Jan. 11 ARKANSAS: Killer Seeks Death-Penalty Relief After unsuccessfully appealing his 2005 conviction for capital murder last month, condemned killer Thomas Leo Springs, 43, appeared in Sebastian County Circuit Court on Wednesday to seek relief from the death penalty. He came away with a court order for an appointed attorney to take up his cause. Dan Shue, 12th Judicial District chief deputy prosecutor, said Rule 37 of Arkansas criminal procedure addresses death-penalty cases and allows Springs to find out if there was a constitutional infirmity in his conviction. If such an infirmity is found, he might be eligible for release, retrial or sentence modification. Springs was transported from the Arkansas Department of Correction to the Sebastian County Adult Detention Center in advance of his appearance, which was mandated by Rule 37. His hearing before Circuit Judge J. Michael Fitzhugh lasted less than 15 minutes and was only for the purpose of determining the need for counsel. Fitzhugh asked Springs if he wanted an attorney and if he could afford private counsel. "Can I say something?" Springs asked. "No," the judge said. Springs repeated his request to speak. "I just want you to answer my questions," Fitzhugh said. "Do you want an attorney?" Springs told the judge he wanted an attorney and could not afford private counsel. Fitzhugh then issued an order for the Arkansas Public Defender Commission to assign an attorney to Springs. Shue said the Little Rock commission has a conflicts division that deals with death-penalty cases. "They will have 90 days to file a petition under Rule 37, and the court must have a hearing within 180 days of that," Shue said. Springs was convicted of capital murder in the slaying of his estranged wife, Christina Springs, and was sentenced to death by lethal injection. He was also sentenced to 6 years in prison and fined $10,000 for conviction on 2 counts of aggravated assault on his wifes sister and niece. He has been in prison with the Arkansas Department of Correction since November 2005. The state Supreme Court affirmed Springs' conviction in December 2006. (source: Fort Smith Times Record) PENNSYLVANIA: Man On Death Row For 19 Years Gets New Trial A Philadelphia man who spent 19 years on death row is getting a new trial. Florencio Rolan, who's now 50, is accused of fatally shooting Paulino Santiago over 5 dollars in drug money in 1983. In his 1984 trial, his lawyer didn't call any witnesses -- prompting Rolan to cry out that he had 2 witnesses willing to testify to his claim of self-defense. A federal appeals court granted him a new trial because of his claim of ineffective counsel. This is Rolan's 2nd overturned murder conviction -- which a prosecutor says is highly unusual and perhaps unprecedented. He was convicted of 3rd-degree murder in the 1975 gang-related death of a teenage boy. After that conviction was overturned. Rolan pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter. (source: Associated Press) MISSOURI: State contesting 'retardation' label for former death row inmate It's not uncommon for the attorneys of convicted murderers to argue their clients are mentally retarded and should be spared the death penalty. But in a bit of a twist, a state attorney argued Wednesday that an inmate determined to be mentally retarded really isn't and should remain on death row. The Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday in the case of Steven Parkus, 46, who was serving a 30-year sentence for rape and sodomy when he was convicted of strangling another inmate, Mark Steffenhagen, in 1985 and consequently sentenced to death. Parkus was spared once before, when Gov. Mel Carnahan in 1999 ordered a determination of whether he had a mental illness or disability that made him unfit to execute. The next year, the Department of Corrections asked the Washington County Circuit Court to make that decision. But while the request was pending, Gov. Bob Holden in 2001 signed a law making Missouri the 16th state barring the execution of the mentally retarded. Then in 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court declared the execution of the mentally retarded an unconstitutional cruel and unusual punishment. Citing the new law and court precedent, Parkus asked the Missouri Supreme Court to rescind his death sentence. Supreme Court judges ordered a lower court to determine his mental competency. Washington County Circuit Judge Robert Stillwell ruled in September 2005 that Parkus was mentally retarded and should be sentenced to life in prison, instead of death. The state attorney general's office appealed, arguing that Parkus wasn't really mentally retarded and that the proper judicial procedures had not been followed in making that determination. Assistant Attorney General Stephen Hawke cited the judge's analysis that "Parkus met the definition of being mentally retarded albeit borderline" while arguing that Parkus was actually just shy of being fully mentally retarded. Supreme Court judges seemed skeptical, noting the judge's ruling concluded by stating that "Parkus is mentally retarded." Parkus' attorney, Sean O'Brien of Kansas City, noted that judicial determinations of mental retardation typically cannot be appealed. Parkus' case should not be handled any differently just because the determination was ordered by the Supreme Court instead of being conducted as part of the original trial proceedings, he said. "A circuit judge found Steven Parkus is mentally retarded," O'Brien said outside of court. "It's not a close question." ON THE NET----Supreme Court: http://www.courts.mo.gov/page.asp?id27 ************* Appeals court takes look at execution suit In St. Louis, a U.S. appellate court panel yesterday questioned whether a federal judge intruded too far into state affairs in requiring certain reforms to Missouri's lethal injection procedures. The court said the judges requiring the Department of Corrections to sign death logs on executed prisoners might be construed as "micromanaging." But the attorney for condemned killer Michael Taylor - who came within hours of being executed in February - said the state can't be trusted to carry out executions humanely without federal oversight. Relying on a dyslexic doctor to oversee the administering of dangerous chemicals to a condemned prisoner is a "set-up for disaster," said Taylor's attorney, Ginger Anders. U.S. District Judge Fernando Gaitan Jr. ordered specific reforms to Missouri's lethal injection procedures, including the use of a doctor specializing in anesthesia. Documents filed with the appeals court this week suggest the state hasn't ruled out using "Dr. Doe," identified as surgeon Alan Doerhoff of Jefferson City, for future executions. He testified last year that he'd overseen Missouris executions for years and on occasion altered the amount of anesthetic given to inmates. The Taylor case effectively has halted Missouri executions by lethal injection for the last year. (source for both: Associated Press) SOUTH CAROLINA: State Supreme Court overturns death sentence in triple homicide The South Carolina Supreme Court has overturned the death sentence for a man convicted of killing 3 people in Anderson County. The justices this week ordered a new sentencing hearing for Troy Alan Burkhart. Prosecutors say the 41-year-old Burkhart shot the 3 victims as they sat in a pickup truck in 1997 and left the bodies in a kudzu field near Townville. Burkhart said he shot them because he was afraid he was about to be raped and killed following a night of drinking and drug use. The justices said there was improper testimony about the privileges that inmates serving life in prison receive, such as telephone access and television. The state Supreme Court overturned Burkhart's 1st conviction in 2002 because of improper instructions from the judge. (source: Associated Press) OHIO: Death-row inmate Jamie Madrigal indicted today for 1995 Pacific Crab House murder in Maumee A Lucas County grand jury today indicted death-row inmate Jamie Madrigal in the fatal shooting of a 55-year-old dishwasher during the after-hours robbery in 1995 at the Pacific CrabHouse restaurant in Maumee. Madrigal, who is scheduled to go on trial again next week in county Common Pleas Court for the murder of an 18-year-old KFC worker during a similar robbery a year later, was indicted on charges of aggravated murder, kidnapping, and aggravated robbery in the slaying of Pacific Cran House dishwasher Larry Loose on April, 30, 1995. Mr. Loose, of Bowling Green, was shot in the neck, and other employees were forced into a bathroom at the now defunct restaurant after 2 gunmen entered a backdoor that an employee had left open to allow the intruders to get inside. Another employee was shot in the leg but survived. One of the gunmen in the hold-up, Chris Cathcart, was convicted in June of aggravated murder, aggravated robbery, and seven counts of kidnapping. Madrigal, 32, and Cathcart were both convicted in the shooting death of 18-year-old Misty Fisher during the April 12, 1996 robbery of a South Toledo KFC. The Clay High School student was working as an assistant manager when the robbery occurred and was shot to death when she could not open a backroom safe fast enough. Madrigal was convicted of Ms. Fisher's slaying in Lucas County Common Pleas Court, but a federal appellate court overturned the death-penalty conviction. That forced prosecutors to retry him on the murder, robbery, and other charges in the crime. Jury selection for that trial is scheduled to begin Tuesday. Madrigal is expected to be arraigned tomorrow on the latest murder indictment. (source: Toledo Blade) ******************** Board upholds death for Biros The parole board's recommendation to the governor was unanimous. "It's time" for Kenneth Biros to die for murdering and mutilating a Hubbard woman, according to the man who helped put Biros on Ohio's death row. Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins said: "It's time for justice to be upheld. This is not a question of innocence. It's a question of justice." That was Watkins' reaction to news that the Ohio Parole Board recommended to Gov. Ted Strickland on Wednesday that Biros' conviction and death sentence should be upheld. "The brutality and violence exhibited in the offense outweigh the mitigating factors surrounding [Biros'] life prior to the offense and his adjustment to incarceration," the parole board's recommendation read. Biros was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1991 murder and dismemberment of 22-year-old Tami Engstrom. The 7-member parole board met for a clemency hearing Jan. 4. "[Biros'] conviction and death sentence have been upheld over 16 years of judicial review," the board recommendation read. "There is no manifest injustice or lack of fundamental fairness in regard to his trial and subsequent conviction and sentence." Up to the governor The matter now falls into the hands of Gov. Ted Strickland, who took office Monday. "All I can say at this time is he'll review it," said Strickland's press secretary Keith Dailey. Biros was scheduled to be executed Jan. 23 but a stay from a federal judge may delay the execution. The matter is being appealed by the Ohio attorney general's office. Watkins and members of Engstrom's family remain confident Biros' death sentence will be carried out eventually. Watkins said he believes the facts in the case are evident and show Biros is the "worst of the worst" offenders. "I'm very happy with the recommendation," he said. Watkins said the parole board's decisions have typically contained dissenting votes, but in Biros' case the decision was unanimous. He said he isn't concerned with the possibility Strickland may want more time to review the case because of his newness to the governor's office and the weight of the decision. "We believe the governor will take his time and give due consideration to the case on its merits," Watkins said. Family's reaction Engstrom's sister Debi Heiss said that the family will also understand if it takes a little while for Stickland's decision, but that they hope he will be able to review the case in time for the January execution. Supporters of Biros' sentence said justice will be denied if he is not put to death. Heiss said she and her mother, Mary Jane, and brother Tom plan to attend the execution. "I want to see him take his last breath," Heiss said. "I will feel a new spirit over my body." Heiss, who also attended the parole board hearing earlier this month, said the murder of her sister has taken a horrible emotional and economic toll on her family, especially Engstrom's son, who is now 17. Biros' mother also attended the parole board hearing to ask for mercy for her son. "I'm begging you to spare his life," JoAnn Biros said at the hearing. Biros' attorney argued Biros had a loving family and was not a problem inmate. "We are here asking for mercy," Biros' attorney John Parker said. ************************* Victims parents: Spare her killer ----Daughter wasnt for death penalty, family will argue Cynthia and Thomas Murray's daughter Emily was killed in 2000. Long past Christmas, perhaps into the spring, the brightly colored lights will glow on the Douglas fir outside Thomas and Cynthia Murrays comfortable home 50 miles north of New York City. The tree was only a few feet tall when they planted it 6 years ago at Christmastime to honor their murdered daughter. Now its grown to nearly 20 feet. "Its a way of including Emily in the Christmas season," Mr. Murray said. The tree is visible from the bedroom window of a little girl who will never come home. She grew up to be a bright, sensitive and spiritual 20-year-old philosophy student at Kenyon College in Gambier. She wanted to be an Episcopal priest and was passionately opposed to the death penalty. The Murrays love for their lost daughter is prompting them to make an extraordinary request by asking Gov. Ted Strickland to spare the life of Gregory McKnight, the man who kidnapped and killed her. He left her body rolled up in carpet in a vacant trailer on his Vinton County property. The family will appeal either directly to the governor or through a petition drive. To act on the request, the governor would need an Ohio Parole Board recommendation, which he could request. Although many parents wouldnt consider such a move, the Murrays searched their grieving hearts and found "love and loyalty" for their daughters wishes far outweighed any thoughts of revenge. "Its about Emily. It's about the people of Ohio. When we execute someone, in some subtle ways, we may harm ourselves," Mr. Murray said in a telephone interview from his home. If McKnight was serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole, "We would have less reason to think about him," Mrs. Murray said. McKnight, 30, is on death row at the Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown. He was convicted and sentenced to death for abducting and killing Murray and Greg Julious, 20, in November 2000. Julious' burned body parts were found scattered around the property. The Dispatch contacted McKnight at the Youngstown prison. Based on the advice of Ruth Tkacz, his public defender, he wouldn't comment for this story. "We certainly have nothing but respect for their wishes," Tkacz said of the Murrays' clemency plan. "It takes a lot of courage for them to come forward with this request." Vinton County Prosecutor Timothy Gleeson said the death penalty in McKnight's case is justified and fair. He vowed, however, to do "absolutely nothing to prevent the governor from considering anything and everything that the Murrays may present." "I would actually encourage the governor to consider what they have to say. I very much appreciate and respect the Murrays' opinion on this. They have a unique perspective." Strickland, a Democrat who supports the death penalty, has expressed concerns about the lethal-injection process, but otherwise has not indicated plans for a death-penalty moratorium. McKnights case has been controversial and episodic, beginning when trial Judge Jeffery Simmons, of Vinton County Common Pleas Court, generated national headlines by ruling that the cash-poor rural county could not afford a $100,000 death-penalty case. Former Attorney General Betty D. Montgomery came to the rescue, providing state legal firepower that helped obtain a conviction and death sentence. Last year, Attorney General Jim Petro and Gleeson missed a filing deadline and were unable to verbally present the victims' side of the story when McKnight's conviction was appealed to the Ohio Supreme Court. It didn't really matter, however. In December 2005, the Supreme Court upheld McKnight's conviction and death sentence. The U.S. Supreme Court has since rejected an initial request for consideration from McKnight. Years of appeals are likely, however. Mr. Murray, nationally known as president and executive director of the Hastings Center, a bioethics research facility in Garrison, N.Y., said he initially had raw emotions about McKnight. "I hated him," he said. "I want him punished. I don't ever want him out to do something like this again." But he added, "If you are not obsessed about revenge, you can have some release. "We're under no illusions about this guy," he said. "He killed several people. My feeling about the death penalty has nothing to do with this. If anyone deserves the death penalty, this guy does." Nevertheless, the Murrays planned to request clemency at McKnight's sentencing hearing but said they were too exhausted by the ordeal of the two-week trial to continue. McKnight's execution, Mrs. Murray said, "was never in my thoughts." When the sentence was announced, she said she was depressed, not about McKnights fate, but because she knew what her daughter would think. If McKnight is executed, Mrs. Murray said, "It wouldn't change my grief, my sense of loss." Just before the holidays, the Murrays took a picture of Emily's decorated tree. As they did, a dove, Emilys personal peace symbol, landed on a nearby branch. It gave the Murrays comfort, as if their daughter approved. (source: Columbus Dispatch) ********************* Victim's parents seek to spare killer's life The parents of a slain college student want Gov. Ted Strickland to spare the life of her killer because their daughter was opposed to the death penalty. Gregory McKnight, 30, was convicted in 2002 of kidnapping and killing 20-year-old Emily Murray, a Kenyon College philosophy student who worked with McKnight at a pizza restaurant. Her body was found wrapped in a carpet in McKnights trailer in Vinton County in southern Ohio. Murray's parents plan to ask Strickland, a Democrat who took office Monday, to grant McKnight clemency. The governor would need an Ohio Parole Board recommendation which he could ask for to act on the request. Thomas and Cynthia Murray, of Cold Spring, N.Y., said their daughter's opposition to capital punishment outweighed any thoughts of wanting revenge against McKnight. "It's about Emily. It's about the people of Ohio. When we execute someone, in some subtle ways, we may harm ourselves," Thomas Murray told The Columbus Dispatch for a story Thursday. If McKnight was serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole, "We would have less reason to think about him," Cynthia Murray said. McKnight declined the newspaper's request for an interview based on advice from his public defender, Ruth Tkacz. "We certainly have nothing but respect for their wishes," Tkacz said of the Murrays. "It takes a lot of courage for them to come forward with this request." In an appeal to the Ohio Supreme Court in 2005, public defender Robert Lowe argued that jurors werent told Emily Murray opposed capital punishment. State and local prosecutors were not allowed to participate because they missed by one day the filing deadline to present written and oral arguments before the court. Justices still upheld McKnights death sentence and conviction. Vinton County Prosecutor Timothy Gleeson, who helped put McKnight on death row, said Ohio's new governor should consider the Murrays request even though Gleeson believes the sentence was justified. "I would actually encourage the governor to consider what they have to say. I very much appreciate and respect the Murrays" opinion on this. They have a unique perspective," Gleeson said. Strickland, a former prison psychologist, supports the death penalty. But he has questioned the fairness of capital punishment because of cases around the country in which new scientific evidence exonerates inmates after long stays on death row. Gleeson received help in the case from the state attorney general's office after Vinton County Judge Jeffrey Simmons ruled local prosecutors could not seek the death penalty because the county might not be able to afford a proper prosecution and pay for McKnights defense. The decision drew national attention, and the judge changed his mind when the state decided to pitch in. After finding Emily Murray's body, police found the bones of a friend of McKnight, Gregory Julious, 20, of Chillicothe, whose body had been dismembered and burned. McKnight was sentenced to life in prison for that killing. (source: Associated Press)
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ARK., PENN., MO., S.C., OHIO
Rick Halperin Thu, 11 Jan 2007 19:05:35 -0600 (Central Standard Time)
