[Deathpenalty] death penalty news-----ALA., DEL.

[Rick Halperin]

May 30



ALABAMA:

Defense wants judge back----Moore's attorney asks Supreme Court to
reinstate Thompson


Defense attorney Sherman Powell Jr. is asking the state Supreme Court to
reverse the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals' decision to order Morgan
County Circuit Judge Glenn Thompson out of the Karen Tipton murder case.

Powell filed a petition Friday with the high court, alleging that evidence
was withheld and destroyed and that Thompson was the one official who
insisted on obeying the law.

The Court of Criminal Appeals ordered Thompson to remove himself earlier
this month. Its ruling stated that Assistant Attorney General Don Valeska,
who prosecuted Daniel Wade Moore in 2002, had showed that if Thompson
remained on the case, it would present an appearance of impropriety.

"After considering the long and tortured history in this case as well as
the clear animosity between the judge and the prosecutor, we believe that
it would be difficult, if not impossible for Judge Thompson to divorce
himself from the previous proceedings in this case," the appeals court's
ruling stated.

Powell, who represents Moore, focuses his petition to the Supreme Court on
an FBI report. He says Valeska and Assistant Attorney General Will Dill
withheld it during Moore's first trial in the death of Tipton, a Decatur
doctor's wife.

Powell accuses Valeska and Dill, as well as Decatur police investigators,
of committing ethics and criminal violations.

"Their flagrant disregard for the law has only been matched by the
personal egotism at seeking to force out of the case the one public
official who sought to make everyone obey the law while the other public
officials, the prosecuting attorneys and investigators had consistently
and continuously violated court orders, professional ethical standards and
the criminal Code of Alabama," Powell's petition states.

A jury convicted Moore of capital murder and recommended life without
parole. Powell notes in the petition that Thompson sentenced Moore to
death instead.

"The fact is that the findings Judge Thompson has made and all the matters
referred to by the court reflect matters, findings, misbehaviors and
conduct engaged in by the prosecutor throughout the trial and pre-trial
proceedings," the petition states.

"At no point did they impair or impact upon Judge Thompson's rulings at
trial stage. Indeed, Judge Thompson, notwithstanding the misconduct of the
prosecutors as was demonstrated throughout the trial, imposed a death
penalty on Daniel Wade Moore."

Before appealing to the Court of Criminal Appeals, Valeska asked Thompson
to recuse himself, stating that he was biased against the state and had
commented inappropriately about its evidence.

Thompson denied Valeska's petition and later, in a response to Valeska's
appeal, said he never made inappropriate comments about state evidence.

Powell states in his petition to the Supreme Court that Valeska and Dill
will be witnesses in Moore's new trial, which is set for July 30.

"There is no question that spoliation of evidence has occurred," the
petition states. "Some of that evidence was in the hands of the
prosecutors, in addition to the investigators."

Powell said the prosecutors and investigators would be required to testify
about "the destruction of evidence in this criminal case."

He questions why Valeska is still in the case if the state is concerned
about the appearance of impropriety.

"Why is the prosecuting attorney who is now a fact witness to spoliation
of evidence continuing in this case except for his personal lust for
vindication by causing the recusal of the trial judge who would not let
the prosecutor and the investigator violate the law?" Powell asks in the
petition.

Powell said his appeal would not interfere with Moore's new trial going
forth in July.

"A petition does not stay the proceedings in circuit court," said Powell.
"It should not delay any progress at the local level because there has
been no stay placed on the case."

After sentencing Moore to death, Thompson later granted a defense motion
to give him a new trial. In February 2005, Thompson dismissed the charges
against Moore, citing double jeopardy and stating that he couldn't get a
fair trial. The appellate court reversed that decision and ordered
Thompson to reinstate the charges. The appellate court upheld a new trial
for Moore.

Police developed Moore as a suspect after learning that he told an uncle
that he was in Tipton's home March 12, 1999, when a friend of his stabbed
her to death. He later recanted the statement, saying he made it up
because he feared going back to jail. He had been in jail for theft.

Dill said Tuesday that the state will get another conviction for Moore. He
said Powell's attack is a smoke screen.

"They're attacking us because the evidence in this case is so strong,"
Dill said. "His (Moore's) confession proves that he did it. The mountains
of evidence that we presented in the first trial and that we will
introduce again in this trial prove that Daniel Wade Moore killed Karen
Tipton.

"This (accusations in the petition) is a common defense technique. When
they can't respond to concrete evidence, then they attack the
prosecution."

Dill said he believes that the appeals court ruling will stay intact.

"We are confident that that opinion will stand," he said. "They're going
to lose like they did the first time  no ifs, ands or buts about it."

(source: The Decatur Daily)

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

Tax, cell phone, death penalty bills die in Alabama Legislature


Hundreds of bills, affecting everything from property and sales taxes to
gambling and cell phones, have officially died in the Legislature because
time ran out for passing them.

Tuesday night was the last opportunity in the current session for a bill
to pass in the house where it was introduced. Those that hadn't passed
automatically died because only 2 meeting days remain in the session, and
that is too little time for them to receive approval.

Many of the non-budget items that Gov. Bob Riley outlined in his State of
the State address on the opening day of the session March 6 never came up
for a vote in the House or Senate and are now dead.

They include tax breaks for small businesses that supply health insurance
to their employees and state income tax reductions for some middle-class
families and for retirees who receive money from defined-contribution
retirement plans. The dead bills also included Riley's government
operations legislation, such as banning K-12 and two-year college
employees from serving in the Legislature or holding statewide office.

Riley said Wednesday he's not giving up on his proposals and legislators
will see them in a future session.

Before the legislative session started, Democratic and Republican caucuses
and the governor endorsed legislation to switch Alabama from annual
property tax reappraisals back to doing reappraisals every four years, but
the legislation withered under intense opposition from education lobbying
groups and city and county governments.

House budget committee Chairman John Knight, D-Montgomery, and the Alabama
Arise lobbying group for the poor pushed legislation to remove the state
sales tax on groceries, but like similar bills in past years, it never
developed broad support.

Like the governor, Knight said he plans to keep trying in the next
session.

Some of the other dead bills would have:

 Authorized the use of marijuana for medical purposes.

 Established a minimum wage in Alabama higher than the national minimum
wage.

 Scheduled an election for Alabama voters to decide if they want to call a
convention to write a new constitution.

 Prohibited judges from overriding a jury's recommended sentence in
capital murder cases.

 Expanded Alabama's hate crimes law to include crimes against persons
because of sexual orientation.

(source: Associated Press)






DELAWARE:

Insanity claim opens trial in shooting spree----Defendant feared aliens
would abduct his daughter, attorney says


When Allison Lamont Norman went on a 2-state shooting spree in April 2005,
he was insane and thought he was protecting his daughter from aliens that
wanted to rape her, defense attorneys argued as his trial began Tuesday.

2 people were killed and 4 others wounded between Laurel, where the
shootings began, and Salisbury, Md., where Norman was apprehended by
police. Delaware is seeking the death penalty for the murder that occurred
in the state.

In opening statements, defense attorney Brendan O'Neill said Norman was
mentally ill and reeling from being sexually abused as a child and shot
the year before. Lawyers said Norman's gunshot wounds caused him to harbor
extreme distrust to the point that he often wore a bulletproof vest and
carried a gun. An "X-Files" episode about aliens that kidnap children
prompted him to suspect that his daughter was at risk, his lawyer said in
Sussex County Superior Court.

Norman, 25, is charged with first-degree murder, 2 counts of attempted
1st-degree murder, weapons charges, a theft charge, and offenses relating
to wearing body armor.

He was originally going to stand trial in Maryland, but a state prosecutor
dismissed more than 100 charges against him so that Delaware, which has
tougher sentencing laws, could try the case against the former Seaford
resident.

The prosecution and the defense told the jury that the trial would not be
about whether Norman shot the victims, rather whether he was insane at the
time of the shooting spree.

"He was really, really disturbed at the time," O'Neill said. "We do not
intend to sugarcoat Mr. Norman."

O'Neill told jurors that after being jailed, Norman dunked his head in the
toilet, trying to eat his feces and drink his urine, O'Neill said. After
he was arrested on the day of the shooting, O'Neill said he yelled to
passers-by from the patrol car, "They're trying to do something to me
because I know the truth!"

O'Neill said jurors would see video and hear audio of Norman that would
prove he was ill.

Toxicology tests showed Norman used drugs the day of the shootings.

On the morning of April 7, 2005, Jamell Weston, 24, was killed at the
Carvel Gardens apartments in Laurel. Another man in the complex also was
shot. Anthony White, who asked Norman for a ride after Norman left the
apartment complex in a stolen car, was shot on the road.

At the trial Tuesday, White testified that Norman told him he was killing
black people that day. White was shot several times and rolled his body to
find help because he couldn't walk. He said that he still has trouble
walking and has to sleep in a reclining chair because of his injuries.

After the confrontation with White, Norman drove south to Salisbury, where
he allegedly hitched a ride with a man driving a sport utility vehicle and
then shot the driver, DaVondale M. Peters. He also fired at construction
workers, thinking they were aliens, and asked a pit bull to guide him to
"the demons," according to opening statements Tuesday.

He also is accused of shooting and paralyzing Carla D. Green, who was
driving with her young daughter, and breaking into a home and attacking an
elderly couple. He drove around shooting until he ran out of ammunition,
according to reports.

(source: The News Journal)