[Deathpenalty] [POSSIBLE SPAM] death penalty news----TEXAS, GA., DEL., OHIO

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 16



TEXAS:

Alleged romantic link raises appeal questions


Legal experts have criticized a judge and a small-town Texas prosecutor,
calling their alleged sexual affair in the years before trying a death
penalty case "stupid" and "a black eye to the system."

They say the alleged affair between former Judge Verla Sue Holland and
ex-Collin County District Attorney Thomas O'Connell raises ethical
questions and could lead to appeals from inmates who claim their trials
were tainted by bias.

"Definitely there are people locked up ... saying: 'Wait a minute. I was
convicted in this judge's court,'" said Fred Moss, a Southern Methodist
University law professor. "It's such incredible bad judgment because it
throws every conviction into doubt."

The alleged affair, an apparent open secret 20 years ago in Collin County
legal circles, became part of the public record again last week. Lawyers
for death row inmate Charles Dean Hood sought a stay of execution in the
nation's busiest death penalty state, arguing Holland was biased because
of her relationship with O'Connell.

About 30 former prosecutors and federal and state judges signed a letter
sent to Gov. Rick Perry by lawyers for Hood, convicted in 1990 of fatally
shooting two people in Plano. The letter states that a sexual
relationship, which Hood's lawyers say the judge and prosecutor
acknowledged under oath during depositions last week, "would have had a
significant impact on the ability of the judicial system to accord Mr.
Hood a fair and impartial trial."

Hood received a reprieve, although the alleged affair was not the reason.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals wants to reconsider whether the jury
instructions were flawed.

"The appearance of impropriety is absolutely there and it does affect the
integrity of the system," said Rick Hagen, president of the Texas Criminal
Defense Lawyers Association. "And you can't deny that."

Attorneys for Holland and O'Connell declined to discuss their clients'
depositions, citing a gag order. In an affidavit, former assistant
district attorney Matthew Goeller said it was "common knowledge" that the
judge and prosecutor "had a romantic relationship" from at least 1987
until about 1993. Hood was tried in 1990.

Moss, the SMU professor, said such a relationship, if true, "would be so
stupid if they were actually trying cases in her court while they were
having an affair."

"What it does is bring the whole system into question," Moss said. "It's a
real black eye to the system and very unfortunate. It shakes the
confidence of the public in the criminal justice system."

Bill Boyd, Holland's attorney, said Hood's original court-appointed
lawyers were experienced litigators who "were in the courthouse every day
and heard every rumor or innuendo." He said their decision not to ask
Holland to recuse herself is a sign of their faith in her fairness.

"This wasn't their first rodeo," Boyd said. "If there were any hint or
suggestion or chance that they weren't going to get a fair trial, someone
would have raised it."

Neither Holland nor O'Connell have been publicly disciplined by the State
Commission on Judicial Conduct or the State Bar of Texas.

Hood's lawyers have said in court papers that Holland, while on the state
appeals court, recused herself from about 80 % of cases from Collin
County. Her attorney said she routinely stepped aside whenever she had any
prior involvement in a case, such as being the presiding judge or simply
signing a search warrant.

Boyd said Holland is embarrassed by the attention brought by the case.
O'Connell's attorney, Richard A. Sayles, said the ex-prosecutor regrets
the controversy, adding, "On a professional level, I don't think he is
upset that defense lawyers are trying every possible grounds they have for
a stay of execution."

O'Connell was the county's elected district attorney from 1971-82 and from
1987-2002. Holland was a state district judge from 1974-96 before moving
on to the Court of Criminal Appeals from 1997-2002. Both are retired.

McKinney, the county seat, was a small Texas town when O'Connell was first
elected, still decades away from becoming a wealthy bedroom community to
Dallas. Those small-town roots still show.

Boyd, now Holland's attorney, is a former DA who hired O'Connell as an
assistant prosecutor. Once O'Connell became the DA, he hired Holland as
one of his two assistant prosecutors. She was in charge of juvenile cases
before becoming a judge, said John Charles Hardin, a McKinney lawyer since
the mid-1970s.

County officials say it is impossible to determine how many cases
O'Connell prosecuted in Holland's court. O'Connell, as an elected
official, had a vested interest in every one of them. But it was unusual
for the district attorney to appear in the courtroom.

"It was very rare for Tom O'Connell to actually try a case," Hardin said.
"He was an administrator. He ran his office and let his assistants manage
the courts."

Besides Hood, there are four other death row inmates convicted in Collin
County during the overlapping tenures of O'Connell and Holland. Three were
convicted in front of other judges; a record for the fourth could not be
located.

Still, legal experts expect other inmates and their attorneys will begin
filing appeals, arguing their trials were tainted by the alleged affair
between the judge and prosecutor, both of whom were divorced in the late
1980s.

Moss said he also expects the appeals court to find a reason to grant a
new trial for Hood, a former topless club bouncer, who was convicted of
killing a 26-year-old former dancer and her 46-year-old boyfriend.

"Any judge is going to say, 'This is an unsafe conviction and so let's
find the legal grounds and reverse it where we don't have to discuss this
dirty laundry in public,'" Moss said. "I would hope they would do it. Do
we really want to send this guy to his maker after this has occurred?"

(source: Associated Press)






GEORGIA----impending execution

US state Georgia prepares for execution


Authorities on Tuesday prepared to execute the state of Georgia's
longest-serving death row inmate for the murder of his wife.

Unless the courts intervene, 57-year-old Jack Alderman, who has been on
death row for 33 years, will be executed by lethal injection at 7 p.m.
(0000 GMT) at a prison in Jackson, Georgia. The Georgia Supreme Court
denied his request for a stay Tuesday afternoon.

Alderman was sentenced to die for killing his wife, Barbara, in 1974.

He and an accomplice beat her with a crescent wrench, choked her and left
her submerged in water in a bathtub at their Chatham County home. The men
then visited 2 Savannah bars before dumping her body in a creek near her
family's home in Rincon. Prosecutors said they wanted to collect $20,000
in life insurance money.

On Tuesday, the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles rejected Alderman's
bid for clemency for the second time. Alderman's father was among those
who asked the five-member panel to spare his life.

His supporters argue that Alderman has been a model prisoner and mentor in
his more than three decades behind bars. They have also noted that his
accomplice, John Arthur Brown, was paroled after just 12 years in prison.

But David Lock, an assistant district attorney in Chatham County, said
Alderman instigated the crime.

"He was more culpable, without him, the crime would not have taken place,"
Lock said.

Alderman was just a day away from execution last October when Georgia's
top court issued a stay to give the U.S. Supreme Court time to act on a
constitutional challenge to lethal injection. Earlier this year, the
justices cleared the way for executions to resume when they ruled lethal
injection does not amount to cruel and unusual punishment.

(source: Associated Press)

****************

Condemned killer Jack Alderman denied clemency----Scheduled to be put to
death by lethal injection Tuesday at 7 p.m.


Georgia authorities on Tuesday prepared to execute the state's
longest-serving death row inmate for the murder of his wife.

Unless the courts intervene, 57-year-old Jack Alderman, who has been on
death row for 33 years, will be executed by lethal injection at 7 p.m. at
the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson. The Georgia
Supreme Court on Tuesday afternoon had yet to act on his request for a
stay.

Alderman was sentenced to die for killing his wife, Barbara, in 1974.

He and an accomplice beat her with a crescent wrench, choked her and left
her submerged in water in a bathtub at their Chatham County home. The men
then visited 2 Savannah bars before dumping her body in a creek near her
familys home in Rincon. Prosecutors said they wanted to collect $20,000 in
life insurance money.

On Tuesday, the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles rejected Alderman's
bid for clemency for the 2nd time. Alderman's father was among those who
asked the 5-member panel to spare his life. His supporters argue that
Alderman has been a model prisoner and mentor in his more than 3 decades
behind bars. They have also noted that his accomplice, John Arthur Brown,
was paroled after just 12 years in prison.

"They were treated very differently," Aldermans lawyer Michael Siem said.

But David Lock, an assistant district attorney in Chatham County, said
Alderman instigated the crime.

"He was more culpable, without him, the crime would not have taken place,"
Lock said.

Alderman was just a day away from execution last October when Georgia's
top court issued a stay to give the U.S. Supreme Court time to act on a
constitutional challenge to lethal injection. Earlier this year, the
justices cleared the way for executions to resume when they ruled lethal
injection does not amount to cruel and unusual punishment.

As the case has slowly wound its way through the lengthy appeals process,
the delay has been agonizing for Barbara Alderman's sister, Rheta Braddy.
She said her mother has died while Alderman has been on death row and that
her brother-in-law has waited long enough to pay for his crime.

"It is time for Barbara to have some justice," Braddy said.

(source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

***********

Clergy, teacher come to Alderman's defense hours before execution


Attorneys for condemned murderer Jack Edward Alderman, ministers and a
school teacher pleaded this morning with the state's pardons board to
prevent the Chatham County mans death sentence from going forward tonight.

The ministers and the schoolteacher, who met Alderman through death row
ministry and outreach programs, asked the board to spare his life -- if
not for innocence then for the fact that he's become a mentor to inmates
and guards, said James Ringer, Aldermans attorney.

"They told their personal stories of what they've gained from knowing
Jack," Ringer said.

Alderman, currently the longest-serving death row inmate, is set to die by
lethal injection at 7 p.m. tonight at the Georgia Diagnostic and
Classification Prison in Jackson.

The board's decision is expected early this afternoon.

Prosecutors say Alderman asked friend John Arthur Brown to kill his wife,
Barbara Jean Alderman, in return for half of a $20,000 insurance policy on
her life. Brown then hit the woman in the head with a wrench at the urging
of Alderman, and helped Alderman strangle and submerge her in a bathtub.

The pair them went out for drinks, then put the woman's body in the trunk
of Aldermans car and dumped it into a creek, prosecutors say.

For 34 years, Alderman has maintained his innocence.

Ringer said the fact that Brown's testimony helped convict Alderman, and
helped earn his release 12 years after the crime in a deal with
prosecutors, shows that Aldermans sentence is unjust, given that both men
were convicted of the same crime.

Additionally, jurors did not know Brown benefited from testifying against
his accomplice, Ringer said.

Chatham County prosecutors made their case to proceed with the execution
by phone today. Barbara Jean Aldermans family did not attend the hearing.

On Monday, Aldermans attorneys asked the Georgia Supreme Court to stay his
execution while they pursue an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court, which
is not scheduled to return to court until Sept. 29.

4 justices will have to agree to hear Alderman's case. If they do, it is
likely they will stay the execution until the full court reviews the case.

(source: Morris News Service)






DELAWARE:

Mediation ordered in lethal injection suit


A judge has ordered parties involved in the federal civil rights lawsuit
over Delaware's use of lethal injection to mediation.

District Judge Sue L. Robinson directed attorneys for Delaware and public
defenders representing the state's death row inmates to submit proposals
and resolve any outstanding issues with Magistrate Judge Mary Pat Thynge.

While dates for the submissions were set, no date for a final resolution
was indicated in Robinson's order.

Attorneys on both sides have declined comment.

Robinson noted in the order that a hearing set for earlier this month, at
which both sides were supposed to debate the policies and procedures used
by Delaware in carrying out lethal injection executions, was called off
because the state has agreed to adopt protocols that were approved earlier
this year by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The class action lawsuit, which has held up all executions in Delaware
since 2006, claimed the state's execution protocols were so flawed as to
risk unconstitutional pain and suffering by the condemned.

Robinson directed attorneys from the Philadelphia Federal Community
Defender's office to submit any proposed revisions by Friday and attorneys
representing Delaware to respond by Oct. 3.

(source: The News Journal)






OHIO:

Ohio killer: Weight gain isn't to evade execution


An Ohio killer says he's not deliberately gaining weight to keep his death
sentence from being carried out.

Richard Cooey also says he believes his deep veins are a constitutional
issue.

Cooey is scheduled to die Oct. 14th for raping and fatally beating 2 young
women in Akron 22 years ago.

In a death row interview with The Associated Press, Cooey said Tuesday
that his veins are too deep to insert a lethal injection and that should
rule out his execution.

The 5-foot, 7-inch Cooey weighs 267 pounds and has gained 70 pounds behind
bars but says he hasn't done that on purpose in hopes of staying alive.

During the hourlong interview at the state penitentiary in Youngstown,
Cooey said he would take a bullet to the head if that would satisfy
people.

(source: Associated Press)