[Deathpenalty] death penalty news---MO., USA, OHIO, CALIF., VT.

[Rick Halperin]

May 30



MISSOURI:

New Trial in Death Penalty Case


The State Supreme Court has thrown out the conviction and death sentence
of Joplin resident Gary Black.

Black wanted to represent himself in his trial in 1999 for the death of a
man after an argument. The Supreme Court has ordered a new trial once
before for Black. The retrial was held a year ago and he was again
convicted and sentenced to death with the judge again denying his request
to represent himself.

The Supreme Court says the nd trial court made a mistake by assuming an
appointed lawyer could do better representing Black than Black could do
representing himself. The ruling means Black will get a 2nd new trial.

(source: Missourinet.com)






USA:

What do states owe the exonerated? States' compensation for wrongful
imprisonment ranges from zero to millions of dollars.


This month, 2 men - both freed last year after DNA evidence exonerated
them of the crimes for which they'd been in prison - received drastically
different news about how they might be compensated for those lost years.

Connecticut legislators voted to award $5 million to James Tillman to help
him get his life back on track after 18 years behind bars for a rape he
didn't commit.

The Florida Legislature, on the other hand, denied Alan Crotzer's request
for $1.25 million and let a bill die that would have standardized a
compensation system for victims of wrongful conviction.

"I felt so disappointed," says Mr. Crotzer, who served more than 24 years
in a Florida prison until DNA evidence cleared him of rape and kidnapping
charges. He's been working odd jobs that pay less than $300 a week since
he got out. "The bottom line is, I don't think I could ever put a price on
freedom.. But they've got to put a system in place. [This issue] isn't
going away."

The cases are typical results of the patchwork of compensation laws in the
US, say experts. Last month, the 200th person was exonerated due to DNA
evidence, but the majority of those released have gotten nothing but an
apology - and sometimes not even that.

"We are exonerating people who did not commit crimes, spent 2 decades in
prison or time on death row, and when they get out, there are fewer
reentry services for these people than for individuals who actually
committed crimes," says Barry Scheck, codirector of the Innocence Project
at Yeshiva University's Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, which is
dedicated to exonerating the wrongfully convicted. "It's a measure of
decency."

As DNA exonerations become more plentiful - and more publicized - some
states are moving on the compensation front. Of the 200 men who have been
exonerated based on DNA evidence, about 45 % have received some sort of
compensation, according to the Innocence Project, with amounts that range
from $25,000 to $12.2 million.

21 states, along with the federal government and the District of Columbia,
now have standardized compensation laws on the books - offering exonerees
amounts ranging from $15,000 total to $50,000 per year of imprisonment. 13
states have introduced bills this year to either create or improve
compensation for the wrongfully convicted. Some of those bills, like the
one that gave Mr. Tillman $5 million, dealt only with individual
prisoners, but other states are trying to standardize the compensation.

Crotzer - as much as he would have liked to see his own petition for
compensation filled - favors the latter, as do most advocates of the
wrongfully convicted.

"It's like I've got my hand out begging," he says of the process he went
through. "It makes me feel bad."

Texas, where 13 men have been exonerated in Dallas County alone, is
considering a package of bills that would, among other things, raise the
compensation amount from $25,000 to $50,000 per year of incarceration.

Vermont - which hasn't yet had a prisoner exonerated by DNA evidence - has
passed a comprehensive bill that would provide between $30,000 and $60,000
per year of incarceration as well as access to healthcare and
reintegration services. It's currently awaiting the governor's signature.

That's a trend that advocates at the Innocence Project hope they see more
of. They note that in addition to monetary compensation, most of the
wrongfully convicted leave prison with few skills and desperately need
access to education, mental-health services, medical care, and job
training. Currently, most exonerees don't even have access to the same
sort of services that parolees get, since they're not being paroled.

"In Florida, if you're a parolee they give you $100 and a bus ticket,"
says Michael Olenick, the Tallahassee attorney who represented Crotzer pro
bono. "Al Crotzer got no bus ticket, and no $100."

He also didn't get access to counseling, and he says he's struggled with
some things since his release: He still wants to turn his light off at
11:47 every night, for instance, and he keeps everything in his room neat
enough to pass a cell inspection.

Crotzer recently married a woman with 2 children and has worked a series
of low-skill jobs ranging from street cleaning to janitorial duties. He's
in the process of moving to Tallahassee, where he has an offer to work as
a dishwasher. But he's hoping for a job at a nearby sheriff's office
working with at-risk youth, and he's trying to stay sanguine about it all.
"I kept my self-respect by not becoming the monster they wanted me to be,"
he says of his years in prison.

Neither Mr. Olenick nor Crotzer can be sure why the request for $1.25
million failed, especially after the Florida House unanimously approved
it. Senate leaders said they didn't have the money - a common reason that
states cite in not providing compensation. In Crotzer's case, some also
suggested that lawmakers didn't want to grant any more individual
compensation bills, but instead wanted to pass a "global" bill that would
address all cases. However, the 3 such bills that were introduced in past
years didn't go anywhere.

Some believe Crotzer may also have been hurt by the fact that he was
convicted of a beer store robbery when he was 18 - a fact that would have
excluded him from compensation under one of the laws proposed in Florida.

Olenick says he'll keep fighting and will refile the claim for next year's
session. "When you handle a case like Al's, he becomes locked in your
heart," Olenick says. "Until he gets compensated, I'm not going to stop."

What states are offering

Here is a sampling of provisions in state legislation for prisoner
compensation in cases of exoneration:

California: $100 per day of incarceration

Montana: Educational aid for those exonerated through postconviction DNA
testing

New Hampshire: Maximum of $20,000

New Jersey: Whichever is greater - twice the amount of the claimant's
income in the year prior to incarceration or $20,000, for each year of
incarceration

Tennessee: Maximum total of $1 million

[source: The Innocence Project]

(source: The Christian Science Monitor)

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

Death penalty is wrong


As Catholics, we believe that all human life has inherent dignity and
worth. For this reason, capital punishment is a practice that has no place
in our society. It does not live up to our belief that all human life is
sacred. It cheapens the value of human life while promoting more violence.

If it is in killing an individual that we make him pay for his crimes, we
are no better than the criminal. No matter how legal it is or how nice it
is done, the death penalty is, in reality, murder. Nothing can justify the
taking of a human life and no one should claim the power to decide whether
one should live or die.

Scientific studies have shown that capital punishment does not obstruct
crime. In fact, as studies have shown, states without the death penalty
have a much lower murder rate. Furthermore, it is beyond the government's
control to prevent the accidental execution of innocent people.

Lastly, for taxpayers, the money taken from taxes to fund the death
penalty is way more than what should be if criminals were put on parole,
totaling over $10 million for some states.

If the death penalty were to be abolished, based on the facts drawn from
scientific studies, our society would become a better place. We hop that
you would take the time to consider our cause, and decide to take a stand
against the death penalty.

(source: Alex Munson, Anthony Paulos, Loree Tabigne, Peaches Wilson -
Juniors, St. Patrick-St. Vincent High School; Source : Vallejo
Times-Herald)






OHIO:

Victim's relative sides with killer's kin----Witness says 2006 Clark
execution was a violation of Constitution


A former Toledo man said yesterday he is cooperating with a federal
lawsuit to be filed next month against the state by the family of the man
executed last year for murdering his brother, saying the execution he
personally witnessed was cruel and unusual punishment.

Michael Manning, a death-penalty supporter, said he also plans to ask Gov.
Ted Strickland to enact a moratorium on Ohio executions until problems
seen in the execution of Joseph Lewis Clark on May 2, 2006, and
Christopher Newton, a Huron, Ohio, native, on Thursday are corrected. In
both cases, the executions were delayed while prison personnel struggled
to find usable veins through which the lethal cocktail of drugs could
flow.

"What happened was cruel and unusual punishment, which is against the
Constitution of the United States," said Mr. Manning, now living in
Marion, Ohio. "We all heard [Clark] moaning and groaning. ... The
executions should be temporarily halted until they come to grips with how
to insert the needles for accuracy. I believe I counted 10 to 15 times
that Clark was stuck with a needle, and I don't know how many times there
were after the curtain was closed."

Mr. Manning's 23-year-old brother, David, was shot by Clark in 1984 during
a robbery of a Toledo gas station, part of a drug-fueled, nine-day crime
spree that also claimed the life of Donald B. Harris, 21. Clark received a
separate life sentence for the Harris murder.

Strickland spokesman Keith Dailey said the governor has no plans to issue
a moratorium.

"The governor's understanding regarding the Newton execution procedure is
that it worked the way it was supposed to," he said. "Out of abundance of
caution, as much time as was needed was taken before the execution to
ensure there would not be problems similar to that of the Clark case."

On May 2, 2006, the execution team at the Southern Ohio Correctional
Institution at Lucasville struggled for 25 minutes to find usable veins in
Clark, a 57-year-old Toledo native with a long history of intravenous drug
use. After the execution process began, a previously calm Clark suddenly
raised and shook his head, repeatedly insisting, "It don't work." The sole
vein being used to deliver the drugs had apparently collapsed.

The execution team closed the curtain separating the chamber from
witnesses, but witnesses could hear Clark moaning from behind the curtain
for several minutes. After about 35 minutes, the curtain was reopened and
the execution proceeded without another hitch.

The family of Clark plans to file a federal suit against the state next
month.

"There are other witnesses who can confirm what he said," said Alan Konop,
the Clarks' attorney.

"He's an important witness. I thought it was quite admirable that he took
this position, considering his brother was one of the victims."

Mr. Manning said he didn't speak out immediately after the execution
because the administrator of the Department of Rehabilitation and
Correction's Office of Victim Services had told the three Manning family
witnesses to be consistent in their statements.

Karen Ho, the administrator, said yesterday her role was only to provide a
path for family members to be heard through the clemency and execution
processes, not to advise them what or what not to say.

"I stand by what I said at the time, that justice was served," said Mary
Ellen (Manning) Gordon, who has remarried since her husband was murdered.

"They could improve the process to make sure the injection sites are
clearer so that the drugs flow better, but I think Clark went more
peacefully than David did," she said.

(source: Toledo Blade)






CALIFORNIA----new death sentence

Jury orders death penalty for killer of 5----Vincent Brothers was
convicted earlier this month in the fatal shootings of his former wife,
mother-in-law and 3 children in 2003.


A Bakersfield jury on Tuesday ordered the death penalty for an educator
who murdered his 3 children, his estranged wife and his mother-in-law in
2003.

Nearly 20 witnesses testified on behalf of Vincent Brothers, a former
elementary school vice principal, but jurors were evidently swayed by a
prosecutor's contention that no crime would be more appropriate for
capital punishment than the fatal shootings of Joanie Harper, 39; her
mother, Earnestine Harper, 70; and children Marques, 4, Lyndsey, 23
months, and Marshall, 6 weeks.

The murders, which took place just after the victims returned home from
Sunday worship services, shocked Bakersfield and roiled the city's
close-knit African American community. Earnestine Harper was a civil
rights activist, and Brothers was a prominent figure in the Bakersfield
schools.

"If not the death penalty for this case, then which case?" asked Lisa
Green, a Kern County deputy district attorney, during her closing
argument. "If not for these victims, then for which victims?"

It took jurors 6 hours of deliberations over 2 days to arrive at their
vote for the death penalty. The sentence is to be formally handed down
Sept. 29.

In a news conference after Tuesday's verdict, Green described Brothers as
"evil" and said he had lied on the witness stand at least 41 times. During
the trial, she told jurors that the educator, who was married 4 times and
briefly jailed for spousal abuse, killed his family because they were a
financial burden.

After a 3-month trial, Brothers, 44, was convicted May 15 on 5 counts of
1st-degree murder.

According to prosecutors, Brothers crafted an elaborate alibi in advance,
visiting relatives in North Carolina and Ohio just before the killings.
With no physical evidence placing Brothers at the crime scene, the
prosecution used odometer readings and dead insects found in a rental car
to prove that he had secretly driven from Ohio to Bakersfield to commit
the crimes.

Brothers' attorney, J. Anthony Bryant, suggested that the killings
occurred during a robbery. In arguing for a sentence of life without
parole, Bryant contended that there was "lingering doubt" about Brothers'
involvement in the killings.

While changing from his jail uniform into a business suit for his court
appearance Tuesday, Brothers apparently attached both of his leg
restraints to the same leg, rendering them ineffective, according to a
spokesman for the Kern County Sheriff's office. He also was found to have
3 "makeshift handcuff keys" hidden in his hair, the spokesman said.

His attorney could not be reached for comment.

(source: Los Angeles Times)

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

Wesson subject of new volumeEx-Fresno TV reporter details murder case.


2 years after Marcus Wesson was sentenced to death for the rape and murder
of his children, a new book details the Wesson family's nomadic and
bizarre lifestyle, the murders, and the four-month trial in Fresno County
Superior Court that captivated the Valley's attention.

"By Their Father's Hand: The True Story of the Wesson Family Massacre," by
former KSEE, Channel 24, reporter Monte Francis, is a true-crime paperback
released Tuesday that delves into Wesson's life and his ability to control
and manipulate his family using a hybrid religion of Christianity and
vampire mythology.

"My goal in writing the book was to put together a truthful and coherent
narrative of what happened," said Francis, who covered the murder and the
trial while working at the Fresno NBC affiliate from 1999 to 2005. "I did
spend a lot of time thinking: Why would someone do this? Something's
obviously wrong. To me, it was about power -- that's what this whole story
is about."

The 285-page book, published by New York-based HarperCollins, includes a
handful of cordial letters Wesson wrote Francis from death row in San
Quentin State Prison -- though Wesson refused to answer one of Francis'
burning questions: What happened the afternoon of March 12, 2004, in the
southeast bedroom of the family's Fresno home?

Francis, 34, also successfully argued to unseal the transcripts of
psychologists who testified behind closed doors but were never allowed to
speak in front of the jury or public.

Though more than 1/3 of the book is devoted to the trial itself, much of
it explores Wesson's childhood and how the father of 19 children formed
something of his own kingdom through the sexual abuse of his offspring,
his distrust of the outside world and his religious teachings.

The book often provides graphic details of Wesson's crimes and sexual
habits, at times revealing information that Francis says local journalists
knew about but -- as he put it in his book -- found too "unsavory" to
report.

The book has the potential to garner a national audience, said California
State University, Fresno, creative writing professor Steve Yarbrough, who
once had Francis as his student.

"People love to read about crimes," Yarbrough said.

Kathi Lamonski, who manages the Fig Garden Bookstore in Fresno, said the
book would likely generate a local buzz -- much like the true-crime book
"Catch Me If You Can," which was released in 2000 and detailed how Dana
Ewell plotted the execution murders of his parents and sister in 1992.

"Anytime you have something local, it does very well," Lamonski said.

On March 12, 2004, police had responded to 911 calls from family members
who were arguing over the custody of Wesson's children. After an 80-minute
standoff with Wesson, the 57-year-old man emerged from his home's
southeast bedroom with blood stains on his shirt.

When police entered the room, they found 9 bodies piled on top of one
another -- all shot to death.

Jurors determined that Wesson did not shoot his children -- some of whom
he had fathered through his daughters and nieces. But they did find him
responsible for the murders since he had ordered his family members to
carry out a murder-suicide pact if authorities ever tried to separate
them.

In June 2005, Wesson was sentenced to death. He now awaits an appeal in
front of the California Supreme Court.

Francis, who won 2 regional Emmy Awards while in Fresno, now lives in San
Francisco and freelances for a local NBC news affiliate. He said he spent
six months working on "By Their Father's Hand" -- his 1st book.

Francis said he retraced the Wesson family's journey through California --
including their days living on a boat off the small coastal town of
Marshall, in Marin County, and their days camped out in a huge tent in the
mountains.

Francis said his immersion in Wesson's world took its toll.

"You tend to have this defense mechanism built into you to separate
yourself from what you're working on," Francis said.

But, he added, "after I wrote it, that's when it started surfacing for me.
I never had a nightmare when I was writing the book, but then afterward I
had a couple nightmares. It wasn't until it was all over that it started
to get to me."

(source: Fresno Bee)

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

The U.S. Supreme Court lets stand a 9th Circuit ruling of ineffective
counsel in the 1984 conviction of Jackson Chambers Daniels Jr.


A paraplegic sentenced to death in the killing of 2 Riverside police
officers 25 years ago will get a new trial.

The U.S. Supreme Court declined without comment Tuesday to hear
California's appeal of a federal appeals court ruling that overturned the
convictions and death sentences for Jackson Chambers Daniels Jr., now 69.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Daniels' right to a fair trial
in 1984 was violated because he had ineffective counsel, the trial judge
knew it, and did nothing about it.

Daniels was convicted of the May 13, 1982, killings of officers Dennis C.
Doty, 35, and Philip N. Trust, 36, who came to arrest him on a sentencing
warrant for a 1980 bank robbery.

Daniels was wounded during a shootout with police following that robbery.
A bullet severed his spinal cord and he was undergoing physical therapy
while on appeal.

Evidence at trial said Doty and Trust allowed the partially clothed
Daniels to dress, and when he was handed a pair of trousers, he grabbed a
gun hidden between his legs and fatally shot both officers.

The appellate court overturned the convictions and sentence in November
2005, even as its judges said, "It is clear in this case that Daniels shot
the two officers and is guilty of some kind of unlawful killing." The
Supreme Court denial makes the 9th Circuit's decision final.

"The case will be back in a courtroom in Riverside County in due course,"
said John T. Philipsborn, who represented Daniels on appeal.

"It was a huge wound for the community, and it will reopen that wound,"
Donna Doty Michalka said Tuesday by phone. She was divorced but said she
was on good terms with ex-husband Dennis Doty when he died.

She attended the 6-month trial. "It's been on my mind," she said. "I don't
relish sitting through it again, along with the former officers and
friends."

District Attorney Rod Pacheco said his office will take the case to trial
"as soon as possible."

Pacheco said Tuesday he has assigned the case to veteran prosecutor Kevin
Ruddy, a chief deputy district attorney who has handled several death
penalty cases.

In 1998, Ruddy obtained convictions and death sentences for Timothy
Russell, charged with the 1997 ambush shooting deaths of Riverside County
Sheriff's Department deputies James Lehmann Jr., 41, and Michael Haugen,
33.

Pacheco said his office will again seek the death penalty for Daniels. "We
are confident we will have the same result as before," Pacheco said by
phone.

Andrew Roth was Daniels' counsel of choice for his murder trial, but
Riverside County Superior Court Judge Gerald F. Schulte ordered Roth off
the case after prosecutors said Roth might be called as a witness.

Roth said Tuesday he has not had such a tactic used against him since.

"I think the court made a mistake, granting the district attorney's motion
to recuse me, and all the appellate courts agree now," Roth said. "That
was a significant factor in the need to reverse the case because of the
inadequacy of counsel," he said by phone.

A message seeking comment from Schulte, now retired, was not returned
Tuesday.

2 inexperienced private attorneys were brought in to replace Roth, and
Daniels refused to communicate with them. The court was told about the
problems before and during the trial, appellate attorneys said.

"After he started working with them he lost all confidence in them," said
Daniels' appeal attorney John G. Cotsirilos. "The court was well-alerted
there were severe problems ....there was such a breakdown there was
(effectively) no counsel," Cotsirilos said by phone.

"Case law is pretty clear that when there is such a breakdown the trial
court can take steps to remedy it," Philipsborn said. That can included
conducting an inquiry into Daniels' representation issues and even
replacing the lawyers, he said.

Steve Adams, now a Riverside City Council member and a retired police
officer who worked with Doty and Trust during his law-enforcement career,
said he believed a different court decision should be blamed for the case.

"(Daniels) was released on appeal because prison was a hardship for him,
which was a horrendous decision by a judge," Adams said by phone Tuesday.
"When he refused to go back to prison, these two officers went to pick him
up and he murdered them."

The U.S. Supreme Court gets about 7,500 petitions a year and grants
between 80 and 150, so a decision not to take a case is common, said
professor Stanley Goldman of Loyola Law School Los Angeles.

"We get so used to the U.S. Supreme Court reversing the 9th Circuit...that
we think its man bites dog when the Supreme Court doesn't take it, but
it's not that unusual," Goldman said in a phone message.

Nor is it especially unusual for a 25-year-old case to head back to court,
he said. "It happens. The reality is nothing stops the government from
going back and attempting to retry the defendant," Goldman said.

The 9th Circuit also ruled that a change of venue motion should have been
granted in the case due to prejudicial publicity. Philipsborn said that
would have to be reviewed.

California Deputy Attorney General Steven T. Oetting said Daniels' case
gives "any defendant who wants to disrupt his criminal proceeding a clear
road map from this 9th Circuit proceeding.

"All he has to do is not cooperate with his appointed attorney and he can
claim he has an irreconcilable conflict 25 years later, whether due to the
defendant's paranoia or something the attorney actually did."

(source: Press-Enterprise)






VERMONT:

Sister Helen's message


The Rutland Dismas House annual memorial dinner a couple of Sundays ago
was a success as usual, bringing a wide variety of people together for
fellowship and relaxation. There must have been upwards of 350 people who
filled the Holiday Inn dining room.

Dismas House is described as "a home of transition for former prisoners,"
and several of the speakers touched on that subject and upon its aim of
reconciling former prisoners to society and useful lives - and equally
important, reconciling society to those who are trying to rebuild their
lives and become useful citizens.

The auction that accompanied the banquet was spirited, briskly conducted
by Barb Watters, and raised a record amount of funds to support the Dismas
efforts - $21,920.

The principal speaker was Sister Helen Prejean, a nun whose book "Dead Man
Walking" about men on death row became a best-seller. She brought her
Louisiana accent strongly to bear on the injustice of trying to solve
problems by violence, and the equal injustice afforded non-white
populations who because of bias or poverty make up a record number of
people in prisons.

As to poverty, Sister Helen was scornful of what took place in New Orleans
after Hurricane Katrina. There are thousands of poverty-stricken people
still without homes, because "the city does not want them back."

"What will happen to us?" she asked. "Love is most important in our world,
and we have lost touch with each other."

Because of the Dismas mission, she dwelled on the need for reconciliation
among individuals, as well as in society as a whole, and her starkest
illustration came when she described a reconciliation meeting in Colorado
in which she participated, and noticed two men in the audience who seemed
to be friendly with each other. When they approached, she asked them why
they were at such a meeting.

One of the men said: "His son shot and killed my son."

The 2 were parents of students at Columbine High School.

Sister Helen was introduced by Rita McCaffrey of Rutland and Weston, who
with her husband, Judge Francis McCaffrey, has been a mainspring of Dismas
efforts in Vermont.

This year's event was dedicated to former U.S. Sen. Jim Jeffords, and his
late wife, Liz Daley Jeffords. Since the former senator was not there, a
description of his nature and his wife's nature was given by Yvonne Daley,
a former Herald reporter who is associate professor of journalism at San
Francisco State University.

I couldn't let a comment on this particular evening pass without remarking
on the expertise of the Holiday Inn staff. Threading their way through the
mass of diners, first serving and then clearing up, is a major task, and
as near as I could see there wasn't a mishap.

So it was a good evening, profitable for Dismas and important for all of
us to be reminded once again of the burden that each of us bears in trying
to make a better life for others.

(source: Commentary, Kendall Wild is a retired editor of the Herald;
Rutland Herald)