May 4 LOUISIANA: Family sought death penalty----Vallery pleaded guilty to killing Jennifer Herring In a Lafayette Parish courtroom Wednesday, Francis Vallery Jr. said he deserves "nothing less than a life sentence, if not my own life be taken" for shooting his girlfriend to death at the hotel where she worked. Vallery, 32, pleaded guilty to 1st-degree murder in a deal with prosecutors that spared him the death penalty for killing Jennifer Herring in March 2005. He will spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole. Vallery's trial was set to begin next week, but Assistant District Attorney Keith Stutes said negotiations began early this week about a guilty plea that allowed Vallery life in prison. Herring's family, however, was hoping for the death penalty, said Chester Pommier, the brother-in-law of Debbie Herring, Jennifer's mother. In an interview Wednesday, Pommier said prosecutors warned the family that the predominantly Catholic Lafayette Parish hasn't issued a death sentence in many years. "As long as people keep telling people that and never go for it, it'll never change," Pommier said. Herring's death shed light on the problem of domestic violence. Herring, with whom Vallery had 2 small children, had suffered abuse and threats from Vallery for nearly a year before her death. "As Jennifer was begging you for her life because of the children, how could you be so cruel?" Herring's mother, Debbie Herring, asked Vallery in court Wednesday, according to a transcript of the proceeding. "I hope that you hear her begging for her life every day for the rest of your life." Herring's father, Brian Herring, also spoke to Vallery. "What you did - people don't do that to people. Why you did it, I don't understand. I hope you have to live with this the rest of your life, and I hope you live hard, buddy. I hope it tortures you; I really do," Brian Herring said. During his statement, Vallery apologized to his two children, "not because they're my children, (but) because I left them without a father and a mother." According to documents filed into the court record in connection with the plea deal, Vallery arrived at the Microtel Inn and Suites on March 2, 2005, brandishing a 25-caliber semi-automatic handgun. He called out Herring's name, and she ran. Vallery shot her in the back, and then walked over to where she had fallen and shot her another five times in the back of her head. Pommier said he hopes that Jennifer Herring's death makes people pay more attention to victims of domestic abuse. "In the justice system, the battered women don't stand a chance," Pommier said. "It shouldn't have gotten this far." (source: The Daily Advertiser) ARIZONA: 5 Mesa killings may bring death-penalty request -- Victims included 10-year-old boy, 15-year-old girl Prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty against a Scottsdale man arrested in the slayings of 5 people here in February. William Miller, 28, was taken into custody on March 3 on 5 counts of 1st-degree murder in connection with the Feb. 21 shootings inside a rented home. Mesa police have said they believe there was more than 1 shooter in the slayings, but no other arrest has been made. An autopsy report released Tuesday showed that the killer or killers fired 10 or more shots inside the house. Police who entered the crime scene found 5 bodies, each seemingly dressed for bed or pulled from bed and shot in the head. One of the victims, a 10-year-old boy, appeared to have been beaten, the autopsy revealed. 3 of the 5 were shot more than once including Steven Terrence Duffy, 30, and his girlfriend, Tammy Lovell, 32, who were witnesses in an arson case against Miller, authorities said. Duffy was shot twice in the mouth area, once in the chest and once in the hand and Lovell 3 times in the back of the head, the autopsy showed. The other victims were Lovell's children - Cassandra Lovell, 15, and Jacob Lovell, 10 - and Duffy's brother, Shane Duffy, 18. The autopsy report showed that besides a single shot to the forehead, Jacob Lovell received "blunt impacts to hips, elbow, knee and legs." Cassandra Lovell was shot in the face and sternum, and Shane Duffy was shot once in the face, according to the autopsy. Previous court documents said a 9 mm bullet from Steven Duffy's body and .22-caliber shell casings at the scene link Miller to the slayings. Prosecutors contend the killings were committed to silence Steven Duffy and Tammy Lovell, who worked for Miller at a fire-damage restoration company. Miller's $450,000 Scottsdale home burned Nov. 25, and Duffy and Miller were both charged with arson. Prosecutors filed formal notice Tuesday they are going to seek the death penalty against Miller if he's convicted in the case. (source: Associated Press) KENTUCKY: Prosecutor wants death penalty----16-YEAR-OLD MURDER MIGHT NOT QUALIFY A prosecutor plans to research whether he can seek the death penalty against a Jackson County man charged this week in a 16-year-old murder. A grand jury on Tuesday indicted Ervin Ray King, 36, on a charge of murder in the death of Dolly Payne, state police said in a news release. Payne's son found the 66-year-old retired homemaker strangled in her Sand Gap home in January 1990. Gary Gregory, commonwealth's attorney for Jackson County, said he intends to seek a death sentence for King if the law and facts allow it. Payne's son, Billy, said yesterday he is glad police had persisted and made an arrest in the case. "It's relieved me and my family that they are doing something," Payne said. State police Detective Joie L. Peters, who is investigating, said King also is a suspect in other unsolved homicides. King already is in prison for killing and robbing 2 Jackson County men in February 1998. That case was unusual because King pleaded guilty and asked to be sentenced to death -- apparently the 1st man in state history to do so, his attorneys said at the time. After determining King was mentally competent to make the request, Circuit Judge Cletus Maricle sentenced him to death in April 1999. Soon after getting to the sobering environment of death row, however, King changed his mind. He said authorities pressured him to plead guilty by threatening to charge his brother with murder, and asked to take back his plea. Gregory and police said no one pressured King to plead guilty, but given the unusual circumstances, Maricle allowed King to withdraw the plea. The day he was scheduled to go to trial in January 2003, but King again pleaded guilty in return for a 45-year sentence. Peters said King had long been a suspect in Payne's murder, considered a "cold case" because so much time had passed. Peters said when he began a renewed effort to dig into the case, he got new information from witnesses about the crime and events that happened afterward. Witnesses are sometimes more willing to talk after years have passed, or when the subject of the investigation is behind bars and can't get to them, Peters said. The new case involving King raises a question about whether the death penalty applies, Gregory said. State law requires an aggravating circumstance -- an accompanying crime or circumstance, such as robbery -- to make a homicide eligible for the death penalty. One of the aggravators is that the murder was committed by someone with a prior conviction on a capital offense. King has been convicted in a capital case -- the 1998 murders -- but that came after he allegedly killed Payne, so Gregory said he will look at whether the new charge involving her murder would be eligible for the death penalty. Billy Payne said yesterday that the person who killed his mother also robbed her. Drawers in her home had been ransacked and she had only 11 cents in her purse, Payne said. Payne said King lived near his mother and that she had given him food and money at times. "He's just got the devil in him so bad," Payne said. (source: Kentucky.com) SOUTH CAROLINA: Former death row inmate Spann wins parole, plans move to Conn. Former death row inmate Sterling Spann plans to move to Connecticut after winning parole Wednesday when the Probation, Parole and Pardon Services board voted 5-1 to release him. Spann, 43, had spent 17 years on death row before he won a new trial on the charges involving the 1981 death of Melva Niell, 81, of Clover. He was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison after entering a plea in 2002 that did not admit guilt, but conceded there was enough evidence that a jury might convict him. The parole board voted against releasing him unanimously in 2004 and on a 3-3 vote in 2005. Spann plans to move to Connecticut, where his attorney Lionel S. Lofton said a job is waiting for him. A couple from Monroe, Conn., saw Spann's story on NBC's "Dateline" several years ago and have become his benefactors, Lofton said. The couple has no connection to Spann or to South Carolina. They own a string of tire stores across the country and "have adopted Sterling and his entire family," Lofton said. "They have been working very hard to help Sterling and see that he's got good legal representation and make sure that he had a place to live and a job to go to," Lofton said. The outpouring of support was unprecedented in Lofton's 30 years of practicing law. "It's really heartwarming to see that there are people like that in this country," he said. Spann is currently at the Broad River Correctional Institution. Because his release to Connecticut must be approved by both that state and South Carolina, it could take up to 45 days before Spann is freed, said Pete O'Boyle, spokesman for Probation, Parole and Pardon Services. Prosecutor Tommy Pope promised in Spann's plea deal to take no position on parole other than a letter stating Spann should serve the entire sentence. He did not immediately return calls from The Associated Press. Lofton said Spann's good behavior while he was out on bond in 2002 might have helped his case for parole this time around. "He had a track record for them to see that he hadn't done anything wrong" while out on parole, Lofton said. "Sterling's record since he's been back in prison has been exemplary." (source: Associated Press) NEBRASKA: Judge: Vela Eligible For Death Penalty 1 of 4 people convicted in the U.S. Bank murders, in Norfolk, Nebraska, is now eligible for Nebraska's death penalty. District judge Patrick Rogers says the evidence provided shows Erik Vela is not mentally retarded as defined by the state of Nebraska. That means he is now eligible for the death penalty. Vela underwent four intelligence tests. 3 showed scores above state guidelines. And, one below the guidelines. The judge says the test that scored below the mark was not reliably administered and in some cases not completed. As for Vela's mental state, the court's opinion doesn't indicate mental retardation. But, the judge says it does indicate an environment lacking any kind of direction, or motivation to learn behavior consistent for those placed in special resource programs. The 19-page decision also states Vela was competent enough to take part in gangs, hold jobs and conduct relationships with females. It's now up to a three-judge panel to decide whether Vela will be sentenced to death, or get life in prison. No word on when those proceedings will begin. (source: KTIV News) *********************** Vela Faces Death Penalty -- Defense motion rejected A judge has ruled that a gunman in the 2002 Norfolk bank murders is eligible for the death penalty. Attorneys for Erick Vela had argued he was mentally impaired and ineligible for capital punishment. District Judge Patrick Rogers of Norfolk rejected that claim today and a 3-judge panel will now decide Vela's punishment. Rogers says attorneys failed to prove Vela was mentally retarded. Vela, Jose Sandoval, Jorge Galindo and Gabriel Rodriguez were convicted of killing 5 people in a US Bank branch in September 2002. Juries found Vela, Sandoval and Galindo eligible for the death penalty. Sandoval and Galindo both have been sentenced to death while Rodriguez was sentenced to 5 consecutive life sentences. (source: WOWT)
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----LA., ARIZ., KY., S.C., NEB.
Rick Halperin Thu, 4 May 2006 12:20:07 -0500 (Central Daylight Time)
