[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----N.C., CALIF., VA.

[Rick Halperin]

April 19


NORTH CAROLINA----impending execution

Lawyers ask 2 courts to halt Brown execution


Lawyers for a man convicted of a 1983 slaying have asked a federal appeals
court and the U.S. Supreme Court to stop his execution scheduled for this
week, citing different reasons in each court.

In a filing with the 4th U.S. Circuit of Appeals in Richmond, Va., lawyers
for Willie Brown Jr. argued that there's a chance he could be awake and
suffer pain during his execution. The appeal filed with the nation's
highest court argued that Brown was poorly represented by his trial lawyer
and that the judge gave the jury erroneous instructions.

Both appeals were filed Monday. Earlier that day, U.S. District Judge
Malcolm Howard declined to issue a stay for Brown, saying the state had
taken sufficient precautions to ensure that Brown would remain asleep
during his execution. Howard had said in an earlier order that he would
stop the execution without that assurance.

In the appeal before the 4th Circuit, defense lawyers contend that the
state's plan to require that a doctor and a nurse observe a monitor from
an adjacent room is insufficient. The defense also questions the medical
team's credentials.

(source: Associated Press)






CALIFORNIA:

Oakland woman charged in friends' killings


Prosecutors charged an Oakland woman today with 2 counts of murder in the
grisly killing of two women whose bodies were covered in plastic and
dumped earlier this month in Richmond and Golden Gate Park.

Jasmilla Ford, 26, also was charged with the special circumstance of
multiple murder, which could bring the death penalty if she is convicted
of killing Kimberly Millen and Sophia Sciutto-Creps.

Ford kept her head bowed through most of her appearance in Oakland. About
15 people identified as her friends and family who had filled the
courtroom left, some of them shouting angrily at sheriff's deputies who
had shushed them during the proceedings.

Ford remains jailed without bail.

Investigators said Ford used a steel bed rail to beat Millen, 21, then
stabbed her dozens of times with a knife. The San Bruno woman's body was
found April 1 wrapped in plastic and dumped along a road in an industrial
stretch of Richmond. Police said Ford was driven to kill by jealousy over
a boyfriend.

Sciutto-Creps, 27, of South San Francisco, was killed at about the same
time; a gardener discovered her body 4 days later under ivy near Stow Lake
in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. Investigators have not disclosed a
motive in that case.

The women, who were friends, were last seen March 27, and police believe
the 2 women were killed in Ford's home.

Police also have arrested Ford's brother, Troy Richardson, 24, in
connection with the killings, and prosecutors said he is expected to be
arraigned Wednesday.

(source: San Francisco Chronicle)






VIRGINIA:

Attorneys Prepare For Sentencing -- Judge To Review Additional Evidence


An attorney representing a man convicted of contracting a murder told a
judge on Tuesday that he plans to ask that the verdict be set aside.

Paul Maslakowski, of the Northern Virginia Capital Defenders Office,
announced his intentions as the case of Ivan Teleguz returned to
Rockingham County Circuit Court.

Tuesdays hearing set the stage for sentencing May 8, when Judge John
McGrath will consider a jurys recommended death sentence and set Teleguz
punishment.

In February, jurors recommended that Teleguz, 27, be executed for his part
in the July 2001 murder of Stephanie Sipe.

Sipes mother found her body inside Apartment A-7, 899 Port Republic Road
in the Deer Run Complex. Her infant son was found in the bathroom
unharmed.

In Tuesdays hearing, Teleguz defense team asked that McGrath consider some
pieces of evidence that were not presented to the jury at trial.

McGrath agreed to review the information before sentencing May 8.

Post-Trial Motions

McGrath said he would review studies on crime in prison and a report
prepared by a psychological expert retained by the defense.

According to Maslakowski, the studies show low crime rates in prison,
especially among inmates on death row, or serving life sentences.

The findings are important for the defense because whether a defendant is
a future danger is a consideration in the sentencing of death penalty
cases.

Jurors never saw the report by the defense teams psychologist, because
Teleguz refused an interview with the prosecutions doctor.

McGrath also ruled that an investigators notes that Maslakowski says were
not previously given to the defense be turned over.

Maslakowski said the notes could have helped him prepare Teleguz defense.

Commonwealths Attorney Marsha Garst argued that the defense attorney's
questions at trial showed he knew the information that was in the notes.

(source: The Daily News Record)