frederick Thanos and previously drafted Maryland's lethal injection
procedures testified in a videotaped deposition that he essentially copied
Delaware's protocol and, during questioning by Evans' attorneys, could
answer few questions about the procedures or the drugs used.

Also, the newly appointed execution commander - the team member who stands
in the corner of the execution chamber and oversees the entire operation -
testified during his deposition that he has received no training in mixing
drugs, setting up the lethal injection equipment, administering
anesthesia, assessing whether a prisoner remains unconscious or inserting
an IV.

Asked by one of Evans' lawyers what training he received to become
execution commander, the man responded, "No specialized training."

It was the execution team commander - the man stationed during executions
in the preparation room where he oversees the injection of an anesthetic,
a paralyzing drug and a heart-stopping chemical into the inmate's IV line
- who testified about the changes made last month to the lethal injection
procedures.

He explained that in addition to adding a light in the preparation room
and requiring the nursing assistant to remain in the execution chamber
while the prisoner is put to death, the state Division of Correction will
also decrease the pressure with which the saline solution - and later the
lethal mixture of chemicals - flows into the inmate through the IV.

Medical experts testifying for Evans have explained that running fluid too
forcefully through an IV can cause the blood vessels to rupture, spilling
the lethal chemicals into surrounding tissue rather than the circulatory
system of the inmate being put to death.

Evans, his attorneys contend, is at particular risk of this after decades
of intravenous heroin use that have ravaged his veins.

In the deposition of the execution team commander, Evans' lawyers asked
whether it would be possible to also keep the team members responsible for
injecting syringes into the IV in the execution chamber. Doing so would
eliminate the need for potentially leaky lengths of IV tubing that run
from the inmate's arms, through a portal in the wall and into the
preparation room, which is shielded by a one-way window.

"That needs to remain behind a wall, behind a window, behind a door," the
man responded. "That process should not be open to public scrutiny. In my
belief, it's a private process. ... Why not televise it if you're going to
go that far?"

Evans' trial is scheduled to continue today with testimony from a witness
to a botched execution in Ohio during which the condemned man lifted his
head and declared, "It don't work."

Attorneys for the state are scheduled to present their case over 4days in
October, followed by closing arguments from both sides.

Scheduled to be put to death in early February, Evans' execution was
ostponed Feb. 6 when Maryland's highest court decided to hear 4 legal
challenges. A decision is pending from the Court of Appeals.

(source: The Baltimore Sun)






MISSISSIPPI:

Pathologist: Angle of officer's fatal wound unclear


In Poplarville, defense attorneys for a death row inmate convicted of
killing a police office in a drug raid today sought to question the claim
by prosecutors that their client was standing rather than laying down.

In Corey Maye's 2003 capital murder trial in Marion County, Rankin County
pathologist Dr. Steven Hayne testified the bullet that killed Prentiss
Police Officer Ron Jones traveled at a 20-degree downward angle.

Maye testified at his trial that he didn't hear police announce
themselves, grabbed his .380-caliber pistol and was on the floor when he
fired upward in self-defense. Assistant District Attorney Doug Miller said
officers testified at Maye's trial that they saw a light turned on inside
Maye's duplex after they raided the other side of the duplex and arrested
Jamie Smith, 21. Officers also testified they knocked on Maye's door and
announced themselves but got no answer. They said Maye was standing when
he fired on Jones.

In the hearing today in Pearl River County Circuit Court on Maye's motion
for a new trial, defense witness Jack Daniel, a pathologist from Richmond,
Va., said there's no way to determine what angle the bullet was fired from
strictly by examining the wounds in Jones' body.

To make that determination, Daniel said you would have to know the
position of the body, the elevation of the gun and the distance between
the muzzle the gun and the body.

For example, he said, if the victim were leaning forward at a 40-degree
angle, most likely in a running position, the bullet could actually be
traveling at a 20 degree upward angle.

The wound would be downward even though the bullet was fired upward.

"I don't believe Dr. Hayne had a reliable basis to place the location of
the shooter," Daniel testified.

District Attorney Buddy McDonald read portions of Hayne's testimony from
the 2003 trial that shows the pathologist never pinpointed Maye's or
Jones' position.

"Is it possible (Maye) was standing when he shot (Jones)?" McDonald asked.

"It's possible," Daniel replied.

He explained: "There are a great number of positions that could fit the
findings."

On Jan. 23, 2004, a Marion County jury sentenced Maye to die by lethal
injection.

Maye, now 25, who had no prior criminal record, testified he had fallen
asleep in the chair when officers raided his duplex the day after
Christmas in 2001 in search of drugs.

The hearing on Maye's motion for a new trial began Wednesday and is
expected to conclude today.

Circuit Judge Michael Eubanks, who tried the case, will decide whether to
grant a new trial.

Legal experts says motions for new trials are rarely granted. But it's
also rare for a judge to hold a full-blown hearing for such a motion.

In addition to Daniel's testimony, crime scene expert Larry McCann of
Manasses, Va., testified Wednesday there is evidence to support Maye's
version of events based on the trial transcript, photographs of the crime
scene, the autopsy report and other documents, the clothing Jones wore and
a bullet hole in the door frame.

McCann testified he found the only law enforcement insignias on Jones'
jacket were on the shoulders, not the front, and that the bullet hole in
the door frame was fired at a 56-degree angle.

During cross-examination by Miller on Wednesday, Miller told McCann the
door frame was removed at one time. McCann testified if it were reposition
differently, his conclusions would be affected.

But after being shown a crime scene photo with the door frame in almost
the exact position, McCann said the difference might slightly change his
measurements but it "wouldn't alter my conclusions at all."

(source: Clarion Ledger)






ILLINOIS:

Court upholds Sutherland death sentence----Was convicted of murder for
1987 death of 10-year-old girl


The Illinois Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the murder conviction and
death sentence of Cecil Sutherland, a man twice convicted of murdering
10-year-old Amy Schulz in 1987.

The court set a March 13, 2007, date for Sutherland's execution, although
further appeals almost certainly will postpone that timetable. In
addition, there is a moratorium on the death penalty in Illinois that the
governor would have to lift.

Amy, who lived in Kell in southern Illinois, was sexually assaulted and
had her throat cut in July 1987.

Sutherland, 51, of Dix, was convicted of the crime two times, most
recently after a retrial in summer 2004.

In September 2005, the case was argued before the Illinois Supreme Court
by John Paul Carroll, a Minnesota attorney who represented Sutherland in
the 2004 trial, and Ira Kohlman, an assistant attorney general from
Chicago.

Carroll was paid almost $900,000 through Illinois' Capital Litigation
Trust Fund. The total far exceeded what other defense attorneys have
sought from the fund in other cases.

The trust fund was set up to help put both the prosecution and the defense
on equal footing in death penalty cases.

Carroll's bill included charges such as $135.68 an hour for 8 hours he
spent packing a van and the 16 hours it took to drive to Belleville and
unpack.

Legislation was signed in the summer of 2005, partly because of the
Sutherland case, that requires defense attorneys to submit budgets for
their work beforehand.

Although former Gov. George Ryan commuted the sentences of everyone on
Illinois' death row in 2003 because of errors in the system, Sutherland's
case was not affected because his 1989 death sentence had been overturned.

(source: State Journal-Register)