Oct. 21
TEXAS: Is Ashley's real killer still free? What if Michael Blair did not kill 7-year-old Ashley Estelle after all? It's almost unthinkable that Plano police and Collin County prosecutors could have gotten the wrong man in a high-profile case that revamped how Texas and the nation handle sexual offenders. But for 8 years, DNA tests have been chipping away at the evidence that convicted Mr. Blair in 1994. Tests in 1998, 2000 and 2002 found that none of the hair said to link the killer to his young victim actually belonged to Ashley or Mr. Blair. This week, cells removed from Ashley's fingernail clippings were identified as belonging to two unknown males, but not to her convicted killer, according to Mr. Blair's attorneys. Collin County prosecutors have rebutted the significance of the initial DNA test results, saying there was other evidence sufficient to convict Mr. Blair, including eyewitnesses who placed him at the Plano playground where the girl was abducted. Mr. Blair's behavior also was highly suspicious. He came to investigators' attention when he twice drove past the spot where Ashley's body was found. There also was Mr. Blair's criminal history as a pedophile. He served time for sexually abusing an 11-year-old girl in the 1980s, and he pleaded guilty in 2004 to 4 charges of aggravated sexual assault of a child. Along with a death sentence, he is serving three consecutive life sentences. But Mr. Blair's lawyers, who have stuck with his case for years, believe there was a rush to judgment in the highly emotional aftermath of Ashley's death. "There was tenuous evidence. It was an emotional time, and Michael Blair was not a sympathetic character," said Phil Wischkaemper, who has represented Mr. Blair since the late-1990s. "It's kind of a textbook case for why we shouldn't have the death penalty." As compelling as this DNA evidence appears, however, none of it has been subjected to court review. It is not known when state District Judge Nathan White Jr. will hold such a hearing, which could prompt a new trial. But if Mr. Blair did not kill Ashley, who did? In all the years of following this case, this question has bothered me the most. Are we to think the real killer - or killers - lived freely to abuse other children for the last 13 years? Does another suspect even exist? If you recall, there was a so-called 2nd suspect who was cleared by Plano police in 1993. It surprised me to learn this week that Mr. Blair's legal team has been tracking him for years. He was the child molester who was working as a soccer referee at the Plano park on the day that Ashley disappeared. Although investigators could not account for the man's whereabouts around the time of her abduction, they found no physical evidence to link him to the crime. But police did discover that he used multiple aliases, calling himself Matthew Patrick Frontera in 1993 and Josh Crowley in 1994, and that he previously had been convicted of a lewd act with a child. The fact that he appeared to be interested in boys - not girls - helped to rule him out of this case. However, that assumption may have been wrong, according to more recent research on sexual predators. Experts now are warning police investigators not to assume that sex offenders stick with a specific type of victim. A landmark British study of child molesters in 1995 suggested that almost 1/3 had targeted both male and female victims. Other studies have supported that conclusion. But it's impossible to know, without further investigation, if it's true of the 2nd suspect in Ashley's case. Much is known about this elusive man because Mr. Blair's lawyers have filled several boxes with his criminal records and interview notes from talking to many people who have known him. The records show, for example, that he has used at least 13 aliases, five Social Security numbers and seven birth dates in his effort to hide from his past. "Guys like [him] have to be watched closely. He's had far too much rein," said Mr. Wischkaemper, who still isn't sure of the man's real identity. Most recently, the man was listed on the North Carolina Sex Offender and Public Protection Registry for a 2003 conviction of "indecent liberty" with a minor. The registry states that he served almost two years of a three-year prison sentence and moved to California last August. His new address is listed in Anaheim, home to one of the nation's most popular attractions for children - Disneyland. Maybe that's just a coincidence. But in the tangled world of compulsive child molesters, what if it isn't? (source: Dallas Morning News) ******************************************** Record number of organizations sponsor 7th annual March to Stop Executions A record number of organizations have signed on as sponsors of the 7th Annual March to Stop Executions on October 28, 2006. The march is organized by people from many different groups working together as the March to Stop Executions Coalition. If your organization wants to be listed as a sponsor of the march, please let us know. The 7th Annual March to Stop Executions Coaliton includes: Campaign to End the Death Penalty, Texas Moratorium Network, Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement, Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, Committee to Free Frances Newton, Inside Books Project, Texas Students Against the Death Penalty, Texas Death Penalty Education and Resource Center, National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, Citizens United for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, Journey of Hope, International Socialist Organization, Capital of Texas Democrats For Life (CTDFL), Democrats For Life of Texas (DFLT), Death Penalty Reform Caucus of the Texas Democratic Party, Victims of Texas, Amnesty International, Texans for Peace, Austin Mennonite Church, CodePink Austin, El Pasoans Against the Death Penalty, Students Against the Death Penalty (the national group), Libertarian Longhorns, Catholic Longhorns for Life, the Social Justice Committee of the University Catholic Center, Howard Guidry Justice Committee, The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), Friends Meeting of Austin, The Texas Civil Rights Project, National Black Law Students Association, American Civil Liberties Union - Central Texas Chapter, American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, Gray Panthers, peaceCenter, San Antonio, Dominican Sisters of Houston, Friends of Justice, TX CURE, S.H.A.P.E. Center (Houston), National Black Police Association, Catholics Against Capital Punishment, Austin Center for Peace and Justice, Equal Justice USA, Houston Peace Forum, PFLAG Houston (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays), Community Involvement Committee of First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston, University of Texas at Austin Chapter of Amnesty International, Civilians Down, Social Action Committee of Congregation Beth Israel, Houston Peace and Justice Center, The Austin Chronicle, Resistencia Bookstore To become a sponsor or get involved, email us at: admin at texasmoratorium.org Or call us at: 512-302-6715. (source: Texas Moratorium Network) NEW HAMPSHIRE: New Hampshire hasn't executed anyone in 67 years After former state Rep. Renny Cushing's father was murdered, people told him they hoped the man who did it would "fry so you can get some comfort." Instead, Cushing pleaded for mercy for men like the grudge-bearing neighbor who gunned down his father and fought to repeal the state's death penalty. Now he questions whether a jury would shrug off New Hampshire's long-standing unease with the death penalty and sentence Michael "Stix" Addison to death if he's convicted in the shooting death of Manchester Police Officer Michael Briggs. "There is a family out there grieving, 2 children without a father," said Cushing, founder of Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights, which represents victims across the country who oppose capital punishment. He notes 13 states don't have capital punishment. New Hampshire appears to be a state divided over capital punishment. The statute is narrow and has been applied only once in the last decade and not carried out since 1939. The state has no one on death row and no death chamber in which to administer the prescribed lethal injection or hanging, if injection is not possible. On Wednesday, the attorney general's office won legislative approval to spend $420,000 pursuing a death penalty case against Addison. The cost could rise well above $1 million. "Because they haven't done a capital case in New Hampshire, people don't understand the length of the process," he said. "Death cases are different. Death penalty litigation is almost a separate speciality in law." Six years ago, the Legislature voted to repeal the death penalty. Then-Gov. Jeanne Shaheen brushed off appeals from a former president and Nobel Peace Prize winner -- among others -- and vetoed the repeal bill, leaving the law on the books. Since then anti-death penalty advocates have repeatedly tried to repeal the law. Briggs, 35, who was married with 2 sons, was shot 15 minutes before his overnight bicycle patrol shift ended Monday, when he responded to a report of a shot fired in an inner city Manchester neighborhood. Hours after Briggs' death Tuesday afternoon, Attorney General Kelly Ayotte announced her intention to upgrade charges against Addison from attempted murder to capital murder. Addison, 26, was arrested Monday evening in Boston and remains jailed there on $2 million bail. New Hampshire's death penalty law includes a short list of crimes, including murder of a law enforcement officer and murder during rape or attempted rape. Additionally, the law requires 2 jury verdicts: one finding guilt, and another imposing the penalty. The jury must unanimously find 2 aggravating circumstances, including intent, for a death sentence. The state Supreme Court automatically reviews death sentences. The last person charged with capital murder in New Hampshire was Gordon Perry, who avoided the possibility by pleading guilty to first-degree murder in Epsom police Officer Jeremy Charron's death. Charron, who served with Briggs on the Epsom force, was gunned down while checking a parked car in August 1997. Criminal defense lawyer Michael Ramsdell handled the Perry case when he was chief of the state's homicide bureau. "It's much more difficult than handling first- and second-degree murder cases because there are so many more issues raised in death penalty cases," Ramsdell said. "The amount of resources that need to be devoted far exceed any resources for any other kind of case." Ramsdell also handled a 1988 case involving three men who faced potential capital murder charges in the stabbing death of a pregnant woman. In that case one teen was acquitted and other was sentenced to 46 years to life in prison. The husband was never tried because the teens refused to testify against him. He said a capital case in New Hampshire could take 10 years to complete since the state has not gone through a trial or the appeals process. Ramsdell wouldn't speculate on Addison's case. "Anybody who tells you he has a gut feeling about the case ... I would be very, very skeptical," he said. Democratic state Sen. Lou D'Allesandro, a death penalty advocate, believes it is clearly warranted in Briggs' murder. "I think the sentiment for this will be so strong given the circumstance surrounding this murder," he said. "This was a deliberate act meant to kill from everything I have gathered." But Democratic state Rep. Jim Splaine, prime sponsor of recent repeal bills, believes a jury would decide life without parole is a worst fate. "It is not being easier on criminals. It is tougher," he said. The issue will be on lawmakers' agenda again next year though it isn't likely to change anything. Splaine said he has filed a new bill to repeal the death penalty, but both Gov. John Lynch and Republican challenger Jim Coburn promise to veto any such attempts. Cushing's father was shotgunned in the doorway of his Hampton home in 1988 by the neighbor who also was a town police officer. Would a New Hampshire jury sentence Addison to death given the state's divisions over the death penalty? "It's hard to say. That ends up being an individual decision a jury has to weigh," Cushing said. (sources: Associated Press & Boston Globe) KENTUCKY: Neblett Gets Life: Case Not Over Yet--In a Rare Courtroom Twist Prosecutor to Seek Retrial Convicted murderer Taquan Neblett was spared the death penalty yesterday and sentenced to life in prison with parole eligibility in 25 years. The sentence was imposed after bizarre legal maneuvering that included Neblett's withdrawing his request for a new trial. Neblett waived his right to appeal, but his case is not over: In an unusual move, Commonwealth's Attorney Ray Larson asked Judge Gary Payne to set aside the jury verdict and grant a new trial so he could seek the death penalty again. "The whole thing baffles me," Larson told reporters afterward. "The only people who came out of this event suffering any significant punishment were the victims, the survivors of the homicide of Derek Elam and the juror," Gayla Webb. Webb was at the center of Neblett's motion for a new trial. Payne found her in contempt of court for failing to disclose during the trial that she had knowledge of Neblett's prior murder conviction at age 16. Payne fined Webb $250 and ordered her to perform 60 hours of community service. The series of rulings angered Elam's family. In August, a jury found that Neblett robbed Sami's Music store on South Limestone in July 2004, murdered Elam, 22, by shooting him in the back of the head and shot store owner Sami Hajibrahim. "The thought that struck me today, as I sat in the courtroom, was the feeling that Derek's life did not matter" to Payne, Diana Elam said. Neblett "gave my son the death penalty -- from behind. He didn't give him a chance to duck. He didn't give him a chance to fight. "He didn't give him a chance to even see that his life was about to be taken," Diana Elam said. "Now this man gets to plead for his life and everyone has to feel sorry for him." Yesterday's hearing in Fayette Circuit Court began with a surprise announcement. Larson announced that he would not oppose Neblett's request for a new trial, causing a television reporter to whistle in shock. Earlier this week he told a reporter that he intended to argue against the request. Neblett got a fair trial and was convicted by 12 jurors, but "we cannot argue in good faith that the appellate courts won't reverse this case five, 10, 15 years from now," Larson said. "A retrial after the passage of so much time is problematic: missing witnesses, faulty memories, who knows what. If we have to try this defendant again, let's get on with it." Payne quickly called a bench conference, after which Neblett's public defenders took him to another room to consult with him. When they came back, Payne said Larson had joined the motion for a new trial. Public defender Keith Eardley then withdrew the motion, prompting Larson to ask Payne to set aside the jury verdict and grant a new trial. Payne refused but will allow Larson to submit a legal brief in support of his motion. Eardley then waived Neblett's right to appeal and asked that Neblett be sentenced immediately. In his trial, Neblett blamed Hajibrahim for Elam's death. Neblett claimed that he had gotten into an argument with Hajibrahim over money when the store owner started waving a gun and accidentally shot Elam. After a brief scuffle, Neblett testified, he grabbed the gun and fired at Hajibrahim. Neblett was convicted of wanton murder, 1st-degree robbery, 1st-degree assault and tampering with evidence, after a 2-week trial that ended Aug. 10. The jury's recommendation that Neblett die by lethal injection prompted an emotional outburst by a University of Kentucky law professor who was volunteering as a consultant for the defense. Professor Roberta Harding, who is black and a staunch opponent of the death penalty, called the trial "a modern-day lynch mob" and "white racism run amok." Neblett is black, and Elam is white. Payne, who is black, yesterday disputed Harding's characterization, which even Neblett's defense attorneys have distanced themselves from. "The system works," Payne said. "The court does not agree that what the jury did that night -- I've never seen a case where I thought it was a modern-day lynching." Yesterday, Eardley told reporters that Neblett maintains he is innocent. The sentence "will give Mr. Neblett the opportunity perhaps once again to be a free man," Eardley said. Neblett did not want to "run the risk of trying the case again and perhaps having the death penalty imposed." Eardley said it would have been difficult for Neblett to win acquittal in a 2nd trial. "The prosecution, I think we took them by surprise with our defense," Eardley said. "But we've now lost that element of surprise, and they would be able to counter-attack anything we would do. They know what our defense is going to be." Two legal scholars said they've never heard of anything like Larson's request for a new trial. University of Kentucky law professor William Fortune said the motion may run into conflict with the U.S. Constitution. The Fifth Amendment prohibits double jeopardy, which is a 2nd prosecution after acquittal or conviction. "Normally the prosecution has one chance," law professor Robert Lawson said. "They don't get to go back and start over again. Fortune and Lawson said the request faces long odds. But they did not rule out the possibility that Larson could succeed. They said case law may exist that supports Larson's position. "It may well be that Larson has a theory on how this can be undone," Fortune said. After the hearing, Diana Elam showed reporters some of her son's baseball trophies and a Valentine he wrote for his father, Doug, when he was 7. The father coached Derek from little league until his teens. "He didn't have the chance to get married, to have children," Diana said. Neblett's arrest in August 2004 caused considerable media coverage, partly because he had been on parole for only 7 months. In May 1994, Neblett pleaded guilty to murdering Russell Gilbert, a Louisville cab driver. Neblett, then 16, was sentenced to 20 years. He was released from prison in December 2003 after serving nine years. Diana Elam said the justice system failed. "There is a judge above all judges that will judge the judge," Elam said. "To me it's like saying, 'your son's life does not matter.' The justice system let us down when they let him out to kill again. If they let him out again, he will kill again. "He has it in him to kill. He has no conscience about life." (source: Kentucky.com) PENNSYLVANIA: Weighing death, jurors hear of life: In penalty hearing, family poignantly recalls slain 3 If speaking fondly of the dead can stir their sleeping souls, then the spirits of Willie Mae Alston, Andre Giddings and Kenneth Best were dancing yesterday. During the death-penalty hearing for their killer, family members offered poignant, moving memories of the 67-year-old Alston; Giddings, her 20-year-old grandson, and Giddings' best friend, Best, 17. The 3 were shot to death by Richard Singletary, who was convicted Thursday of 3 counts of 2st-degree murder. Yesterday he rejected an offer by the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office to give up his appeals in exchange for a life sentence, so a jury began deliberating his fate. Singletary, accompanied by Anthony Harrison, also 20, went to Alston's house on Feb. 18, 2005, shot Giddings in the head, then killed Alston and Best because they were witnesses to the crime. Singletary killed Giddings because of a dispute over $1,000, authorities said. Harrison was found not guilty of the murders. Donna Giddings, who lost her mother and only son in the slayings, spoke with a mixture of grief and humor that was so alive, so touching and so faith-filled, it moved jurors and spectators to tears. Even defense attorney Richard Giuliani appeared riveted by her testimony. "When I saw the [crime scene] photos... I thought, how could somebody be that cruel to kill an old lady?" Giddings asked. "Then I looked at my son, and I never experienced anything like it. "When I saw that bullet hole in the back of his head, I saw my life rewind. I saw myself carrying him, delivering him, the joy I had the day he was born." But Giddings spent most of her time on the stand yesterday describing her mother. We learned that this woman raised her children, nursed her dying parents, suffered the loss of her husband, and still managed - with pride and grace - to graduate from Community College of Philadelphia at age 64. She honored her promises. She never told a single soul the secrets her friends and relatives shared with her, taking many secrets to the grave, they all said. In her mind, no mistake was ever too great to overcome, no sin too evil to forgive. And then there is the famous family story of how Willie Mae Alston gave the very socks off her feet to a homeless man one frigid day. Alston was her sister's confidante, her daughter's rock and her granddaughter's best friend. "Some areas I can't even touch that my mother could reach in my children," Donna Giddings said. "There's a place she could tap into that I couldn't, sometimes." Alston was shot while on the phone with her sister in the bedroom of her North Philadelphia home. Singletary said in his confession that he couldn't leave any witnesses to Giddings' murder. "I turned my head and shot her, like, three times, I think," he told police. "She screamed after she was shot. Well, not too much after she was shot, but while she was being shot. That was the worst thing I ever done in my life." Prosecutor Mark Gilson urged jurors to decide on the ultimate punishment. "This is an appropriate case for a sentence of death," Gilson said. "If not this case, then which case? If not these murders, then what murders? If not this killer, then who?" Giuliani, Singletary's attorney, urged jurors to spare his client's life. "Every life is worth something," he said, "Even Richard Singletary's." The jury is expected to continue its deliberations Monday. (source: Philadelphia Daily News) OHIO: Inmate may face escape charges A grand jury will consider escape charges next week against an inmate captured almost 3 months after escaping from a jail where he was held awaiting a death penalty trial, a prosecutor said. Mike Ater, assistant Ross County prosecutor, said Friday he also expects one or more indictments against people suspected of helping John Parsons survive since his July 29 escape from the county jail in Chillicothe. He said investigators have information involving specific individuals, but he wouldn't identify them. Parsons was captured Thursday after the owners of a Chillicothe-area lumberyard called police after seeing signs that someone was living in a nearby shack. Parsons is charged with killing Larry Cox, a police officer in the southern Ohio city, in April 2005. Ater said his office is willing to hear from people about their involvement with Parsons before they bring charges. "If people want to come to us before we come to them and say, 'Hey, this is why I did what I did,' we'll certainly take that into account in deciding whether to charge and what to charge," Ater said. Prosecutors will present evidence Oct. 27 for an escape charge and possibly a breaking and entering charge against Parsons, which relates to suspicion that Parsons lived for a while in a fishing cabin, Ater said. Parson's mother was indicted on two counts of obstruction of justice related to his disappearance and has pleaded not guilty. Documents filed with search warrants issued after his escape say he called her from jail and told her to prepare for his arrival. Parsons, 35, is in good health and spirits though considerably thinner than when he escaped, his Columbus attorney said Friday. Attorney David Stebbins said he met with Parsons at the Correctional Reception Center in nearby Orient on Friday. Parsons is being held in a state prison because his escape violated his parole from a previous conviction. (source: Cincinnati Enquirer)
