Oct. 9 NORTH CAROLINA: Ramirez Faces Death Penalty for Caldwell Murder Juan Carlos Ramirez returned to Greensboro over the weekend. Monday, he appeared in court. He was extradited from Arizona on murder charges in the stabbing death of his ex-girlfriend April Caldwell on Christmas Day 2006. Ramirez evaded capture for 9 months until his arrest in late September. He is charged with first degree murder. Authorities said Ramirez has already confessed to killing Caldwell, but he appeared confused after being told by an interpreter, Ramirez was facing the death penalty. April Caldwell's parents are now raising her only son, David. Ramirez is the child's father. "I want him punished for what he did even though we'll never get April back," said Donna Silverstri, April's sister. The family also said they would like to meet privately with Ramirez. "Until we sit down with him we will not have any closure," said Silvestri. "I know that's what mom is looking forward to." The family also said they are not pushing for the death penalty for Ramirez. "It's too easy," said Virginia Moody, cousin. "He should have to think about what he did every day just like our friends and family have to think about it." In addition to Caldwell's murder, Ramirez faces 2 counts of attempted 1st degree murder. Greensboro police said he tried to kill 2 other men on Christmas. (source: WGHP News) SOUTH CAROLINA: Death Penalty Sought In Pawn Shop Shooting----Man Accused Of Gunning Down Owner, Wounded Employee In Greenville County, a man accused of killing a pawn shop owner could face the death penalty. Benjamin Erik Case is charged with killing Tim Henson. Deputies said that in August 2006, Case robbed the Fast Cash Pawn Shop on White Horse Road. Investigators said that Case shot and killed Henson and wounded an employee. Monday, Solicitor Bob Ariail said he will seek the death penalty against Case. The trial date has not yet been set. Case is being held without bond. (source: WYFF News) LOUISIANA: Baton Rouge lawyer disbarred after moving to Texas A Baton Rouge lawyer accused of abandoning up to 175 cases and moving to Texas has agreed to permanent disbarment rather than be disciplined by the Louisiana Supreme Court. The high court granted William Dale Behan's petition Friday. It had suspended his license in April. The order means Behan, 37, can never practice law anywhere again. The Office of Disciplinary Counsel said he has been working for his father's business, Justin, Texas-based Western Company of Texas, since mid-2006. Behan was admitted to the state bar in 1997. In March 2004, Behan won a 4-year term to the Democratic State Central Committee for District 70, which includes parts of East Baton Rouge Parish. (source: Associated Press) OHIO: Court Allows Neo-Nazi's Death Sentence The Supreme Court on Tuesday reinstated a death sentence for a neo-Nazi convicted of murdering 3 men 25 years ago. The justices, by a 6-3 vote, threw out a federal appeals court ruling ordering a new sentencing hearing for Frank Spisak, an Ohio man who was found guilty in the shooting deaths of the 3 men at the Cleveland State University campus over a 7-month period in 1982. The high court twice last term chastised federal appeals courts for 2nd-guessing the decisions of trial judges in murder cases. The justices referred to those cases Tuesday in their brief order. Justices Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and John Paul Stevens would have left the appellate ruling undisturbed. The 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals last year ordered a new sentencing hearing for Spisak, saying he received ineffective counsel during the sentencing phase of his trial, and that a judge's instructions to the jury were unconstitutional. Spisak's trial in June 1983 turned into a racially and sexually charged public spectacle in which he grew an Adolf Hitler-style mustache and carried a copy of Hitler's book "Mein Kampf." He said he was an agent of God in a war against blacks and Jews. After the trial judge sentenced him to death, Spisak responded with a 2-minute tirade about white supremacy, ending it with a vigorous "Heil Hitler" salute. The case is Hudson v. Spisak, 06-1535. (source: Associated Press) GEORGIA: Execution stay rejected for Alderman Chatham County Superior Court Judge Michael L. Karpf today rejected a stay of execution for convicted murderer Jack Edward Alderman. Alderman's lawyers last week asked Karpf to halt the execution, arguing the use of lethal injection was cruel and unusual punishment. In a 2-page order, Karpf said the lawyers' challenges to use of lethal injection provided no basis for him to find it ''constitutionally infirm'' in Georgia, Karpf ruled. Alderman, now 56, faces an Oct. 19 execution date for the Sept. 21, 1974 slaying of his wife, Barbara Jean Alderman, in their Chatham City apartment. He was convicted and sentenced to die in 1975. When the sentence was reversed on appeal, a 2nd Superior Court jury re-instated the death sentence in 1984. (source: Savannah Now) ************** Ga. Supreme Court upholds death penalty in banker's murder The Georgia Supreme Court on Tuesday unanimously upheld the death sentence for a Macon County man convicted of stabbing to death a bank vice president after being turned down for a loan at the victim's bank. Artemus "Rick" Walker hired Gary Lee Griffin to help him rob and kill Ray Lynward Gresham, vice president of Columbus Bank & Trust Co. in Montezuma, according to court documents. Walker and Griffin rode bicycles to Gresham's house on May 12, 1999, rang the doorbell and soon drew Gresham outside. After Griffin refused to stab or shoot Gresham with a stun gun, Walker took a knife and stabbed Gresham 12 times in the chest and back, according to the records. He then attempted to get into the house, where Gresham's wife and daughter were, but the wife locked the door and called police, according to court documents. Gresham's body was found 40 feet away from the house concealed in bushes, authorities said. Within two hours, Griffin and Walker were found in a nearby thicket and charged with murder. Police said Walker, who owned Art's Quick Stop, had been refused a loan from Gresham's bank the day the banker was stabbed to death. Griffin, who pleaded guilty but mentally retarded, was given two consecutive life sentences plus five years in 2000. Walker was later found guilty and sentenced to death. Walker argued in his appeal that his conviction and death sentence should be overturned on several grounds, including improper use of evidence during the trial and sentencing. But the Supreme Court's unanimous decision found no reversible errors and the sentence was "not disproportionate." (source: Associated Press)
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----N.C., S.C., LA. OHIO, GA.
Rick Halperin Tue, 9 Oct 2007 16:31:11 -0500 (Central Daylight Time)
