[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----USA, OHIO, NEV., LA.

[Rick Halperin]

April 11



USA:

Meet Clarence Darrow----The great American lawyer is portrayed in a
one-man show


Clarence Darrow was a man before his time - maybe a man of this time.

So says Gary Anderson, who knows "warts and all" about the most
celebrated, and hated, attorney in American history.

"He spent his life campaigning against many of the very things we face
today," says Anderson.

Darrow, a Columbo-looking kind of guy who wore slept-in suits in court
instead of the French-cut clothes his wife bought, fought for civil
liberties and against conspiracy laws. He saved 102 men from the death
penalty, battled for civil rights and campaigned for separation between
church and state.

The fact that those same issues are hot topics today - decades after
Darrow died in 1938 - motivates Anderson to introduce the lawyer to
theatergoers who want to think and learn, all the while being entertained.
The actor travels the country giving a one-man production titled "Clarence
Darrow: The Search for Justice." He gives the two-hour performance at 7:30
p.m. Thursday at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of the Peninsula at
415 Young's Mill Lane in the Denbigh area of Newport News. Admission is
$15 in advance or $20 at the door; students are $12.

On stage, Anderson wears the Darrow look - white crumpled shirt, wide tie
and red suspenders. He speaks candidly about the lawyer's own
jury-tampering trials and shares anecdotes to reveal his personal side.

During the drama, you may even find him standing beside or in front of
you, asking your opinion about some social issue. It's not unusual for
people in the audience to get caught up in the moment, become mad or start
crying, he says.

"It's an interactive production where I eliminate the wall between me and
the audience and talk to people like Darrow," says Anderson. "You have to
be prepared for anything when you make it that interactive."

Anderson's fascination, probable obsession, with Darrow goes back almost a
decade when he first began his portrayals of the controversial lawyer who
was born in 1857. About 60 to 70 biographies have been written about
Darrow, but Anderson began to meet the man through his autobiography,
which was simply titled "The Story of My Life." The two best books on
Darrow, he says, are "Clarence Darrow for the Defense" by Irving Stone,
who also wrote "The Agony and the Ecstasy," and "People vs. Clarence
Darrow" by Jeffrey Cowan.

Darrow is best known for the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial, which, in some
legal circles, is called the case of all times. In court, Darrow faced off
with his best friend, lawyer and Christian fundamentalist William Jennings
Bryan, in a Tennessee case examining the teaching of evolution in public
schools. John Scopes, the teacher in question, and Darrow technically lost
the case. The case took a toll on the aging Bryan, who died in his sleep 5
days after the trial ended.

Throughout his career, Darrow was known for many things outside the
courtroom - two wives, mistresses, big ego and volatile nature. Even so,
Anderson views him as a misunderstood American hero who fought against
threats to our way of life.

The actor has taken up Darrow's cause to offset the years he personally
never voted in elections but always complained about what government was
doing, or not doing.

"I was an armchair quarterback," says Anderson, who sidesteps personal
questions about age and acting background. "Most Americans give lip
service to what they think makes this country strong. I don't want to be
that way anymore."

He hopes his portrayal of Darrow makes people realize there are flaws in
everyone - government officials and everyday people. Flaws aren't all bad,
no matter how important or unimportant you are, he says.

"You can be a flawed human and still leave a legacy," he says. "You fall
down and you get up stronger."

(source: Daily Press)






OHIO:

Catholic-school kids roll in to protest Ohio's death penalty


After bicycling 140 miles from Cleveland to Columbus over the weekend,
Jayson Gerbec still had enough energy to lead a student rally against the
death penalty yesterday at the Statehouse.

The 17-year-old senior at St. Ignatius High School was joined by about 200
other Catholicschool students from Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and
other parts of the state who chanted, sang and spoke out against capital
punishment.

While they would like to see it abolished before another execution -
Joseph Clark of Lucas County is scheduled to receive a lethal injection on
May 2 - Gerbec said he knows it will take time. "You may not see a
difference now. Sooner or later, well be the adults. Well be cranking out
the ballots."

"Wheels of Justice," as the rally was called, was inspired by Catholic
students who regularly travel from Cleveland by bus to protest and pray
outside the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility, where inmates are
executed.

While there were many protesters at Lucasville for the qst few executions,
the students from Cleveland often have been alone in their vigils in the
past 2 years.

About 24 students made the cycling trek from Cleveland beginning last
Friday. They battled rain and nearly freezing temperatures over the
weekend before arriving in Columbus on a sunny Monday that marked the
beginning of Holy Week.

Joining them in Columbus were students from St. Francis DeSales High
School and Bishop Hartley High School.

Cristin Day, 16, came to the rally fresh off a performance in the play
Dead Man Walking at Hartley, where she is a sophomore. Day is zealously
opposed to capital punishment.

"There is so much more to be done," she said yesterday. "You have to
scream at the top of your lungs to be heard."

Since Ohio resumed capital punishment in 1999, 20 men have been executed.
There are now 193 men and two women on death row.

The students gave state Rep. Mike Mitchell, D-Columbus, a petition against
the death penalty bearing 1,756 signatures.

Among the rally speakers were Gary Beeman, a former death row prisoner who
was acquitted at a new trial, and David Kaczynski, who turned his own
brother, Ted Kaczynski, also known as the "Unabomber," over to
authorities.

"I dont believe innocence or justice has any place in the death penalty
today," Beeman said. He called for a moratorium on capital punishment.

Kaczynski said he was faced with a horrendous choice when he realized that
the man wanted for killing 3 people and injuring 2 dozen others was his
reclusive brother. He could remain silent, knowing it might mean more
innocent lives would be lost, or he could turn in his brother, knowing he
might get the death penalty.

Eventually, he turned his brother over to authorities. In 1998, Ted
Kaczynski was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

"I feel very strongly we did the right thing," said Kaczynski, now the
head of New Yorkers Against the Death Penalty.

(source: The Columbus Dispatch)

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

Jury still out on Marshall death penalty


Will he receive the death penalty or life in prison? Convicted arsonist
and triple murderer Roger Marshall had to wait another day to learn the
answer to that question.

Marshall was convicted in February of starting a fire at the motel that
trapped and killed his ex-girlfriend, Lolaetta Corbin Hicks, her new
boyfriend, John Meyer and another man who lived at the motel, James Reed.

The jury in the Marshall case began deliberations just after 11:30 a.m.
Thursday.

Jurors deliberated until just after 5 p.m. and then retired to
sequestration. Deliberations began again this morning.

One more person was dismissed from jury service Thursday. Debbie Hasenauer
was let go at the request of defense attorneys William Eachus and Charles
Knight.

After the guilty verdict was reached but before the jury met again to
begin the sentencing portion of the trial, Hasenauer called court
officials and informed them that an acquaintance, Chris Destocki, had told
her about hearing another juror, Robert Lowe, bragging about wanting to
give Marshall the death penalty.

"It's not because of anything youve done. You did the right thing," Walton
told her, "but because you have information the other jurors did not
have."

Lowe was dismissed from jury service Wednesday.

In his closing argument, Knight pleaded with the jury to spare Marshall's
life, given his emotional immaturity and mental instability stemming from
a painful childhood.

Knight said Marshall had lived a decent life, held down a job and served
in the military prior to the 2004 murders and that these factors should be
taken into account.

"Do you recommend we put someone to death because of this one incident and
disregard his life, his 58 years, before this?" Knight asked.

But Lawrence County Prosecutor J.B. Collier, Jr. reminded the jurors it
was Roger Marshalls decision to kill 3 people by starting a fire at the
Lyle Motel in August 2004.

That act, perpetrated in the early morning hours when all three victims
were asleep, made their deaths an aggravated circumstance. It was that
aggravating circumstance, Collier said, for which Roger Marshall should
pay with his life.

"I submit to you that the state has proven beyond reasonable doubt the
killing of 3 innocent people far outweighs the mitigating efforts (of the
defense)," he said.

Throughout the closing statements, Marshall sat quietly, displaying none
of the temper that got him ejected from the courtroom Wednesday.

(source: Ironton Tribune)






NEVADA:

Nevada convict who killed 'Coasters' singer dies


Nevada death row inmate Patrick Cavanaugh, a former manager of the
"Coasters" who was convicted of killing one of the group's singers in Las
Vegas, died of natural causes Monday in an Ely State Prison infirmary.

The 60-year-old Cavanaugh had long-term health problems aggravated by
smoking.

Prison system spokesman Fritz Schlottman says no foul play was involved.
He says Cavanaugh was pronounced dead after an infirmary guard noticed he
had stopped breathing and called for medical help.

Cavanaugh was sentenced to death in 1984 for the murder of Nathaniel
"Buster" Wilson. He lost repeated appeals to the state Supreme Court,
including one a year ago in which he claimed he had ineffective legal
counsel.

(source: The Associated Press)






LOUISIANA:

Caddo D-A seeks death penalty in Prock murder case


Caddo Parish District Attorney Paul Carmouche wants the death penalty in
the Joe Prock murder case.

It's scheduled to go before the Caddo Grand Jury in May. Carmouche says
his office will ask for a 1st-degree murder indictment so they can seek
the death penalty against Randy Wilson and Felton Dorsey.

Prock, a retired Caddo Fire Captain, was killed in a botched home invasion
at his mother's home near Greenwood. Prock was beaten and set on fire.

(source: KTBS)