Jan. 11
TEXAS:
14 scheduled for execution in Texas
A Fort Worth, Texas, man convicted of shooting and setting his victims on
fire is among 14 men to be executed in Texas by April 7, authorities say.
Curtis Moore, 40, was convicted of killing 3 people in 1995 in a drug deal
that turned into a robbery, The Fort Worth (Texas) Star-Telegram reported
Sunday.
Moore shot and killed Roderick Moore, 24 and LaTonya Deshae Boone, 21, and
dumped their bodies by the side of the road, the Star-Telegram reported.
The same day, Moore forced Henry Truevillian Jr., 20, and Darrell Hoyle,
into the trunk of car, shot them, poured gasoline on them and set them on
fire, police said.
Hoyle kicked open the trunk and ran, clothing on fire, into some woods,
where he said he fooled Curtis by playing dead. Truevillian died in the
car.
Texas has scheduled the most executions so far this year of the 36 states
that allow executions. In the 35 other states combined, a total of 9
people are to die by April 7, the Star-Telegram reported.
(source: United Press International)
MARYLAND:
Senate Judicial Proceedings Chairman Brian E. Frosh sees a need for a law
spelling out the constitutional limits of surveillance by police officers.
'We are entitled to some permanent protection in that regard,' Frosh
says.Death penalty, police surveillance among laws in play this session
Sen. Brian E. Frosh, who chairs the influential Senate Judicial
Proceedings Committee, said he is prepared to tackle "the 2 big ones"
during the 2009 General Assembly session that begins Wednesday.
The Montgomery County Democrat was referring to legislative proposals to
repeal the death penalty and to prevent a repeat of the overzealous
surveillance by state police of peaceful protest groups that occurred in
2005 and 2006.
The legislative initiatives follow the release of two state reports issued
since lawmakers adjourned in April: one calling for capital punishments
abolition and the other assailing state police for an "end justifies the
means" approach in which officers violated the free-speech and
peaceful-assembly rights of protestors in the name of protecting public
safety.
Both Frosh and House Speaker Michael E. Busch, D-Anne Arundel, said the
Maryland Commission on Capital Punishments report could "change the
dynamic" thats led to the defeat of bills to abolish the death penalty in
Maryland.
So, too, did Sen. Jamin B. "Jamie" Raskin, D-Montgomery, a commission
member and chief sponsor of the legislation that created the panel last
year.
The commission, chaired by former U.S. Attorney General Benjamin R.
Civiletti, found that death sentences are often tied to the race of the
defendant and victim or the location where the murder occurred. The panel
also faulted the cost of capital punishment and found it an ineffective
deterrent to homicide.
"The commission's report will change a lot of peoples minds, said Raskin,
who was cautiously optimistic that repeal could come this year. "I think
the politics are very close but that there is a strong dynamic against
capital punishment."
Hearing from both sides
Sen. Bryan W. Simonaire, who described himself as a "pretty firm"
death-penalty supporter last session, said he will be "open minded"
heading into this years term.
"I have not made a conclusive, 'this is the way I'm going to vote,'" said
the Anne Arundel Republican. Simonaire said he will continue to research
the death-penalty issue and strongly consider his constituents' views.
"I'm hearing passionately from both sides" of the issue, said Simonaire, a
Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee member. "I'm hearing basically 50-50
from my constituents right now on this issue."
But lawmakers who back capital punishment said the report has not spurred
a change in the General Assembly. They noted that the commission's call
for abolition was on a 13-9 vote: a 2-vote swing would have blocked the
call for repeal.
Sen. Nancy Jacobs, R-Cecil and Harford, said her support for the
death-penalty was strengthened after she witnessed the June 17, 2004,
execution by lethal injection of Steven Oken for the 1987 rape and murder
of Dawn Garvin in Baltimore County. She called the execution "humane."
"He went to sleep and never woke up," said Jacobs, a member of the Senate
Judicial Proceedings Committee. "I wish that he had been that kind to his
victims."
Del. Michael D. Smigiel Sr., R-Upper Shore, said he, too, continues to
support the death penalty.
"It should be rare, it should be seldom used, but it must remain an
option," said Smigiel, a House Judiciary Committee member.
More surprisingly, a prediction of defeat came also from a chief sponsor
of abolition legislation.
Sen. Lisa Gladden, who will introduce a bill calling for capital
punishment's repeal, said legislative handicappers should not bet on her
legislation, which also failed in 2008.
"The chances are the same as they were last year," said Gladden,
D-Baltimore City and vice chair of the Senate Judicial Proceedings
Committee.
Unlike Frosh and Busch, Gladden said the commissions report will do little
to change the minds of legislators who support the death penalty.
The capital-punishment debate is emotional, not intellectual, Gladden
said. As a result, legislators are fixed in their views on the ultimate
penalty and will not be swayed by the conclusion of a state commission,
she added.
However, she predicted that the legislature will eventually join the rest
of the Western world in eliminating the death penalty.
"It's going to happen," Gladden said. "When it does, I'll be sitting in
the driver's seat."
Police surveillance
The police-surveillance legislation follows former Maryland Attorney
General Stephen H. Sachs' Oct. 1 report in which he assailed an "end
justifies the means" mindset of state police investigators who conducted
the covert surveillance of protest groups without any reasonable suspicion
they were involved in criminal activity.
Frosh said the report showed that a law delineating the constitutional
limits of officer surveillance is needed. Without such a law, future
governors and state police superintendents might forget the report's
admonition that constitutional rights must not be abused in efforts to
protect public safety, Frosh said.
A statute, unlike a police regulation stating that rights are to be
protected, "can't be changed when the administration changes or when the
police superintendent changes," Frosh said. "We are entitled to some
permanent protection in that regard."
State Police Superintendent Terrence B. Sheridan, who was not the states
top police officer when the reported surveillance occurred, has called
Sachs' report "a learning experience" for the police force.
"The Maryland State Police priority will be to ensure the civil and
constitutional rights of all citizens we serve are protected," Sheridan
said shortly after the release of Sachs' report.
But Raskin, echoing Frosh, said Sheridans pledge to follow constitutional
limits on surveillance is insufficient protection because a future police
chief might not be so rights-conscious.
"We want to forbid future fishing expeditions," Raskin said. "The
government cannot simply target legitimate political organizations for
surveillance and espionage without any reasonable basis for doing so."
Other measures
Beyond the death penalty and police surveillance lie a host of other legal
issues facing the General Assembly. Lawmakers will take aim at several
Court of Appeals opinions they believe were wrongly decided (see related
story, page 14B). Still other bills seek to curtail potential abuse by
those granted power of attorney, provide attorneys' fees in
domestic-violence cases, and prevent bias against the disabled in
child-custody cases.
Del. Luiz R.S. Simmons, D-Montgomery, said Maryland law provides "little
or no supervision" of those granted the awesome power-of-attorney
authority to conduct the financial affairs of individuals, usually
elderly, who are unable to handle these important matters themselves. To
an unscrupulous person, this grant of authority can essentially be "a
license to steal" due to the lack of oversight, added Simmons, a member of
the House Judiciary Committee.
As a remedy, the delegate said he will introduce a bill to enable
interested third parties, such as a family member or a state agency, to
challenge in court the actions of the person given power of attorney. A
judge in turn would be able to remove the power of attorney if abuse or
mismanagement is found.
Armed with the ability to go to court, third parties could say to those
granted power of attorney, "Hey, youre not going to be able to conduct the
affairs of your principal in the dark," Simmons said.
Simmons added that he will also propose legislation to allow judges to
award attorneys' fees to domestic-violence victims who gain court-issued
restraining orders against violent mates. Current law does not permit the
fee awards in domestic-violence cases, even though they can be awarded in
less dangerous cases of household discord, including divorce, he said.
"It's hardly a radical proposition" to award attorneys' fees to
domestic-violence victims, Simmons said.
Gladden, in addition to her bill to eliminate capital punishment, said she
plans to introduce legislation that would prohibit judges from presuming
that a parent's disability is a reason not to award him or her custody or
visitation rights to a child.
The measure has the support of the National Federation of the Blind of
Maryland.
In custody disputes, courts all too often simply presume that a disabled
parent cannot care for a child as well as an able-bodied parent can, said
Sharon Maneki, who chairs the group's legislative and advocacy committee.
The legislation would require proof that the able-bodied parent is more
fit.
"There should be some factual evidence rather than a presumption" that the
disabled parent is less fit, Maneki said.
(source: Maryland Daily Report)
