Jan. 17
US MILITARY:
Guantanamo and the Death Penalty: Two Terrible Ideas Come Together
The military commission hearing in the case of Abd al-Rahim Hussayn Muhammad
al-Nashiri beginning today will once again put on the world stage two of the
worst U.S. ideas: Guantánamo and the death penalty.
The hearing takes place in Guantánamo — bad idea number one — where al-Nashiri
has been detained for years, following his secret imprisonment and torture. As
our European allies in countries including Poland, the U.K. and Spain are
forced to deal with their complicity in the shameful U.S. program of torture
and secret prisons and as our enemies continue to use the detention camps as a
recruiting tool, the reasons to close Guantánamo, not start new trials there,
are mounting.
Al-Nashiri’s hearing is in a capital case, the 2nd really bad idea we cling to
in this country. We still have the death penalty, although we are in the
minority, and we share the distinction of “most executions” with human rights
outlaws: China, Iran, North Korea and Yemen.
The fact that the hearing is in the military commissions (we’re going to stop
counting bad ideas now) — will force Rick Kammen, longtime capital defender and
al-Nashiri’s “learned counsel,” to make an argument he hasn’t needed in a long
time, maybe a couple of decades. At issue is an indigent defendant’s right to
receive funding for the investigation and the experts needed to defend against
capital charges and the death sentence, and to ask for that funding outside the
interested ears of the prosecution. (In legal Latin, such hearings are called
“ex parte,” and they are as routine as the sound of ceiling fans in such
bastions of “enlightened” capital practice as the courts of Mississippi and
Louisiana.)
Should a puzzled reporter or observer lean over to a lawyer today in Guantánamo
and ask what would this hearing look like in federal court, the answer is that
there would never be such a hearing in a federal court. The right for defense
funding of experts and investigators, and the right to ask for that funding
privately — without having to reveal defense strategy or the progress of the
investigation — has been established in federal courts for decades. It is
universally recognized in federal capital trials that an indigent defendant
gets to go before the court and say what he or she needs for a fair trial —
without having the other side listen in.
What is even more surprising is that everyone seemed to recognize this state of
play when the need for confidential hearings was raised. The judge indicated
that the parties should ask the Convening Authority of the military
commissions, and they did so together. It is worth noting that the motion to
have “ex parte” communications about funding for experts and investigation was
a joint motion of the defense and the prosecution. Despite this fact, it was
denied by the Convening Authority. Al-Nashiri’s hearing beginning today at
Guantánamo may decide what the military judge will do now.
Before giving the prosecution too much credit, though, we should point out that
the “sauce for the goose, sauce for the gander” argument doesn’t really apply
here. The defense has only one source of funding for its investigation and
experts: the military. The prosecution isn’t limited that way. If they want
something — say a couple dozen lawyers and investigators to pursue evidence in
Yemen, or Saudi Arabia — and the military turns them down, they will get all
they need from the endless supply of Department of Justice lawyers and CIA and
FBI investigators.
And that brings us to the second big issue for the hearings this week in
al-Nashiri’s case: the proposed “security” measures that the defense team, the
American Bar Association, and others have said violate the attorney client
privilege. There, the issue is an old one that will persist as long as these
Guantánamo trials do; the vexing problem for the government of keeping secret
the identities of the torturers and the details of the torture while trying to
make the trial of a tortured man look fair.
The “new” military commission has a new motto: “Fairness, Transparency,
Justice.” But this week is all about a system that cannot seem to provide basic
rights to a defendant. Stay tuned from more news from Gitmo later this week.
(source: ACLU Blog)
OHIO:
Ohio postponing execution, waits for Supreme Court
The U.S. state of Ohio won't go forward with an execution that had been
scheduled for this week as it asks the U.S. Supreme Court to rule that the
state's protocol for lethal injections is constitutional.
Ohio is one of 34 states that have the death penalty.
45-year-old Charles Lorraine had been scheduled to die Wednesday, but a U.S.
district judge halted the procedure last week, saying the state had failed to
follow its own rules for executions. A federal appeals court agreed that the
execution should be delayed while those changes and reasons for them are
reviewed.
Gov. John Kasich announced Sunday that the state was appealing to the U.S
Supreme Court.
Lorraine faces death for killing a 77-year-old man and his 80-year-old
bedridden wife.
(source: Associated Press)
ALABAMA:
Phenix City homicide: Capital murder warrant issued for Walter Robert Lee
Patterson III
Phenix City police have issued an arrest warrant for capital murder in the
city’s 1st homicide of the year.
Walter Robert Lee Patterson III, 25, of Smiths Station, Ala., is wanted in
connection with the Saturday robbery and shooting that killed 52-year-old Terry
Lamar Simmons and wounded Richard Dean Prince, 61, police said.
The shooting happened about 2 a.m. in the parking lot of Car-Mart, near 13th
Street on the U.S. 280 Bypass. Prince and Simmons had parked their car in the
lot while at a nearby bar, said Lt. George Staudinger.
Walter Robert Lee Patterson III is wanted in connection with the Saturday
robbery and shooting that killed Terry Lamar Simmons. Track crime in Columbus
through an interactive map Click here to keep up with other crime and court
news. Connect to the Ledger-Enquirer crime blog. “This Walter Patterson, we
found that he was also there,” Staudinger said. “They had some interactions.”
At closing time, Simmons and Prince returned to their car. Patterson left about
the same time, the lieutenant said.
Police are still piecing together exactly what happened next. Their
investigation shows that Simmons was shot several times. He was pronounced dead
on the scene. Prince was taken to The Medical Center and treated for gunshot
injuries, police said.
Prince remained in the hospital Monday in unsatisfactory condition, hospital
officials said. If convicted, Patterson faces the possibility of the death
penalty.
“We believe the motive was robbery, and that’s the reason for the capital
murder warrant,” Staudinger said.
James Ashley, manager of the nearby Car-Mart, said his surveillance system
showed a clear picture of the suspect. Staudinger called the camera system “a
very helpful tool.”
The lieutenant said he expects more charges to be filed against Patterson,
including attempted murder. Patterson is believed to be the only shooter,
though Staudinger said someone could have given him a ride from the Car-Mart or
is helping him hide.
“That’s definitely something we’re looking at,” Staudinger added.
Patterson is a black man, 6-foot-1 and 185 pounds.
(source: Columbus Ledger-Enquirer)
FLORIDA:
Convicted Greenport murderer skips hearing over his Feb. 15 execution
Convicted Greenport killer Robert Waterhouse decided not to listen to testimony
today in the court battle over his execution.
A man convicted of killing 2 people, including the rape and murder of a
77-year-old Greenport woman nearly 46 years ago, decided not to listen to
testimony today in the court battle over his scheduled execution, according to
a report in the Tampa Bay Times.
While on lifetime parole after pleading guilty and serving just 8 years in
prison for Greenport resident Ella May Carter’s death, Robert Waterhouse was
convicted of killing 29-year-old Deborah Kammerer in St. Petersburg, Fla. in
January 1980. He has spent the past 3 decades on death row, but earlier this
month Florida Governor Rick Scott ordered his execution for Feb. 15.
His attorney, Robert Norgard, raised at today’s hearing two issues he says
should prevent his client from getting the death penalty, one being that a
witness has come forward with new testimony. The other is a claim that DNA
evidence that would have exonerated Mr. Waterhouse has since been destroyed.
Mr. Waterhouse, 65, was not in the Florida courtroom today as a witness
contradicted the official account of the night of Ms. Kammerer’s murder,
according to the Times report.
According to the Times story, a doorman at the lounge where witnesses in Mr.
Waterhouse’s trial claimed the victim was seen leaving with him on the night of
the murder, came forward saying he saw Mr. Waterhouse instead leave with two
men. The doorman, 55-year-old Leglio Sotolongo, gave that account today in
court.
Mr. Sotolongo reportedly said that after he saw a recent news report recounting
the case, he felt it was important to come forward with his account of events.
He said a friend ultimately convinced him to come forward.
The friend said, “‘It’s a serious issue.’ I agreed,” he told the Times.
A former Detective in the case, Gary Wilcox, also took the stand, denying that
Mr. Sotolongo ever told him that he saw Mr. Waterhouse leave the bar with 2
men.
Mr. Sotolongo also testified that months after he was interviewed by the
detective, Mr. Wilcox approached him and a friend in another bar and criticized
them both for trying to help Mr. Waterhouse with their comments.
Mr. Wilcox denied that account.
Chief Assistant State Attorney Bruce Bartlett said there would have been enough
evidence to charge Waterhouse with the murder even without testimony about who
left the bar with whom, according to the Times report.
(source: St. Petersburg Times)
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