June 19 ILLINOIS: State will not seek death penalty in woman's murder A Lake County prosecutor said today officials will not seek the death penalty for an Antioch man accused of killing his grandmother. Assistant state's attorney Patricia Fix said the multiple counts of first degree murder against Jeremy Lowrey will provide for a sentence of up to life in prison if he is convicted. Fix declined to comment on the decision. Appearing before Associate Judge Theodore Potkonjak, Lowrey, 21, pleaded not guilty to charges he beat and strangled 70-year-old Jeanie Lowrey in her Round Lake Beach home, then set her on fire. Police said Jeremy Lowrey, of 1255 S. Main St., stole 2 checks from his grandmother on May 16 when he gave her a ride in his car and she left her purse unattended. The woman confronted Lowrey about the theft the following day, and he became enraged when she said she intended to report him to police. In a 2 1/2 hour videotaped confession to detectives from the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force, Lowrey said he took a phone charger cord and wrapped it around his grandmother's neck. The woman passed out and fell to the floor, Lowrey told police, and he tried to smother her with a pillow. The woman kicked Lowrey and struck him with her cane, and Lowrey said he grabbed the cane and struck her with it. He then struck her twice in the head with a large glass ashtray. Jeanie Lowrey was staggering forward when her grandson stabbed her three times with a kitchen knife. She suffered wounds to the abdomen, side of the neck and center of the neck. Jeremy Lowrey told police he took a can of turpentine from the garage, poured it over his grandmother as she laid on the floor, and set the room ablaze before fleeing. The fire burned itself out, but not before incinerating her body, police said. Lake County Coroner Dr. Richard Keller said an autopsy could not determine the exact cause of death; Jeanie Lowrey died from the total effect of all the injuries. Fix said 7 of the 16 murder counts against Jeremy Lowrey alleged the murder was committed in an exceptionally brutal and heinous manner, and call for a sentence of life in prison. 6 additional counts allow an enhance penalty of 60 to 100 years in prison because Lowrey is accused of killing a person over 60 years of age. The final 2 counts provide for the standard sentencing range for murder of 20 to 60 years. Lowrey is held without bond and is due to appear in court Aug. 13. (source: Daily Herald) ********************************** Williams resentenced for 1994 Belleville slaying A St. Clair County judge has ordered a former death-row inmate to spend life in prison without parole for the 1994 killing of a Belleville convenience store clerk. Circuit Judge John Baricevic resentenced 32-year-old Bobby Williams on Wednesday for the slaying of Sharon Bushong. Williams was convicted of 1st-degree murder in 1996 and was given the death sentence. That was later overturned by a higher court, and the case was sent back to St. Clair County after former Governor George Ryan commuted the death sentence of inmates on Illinois' death row. The 32-year-old maintains his innocence and his lawyers say they will appeal Wednesday's ruling. (source: Associated Press) FLORIDA: Court Upholds Death Sentence In Stomping Death The state Supreme Court today upheld the conviction and death sentence of a Tampa man who stomped a woman to death at a Little League ballpark in Belmont Heights 20 years ago. The ruling does not end appeals for Perry Taylor Alexander, 42, who could take his case to federal courts or ask the state's highest court for a rehearing, said a spokeswoman for the Florida attorney general's office. Taylor was sentenced in 1992 -- for the 2nd time -- to die for the murder of 38-year-old Geraldine Johnson Birch. His 1st death sentence in 1989 was overturned by the Florida Supreme Court. Taylor also was convicted of sexual battery in the case. The Supreme Court upheld the 2nd death sentence in 1994, and Taylor then returned to court with a different kind of appeal, known in legalese as a motion for post-conviction relief. A trial court denied that motion, and today's Supreme Court ruling upholds that finding. According to the Supreme Court ruling, Taylor confessed to killing Birch but claimed that the sexual contact was consensual and that the beating from which she died was done in a rage and without premeditation after she bit his genitals during sex. Among the claims in the motion for post-conviction relief were several related to the testimony of a prosecution expert during post-trial hearings about the victim's sexual injuries. According to the court ruling, the expert said under cross-examination that it was remotely conceivable -- "a one in a million shot" -- that the injuries came from being kicked rather than sexually penetrated. Taylor's attorneys argued that this information should have been shared with the defense before the trial and that had the expert testified the same way, Taylor could not have been convicted of sexual battery and felony murder. The court detailed the victim's extensive internal injuries, rejecting defense claims that the expert's post-trial testimony constituted new evidence. The victim was beaten and stomped so severely, the Hillsborough County medical examiner testified, that she had injuries including a pulverized liver, torn spleen and kidneys, crushed pancreas, lacerated heart and bleeding brain. Even if the expert's perceived change in testimony had been enough to call the sexual battery conviction into question, the court held, "it would not be sufficient to outweigh the evidence that Taylor committed premeditated murder or to cast doubt on his conviction for first-degree murder based upon premeditation." The court also rejected defense assertions that Taylor's trial attorney, Nick Sinardi, was incompetent. Noting that Taylor "gave a detailed confession," the court upheld the trial judge's finding that Sinardi "made reasonable tactical decisions under the circumstances he faced and with the limited choices available." (source: Tampa Tribune) OKLAHOMA----new death sentence Arkansas man, 39, sentenced to death A Garfield County, Okla., judge on Tuesday sentenced an Arkansas man to death for the fatal shooting of a woman at a Blaine County home more than 2 years ago. District Judge Ronald G. Franklin agreed with a jury's recommendation that Wendell Arden Grissom pay for killing Amber Matthews with his life. Grissom, 39, of Paris also received a life sentence for shooting with an intent to kill for wounding Drue Kopf, whose home is where the deadly robbery attempt occurred. That sentence and terms of 25 years for grand larceny and 40 years for possessing a firearm after a felony conviction will run consecutively, the judge ordered. On Nov. 3, 2005, Grissom entered Kopfs home, northeast of Watonga, and shot her several times as she struggled with him. Kopf managed to escape, but Matthews, of Kingfisher, could not. Grissom shot her twice in the head, once as she held Kopfs 5-week-old daughter and again after she fell on the floor of the childrens room, court records show. A change of venue to Garfield County was granted for Grissom and his co-defendant, Jessie Floyd Johns, whose trial is scheduled to begin at the end of this month. Grissom's attorney, John W. Coyle, submitted a filing stating his client's intent to appeal his death sentence. Coyle said he and his son Billy Coyle would withdraw from the case to allow an Oklahoma Indigent Defense System attorney specializing in death penalty appeals to take over. Franklin appointed the new attorney during the sentencing. NORTH CAROLINA: Death penalty focus of public forum First Missionary Baptist Church and the People of Faith Against the Death Penalty are holding a public forum at 7 p.m. tonight at First Missionary Baptist Church at 153 Broadhurst Road in Jacksonville. Stephen Dear, executive director of People of Faith Against the Death Penalty, and attorney Jay Ferguson, who is on the organization's board of directors, will be giving a presentation and fielding questions from the audience. Ferguson, who was instrumental in getting several innocent people off death row, has done presentations in Jacksonville in the past. The forum comes on the heels of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in April that the lethal-injection protocol used in Kentucky did not amount to cruel and unusual punishment. Representatives from People of Faith Against the Death Penalty are trying to encourage frank discussions about the death penalty in places throughout the state, including Jacksonville, because the expectation is that in 2009 between 35 to 40 inmates on death row in North Carolina will have exhausted their appeal processes. Go to http://www.pfadp.org for more information about People of Faith. (source: Jacksonville Daily News) ARIZONA: Ariana Payne killing----Woman charged in 2 kids' deaths ineligible for death penalty, expert says A Tucson woman is competent to stand trial in the deaths of her ex-boyfriend's 2 young children, but she's mentally retarded, which would make her ineligible for the death penalty, a psychologist says. Denis W. Keyes testified Thursday in a hearing that Reina Irene Gonzales, 24, consistently tested within the range of mental retardation. "Mental retardation is always a severe disability," said Keyes, an associate professor at the College of Charleston in Charleston, S.C. Keyes' work was cited in a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling making mentally retarded persons ineligible for the death penalty. If Pima County Superior Court Judge Paul S. Tang decides Gonzales is mentally retarded, she cannot be sentenced to death if convicted in the deaths of Ariana Payne, 4, and Tyler Payne, 5. Gonzales and her former boyfriend, Christopher Mathew Payne, 30, were indicted on 2 counts each of 1st-degree murder and child abuse. Payne, the victims' father, also is charged with 1 count of abandonment or concealment of a body. Deputy County Attorney Susan Eazer said the state is seeking the death penalty if Gonzales and Payne are convicted because there were multiple killings, the two are adults and the victims were minors, and the killings were committed in a cruel, heinous or depraved manner. Payne is being tried separately before another judge. Gonzales' trial is set to begin Oct. 7. Payne's trial is set to begin Jan. 27 before Judge Richard S. Fields. Ariana's body was found Feb. 18, 2007, decomposing in a covered plastic tub at a rented, North Side storage locker. Tyler's body hasn't been found, and police suspect his remains could be in the Los Reales Landfill on the Southeast Side. Police unsuccessfully searched the site twice. Payne and Gonzales have pleaded not guilty and are being held in the Pima County Jail with bonds of more than $1 million. Keyes was hired by the defense to determine whether Gonzales was mentally retarded. Keyes testified Thursday that when he saw consistent IQ scores in the low 70s, he realized that Gonzales deserved a "thorough" evaluation on her adaptive skills. Mental retardation arises before age 18, Keyes testified. Keyes said he believes Gonzales became mentally retarded "probably since she was a child, possibly at birth." The hearing on whether Gonzales is mentally retarded was expected to continue Friday. (source: Tucson Citizen)
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news-----ILL., FLA., OKLA., N.C., ARIZ.
Rick Halperin Thu, 19 Jun 2008 21:58:30 -0500 (Central Daylight Time)
