Oct. 21 CALIFORNIA: Man arrested in 3 county slayings A Mexican national was arrested in Acapulco early Friday in connection with the grisly murders of 3 people in Ventura County in 2004, including a young couple from Taft. Authorities issued a provisional arrest warrant in Mexico for one-time Oxnard resident Rudolfo Negrete, 24, in August 2005. The warrant was issued 16 months after Daniel Campos was found dead beside a farm road about three miles east of the California State University, Channel Islands, campus south of Camarillo. Campos had been shot in the back of the head on the night of April 17, 2004. Later that night, Alex Jordan, 24, and his 22-year-old wife, Cynthia, were shot in the same execution-style fashion. The Jordans' bodies were found along another deserted farm road a few miles from where Campos' body was found. Deputies from the U.S. Marshals Service, together with Ventura County Sheriff's investigators, had worked with Mexican federal police for more than a year to apprehend Negrete. Investigators followed numerous leads through different parts of Mexico before tracking Negrete to Acapulco, said Cmdr. John Clark of the U.S. Marshals Service. In the predawn hours of Friday, agents put the home where they suspected Negrete was staying under surveillance. Negrete was arrested about 8:30 a.m. as he was leaving, Clark said. Although Negrete is in custody, it could be some time before he's extradited to California, Clark said. As a Mexican national, he is entitled to an extradition hearing, which could take months. Bill Haney, a senior deputy district attorney with the Ventura County District Attorney's Office, said he would have to review the case before commenting on what strategy prosecutors here will take. Haney agreed that it has been difficult to extradite Mexican nationals who face the death penalty in the United States. But Haney said that has changed somewhat over the past few years because of greater cooperation between authorities in the United States and Mexico. The Negrete case gained national attention and was featured on "America's Most Wanted" TV show in 2005. Authorities describe the killings as some of the most heinous in the county's recent history. Cynthia Jordan was pregnant when she was killed. The couple had been trying to have a child for some time. Sheriff's investigators said robbery was a possible motive in the Jordans' homicides. The couple's 2002 Chevrolet Impala was found charred two days after they were killed at Harbor Boulevard and Fifth Street in Oxnard, in what authorities suspect was an effort to destroy evidence. Authorities were initially at a loss to explain Campos' killing. The youngest of 3 siblings, Campos installed car alarms for auto dealerships. He was a homebody who didn't belong to gangs and had never been in trouble with the law. Three anonymous witnesses later told police they were in a car with Campos, Negrete and Jose Manuel Ramirez the night of the shooting. The witnesses said Negrete and Ramirez followed Campos as he got out of the car to urinate. They alleged Negrete shot Campos in the back of the head. Ramirez was later arrested in connection with the shooting. Haney said Ramirez served two years in Ventura County Jail after pleading guilty to aiding Negrete in Campos' killing. Ramirez was released in August, Haney said. A witness told authorities that the Jordans met Negrete at a gas station in Oxnard before driving to a deserted road some miles away. Negrete allegedly forced Alex Jordan out of the car at gunpoint and demanded money. The two men fought, according to a witness. Jordan's wife, Cynthia, then got out of the car and begged for her and her husband's lives. But it was to no avail, according to the witness. (source: Ventura County Star) IDAHO: Victims' father OK with Duncan's deal The father of abduction victim Shasta Groene says he is satisfied with the Idaho state court plea agreement under which Joseph Edward Duncan III pleaded guilty to 3 counts each of murder and kidnapping. Some family members of the victims have criticized the deal, but Steve Groene said the agreement struck by Kootenai County, Idaho, Prosecutor Bill Douglas is notable because it retains a death-penalty option for Duncan, who this week admitted killing 1 of Groene's sons and his ex-wife. Next, federal authorities are expected to prosecute Duncan in the 2005 abduction of Shasta, then 8, and her 9-year-old brother, Dylan, and Dylan's subsequent slaying. "I personally think that Bill Douglas and his entire staff should be commended," Steve Groene wrote in an e-mail posted by KREM-TV of Spokane on its Web site Thursday night. "As most people know, in this world, to get, you gotta give," Groene wrote. (source: Seattle Times) ILLINOIS: Confession allowed in children's killing The confession of a Zion man that he killed his daughter and her friend on Mother's Day 2005 will be allowed at his trial, a Lake County judge ruled Friday, rejecting arguments that it was coerced. Jerry Hobbs, 36, is charged with first-degree murder in the stabbing deaths of his daughter, Laura, 8, and her friend, Krystal Tobias, 9. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. No physical evidence links Hobbs to the crime, authorities have said. "The court finds that under the totality of the circumstances, the defendant's confession was voluntarily given and is admissible at trial," Judge Fred Foreman wrote in a 37-page ruling. Foreman noted that Hobbs slept during breaks from police questioning and that his videotaped confession was made almost 8 hours after he confessed orally to the Lake County Major Crime Task Force. Hobbs' attorneys, Lake County public defender David Brodsky and assistant public defender Keith Grant, argued during several days of hearings in August and September that Hobbs was deprived of sleep and food before he confessed. Both declined to comment on Friday's ruling. Hobbs initially said he discovered the girls' bodies early on May 9, 2005, the day after they disappeared. Police questioned Hobbs from 7:20 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. at his home and police stations in Zion and Waukegan, according to Foreman's ruling. Questioning resumed at 2:50 p.m. but stopped at 3:30 p.m. for 3 hours while police went to a briefing, Foreman wrote. Police brought Hobbs dinner from McDonald's at 6:30 p.m. and resumed questioning from 6:50 p.m. until about 2 p.m. the next day, when he read a written confession in front of a video camera, Foreman wrote. Hobbs was not questioned in a "coercive atmosphere," Foreman decided, noting in his ruling that police asked Hobbs to remain in a Waukegan substation while they went to a meeting. Hobbs said he would stay as long as he could smoke, according to the ruling. Foreman noted that Hobbs consented in writing to a search of his house as well as to a voice stress test that was supposed to help determine whether he was telling the truth. Also Friday, Grant argued for a change of venue for Hobbs' trial. "This case has achieved attention in Lake County that is unprecedented," he said. (source: Chicago Tribune) ***************** Prosecutors seek death in informant slaying Cook County prosecutors announced Friday they will seek the death penalty for an Alsip man accused of executing an FBI informant yards away from where federal agents monitored a weapons sting. Assistant State's Attorney Michael O'Brien said the state also will seek a natural life sentence or an extended term sentence for Jerry T. Henderson if he is convicted of murdering Timothy Forrest in a Dolton parking lot in May. Forrest, 41, of Dolton, was found shot twice in the head after he posed as a firearms buyer and met a suspected illegal arms dealer in a sport utility vehicle on Lincoln Avenue near Sibley Boulevard. He was wearing a hidden transmitter, but FBI agents posted at a nearby gas station heard no shots or arguing, according to an FBI spokesman. Henderson's attorney, Sam Adam, said Friday neither he nor his son, Sam Adam Jr., were certified to litigate capital cases. Cook County Circuit Judge Michele M. Simmons gave Henderson until Nov. 3 to decide whether he wants to hire a new attorney or add a lawyer to the Adam and Adam team who can litigate a capital case. After then-Gov. George Ryan imposed a moratorium on executions, calling the death penalty system flawed, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled in 2001 that the lead attorney in a capital case must complete certain training and have prior felony trial experience. 6 people have been sentenced to death since Ryan emptied death row in 2003, including Oak Forest native Paul Runge, who was found guilty of murdering and raping a Chicago mother and daughter, and Ricardo Harris, who was convicted of killing 2 Oak Lawn liquor store employees. A spokeswoman for the Cook County state's attorney said the office does not track how many people facing trial are eligible for the death penalty. (source: Chicago Daily Southtown) NORTH DAKOTA: Ashcroft defends Rodriguez outcome Former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft says officials followed federal death penalty law in the case of Alfonso Rodriguez Jr., who was sentenced to death in a state that does not allow capital punishment. Rodriguez, 53, of Crookston, Minn., was convicted in federal court on a charge of kidnapping resulting in the death of college student Dru Sjodin. The same jury voted unanimously in favor of the death penalty on Sept. 22. Ashcroft, who signed the government's decision in 2004 to seek the death penalty against Rodriguez, said "there is some tension" in states such as North Dakota that do not have the death penalty. Some religious leaders criticized it in the Rodriguez case. "I know that there are people whose firm conviction is that capital punishment is improper, but I don't think those things can be controlling," Ashcroft said Friday on WDAY radio's "Hot Talk" program. "We are a culture and society of the rule of law, not the rule of 'I don't feel like it today,' or 'My neighbor and I think it should be different so we're going to ignore the law,' " Ashcroft said. Ashcroft said he believes the death penalty saves lives and should be reserved for "cases of the most egregious affront to human dignity." Sjodin, 22, of Pequot Lakes, Minn., was abducted from a Grand Forks, N.D., shopping mall in November 2003. Authorities found her body in a ravine near Crookston the following spring. (source: Associated Press) MISSOURI: Charges filed in Marshall slaying A Warsaw man was charged Friday in Saline County Circuit Court with felony murder in the killing of a Marshall man last week. Joshua C. Walden, 22, was being held at the Saline County jail without bond after a court appearance Friday. He was charged with 1st-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Steve A. Ford. He also was charged with armed criminal action and stealing. If convicted of 1st-degree murder, Mr. Walden would face the death penalty or life in prison without parole. His father, Richard C. Walden, 48, also of Warsaw, was charged in a warrant with hindering prosecution. Both men were arrested Wednesday night at a truck stop in Madison County, Ohio. Joshua Walden was returned to Saline County; Richard Walden was being held at the Tri County Regional Jail in Ohio, pending extradition proceedings. The body of Mr. Ford, 69, was found in his home Oct. 14. He had been shot to death, according to an autopsy performed by the Jackson County medical examiner. Joshua Walden admitted to investigators that he shot and killed Mr. Ford and took firearms from his home, according to a probable cause statement filed Friday in court. Police said they believed Mr. Ford, a gun collector and outdoorsman, was killed Oct. 10. The Missouri Rural Major Case Squad investigated the case. Joshua Walden was scheduled to appear in court again at 9 a.m. Nov. 1. (source: Sedalia Democrat)
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news-----CALIF., IDAHO, ILL., N. DAK., MO.
Rick Halperin Sat, 21 Oct 2006 11:05:47 -0500 (Central Daylight Time)
