Dec. 15
TEXAS:
State of Texas Carries Out Fewest Executions Since 1996,
According to New Report from TCADP
New Death Sentences Remain at Record-Low Level, Imposed by Just Six Counties in
the State
(Austin, Texas) — Executions dropped to the lowest number since 1996 and death
sentences in Texas remained at a historic low level in 2011, according to the
Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty’s (TCADP) new report, Texas Death
Penalty Developments in 2011: The Year in Review. TCADP is an Austin-based
statewide, grassroots advocacy organization.
In 2011, the State of Texas carried out 13 executions, which is 50% less than
in 2007. It accounted for 30% of the national total, once again a smaller
percentage than years past but still twice as many as any other state. Texas
has executed a total of 477 people since 1982; 238 executions have occurred
during the administration of Texas Governor Rick Perry, more than any other
governor inU.S. history.
For the second year in a row, juries condemned eight new individuals to death
in Texas. This remains the lowest number of new death sentences since the U.S.
Supreme Court upheld Texas’ revised death
penalty statute in 1976. Once again, just six counties in the state of Texas
accounted for the new
death row inmates: Fort Bend (1); Galveston (1); Harris (3); Harrison (1);
Tarrant (1); and Travis (1). This represents 2% of all Texas counties.
“Texas – along with the rest of the nation – is steadily moving away from the
death penalty,” said
Kristin Houlé, Executive Director of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death
Penalty. “Use of the
death penalty has been relegated to just a few jurisdictions in the state as
prosecutors and jurors
accept alternatives that protect society and punish those who are truly
guilty. Still, longstanding
concerns about the arbitrary and biased administration of the death penalty
remain.”
An analysis of data from 2007 to 2011 reveals that only 23 Texas counties have
imposed death
sentences over the last 5 years; of these, only 10 counties have done so in the
last 2 years. Out of
a total 51 death sentences imposed in this time period, Harris County leads
with 9; it is followed
by Dallas County, with 7 new sentences since 2007, and Tarrant and Travis
Counties, with 4 new
sentences each. The other 19 counties imposed 1-3 sentences each. Together,
these 23 counties
represent just 9% of the 254 counties in Texas.
Significantly, no new death sentences were imposed in Dallas County for the
first time in five
years. Prosecutors sought the death penalty for Charles Payne, but the jury
rejected the charge of
capital murder and instead found him guilty of murder in the shooting of police
officer Senior Cpl.
Norm Smith. This represented the first time since 1996 that prosecutors in
Dallas County did not
secure a capital murder conviction in a case in which they sought the death
penalty. In another
Dallas case, prosecutors dropped their pursuit of the death penalty and agreed
to a life sentence
for Johnathan Bruce Reed after he was found guilty for a third time in the 1978
murder of Wanda Jean
Wadle. Overall, Dallas County accounts for 102 death sentences since 1976.
Bexar County, which has sentenced the third highest number of people to death
in Texas, has not
imposed any new death sentences since 2009.
Notably, six out of the eight new death sentences were imposed on people of
color, including four
African Americans and two Hispanics/Latinos. Over the last five years, nearly
three-fourths of all
death sentences in Texas have been imposed on people of color – 41% African
American, 29%
Hispanic/Latino, and 2% other. In Harris County, where these patterns are even
more pronounced, 12
of the last 13 defendants sentenced to death are African American and the 13th
is Hispanic/Latino.
Five inmates scheduled for execution in 2011 received stays, while the
execution date for another
inmate was withdrawn.
* On September 15, 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court temporarily stayed the
execution of Duane Buck,
pending a conference on his cert petition. During his trial, psychologist
Walter Quijano, a
witness for the defense, testified on cross-examination that the fact that
Buck is African
American increased the likelihood of his being dangerous in the future.
Such improperly
elicited, racially-based testimony by Dr. Quijano led to new sentencing
hearings in six other
cases where the State of Texas conceded error – but not for Duane Buck. On
November 7, 2011, the
Court declined to review Buck’s case.
* On November 7, 2011, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals issued a stay to
Henry “Hank” Skinner,
who was scheduled for execution on November 9. Key pieces of evidence
collected at the crime
scene have never been subjected to DNA testing, and for the last 10 years
officials have refused
to release it for analysis. The court stayed the execution to consider
Skinner’s case in light
of recent legislative changes to the statute related to post-conviction DNA
testing. This was
the second stay of execution for Skinner in two years.
Other highlights of Texas Death Penalty Developments in 2011: The Year in
Review include the
following:
* In one capital murder trial, the jury rejected the death penalty and opted
for a sentence of
life in prison without the possibility of parole. In two other cases,
death-qualified jurors
convicted the defendant on a charge less than capital murder, which took
the death penalty off
the table. In the last four years, death-qualified juries have rejected
the death penalty in at
least 14 cases.
* Six inmates received reduced sentences in 2011 and were removed from the
death row population,
including Chelsea Richardson, one of ten women on death row.
* The State of Texas executed Humberto Leal on July 7, 2011 for the 1994 rape
and murder of Adria
Sauceda in San Antonio. As a Mexican national, Leal was legally entitled to
seek assistance from
the Mexican consulate, which could have provided him with competent legal
counsel. Texas
authorities failed to inform him of this right, which is afforded to
Americans and foreigners
who travel abroad by the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.
* In July, the capital murder trial of John Edward Green, which was in its
sixth week of jury
selection, ended abruptly when Harris County prosecutors accepted an offer
from the defense. In
the deal, Green pled guilty to a lesser murder charge in exchange for a
40-year prison term; he
had faced a possible death sentence if convicted. A pre-trial motion in his
case prompted two
days of unprecedented testimony on the risk of wrongful conviction last
December.
“Recent developments have infused the public conversation about the death
penalty with new energy
and new urgency,” said Houlé. “Now, more than ever, we urge concerned citizens
and elected officials
to engage in dialogue about the realities of the death penalty system and
reconsider this
irreversible punishment by focusing on its local impact as an expensive,
arbitrary, and error-prone
public policy.”
Texas Death Penalty Developments in 2011: The Year in Review is available
online at
www.tcadp.org/TexasDeathPenaltyDevelopments2011.pdf. Contact Kristin Houlé at
kho...@tcadp.org to
receive a copy directly via email.
See http://tcadp.org/2007-2011-new-death-sentences/ for a map of new death
sentences by county from
2007 to 2011.
See http://tcadp.org/1976-2011-county-map/ for a map of death sentences by
county from 1976 to 2011.
Download this press release at
www.tcadp.org/2011TCADPannualreportpressrelease.pdf.
(source: TCADP)
OHIO:
Ohio justice urges repeal of death penalty
Ohio Supreme Court Justice Paul Pfeifer said Wednesday he believes it's only a
matter of time before the death-penalty law he helped write 30 years ago will
end.
He urged the House Criminal Justice Committee to make that date sooner rather
than later.
"The death penalty in Ohio has become what I call a death lottery,'' the most
senior member of the high court said. He cited the location of the murder and
the attitudes of individual county prosecutors as variables affecting whether
the death penalty is pursued.
He noted that only "4 or 5'' of roughly 100 capital indictments filed in Ohio
each year reach conviction and a death sentence. Most end up in plea bargains.
"It's very difficult to conclude that the death penalty, as it exists today, is
anything but a bad gamble,'' he said. "That's really not how a criminal justice
system should work.''
He said he doesn't believe the existence of the death penalty in Ohio serves as
a deterrent to murder.
"If ever there was a time when the law could have been a deterrent it was when
we had the electric chair,'' Justice Pfeifer said.
Ohio lawmakers, however, took the electric chair off the table as an execution
option in 2003 in favor of the lethal injection gurney. "If we're going to have
the death penalty, we ought to have it unpleasant for everybody,'' Justice
Pfeifer said.
The justice's beliefs on the application of the law that he helped to write as
a state senator are well-known, but this is the first time he has testified
before lawmakers on the subject. As a sitting justice, he has continued to vote
to uphold death sentences and to set execution dates under the law.
12 executions have been scheduled, and Justice Pfeifer said two more are coming
up, carrying the process into 2014. "I have a duty under the law to follow that
law,'' the Republican justice said outside the hearing room. "At the same time,
we are admonished under the rules that apply to judges that we have a duty to
step forward and advocate for changes we think would lead to an improvement in
the law.
"Abolishing the death penalty would be a needed improvement,'' he said. "It
will happen. Will it be today, tomorrow, or in this session of the General
Assembly? More problematic. But the day will come when Ohio no longer has a
death penalty.''
Justice Pfeifer is not the 1st Supreme Court justice to testify before
legislators. The late Chief Justice Thomas Moyer testified on judicial reform
and mayors' courts and Justice Evelyn Lundberg Stratton testified on sentencing
reform.
Current Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor has convened a yearlong task force to
examine the fairness of how Ohio's death penalty law is applied, but she has
stressed the task force will not 2nd-guess whether Ohio should have the death
penalty.
There are 147 men and 1 woman on Ohio's death row.
Wednesday's hearing, the 2nd so far on House Bill 160, included testimony only
from the American Civil Liberties Union, religious leaders, defense attorneys,
former death-row inmates, and others supporting the bill. Prosecutors have
generally opposed attempts to weaken Ohio's death-penalty law.
"I think there's been on at least one occasion in a capital case where an
affidavit alleging prejudice was filed against Justice Pfeifer because of the
opinions he has expressed …,'' Lucas County Prosecutor Julia Bates said when
contacted after the hearing.
"I'm not sure that is appropriate for somebody who is sitting in judgment and
deciding capital cases,'' she said. "These cases go directly to the Supreme
Court, bypassing the courts of appeals.
"It's the worst of the offenders for the worst form of crime, at least in my
county,'' Ms. Bates said. "Sometimes the death penalty is returned [by juries],
and sometimes it isn't. Every case is different. I don't think it has to do
with how good the prosecutor is or how bad the defense attorney is. It has to
do with bad acts and how bad the defendant is, whether the aggravating
circumstances outweigh any possible mitigating factors. Maybe there is no
mitigation.''
Among those testifying Wednesday was Dale Johnston, who spent seven years on
death row for the 1982 murder of his daughter, Annette, and her boyfriend in a
Hocking County cornfield. The Ohio Supreme Court later overturned his
conviction, and another man is now serving a life sentence for the crimes.
"Before Annette's brutal murder and my wrongful conviction, I was a supporter
of the death penalty,'' Mr. Johnston said. "I thought it was a punishment that
our state should have. I never imagined that I or another innocent man could be
on death row, but it happened to me. If it happened to me, it could happen to
anyone.''
(source: Toledo Blade)
CONNECTICUT:
Our View: Death penalty does not serve justice.
When Johanna Chapman, the sister of Dr. William Petit, spoke to the media
following the jury’s decision to recommend the death sentence in convicted
murderer Joshua Komisarjevsky’s penalty hearing last week, she very pointedly
noted that Connecticut has a death penalty for heinous crimes. Clearly, the
murders of the three Petit women were in fact heinous acts deserving of the
harshest penalty allowed under the law.
Chapman and Petit maintain they sought neither bloodlust nor vengeance, but
justice.
On that point, we take no issue with their assessments. The acts committed by
Komisarjevsky and his partner, Steven Hayes, were heinous and deserving of the
harshest penalties that are allowed.
The problem, however, is that those penalties are unlikely to be applied
anytime soon — if at all — and therefore, the law, as it is now, does not serve
justice, nor does it serve as a deterrent in preventing criminals from carrying
out such heinous acts.
Having a death penalty on the books didn’t stop Komisarjevsky or Hayes — now
death row inmates numbers 10 and 11.
We also agree that part of the reason for that is the endless mandatory appeals
included in Connecticut’s death penalty law, rendering it meaningless. In order
to carry out a death sentence, a prisoner must first volunteer.
We appreciate that the vast majority of citizens favor the death penalty for
such horrific crimes. And we also appreciate their desire to see the law
changed so it can be applied easily and more quickly, for justice’s sake.
But on that point, we do disagree.
The notion that a death penalty that is more easily administered will be a
deterrent, preventing such acts in the future, simply has no basis in truth.
Nor do we believe that increasing the pace in which the death sentences are
administered is serving justice.
In our opinion, such an argument moves the discussion closer to the side of the
scale favoring vengeance and bloodlust rather than justice.
(source: Opinion, Norwich Bulletin)
GEORGIA:
Muscogee County judge rejects double murderer's new trial request----Judge to
hold second hearing next year on mitigation for man who killed wife,
stepdaughter
A judge declined Wednesday to grant a new trial to a confessed double murderer
who claims his attorneys failed to question jurors adequately before his 1998
capital murder trial.
Johnnie A. Worsley, 50, has been on death row more than 13 years, but his case
has not yet reached the Georgia Supreme Court for an automatic appeal. The case
is among three aging death penalty cases in Columbus that remain at the initial
appellate stage more than a decade after conviction -- unusual delays even by
the sluggish pace of capital proceedings.
Worsley has never denied slaughtering his wife, Flora J. Worsley, 36, and her
17-year-old daughter, Yameika Bell, in 1995. Prosecutors described the crimes
as being horrific beyond belief: Worsley stabbed Bell with a butcher knife,
went out and bought some crack and several hours later crushed his wife’s skull
with a baseball bat after she returned home from working a night shift.
Worsley’s defense attorneys argued at trial that he should be spared capital
punishment because he suffered from mental illness, and has a level of
intelligence below “walking around sense.”
On Wednesday, Superior Court Judge John D. Allen held the 1st of 2 hearings on
Worsley’s motion for new trial and was unpersuaded by a litany of jury
selection issues raised by appellate attorney Bill Mason. Allen noted an
“absence of thoroughness” on the part of Worsley’s trial attorneys during jury
selection, but nothing that rose to the level of ineffective assistance of
counsel.
Mason called to the witness stand Bob Wadkins, an attorney who represented
Worsley at trial, and questioned him at length about why he chose not to
investigate jurors’ feelings toward capital punishment during the screening
process. Mason also noted that 1 juror was not excused, even though she began
crying during jury selection and acknowledged her son had been the victim of an
unsolved murder.
“You cannot have a death penalty case and not ask a juror, ‘What do you think
about the death penalty?’” Mason argued.
Assistant District Attorney David Helmick, meanwhile, pointed to Wadkins’ years
of experience at the time of the trial, and said that Mason’s arguments
amounted to speculation.
“We can’t say that any reasonable and well-qualified attorney would have acted
any different,” Helmick said. “You could get 100 different attorneys who would
conduct voir dire (jury selection) 100 different ways.”
Mason is expected to argue at a second hearing early next year that Worsley’s
trial attorneys were ineffective because they failed to present sufficient
mitigating evidence for jurors to weigh during their deliberations.
“He was an Army veteran and they didn’t even introduce any of his military
records,” Mason said in a recent interview. “They had sisters and brothers
waiting in the hallway, but they were never called as witnesses.”
It was the victims’ family that attended Wednesday’s hearing, some expressing
relief that the wheels of Worsley’s appeal are finally in motion. Michael
Patillo, a nephew and close friend of the slain Flora Worsley, said he thought
Johnnie Worsley would have exhausted his appeals by now.
“It’s been a real strain because I feel with what he did, he should pay for
that,” he said. “Sitting up in jail chilling, you can’t come out, but they
still have good times.”
Flora Worsley’s sister, Patricia Patillo, said her sentiments about capital
punishment have changed over the years.
“If he stays in jail, that’s the main thing,” she said.
The murders
Worsley was prosecuted by Melvin E. Hyde Jr., a former assistant district
attorney who is now a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney Office in
Columbus. Hyde told jurors at Worsley’s trial that the case “cries out for the
death penalty.”
“There are times when the death penalty is an effective punishment for an evil
man,” Hyde said at the time. “This is one of those times.”
The slayings happened just months after Worsley reconciled with his wife and
was taken back into their home. The couple’s relationship had been rocked over
the years by Worsley’s cocaine abuse, but Flora Worsley “had taken him in
because she was assured he was clean and was dedicated to remaining clean,”
Helmick said.
Shortly after midnight on March 7, 1995, Johnnie Worsley took a butcher knife
into the bedroom of the stepdaughter he’d known since she was 6 years old.
“I began stabbing her,” Worsley told police in an interview. “Sometime in the
night I must have woke up and went berserk.”
Worsley then drove to East Highlands and bought some crack before returning to
the 32nd Avenue home. He lay in wait behind a bedroom door and attacked his
wife with a baseball bat and stabbed her in the neck when she arrived home from
work about 7:30 a.m.
Worsley covered the bodies with quilts and blankets and fled Columbus in a car
he stole in Phenix City. He stopped at a roadside church in Twiggs County and
confessed to a Baptist minister, who telephoned authorities.
Worsley was taken into custody after a high-speed chase on Interstate 16.
After a Muscogee County jury sentenced him to death, Mason filed a motion for
new trial -- 13 years ago today -- that remains pending. He also filed a motion
for funds in July 2003 that he said former Superior Court Judge Kenneth B.
Followill never ruled on.
“I wrote several letters and made several phone calls” to Followill, Mason
said, “and I just quit asking.”
Followill said in a recent phone interview that he knows of nothing he left
“unturned,” and added that judges should not take an activist role or seek to
“hustle up an execution.”
(source: Columbus Ledger-Enquirer)
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