[Deathpenalty] death penalty news-----S.C., GA., N. MEX.

[Rick Halperin]

Feb. 19



SOUTH CAROLINA:

Former NH man guilty of killing two officers, faces death penalty


In Abbeville, a South Carolina man was convicted Sunday of murdering 2 law
enforcement officers in 2003 after becoming irate the state was taking
land near his parents' home for a road project.

Steven Bixby, 39, a former resident of Haverhill, N.H., faces the death
penalty when sentencing begins Tuesday for the shooting deaths of the
officers in this small town near the Georgia state line.

His family was upset the state wanted about 20 feet of land near their
home to widen a highway. Bixby and his father had threatened to gun down
any officer on their land, according to witnesses.

Bixby had stockpiled shotguns and ammunition in his parents' home and told
a former girlfriend he was ready for a fight, according to testimony in
the case.

Later, he bragged in a letter that he could have killed more people.

"Well, he's just a hell of a nice guy, isn't he? He only shot 2 people and
he could have shot 8," prosecutor Jerry Peace said during his closing
statements earlier Sunday.

County sheriff Sgt. Danny Wilson was the 1st to die in the shootings at
the Bixby home. He had gone there to discuss the family's anger over the
road, only to be mowed down while standing on the front porch, his body
then dragged inside, according to authorities.

State Constable Donnie Ouzts arrived to check on Wilson once radio contact
with the officer was lost. He was shot as he stepped out of his patrol car
and died on the way to the hospital.

Police surrounded the house for the rest of the day and the standoff
finally ended after hundreds of rounds were exchanged. His father, Arthur
Bixby, was wounded in the fusillade and also charged with murder. No trial
date has been set in his case.

Rita Bixby, Steven's mother, was charged as an accessory because
authorities say she knew her family planned to harm police officers. She
was not home when the shootings took place.

On Saturday, Rita Bixby testified she was proud of her son.

"He has the right to protect his property by any means necessary," the
74-year-old mother said.

Defense attorney Bill Nettles stressed that the Bixby family asked the
governor and other officials to help resolve the property dispute several
days before the shootings and noted the family attended public hearings
about the road project.

"If this was an ambush," said Nettles, "it was the most well-published
ambush in the history of the world."

After the verdict was read, members of both victims' families expressed
joy and relief.

"It lifted a heavy burden off of us," said Marilyn Lee, one of Wilson's
sisters. "We've been waiting quite some time."

Ouzts' grandson said he hopes for a death sentence when the penalty phase
is completed.

"I hope for the death penalty. I hope for the frying," Blake Ouzts said.
"He needs to feel what we feel."

(source: Associated Press)






GEORGIA:

London artist battles to save U.S. death row inmate


A London portrait painter is fighting to save one of the longest-serving
prisoners on death row in the United States -- but she fears time is
running out.

Launching an exhibition of paintings inspired by letters from convicted
wife killer Jack Alderman, artist Simone Sandelson said of her campaign to
halt his execution in May "My chances are tiny. But you never know."

"I am so convinced he is innocent. When I heard he was going to be
executed, I felt it could not go unnoticed."

Alderman was convicted of killing his wife Barbara in 1974 and had his
final appeal denied late last year.

"All they can do is kill me, they cannot break me," Alderman wrote from
his cell in a Georgia prison.

Sandelson first wrote to him after spotting an advertisement for Human
Writes, an organization that twins death row inmates with correspondents.

"The facts of his case came out very slowly in his letters to me. I have
almost 200 of them now."

Alderman's wife Barbara was found dead in a creek in September 1974. A
former colleague of Alderman's, John Arthur Brown, testified that he
helped Alderman kill Barbara. Brown committed suicide after serving 12
years for the crime.

Proceeds from Sandelson's show at London's Somerset House -- she has
painted 12 paintings inspired by his letters -- will go toward hiring
investigators to try and overturn the conviction.

"There is a great deal of missing evidence that was never brought to the
trial," Sandelson said.

"The paintings have been inspired by the things he has written to me. He
is very poetic and spiritual. There is one about this butterfly that came
through the razor wire and sat on his hand and warmed his spirit."

But Sandelson, who has also set up an exoneratejack.org website to further
her campaign, insisted this was no transatlantic love affair conducted by
post.

"No, not at all," she said. "I really am a very happily married woman with
four children. There is nothing remotely romantic about the letters. He is
a southerner, incredibly respectful and formal in his style."

With the clock now ticking toward his execution, Sandelson reflects on how
a man she has never met changed her life.

"It has been fantastic as he is such an interesting person. If no one
speaks up, he won't be saved. I had to act."

(source: Reuters)






NEW MEXICO:

New Mexico death penalty repeal bill should become law


Rep. Gail Chasey [New Mexico House of Representatives]: "I am delighted
and encouraged, although not surprised, that the New Mexico House of
Representatives passed a bill to repeal the death penalty by 41-28 votes
on Monday, February 12. This is now the second time in four years that the
House has voted to repeal the death penalty in New Mexico. Although I am
cautious, I feel an increasing sense of optimism that the bill will pass
the Senate and that Governor Richardson will sign the bill into law. This
will not be easy and perhaps the greatest hurdle will be convincing
Governor Richardson: (1) that the death penalty is a public policy
failure; and (2) that leading the country on this issue will distinguish
him and will garner profound respect and support both nationally and
internationally.

Passage of House bill 190 reflects a growing awareness of the problems
which plague the death penalty, not just in New Mexico but throughout the
United States. 35 Democrats, joined by six Republicans cast their votes on
Monday against an exorbitant, ineffective, and error-prone system which is
imposed unfairly on the basis of race and socio-economic status and
perhaps most importantly of all, risks executing the innocent. Other
compelling arguments voiced by legislators during the floor debate
included that the death penalty fails murder victims families, fails law
enforcement and severely undermines the credibility and stature of the
United States among its international allies, many of whom consider the
death penalty a violation of fundamental human rights, entirely
incompatible with basic principles of fairness and democracy.

A unique aspect of the repeal bill is that it was not introduced in
isolation. It is part of a legislative package. The repeal bill is
accompanied by several bills which provide for meaningful and expanded
support and services for murder victims' families. This legislation
provides that some of the funds that the state of New Mexico would save by
abolishing the death penalty shall be redirected towards the families of
murder victims.

Murder victims family members have been a vital and compelling force
within the New Mexico abolition movement. Their courageous and
heart-wrenching testimonies, together with their articulate and passionate
explanations of their opposition to the death penalty have undermined the
traditional reason so often invoked by prosecutors and law enforcement
representatives, namely that we need the death penalty for the victims'
families. Although murder victims families are drastically and
understandably split on the issue of the death penalty, there is common
ground between all of the families. It is the purpose of our legislation
to find that common ground and provide victims families with meaningful
assistance in their time of grief. By abolishing the death penalty we
further hope to free up resources which can be redirected towards proven
crime prevention measuresmeasures which will reduce violence and will save
innocent livespossibly the single most important concern of all murder
victims families."

(source: The Jurist Hotline----Opinions expressed in JURIST's Hotline are
the sole responsibility of their authors and do not necessarily reflect
the views of JURIST's editors, staff, or the University of Pittsburgh;
Feb. 15)