Sept. 22
TEXAS----impending executions
Man set to die next week in Texas loses appeal
A federal appeals court has refused to stop next week's scheduled
execution of a former Army recruiter convicted in the rape-slaying of a
woman in Fort Worth more than 10 years ago.
Cleve Foster is set to die Tuesday in Huntsville for the death of a
30-year-old Sudanese woman known as Mary Pal. Her body was found in a
Tarrant County ditch. She'd been shot in the head.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Friday rejected appeals to delay the
punishment. Foster's lawyers contended he's innocent and had poor legal
help at his trial and in earlier appeals. They say they'll now go to the
U.S. Supreme Court, which has stopped his execution three previous times.
A 2nd man condemned for the slaying died of cancer in 2010.
(source: Associated Press)
***************
Stop the Execution of Anthony Haynes in Texas
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/siteapps/advocacy/ActionItem.aspx?c=6oJCLQPAJiJUG&b=6645049&aid=518893
(source: Amnesty International USA)
MISSISSIPPI:
Judge adds 185 years to Cox's death-penalty sentence for wife's murder
"Kim got justice," her mother said after a Union County jury sentenced
David Neal Cox Sr. to death for her 2010 murder.
Cox stood ramrod straight in the courtroom as Judge John Gregory set his
execution date for Nov. 26, 2012.
But it's not likely to happen then because automatic appeals begin.
After the 12-member jury exited the room, Gregory sentenced Cox to 185
years on seven other charges from kidnappings and sexual assaults to
shooting into an occupied building. The time will run consecutively.
In effect, even if Cox somehow beats the death penalty sentence, he will
spend the rest of his life in prison.
Kim's mother, Melody Kirk, also said she wasn't quite sure how she felt as
her family's personal nightmare closed in court.
District Attorney Ben Creekmore said he was satisfied with the only
correct sentence the jury could reach.
Cox's sister wept as she embraced Kim's mother and father. "I'm so sorry,"
she said as tears streamed down her face.
(source: NE Mississippi Journal)
PENNSYLVANIA:
Adams death-penalty trial starts Monday ---- Carroll Valley man faces
death penalty in the shooting death of a wildlife conservation officer.
Both the prosecution and the defense have spent close to 2 years building
their cases.
An out-of-town jury was selected, many witnesses and experts will be
brought in to testify, and the fate of a man accused of killing a wildlife
conservation officer on a November night in 2010 will be decided.
The trial of Christopher L. Johnson, 29, of Carroll Valley, is scheduled
to start Monday morning in Adams County court.
Johnson faces the death penalty for allegedly shooting and killing
Wildlife Conservation Officer David L. Grove after he pulled him over on
suspicion of illegally shooting a deer.
Adams County District Court Administrator Donald Fennimore said this will
be the 1st death penalty trial in Adams County since 1999 when Edward
Siebor III faced charges in the murders of Phillip Hoover, and his wife,
Rachel.
Capital trials are never an easy thing for anyone involved, especially,
perhaps, the jury.
"The jury has the unenviable task of deciding 'does he get life or
death?'" said University of Pittsburgh law professor John Burkoff. "It's
almost always traumatic, and they are almost always tragic. And it's
almost always sad, too."
Death penalty trials
Death-penalty trials come in 2 phases - the guilt phase and the
capital-sentencing hearing.
Burkoff explained that the guilt phase is conducted like a typical trial.
The prosecution lays out its case before a jury, then the defense gets a
chance to present its side.
After the parties make their closing arguments, the jury deliberates, and
comes to a unanimous verdict of either "guilty" or "not guilty."
But in death-penalty trials in which the jury comes back with a guilty
verdict, the case enters a capital sentencing hearing in which a different
defense attorney has a chance to present mitigating evidence to the jury,
explaining why the now-convicted defendant committed the crime, Burkoff
said.
This phase can include testimony from family members, clergymen, former
teachers, friends and anyone who knew the defendant well, and can help the
defense outline the circumstances of the defendant's past that Burkoff
said do not excuse his actions, but may help explain them. Testimony could
cover childhood traumas, addictions or psychological problems that did not
give rise to a good insanity defense.
"Even when we have a defendant who is clearly guilty, and clearly deserves
severe punishment, it's often the case we see the factors in his life that
led him to do it," Burkoff said.
The prosecution has a chance to counter those mitigating circumstances by
laying out the aggravating factors that led to the death penalty being
sought in the 1st place.
Then it's in the hands the jury, who must unanimously decide whether to
impose the death penalty. They have only 2 options - death, or life in
prison without the possibility of parole.
"It's pretty awful to be picked as a juror, then have to decide if someone
lives or dies," Burkoff said. "It's a tough burden to place on ordinary
people.
The Johnson case
Johnson is accused of shooting and killing Grove on Nov. 11, 2010.
According to court documents, Grove pulled over Johnson's vehicle on
Schriver Road on suspicion Johnson had illegally shot a deer. Johnson
allegedly told his passenger, Ryan Laumann, of Fairfield, that it was
illegal for him to carry a gun because he was a felon, and he did not want
to go Grove to jail again.
Johnson got out of the truck, and exchanged fire with Grove, who was
pronounced dead at the scene, court documents indicate.
Johnson, who was wounded, fled, dropping off Laumann along the way.
Following a nightlong manhunt, Johnson was arrested the next morning on a
trail off Orrtanna Road.
Johnson faces charges of murder in the 1st and 3rd degrees, persons not to
possess firearms, flight to avoid apprehension, firearms not to be carried
without a license, possessing an instrument of crime, resisting or
interfering with an officer, unlawful use of lights while hunting, and
unlawful taking of big game.
Judge Michael A. George is presiding over the case. He issued an order
this week limiting the number of members of the public who can watch the
trial. Each morning at 8 a.m., 42 public passes will be made available.
Additionally, President Judge John D. Kuhn banned firearms, with limited
exceptions, from the courthouse.
Fennimore said the trial is slated to last two weeks, but the court is
prepared if it goes longer.
The last death penalty trial
Often in death-penalty cases, a plea agreement is reached just short of
trial, or sometimes in the middle of it, which Burkoff said could be an
ideal situation for both sides.
"The defense counsel is in a situation where they would be saving their
client's life, and the prosecutor would be guaranteeing a conviction and
guaranteeing this defendant never sees the light of day outside of prison
ever again," Burkoff said.
That's what happened in Adams County's last death penalty trial.
In that case, Fennimore said, the death penalty trial began for Edward
Siebor III in 1999, but Siebor took a plea before the trial concluded.
Siebor and his brother, Joseph Siebor, pleaded guilty to murdering an
Abbottstown couple at the couple's home in 1994. Their arrests came 5
years after the murders.
Though the death penalty can be sought by prosecutors in first-degree
murder cases, no one has been executed in Pennsylvania since 1999.
The last case heard in Adams County resulting in execution was a
half-century ago, when the Montgomery County homicide case against Elmo
Smith was moved to Adams County. Smith was convicted of the 1959 brutal
rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl, and was executed in the electric
chair in 1962.
(source: The Evening Sun)
************************
Radio Smart Talk: Capital punishment and the Terrance Williams case
Convicted murderer Terrance "Terry" Williams is the 1st man set to be
executed in Pennsylvania in 13 years. But his lawyers are trying to save
the 46-year-old man's life just ahead of his October 3rd execution date.
Last week, the state Board of Pardons voted 3-2 to recommend Governor
Corbett to grant clemency to Williams. The decision fell short of the
unanimous vote needed for the Governor to do so. So, in a last attempt to
save their client from being executed next month, Williams' attorneys are
asking the board to reconsider its decision.
But there are several issues complicating the case. Allegations are
swirling that Williams, who has been convicted of killing 2 men in 1984,
was sexually abused by one of his victims as a boy. There are also
questions regarding the withholding of evidence at his 1986 trial.
On Monday's Radio Smart Talk, we'll talk about the case and the treatment
of capital offenders in Pennsylvania. Criminal defense attorney Jules
Epstein from Widener Law will join the conversation. Epstein has
represented several death row inmates in Pennsylvania and teaches courses
on criminal law and evidence.
Spero Lappas, an attorney and Pennsylvanians for Alternatives to the Death
Penalty board member, will also serve as a guest.
(source: WITF)
MISSOURI:
Reggie Clemons Hearing: More To Come
The Special Master hearing to review the Reggie Clemons case was halted on
Thursday, but with more testimony and legal filings to come. In fact, the
Special Master process looks to continue well into next year. Given what's
at stake, and given the troubling nature of the case, taking more time is
not a bad thing.
The allegations of police brutality and prosecutorial misconduct which
feature prominently in Amnesty International's report on the case were
highlighted during the hearing. The alleged police abuse of Clemons, and
the similar abuse of the state�s star witness Tom Cummins � acknowledged
by a $150,000 settlement � are particularly disturbing and call into
question the fairness of the investigation and prosecution in this case.
DNA testing, which the state argued connected one of the co-defendants to
the crime, took center stage on Thursday, while Monday and Wednesday
(there were no witnesses heard on Tuesday), the treatment of Reggie
Clemons in police custody, and the prosecutor�s apparent editing of Tom
Cummins' statement to police, were featured.
As this process moves forward, with depositions and legal briefs, and
perhaps closing arguments later this year, this review of the problematic
investigation and prosecution of Reggie Clemons, and the doubt and
confusion those problems have caused, will continue to provide a good
example of why the irreversible punishment of death should have no place
in our imperfect criminal justice system.
(source: Brian Evans, Amnesty International USA blog)
*********************
Reggie Clemons: a final chance to save his lifeClemons, who has spent
almost 20 years on death row, makes last-ditch effort to clear his name
over murder of sisters in 1991
After almost 2 decades on death row, a scheduled execution date that
brought him within 12 days of death by lethal injection, and multiple
appeals and petitions, Reggie Clemons this week was given his final chance
to save his own life.
Over 4 dramatic days of testimony, a courtroom in St Louis packed with
relatives and friends of both the prisoner and his two alleged victims was
taken on a legal white-knuckle ride. The court heard conflicting evidence
that damages Clemons' hopes of proving his innocence but also supports his
contention that he was sentenced to death as a result of an unfair trial.
Clemons' efforts to clear his name emerged battered from the four-day
hearing after he was warned by the presiding judge, Michael Manners, that
his refusal to answer questions about what happened at the crime scene 21
years ago would work against him. Clemons pleaded the 5th amendment in
response to 29 questions, but was told by the judge that the
constitutional safeguard against self-incrimination that the amendment
affords would not protect him in this case.
Clemons was convicted along with 3 other co-defendants of the April 1991
murder of 2 young sisters, Julie and Robin Kerry. The 4 were accused of
raping the women, then pushing them off the disused Chain of Rocks bridge
over the Mississippi river where they drowned.
Clemons, now 41, has always pleaded his innocence. In an interview with
the Guardian conducted in prison several months ago, he said: "I know, and
God knows I'm not a rapist. I know I'm not a murderer or a killer. I know
that I didn't do any of these things. I know I'm innocent."
Clemons was scheduled to be executed in 2009, but was spared death on that
occasion less than two weeks beforehand in a dispute over the lethal
injection drugs that were to be used. Soon after, the Missouri supreme
court agreed to grant him one last special review of his death sentence
after new evidence emerged that supported Clemons' claim that the
confession he had made in 1991 to raping one of the sisters had been
beaten out of him.
The new evidence involved the revelation that the star prosecution witness
in Clemons' trial � Thomas Cummins, a cousin of the Kerry sisters who had
been on the bridge with them that night � had received a payment of
$150,000 to settle a dispute with St Louis police. Cummins had claimed the
police had beaten a confession out of him, in terms that were remarkably
similar to Reggie Clemons's account of his alleged forced confession.
Clemons' lead lawyer, Josh Levine, argued in opening statements that there
had been "craven violations" of the legal process by police and
prosecutors. "Reggie did not receive a fair trial, and a death sentence is
not appropriate in this case � his death sentence should be set aside and
he should receive a new trial."
But when the Missouri attorney general's office came to defend the death
sentence, the tide turned against Clemons. After taking the stand, Clemons
initially denied that he had killed the women or taken part in any plan to
do so.
But then, when he was bombarded with a further 32 searing questions about
what happened on the bridge that night, he refused to answer. The
questions included: "Is it true the girls were fighting when they were
being raped?"; "Did you rape both girls or only one?"; "Did you throw the
girls' clothes off the bridge?"; "Did you say afterwards 'Let's go, we
threw them off'?"
After each question, Clemons said: "On advice of my counsel, I plead the
5th."
Only after Manners had cautioned him to think carefully about what he was
doing did Clemons return to the stand and answer 3 of the questions,
denying that he had prevented the sisters from escaping from under the
bridge before they were allegedly pushed in the water by his cousin
Antonio Richardson.
New DNA evidence was also presented by the DA's office � evidence that
was inconclusive in regard to Clemons but that implicated Marlin Gray, one
of his co-defendants who was executed in 2005. DNA traces that under
testing were deemed "very likely" to have come from one of the Kerry
sisters were discovered both on a used condom found on the bridge, and on
stains on Gray's trousers and underpants.
The 2 other defendants in the case were Richardson, whose initial death
sentence was commuted to life without parole, and Daniel Winfrey, the only
white member of the group of 4, who pleaded guilty in a deal with
prosecutors and was then released on parole in 2007.
Though aspects of the hearing were problematic for Clemons in his bid to
avoid the death chamber, evidence presented to the judge also proved to be
highly embarrassing for the Missouri authorities. The court heard of
alleged flagrant procedural abuses by the prosecuting authorities that
raise fundamental questions about the application of the death penalty in
modern America.
Clemons' mother, Vera Thomas, testified that when police turned up at her
house to arrest her son, they advised her that there was no need for him
to have a lawyer, even though he was facing interrogation over a double
murder. The judge also heard that the chief prosecutor, Nels Moss, had
attempted to have crucial police records altered, scrawling in his own
handwriting proposed revisions to an official report of an interview with
a key witness in which he had not participated.
Moss also admitted under questioning that either senior police detectives
involved in the case, or Thomas Cummins, the prosecution's star witness,
must have lied under oath at the Reggie Clemons trial. During the trial,
Cummins told the jury that he had been beaten by police in the hours
following the death of his cousins, at a time when he was the prime
suspect.
The allegation that they treated him brutally in order to get him to
confess � a charge that Clemons also made � was flatly denied by
detectives. Moss conceded that Cummins and the detectives could not have
both been telling the truth.
The emotional impact of such powerful evidence was palpable in the
courtroom. Along with Reggie Clemons's mother was Ginny Kenny, the mother
of the 2 sisters, and a grandmother of Marlin Gray.
Ginny Kerry, who broke down while opening statements were read, spoke to
the Guardian during the hearing. She expressed her anger that more than 20
years after she lost her children she was still having to listen to what
she called Clemons' lies.
"He confessed to killing my children 21 years ago, and now it's all about
'poor Reggie'. Gee, I wonder if my kids were hurting when they were being
beaten and raped, their clothes being torn off of them in the cold night
by strange, horrible men."
Kerry added: "He needs to be executed. He executed my children, did he
not?"
The wider family of the 2 victims, including their sister Jamie Kerry,
also put out an angry and passionate statement in which they accused
Clemons of engaging in "elaborate distractions" and blamed the news media
for being "such malleable and wilful participants in this charade".
The ultimate decision on whether Clemons will live or die is probably
still months away. It will be taken by the Missouri supreme court, acting
with the benefit of the recommendation that Manners will produce. The
judge has asked both sets of legal teams to present him with final written
pleadings by 1 December.
Manners' recommendation could run the full gamut of legal options. He
could make the case for Clemons to be freed outright, a new trial,
commutation of his sentence to life, or his return to death row pending an
execution that would then almost certainly go ahead.
(source: The Guardian)
ALABAMA:
Convicted killer sentenced to death
An Alabama judge has overturned a jury's recommendation and sentenced a
convicted killer to the death penalty.
Judge Jacob Walker overturned the jury's recommendation and sentenced
Gregory Lance Henderson to death by lethal injection Thursday in the Lee
County Circuit Court.
In October 2011, a jury convicted Henderson in the capital murder of Lee
County Sheriff's Deputy James Anderson and in a 9-to-3 vote recommended
life with parole.
Henderson ran over Deputy Anderson with his car during a routine traffic
stop in 2009.
"It is something we in the law enforcement community felt it was an
appropriate sentence based on the crime. It is never acceptable in our
society for someone to deliberately take the life of a law enforcement
officer in the performance of his or her duties," expressed Lee County
Sheriff Jay Jones.
This was Henderson's 2nd hearing in regards to sentencing. The 1st was
delayed due to the finding of phone recordings made by Henderson in the
Russell County Jail. These recordings apparently showed Henderson's lack
of remorse and violent tendencies.
"My 1st thoughts are with the family, James' widow and his 2 children.
They have been 3 years, as of Monday, for justice in this case and it came
in the form of sentence to death," says Jones.
After the verdict was read, Henderson was immediately transported to the
Holman prison in Atmore, Alabama where he currently sits
(source: WTVM)
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