April 24 ILLINOIS: Death penalty off the table in toddler's death A Carpentersville man will not face the death penalty when he stands trial Monday in the death of his girlfriend's 2-year-old son, Kane County prosecutors said today. Andres Velazquez, 29, is accused of tossing the toddler, Ernest LaFleur, across a bedroom in December 2005, causing fatal head injuries and several broken bones. Velazquez is set to stand a bench trial on a pair of 1st-degree murder offenses before Judge Timothy Sheldon. Prosecutors had sought a lethal injection for Velazquez, in part because of Ernest's age and the nature of the injuries. But that penalty was taken off the table today after "an exhaustive review of the case," prosecutor Bill Engerman said. Velazquez was baby-sitting Ernest and his sister in the apartment in the 100 block of Woodland Court, when he threw the boy roughly 9 feet across a bedroom, investigators have said. He tossed the child again - this time about 11 feet - onto an air mattress, fracturing Ernest's skull, breaking his collarbone and causing other injuries, investigators said. Ernest was initially taken to Sherman Hospital in Elgin and transferred to Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago, where he died on Jan. 6, 2006. David Kliment, the Kane County public defender, said Velazquez was pleased with the death penalty being dropped, a move not expected to alter the course of the trial. He still faces natural life in prison if convicted. Velazquez was arrested a day after Ernest died and is jailed on $2 million bond. Velazquez maintains he and the boy had been playing and the child's injuries were an accident, Kliment said. At the time he was charged, Velazquez, who had lived in Berwyn and Cicero, was on probation for a forgery conviction, court records show. (source: Chicago Daily Herald) NEW YORK: Death-penalty opponent speaks of her activist roots Death-penalty opponent Sister Helen Prejean recalled that she was once a mild-mannered 7th- and 8th-grade religion teacher. "I wasn't one of those ruler-slapping nuns," Sister Prejean, a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Medaille, said during a talk at Nazareth College's Linehan Chapel April 21. Neither was she a nun who would hike up her habit on a march to protest racial injustices. She said her idea of joining the civil-rights movement was to be able to play "Blowin in the Wind" on her guitar, using the only 4 chords she knew. But a speech by another sister challenged her to consider whether she was living out Jesus message of social equality. That's when she began to get involved in social-justice issues. Several decades later, Sister Prejean's name pops up first in an Internet search of the phrase "death-penalty nun." Her 1st book, Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States, was a best-seller and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. The book was made into a movie starring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn; Sarandon won an Oscar for her performance. Sister Prejean also has penned The Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Execution and is working on her 3rd book, River of My Fire: My Spiritual Journey to Death Row, in addition to campaigning against the death penalty. Speaking to a mixed crowd comprising students, college staff and Sisters of St. Joseph, Sister Prejean recalled her journey to becoming a vocal death-penalty opponent and spoke about counseling death-row inmates and families victimized by violence. Her visit was followed by a reception and cake for her 69th birthday. Sister Prejean said her social-justice journey started small. She moved to the St. Thomas Housing Project in New Orleans in the early 1980s and began teaching high-school dropouts at Hope House, a center that assists public-housing residents. There, she began to listen to her neighbors, who told her about the racism and social challenges they faced. One day she happened to agree to become a pen pal of a death-row inmate. "I wrote to Patrick Sonnier, and the big problem was he wrote back," Sister Prejean said. Eventually, Sonnier asked her to visit him in Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, which is how Sister Prejean began serving as his spiritual adviser. He had been convicted of raping a young teen and killing her and her boyfriend on a rural Lover's Lane. She unsuccessfully attempted to argue against his execution, and ultimately was the only one to witness it in person. "You are not going to die without someone there to recognize your dignity," she told Sonnier. She also served in the same capacity for prisoner Robert Willie, who also was executed. In addition to working with prisoners, she founded "Survive," which provides counseling and support for grieving families. Though she had been fearful of contacting victims families, the father of one of Sonnier's victims, Lloyd LeBlanc, helped her get over this fear. "He said, 'Sister, where have you been all this time?" Sister Prejean said. "You never once came to see us. You can't believe the pressure we are under for this death penalty.'" Sister Prejean was further touched when LeBlanc prayed for Sonnier's mother. "He was the 1st one who ever taught me forgiveness is strength," she said. His epiphany against the death penalty came when he remembered how his daughter, who had been killed by Sonnier and an accomplice, had previously called the death penalty revenge. "Am I going to be honoring my daughter, or am I going to be going for my own journey of revenge because they killed my daughter?" LeBlanc had questioned. She noted that while some parents can't get enough of an execution, other parents have pointed out that additional violence will not bring their loved ones back. She asked those in the crowd to consider what they are doing to reach out to victims of violence, such as holding an annual Mass of healing for them. "Some of us go into prison, and some of us reach out to murder victims' families," Sister Prejean said. While stating that the traditional teaching of the Catholic Church does not exclude the death penalty as recourse, the Catechism of the Catholic Church states that nonlethal means of punishment are more in keeping with common good and with the dignity of the human person. "Today, in fact, as a consequence of the possibilities which the state has for effectively preventing crime, by rendering one who has committed an offense incapable of doing harm -- without definitively taking away from him the possibility of redeeming himself -- the cases in which the execution of the offender is an absolute necessity are very rare, if not practically non-existent," the catechism states, quoting Pope John Paul IIs Evangelium Vitae. Sister Prejean argued that the death penalty is not necessary. Her reasons include inconsistencies in how it has been applied across racial and economic lines in the United States. She also contended that defenses in many capital cases are subpar. She also encouraged the crowd to get involved in social-justice issues, and cited several examples of social advocates. "Grace doesn't come to us ahead of time," Sister Prejean said. "It comes up from under us." She acknowledged that social advocates are often met with violence, dating back to Christ, who she contends was killed because he threatened the status quo. She said he had welcomed women and children into his community, and some of his followers were not strict about observing Jewish law. "It was the community he inaugurated that was so radical," Sister Prejean said. Nadine Roman of Greece, a Nazareth College senior who is a parishioner of Irondequoit's St. Josaphat Ukranian Catholic Church, said she was very impressed with a metaphor Sister Prejean used of Jesus on the cross, stretching people's ideologies on the death penalty. Nazareth College freshman Katie Norton of Ithaca said she was struck by Sister Prejean's argument of not combating violence with violence and hate with hate. "I didn't expect to stay for the whole thing," Norton said at the end of the talk. "I had never heard of her." (source: Catholic Courier) ARIZONA: Officer's Killer Will Stay On Death Row Today the Arizona Supreme Court upheld the conviction and death sentence of John Montenegro Cruz for the murder of Patrick Hardesty. Cruz had claimed numerous grounds for leniency in sentencing, but the Supreme Court said the evidence was weak, also, that jurors had not abused their discretion in his sentencing. Cruz shot and killed Officer Hardesty on Memorial Day 2003. (source: KOLD News) KENTUCKY: Louisville man convicted of murdering 2 people could soon go free A Louisville man on death row for murdering two people 27 years ago and soon he could be free. A judge has recommended his conviction be overturned. Watch this story The ruling could have larger implications for death row inmates across the state. What it means to the criminal justice system depends largely on what happens next. When David Eugene Matthews was sent to death row, he was 32 years old. Ronald Reagan had just taken office and a young commonwealth attorney named Geoffrey Morris was prosecuting him. Matthews was convicted of murdering his wife and mother in law. He was sentenced to death and is the 3rd longest serving inmate on death row. But that could change, since a federal magistrate recommended Wednesday in a 220 page decision that Matthews get a new trial. Judge James Moyer said that prosecutors didnt make a strong enough case that Matthews was not suffering from extreme emotional distress. Morris, who is now circuit court judge, disagrees. He actually killed his wife, then he goes over to his mother in law's and kills her. Extreme emotional distress, that's a sudden heat of passion. You don't kill a person and go on to another place and kill them and it all being extreme emotional disturbance. That's why I'm troubled by the decision." Judge Morris is not the only one troubled, so is Dr. Robert Caudill, a psychiatrist who treats people with severe mental illness. "It certainly puts psychiatry into an area where psychiatry needs to tread very lightly," he says. Dr. Caudill says extreme emotional distress is not even recognized as a psychiatric disorder, so shouldnt be used to overturn convictions in court. I think it has some frightening implications. Actually lots of folks are in severe emotional distress for various reasons and they dont engage in those behaviors. Since the murders, 310 north 24th Street has gotten a new coat of siding. And neighbors tell us that more than 20 different tenants have moved in an out of here. Yet what happened so long ago could conceivably change past and future death row convictions statewide. Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway says he also disagrees with the ruling and will ask another federal judge to agree not to go along with the recommendation. (source: WHAS News) ARKANSAS---new death sentence E-Mail News Alerts Get breaking news and daily headlines. Browse all e-mail newsletters Related To Story Video: Jury Recommends Death Sentence For Decay Jury Recommends Death Sentence For Decay Jurors recommended the death sentence for Gregory Decay, 22, who was convicted Wednesday of the April 2007 murders of Kevin Jones and Kendall Rice in their Fayetteville apartment. Jury Recommends Death Sentence For Decay Jurors had a choice between life with no parole or death. They deliberated about three hours before recommending the death penalty for Decay. "God has answered our prayers. Justice has been served," said Kinlee Share. Kinlee Share has been waiting for justice in her sisters death for more than a year. Today prosecutors made a case for the death penalty. "The accusers are both dead. Justice is about giving them what's right, said prosecuting attorney John Threet. Defense attorneys begged jurors to spare Decay's life. No other family in this courtroom needs to bury a child," said defense attorney Julie Tollerson. Tollerson said they respect the decision and intend to file an appeal. After the verdict was announced, the Jones and Rice families thanked detectives and prosecutors. "[This is] some closure. It wont bring Kendall and Kevin back. It won't bring my baby girl back, but it will show what we've been here -- what all of these families have been here for, and that's justice for my girl, said Vicki Rice. Judge William Storey scheduled formal sentencing for Monday morning. Decay killed Kevin Jones and Kendall Rice in a Fayetteville apartment in April 2007, shooting both in the face with a .40-caliber handgun. Decay killed them because they disrespected him by stealing marijuana and a pistol from him, prosecutor John Threet said during the trial. Jessie Westeen is charged as an accomplice to capital murder in this case. His trial date has not yet been set. (source: KHBS News)
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ILL., N.Y., ALA., KY., ARIZ.
Rick Halperin Thu, 24 Apr 2008 21:36:16 -0500 (Central Daylight Time)
