[Deathpenalty] death penalty news-----TEXAS, ARK., CALIF., MD.

[Rick Halperin]

July 17



TEXAS:

Killer moves closer to execution


A former high school valedictorian and University of Texas honors student
sent to death row 3 times for the fatal shooting of an Austin police
officer 30 years ago will not get a fourth trial, a federal appeals court
has ruled.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the conviction and death
sentence of David Lee Powell, 57, moving him closer to execution for the
slaying of Austin officer Ralph Ablanedo with an automatic assault weapon.

Powell arrived on death row in October 1978, a month after his conviction.
His most recent trial -- his third -- was in 1999.

In April, the New Orleans-based 5th Circuit Court agreed Powell could
consider three appeal claims, then held a hearing last month.

In its ruling posted late Wednesday, the court upheld a lower court ruling
rejecting the claims.

Attorneys for Powell contended his third trial should have been a full
trial rather than just a new punishment trial.

They said his rights to due process were violated because prosecutors
didn't disclose in a timely manner documents that showed Powell's
girlfriend may have fired the shots at the slain officer.

(source: Associated Press)






ARKANSAS:

Lawyers: Ark. execution method 'dangerous'


Lawyers for 4 Arkansas death-row inmates say "botched" executions show
that the state's lethal injection method remains dangerous and inadequate.

In a filing to U.S. District Court, federal public defender Julie Brain
cites several executions when witnesses either heard condemned inmates
groan or medical teams failed to properly start an intravenous line as
proof of the method's danger. Because of these concerns, the filing urges
a judge to allow the lawsuit by Don William Davis, Jack Harold Jones Jr.,
Terrick Nooner and Frank Williams Jr. to continue.

Only Williams now has an execution date, scheduled for September 9.

Dina Tyler, a spokeswoman for the Arkansas Department of Correction,
dimissed the lawyers' claims, saying the the condemned feel nothing
"beyond the stick of the needle."

(source: Associated Press)






CALIFORNIA:

Opening arguments in death penalty case begin today


Attorneys are expected to make opening statements today in the death
penalty trial of Stockton's William Jennings Choyce, a family man and
trash hauler charged with kidnapping, raping and murdering 3 prostitutes.

Choyce, 54, was charged 2 years ago in the decade-old cold case after
investigators said they used DNA evidence to link him to the 3 dead women.
He was serving an 11-year prison term for 2 rapes at the time when the
current charges were filed.

He is on trial for killing 2 Stockton women and one in Oakland, where he
worked. Prosecutors also accuse him of abducting a woman on Pilgrim Street
and raping her at the Tilden Park Street home where Choyce's family lived.
He then let her go, prosecutors said.

A painstaking jury selection process began in May, and the jury trial
before San Joaquin County Superior Court Judge Linda Lofthus could last
through September.

(source: Stockton Record)






MARYLAND:

Maryland State Police Infiltrated Groups Opposed to War and the Death
Penalty


Max Obuszewski is a seasoned, nonviolent peace activist in Maryland. But
to the Maryland State Police, he is suspected of committing the "primary
crime" of "terrorismanti-war protestors" and the "secondary crime" of
"terrorismanti-govern."

That is how the Maryland State Police designated him in internal documents
that the ACLU of Maryland obtained through a lawsuit and released on July
17. The documents also show that the Maryland State Police entered his
name into a database dealing with "high intensity drug activity." These
documents reveal an elaborate undercover operation against peace groups
and anti-capital-punishment groups.

"Agents collectively spent at least 288 hours on their surveillance over
the 14-month period" in 2005 and 2006, the ACLU of Maryland says. Agents
"monitored private organizing meetings, public forums, and events held in
several churches, as well as anti-death penalty rallies outside the states
SuperMax facility and in Lawyers Mall in Annapolis."

Groups discussed in the documents include the ACLU, the American Friends
Service Committee, Amnesty International, the Campaign to End the Death
Penalty, the International Socialist Organization, the NAACP, and United
Catholic Charities. (The mention of the ACLU pertained to an upcoming
meeting where the group was to "discuss the Patriot Act and how it is
applied to the general population in relation to civil rights and
liberties.")

The operation by the Maryland State Police included infiltrating
undercover troopers into the small organizing sessions that the activists
held. Sometimes only 4 people attended those meetingsalong with the snoop.

The fake name of one of those undercover troopers was revealed in the
documents as Lucy Shoup.

Obuszewski remembers her.

"She was a friendly person," he says. "You could say she was an attractive
woman. She was maybe 10 years out of college. We never suspected her at
all. We were completely trusting in her."

Ironically, one internal document, dealing with a July 11, 2005, meeting
of the Pledge of Resistance, states: "Obuszewski and others at the meeting
told me that they were concerned about the surveillance they thought they
were occasionally under. . . . Obuszewski then briefed the members about
the organization of the Joint Terrorism Task Forces across the country and
how part of their duties was to watch groups such as Pledge of
Resistance."

Obuszewski read me three of her e-mails he says he still has in his
computer, including one in which she bragged that her name "has a nice
ring to it."

April 20, 2005

Hi Max,

I met you at the DP [Death Penalty] protest in Baltimore last week, and
wanted to say hello and check on meeting dates/times for pledge of
resistance.

Can you tell me a little more about what you do?

I want to get involved but want to make sure I've got the time.

I'm busy right now but would love to get involved if I can.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Lucy.

July 28, 2005

Due to a change in marital status, my name and e-mail have changed and I
will no longer be using or checking my old address.

Please send anything to me (pledge, Save Vernon Evans, etc) at
shoupy_shoup at yahoo.com.

Whoops, forgot to tell you my name is Lucy Shoup, has a nice ring, doesn't
it?

Thanks, I will see you soon.

August 2, 2005

That would be great to be on the list serve for progressive news, alerts,
etc., as well as the Baltimore activists' alert.

I'm in the process of moving, so I will give you my snail mail soon.

I may just get a p.o. box to make life easier.

See you soon, Lucy.

In their reports, the undercover officers repeatedly stressed that no
crimes were in the making.

"No intelligence has been gathered at this point that there are any
illegal or disruptive actions planned," says one document dated March 16,
2005.

"No one advocated any kind of violence or civil disobedience," says
another dated April 7, 2005.

"No problems were observed," says one on June 10, 2005.

Nevertheless, the agents kept recommending that "this case remain open and
updated as events warrant."

David Rocah is a staff attorney for the ACLU of Maryland.

"To say my jaw hit the floor, to say I'm stupefied, doesn't even begin to
describe my reaction," Rocah says. "This is downright terrifying and ought
to send chills down the spine of every American who cherishes freedom and
who believes that we have freedom to voice our opinions in this country."

Rocah worries that this type of surveillance and infiltration will
discourage people from exercising their First Amendment freedoms.

"It is deeply pernicious," he says. "If your involvement in political
activity will result in you being entered into a government criminal
database, that will inevitably deter lots of people from being involved in
the first place. And being involved in political activity, working
together with your fellow citizens, is the foundation of our country, the
cornerstone of democracy, the entire reason we exist as a country. If
theres anything more fundamental, I'll be damned to know what it is."

Rocah says that such spying is the hallmark of authoritarianism.

"If you think the next person who shows up is potentially an undercover
government agent, you immediately begin suspecting everyone, and it
becomes impossible to work together effectively," he says, "which is
precisely why authoritarian governments around the world engage in these
kinds of tactics."

The Maryland State Police denies any wrongdoing.

Here is the statement it released on July 17 in its entirety:

"In response to allegations of inappropriate surveillance by members of
the Maryland State Police, Colonel Terrence B. Sheridan, Superintendent of
the Maryland State Police, is stating the Department does not
inappropriately curtail the expression or demonstration of the civil
liberties of protestors or organizations acting lawfully. In a post 9/11
world, one of the main responsibilities of the Maryland State Police is to
protect the citizens of Maryland from threats both foreign and domestic.
No illegal actions by State Police have ever been taken against any
citizens or groups who have exercised their right to free speech and
assembly in a lawful manner. Only when information regarding criminal
activity is alleged will police continue to investigate leads to ensure
the public safety. "

Rocah calls that statement "a bald-faced lie," adding, "Where is the
allegation of criminal activity?" In fact, to the contrary, the
surveillance logs are replete with the undercover officers own statements
about how polite the demonstrators are.

The logs contain nothing except references to perfectly lawful speech,
fully protected by the First Amendment."

Rocah also says that it is "flat-out false" that the state police engaged
in no illegal actions. Law enforcement agents must have a "reasonable
suspicion" that an individual is involved in criminal conduct or activity
before they can spy on that individual, and they are not allowed to
collect information on an individual on the basis of "political" or
"religious" beliefs unless it directly relates to that person's criminal
conduct or activity, Rocah says, citing 28 cfr, section 23.20.

Rocah further disputes the claim that this spying was to ensure the safety
of the citizens of Maryland.

"I defy Colonel Sheridan to show me how following these groups in their
lawful, Constitutional rights to organize around the death penalty and the
war makes you, me, or anyone in the state of Maryland or in the country
any safer," Rocah says. "Focusing on this kind of nonsense makes us all a
lot less safe. This would be Kafkaesque in its insanity and humor if it
wasnt so serious."

The ACLU of Maryland has sent a letter to Maryland Governor Martin J.
O'Malley asking him to order "an immediate stop to the surveillance and
monitoring of peaceful protest activity and prohibit police from keeping
files on the views and expressive activities of peaceful activist
organizations."

The governor's press secretary did not return a call for comment.

If the governor and the state police do not cease and desist, the ACLU
"will use every legal tool at our disposal to make sure it doesn't happen
again," says Rocah.

For his part, Obuszewski says, "It is outrageous that our government
continues to do this. Weve got to get an apology."

And he reflects back ruefully: "At meetings, I always say if there are any
members of the FBI, CIA, and NSA present, please announce yourself. Little
did I know."

(source: Progressive.org)