Oct. 17 NORTH CAROLINA----new execution date N.C. man to be executed Dec. 1 for 1996 killing in Stanly County The state has announced that a man sentenced to death for a 1996 murder will be executed on December 1st. Guy LeGrande was convicted in the shooting death of Ellen Munford in Stanly County, east of Charlotte. A spokesman for the state Department of Corrections says LeGrande was told today of his pending execution date. In a statement to media today, death penalty opponents noted that the North Carolina State Bar has filed claims with the state Court of Appeals seeking to reinstate a misconduct case against Ken Honeycutt, the prosecutor in LeGrande's case. In August 2005, the bar accused Honeycutt and another attorney of hiding deals that a witness received in a separate 1996 murder case. They've denied the allegations. (source: Associated Press) VIRGINIA: Rally against death penalty held Terri Steinberg stood in the middle of a circle of people gathered at the the corner of Grant and Lee avenues in Manassas on Saturday and tearfully begged for mercy for her son, Justin Michael Wolfe. "Please Virginia, don't take the life of my son," Steinberg said. "We don't need to take another life. We don't need another senseless killing in order to prove that killing is wrong." Wolfe, 25, of Centreville, received the death penalty in 2001 for hiring Owen Merton Barber to kill 21-year-old Daniel Petrole Jr. of Braemar. The 3 had been members of a marijuana ring that operated throughout Northern Virginia. Steinberg and the 40 or so people in the circle were at the corner to demonstrate against the death penalty, hold hands and sing protest songs. The event was part of the "2006 Virginia Journey of Hope ... From Violence to Healing," a statewide, 17-day event where family members of murder victims, exonerated death row inmates and anti-death penalty activists visit high schools, churches and colleges across the state to hold rallies and tell stories of how the death penalty has affected their lives. People from across the country came to march from All Saints Catholic Church to the corner where abolitionists gather to demonstrate and plant flowers for those being put to death on nights when there is an execution in Virginia. Bill Pelke's grandmother was murdered in 1985 by four ninth-grade girls. One of the girls received the death penalty for the murder, said Pelke, the co-founder of the "Journey of Hope" a national movement to raise awareness about the death penalty. "The girl that was deemed to be the ring leader was sentenced to death by the state of Indiana," Pelke said. "She was 15 years old." Pelke came from Anchorage, Alaska, to participate in the Virginia event and said he once supported the death penalty but became convinced that his grandmother would have been "appalled" that a 15-year-old girl was on death row. "I realized I didn't have to see someone else die in order to bring healing," Pelke said. Pelke's efforts through the Journey of Hope, helped release the girl from death row in 1989, he said. "She's still in prison, where she belongs," he said. Jeff Haydon, 49, of Manassas said he marched and carried signs with the abolitionists to try and make people think about the death penalty. He said he didn't believe in the death penalty as a deterrent. "I know there's some heinous crimes out there, but 'an eye-for-an-eye makes the whole world blind,' " Haydon said quoting one of the death penalty abolitionists' mottos. Robert Hoelscher came from Austin, Texas, to march in Manassas. His father was murdered in Houston in 1969. "I don't think the death penalty serves victims," the 53-year-old Hoelscher said. Abe Bonowitz, an organizer for New Jerseyans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, once supported the death penalty, but changed his mind after hearing a speaker at the University of Ohio. The speaker didn't change his mind. His epiphany came later. "I set out to prove the anti-death penalty people wrong and I found out that everything I believed about the death penalty -- the truth was the opposite," the 39-year-old Bonowitz said. Race, politics and geography determine who gets the death penalty more than anything else, Bonowitz said. "What changed my mind was learning about the unfairness of the application of the death penalty," Bonowitz said. Events such as the Journey of Hope might make people think about the death penalty. Thinking about it might lead to opposing it, Bonowitz said. "For me it's about giving the people the opportunity to think about it. That's why I'm out here today holding this sign to the traffic," Bonowitz said. Of the 23 people in Virginia who are on death row in Sussex I Sate Prison in Waverly, four received their death sentences in Prince William County. Larry "Bill" Elliott, 56, of Hanover, Md., was convicted in 2001 of killing Robert Finch, 30 and Dana Thrall, 25, a Woodbridge couple. John Allen Muhammad, 42, the D.C.-area sniper entered death row in March of 2004. Paul Warner Powell, 26, was convicted in 1999 of the murder of 2 teenage sisters in their Yorkshire home. The Virginia Supreme Court overturned Powell's capital conviction of murdering 16-year-old Stacie Reed and raping and stabbing 14-year-old Kristie Reed . The justices decided that Powell's actions were two separate crimes making Powell ineligible for the death penalty. Powell later sent Commonwealth's Attorney Paul B. Ebert a letter that contained information Ebert used to convict him. Powell was sentenced to death in 2003. Wolfe received a stay of execution in July 2005. (source: Potomac News) ************ Capital justice fails in Virginia----The ultimate punishment warrants the utmost care. The commonwealth should take steps to protect against wrongful executions. Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty doesn't exactly conceal its agenda; it's right there in the name. Last week, the group issued a report card of sorts on the state of capital justice in the commonwealth, and Virginia has problems. Unfortunately, some would ignore the recommendations to satisfy personal convictions, political goals or both. The report based its analysis on recommendations in Illinois to enhance justice and accuracy in capital punishment. That state's governor suspended executions in 2000 over concerns about improperly convicted and sentenced individuals. A crime commission subsequently developed 85 suggestions to improve the system. Virginia, according to last week's report, fully satisfies only 12 of those recommendations and completely fails on more than half of them. If Virginians insist on clinging to the barbaric practice of executing prisoners, the least they can do is ensure that the condemned truly deserve their sentence. The Illinois recommendations include common sense ideas to uphold fairness and justice such as: --Require police to pursue all reasonable lines of inquiry during an investigation, no matter where they lead. --Videotape interrogations in homicide cases. --Create a certification process for judges who hear capital cases. --Give defendants access to evidence that might be presented against them during the sentencing phase of capital trials. Virginia does none of those, even though their only goal is justice, not undermining the death penalty. Attorney General Bob McDonnell's office dismissed the report out of hand. A spokesman told The Virginian-Pilot in Hampton Roads that the recommendations "do not outweigh the legal and public support for Virginia's constitutionally correct death penalty statute." Of course they don't. They are about erecting a bulwark against executing the wrong person. Surely the state constitution and Virginians support justice. It is possible for a group with an agenda to offer good suggestions apart from its views on the death penalty. Virginia should consider these suggestions on their own merits as a means to improve the justice system, not through the filter of state-sponsored death. (source: Editorial, ROanoke Times) MISSOURI: Death penalty to be sought for 2 Jackson County prosecutors will seek the death penalty against 2 people charged in the videotaped killing of Marsha Spicer in Independence. Prosecutor Mike Sanders, flanked by family members of the victim, announced at a Monday news conference that his office will ask jurors to convict and recommend execution for Richard D. Davis and Dena D. Riley. They are charged with 1st-degree murder, kidnapping, sodomy, rape and assault in Spicers death in May. Earlier this month, Clay County prosecutors announced they also were seeking the death penalty against the couple for the murder of Michelle Ricci, whom the couple allegedly killed in Clay County several weeks before they killed Spicer. Sanders said seeking the death penalty was appropriate for both counties because of the heinous nature of the crimes. The defendants also face federal charges for the kidnapping and sexual assault of a 5-year-old Kansas girl. (source: Kansas City Star) ********************** Execution procedure nixed again----A judge reaffirms that Missouris new protocol is unconstitutional A federal judge ruled again Monday that Missouris revised death-penalty protocol was unconstitutional. The order by U.S. District Judge Fernando Gaitan Jr. restated his September ruling that found Missouri inmates could be subjected to an "unreasonable risk of cruel and unusual punishment" if improvements were not made in how the state executes its prisoners. In his September order, Gaitan gave the state until Oct. 27 to address his concerns and provide a revised protocol. However, the state resubmitted the same proposal Oct. 6, arguing that it was constitutional and asking the judge to reconsider his decision. Attorneys for the state asked the judge to rule quickly so they could file an appeal with the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals if he ruled against them. Gaitan complied Monday, denying the motion to reconsider. "The state's response does nothing to address these concerns and indicates its lack of willingness to even attempt to comply with the courts order," Gaitan wrote Monday. Gaitan's ruling comes in the case of Michael A. Taylor, 1 of 2 men convicted of raping and killing a Kansas City teenager, Ann Harrison, in 1989. Taylors attorneys have alleged that the lethal injection method employed by Missouri can lead to prisoners suffering excruciating pain. Gaitan ordered the state to improve methods of monitoring inmates to ensure they are adequately anesthetized during the execution process. He also ordered that a doctor trained in administering anesthesia either mix the chemicals or oversee the mixing of chemicals for executions. The judge's order halted all executions in the state. Taylor came within hours of being put to death earlier this year before the legal challenge halted the execution. (source: Kansas City Star) CALIFORNIA: Victims' Families Sentenced to Silence ---- Judge allows relatives of five who were killed to attend the trial only if they remain composed. Day after day, the aging Ukrainian couple has stepped into a federal courtroom in downtown Los Angeles to endure a severe test of wills: listening to the details of their son Alexander's killing while containing their emotions. They sit stoically in the front, Elisabeth Umansky with her jaw set and hands clasped, her husband Ruven with his head back, peering through his bifocals. When a key witness tells of pulling a rope tight around Alexander's neck and of a plastic bag being sucked into his nostrils, Elisabeth lets out a deep sigh, closes her eyes and folds forward. Ruven squeezes her shoulder. But they stay put, taking in every detail as if to recover lost moments with their son. The couple and 5 other relatives of the victims had to fight to win the right to attend the trial of the 2 men accused of kidnapping and murdering their son and 4 other Los Angeles business people. Iouri Mikhel and Jurijus Kadamovas are accused of luring the five victims to their upscale San Fernando Valley homes in 2001 and 2002, holding them for ransom, killing them and dumping their bodies in a reservoir in the Sierra foothills. Prosecutors say the conspiracy was, in part, directed by organized crime figures in Russia. The defendants face the death penalty. Before the trial began Sept. 6, U.S. District Judge Dickran Tevrizian banned the victims' relatives from court, both because they might be called as witnesses later and because the presence of tearful and emotional relatives could prejudice the jury against the defendant. The Umanskys and other relatives begged Tevrizian to reconsider. "We have been patient and cooperative, and the possibility of not attending this trial brings us inexplicable pain," they wrote in a letter. "Please allow us to ease a bit of suffering and have questions looming over us answered." Prosecutors appealed the ruling and won, arguing that a 2004 congressional act gave victims and family members explicit rights to attend trials. The issue is particularly relevant because last week, the U.S. Supreme Court took up a case that also involves courtroom expressions by a victim's relatives. The case stems from a 1995 murder conviction in San Jose, which was overturned by an appeals court because three relatives of the victim wore buttons with small photos of him in court. In the Los Angeles case, Tevrizian has admonished family members to remain composed. That became a particularly wrenching test in recent days as Ainar Altmanis took the stand and laid out a step-by-step account of the abductions and deaths. His testimony is expected to continue today. Altmanis is the U.S. attorney's key witness in the trial, having admitted to taking part in the murder conspiracy. He entered into a plea agreement in 2002 to avoid the death sentence in exchange for life in prison. The defense is expected to attack his credibility and attempt to pin the murders on him alone. As he spoke last week, the victims' families took in every word they could endure. They convulsed and squinted hard to hold back the tears. When it was too much to bear, they left the room and shuffled back in later. And they watched the man accused of masterminding all of this, Mikhel, 41, gaze around, sometimes at them, with arched eyebrows and an unreadable expression. The Umanskys sat stone-faced through most of the testimony. Their son Alexander, 35, owned a car electronics business and, according to prosecutors, was lured to Kadamovas' home in Sherman Oaks in December 2001 with the prospect of installing high-end electronic equipment in Mikhel's Range Rover. Holding a pistol with a silencer and a stun gun, they seized him the moment he came through the door, handcuffed him and tied his legs to a chair with flex ties, Altmanis testified. Eventually he was told to contact his family to get a ransom of $234,000. Over four days, Ruven and Elisabeth and their other son, Michael, collected money from relatives and managed to transfer it to an account in the United Arab Emirates. Then the calls just stopped. They called the FBI, which eventually traced the money to the defendants, prosecutors alleged. But the Umanskys did not learn of Alexander's fate until his body was dredged from the frigid depths of the New Melones Reservoir 3 months later. Now in court, they heard Altmanis' account of what happened: How terrified and pale Alexander was, and how he was killed even as the defendants promised to keep him alive to get the last payments. "There was this voice of Mikhel so sharp and so fast like a thundercloud, telling Umansky to open his mouth," Altmanis said. The Umanskys' faces tightened in agony, and Ruven put his arm around his wife. Mikhel's jaw muscles flexed as he stared at his onetime friend. Altmanis continued: Mikhel shoved plastic bags in his mouth and pulled another bag tight over his head, as Kadamovas held his nostrils shut. When that didn't work, he said, Mikhel and Altmanis wrapped a rope around his neck and pulled with all their might. Even after all that, it looked as though Alexander was still breathing, Altmanis testified. "Mikhel said, 'No, it happens sometimes. He still has air in his body.' So he kicked him and the air went out and the motion stopped." Nancy Muscatel's husband met a similar fate in October 2001. Meyer Muscatel, a Sherman Oaks real estate developer, didn't come home from work one night, and for five months his wife had no idea what happened. Now, she said, she needed to hear the details of his final days. "It's like needing to go through it with him," she said. "And be there in a way . so he wouldn't be alone." According to prosecutors, he had been lured into captivity by the prospect of a real estate deal and spent 2 days tied to a chair at Mikhel's Encino home. Altmanis said he often guarded Muscatel and at one point made himself a ham sandwich and offered one to his captive. "He smelled it and asked what it was," Altmanis testified. "He said he didn't eat it because he ate only kosher." In the 2nd row, Nancy Muscatel's eyes welled up - with mingled pride and longing, she would say later - and she squeezed them closed. Altmanis testified that Mikhel realized Muscatel didn't have much money, and they couldn't get to the money he did have. He was of no use anymore. When Altmanis went back to the house the next morning, he testified, the defendants were strangling Muscatel. As he described the killing, Nancy Muscatel began to shake. Her 2 adult daughters bent over and wept in silence. "Mikhel was pressing with knees on Muscatel's shoulders," Altmanis continued. "The bag was over Muscatel's head. He was clogging the ends of the bag so the air would not get inside." Nancy Muscatel stood quietly, walked out of the courtroom and returned several minutes later to hear of her husband's body being thrown off the Parrotts Ferry Bridge. But at the end of the day, Nancy Muscatel clung to the image of her husband refusing to eat the ham sandwich. "He wasn't going to give in," she said. "He wasn't going to compromise his values. That was Meyer." (source: Los Angeles Times)
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news-----N.C., VA., MO., CALIF.
Rick Halperin Tue, 17 Oct 2006 09:38:59 -0500 (Central Daylight Time)