[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----MO., IDAHO, US MIL., CALIF.

[Rick Halperin]

Oct. 4


MISSOURI:

Death Penalty Sought In Videotaped Sex Killing


In Liberty, prosecutors in Missouri said they would seek the death penalty
for a couple charged with murder in one case and also facing charges in a
videotaped sex killing.

A Clay County grand jury on Tuesday handed up a murder indictment against
Richard Davis and Dena Riley in the strangling and suffocation death of
Michelle Ricci. Her remains were found in May in a wooded area in rural
Clay County.

Prosecutors said the couple's criminal history was a factor in their
decision to pursue the death penalty.

The 2 are also charged with murder, kidnapping, sodomy, rape and assault
in the videotaped sexual assault and strangling of Marsha Spicer in
Independence.

Prosecutors haven't decided whether to pursue the death penalty in that
case.

Clay County Prosecutor Dan White filed papers Tuesday in the case against
Davis and Riley.

Authorities have said videotapes showing the defendants committing brutal
sex acts on the 2 women -- Spicer on May 14, Ricci on April 8 -- turned up
in the couple's Independence, Mo., apartment.

Ricci's death came to light after Davis and Riley were captured May 25 in
southwest Missouri and brought back to the Kansas City area to be charged
in Spicer's death. Both defendants led investigators to Ricci's remains,
officials said.

White said the crime against Ricci qualifies for the death penalty because
it was outrageously or wantonly vile, horrible or inhuman and involved
depravity of mind.

"It touches me emotionally when I meet with the family and when I discuss
this case with this victim's mother. But the rest of the time when I'm
going through the filing, I found it sickening and disturbing," White
said.

Clay County, Mo., hasn't had a death penalty case go to trial since 1994.

Ricci's cousin, Karen Shannon, said since Ricci's death, she has
reconsidered her stance on the death penalty.

"I think when it hits you as closely as it hits our family, you begin to
rethink your position on it, even change your mind sometimes," Shannon
said.

Shannon said she wants people to know more about her cousin's life, and
not just the horrible way she died. Shannon said Ricci was a farm girl, an
athlete and a former honors student, and she doesn't understand why she
had such a violent death.

"You just can't comprehend that another human could do what they did to
her. They tortured her and made her suffer for hours and days," Shannon
said.

(source: The HometownChannel)

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

Death penalty sought for Missouri couple


Prosecutors in Missouri say they will seek the death penalty for an
Independence couple charged with murder in one case and also facing
charges in a videotaped sex killing.

A Clay County grand jury on Tuesday handed up a murder indictment against
Richard Davis and Dena Riley in the strangling and suffocation death of
Michelle Ricci. Her remains were found in May in a wooded area in rural
Clay County.

Prosecutors say the couple's criminal history was a factor in his decision
to pursue the death penalty.

The 2 are also charged with murder, kidnapping, sodomy, rape and assault
in the videotaped sexual assault and strangling of Marsha Spicer in
Independence.

Prosecutors haven't decided whether to pursue the death penalty in that
case.

(source: Associated Press)






IDAHO----federal death penalty to be sought

Prosecutors to seek death penalty


In Coeur D'Alene federal prosecutors will seek the death penalty against
the registered sex offender accused of abducting 2 children last year and
killing one of them, the U.S. attorney's office said Tuesday.

Joseph Edward Duncan III already faces state charges in the abduction of
Shasta Groene, 8, and Dylan Groene, 9, from their family's home east of
Coeur d'Alene.

Dylan was later killed, but Shasta was rescued at a restaurant in Coeur
d'Alene on July 2, 2005, after seven weeks of captivity.

Federal prosecutors have received permission from the Justice Department
to seek capital punishment in the case, said Jean McNeil, spokeswoman for
U.S. Attorney Tom Moss in Boise.

"Federal charges and formal notice to seek the death penalty are expected
to be filed at a later date," McNeil said.

She declined to say exactly what federal charges Duncan would face, which
she acknowledged made Tuesday's announcement unusual.

"There has been so much publicity and so much speculation about what we
would do, that we think it is appropriate to make the announcement now,"
McNeil said.

Duncan also could face the death penalty if he is convicted on the 3 state
counts of murder for allegedly using a hammer to kill the children's
mother, Brenda Groene; her fiance, Mark McKenzie; and Groene's 13-year-old
son, Slade, in May 2005. Court documents allege he committed the slayings
so he could kidnap the 2 younger children for sex.

Before his arrest in Idaho, Duncan lived in Fargo and attended North
Dakota State University.

The federal decision could have implications for the state case. Shasta's
father, Steve Groene, would prefer that the case be settled so his
daughter would not have to testify against Duncan in court.

Duncan's public defender, John Adams, has said he would be open to a plea
bargain if the state agreed not to seek the death penalty. Kootenai County
Prosecutor Bill Douglas and the families of some of the murder victims
have said they prefer that capital punishment remain an option.

Roger Peven, Duncan's federal public defender, said the decision by the
U.S. attorney was not a surprise. Peven traveled to Washington, D.C., in
late September to discuss the case with the Justice Department's capital
case unit.

Peven said he was anxious that the decision be made before the start of
the state trial, set for Oct. 16. That might push Douglas to seek a
settlement, Peven said.

"What this does offer is not avoidance of a trial, but avoidance of
appeals, which can take a decade or two," Peven said of the state case.
"If the case is settled in state court, there would be no appeals."

Duncan was arrested July 2, 2005, at a Denny's restaurant in Coeur d'Alene
while eating with Shasta. Dylan's remains were later found at a remote
campsite in Montana.

Douglas told a newspaper Monday that the federal decision will not effect
the state case.

"We are prosecuting different crimes," Douglas told The Spokesman-Review
newspaper. "We are prosecuting the crimes involving three murders. In
their case, they're prosecuting the crimes that involved whatever happened
in Montana."

Two Kootenai County commissioners said they would rather see a plea
agreement to save costs, especially if the federal governments intends to
seek the death penalty.

"If we're able to plead it to life without parole and let the federal
system do their thing, I think the benefits to Kootenai County are great,"
said Commissioner Katie Brodie. She said the capital case could cost $1
million.

She also said she worried about Shasta testifying.

"To me, it's the idea we could spare a little girl going through what
she's going to have to go through at a time when her dad is sick," Brodie
said.

Steve Groene, 49, had a cancerous larynx removed Monday at the University
of Washington Medical Center in Seattle, the Coeur d'Alene Press reported.
He lost his ability to speak, but doctors said his long-term prognosis is
good after the 7-hour surgery.

(source: Associated Press)






US MILITARY:

Airman could face death penalty if convicted


A northeast Ohio airman could be the 1st member of the U-S military to die
by lethal injection if he's convicted of fatally stabbing a female airman.

Airman Calvin Hill from Warren is scheduled to stand trial in Washington
next month in the death last year of 20-year-old Airman First Class Ashley
Turner.

Hill and his lawyers were in court today trying to prevent statements he
made to investigators from being used in trial.

Hill and Turner were members of a rescue squadron stationed at a U-S Naval
air station in Iceland when Turner was found beaten and stabbed in a
dormitory.

She had been expected to testify against Hill in a theft case.

(source: Associated Press)






CALIFORNIA:

Accused Brink's guard faces death penalty


A Brink's guard could face the death penalty after being charged today
with special-circumstances murder in the shooting death of his partner.

Clifton Wherry Jr., 28, of Hayward was arraigned this afternoon in Alameda
County Superior Court in Oakland on a charge of murder with special
circumstances -- that the killing was committed during the course of a
robbery.

That would make him eligible for lethal injection if convicted, although
prosecutors said they had not decided whether to seek the death penalty or
life imprisonment without parole.

Wherry was also charged with an enhancement accusing him of being armed
with a weapon during the incident Friday that led to the death of his
partner, Brink's guard Anthony Quintero, 24, of Union City.

Assistant District Attorney Tom Rogers stressed, however, that authorities
do not believe Wherry was the man who shot and killed Quintero during the
robbery in Oakland. Police are still searching for the gunman, the weapon
he used and an undisclosed amount of money taken from the armored car.

The slain guard's mother, Vickie Orr, sobbed uncontrollably today as
Superior Court Judge Trina Thompson Stanley read the charges against the
defendant.

"I guess a public defender," Wherry said in a soft voice when the judge
asked how he wished to be represented. The judge ordered that Wherry be
held without bail at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin and return to court
Wednesday.

As Wherry left the courtroom, a man in the gallery yelled, "Cliff!" and
held up a large sign that read, "Not guilty."

The man was ejected from the courtroom and declined to answer questions
from reporters. As sheriff's deputies hustled him away, an unidentified
woman with Quintero's family yelled at him, "We have family, too!"

Quintero's widow, Elizabeth, and about three dozen friends and relatives
left court without commenting.

Wherry told investigators that he and Quintero were accosted by a masked
man with a gun Friday morning after Wherry picked up coffee and juice at
the Donut Star Chinese Fast Food store in the nearby Fruitvale Station
shopping center.

At about 7:15 a.m., a witness heard shots near East 10th Street and 23rd
Avenue and saw "somebody running away" from a Brink's armored car, Rogers
said. Quintero's body was found inside the back of the vehicle; Wherry was
unharmed.

Wherry later admitted his involvement in the holdup but said no one was
supposed to get hurt, homicide Sgt. Tony Jones said.

Wherry said a 27-year-old Antioch man also took part in the crime, but
authorities have concluded the man did nothing wrong and had been falsely
accused, Rogers said. The man was briefly arrested but later released.

Brink's hired Wherry in March. He had spent the previous four years
studying sociology at St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa, and
before that worked as a video-game tester for a San Francisco company.

Quintero left behind his wife and their 2-year-old daughter, Destiny. The
former Marine had hoped to become an Oakland police officer.

A fund has been set up for Quintero's family. Contributions can be made to
the Quintero Benevolent Account at Washington Mutual Bank, account number
313-047343-6.

Brink's is offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to arrests
and prosecution in the case. Anyone with tips can call Oakland police
homicide investigators at (510) 238-3821.

(source: San Francisco Chronicle)