Jan. 10
MARYLAND:
Opening of death penalty trial in prison death delayed----Trial in Annapolis
expected to last 7 weeks
With jury selection extending past last week, opening statements that had been
scheduled for Monday in the death penalty trial of a prisoner charged with
killing a correctional officer are expected to take place Wednesday.
Lee Edward Stephens, 32, is 1 of 2 life-term prisoners accused of fatally
stabbing David McGuinn in July 2006 as he walked on a skinny catwalk along
cells at the Maryland House of Correction. The slaying was among the main
reasons the prison, in Jessup, was closed.
The case ultimately could test the validity of the state's 2009 death penalty
law changes, reserve the death penalty for murders in which there is a
videotaped confession, a video recording of the crime, or DNA or other
biological evidence linking the defendant to the crime. In this case,
prosecutors said they have DNA. The trial is expected to last 7 weeks.
No trial date has been set for the 2nd accused prisoner, Lamar C. Harris, 41.
His mental fitness to stand trial is in question.
(source: Baltimore Sun)
***********************
Maryland’s death penalty comes under fire----Delegate, NAACP to push for ban on
capital punishment
A Maryland delegate will push to abolish the state’s death penalty during the
upcoming General Assembly, and the NAACP is expected to throw its support
behind the proposal Tuesday.
Delegate Samuel I. Rosenberg, Baltimore Democrat, said Monday he will introduce
a bill to make Maryland the 17th state to outlaw capital punishment. He
sponsored similar legislation last year that stalled in a House committee.
Some Maryland lawmakers and civil rights groups have in recent years called for
an end to the death penalty, arguing it is applied more frequently to blacks
than whites, costs more to prosecute than standard murder trials, and leaves
open the possibility of wrongful executions.
While a 2009 state law made it significantly harder for prosecutors to pursue
the death penalty, Mr. Rosenberg said the system should be eliminated entirely
to prevent any future mistakes.
“It’s a system that can’t be made to work,” he said. “You can tinker with it
all you want.”
Maryland currently has 5 convicts on death row and has not executed a person
since 2005. The state has executed five people since 1976, tied for the 22nd
most of any state.
Texas has executed the most convicts during that span with 477, while Virginia
is 2nd at 109. The death penalty has been abolished in 16 states and the
District.
Opposition to Maryland’s death penalty has increased since 2002, when then-Gov.
Parris N. Glendening, a Democrat, ordered a moratorium to allow for study into
the system’s possible racial bias.
Then-Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., a Republican, lifted the ban in 2004 and
allowed 2 executions, but the state Court of Appeals imposed a new moratorium
in 2006 after ruling the state’s regulations on lethal injections were
outdated.
A state-appointed committee then recommended in 2008 that Maryland abolish the
death penalty because of evidence of racial and socioeconomic disparities, high
legal costs, and emotional stress on victims’ families caused by lengthy
appeals processes.
A 2009 bill to ban capital punishment was rejected by the state Senate, but
legislators passed a compromise that allows prosecutors to seek the death
penalty only in 1st-degree murder cases in which there is biological or DNA
evidence, a videotaped confession or conclusive video evidence.
Anne Arundel County prosecutors will pursue the death penalty in this month’s
trial against Lee Edwards Stephens, who is accused of killing a correctional
officer in 2006 as a prison inmate. A judge ruled in September that the case
could go forward as a capital punishment case.
Montgomery County prosecutors have also not ruled out seeking the death penalty
against Curtis M. Lopez, who is accused of killing a Germantown woman and her
11-year-old son in October.
Most opponents of repealing the death penalty have argued that capital
punishment should still be an option in the most heinous cases. Others have
said that the 2009 law has effectively banned the practice in all but the most
obvious trials, making any further legislation moot.
Mr. Rosenberg thinks there is majority support for a ban in both chambers, but
that the 11-member Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee is still on the fence
about the bill.
The Associated Press reported last month that Mr. Rosenberg met last summer
with Gov. Martin O’Malley, a Democrat, to discuss the possibility of avoiding
the legislative process and effectively barring executions by refusing to fund
them in the state budget.
A representative for Mr. O’Malley, who has long favored abolishing the death
penalty, has said he is unlikely to do that.
The Maryland State Conference of the National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People will announce Tuesday in Annapolis that it wants lawmakers to
ban the death penalty.
“To execute an innocent man is just a travesty and inhumane,” said state NAACP
chapter president Gerald Stansbury. “I believe that the mood is there, but now
is the time for [lawmakers] to stand up.”
(source: Washington Times)
********************
NAACP President Calls For End Of Md. Death Penalty
NAACP President Benjamin Jealous is joining Maryland civil rights leaders in
calling for an end to capital punishment in Maryland.
Jealous was in Annapolis on Tuesday with state lawmakers who oppose the death
penalty.
Maryland’s death penalty has been on hold since a 2006 Court of Appeals ruling
that found the state’s lethal injection protocols weren’t properly approved by
a legislative committee. Executions can’t resume until new protocols are
created for a legislative panel to approve.
Gov. Martin O’Malley, a Democrat, pushed hard for repeal in 2009, but
legislation stalled in the Senate. Instead, lawmakers compromised to restrict
capital punishment to murder cases with biological evidence such as DNA,
videotaped evidence of a murder or a videotaped confession.
(source: Associated Press)
NORTH CAROLINA:
DA under fire from ministers' group over Racial Justice Act
A group of mostly black ministers wants Forsyth District Attorney Jim O'Neill
to renounce a letter state prosecutors sent that supported the repeal of the
Racial Justice Act.
O'Neill was one of 43 district attorneys who signed a letter that Johnston
County District Attorney Susan Doyle sent to state senators in November, urging
them to get rid of the 2-year-old law that allows death-row inmates to use
statistics and other evidence to challenge their death sentence on the basis of
racial bias.
Doyle is the president of the N.C. Conference of District Attorneys. State
legislators tried to repeal the law late last year, but Gov. Bev Perdue vetoed
the effort. Legislators failed to override the veto.
The Ministers Conference of Winston-Salem and Vicinity call Doyle's letter
"inflammatory, disturbing and extreme," the group said in a news release
Monday.
The Ministers Conference plans to hold a news conference at 2 p.m. today at
Grace Presbyterian Church, 3901 Carver School Road. The ministers plan to read
a letter they hand-delivered to O'Neill last month calling for him to disavow
Doyle's letter and to personally apologize for initially supporting it.
"We are deeply saddened by the DA's actions because we had hoped our leading
legal officer would be bending over backwards to ensure racial bias would not
factor into any cases, especially capital ones," the ministers said in the news
release.
The Rev. Joseph Nance, the president of the Ministers Conference, declined to
comment Monday, saying he and other ministers would have more to say at the
news conference.
In the letter, Doyle argued that the Racial Justice Act was clogging the court
system with litigation and would cost taxpayers an exorbitant amount of money.
She said white inmates were taking advantage of the law and that some death-row
inmates could be eligible for parole if their sentences were commuted to life
in prison.
O'Neill said Monday that he has no plans to apologize for signing Doyle's
letter or for opposing the Racial Justice Act. 13 death-row inmates — 7 white
and 6 black – have filed under the Racial Justice Act, he said.
"None are claiming they are innocent," O'Neill said. "I remain intellectually
opposed to such a poorly drafted law that allows for the manipulation of
statistics to undermine the justice system, and I remain philosophically
opposed to a further waste of precious taxpayer dollars to continue to defend
convicted murderers."
The Ministers Conference also criticized statements made by Assistant District
Attorney Mike Silver, who spoke against the Racial Justice Act during a
public-comment hearing held by the Senate Judiciary Committee in November.
The ministers said Silver, who is black, accused the Rev. William Barber, the
president of the state NAACP, of race-baiting and "screaming lynching" at the
hearing.
According to a video of the hearing, the Ministers Conference is criticizing
Silver for saying this:
"And what they want is for the General Assembly; they want our judges to get
caught up in the race-baiting, people screaming at you, saying 'lynching,
lynching, lynching,' as they've done here today. That is race-baiting and that
is wrong."
In a statement Monday, Silver said: "When I became a prosecutor, I took an oath
that I would zealously pursue justice, whether it is popular or not. My only
hope has been that our legislators would vote to amend the RJA and place North
Carolina death-penalty law in line with the Supreme Court of the United States,
the highest court in the land, ensuring fairness for both the victims, the
family of victims, and the defendants."
(source: Winston-Salem Journal)
UTAH:
DA to Seek Death Penalty in Shooting of Police
A prosecutor said Monday he will pursue the death penalty against a man
suspected of opening fire on police during a drug raid, killing 1 officer and
wounding 5 others.
Matthew David Stewart of Ogden is being investigated on suspicion of aggravated
murder, 8 counts of attempted aggravated murder, and marijuana cultivation,
Weber County Attorney Dee W. Smith said.
Stewart shot at and missed 2 additional officers who were trying to assist
their wounded colleagues, he said.
"There were a lot of shots fired," Smith said. "I don't think anyone can give a
number."
Smith said he believes he has sufficient evidence to arrest and charge Stewart
but won't do so until doctors clear him for release from a hospital. Stewart
was shot in a backyard shed during the gunfight.
It wasn't clear when Stewart, a 37-year-old U.S. Army veteran, might be ready
for release. His lawyer, Randy Richards didn't immediately return phone
messages from The Associated Press.
Also Monday, officials said they recovered explosive material and a picture of
Stewart dressed "like a terrorist." His father said it was a Halloween costume
and the chemicals probably were for growing pot.
"They're trying to do everything they can to discredit my son because they made
some mistakes," said Michael Stewart, 67, an investigator for public defenders
in Weber County. "My son is not a terrorist."
Ogden police Officer Jared Francom was killed in the shooting. 5 other officers
from the Weber-Morgan Narcotics Strike Force were injured, some critically. 3
officers remained hospitalized. One was in critical condition and 2 had been
upgraded to fair, McKay-Dee Hospital officials said.
A funeral service for Francom is planned for Wednesday at a 14,000-seat arena
in Ogden.
The shooting occurred as police forced their way into Stewart's home on Jan. 4
while trying to serve a search warrant. Smith has said the strike force had
tried unsuccessfully to reach Stewart before it obtained the warrant. His
father called him "a little pot grower" with a handful of plants.
Details about what type of weapons Matthew Stewart may have had and how many
shots were fired remained undisclosed as part of what Smith called a massive
investigation. Police continue to comb the house for evidence and interview
officers who responded to the shooting.
"We'll probably never know exactly how many shots were fired," Smith said.
Smith said that based on the length of Stewart's beard, the photograph appeared
to be recent, but added it was impossible to know whether the image held any
political meaning.
Federal officials said the explosive materials were found and detonated inside
Stewart's home.
Brad Beyersdorf, a spokesman with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms
and Explosives, said the material couldn't be safely moved outdoors. He
stressed that the material wasn't a bomb but couldn't provide a better
description.
A state official, meanwhile, said there was no way to know through government
records what weapons Stewart might have had in his house.
"We don't register firearms in the state of Utah," said Lance Taylor, a
criminal background supervisor for the Utah Bureau of Criminal Investigations.
Records of gun purchases in Utah are destroyed after 20 days, he said.
(source: Associated Press)
********************
Prosecutor to Seek Death Penalty in Fatal Utah Shooting
A Utah prosecutor says he'll pursue the death penalty against a man who opened
fire on police, leaving 1 officer dead and 5 others injured.
Weber County District Attorney Dee Smith said Monday that Matthew David Stewart
of Ogden is being investigated on suspicion of aggravated murder, attempted
aggravated and marijuana cultivation.
Smith says he believes he has sufficient evidence to file charges but won't do
so until doctors clear Stewart for release from the hospital. Stewart was shot
by police in the Wednesday night gun fight.
The shooting occurred after police forced entry into Stewart's home.
At a news conference, Smith also said there is no evidence that officers fired
upon one another.
(source: Fox News)
CALIFORNIA:
Time to ban the death penalty
The Savings, Accountability and Full Enforcement (SAFE) campaign calls for a
2012 ballot initiative that would replace the death penalty in our state with
life imprisonment without parole. The initiative is called Safe California, and
I strongly support its adoption.
It isn't true that a state is merely a collection of separate individuals. How
can it not be more than that when the state holds the power to impose death?
But what right does it have to do such a heinous thing to anyone because that
person has also imposed death on somebody?
What we have in America is caveman-style justice — 12 people and a judge
holding others' lives in their hands as part of a legal system that often fails
to adequately defend the accused. It's a grab bag of potential injustices.
Not all states allow the death penalty. Notably, the New England states, with
the exception of New Hampshire, and New York are among the 16 states (plus the
District of Columbia) that do not permit it.
Shamefully, California now has the distinction of having the highest number of
death row inmates in the country — 721. Even Texas, which since 1976 has had
the highest number of executions each year, has a death row population of only
321. The total U.S. death row population is 3,251.
Also shamefully, as surveys have consistently shown, race is a big factor in
sentencing. Nationwide, 44 % of current death row inmates are white, 42 % are
black and 12 percent are Hispanic.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC), a recent study in
California revealed that defendants who killed whites were over 3 times more
likely to be given the death sentence than those who killed blacks and over 4
times more likely than those who killed Latinos.
Too, America has reason to be ashamed of the company it has kept.
In 2010, we were ranked 5th among the 6 countries with the most confirmed
executions: China, which is believed to have executed thousands; Iran, with 252
to its “credit”; North Korea, with 60; Yemen, with 53; the U.S., with 46; and
Saudi Arabia, with 27. In 2009, Iraq, with 120, made the most confirmed list
and North Korea did not. We made the top 5 every year since 2005.
But thankfully, the DPIC's 2011 Year End Report shows that capital punishment
is very much on the decline in America and in the world. The finding is
confirmed by a 2011 Gallup Poll showing that support for the death penalty is
at its lowest in 40 years — only 61 %.
In California, death sentences fell to 10 this year, down from 29 in 2010. Even
Texas' death orders were down from previous years.
The death penalty was introduced into California's penal code in 1872. Some
executions were conducted by county sheriffs. In 1893, the 1st state execution
was carried out by hanging in San Quentin State prison — Folsom prison was our
other hanging site. In 1937, hanging was replaced by gas, and 4 years later the
1st woman was executed in California. The 4th and most recent execution of a
woman occurred in 1962.
In 1972, the California Supreme Court declared the death penalty a cruel and
unusual punishment in violation of the state constitution, but 5 years later,
it was reinstated. Life imprisonment without parole was written into the penal
code that same year.
In 1994, lethal injection became the sole method of execution, but since then
some death drugs have been banned as a cruel and unusual punishment.
Overall, the major reason cited for the death penalty's decline is cost. It
shouldn't be. The primary reason should be the execution of innocent persons.
It's been noted that Texas governor and GOP presidential contender Rick Perry
has presided over 234 executions. When Perry was asked after a speech whether
he ever worried about an innocent man being put to death, he replied, “I've
never struggled with that at all.”
But the cost of implementing the death penalty has indeed been estimated at a
staggering $4 billion to date with roughly $185 million projected per year.
If Safe California is passed, the initiative will release $100 million for 3
years to keep police on the streets and to solve unsolved felonies. And it
would require all persons who are given life without parole sentences to work
in order to pay restitution to the victim's compensation fund.
We owe it to ourselves to make 2012 a better year by supporting Safe
California. No person or state has the moral right to take a viable life.
(source: Opinion; Loretta Keller lives in Altadena----Pasadena Star-News)
*****************
California Supreme Court voids death penalty in 1998 killing ---- Justices rule
that a juror was improperly removed because she was uncertain about her views
on the death penalty.
The California Supreme Court, which upholds the vast majority of capital
sentences it reviews, decided unanimously Monday to overturn the death penalty
for a convicted Long Beach murderer because a prospective juror was improperly
removed for having ambivalent views on capital punishment.
In a ruling written by Justice Kathryn Mickle Werdegar, the state high court
said that Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Tomson T. Ong erred when he
removed the potential juror after she said she was uncertain about her position
on the death penalty but would impose it if justified.
"To exclude from a capital jury all those who will not promise to immovably
embrace the death penalty in the case before them unconstitutionally biases the
selection process," Werdegar wrote.
As long as a juror is capable of considering all sentencing alternatives,
including the death penalty, he or she is qualified to serve on a death penalty
case, the court said.
The ruling requires Los Angeles County prosecutors either to ask another jury
to sentence Kevin Darnell Pearson to death or to reduce his sentence to life
without the possibility of parole. A spokeswoman for the district attorney's
office said it has not yet reviewed the ruling.
Pearson was convicted in the killing of Penny Sigler, also known as Penny
Keptra, who was raped, beaten and robbed of $6 in food stamps after leaving her
home to go to the store about 11 p.m. on Dec. 19, 1998.
Pearson committed the crime with 2 other men and left the victim, whose right
ear was partly torn off, nude and battered near a freeway embankment, the court
said.
The court overturned 2 other death sentences in a separate case Dec. 4,
breaking a pattern in which the justices had upheld nearly 50 capital judgments
in a row.
A representative for Atty. Gen. Kamala D. Harris declined to comment on
Monday's ruling.
Conrad Petermann, a lawyer for Pearson, said he was pleased with the decision
but believes his client is innocent and deserves a new trial for the crimes.
Petermann said Pearson will challenge his conviction in a separate proceeding,
a habeas corpus, in which evidence can be presented that was not heard by the
trial court.
Petermann described his client as "a wonderfully sweet individual, well loved
by everybody who has known him" who falsely confessed to the crime.
Pearson's 2 co-defendants were tried separately and were not affected by
Monday's decision. Petermann said Pearson was in his early 20s when he was
convicted in 1999.
(source: Los Angeles Times)
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