April 25 VIRGINIA: Jury Begins Deliberating Moussaoui's Fate The jury in the Zacarias Moussaoui sentencing trial began deliberating his fate on Monday afternoon after hearing prosecutors demand that he be put to death for contributing to the vast suffering on Sept. 11, 2001. "There is no place on this earth for Zacarias Moussaoui," David Raskin, a federal prosecutor, told the jurors, saying they should order his execution to "put an end to his hatred and venom." A court-appointed defense lawyer then urged the jury of nine men and three women to spare Mr. Moussaoui's life, saying that would deny him the martyrdom he craved. Gerald T. Zerkin, a federal public defender, told the jurors that they would have to "show some courage" to sentence Mr. Moussaoui to life in prison, but that they should do so because the trial "is more about us than it is about him." Mr. Moussaoui sat silently at the side of the courtroom as each side made its final arguments, sometimes making faces and grinning broadly. When the prosecutor pointed to him and said he would like to avoid the death penalty in order to kill more Americans, he nodded in agreement. Mr. Moussaoui has pleaded guilty to conspiracy in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks, and the jury ruled in the first phase of the trial that he was eligible for the death penalty. Mr. Moussaoui was in jail at the time of the attacks, but the jury unanimously agreed with prosecutors that he was responsible for some of the deaths because he willfully concealed his knowledge of Al Qaeda's plans to fly planes into buildings, allowing the plot to go forward. Now the jurors are to weigh a complicated series of factors to calculate the impact and heinousness of the crime against any mitigating factors like Mr. Moussaoui's mental instability. To decide between execution or life in prison, the jurors will navigate a 42-page verdict form. The form resembles a flow chart in which the jurors must reach unanimous agreement on certain questions - like whether Mr. Moussaoui meant to cause "a grave risk of death to more than one person" - before moving on. Prosecutors have listed 26 additional aggravating factors to be considered beyond the three listed in the federal death penalty statute. Those factors largely describe the deaths and destruction at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. To balance those, the defense presented 23 mitigating factors. They include an assertion that Mr. Moussaoui's "unstable early childhood and dysfunctional family resulted in being placed in orphanages" in France and that he was subject to racism in France because of his Muslim background. Judge Leonie M. Brinkema, who spent nearly an hour trying to explain the form to jurors, told them that she was required to impose the death sentence if they recommended it. If they are not unanimous, Judge Brinkema will sentence Mr. Moussaoui to life in prison without the possibility of release. Mr. Raskin, the prosecutor, reminded the jurors of the emotional testimony over the last 2 weeks by people who barely survived and by relatives of many who were killed. "The defendant loved every minute of it," Mr. Raskin said, recalling Mr. Moussaoui's telling the jury that he was sorry only that more people were not killed. The government's case was accompanied by photographs of people who died that day and of the many children who lost a parent. In one picture, the jury was shown a charred and bloody body still lying in the destruction of the Pentagon while another showed a bloody torso that fell from one of the World Trade Center towers onto West Street in New York City. In arguing for the death penalty, Mr. Raskin recalled a recording that the jury heard of Melissa Doi speaking to an emergency operator from one of the World Trade Center towers. "You heard her say, 'I'm very hot, I'm going to die, I'm burning up,'" Mr. Raskin said. He also showed video of people jumping from the towers and asked the jurors to consider their agony in deciding whether to die that way or by remaining in the burning building. Mr. Zerkin told the jurors to resist the temptation to make Mr. Moussaoui a martyr. "He's baiting you into it," he told the jury. "He came to America to die, and you are his last chance." Mr. Zerkin argued that sentencing Mr. Moussaoui to life in prison would not be merciful but would subject him to "the long, slow death of a common criminal." He said the government was trying to make "a sacrificial lamb" of Mr. Moussaoui, a 37-year-old Frenchman of Moroccan heritage who is the only person to be tried in an American courtroom in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks. Mr. Zerkin said that while the government was seeking Mr. Moussaoui's execution, it was not bringing to justice a handful of senior members of Al Qaeda in United States custody whose participation in planning the attacks is not in doubt. He noted that some of those people, like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, regarded as the chief planner of Sept. 11, and Ramzi bin al-Shibh, one of the plot's financiers, have even given statements in the Moussaoui trial from where they are being held overseas in the Central Intelligence Agency's secret prison system. In his remarks, Mr. Raskin, the prosecutor, told the jury not to be diverted by that argument and said people like Mr. Mohammed were being kept in custody to obtain information from them. (source: New York Times) ********************** *********************** Moussaoui defiant; jury starts debate on death penalty The fate of Zacarias Moussaoui was turned over to a federal court jury Monday, and the nine men and three women began debating whether he is to be executed for his role in the Sept. 11 conspiracy or spend life in prison. In closing arguments, prosecutors said the French Moroccan member of Al Qaeda, arrested while in flight training in Minnesota weeks before the attacks, should pay with his life for the nearly 3,000 people killed that day. "This is the United States of America," said Assistant U.S. Atty. David Novak. "We are not going to put up with a bunch of thugs who invoke God's name and kill thousands of innocent people." But defense lawyer Gerald Zerkin urged the jury to sentence Moussaoui to life without chance of parole, arguing that a life sentence for the admitted terrorist would be a fate worse than death. "His death will not make them better," Zerkin said. Jurors deliberated about three hours Monday afternoon and are to return to the courthouse Tuesday to continue. At several breaks in the trial Monday, when the judge stepped down and the jury left the courtroom, Moussaoui boasted that the U.S. justice system cannot touch him. "Never get me, America!" he shouted after prosecutors asked for a death sentence. "Never, never!" Moussaoui, 37, pleaded guilty last year to being a Sept. 11 conspirator. His sentencing trial began March 6, and the jury found him eligible for the death penalty. Now jurors are weighing whether he deserves to die. Prosecutors, as they did during the trial, showed the jury on Monday photographs of burned bodies inside the Pentagon rubble and smashed corpses on the concrete courtyard at the World Trade Center. "It is still hard to believe," said Asst. U.S. Atty. David Raskin. "It's still difficult to watch those images 4 1/2 years later. Can you imagine how horrible it was to die that day?" He told the jurors to reject the notion that execution would make Moussaoui a martyr, or that it might prompt Al Qaeda to strike again in the U.S. "Ladies and gentlemen," he told the jury, "Osama bin Laden could care less what happens here. He hates us and he's always going to hate us whether Zacarias Moussaoui is executed or is in jail." When Zerkin rose to defend Moussaoui, he outlined 24 mitigating factors that the jury could use to reach a decision of life in prison. They include Moussaoui's impoverished and abusive childhood in France, the racism he felt in Europe, and testimony that he was brainwashed into joining Al Qaeda while studying in England. The mitigating factors also note that Moussaoui was in jail on Sept. 11 and, most important to the defense, that he "suffers from a psychotic disorder, most likely schizophrenia, paranoid subtype." Moussaoui outbursts "There's more than one way to skin the American pigs," Zacarias Moussaoui called out in court Monday, the latest in a steady flow of bizarre remarks in the course of his trial. Other pronouncements: April 13: "You don't want somebody like me out in the streets. You either want me in jail or dead." April 11: "Burn all Pentagon next time." (After jurors had been shown gruesome photographs from the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001) April 3: "You'll never get my blood! God curse your souls!" (After he was found eligible for the death penalty) March 27: "You don't have to be trained to cut the throat of somebody. It is not difficult." March 6: "All of this is an American creation. This has nothing to do with me." Feb. 14: "You are America--the defense, the judge, the attackers. These people are American. I'm Al Qaeda. I'm a sworn enemy of you." Feb. 6: "This trial is a circus. I want to be heard!" (source: Chicago Tribune) KANSAS: Supreme Court rehears death penalty case The U.S. Supreme Court is set to rehear a Kansas case Tuesday that could force as many as a dozen states to rewrite their death-penalty statutes. Kansas vs. Marsh, originally argued at the high court in December, was set for re-argument after the arrival of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's replacement, Justice Samuel Alito, the Christian Science Monitor reported. The Eighth Amendment, as interpreted by the high court, requires jurors to make an individual assessment of aggravating and mitigating factors for a death sentence. The newspaper said the Supreme Court has generally left it to the states to decide how that assessment is to be carried out. Many states require that jurors may impose a death sentence only when aggravating evidence outweighs the mitigating evidence. The Kansas law required a death sentence whenever a jury determined that the aggravating circumstances were 'not outweighed by any mitigating circumstances.' A Kansas Supreme Court ruling that the possibility of such an outcome violated constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment, invalidating the death penalty statute in Kansas. (source: United Press International) US MILITARY: Schofield suspect could face death penalty----The soldier allegedly killed his ex-girlfriend after an argument about child support A Schofield Barracks soldier could face the death penalty for allegedly murdering his ex-girlfriend because he did not want to pay monthly child support payments of $285. Yesterday, the Army began a week-long investigative hearing, known as an Article 32 hearing, into the Oct. 7 slaying of Spc. Felicia LaDuke, 22, a 25th Infantry Division soldier whose body was found near Mokuleia Beach. Her ex-boyfriend, 21-year-old Spc. Jeffery White, is charged with premeditated murder, threatening and obstruction of justice. In his opening statement, Army prosecutor Capt. David Clark asked Maj. Suzanne Mitchem, who is presiding over what is similar to a civilian preliminary hearing, to consider allowing White to be at a general court-martial with the death penalty as the maximum sentence. He said it is a capital case because "White committed the crime to receive money," and there was "substantial physical harm, pain and suffering to the victim." At the request of defense attorney Maj. John Hyatt, Army officials initially tried to bar the press and the public from attending the hearing. The defense argued that the hearing should be closed to protect White. The hearing was opened after protests by the Star-Bulletin and the journalist group Military Writers and Editors. Homicide Detective Jimmy Anderson, who was HPD's lead investigator, said White told friends that he strangled LaDuke, threw her body out of her car "and ran her over three times to ensure she was dead." Anderson said White tried to hide the ownership of the green Forester SUV LaDuke had rented by scattering the car's manual, rental car agreement, personal papers, CDs and medical documents of their child at the crime scene before driving it back to Schofield Barracks and abandoning it on Kunia Road in front of Foote Gate. Anderson said fibers from the white pants LaDuke was wearing were found in the tires of the rented SUV. Anderson said White told 2 friends what he did to LaDuke, and they reported the crime to the police. LaDuke was killed on a remote Mokuleia beach on Farrington Highway seventh-tenths of a mile beyond Camp Erdman at a spot where White and his friends held weekend drinking parties. Spc. Ricky Walker, who was White's 1st roommate when he arrived at Schofield Barracks in 2003, said that on 2 occasions the accused said "he just wanted to kill her" so he would not have to pay child support. White and LaDuke's son, Elijah, was born in February 2004 just before LaDuke deployed to Iraq as a truck driver with the 25th Transportation Company, 524th Support Battalion. Walker, who is now stationed at Fort Hood in Texas, said the battle over the couple's son did not start until last summer, when a paternity test proved that White was Elijah's father. Once the Article 32 investigative hearing is completed, Mitchem will report her recommendations to Col. Patrick Stackpole, 3rd Brigade Combat Team commander. However, the Army said that Stackpole does not have the authority to convene a general court-martial where the death penalty would be the maximum sentence. That determination will have to be made by Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon, commander of the 25th Infantry Division. (source: Honolulu Star-Bulletin) FLORIDA: Felons close to an open door for DNA testing Alan Crotzer sat in prison for 24 years for a rape and robbery he didn't commit. He had another 106 years to go on his sentence when DNA evidence proved him innocent in January. Crotzer said he never gave up - not even when his mother fell to the floor in the courtroom on the day of his verdict, gagging and calling his name, or when she died while he was in prison. "I kept my peace, I knew I was innocent," he said. "I took it like a man." But, no matter his optimism, it still took Crotzer more than 2 decades to clear his name. And that's why he supports a bill that could eliminate deadlines for other prisoners who want to clear theirs. Without the law, people like him will give up, Crotzer said. "A lot of people will die in prison - innocent people," he said. "I was one of those people that would have died in prison." The bill could change Florida's DNA testing rules by erasing deadlines for requesting tests and allowing felons who plead guilty or "no contest" to ask for a test. It's part of a national campaign called the Innocence Project, which first took roots in New York 14 years ago when 2 attorneys used DNA evidence to free innocent prisoners. Across the nation, 30 organizations of law scholars, journalism students and attorneys work to prove peoples' innocence using DNA evidence that may not have been available or used during a trial. In Florida, DNA testing on a cigarette that the real rapist smoked proved Crotzer's innocence. In fact, testing has helped clear five wrongfully convicted in the state, said Jennifer Greenberg, an attorney with the Florida Innocence Initiative. Greenberg said she sat on pins and needles for the past two years as state officials debated when to close a deadline for felons' DNA testing. The Legislature gave prisoners 4 years to seek testing. That period would have closed last October, but the Florida Supreme Court held it open until July 1. "A door everyone agreed should never be closed was in fact closing inch by inch," Greenberg said. But if the bill (SB 186) passes, no deadlines will limit when and who can request tests. The House passed its version of the bill (HB 61) Friday, and the Senate version is now before the full chamber and could be heard this week. Those who debated against the bill in the House said people who once confessed guilt shouldn't be able to revisit their cases and cause major upheaval for their victims. But Crotzer said he was pressured to accept a plea bargain for a crime he didn't commit. He didn't take the deal, but said he understands why some who know they'll be wrongfully convicted at a trial would at least bargain for a lesser sentence. "A lot of people that are faced with a lot of time, they'll be afraid to go to trial," he said. "I was threatened that if I didn't take the deal, the judge would throw the book at me." The Senate sponsor, Sen. Alex Villalobos, R-Miami, says he expects little opposition when his bill comes for a final vote as early as this week. Crotzer said he can't even understand why it's taken this long. "It's not hard to do the right thing," he said from St. Petersburg, where he's now made a home and a new life. "It's simple, it's about doing the right thing. But for DNA testing, I'd be sitting in prison, dying, and old man, for something I didn't do." (source: Associated Press) ***************** House declines to change law on jury recommendations for death penalty Florida is the only state in the nation that does not require a unanimous jury verdict in determining whether a case qualifies for the death penalty. On Monday, the Florida House of Representatives voted to leave in place the current policy, ignoring an opinion last year by Florida Supreme Court justices that urged the Legislature to revamp Florida's death penalty policy because it may be in violation of opinions from the U.S. Supreme Court. Rep. Jack Seiler, D-Wilton Manors, a death penalty supporter, sought the changes, but his efforts failed Monday in the House when representatives passed a resolution reinstating Florida's current policy that allows a simple majority vote for a jury to recommend a death sentence. 38 states allow the death penalty. But because of Florida's uniqueness in requiring a simple majority vote, Seiler said Florida's death penalty laws could be ruled unconstitutional. "We are a state that stands alone on this issue," Seiler said. "We are in jeopardy of losing our death penalty." (source: Sun-Sentinel) NEW MEXICO: Ex-inmate to speak on death penalty Juan Melendez, the former Florida death row inmate who was exonerated and released from prison in 2002, is returning to Gallup this week. Speaking on the topic of "Ending the Cycle of Violence and Vengeance," Melendez will be making two presentations at public forums. The 1st will be at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, April 26 at the Westminster Presbyterian Church, located off Boardman Drive. The second will be at 10 a.m. on Thursday, April 27 at the Gallup High School auditorium. The public is invited to both events. Melendez's appearance in Gallup is being sponsored once again by the Gallup Group of the New Mexico Coalition to Repeal the Death Penalty. According to information provided by the coalition, Melendez was sentenced to die in 1984 for a capital murder conviction. Although born in New York, Melendez was raised in Puerto Rico and only spoke Spanish at the time of his arrest and conviction. While on death row, he learned to speak English. In December 2001, a Florida circuit court judge overturned Melendez's conviction after determining prosecutors withheld critical evidence. No physical evidence had linked Melendez to the crime. In addition, defense attorneys presented evidence that another man, now deceased, had confessed to committing the crime. Since his release from prison, Melendez has traveled the country sharing his experience. David Brunt is the chairperson of Gallup's Coalition to Repeal the Death Penalty. Brunt said the group wanted to bring Melendez back to Gallup to give more people "the opportunity to better understand the problems associated with the justice system." The current system just adds "violence on top of violence," Brunt said. "By executing somebody," he added, "we're just continuing the cycle of violence and vengeance." The Wednesday evening presentation will be aimed at a more adult audience, Brunt said, with the emphasis on the "flaws in the criminal justice system and what makes the death penalty so problematic." The Thursday morning presentation at Gallup High School will be geared more to a teenage audience, Brunt said. Melendez will talk about the importance of making good choices in life, he explained, and the issues of violence and vengeance that affect today's youth. New Mexico continues to have the death penalty, and legislative efforts to repeal it failed in 2005. According to Brunt, legislation that would have replaced the death penalty with life in prison without parole made it through the New Mexico House of Representatives but was tabled in the Senate's Judiciary Committee. Brunt blames Gov. Bill Richardson for the bill's failure. "We had enough votes, but Richardson didn't want to see it on his desk," he said. Brunt said he and others in the anti-death penalty movement believe Richardson's presidential aspirations are at the root of why he didn't want to be forced to either sign or veto the legislation. "He just doesn't want to have to deal with that controversial of a bill," Brunt said. However, the statewide coalition is planning to have the legislation reintroduced next year, Brunt added. "This time we think we'll have enough support to get in on the governor's desk," he said. The Gallup Group of the New Mexico Coalition to Repeal the Death Penalty meets at 7 p.m. on the 1st Tuesday of every month at the Catholic Indian Center, 506 W. Historic Route 66. For more information, contact Brunt at (505) 371-5598. (source: The Gallup Independent) NORTH CAROLINA: Anti-Death Penalty Group Releases Report On Botched Executions An anti-death penalty group is targeting states like North Carolina in the rising debate over lethal injection. The New York-based nonprofit Human Rights Watch released a study Monday citing several executions that they claim went wrong and possibly caused painful deaths, including 3 in North Carolina. The group quotes defense lawyers who witnessed the deaths of North Carolina death-row inmates Willie Fisher, Eddie Hartman and John Daniels. Attorney Kim Stevens writes that Daniels sat up gagging and choking in apparent pain. Yet, media accounts of the same execution do not come close to her graphic description. "The account that she gave is different from mine," said The Associated Press Correspondent Estes Thompson, who also watched Daniels die. "I believe Daniels looked into the chamber and may have coughed, and then he put his head back down and didn't move again." Movement or not, Human Rights Watch argues the paralytic drug used in executions can disguise pain. When North Carolina executes convicted killers, the Department of Correction claims it injects 10 times the amount of anesthesia used in a typical surgery. Critics still argue that is not enough. "The way people in the United States execute human beings would not pass muster for euthanasia of animals," said Jamie Fellner, with Human Righs Watch. North Carolina recently added a machine to monitor consciousness to comply with a judge's order. Other death row cases are still pending. Human Rights Watch's motive is not hidden. It wants the death penalty abolished. This issue, however, will keep playing out in court. North Carolina has executed 3 inmates so far this year. Another is scheduled in May. Texas is the only other state that has carried out more executions -- 7. As for debate over the cost, prison costs about $25,000 a year per inmate. Over a 40-year period, the state could spend $1 million housing an inmate. Studies show it costs about $2 million for an execution -- the majority of that is spent in court appeals. (source: WRAL News)
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----VA., KAN., US MIL., FLA., N. MEX., N.C.
Rick Halperin Tue, 25 Apr 2006 09:58:51 -0500 (Central Daylight Time)
