[Deathpenalty] [POSSIBLE SPAM] death penalty news----FLA., GA., OHIO, ILL.

[Rick Halperin]

Oct. 12



FLORIDA:

Death penalty opposition is subject of church talk


Marina Kopko had not given much thought to the topic of the death penalty
during her years of working in corporate America. But when she left that
dog-eat-dog world and became deeply involved in the Roman Catholic Church
in 1998, the death penalty became an issue central to her life.

That is when Kopko, now assistant director of the Diocese of Venice's
Respect Life department, began writing to Terry Melvin Sims, the 1st death
row inmate in Florida to be executed by lethal injection.

"By writing to that person, I learned that these men and women are people
just like you and I," Kopko said.

"The perception in many is that this person chose to murder, and if a
person chooses to murder, they deserve to forfeit their life.

"But we don't go deep enough into the person, or what caused this person
to commit this crime," she added.

"It's much easier to just eliminate the problem by executing someone than
it is to go to the heart of the problem."

Kopko will outline the church's teachings on the death penalty Wednesday
in a rare presentation at St. Michael the Archangel Church in Sarasota.
The church's overall message, Kopko says, is respect life and forgive.

It is a topic that is especially timely in Florida, which just resumed
execution by lethal injection in July after a 2-year moratorium on
executions following one inmate's botched death by lethal injection in
2006.

The topic is also especially sensitive for Sarasota County, Kopko says,
because the area has been the site of numerous high-profile murders.

"We do have great sympathy and we pray for them," she said. "However,
executing a person is not going to bring peace of mind."

The talk is part of the statewide Respect Life Month, which kicked off
last week with Respect Life Sunday.

"But while it is an opportunity for people of different faiths to unite,
it's sometimes very divisive," she said, noting a vigil for a death row
inmate held last month at a Bradenton church that elicited nasty e-mails
from people asking variations of, "How can you have a vigil for someone
who committed such a horrible crime?"

"Yes, it was horrible,' Kopko said. "but our Catholic Church says we
should forgive.

"Not forget, but forgive."

(source: Sarasota Herald-Tribune)

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

Murder Trial To Begin


Betty Walker was frying chicken when the gun went off outside.

Boom.

Her daughter looked up from her supper plate: "What was that?"

Walker's son and 3 other men rushed into the doublewide trailer home,
frantically hollering. Walker looked out the window to see someone lying
at the bottom of the short steps leading into her home.

As she dialed 911 on her cell phone, her nephew, Joshua Langley, began
yelling, "I wasn't here Aunt Betty; I wasn't here."

By the time she connected with an operator, everyone had left.

The operator directed Walker to check on the victim outside. She grabbed a
flashlight and stepped outside into the winter darkness.

"He had threw up, he was gurgling and (had) one leg up in the air, just a
shaking," Walker said in a recent deposition. "And then she (the operator)
told me to go back in the house and stay there until police come."

As a certified nursing assistant, it was tough to walk away and not render
aid, Walker recalled.

"It hurts me that it happened, period. Because I hate to see anybody lose
their life like that," she said.

So what exactly happened the night of Dec. 4, 2006, outside Walker's home
on Whitman Road?

That will be up to jurors to decide this week as they weigh the evidence
against Langley, 32, who is charged with 1st-degree murder in connection
with the death of 24-year-old Jac'Quez Jones. If convicted, the
prosecution is seeking the death penalty.

Jones' death finished the particularly bloody year of 2006, which include
three separate murders in October. Up until that point, it had been 25
months without a murder in Hernando County.

Depositions of the witnesses in the Langley case, including some key
players and a jail-cell confession, were recently completed and included
in his voluminous case file.

They provide a window into what to expect in the upcoming week and
possible arguments both for the defense and prosecution.

The prosecution has the testimony of 3 people, not including the suspect,
who witnessed the shooting. The general consensus is that the victim was
killed over a money dispute.

"They were best friends, but they fell out," as witness Robert "Boo"
Wright put it.

Wright was with the victim most of the day and accompanied him to Walker's
rural home north of Brooksville, 22230 Whitman Road. When Jones showed up
around 8 p.m., Langley's 2 cousins were sitting on the back porch steps.

They later told authorities that Langley was upset because Jones withheld
money from him after a robbery, and Langley intended to "straighten him
out," according to a report.

As Wright and the victim talked with the two witnesses, Langley came
running out from a hiding spot, pointing a gun and hollering "don't move,
don't move," according to Wright.

Accounts differ as to what happened next. An arrest affidavit says Langley
pistol-whipped Jones first and then shot him in the face. Wright said in a
deposition that Langley swung the cocked gun in Jones' direction and it
fired.

The medical examiner's office determined that the bullet passed through
Jones' right cheek and embedded in his brain. For all the differing
accounts of that evening, their descriptions of the scene agree:

"Only thing I remember is seeing him and blood, that's it, just blood,
just blood."

"... blood gushing everywhere."

"... pool of blood with some clothing beside it."

With Jones bleeding out on the back steps, everyone rushed inside. By the
time 911 was called everyone had left again. Nathaniel Walker, a witness,
would later be charged for tampering with evidence because he took the gun
that killed Jones and threw it in a lake.

Former major case detective Steve Bishop, now a patrol officer in Denver,
is on the witness list and describes in detail the hunt to find Langley.

Early in his deposition, Bishop says he "had many dealings" with Jones,
along with the suspect and Nathaniel Walker. Their names frequently came
up in connection with the South Brooksville drug trade, Bishop said.

A trail of clues and interviews led authorities across Hernando County and
into Pasco County searching for Langley. A crime analyst would eventually
track a signal from Langley's cell phone to Brunswick, Ga. The police
department there arrested Langley as he walked out of the Seabreeze Motel
and extradited him back to Hernando County.

(source: Tampa Tribune)

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

Put Geiger back on bench


Because of his longtime experience, The Post recommends that on Nov. 4
voters return Dwight Geiger to the bench.

Judge Geiger, 65, is in a runoff for the Group 4 seat against Fran Ross,
54, a Fort Pierce defense attorney. The winner will become a circuit judge
in the 19th Circuit, which includes Martin, St. Lucie, Indian River and
Okeechobee counties.

Judge Geiger was a county judge in Martin County from 1973 to 1976, when
Gov. Reubin Askew appointed him to the circuit court bench. He served
there for 28 years before retiring in 2005. Since then, Judge Geiger has
been a senior judge, filling in as needed in both county and circuit
court. He also changed his mind about retirement and wants to return
full-time to the circuit court bench.

Circuit judges deal with more serious crimes, including death penalty
cases, than are heard in county court. Judge Geiger has extensive
experience in all circuit-court divisions - criminal, civil, probate,
family and juvenile.

Ms. Ross also is a good candidate and should run again - perhaps starting
at the county court level - if she does not win this time. Ms. Ross is a
sole practitioner now. She was a supervising attorney in the Treasure
Coast's public defender's office for eight years ending in 2000. She also
has experience as a special magistrate hearing code-enforcement cases.

(source: Editorial, Palm Beach Post)






GEORGIA:

Death Penalty Trial Set----Police: Man Kills 2 Officers


The death penalty trial for a man charged with shooting and killing 2
DeKalb County police officers will start nearly a year from now.

Police said William Woodward opened fire on Ricky Bryant and Eric Barker
as they attempted to frisk him at the Glenwood Gardens apartments.

Bryant and Barker were both officers at the DeKalb County Police
Department.

The Associated Press reports the trial for Woodward is tentatively set for
September 14, 2009.

CBS 46's Christopher King spoke with the family of Bryant.

King told Bryant's mother and his sister law about the trial date.

They said they just want to move on with their lives.

"I just want them to get it over with," said Vicki Griffin, Bryants
mother.

For Griffin, every day is filled with heartache and loneliness.

Bryant was gunned down last winter.

Hearing that the man accused of killing her son will go to trial next year
is small consolation, but it is a step closer toward gaining some sort of
resolution.

"It has been a long-dragged out. It'll be a year in January," said
Griffin.

Griffin, who lives in upstate New York, came to the Adamsville Recreation
Center in southwest Atlanta to watch a boxing tournament the Atlanta
Police Department dedicated to her son and Barker.

Bryant's sister-in-law, Cynetta Jones, told CBS 46 the ordeal has been
especially difficult on the officer's children.

"It's hopefully over and with-the kids don't have to keep living this
situation over and over again," said Jones.

Jones said Bryant's family prays the trial will close a grim chapter in
their lives.

"What'll happen is hopefully, the right thing, and just everything will
come to an end. Peace of mind," said Jones.

The DeKalb County district attorney's office would not confirm the exact
date of the trial.

As for Saturday night's benefit, Atlanta police donated $2,000 to each
officer's family.

(source: CBS News)






OKLAHOMA:

Man fights for right to open courtrooms courts----District judges bar
public from proceedings


They don't disregard the entire 6th Amendment to the Constitution in
Rogers County, David Starkey contends.

Several people talk about rule a Rogers County judge has imposed that bans
the public from viewing court proceedings.

Just the most important part.

Starkey has documented several occasions when the public was refused entry
into court proceedings, including his own. He said the policy dates to at
least 2002.

A sign on District Judge Dwayne Steidley's courtroom confirms that the
public isn't welcome.

"ONLY DEFENDANTS are allowed in the court room," the sign states. "Family
and friends must stay in the hallway."

"You've gotta ask: 'Why does he not want people in there?'" said Starkey,
who in April 2007 created the Web site www.rogerscountygrandjury.com. He
wants an investigation of the local court system.

The closed-door practice isn't confined to Steidley's courtroom. Next
door, during a criminal docket Wednesday, a sheriff's deputy said Special
Judge Erin Oquin would have to approve any party other than attorneys
before entering.

The Rogers County policy left one open government advocate aghast.

"That is unbelievable," said Joey Senat, past president of Freedom of
Information Oklahoma and an associate professor of journalism at Oklahoma
State University.

Steidley, a former state legislator, didn't return phone messages seeking
comment.

District Judge Dynda Post, the county's presiding judge, said she was
troubled to learn of the policy and said she didn't condone it.

She said she ordered Steidley's sign removed and added, "It wont go back
up."

Post said she has scheduled a judges' meeting for this week "to make sure
that everybody understands that no one is prohibiting the public from
entering a courtroom."

Closing courts legal in limited instances

Both the Oklahoma Constitution and the 6th Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution guarantee defendants the right to an open trial. But what
about other court appearances?

Oklahoma law requires that a defendant's plea must take place within open
court.

In a 1986 case, the U.S. Supreme Court said a judge may close a courtroom
only under "limited circumstances."

In Oklahoma, exceptions to that requirement include adoption, juvenile,
mental health and guardianship proceedings.

Senat said the Rogers County practice is "so outrageous as to be
impossible to believe."

4 months after creating the grand jury Web site, Starkey faced a domestic
abuse charge in Rogers County.

At his preliminary hearing in January, a deputy announced to the courtroom
that only criminal defendants could stay, 2 friends of Starkey wrote in
affidavits.

The same thing happened at Starkey's formal arraignment a month later, 1
friend wrote.

Judge Post said it won't happen again.

"The public is not to be excluded," she said.

You've gotta ask: 'Why does (District Judge Dwayne Steidley) not want
people in there?'"

(source: The Oklahoman)






ILLINOIS:

Political or criminal: New book explores former governor's career and
legacy


George Ryan ascended from the ranks of the Kankakee County Board to become
not only the governor of Illinois but a national leader on the death
penalty and opening trade with Cuba.

Yet, paradoxically, even at the height of his fame, he remained a man who
could not accept that some people did not like him and who cared more
about the local press than the national. He also became a political
anachronism -- an old-fashioned pol unable to adapt to the changing
political realities.

This is the portrait author James L. Merriner paints in a just-released
book about Ryan's political life. "The Man Who Emptied Death Row: Governor
George Ryan and the Politics of Crime" has sparked a new discussion about
the political reputation of the man from Kankakee.

"Ryan suffered from 'politicians disease,' the need to be universally
liked," wrote Merriner. "In interviews with me, when certain names would
come up, Ryan would ask almost plaintively, 'Did he say anything bad about
me?'

"It was like he was going to be on the ballot and he wanted every vote,"
Merriner said. "He wanted no 'no' votes."

Ryan now spends his days and nights at the federal prison in Terre Haute,
Ind. Following his federal sentencing on corruption charges, Ryan, his
family and his friends now hold out hope that President George Bush will
grant Ryan a pardon on Bush's way out of the White House next January.

Some people cheered the conviction of the 1-term governor, and others
found no joy in the jury's Sept. 6, 2006, guilty verdict on 18 counts.

In the 200-page, annotated book, Merriner portrays a number of sides to
Ryan, who was a tough, even vicious political opponent in Springfield but
had a soft heart for the people he knew.

One Christmas Eve, Merriner writes, Ryan, who had spent years delivering
prescriptions for his pharmacy customers, told his wife, Lura Lynn, he had
to go out. An elderly woman needed Ryan to deliver catnip for her cat's
Christmas present. "Honey, I have to," George said. "You see, her cat is
all she has."

Merriner wrote: "Even Ryan's enemies conceded that, whatever his flaws, he
sincerely wanted to help people. How a man so tender-hearted also could be
so venal remains a puzzle."

Comments?

Ryan and his family chose not to comment on the new book. Yet, The Daily
Journal talked with some who have known or worked with Ryan for years.

Jim Nowlan, now a University of Illinois professor and The Stark County
News publisher, used to rub shoulders with the former governor. He was
invited to dinner with Ryan's "Over the Hill Gang," a group of a dozen or
so politicians who would meet at the Como Inn, an Italian restaurant on
Chicago's northwest side.

Nowlan, a former speech writer for Gov. Jim Thompson and a former
Republican state representative, sympathized with Ryan.

"I think when it came to George, his personality would strike you as a
bully. But when you got to know him, he was a big softy. ... Like many
politicians, he wanted to be liked; hell, he just wanted to be helpful.
The bluster was just a politician tactic; he had his own interests."

Nowlan believes Ryan's troubles developed as his scope of power expanded.
"As he got into the secretary of state role, he was able to do favors with
contractors and jobs. ... George did favors for everybody he could help.
That's just because that was his weakness."

Dana Heupel, executive editor of Illinois Issues Magazine and a former
statehouse reporter for Copley News, described Ryan as a "complicated"
man.

Heupel said Ryan's flip on the death penalty issue was not contrived. Ryan
was truly opposed to it, a position he came to after much thought. But
while Ryan underwent a personal transformation on that issue, he couldn't
grasp the transformation of the political game.

"He didn't understand the rules had changed. He either didn't pay
attention to that fact or he simply didn't care," Heupel said.

Former Kankakee Mayor Russell Johnson, who served eight years after
defeating the governor's older brother, Tom Ryan, in the 1985 mayoral
election, agreed. "I would like to see him pardoned. Positively," Johnson
said. The former governor simply got in over his head and found himself
changed and compromised, Johnson said.

"I've known him for years and someone got to him," he said. "I'm thankful
I never changed. I was always Russ. I'm very thankful, because that could
have been me."

Johnson said even after he defeated George Ryan's brother, there was no
ill will between him and the governor. "He sent me a letter congratulating
me on the win. I remember him telling me that if I ever needed anything to
give him a call. He said this was our town."

A 1981 beginning

Indeed, while Ryan did like to help those around him, he would also take
advantage of situations that affected him directly. His troubles may have
started as early as 1981, when a Kankakee nursing home, Westview Terrace,
was under fire and facing state charges for senior citizen neglect and
abuse.

Merriner wrote that Westview Terrace had been one of the best customers of
Ryan's family pharmacy business. Eventually, Westview Terrace stopped
filling its Medicaid prescriptions with Ryan's pharmacy, costing Ryan
$60,000 annually in business.

In 1982, the Better Government Association, an independent government
watchdog group, investigated and found Ryan had struck a deal with the
owner to get that business back in exchange for protection against state
charges, Merriner wrote.

Jay E. Stewart, the association's executive director, said he spoke to
Merriner for the book. Stewart said he understands Ryan's style came from
Illinois' style of politics. "Did George Ryan create corruption in
Illinois? Of course not," Stewart said. "Did he learn the ropes and cut
deals? Of course. Did he deserve to be sentenced? Absolutely."

The Ryan camp believed Dean Bauer's conviction would be the end of the
investigation. Bauer, inspector general during much of Ryan's term as
secretary of state, was also Kankakee police chief when Tom Ryan was
mayor. When Bauer pleaded guilty to an obstruction of justice charge, he
did not give U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald any information to help the
investigation of Ryan.

"Ryan and his people hoped that would be the end of the road. They were
hoping that was as far as it would go. They were hoping they had their
fall guy," he said.

Rick Davis, a reporter for The Daily Journal from June 1973 to February
1979, spent many years in Springfield covering Ryan. Davis said Ryan was
unable to change the way he conducted business after backroom dealing
became taboo.

"You did people favors and they did you favors. That's how it worked and
in his mind it worked well. I think he got caught up in it all and he
couldn't change," Davis said. "It was the old-school, power-brokering
mentality and it had gone the way of the dinosaur."

(source: Kankakee Daily Journal)