[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----VA., MO.

[Rick Halperin]

June 8



VIRGINIA----impending execution

Va. set to execute triple killer Tuesday


A Virginia man who whose execution has been pushed back three times
because of questions about his mental capacity is scheduled to die Tuesday
unless the governor or courts step in again.

Percy Walton, 29, was sent to death row for robbing and killing three
neighbors in Danville in 1996. He is set to die by lethal injection at 9
p.m. Tuesday and would becoming the 100th person executed in Virginia
since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976. Only
Texas, with 405, has executed more people.

A federal court stopped Walton's execution in 2003 3 days before it was
scheduled to allow time to determine if Walton understood he was going to
die and why.

In June 2006, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine granted a reprieve 2 hours before
Walton was set to die and ordered an evaluation of his mental condition.
That December, Kaine delayed the execution another 18 months.

At the time, Kaine said he believed Walton met the Supreme Court's
definition of mental incompetence but that it was possible _ though
unlikely--that his condition was temporary. The governor's spokesman said
Kaine was reviewing Walton's clemency petition but he would not comment on
the case.

Kaine, a Roman Catholic, has personal, faith-based objections to the death
penalty but five executions have occurred since he became governor in
2006, including one last month. Kaine has yet to commute a death row
inmate's sentence.

Walton's attorneys say he has not improved.

"His mental condition, in my own opinion, is just as it was if not worse,"
Nash Bilisoly said.

Walton's attorneys claim he suffers from schizophrenia and that he does
not understand his execution.

Walton has said that after he is put to death he plans to go to Burger
King and maybe ride a motorcycle. But he also has referred to the
execution as "the end" and said before his trial that the "chair is for
killers."

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled it unconstitutional to execute the insane
or those with an IQ less than 70, established by the age of 18, who lack
basic adaptive skills.

No competency hearing was held before Walton was sentenced to death, and
mental evaluations have yielded conflicting results.

Walton scored 90 and 77 on intelligence tests taken when he was 17 and 18,
respectively. After he was sentenced to death, Walton's scores declined.

Several of Walton's fellow death row inmates told The Associated Press in
2006 that Walton spends his days laughing to himself and talking to voices
in his head, and that he is incapable of engaging in any meaningful
conversation. Walton's prison nickname is "Crazy Horse."

A prison guard once testified that Walton refused to shower, complaining
about a man in a white suit sitting on a gray box in his cell. One prison
psychiatrist testified that Walton was "floridly psychotic."

Others question whether it's all an act. Several jail inmates testified
that Walton told them he planned to "play crazy." Another prison
psychiatrist testified that he considered Walton "a mentally limited,
street-wise predator."

Walton pleaded guilty in 1997 to the murders of Jessie and Elizabeth
Kendrick, a couple in their 80s, and 33-year-old Archie Moore, an aviation
instructor at a nearby college.

The Kendricks' bodies were found Nov. 26, 1996 in their townhouse, both
shot in the head from close range. Archi Moore's body was found in a
closet of his apartment 2 days later. Police were called to both homes
after the victims failed to pick up loved ones who were visiting for
Thanksgiving from the airport.

Elizabeth Kendrick's sister has prepared twice to watch Walton be
executed, but said health problems will prevent her from attending this
scheduled execution. Irene Jurscaga said she has written to Kaine several
times detailing how difficult his decision has been on the family.

"It is sad that this young man has lived as long as he has," said
Jurscaga, 87, of Suffolk.

(source: Associated Press)






MISSOURI:

Mo. governor candidate's legal work draws scrutiny


As a star prosecutor, Kenny Hulshof's commanding presence and oratorical
skills led to convictions in some of the state's most gruesome death
penalty cases  and paved the way to 6 terms in Congress.

Now Hulshof wants to be governor of Missouri, a job that includes the
ability to grant a pardon or commute a death sentence.

But in the midst of his Republican primary campaign against state
Treasurer Sarah Steelman, his 7-year record as a state prosecutor
specializing in small-town murder cases is coming under scrutiny.

An Associated Press review of court dockets, state and federal appellate
decisions and other legal records shows that in 4 cases over that 7-year
period prosecutorial errors by Hulshof led to death sentence reversals.

Another man accused of murder won acquittal at a second trial after his
Hulshof-prosecuted conviction was rejected on appeal. A 6th defendant
sentenced to life in prison without parole briefly won his freedom when
his conviction was thrown out by a federal judge, although it was later
restored.

And a sheriff who helped Hulshof convict a man in the 1992 killing of a
college student has reopened the investigation into her violent death. On
Monday, a judge will hear a request for a new trial in that case. No
appeals court has faulted Hulshof's conduct in that case.

Hulshof's errors cited by appeals courts often occurred during closing
arguments, or in a trial's penalty phase. Judges said Hulshof too readily
embellished arguments with his own opinions, or with facts outside the
court record.

In one case, a murder conviction was tossed because a highway map given to
jurors during deliberations hadn't been introduced as evidence. In
another, an undated note from a woman allegedly killed by her husband
describing the couples' marital troubles was rejected as hearsay by an
appeals court after Hulshof introduced it as evidence.

"This is kind of the way he operates," said Sean O'Brien, a University of
Missouri-Kansas City law professor who represented Faye Copeland and Dale
Helmig  2 of the 6 defendants whose Hulshof-led sentences were overturned
as an appellate defense lawyer.

"He's always very aggressive. He is extremely skilled. And he creates
suspicion out of no evidence."

Hulshof says the seven disputed cases show that the legal system and its
inherent checks and balances worked as intended.

"The tension of the system working is that you have an aggressive defense
attorney, and you have a tough but fair prosecutor," he said. "And once
you walk into the courtroom ... you have equal adversaries presenting a
case to a jury. The judge is the referee. And then whatever the jury says
is justice."

Hulshof, 50, began his legal career in 1983 as an assistant public
defender. His clients included Jerome Mallett, who was convicted in 1986
of murdering a state trooper. Mallett was put to death in July 2001, with
Hulshof  by then an incumbent congressman  viewing the execution at his
own request as a state's witness.

Hulshof joined the office of Cape Girardeau prosecutor Morley Swingle in
1986, spending three years as Swingle's top assistant before joining the
attorney general's office.

Swingle called his protege a tenacious courtroom advocate with a flair for
connecting with the jury.

"Kenny was one of the best trial lawyers I had ever seen," Swingle said.
"He is such a persuasive speaker. He could really get a jury to see the
facts his way. He could tell a suspenseful story and keep people's
attention."

Hulshof's courtroom adversary in the Mallett trial, state special
prosecutor Tim Finnical  known as "Dr. Death" for his success at death
penalty cases  recommended that then-Attorney General Bill Webster, a
Republican, hire Hulshof as his successor. When Democrat Jay Nixon
defeated Webster in 1992, the new attorney general kept the Republican
attorney on board.

Nixon, who remains attorney general, is the likely Democratic nominee for
governor. His role as Hulshof's former boss makes it unlikely that
Hulshof's prosecutorial record will become a campaign issue, Hulshof
acknowledged.

The Steelman campaign, however, is not reticent.

"Kenny Hulshof has been running away from his overspending and earmark
record in Congress," said Steelman spokesman Spence Jackson. "Now these
revelations bring into question his overall competency and ability to do
the job it takes to be governor. This is a very disturbing pattern of
behavior from Congressman Hulshof."

Hulshof says his courtroom conduct, like his 12-year congressional record,
is fair game for scrutiny as he runs for governor. He's confident that any
inquiry would reveal nothing less than a fair and impartial advocate.

"My father never finished college, he never made a lot of money, but still
was the wisest man I ever knew," said Hulshof. "And he said that the only
thing worth keeping in life is your good name.

"That has motivated me through these past 12 years in Congress. It would
motivate me as governor. And it certainly motivated me throughout those
years in the criminal justice world."

(source: Associated Press)