[Deathpenalty] death penalty news-----KY., GA., MD.

[Rick Halperin]

Mar. 17



KENTUCKY:

Death penalty trial opens----Parolee charged in stabbing death of gas
station attendant


The prosecutor presented opening arguments beginning shortly after 9 a.m.
today in the murder trial of Dominic Raifsnider, 29, of Covington. If he
is convicted, he could face the death penalty. The defense was expected to
present later this morning.

Raifsnider was on parole when he was charged with fatally stabbing a gas
station attendant at the corner of 12th and Holman streets in October
2006. The case is before Kenton Circuit Judge Patricia Summe.

It will be the 1st death penalty case to go to trial in Kenton County
since the spring of 2002.

In that case, Ronald Scott Pryor was found guilty of bludgeoning and
shooting Delta Air Lines pilot Stephen Craven. He was spared death only
after he agreed to testify against Craven's wife, Adele, who was convicted
of murder.

If Raifsnider, 29, of Covington, is found guilty in the gas station
attendant's death, he would become the 3rd man on death row from Kenton
County. The others are Gregory Wilson and Fred Furnish.

Wilson, 51, was sentenced to death in October 1988 for kidnapping and
killing Deborah Pooley a year earlier. Wilson forced Pooley into the back
seat of a car and raped her before strangling her while a female
accomplice drove the car.

Furnish, 40, was first sentenced to death in July 1999 for strangling
Ramona Jean Williamson a year earlier. Furnish used her debit cards to
withdraw money before being arrested. In 2004, his sentencing was
challenged but a 2nd jury agreed he should be sentenced to death.

There is only one other person from Northern Kentucky - including
Campbell, Boone, Bracken, Gallatin, Grant, Owen and Pendleton counties -
on death row.

That is Marco Allen Chapman, the first man in Kentucky to volunteer to be
executed. The 36-year-old asked to be put to death after admitting to
killing a 7-year-old girl and her 6-year-old brother and attempting to
kill their mother and 10-year-old sister. The killings took place in
August 2002 at the family's Warsaw home while the father was out of the
country on business.

John Delaney, head of the public defender's office for Kenton and Campbell
counties, called the attempt to send Raifsnider to death row
"mean-spirited and unnecessary."

Raifsnider's lawyers, the husband-and-wife team of Jeff and Trish Brunk in
addition to Jim Norris, couldn't be reached Friday for comment. All three
are public defenders.

There are unique challenges in trying a death-penalty case.

Many prosecutors say the most difficult part is selecting a jury. There is
individual voir dire, during which jurors are questioned individually
about their views on the death penalty and pretrial publicity. In the
Raifsnider case, it took 3 days last week to seat a jury of 12 people and
2 alternates.

Additionally, there is heightened scrutiny of everything. Prosecutors,
defense lawyers and judges have to be careful that a reversible error
isn't committed.

The evidence the jurors will begin hearing today in the Raifsnider case
centers on the robbery of the Marathon gas station shortly after 9 a.m. on
Oct. 3, 2006.

The clerk, 43-year-old David Joseph, stumbled out of the gas station
before collapsing in the parking lot in a pool of blood. Joseph, a native
of India, moved to the area to pursue a doctorate degree.

He was engaged to a woman who still lives in the MainStrasse neighborhood.

(source: Cincinnati Enquirer)






GEORGIA:

Georgia Court Refuses New Trial in Death Penalty Case


In a split decision, the Georgia Supreme Court refused Monday to allow a
new trial for a man sentenced to death for the 1989 murder of a Savannah
police officer, despite recantations from 7 of 9 witnesses who originally
testified against him.

The ruling is a blow to advocates for the convicted man, Troy A. Davis,
39, who had collected affidavits from many of the witnesses who originally
testified against him. Many said that their trial testimony had been
coerced by investigators who were under pressure to convict someone in the
murder of a fellow officer.

In the 4-to-3 decision, the courts majority wrote that the sworn testimony
at the trial was more important than the later recantations, noting that
many of the witnesses have simply said they did not feel able to identify
the person who shot the officer.

"We simply cannot disregard the jurys verdict in this case," the court
wrote. The dissent, written by Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears, called the
court "overly rigid" in its considerations of the new evidence in support
of a new trial and said it failed to allow "an adequate inquiry into the
fundamental question, which is whether or not an innocent person might
have been convicted or even, as in this case, might be put to death."

The chief justice acknowledged that sworn trial testimony is generally
considered more credible than later recantations made out of court. But,
she wrote, it is unwise and unnecessary to make a categorical rule that
recantations may never be considered in support of an extraordinary motion
for a new trial."

On Aug. 3, the court stayed Mr. Daviss impending execution to consider new
testimony by 13 witnesses that Mr. Davis was not the one who shot the
officer in the 1989 case. The shooting killed Mark A. MacPhail, an
off-duty police officer who was working as a security guard at a Greyhound
bus station in Savannah when he tried to break up a fight between 2 men
who were throwing punches over beer.

Mr. Davis has long maintained his innocence, and there was little physical
evidence presented against him in the case.

Amnesty International, a human rights group that has collected more than
60,000 signatures in a petition calling for a new trial for Mr. Davis,
blasted the courts decision.

"The claim that evidence in Davis's favor was not sufficient to reopen his
case is simply stunning," said Larry Cox, executive director of the group.
"In turning a blind eye to the realities of the case, the legal system has
shrugged off the very notion of justice at every level, from Savannah to
the U.S. Supreme Court. The board of pardons must recognize that a blind
adherence to technicalities cannot trump a concerted search for the truth,
especially when a human beings life is at stake."

Mr. Davis's supporters had petitioned the Georgia State Board of Pardons
and Paroles for clemency last summer in a last-ditch effort to save his
life. The board suspended its consideration of Davis's case pending the
Supreme Courts Decision.

It was unclear Monday when the board would resume its deliberations.

(source: New York Times)





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

Amnesty Intl Decries Ruling in Troy Davis Case----Amnesty International
USA Press Release


AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL DECRIES RULING IN TROY DAVIS CASE

GA Supreme Court Decision is 'Simply Stunning;' U.S. 'Has Shrugged Off the
Very Notion of Justice at Every Level' in Davis Case

(Atlanta) -- Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) decried today's Georgia
Supreme Court decision to deny a new trial for Troy Anthony Davis, who has
been on death row for more than 16 years despite significant concerns
regarding his innocence. The human rights organization, which has
collected more than 60,000 petition signatures while campaigning for
Davis, said the ruling demonstrates a blatant disregard for justice, and
asserted that the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles must grant clemency
in his case.

"The claim that evidence in Davis' favor was not sufficient to reopen his
case is simply stunning," said Larry Cox, executive director of AIUSA. "In
turning a blind eye to the realities of the case, the legal system has
shrugged off the very notion of justice at every level, from Savannah to
the U.S. Supreme Court. The Board of Pardons must recognize that a blind
adherence to technicalities cannot trump a concerted search for the truth,
especially when a human being's life is at stake."

The Georgia State Supreme Court decided 4-3 against a new trial or
evidentiary hearing, with the majority ruling that the Savannah trial
court did not abuse its discretion in denying Davis' extraordinary motion
for new trial without first conducting a hearing.

Amnesty International maintains that the case has been tainted from the
start, with a questionable police investigation, a lack of funding to
ensure adequate defense, and an increasingly restrictive appeals process,
which has thwarted attempts to present new evidence in the case. In the
wake of the state Supreme Court decision, the human rights organization is
once again calling for the Georgia Board of Pardon and Paroles to commute
the death sentence for Davis due to the troubling facts of the conviction.

Troy Davis was convicted of the murder of Savannah police officer Mark
MacPhail in 1991. Davis was convicted solely on the basis of witness
testimony, and seven of the nine non-police witnesses have since recanted
or changed their testimony. No murder weapon was found and no physical
evidence linked Davis to the crime. Several cited police coercion, and
others fear of one of the remaining 2 witnesses, whom they allege actually
committed the crime.

"With this decision, the Supreme Court is ignoring the fundamental flaws
that underlie the death penalty in Georgia and in Troy Davis's case," said
Jared Feuer, Southern Regional Director of AIUSA. "As a result, we will
continue to advocate for a re-examination of his sentence and of Georgia's
use of capital punishment. Officer MacPhail's life was cut tragically
short, and his family and the people of Georgia deserve justice. This will
not be accomplished by executing a man with a strong case of innocence."

###

To read the Amnesty International report, 'Where is the Justice for Me?
The case of Troy Davis, facing execution in Georgia,' or to hear audio of
Mr. Davis, please visit www.amnestyusa.org/troydavis.

(source: Amnesty International)






MARYLAND:

Maryland Death Penalty Decision Expected This Week


The death penalty is up this week in the Maryland legislature -- but top
lawmakers predict the measure to abolish the death penalty will fail.

A committee in the Senate has a vote tentatively planned for early this
week on the ban. The state only has 5 men on death row, and an informal
moratorium is in place because the legislature has not set procedures for
how executions should be carried out, as required by a recent court
ruling.

Supporters of a repeal include Democratic Governor Martin O'Malley, who
says capital punishment should be replaced by life without parole. But
O'Malley has not personally lobbied in favor of a repeal this year, and
lawmakers say they are unlikely to consider it.

(source: WJLA News)