Jan. 23
TEXAS----impending execution
Report: With execution looming in Texas, accused Grand Rapids 'bag lady' killer
maintains innocence
Rodrigo Hernandez, whom police believe raped, killed and dumped the body of
"bag lady" Muriel Stoepker in downtown Grand Rapids in 1991, is scheduled to be
executed in Texas on Thursday for strangling a San Antonio woman whose body
police found stuffed in a baseball field trash can 3 years later.
Although he possesses a lengthy criminal record and previously confessed to
police 1 of the murders, Hernandez, 38, is maintaining his innocence in a death
row interview with the San Antonio Express-News.
“It still doesn't feel real. I did not commit this murder; I'll take that to
the grave,” Hernandez told Express-News reporter Eva Ruth Moravec. “My grandma
raised me to respect women.”
It’s not unlike what Hernandez told a judge in 1998 before being sentenced to
prison for severely beating a man here with a bottle, a conviction that came
several years before authorities were able to tie him to the murders of
Stoepker and 38-year-old Susan Verstegen of San Antonio.
Evolving DNA evidence helped police link Hernandez to both crimes.
"I have been living an honest life and staying out of trouble," he wrote in
1998. "I consider myself a family man. So I appreciate it if you would give me
one more chance to be able to continue my life with my family, better my life
and help the community."
The "family man" image is in sharp contrast to the picture painted by police,
prosecutors and evidence in the 2 crimes, each a brutal rape-and-murder that
shocked people in West Michigan and Texas.
Hernandez was arrested by police in Kent County in 2002 for the Verstegen
slaying after police in San Antonio reopened the cold case in 2000. They
matched his DNA from that crime to a database sample taken by mouth swab upon
his 2002 parole for the 1998 assault.
Texas authorities traveled nearly 1,400 miles to visit Hernandez in jail in
Michigan, eliciting a confession at the time, according to George Saidler, then
a San Antonio Police Department cold case detective. Getting the confession for
the Verstegen murder took 20 minutes, Saidler told the Express-News. The
now-Texas prosecutor said Hernandez knew details “only the killer had known.”
“He gave (the confession) up pretty easily to me. He had some tears, but I
couldn't say if he was shedding tears for himself or for the victim.”
Verstegen had been a single mother working at a Frito-Lay plant. Her body was
found on Feb. 19, 1994 in a 55-gallon drum behind a baseball field at Prince of
Peace Catholic Church after a massive search effort sparked by a worried
co-worker that turned up nothing the day before.
Hernandez told the Express-News that he and Verstegen had a consensual sexual
relationship going back months, but he’d reportedly been “smoking weed,
drinking beer and mixed drinks and did not realize what he was doing” when he
found her outside her work and raped her, according to his confession. He said
didn’t realize he had strangled her to death until he was done.
Shortly thereafter he moved back to Michigan and was promptly arrested for a
probation violation here that resulted in a three-year minimum prison sentence.
Family of Muriel Stoepker were shocked when they found out just 2 years ago
that he’d been linked by a semen sample to the murder of a woman known by many
locally as the “bag lady.”
Kent County Metro Cold-Case Team re-opened the investigation and matched his
DNA in the crime lab in similar fashion to the Texas police, taking advantage
of advances in forensics technology to find matches with smaller samples than
in years past.
The 77-year-old homeless woman was shot several times in the head and her naked
body was dumped in a parking ramp doorway on the campus of Grand Rapids
Community College early September 1991.
Hernandez is accused of Stoepker’s rape and murder, but there is little chance
he will return to Michigan for a trial, given that he is scheduled to be
executed Thursday for the Verstegen conviction, pending the outcome of a pair
of Texas clemency petitions.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals already rejected a 2008 attempt by
Hernandez to overturn his capital punishment sentence. A federal judge denied a
similar bid in 2010. The state leads the nation in executions. Hernandez is
scheduled to be killed by lethal injection.
Hernandez has never confessed to the Stoepker murder, which has frustrated
family and police, who have tried unsuccessfully to link him with other
unsolved crimes as well.
"I'm disappointed he wouldn't confess, of course," said Muriel Stoepker's
half-brother, the Rev. Wallace Stoepker of Portage told The Press in 2010. "I
have a feeling he has followed this pattern a number of times in his life."
Investigators think Hernandez, who lived in Grand Rapids for a large part of
the 1990s, killed Stoepker just a month after serving a 6-month jail stint on a
breaking and entering conviction when he was 18. It was one of his first
crimes.
Stoepker had been a successful legal secretary for more than 40 years before
descending into mental illness, ostensibly over the stress related to a 1950
tractor accident that killed her boyfriend. She tried to burn down her home,
escaped from a psychiatric hospital and fled to Chicago before spending her
final years on the streets of Grand Rapids, according to family.
More than 200 people showed up for her visitation and funeral.
"She was very loved," said Ruth Wilson, her niece and former legal guardian for
a period. "People watched out for her and cared for her."
(source: Grand Rapids Press)
OHIO:
Man accused of killing Annie McSween asks judge to eliminate death penalty as
possible punishment
The Perry Township man accused of raping and murdering Mentor-on-the-Lake
bartender Annie McSween wants a judge to eliminate death as a possible
punishment.
Joseph Thomas, 27, is scheduled to go on trial April 10 in Lake County Common
Pleas Court on 11 felony charges, including aggravated murder, rape,
kidnapping, aggravated robbery and tampering with evidence.
If convicted before Judge Richard L. Collins Jr., Thomas could face the death
penalty.
Thomas' attorneys, David Doughten and Chief Assistant Lake County Public
Defender Charles R. Grieshammer, filed a motion recently to change the maximum
possible sentence to life in prison without parole.
"A death penalty imposed in violation of the Equal Protection guarantee is a
cruel and unusual punishment," according to the motion. "Any arbitrary use of
the death penalty also offends the Eighth Amendment.
"Ohio's capital punishment scheme allows the death penalty to be imposed in an
arbitrary and discriminatory manner…"
The attorneys are arguing besides being unconstitutional, a finding that a
defendant specifically intended to cause the death of another is no longer
required for a death sentence.
Assistant Lake County Prosecutor Charles Cichocki declined comment and had not
yet filed a response to the motion.
Thomas' lawyers have also requested the judge approve defense expenditures to
hire James Eisenberg, a Painesville clinical neuropsychologist.
Eisenberg agreed not to charge more than $240 an hour with a cap of $7,500.
However, there could be additional costs if his testimony is needed in trial.
The judge previously approved requests to appoint private investigator Thomas
Pavlish at $90 per hour (not to exceed $5,000 without prior approval of the
court).
In addition, Angela Wiley of the State Public Defender Office has been approved
to assist in Thomas' trial preparation — including a possible penalty phase
hearing — at a rate of $35 per hour (not to exceed $3,500 without court
approval).
Thomas was arrested June 7 in Madison Township by Mentor-on-the-Lake and
Madison Township police in connection with the murder.
McSween, 49, of Mentor, was found dead Nov. 26, 2010, five hours after closing
up at Mario's Lakeway Lounge on Andrews Road.
Thomas remains in jail on $1 million cash bond.
The defendant has waived his right to a speedy trial.
(source: The News-Herald)
*****************
Murder Suspect Joe Thomas Asks Judge To Dismiss Possible Death Penalty ---- The
man accused of raping and murdering bartender Annie McSween has filed motion
asking judge to dismiss the possibility of a death sentence if he is convicted
Joe Thomas -- the man accused of raping and murdering bartender Annie McSween
-- has filed several motions in Lake County Court of Common Pleas, including
one to dismiss the possibility of a death sentence if he is convicted.
Thomas's attorneys David Doughten and Assistant Lake County Public Defender
Charles Grieshammer said a potential death sentence would violate
Constitutional and international law in their motion.
"The 14th amendment's guarantee of equal protection requires similar treatment
of similarly situated persons. This right extends to the protection against
cruel and unusual punishment ... A death penalty imposed in violation of the
equal protection guarantee is a cruel and unusual punishment," the motion
reads.
"Ohio's capital punishment scheme allows the death penalty to be imposed in an
arbitrary and discriminatory manner," Thomas's attorneys continued.
Doughten and Grieshammer also argued:
•the death sentence unfairly victimizes minorities because blacks are 20 % of
the population but 50 % of death row inmates.
•defendants get a biased jury when discussing the death sentence, because they
already sat through their trial. To make it fair, suspects would need 2
separate juries -- one for the trial, one for sentencing.
•Ohio law unfairly ranks certain types of murder as more heinous. Specifically,
the attorneys argue that not everyone accused of committing a murder while
committing another felony -- as Thomas is -- should be a candidate for a death
sentence.
"The aggravated murder defendant alleged to have killed during the course of a
felony is automatically eligible for the death penalty ... (but) the killer who
kills with prior calculation and design is treated less severely, which is also
nonsensical because his blameworthiness or moral guilt is higher, and the
argued ability to deter him less," the motion read.
Thomas's attorneys also filed several other motions. They requested that:
•his April trial date be postponed.
•they have access to Dr. James Eisenberg, a clinical neuropsychologist, for
expert assistance. If the motion is approved, Eisenberg would receive $240 per
hour for his services, up to $7,500.
•they have access to police reports for this case and all previous cases
involving Thomas. Usually, it is not required to release police reports to the
defense. However, because this is a death penalty case, Thomas's attorneys say
they should have access to them.
Lake County Assistant Prosecutor Charles Cichocki has not filed a reply to
these motions yet. Consequently, Judge Richard Collins Jr. has not made a
decision on any of them.
(source: Mentor Patch)
USA:
Gary Johnson rips Newt Gingrich about Marijuana Death Penalty Idea
Newt Gingrich is a funny character. Even funnier are some of his past beliefs.
Ezra Klein in the Washington Post:
On Saturday’s edition of “Up With Chris Hayes,” Gary Johnson brought up an old
Newt Gingrich idea I hadn’t heard before: Putting individuals who brought more
than 2 ounces of marijuana into the United States to death. That sounded
extreme, even for Gingrich. So I looked it up. And sure enough, there it is:
“The Drug Importer Death Penalty Act of 1996.” What makes the bill even more
amazing is that Gingrich himself is a confessed pot smoker.
That is beyond crazy and surprising that anyone would think this is a good
idea. If the Drug Importer Death Penalty Act of 1996 passed, could you imagine
the paranoia by pot smokers? If you got caught smoking and they questioned you
on where you got it, if you ratted out your drug dealer, your buddy would be
sent to his death. In addition to all the court costs that would occur over the
next few years, it only takes sanity to realize this is ‘terribly dangerous’ of
Newt.
(source: Jesse Herman, deathrattlesports.com)
FLORIDA:
Convicted Child Killer’s Motion for Quick Execution Denied -- Prisoner refuses
to take medication before hearing
A convicted child killer and rapist continues playing a sordid game of possum
with a Broward County judge as he once again refused to take his
anti-depressant medication before a hearing Sunday at which he said he planned
to drop his death penalty appeal and ask for an execution date.
Howard Ault was in court last Friday but Judge Marc Gold first postponed the
hearing because the prisoner said he had not been given his medication since
Wednesday of last week.
On Sunday, when asked by the judge if he had since taken his medication, Ault
said he had on Friday but refused on Saturday after getting into a row with a
corrections officer.
“He knows how to push my buttons,” Ault said, claiming that the officer would
not let the nurse administer the medication because he wanted to do it himself.
The judge then ordered a nurse into the chambers to explain the situation and
asked if the medication could be given in open court with the hearing delayed
an hour while the drugs took effect.
“Alright Mr. Ault are you ready to take your medication in open court?” Gold
asked.
When Ault started to waver, the judge called his bluff.
“Yes or no?”
“No,” replied Ault.
“Alright then this is done. I’m denying your motion, send Mr. Ault back from
where he came,” the judge said, before adding that the next time the prisoner
wanted to ask for a dismissal of his hearing he would have to do it from prison
via television so as not to waste any more time.
Ault first started flip-flopping on his decision to fire his attorney, dismiss
his appeal and ask for an execution date in September when he was first brought
to the Broward Court.
The prisoner is on death row for the rape and strangling death of an
11-year-old and also killing her 7-year-old sister in Oakland Park in 1996.
(source: NBC Miami)
KANSAS:
Tuesday forum to focus on repeal of state’s death penalty law
If you go
Death penalty forum
What: Conversation about the Kansas Death Penalty
When: 6:30 p.m. Tuesday
Where: College Hill United Methodist Church, 2930 E. First St. in Wichita
Speakers: Jeff Wicks of the Kansas Death Penalty Defense Unit and Chris Cook of
the Kansas Coalition Against the Death Penalty
More information: 316-684-4643
As a bill to repeal the death penalty languishes in the Statehouse, a local
church-women’s group hopes to help revive legislators’ interest on the issue.
The United Methodist Women’s group at College Hill United Methodist Church in
Wichita is sponsoring a forum on the death penalty Tuesday. It follows a
daylong rally last November at Wichita State University by the Kansas Coalition
Against the Death Penalty, which said it is seeing similar programs sprouting
up across the state.
“The death penalty has reached a point where it’s outdated,” said Jeff Wicks,
an attorney with the Kansas Death Penalty Defense Unit and one of Tuesday’s
speakers. “It comes from a time when we didn’t have the ability to maintain law
and order, as we do now.”
The forum hopes to generate interest in House Bill 2323, which would abolish
the death penalty in Kansas in favor of life in prison without the possibility
of parole. The bill was introduced last February and remains in the House
Committee on Federal and State Affairs.
Rep. Steve Brunk R-Wichita, chairs the committee and said he doesn’t foresee
any action on the bill this year.
“We’ve got a lot of issues before us this session, and so far this hasn’t risen
to the top 10,” Brunk said. “I just don’t see it gaining a lot of traction in
the legislature.”
Strengthening laws on human trafficking has garnered attention as one of this
year’s top crime-fighting priorities, Brunk said. He also expects lawmakers to
focus on the state budget and taxes this session.
“And then there’s the immigration bill du jour,” Brunk said.
Death penalty opponents say capital punishment is a budget issue that could
save the state millions of dollars. Two studies in the past decade show it
costs the state about four times as much to pursue the death penalty as it does
to keep someone in prison for life.
“It’s not just the state, but it costs the county, too,” said Donna Schneweis,
chair of the board for the Kansas Coalition Against the Death Penalty. “The
county bears the brunt of the costs of these prosecutions.”
It also doesn’t deter people from committing heinous crimes, said Stanley Elms.
Elms spent more than 6 years under a death sentence in Kansas after being
convicted of the 1998 rape and murder of Regina Gray. In 2004, a Sedgwick
County judge gave Elms a life sentence in a plea agreement with the state.
“I really don’t feel that it’s a deterrent in any way,” Elms said in an e-mail
from the Hutchinson Correctional Facility. “If it were successful in that
capacity, we wouldn’t have any men or women facing the death penalty.”
When Elms received his life sentence, prosecutors said it was made to end the
decades of waiting on appeals for the victim’s family. Gray’s family said that
they wanted to put the case behind them.
“These cases have effect on families for years, and we are nowhere near
carrying out an execution in Kansas,” Wicks said.
Kansas revived its death penalty law in 1994 but has not carried out an
execution since 1965. Ten men are currently under death sentences in the state.
“They are essentially serving life in prison,” Brunk said. “This bill merely
wants to take the status quo and codify it.” It’s not necessarily the same.
Inmates facing death are kept in isolation cells around the clock. The Kansas
Department of Corrections said it costs $1,000 more per year for those inmates
than it does for those in the general population.
Elms described his life in prison as “busy.” It includes hosting a quarterly
news show called “Behind the Walls” broadcast to inmates via closed circuit
television. He said he’d interviewed supervisors, such as the warden or
director of inmate programs, on what’s happening inside the prison.
“It actually gives me the opportunity to show them that I’m an intelligent
person with ideas and goals instead of just a number and some bunk space,” Elms
said.
Schneweis said the lower costs of keeping prisoners alive should be a priority
in a state strapped for money.
“State governments are now busy revisiting every policy and program to make
sure it’s efficient,” she said. “Somehow this no-stone-unturned does not reach
to the death penalty.”
(source: Wichita Eagle)
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