Sept. 10 CALIFORNIA: 2 gang members sentenced to death in 'Dead Presidents' case 2 San Bernardino gang members were sentenced to death Wednesday for their roles in an intragang purge 8 years ago that killed four and wounded two. Luis Mendoza, 32, and Lorenzo Inez Arias, 29, each were convicted July 8 on 4 counts of 1st-degree murder and 2 of attempted murder. Jurors in the next phase of the trial found that the killings were committed in association with, and to benefit, a criminal street gang. On Aug 13, at the end of the penalty phase, they recommended death for both men. Sentencing reports for Mendoza and Arias, released Friday, say that the punishment fits the crimes. "A case so heinous as this should leave no doubt in one's mind that if there was ever a case where the death penalty applies, this is such a case," the reports said. Juror Julianne Hoffman took a day off work so she could watch the sentencing. She said she was pleased with the judge's decision. "I just wanted to make sure what we decided is what happened," Hoffman said. The bloodbath on July 9, 2000, became known as the "dead presidents" killings because two of the slain were leaders of Westside San Bernardino gang cliques. Killed were Marcelino Luna, 19, of San Bernardino, his cousin, Anthony Luna, 23, of Grand Terrace, Johnny Agudo, 33, and his brother, Gilbert Agudo, 27, both of San Bernardino. On Wednesday, San Bernardino County Superior Court Judge Michael Smith sentenced Mendoza and Arias after denying separate motions for a new trial and to reduce the penalty to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Smith said the evidence supported the jury's guilty verdicts and death-penalty recommendations. Attorney Richard Crouter, defending Mendoza, argued that the jury got it wrong. "The fear of gangs had a great deal to do with the verdicts here," Crouter said. "The jury saw 4 deaths and determined Mendoza and Arias were somehow involved." Smith described Mendoza and Froyland Chiprez, 33, a third suspect who fled to Mexico, as gang "shot callers." "All the persons shot were close friends of Mendoza," Smith said. "They had grown up with each other." Smith described Arias as a follower and participant who fired 3 rounds into the back of ambush survivor Armando Villasenor. Deputy District Attorney Cheryl Kersey countered that Arias is an entrenched gang member. "He hadn't had the time to establish a leadership role," Kersey said. "He was Chiprez's right-hand man." Mendoza and Arias did not make statements during the 2-hour hearing. No victim-impact statements were read. The sentencing reports show Mendoza has 15 offenses on his record, 10 as a juvenile and five as an adult. His first, when he was 13, was shooting into an inhabited home or vehicle. Arias has a clean adult record, but three convictions as a minor. They include a home-invasion robbery in San Bernardino in 1994, when he was 16, and a carjacking in Fontana when he was 17. (source: Press-Enterprise) GEORGIA: Sister of Death Row Prisoner: "There's No Gun, No DNA, No Case, But These People Say It's Okay to Kill Him" On September 23rd, Troy Anthony Davis is scheduled to die, despite overwhelming evidence of his innocence. This Friday, the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles will meet for a final hearing on his case. On Wednesday, September 10 and Thursday, September 11, people all over the country will be taking action to stop Troy's execution and let Georgia officials know that they are watching to make sure they do not execute an innocent man. For more on what you can do, go here. Last summer, Troy Anthony Davis came within 24 hours of being killed by the state of Georgia, before winning a stay based on alarming evidence of his innocence. Despite compelling proof of his innocence, this spring, the Georgia Supreme Court denied him a new trial -- despite the fact that the case against Davis was built entirely on eyewitness testimony; despite the fact that seven out of nine of those eyewitnesses against Troy have recanted their testimony. Several have signed sworn affidavits stating that police coerced them to testify. Earlier this year, Troy's sister and advocate Martina Correia, discussed the court's decision and the fight to save her brother's life with Julien Ball, of the Campaign to End the Death Penalty. Julien Ball: Can you talk a little about the Georgia Supreme Court's ruling? Martina Correia: The Georgia Supreme Court ruled 4-3 against Troy not based on the merits of the case, but based on a technicality. The judges that ruled against him said recanted testimony does not carry as much weight as trial testimony. They didn't even know that these witnesses had testified at the parole board. They said the witness testimony was old, even though it had not been heard in a court of law. They ruled on a technicality--the same thing we've been fighting for 18 years. They were cowards, if you ask me, because they didn't rule on the merits of the case. Justice Leah Sears said the court was "morally wrong" and "too rigid," and the standard set by the court for recantations was so high that nobody would be able to meet it. They didn't have anything to compare Troy's case to, and they set the bar so high that nobody would be able to reach it. JB: Can you talk about the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act and the effect it's had on Troy's case? MC: That law is responsible for many people already being executed. The law is so disgusting. You're giving someone a time limit. The law was put in place to attack "terrorists," but they attached the death penalty to it. It's hindered Troy's case. It doesn't matter if the actual murderer came forward and said, "I did it." When Troy was arrested, he didn't have good lawyers and good investigators in his case. But they made the law retroactive, so by the time we did get lawyers and investigators, it didn't matter, because the law was retroactive 10 years, and it was too late to present the evidence. JB: Can you tell us a little about Troy? MC: He is one of the most giving people. When we were growing up, Troy was the mama's boy. He was very close to home, I was outdoorsy. My father was a contractor and former police officer. I was into the outdoors, like camping. He was into whatever his mom wanted him to do. When Troy got older, he played ball and coached for the police athletic club. He would cut the neighbors' grass. When the ice cream truck would come around, he would line up all the kids and buy them ice cream. He was a really good kid. He was the quiet one. He didn't get in trouble. He didn't hang with the crowd. He was always the peacemaker. He told me, "If I had not been myself and had let Larry Young be attacked, I wouldn't be in this situation, but because I helped someone else, I'm on death row." People might think that sounds corny or Leave-It-to-Beaver, but that's the type of person Troy was. He gave up a lot of his teenage years to take care of my sister, who was in a wheelchair. JB: Troy's case has gained media attention and support from a number of organizations. What impact do you think that's had? MC: I think it's been really important, especially with the Parole Board, because when the Parole Board has doubt, they say they won't agree to an execution. But in order for my brother to get a clemency hearing, you have to have an execution date. And you don't have an execution date until 48 hours before execution. The court and legal system in Georgia has been at the center of everything that wrong with the death penalty, and that's because things have been allowed to stay under the radar. If death row inmates could be interviewed in Georgia, death row would be shut down. Georgia doesn't care about the law -- they care about keeping the South the old South. The people in charge are the same old people. So the media doesn't have the impact in Georgia it should. We need a national TV station to tell Troy's story. If Troy doesn't have an execution date, his case falls under the radar. JB: What impact do you think the movement to save Troy has had? MC: The campaign for Troy has had a phenomenal impact in that people around the world know the name of Troy Anthony Davis. People are starting to watch what's going on with the case. It's okay to sign petitions, but sometimes we need to hit the pavement. We've been playing nice. Human rights organizations are nice -- they have a purpose. But where is the grassroots? We have the largest Martin Luther King parade in Savannah, but if he were alive, he'd be asking what's going on. Because the dream that he had doesn't exist in Georgia. It exists for the 1 percent who live there, and make over $200,000 per year. They're using all kinds of underhanded tactics to keep people from finding out the truth about Troy. They say the witnesses are only coming forward because they don't want to have his execution on their conscience. But they have nothing to gain. They can be tried for perjury and get a life sentence. So why would anyone say recanted testimony isn't as important? They came forward to do the right thing. Right now, I'm really pissed off. I don't have a lot of faith in the U.S. justice system. My mother sits, and I know what she's thinking. I talk to my brother, and I know what he's thinking. He's thinking, "I'm going to have to sit in a room and wait for a phone call to see whether I get another stay." JB: How do you think the fight for Troy connects with the fight to abolish the death penalty overall? MC: I think it's like with a tree -- you have to start chopping somewhere. You can't just say I want to see this tree fall, because it's rotten. When people see the whole tree standing, they say that the tree's there. When you can show that there are 128 different people who've been exonerated, then you can show that this isn't for the worst of the worst -- they're being selective based on socio-economics and race. Hammering on the death penalty as a moral issue is not going to work. To chop down this tree, you have to find the outrageous cases with inconsistencies and that show the problems with the system. That has more of an impact than just saying, "The death penalty is wrong." We have to chop at the base of this tree and work our way up to the top. JB: What's next in the fight for Troy? MC: On May 17, we're having a big rally at the Georgia state capitol building. We're going to get signatures throughout the city and pass out flyers. That's been very successful. We're trying to get people to write to Georgia congressmen. We're asking everyone to come to the May 17 event and to go on Amnesty's Web site. We're trying to get the U.S. Supreme Court to take the case. They usually take cases that set a national precedent, and people have been telling me that they might decide this case only relates to Georgia. There's no gun, no weapon, no DNA, no motive, pretty much no case -- but these people still say that it's okay to kill him. I look at my son, and I say, "How do I explain this to my son? Do I say to my son that it doesn't matter how smart you are if you're Black? I don't want this to be my son's fight for the rest of his life." If the Supreme Court doesn't select his case, the prosecutor will try to get an execution date quickly. Then we will be back before the parole board for clemency. I don't want Troy to get life without parole, because that's like a death sentence, but we can at least continue to fight a life sentence. (source: AlterNet) WASHINGTON: Gregoire, Rossi far apart on social issues Few things demonstrate the political gulf between Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire and Republican Dino Rossi more than their stances on social issues. Gregoire supports giving gay and lesbian partners the same rights that married couples have today, as long as it isn't called marriage. Rossi opposes such a move and would consider rolling back a new provision in state law that allows a domestic partner to inherit assets without a will. Gregoire says pharmacies should be required to sell Plan B emergency contraception, the so-called "morning-after" pill. Rossi said pharmacists should have the right to refuse to fill those prescriptions. Both gubernatorial candidates oppose assisted suicide for terminally ill patients, and both support the death penalty in rare cases. But they differ sharply over abortion. Here are summaries of the candidates' views on various social issues, based on recent interviews. Abortion Rossi says he's not running on the issue and doubts whether if a bill restricting abortion would ever come before him if he's elected. But he indicated that he would sign such a bill. He said, though, that he would support exceptions for incest, rape and to save the life of the mother. "My wife and I are both Catholic and believe every soul has a value," he said. "If it came before me, I'd vote my conscience, of course. If any of those issues do, I'd vote my conscience." He said people have told him "you ought to change your position on life; you'd be a shoo-in for governor." But Rossi said he won't change. "If I'm going to make an error, I'm always going to err on the side of life. What's the worse-case scenario? Someone is alive. So when it comes to those issues, I will always err on the side of life." He added that "the people still have the power of referendum if they disagreed with my position on life." Gregoire supports legal abortion, although she says it's not something she'd ever choose to do personally. "I believe it's not government's role and it's no business of government to tell women what they do with regard to health-care decisions. I think it's a decision to be made by the woman in consultation with her doctor and her spouse or loved one, [and] her relationship with God." Gay marriage Rossi opposes gay marriage and says he would veto a gay-marriage bill if it passed the Legislature. But he added, "I'm not running on that issue either." He also said he would be open to rolling back a provision in the state domestic-partnership law that allows a person to inherit his or her partner's assets without a will as long as the couple had registered with the state as domestic partners. "It seems like a trial lawyer's dream," Rossi said. "By me claiming we had a relationship, you pass away and I can come in and say you promised me this and you promised me that. I think that's a problem." Gregoire says gay partners should have the rights enjoyed by married couples, but she doesn't want to call it marriage. "I firmly believe we ought to have in this state and I believe it's the values of the people equality on rights and benefits." Calling it marriage, however, is a different matter. "The issue of marriage to me is a religious issue. I don't believe the state should be engaged in telling the churches what they can and cannot do," she said. "To me, the state of Washington did not marry me. To me, it's a sacrament. And so, as far as I'm concerned, my role, my job and my passion is to ensure equal rights and equal benefits. I'll leave the issue of marriage to churches." Assisted suicide Rossi opposes assisted suicide for terminally ill patients and is against Initiative 1000 on the November ballot, which would make it legal. "My mom had cancer. She had breast cancer," he said. "She started having chemotherapy. She couldn't keep anything down. I'd leave from work and come to lunch and try to get her to eat something. She couldn't keep anything down. If this was available, I think she would have opted to have a doctor help take her life," he said. Rossi said a relative of his, a nurse, found better medication for her and "my mom started having more of a will to eat and keep food down and started gaining weight again. She lived a couple more years and ended up seeing our 1st child be born. If she'd had that option [assisted suicide], that never would have happened." Gregoire also opposes assisted suicide but said she won't campaign against I-1000. "I have looked at this from every perspective. I have concluded that for me, personally, I will vote no," she said. "But I will not get involved in any campaign at all. I think it's a very personal decision to be decided by the voters. I will respect the outcome of the vote." Stem-cell research Rossi supports adult stem-cell research in an effort to find cures for a variety of diseases. But he opposes using embryonic stem cells, which are collected from embryos that are destroyed in the process. "Adult-stem-cell research is where all the advances have come from," he said. "I've been supportive of adult-stem-cell research but not embryonic. There is a distinction between the two because one has promise, and one doesn't." Gregoire says she supports stem-cell research, including that using embryonic stem cells. "I absolutely believe we need to find the cures to these most dreaded diseases," she said. Death penalty Rossi supports the death penalty but believes it should be used only for the worst crimes. "I'm not a fan of the death penalty," he said. "It's one where I used to be more pro-death penalty probably 20 years ago. Really, I think it needs to be reserved for the most vicious of the vicious." He noted that the governor has the power to commute a death sentence. "Balancing budgets and building streets, that's easy. This would have to be the hardest thing I'd have to do as governor." Gregoire has never been asked to commute a death sentence, but her position on the penalty is similar to Rossi's. "I do not support a ban on the death penalty. We need all penalty options on the table for the most heinous crimes," she said. "I do think the death penalty should be used in very few instances." (source: Seattle Times) PENNSYLVANIA: Murder case could lead to death penalty What could become Bucks County's next death penalty case is scheduled to begin its journey through the justice system today, nearly 2 years after a young Bristol Township man was shot to death. At a preliminary hearing this afternoon, District Judge Joanne V. Kline is slated to decide whether the murder charges against David Ramtahal, 24, and Nyako Pippen, 20, should go to trial. Ramtahal and Pippen allegedly killed Bristol Township resident Jarrett Osbourne, 18, during a robbery attempt in November 2006. The defendants already are serving life sentences for murdering a woman outside Pottstown, Montgomery County, in January 2007. The 39-year-old woman was shot to death during a home invasion robbery attempt while her young children were downstairs. The charges against Ramtahal and Pippen in the Bristol Township case were filed in June more than 18 months after Osbourne was gunned down. Today's hearing follows a county grand jury investigation in which one defendant allegedly testified against the other and during which detectives allegedly presented DNA and forensic evidence. A 9 mm handgun left behind at the Montgomery County murder scene in January 2007 was used in the Bristol Township murder in November 2006, according to police. And DNA found on a ski mask at the Bristol Township murder scene was allegedly matched to Ramtahal. According to the grand jury presentment, Pippen testified that Ramtahal was the trigger man. Pippen said he and Ramtahal drove around Bristol Township looking for "girl company" that night, according to the grand jury report. Instead they tried to rob a group of people they mistakenly thought were drug dealers, court records show. As the group ran away from Ramtahal and Pippen, Ramtahal fired off a round from his 9 mm gun, Pippen allegedly told the grand jury. Osbourne was struck in the buttocks, causing him to bleed profusely and vomit on the street before dying. If Kline decides today to send the charges to county court in Doylestown for trial, Bucks County District Attorney Michelle Henry has until the trial's formal arraignment to announce whether she will seek the death penalty. That arraignment could be a month away. In June, when the charges were announced, Henry said she would review the evidence before making her decision on the death penalty. Only Ramtahal faces capital punishment because he is charged with first-degree murder. Pippen is charged with 3rd-degree murder, which carries a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison, and would be served concurrently with his life-sentence if he is found guilty. In order to make a murder a capital case in Pennsylvania, prosecutors must lay out at least one factor identified under the law that aggravates, or enhances, the murder charge. Examples of aggravating factors are torture or committing another felony, such as kidnapping or drug dealing, during the killing. In this case, the alleged aggravating circumstance was robbery. According to the grand jury's presentment, Pippen knew Ramtahal because he worked for Pippen's father's heating and air-conditioning business in Philadelphia's Germantown section. At the time of Osbourne's murder, Ramtahal lived with Pippen and his father. According to Pippen's alleged testimony to the grand jury: On the night of Nov. 15, Pippen and Ramtahal drove to Bristol Township in a green Ford Taurus station wagon belonging to Ramtahal's mother to visit a girl who lived in Indian Creek. The men drank 40-ounce bottles of Old English Malt Liquor on their way to Bucks County. The girl wasn't allowed to hang out. So Pippen said he and Ramtahal drove through the Bristol Township neighborhoods of Bloomsdale-Fleetwing, Lakeview Manor and into Winder Village looking for women. Once in Winder Village, Pippen said he and Ramtahal saw a group of men hanging out on Winder Drive and Elmhurst Avenue. Ramtahal believed the teens were drug dealers with as much as $500 on them and suggested they "take them down," which meant rob them, Pippen testified. Pippen armed himself with a shotgun from the trunk and Ramtahal with the 9 mm handgun, court records said. As they approached the group, the men ran. Ramtahal allegedly chased after them, pointing his gun at them when Pippen said he heard a shot fired. The people they tried to rob were not drug dealers, according to police and Osbourne's brother Jamar. Osbourne, 17-year-old Jamar and an unidentified friend were just walking to the 7-Eleven on Veterans Highway for a snack, Jamar told the Courier Times last year. After the shooting, Ramtahal and Pippen drove back to the city. Ramtahal told Pippen that he fired his gun in to the air, according to court documents. But Pippen told the grand jury that his friend appeared fidgety and nervous and asked for a cigarette even though he doesn't smoke. When Bristol Township police arrived on the scene, they recovered a spent shell casing and a ski mask containing Ramtahal's DNA, according to court documents. They also would recover the bullet from Osbourne's body. The following January, police said Ramtahal's gun was recovered in West Pottsgrove, Montgomery County, after Ramtahal, Pippen and others invaded the home of Kelly Carter-Hernandez. Ramtahal shot and killed the woman. At his sentencing earlier this year for the murder of Carter-Hernandez, Ramtahal reportedly wept in the courtroom and asked the victim's family for forgiveness. (source: Bucks County Courier Times) ALABAMA: AU murder case postponed until judge decision All proceedings in the murder case against Courtney Lockhart have been postponed until an Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals ruling on whether to replace the judge in the case. Lee County Judge Jacob A. Walker III refused to recuse, or remove, himself from the case in an order released Monday. Jeremy Armstrong, attorney for Lockhart, recently requested that Walker recuse himself and all Lee County judges on the basis of possible appearance of partiality. Walker suspended all proceedings in the case until the appeals court made a decision. Lockhart is charged with the March 4 murder of Auburn freshman Lauren Burk of Marietta, Ga. The 23-year-old is charged with capital murder during a kidnapping, capital murder during a robbery and capital murder during an attempted rape. (source: Associated Press)
[Deathpenalty] [POSSIBLE SPAM] death penalty news-----CALIF., GA., WASH., PENN. ALA.
Rick Halperin Thu, 11 Sep 2008 22:39:09 -0500 (Central Daylight Time)
