Nov. 23 FLORIDA: Death row inmate denied appeal A Florida inmate faces execution despite new revelations that the state prompted a trial witness to lie, according to a news release from the Death Penalty Information Center. Inmate Wayne Tompkins was to be executed in Florida on October 28, 2008, but was granted a stay of execution to allow time for the state Supreme Court to review his case. Tompkins, 51, has been on death row since September 1985 for a March 24, 1983 murder in Hillsborough County, according to information from the Florida Department of Corrections. On November 7, the court denied Tompkins' appeal, even though the court acknowledged that a state witness, a jailhouse informant, admitted to providing false testimony at Tompkins original trial in 1985. Justice Harry Anstead dissented from the court's ruling, noting that jailhouse informants are often unreliable, and in this case the informant was apparently prompted to lie, the news release states. He wrote, "Indeed, if the claim is true, we have a state prosecutor who committed a criminal act in tampering with a witness. Surely, common sense would tell us this is the kind of bombshell disclosure that could change the jury's entire evaluation of the case." Tompkins' attorney Martin McClain cited numerous concerns about the state's case, the release continues. "This is one of the most troubling cases that I have seen," he said. "The evidence against Mr. Tompkins is just absurd." Tompkins' stay of execution expired on Nov. 18. (source: Bradenton Herald) WASHINGTON----impending execution Death row killer from Sequim files plea for stay of execution Attorneys for former Sequim resident Darold Ray Stenson, who faces execution for murder on Dec. 3, have filed an appeal for a stay of execution with the state Supreme Court, after motions were denied in Clallam County Superior Court on Friday. Clallam County Superior Court Judge Kenneth Williams ruled that he doesn't have the authority to grant a stay of execution needed to conduct additional DNA testing requested by Stenson's Seattle lawyers, Robert Gombiner and Sheryl McCloud, who appeared in court in Port Angeles. Stenson, 55, who is on death row at Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla, is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection for murdering his wife and business partner in 1993 at his exotic bird farm southeast of Sequim. If the state's high court approves the appeal, Stenson's execution would be put on hold until the testing can be conducted. Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney Deb Kelly said filing the appeal itself will not affect the execution date. "I have no idea how rapidly they will move," she said, referring to the Supreme Court. Convicted in 1994 Stenson was convicted in Clallam County in 1994 on 2 counts of 1st degree aggravated murder in the shooting deaths of his 28-year-old wife, Denise, and business partner Frank Hoerner, 33 on March 25, 1993. Over the years since, Stenson has maintained that he is innocent. Stenson's lawyers claim that by using a new form of DNA testing, known as mini-STR, his innocence could be proven. It allows a smaller amount of DNA to be tested than the technology permitted in 1994. Kelly said the prosecution believes that further testing wouldn't be adequate to prove Stenson's innocence, since several people have handled the items that would be subject to testing -- such as a firearm -- without gloves after the original testing was done 14 years ago. "They are handled by very likely as many as 12, 15 or 20 people," she said. "Finding somebody else's DNA doesn't tell you anything." Stenson's lawyers couldn't be reached for comment on Friday. His execution would be the 78th in the state since 1904. The last Washington state inmate to be executed was James Elledge in 2001. 8 men are now on death row. In 1994, prosecutors linked Stenson to the murders by arguing that he killed his wife for insurance money and murdered Hoerner in an attempt to frame him. In an appeal, Stenson argued that Hoerner shot Denise Stenson and killed himself. The appeal was rejected by the state Supreme Court in July 1997. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal from Stenson's lawyers in March 1998. The appeal went back to the state Supreme Court in September 1999, and Stenson's lawyers asked the court to reconsider the death sentence in January 2004 in the wake of the Green River Killer receiving a life sentence as part of a plea bargain for the murders of 48 women. Another appeal was rejected in November 2004, when the state Supreme Court found that it didn't present new evidence. Stenson's lawyers questioned the constitutionality of the conviction, and the case went before U.S. District Court in 2005 before it reached the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which issued a mandate on Oct. 31 that terminates the federal court's stay of execution. Frank Hoerner's widow, Denise Hoerner, who lives near Sequim, has said she doesn't know if she will attend the execution. (source: Peninsula Daily News) MARYLAND: ACLU calls state police spying files 'a joke'----Information redacted in released surveillance materials from police The American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland and some of the more than 50 activists mistakenly classified as terrorists by the Maryland State Police are calling for more disclosure by the agency after receiving heavily redacted files linked to a covert surveillance program. The files shed some light on how individuals in anti-war, anti-death-penalty and environmental groups were described in a police database. The pages show when their entries were created, mention their involvement in activist groups and attendance at meetings or protests, sometimes include photographs, and list their "Primary Crimes" under designations such as "Terrorism - Anti-War Protestors" or "Terrorism - Environmental Extremists." But almost entire pages are blacked out, particularly the "Narrative" portions that would provide details of state police actions. Those redactions prevent full disclosure of the motivations, purpose and extent of the surveillance, said David Rocah, an attorney for the ACLU, who pledged the group will use "every legal tool at our disposal to get what our clients are entitled to." "It shouldn't take lawsuits from the ACLU to pry this information loose," he said yesterday at a news conference. "If we have to do it the hard way, we will do it the hard way." Mr. Rocah said the stakeholders are not satisfied with the response from Gov. Martin O'Malley. Although Mr. O'Malley was not governor at the time of the surveillance, he is in charge of state police now, the attorney said. "The files that have been released are a joke," Mr. Rocah said. "The state police need to give an explanation." The surveillance, already the subject of a state senate hearing and blistering report from former Maryland Attorney General Stephen H. Sachs, has been explained by the state police as part of a 14-month effort in 2005 and 2006 to monitor regional protest groups and make sure they would not disrupt scheduled executions. No criminal activity by these groups was found, however, and both Mr. O'Malley and Col. Terrence Sheridan, the superintendent of the state police, have pledged prolonged surveillance of activist groups will not occur without evidence of wrongdoing. Documents released to the ACLU were created as late as Jan. 10, 2007, and accessed as recently as July 24, one week after the organization first publicly discussed the surveillance. The files also show that an undercover trooper attended a meeting of the Frederick Progressive Action Coalition in September 2006 and members of the national peace advocacy organization CODEPINK were placed in their database, even though the ACLU said the individuals from that group have never attended a protest or done direct organizing in the state. But incidents appearing outside of the original 14-month window related to death-penalty protests should not be categorically grouped together as a wider net of surveillance, said Greg Shipley, a state police spokesman. State police will always observe situations pertaining to public safety, he said, and meetings such as the one in Frederick were not continually covered once the worries were shown to be unfounded. "These actions were incident-based in response to intelligence information, and proposed events or actions, that led to concerns of public safety," Mr. Shipley said. "If there was nothing there, police went on." The files disbursed by the state police are in compliance with the recommendations of the Sachs report, he said, and the agency will comply with any subsequent Public Information Act requests from the ACLU. Concerns about the program, however, have reached all the way to the U.S. Capitol. Maryland Democratic U.S. Sens. Benjamin L. Cardin and Barbara A. Mikulski sent a letter with U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wisconsin, this week to law enforcement and intelligence agencies in order to find out how much state police information ended up in federal hands. In response to the ACLU, Shaun Adamec, a spokesman for Mr. O'Malley, said the governor has taken proactive steps to address the issue. Those include convening an independent investigation and working with Col. Sheridan to implement new regulations aimed at preventing the surveillance from occurring again. The ACLU reiterated its call for legislation yesterday, but Mr. Adamec said Mr. O'Malley is satisfied with the implementation of the new rules. "That was at the governor's urging," he said. "The governor is confident in Col. Sheridan that the regulations in place will prevent future incidents of this kind." (source: Hometown Annapolis)
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----FLA., WASH., MD.
Rick Halperin Sun, 23 Nov 2008 17:59:13 -0600 (Central Standard Time)
