Nov. 13 TEXAS: Judge refuses to set execution date for Texas death row inmate who wants to die The first letter, neatly hand-printed on lined paper, arrived at the federal courthouse in Dallas nearly a year and a half ago with a simple address: U.S. District Clerk's Office. "I am a college graduate and have no delusions what will occur as an end result of these proceedings," inmate Michael Rodriguez wrote in the first of an almost monthly series of notes to the courthouse. Rodriguez, one of the "Texas 7" convicts who escaped from a state prison in 2000 and killed a Dallas-area police officer while on the run has dropped his appeals and wants to die. He cannot. A federal judge signed off on Rodriguez's request Sept. 27, two days after the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to consider a Kentucky challenge to lethal injection as a means of capital punishment. But now a state judge will not set an execution date for Rodriguez until after the high court rules on the Kentucky case. "We probably won't be able to set the date for the first time until probably late next year at the earliest, even though he has volunteered and is otherwise good to go," said Dallas prosecutor Lisa Smith. This is not the first time executions have been stalled in Texas, the U.S.'s busiest capital punishment state, because of a court challenge. For about a year ending in early 1997, lethal injections were virtually halted while the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals reviewed a new state law intended to speed up the capital punishment process. When the court finally gave its approval, a then-record 37 Texas inmates were executed that year. Rodriguez told a psychologist who interviewed him in preparation for a competency hearing that he "had to accept his death sentence and submit to it as payment in order to be forgiven and obtain salvation." Rodriguez and 6 other inmates overpowered workers a south Texas prison on Dec. 13, 2000, took the workers' clothes, then grabbed 16 guns from the prison armory and fled in a stolen truck. On Christmas Eve, while robbing a suburban Dallas sporting goods store, they fatally shot a police officer. The gang the subject of a nationwide manhunt was finally caught a month later in Colorado. A jury took less than 90 minutes to sentence him to death for the officer's slaying. 5 of Rodriguez's companions also were given death sentences. The 7th fugitive killed himself before he could be recaptured with his comrades in Colorado. Rodriguez escaped while serving a life term for hiring a hit man to kill his wife, Theresa, 29, to collect her $250,000 life insurance. She was gunned down in 1992 getting out of her car outside their San Antonio home. The triggerman, Rolando Ruiz, also is on death row. The surviving Texas 7 are still appealing their convictions and death sentences, meaning Rodriguez would be the first of the group executed. His letters in recent months to the federal court became so frequent that he began one in May to Irma Carrillo Ramirez, the federal magistrate who would be presiding over his competency hearing, by saying: "Hello it is me again." In one letter, he apologized to the officer's family. Rodriguez declined to talk to the AP and in one of his letters, he said he does not give media interviews. Rodriguez's lawyer, Danny Burns, had urged his client to continue appeals that could help him and his fellow inmates. "Don't throw your life away," Burns pleaded unsuccessfully. In the Kentucky case now before the Supreme Court, justices will consider whether the mix of 3 drugs used to sedate and kill prisoners and the way they are administered can cause enough pain to violate the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Arguments in the case will take place early next year and a decision should come by late June. Even if Rodriguez succeeded in getting an execution date, prosecutors say it is likely death penalty opponents would intervene to get his punishment stopped. In Texas, where injection procedures are similar to Kentucky's and where trial court judges set execution dates, State District Judge Rick Magnis told prosecutors he will hold off setting a date for Rodriguez until a decision from the high court, Kissi Jones, Magnis' court coordinator said. "He's not doing anything out of the ordinary," Smith, the prosecutor, said. "I think the judge is doing what most judges are, which is everybody is waiting to see what happens." ******************** Man faces death penalty in officer's death A man faces the death penalty after gunning down a Fort Worth police officer 3 years ago. Jurors convicted Stephen Lance Heard of capital murder Tuesday in the death of Officer Hank Nava . Police had gone to a mobile home looking for Heard, who was wanted for a parole violation. Defense attorneys claimed Heard didn't know Nava was a police officer. They told jurors he didn't hear his girlfriend announce that officers were coming in -- and then fired in self-defense after officers fired 34 shots. (source for both: Associated Press) GEORGIA: Amnesty International USA Press Release----FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Amnesty International Calls Georgia Supreme Court Hearing on Troy Davis Case 'Essential,' Saying 'the Original Case Has No Legs' Jared Feuer, Southern Regional Director of Amnesty International USA (AIUSA), released the following statement after the Georgia Supreme Court hearing for Troy Anthony Davis: "Today, the Georgia Supreme Court will begin considering whether to grant a new trial for Troy Anthony Davis. It is essential that the Court is undertaking such a review, but a shame that it has to intervene at all. "More than 18 years ago, Davis was charged quickly and under dubious circumstances. When some witnesses later admitted to making false statements and others alleged coercive police tactics, authorities should have jumped to attention. Instead, they ignored the evidence in the name of the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, legislation that was never intended for this type of case. As a result, it is far from certain that the right person is behind bars. "Clearly this case presents serious questions -- not only about Troy Davis' conviction, but also the administration of the death penalty in Georgia. Investigators never recovered a murder weapon and there was a complete absence of any physical evidence. Now that seven of 9 original witnesses have recanted or changed their testimony, the original case has no legs. A new trial can help ensure that unanswered questions are laid to rest, and that Georgia will not risk executing an innocent man." (source: Amnesty International) NEW JERSEY: New Jersey to vote on death penalty repeal State lawmakers will vote in mid-December on the issue of abolishing the death penalty. If passed, the measure would reduce the state's severest punishment to life-imprisonment without parole, making New Jersey the first state to abolish the death penalty since the Supreme Court allowed states to reinstate capital punishment in 1976. The measure has been supported by Gov. Jon Corzine, a Democrat, who opposes the death penalty and has said he hopes to work with the legislature to abolish it. The proposal comes as nationwide attention has been focused on the death penalty following a U.S. Supreme Court moratorium on death by lethal injection implemented on Oct. 30, which will stay in effect until the court hands down a decision on the issue. New Jersey has had its own moratorium on lethal injections since January 2006, when the legislature appointed a commission to study the state's death penalty policy. David Christie '10, co-chair of the Princeton Justice Project's initiative opposing capital punishment, said he hopes the proposed legislation indicates that the death penalty is on its way out. "The state has spent over a quarter of a billion of dollars on it and hasn't executed anybody," he said. "It's a huge, unnecessary waste of resources for what we believe is an antiquated and cruel punishment." Christie and other members of his group, the Princeton Coalition Against Capital Punishment (PCACP), will set up tables in Frist Campus Center in upcoming weeks to ask students especially those from New Jersey who can contact their legislators urging them to vote for the bill to support eliminating the death penalty. The Garden State may already be primed for such a move. In January, the 13-member New Jersey Death Penalty Commission issued a report that concluded there is no evidence that the death penalty "rationally serves a legitimate penological intent." The report also recommended its abolition. Though the state currently has eight men on death row, the last execution in New Jersey took place in 1963 by lethal injection. The commission's report also found that death by lethal injection considered more humane method than its precursors: lethal gas, the electric chair and the firing squad imposes a greater burden on taxpayers than life imprisonment. Supporters of the death penalty argue that problems with how the death penalty is administered don't discredit the policy itself. College Republicans president Jon Fernandez '08 said that, though his group doesn't have an official stance on capital punishment, "overall most of our membership is in favor of it as a deterrent against repeat offenders in criminal court." Fernandez added that he is concerned that Democrats in the state legislature have purposely timed the current bill so that many state residents won't be aware that a vote is taking place. "They waited until the lame duck session to make a political point," he said, "and in my political opinion the voters are entitled to know about something that's going to be a major issue." Relatives of the victims of New Jersey's death row inmates have also opposed to the bill, but since no inmates have been executed in New Jersey for several decades, it is unclear whether keeping the death penalty technically legal in the state would have any effect. The Death Penalty Commission's report recommended that the funds previously allocated to support the death penalty policy be used to create services for the victims' families. Celeste Fitzgerald, program director for the Trenton-based New Jerseyans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, which works closely with PCACP, said she hopes a vote to abolish the death penalty in December would signal a broader national push against the policy. "It would be one more significant piece of evidence that Americans are rethinking capital punishment," she said. "Death sentences are down, executions are down, states are studying the issue. There are problems everywhere." Christie said he doubts how much nationwide impact the December vote will have, since a large part of the argument against the death penalty in New Jersey stems from the wasted funds allocated to the unused policy. "Unfortunately, I think New Jersey is a little independent of the other states because it hasn't executed anyone in 25 years," he said, "so the rationale here isn't necessarily going to impact other states." Despite her strong views on the capital punishment issue, Fitzgerald cautioned students against jumping to conclusions about the controversial topic. "I think it's important for college students, no matter what the issue, to delve a little deeper than what you read in the newspapers to understand nuance and that things aren't necessarily all up and down, right and wrong," she said. "Study as much as you can before drawing conclusions." The State Assembly plans to vote on the death penalty bill on Dec. 13, while the Senate will tackle the topic before the legislative session ends on Jan. 8. (source: The Daily Princetonian) SOUTH DAKOTA: Murder suspect could face death penalty The prosecutor in the case against a 22-year-old man charged with 1st-degree murder for the death of a 44-year old woman Nov.8 could face the death penalty if convicted, prosecutors say. Tad Blackburn made his initial court appearance Tuesday before 7th Circuit Magistrate Judge Shawn Pahlke. Blackburn is charged with murdering Tamara Magic of Rapid City. Ken Varnes, deputy state's attorney for Pennington County, said 1st-degree murder carries a mandatory sentence upon conviction of life in prison or the death penalty and that prosecutors will decide later in the case whether to pursute the death penalty. Magic was found dead Thursday night at her residence on the 100 block of East St. Charles Street. Police said Blackburn and Magic knew each other. Blackburn is also charged with an alternate count of 2nd-degree murder, which carries a mandatory life sentence upon conviction. Because the 2 murder charges are alternate counts, Blackburn cannot be convicted of both. He also faces a charge of driving under the influence. Varnes said Blackburn was arrested by Box Elder Police after Magic's body was found. Blackburn had been drinking at the time. Pahlke did not set bond for Blackburn. He remains in custody at Pennington County Jail. Varnes said autopsy results on Magic are pending. (source: Rapid City Journal) PENNSYLVANIA: Prosecutors cannot seek death penalty for murder suspect, judge rules Prosecutors cannot seek the death penalty against of 2 suspects in a January 2006 murder, a Lebanon County judge has ruled. In a ruling dated Friday and made public Tuesday, Judge John C. Tylwalk barred the district attorney's office from seeking the death penalty against James Hower. The judge ruled prosecutors could seek the death penalty against Hower's co-defendant, Roberto Laboy. Hower and Laboy, both 23 years old and from Lebanon, face trial on 1st-degree murder and other charges for the Jan. 21, 2006, murder of David Kern. An autopsy concluded that Kern was stabbed 3 times in the chest. One of the wounds pierced his heart and caused his death, according to the autopsy report. "Although charged as a principal and accomplice, there is no evidence that Hower inflicted the fatal blow upon the victim," Tylwalk said in his ruling. "His actions of allegedly kicking (Kern) in the head may infer the intent to inflict serious bodily injury, but does not rise to the level of intent to kill. Although fists and feet have been held to constitute deadly weapons when death results, the alleged kick of (Kern) by Hower did not result in (Kern's) death." (source: Lebanon Daily News) ****************************** Court spares Hower death penalty A Lebanon County court has ruled that James Hower, one of two suspects in the Jan. 21, 2006 murder of David Kern must be spared the death penalty. In a ruling handed down Friday, Judge John C. Tylwalk allows the prosecution to continue to seek the death penalty against Howers alleged accomplice Roberto Laboy. As far as Howers role in the murder is concerned Tylwalk wrote "there is no evidence defendant Hower inflicted the fatal blow upon the victim." As a result, Tylwalk wrote, "We find insufficient evidence to establish Hower possessed the specific intent to kill as required to be convicted of first degree murder." Tylwalk also denied motions by both defendants to rule out the death penalty on the grounds it is unconstitutional. Lebanon County District Attorney Dave Arnold, who had sought the death penalty for both defendants, said this morning he would not comment until he reads the ruling. In another section of the ruling Tylwalk denied a motion by Laboy to try the two men separately. Tylwalk said the fact that the defendants have different interests and conflicting views as to what took place, the truth may be more easily determined if the two are tried together. Arnold said no date has been set to try the 2 men. (source: PennLive.com)
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, GA., N.J., S. DAK., PENN.
Rick Halperin Tue, 13 Nov 2007 18:11:20 -0600 (Central Standard Time)
