Aug. 16 PENNSYLVANIA: Man gets death penalty in police killing A man convicted of killing a Reading policeman has been sentenced to death. Jurors deliberated for more than 10 hours over 2 days before reaching a decision Thursday on the fate of 26-year-old Cletus Rivera. Rivera was convicted of 1st-degree murder last week for killing Officer Scott Wertz on Aug. 6, 2006. A Northampton County jury heard the case because of heavy news coverage of the killing in Berks County. Jurors were bused in daily from Northampton County. (source: Associated Press) ************* Final expert says Banks incompetent for execution The psychological disorders that have turned mass murderer George Banks into a rambling paranoid have not improved since before he was scheduled to be executed in December 2004, psychiatrist Richard G. Dudley Jr. said Friday during the 2nd day of testimony in Banks' competency hearing. Dudley, the 3rd and final psychological expert called by Banks' attorneys, said the killer's psychosis and vast delusions have made him incompetent to be executed, to petition for clemency or assist his attorneys. Banks, 66, went on a shooting spree in September 1982 that left 13 people dead, including four girlfriends, who ranged in age from 23 to 29, 5 of his children, ages 1 to 5, and 4 others. He has been on death row since June 1983. Banks believes, "Jesus from Washington, D.C." vacated his sentence, but a conspiracy has kept him incarcerated at the State Correctional Institution here, about 30 miles northwest of Philadelphia, until he renounces God, Dudley said. "The central theme of the delusions is that Jesus, (or) God has pardoned him and therefore there is no case against him," Dudley said, echoing the testimony of the 2 defense experts who appeared Thursday psychiatrist John OBrien and forensic psychologist Jethro Toomer. Dudley said Banks believes the state Department of Corrections would go to elaborate measures to push him to renounce his religious beliefs, including subjecting him to a simulated execution. "He said Jesus has jurisdiction over his life, not man, not the courts," Dudley said. Those beliefs, combined with a rambling, unfocused and illogical thought process, make it impossible for Banks to comprehend the meaning and totality of his death sentence, Dudley said. "As a result of this delusional system, he does not appreciate his death sentence," Dudley said. "The content of his delusions are directly related to his understanding of the crime and his punishment." Dudley evaluated Banks prior to his 2004 execution, which was stayed by a last-minute ruling from the state Supreme Court, and in April, in preparation for the competency hearing. Dudley said Banks' behavior during the April meeting prevented him from asking questions designed to gauge Banks' understanding of his circumstances and possible execution. "He blurted out various things," Dudley said. "I just stood there and listened to him." Jennifer Buck, an attorney with the state Attorney General's Office, questioned how Dudley could determine that Banks is incompetent to face death without asking about the death penalty. "You didn't need to ask him?" Buck asked. "Not again, no," Dudley said. You only needed to ask him that once?" "It would have been nice to ask him," Dudley said. "If he had been cooperative." The prosecution's psychological experts, psychiatrists Timothy J. Michals and Stephen Mechanick, are scheduled to testify Monday. Senior Judge Michael T. Conahan, who has presided over recent proceedings in the case, prevented Michals from testifying at a competency hearing in February 2006 after Banks' attorneys said the psychiatrist met with Banks without their knowledge. Conahan deemed Banks incompetent to be executed, but that decision was overturned on appeal by the state Supreme Court because the prosecution case had been compromised by the exclusion of Michals and the use of another expert, psychiatrist Michael Welner, who had little time to prepare. In a September 2005 report, Michals said Banks had the competency to be executed. "It is my opinion that although Mr. Banks has a psychotic disorder," Michals said. "He had sufficient mental capacity to understand that he has been tried, convicted and sentenced to death as a result of the death of 13 people." (source: Citizens Voice) CALIFORNIA: There are now 47 O.C. killers on death row----3 OC murderers have been executed in the last 30 years Convicted murderers Noel Jesse Plata and Ronald Tri Tran on Friday joined 45 other Orange County killers including one woman on California's death row. Superior Court Judge William R. Froeberg confirmed a unanimous jury verdict handed down in 2007 that recommended death for Plata and Tran, now both 33, for torturing and strangling Linda Park, an 18-year-old-old college student, during a home-invasion robbery in her Irvine home in 1995. They became the 2nd and 3rd Orange County killers to receive a death sentence since 2005. Death sentences are, however, pending against 3 other men: Michael Lamb, 33, convicted earlier this year of the lying-in-wait, execution-style, retaliation slaying of a former gang colleague in 2002 for revealing gang secrets Steven Carl Evans, 62, a life-time sex registrant who was convicted in July of the sexual assault and stabbing murder of a 24-year-old Tujunga woman in his trailer in 2003. Benjamin Wayne Watta, 62, found guilty in June of the 1980 sexual assault and suffocation murder of Simone Sharpe, 70, in her Seal Beach neighborhood. Since 2000, Orange County juries have recommended 16 death sentences for men who committed such special circumstances murders as killing police officers, multiple murders, murders by lying-in-wait, torture or murders during sexual assault, robbery and burglary. There are also currently special circumstances/death penalty charges pending in Orange County against about 15 other defendants. Since 1978, when the death penalty was reinstated in California after another lengthy moratorium on executions, only 3 defendants sentenced by Orange County judges have been executed. There are now close to 700 inmates in the state awaiting execution. Some have been in prison since the 1970s. The last 11 defendants recommended for death in Orange County are: 2008 Anthony Navarro of San Fernando, was sentenced to death on July 19 for his role in the kidnapping and murder-for-hire of David Montemayor, a 44-year-old Buena Park businessman, in 2002. 2005 Tupoutoe Mataele of Norwalk, was sentenced to die for shooting Danell Johnson, an Anaheim acquaintance, at point-blank range in 1997 while shaking Johnson's hand. Special circumstances: murder by lying-in-wait. Alejandro Avila of Lake Elsinore, was given the death penalty for kidnapping, sexually assaulting and murdering 5-year-old Samantha Runnion in July 2002. 2004 Maurice Steskal, a Bible-reading, marijuana-smoking ex-convict with a lifelong hatred of cops, was sentenced to death Feb. 6, 2004, for the assault-rifle ambush of Orange County Deputy Bradley J. Riches in 1999. 2003 Victor Miranda-Guerrero, was convicted of raping and murdering Bridgette Ballas, 29, on a Huntington Beach street in 1999. Dung Dinh Anh Trinh, who dared jurors in 3 penalty-phase hearings to vote for death, got his wish when he was sentenced for killing 3 employees of an Anaheim hospital in 1999 hours after his mother died. 2002 John Samuel Ghobrial, an Egyptian national and a panhandler who had been living in a shed, got death for molesting and dismembering Juan Delgado, a 12-year-old La Habra boy, in March 1998, and scattering his remains in concrete cylinders. 2000 Gary Brents, an Anaheim pimp, was sentenced to die for his role in beating 26-year-old Kelly Ann Fordon, shoving her in the trunk of a car and setting it on fire while she was still alive. Kevin Boyce, a member of the Crips street gang, received the death penalty for murdering Shayne York, an off-duty Los Angeles County deputy, after finding York's badge during a 1997 hair salon robbery in Buena Park. Boyce kicked York in the side, called him a "pig" and shot him in the back of the head. Hung Thanh Mai was sentenced to death for the unprovoked shooting of California Highway Patrol officer Donald Burt Jr. during a traffic stop in 1996. Mai shot Burt 6 times and then placed a gun next to the fallen officer's head and fired a 7th bullet into his skull. John George Brown was resentenced to death for killing a Garden Grove police officer and wounding 4 other people in a bar in 1980. The state Supreme Court overturned Brown's 1982 death sentence in 1998, but a 2nd penalty phase also led to a death sentence. (source: Orange County Register) ALABAMA: No death penalty for pair in drive-by killing Langford, Garth charged in death ofLaquinton Leslie The prosecution will not seek the death penalty against 2 men charged in the drive-by shooting of a teenager who had the bad luck to get in a car at the wrong time. Steven Terrell Langford Jr. and Brandon Marquiz Garth are charged with capital murder in the death of 17-year-old Laquinton Leslie, according to Assistant District Attorney Robert Becher. At a status hearing Friday, Langford's lawyer, Robert Tuten, asked Circuit Judge Karen Hall to postpone his client's trial because of evidence discovery issues. Trial for both men was originally scheduled Sept. 8, but the cases have not officially been consolidated, meaning the court has not approved trying both defendants during the same trial. "Obviously, there was some confusion, and they did not realize that these cases were related," Tuten said. "I think it was just a mistake in scheduling." Hall did not set a new trial date for either Langford or Garth. However, she said the trial for either of them could be rescheduled to take place before Oct. 30. There could be conflicts with a joint trial. Langford recently met with prosecutors without Tuten present and gave a statement laying all the blame on Garth, Becher said in court Friday. Langford, handcuffed, feet shackled together, looking thin and nervous, wore an orange jail uniform to court. Garth did not appear because his lawyer, Brian Clark, waived Garth's right to appear in person. Leslie was killed in a drive-by shooting about 3:15 a.m. Oct. 8, 2006, Huntsville police said. Becher said the shooting stemmed from a wreck involving two vehicles. The wreck occurred before Leslie got into one of them, he said. Becher said the shooter fired into the vehicle and fatally wounded Leslie. Police say Garth and Langford bragged to several witnesses after the shooting that they had to "merc" or kill somebody. They were arrested in November 2006 and indicted by a grand jury on capital murder charges in January. The death penalty is off the table. If Garth and Langford are convicted of capital murder, they will face a sentence of life in prison without parole. (source: Huntsville Times)
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news-----PENN., CALIF., ALA.
Rick Halperin Sat, 16 Aug 2008 16:16:25 -0500 (Central Daylight Time)
