[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----S.C., WASH., VA., N.C.

[Rick Halperin]

Oct. 23


SOUTH CAROLINA:

He never stopped fighting


To find out whether a prosecutor is worth a damn, ask the families of the
dead.

Knoxie Hoover answered the phone in 2002. Tommy Pope himself told Hoover
that Sterling Spann was being offered a plea for killing Hoover's aunt 21
years earlier.

Pope is the York County prosecutor who put himself on the national stage
in 1996, when he unsuccessfully tried to send child killer Susan Smith of
Union to the electric chair. The prosecutor who held the bloody claw
hammer aloft in his famous closing argument that sent Rock Hill parent
killer Jimmy Robertson to a date with that same electric chair on live,
coast-to-coast Court TV in 1999.

Pope didn't have to take the time to tell Hoover that Spann would no
longer be a candidate for the death penalty. He could have had an aide
tell Hoover that Spann, who claimed to be innocent for more than 20 years
and still claimed innocence, could one day get out of prison.

But Pope called Hoover, like he had dozens of times before. He did the
same for many victims' families, to say here's how "I will try and find
justice for your dead."

"It doesn't matter if you dig ditches, pick cotton or are president of the
Wachovia bank, Tommy Pope treats everybody the same," Hoover said. "He's
honest. Up front. You knew where he stood."

Sixteenth Circuit Solicitor Pope stood front and center for the past 14
years. Susan Smith killed her kids in 1995, blamed a black man and caused
an uproar that brought in the national media before she confessed.

Bam. A then-32-year-old country boy from Lesslie with movie star looks and
the ability to drawl Southern if he had to -- even though his late momma
the schoolteacher taught him otherwise -- became for a time the most
famous prosecutor in America.

Pope, the Republican and former law and order cop who was the son of the
late York County Sheriff Elbert Pope, didn't get a jury to deliver death
for Smith. But he gained a national reputation for himself.

Pope got back in the court saddle a month later. He went to trial against
Mar-Reece Hughes, accused of killing York County deputy Brent McCants in
1992. For 3 years before the trial, McCants' mother, Myra, teetered on the
edge of despair.

Hughes got death. But the other defendant in the case got life. Even
though Pope fought for death in that case, too.

The fight is what mattered.

"Tommy Pope fought for Brent, for me," said Myra McCants. "He fought for
justice. That's all I could ask for."

Improved the department

When Pope was elected, the solicitor's office had among the worst backlogs
in the state. Pope leaves it the most efficient, most copied office in
South Carolina. He created drug courts, alternative prosecution programs
and domestic violence teams.

Pope will tell anyone that he's tried to be "fair, forthright and honest
in my dealings with lawyers, defendants and victims."

In a couple of weeks, Pope leaves 13 years as York County's top
prosecutor. He will depart from the sometimes bright lights of
high-profile trials for a private law practice.

But Pope's legacy isn't those trials. Two of the top lawyers who were his
adversaries hundreds of times say Pope is leaving York County a better,
safer place than he found it.

Tom McKinney has been a defense lawyer in York County for almost 45 years.
He was friends with Elbert Pope, Tommy's father, and watched the younger
Pope grow up. McKinney is the dean, the master, of those who try to get
people off.

The community could depend on Pope, McKinney said.

McKinney values a fair shake more than anything else -- and Tommy Pope
played fair with the people who elected him 4 times.

"Tommy Pope always told me the truth and never misled me," McKinney said.
"He created a strong office. The community is better because of the job he
did."

Pope had his rough spots. Some claimed he used the Smith case to bolster
his career. He was victorious in a civil suit brought by the NAACP over
his handling of witnesses in the Spann case. Defense lawyers balked
earlier this year when he tried to get cameras installed in courtrooms,
and the cameras came out.

Those defense lawyers still lavish respect on Pope and his service to York
County.

Downstairs from Pope's office sits York County Chief Public Defender Harry
Dest, whose career running the office parallels Pope's time as prosecutor.
The two have been on opposite sides for dozens of murders and countless
other serious crimes. Pope won many. Dest won some. They battled in court.

But Dest said Pope is not out for punishment for punishment's sake, and he
had the confidence and integrity to make tough decisions that were best
for justice.

"Tommy treated everyone, from every walk of the life, with the same
respect and dignity," Dest said. "The fact is people in York County, me
included, trusted him. He earned and deserved that trust."

And yes, Tommy Pope the prosecutor had style. Susan Smith brought him to
the dance, but it was Pope who tangoed on the big stage for 10 more years.

He starred briefly on a court television show in Hollywood a few years ago
and became a regular guest on national court television talk shows. He is
still on some of those shows.

"He has represented York County well on the national stage," McKinney
said.

Sure, Pope might run for higher political office, and he hasn't ruled out
such lofty goals as Congress. But York County's star will have a little
less of a luster Nov. 16, when Pope finally cleans out his prosecutor's
office for good.

Last trial ends in plea

Pope's last trial was set to start last Monday. The defendant, at the last
minute, decided to plead guilty to murder rather than face Pope.

Pope didn't gnash his teeth and complain that he didn't get one last
chance to tell 12 jurors why somebody who stabbed his girlfriend to death
should be locked up for 30 years to life.

Instead, Pope told the victim's family and witnesses that through the
plea, all would be spared a brutal trial.

The defendant got 30 years -- the same sentence a judge could have given
after a murder conviction.

In criminal court, the charges always state, "The people of York County"
versus the defendant.

Pope, and the family of the woman who died a horrible death, and the
people of York County, left court that last time not with a victory, but
with something far more important.

Justice.

(source: Rock Hill Herald)






WASHINGTON:

Death penalty decision delayed in Kirkland family killing case


The death penalty decision has been delayed until January 19th for the man
accused of killing 4 members of a Kirkland family and burning their home.

Defense lawyers asked for more time to provide reasons why Conner
Schierman should not be executed if he is convicted of aggravated murder.

Schierman is accused of killing Olga Milkin, her sister and Milkin's 2
young sons on July 17th while Milkin's husband was serving in Iraq.

Schierman lived near the Milkin's house. He told investigators he awoke
from an alcoholic blackout, found the bodies and decided to burn the
place.

(source: Associated Press)






VIRGINIA----new death sentence

Arlington Man Gets Death Sentence


A judge on Monday sentenced to death the convicted killer of a Richmond
family during a bloody crime spree that left 4 others dead.

Circuit Judge Beverly Snukals followed the jury's recommendation in
imposing the ultimate punishment on Ricky Jovan Gray for the random New
Year's Day slayings of musician Bryan Harvey, 49, his wife, Kathryn, 39,
and daughters Stella, 9, and Ruby, 4. They were found in the basement of
their burning home -- bound, beaten with a hammer and stabbed, with their
throats cut.

Gray, 29, was convicted of capital murder for the slayings in August.
Snukals sentenced him to death for the murders of Stella and Ruby, and
gave him life sentences for the slayings of Bryan Harvey and the family as
a whole.

Gray and his nephew, Ray Joseph Dandridge, both of Arlington, killed the
Harveys as part of a violent rampage that included the slaying of a 2nd
Richmond family less than 1 week later.

Dandridge, also 29, pleaded guilty last month to 3 counts of capital
murder for the Jan. 6 killings of Percyell Tucker, 55, his wife, Mary
Baskerville-Tucker, 47, and her daughter, Ashley Baskerville, 21. The men
said Ashley Baskerville was an accomplice in the Harvey slayings. They
were suffocated.

Gray also confessed to the Nov. 5 killing of his 35-year-old wife, Treva
Terrell Gray, in Washington, Pa., about 20 miles south of Pittsburgh. In
his confession, Gray said he beat his wife to death in their bed with a
pipe while Dandridge held her down.

Gray and Dandridge told police they were looking for a house to rob on New
Year's Day when they noticed the Harveys' front door was open. After the
murders, they fled with a computer, Bryan Harvey's wedding ring and a
basket of cookies.

"Now that I think about it, it was a real nasty scene," Gray said of the
Harvey murders in his statement to police. "I don't believe sorry is
strong enough. None of this was necessary."

The men are considered persons of interest in the Dec. 18 slaying of
Sheryl Warner of Culpeper. Warner, 37, was shot and hanged with an
electrical cord in her basement, where a fire had been set.

(source: Associated Press)

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

New Year's slayings draw death penalty


In Richomd, a judge this morning sentenced to death the convicted killer
of a Richmond family during a bloody crime spree that left four others
dead.

Circuit Judge Beverly Snukals followed the jury's recommendation in
imposing the ultimate punishment on Ricky Jovan Gray for the random New
Year's Day slayings of musician Bryan Harvey, 49, his wife, Kathryn, 39,
and daughters Stella, 9, and Ruby, 4.

They were found in the basement of their burning home -- bound, beaten
with a hammer and stabbed, with their throats cut.

"I cannot pretend to understand the loss of your loved ones ... I
sincerely apologize," Gray said as Harvey family members blinked back
tears. "I beg you to forgive me."

Gray, 29, was convicted in August of capital murder for the slayings.

Judge Snukals sentenced him to death for the murders of Stella and Ruby,
and gave him life sentences for the slayings of Mr. Harvey and the family
as a whole.

Gray and his nephew, Ray Joseph Dandridge, both of Arlington, killed the
Harveys as part of a violent rampage that included the slaying of a 2nd
Richmond family less than 1 week later.

Dandridge, also 29, pleaded guilty last month to 3 counts of capital
murder for the Jan. 6 killings of Percyell Tucker, 55, his wife, Mary
Baskerville-Tucker, 47, and her daughter, Ashley Baskerville, 21. The men
said Miss Baskerville was an accomplice in the Harvey slayings. Gray also
confessed to the Nov. 5 killing of his 35-year-old wife, Treva Terrell
Gray, in Washington, Pa., about 20 miles south of Pittsburgh.

In his confession, Gray said he beat his wife to death in their bed with a
pipe while Dandridge held her down.

Gray and Dandridge told police they were looking for a house to rob on New
Year's Day when they noticed the Harveys' front door was open.

After the murders, they fled with a computer, Bryan Harvey's wedding ring
and a basket of cookies.

"Now that I think about it, it was a real nasty scene," Gray said of the
Harvey murders in his statement to police. "I don't believe sorry is
strong enough. None of this was necessary."

The men are considered persons of interest in the Dec. 18 slaying of
Sheryl Warner of Culpeper. Miss Warner, 37, was shot and hanged with an
electrical cord in her basement, where a fire had been set.

Mr. Harvey was a guitarist and singer for the rock duo House of Freaks,
which released 5 albums between 1987 and 1995.

Mrs. Harvey co-owned a quirky toy and novelty store called World of Mirth
and was the half-sister of actor Steven Culp, who played Rex Van De Kamp
on "Desperate Housewives."

(source: Associated Press)






NORTH CAROLINA:

Federal appeals court denies death row appeal for Durham man


A federal appeals court refused to grant a new hearing Monday to a Durham
man convicted of kidnapping and beating his girlfriend to death 13 years
ago.

Attorneys for Isaac Jackson Stroud, 52, who was sentenced to death, had
argued the state's short indictment form wasn't constitutional because it
didn't specify death as a possible sentence. But the three-judge panel
unanimously ruled the indictment used by North Carolina was sufficient.

Stroud was convicted in 1995 for killing Jocelyn Mitchell in a beating
that lasted 7 hours on May 1, 1993. Mitchell was an art teacher and track
coach at Durham High School.

Mitchell, 35, had large bruises over 80 percent of her body and 5 broken
ribs that punctured her lung and caused a slow death. At his trial, Stroud
said the beating wasn't intentional.

(source: Associated Press)