[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TENN., MISS.

[Rick Halperin]

Oct. 1



TENNESSEE:

Summers closes 8-year term as attorney general


Attorney General Paul Summers cleared out his office at the end of his
8-year term Friday, saying he expects his successor to be named long
before the squabble over the final Supreme Court nominee is resolved.

Summers said 8 years was a perfect amount of time to spend as attorney
general.

"My theory is to end on a high point, and to leave and to stop when
everybody wants just a little bit more," he told The Associated Press.

Summers called his job "the quintessential legal job a person could have
it's the intersection of public policy, law and politics.

"I've loved every minute of it," he said.

The attorney general acts as the state's lawyer in civil court
proceedings, prosecutes criminal cases before the appellate courts and
provides legal advice to the Tennessee General Assembly and state
agencies. The job pays $129,948 a year.

The selection of a new attorney general has been delayed by a squabble
between Gov. Phil Bredesen and the state Judicial Selection Commission
over the appointment needed to fill out the five-member Supreme Court.

Tennessee is the only state in which the Supreme Court appoints the
attorney general. Most other states' attorneys general are either elected
or appointed by the governor.

Bredesen earlier this month sued the commission over the repeat nomination
of a Supreme Court candidate who was on a 3-person panel previously
dismissed by the governor.

Summers said the court had hoped to have its 5th member nominated before
choosing a new attorney general. But because the legal process is expected
to last at least 2 months, the court has decided to go ahead and select
Summers' successor before then, he said.

Public hearings on applicants are scheduled to begin Oct. 12.

Summers also defended the system of appointing the attorney general,
arguing that it allows the position to be nonpartisan  and not beholden to
political contributions.

"If they don't like what I've did they can't turn around and un-appoint
me," he said. "They've got to wait 8 years, or impeach me. So the attorney
general is very independent in Tennessee."

Summers said it's hard to pinpoint specific highlights from his tenure,
especially since the caseload in his office has averaged about 10,000
active cases at a time.

But Summers said he's particularly pleased with last week's resolution of
a 38-year-old lawsuit that sought to improve diversity issues at state
colleges and universities.

The agreement stems from a 1968 lawsuit filed by Rita Geier, then an
instructor at historically black Tennessee State University, who
challenged the state's "dual system" of higher education for minorities.

Summers said that he decided to tackle the legal issues surrounding the
desegregation lawsuit within a year of taking office, and that it took six
years to close the case.

Another highlight was making arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court in
2002 that led to the dismissal of a case filed by condemned inmate Abu-Ali
Abdur'Rahman that could have allowed more death row appeals, Summers said.

Making arguments before the country's highest court is akin to "being able
to pitch a few innings in the World Series," he said.

The attorney general is also responsible for trying to fend off
death-penalty appeals. 2 prisoners have been executed since Summers took
office: Sedley Alley in June and Robert Glen Coe in 2000. The previous
execution in the state was in 1960.

"I don't want to sound moribund or anything of that nature, but the death
penalty has been activated twice since I've been attorney general, and
probably should have been activated more than that," he said.

Other major issues tackled during Summers' term include legal maneuvering
through a state budget crisis, emphasizing consumer advocacy and
encouraging diversity in the attorney general's office, Summers said.

(source: Associated Press)






MISSISSIPPI:

High court upholds area murder conviction, death sentence


The state Supreme Court on Thursday upheld for the 2nd time the conviction
and death sentence of the killer of an 84-year-old Columbus woman.

The court rejected Eddie Lee Howard's arguments that he didn't rape and
murder Georgia Kemp in 1992. This is the third time in nine years the
court has considered Howard's appeals.

In trying to get his conviction and death sentence overturned, Howard
alleges Lowndes County prosecutors concealed facts that could exonerate
him and used unreliable bite-mark evidence to get a jury to render him
guilty.

We find the issues raised by Howard are either procedurally barred and/or
without merit, Justice Bill Waller Jr. wrote on behalf of the high court.

Howard, 53, has been found guilty and sentenced to death twice by a jury
for raping and murdering Kemp. The Supreme Court in 1997 threw out his 1st
conviction partly because he was improperly allowed to represent himself
at his 1994 trial without an attorney.

In his 2000 retrial, a Lowndes County jury again convicted Howard and
sentenced him to death.

The high court upheld the jurors' verdict in 2003, but Howard was allowed
to make another state appeal to bring up new evidence.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court in 2004 declined to hear his case.

In again affirming the condemned murderer's guilt on Thursday, the
Mississippi Supreme Court also scolded attorneys for him and the state for
their "lack of civility" in verbally "attacking" each other.

"We will not tolerate such conduct in the future," Waller wrote.

Thursday's decision is much like the 2003 opinion, in which the court said
the death penalty is appropriate for Howard, who confessed to police that
I had a temper and that's why this happened."

"Georgia Kemp was beaten, strangled, bitten three times, raped, stabbed
twice and left to die in her house which was then set on fire. The
punishment is proportionate to the crime," Waller wrote in 2003.

Howard still has federal appeals left before an execution date is set.

"Under our statute we cannot ask for an execution date to be set unless
the state can assert that the appeals process, both state and federal, are
concluded," said Jan Schaefer, public information officer for the state
attorney general's office.

Kemp's body, with two stab wounds to the chest, was found by Columbus
firefighters when they answered a neighbor's call, according to court
records. A bloody butcher knife was found near the body. Investigators
also found evidence that Kemp had been raped by Howard, who lived two
blocks from the elderly woman.

With the absence of fingerprint and DNA evidence, prosecutors used the
bite marks on Kemp's body to link Howard to her death. Forensic dentist
Michael West matched Howard's false teeth to the skin nips.

In his appeal, Howard said such dental evidence is unreliable and
shouldn't be used to convict him.

In rejecting that argument Thursday, the court said the jury would likely
have found Howard guilty even if West's testimony lacked credibility.

In turning down his post-conviction appeal, the Supreme Court shot down
Howard's allegations that the Columbus Police Department, Lowndes County
District Attorney Forrest Allgood and the state attorney general's office
hid evidence Howard could have used to show he's not guilty.

"Howard has failed to prove that the state suppressed any favorable
evidence," Waller wrote.

However, the court did say state attorneys were "less than completely
cooperative" in providing Howard evidence for his appeal and that his
attorneys have not been as diligent as they should" in seeking it.

The court said Howard's appeal was hampered by "a very contentious
(evidence-sharing) process" as lawyers on both sides attacked each other
in legal briefs.

"We are very concerned about the lack of civility between the lawyers in
this case." Waller wrote. "The lawyers in this case must learn how to work
together in a civil and professional manner."

Howard was represented by attorneys in the state Office of Capital
Post-Conviction Counsel.

State Attorney General Jim Hood's office handled the appeal for
prosecutors. The Supreme Court justices said the discord began when Howard
requested records from the district attorney.

Joining Waller in affirming Howard's conviction and death sentence: Chief
Justice Jim Smith and Justices Kay Cobb, George Carlson, Jess Dickinson
and Michael Randolph.

Justices James Graves and Oliver Diaz agreed with the result of the court
majority's decision except on the issue of the bite marks. The 2 justices
said Howard's trial attorney was inept by not getting a dental expert to
rebut West's testimony.

Justice Chuck Easley, who lives in Lowndes County, did not participate in
the case.

(source: Commercial Dispatch)