Oct. 9
USA:
Supreme Court debates whether competency can hold up federal appeals in death
penalty cases
The Supreme Court is questioning whether federal judges can delay appeals from
death row inmates while determining whether an inmate is competent enough to
assist in his or her own defense.
Inmates appealing state death sentences have a right to a lawyer in their
federal appeal. But the courts have never said whether inmates have to be
competent enough to help their lawyer.
Lawyers for Arizona death row inmate Ernest Gonzales and Ohio death row inmate
Sean Carter say yes, and federal judges should have discretion to hold up
proceedings until they're ready.
But the federal government and some states argue there should be no delays in
cases when the necessary information can be found state trial records, and say
there should be a time limit in all other instances.
(source: Associated Press)
ARKANSAS:
Arkansas Republicans Distance Themselves From Slavery, Muslim, Child Death
Penalty Comments
Arkansas Republicans are distancing themselves from 2 state legislators and one
legislative candidate who have written in favor of slavery, the deportation of
all Muslims and the institution of the death penalty for rebellious children.
State Republican Party leaders have announced that they will no longer be
offering support to Reps. Jon Hubbard and Loy Mauch, along with former state
Rep. Charlie Fuqua who is seeking a return to the state House.
On Friday, the Arkansas Times reported that Hubbard called slavery "a blessing"
in a 2010 book, while Mauch wrote a series of letters to the editor over the
last decade supporting slavery and opposing former President Abraham Lincoln,
while also organizing an event with a keynote address in favor of Lincoln's
assassin, John Wilkes Booth. Fuqua wrote in a 2012 book that he supports
deporting all Muslims and wants to create a system that would allow parents to
seek judicial consent to kill rebellious children.
Fuqua said over the weekend that he believes his Muslim comments are "fairly
well-accepted by most people." He declined to comment on the death penalty for
children writings when contacted by HuffPost Monday. Fuqua has also written
that he believes that liberals and Christians are the "anti-Christ" and support
a "bloody revolution."
The Associated Press reported that Arkansas Republican Party Chairman Doyle
Webb said the state party will no longer be making future donations to Mauch,
Hubbard and Fuqua, including in-kind contributions. The party has supported the
candidates in the past. U.S. Rep. Tim Griffin (R) has asked each to donate his
$100 contribution to charity. He addressed Mauch's comments, which included
calling Lincoln a "fake neurotic Northern war criminal," and comparing Lincoln
and Civil War generals to Nazis. Griffin described Mauch's comments as
"outrageous to historically inaccurate and anachronistic to downright odd."
U.S. Rep. Steve Womack (R) also distanced himself from the group; his
spokeswoman told HuffPost that he does not agree with or support their views.
Womack donated $250 to each of the 3.
"Offering donations to their campaigns - and to all other Republican candidates
seeking office in the Arkansas Legislature this fall???should not suggest
otherwise," Womack spokeswoman Claire Burghoff said in an email.
A look at campaign donations for the group shows backing for Hubbard and Mauch
from their colleagues, including House Minority Leader Bruce Westerman (R-Hot
Springs), Rep. John Burris (R-Harrison), the former minority leader and others.
Most of the individual legislative donations were between $100 and $250.
Rep. Prissy Hickerson (R-Texarkana) said her $200 donation to Mauch was due to
a friendship the two struck up sitting next to each other on the House floor
and that she does not support his pro-slavery beliefs. She said she will not be
making any donations to Fuqua or Hubbard.
"I don't agree with any of that, of course," Hickerson told HuffPost. "If they
wrote that, then they agreed with it at that time."
Rep. Jane English (R-North Little Rock) had "no comment" about her $100
donation to Mauch. Other legislators who donated could not be immediately
reached.
Benton County Republican Party Chairman Mike Sevak told HuffPost that the
party's $250 donations to Hubbard and Mauch were part of a plan to help GOP
candidates around the state as Republicans try to take control of the Arkansas
Legislature. He said the party is against the comments and is considering
following Griffin in asking the donations be made to charity.
"Those comments are inappropriate and unnecessary," Sevak told HuffPost. "We
were on good faith that we were giving to good candidates."
Sevak said he does not expect the group's comments to hurt Republican chances
in Arkansas this year. He did note his particular dislike of Mauch's comments
regarding Lincoln.
"Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation because he felt all
people were created equally," Sevak said. "I support the Emancipation
Proclamation.
(source: Huffington Post)
PENNSYLVANIA:
Death penalty likely to remain in Williams Township murder trial
A Northampton County judge seemed disinclined to remove the death penalty from
consideration in the murder trial of an Easton woman, but no ruling has been
issued about whether her recorded admission will be allowed as evidence.
Judge Edward Smith all but formally ruled he would not throw out the death
penalty in the case of Elizabeth "Lily" Collazo, a 43-year-old woman accused of
killing the father of her 4 children in the hours before a custody battle.
First Assistant District Attorney Terry Houck announced he would pursue capital
punishment because Collazo allegedly shot a sleeping Mark Werkheiser 6 times in
his Williams Township home in the course of a burglary.
At the beginning of a lengthy trial this morning, defense attorney James
Connell argued the death penalty should be taken off the table because Houck
had not presented enough evidence to prove a theft or burglary occurred. At the
preliminary hearing in April, Corina Werkheiser testified Collazo was not
welcome at the house and a wallet found with a friend of Collazo's had been
with her father just hours before his death.
However, Connell argued Corina Werkheiser was not being truthful and requested
the teenager's younger brothers be allowed to testify to prove it. Houck
opposed the request, arguing it was a veiled attempt by the defense to force
witnesses to testify before the trial.
"To put the children on would just be a crack to get at a commonwealth
witness," Houck protested.
Smith agreed but said such a maneuver was within the rules of law. However, he
found only a jury was allowed to decide if Corina Werkheiser is credible, and
he said he saw no way the boys' testimony could remove her statements. He kept
the boys from testifying, all but ensuring the death penalty will remain as of
the trial.
The death penalty may not be an issue if Smith decides to remove a key piece of
evidence -- an audio recording of Collazo admitting to the murder. Connell
argued Collazo was the only suspect in the murder and police illegally listened
in on a phone conversation between Collazo and her friend Amanda Richline.
Richline agreed to record the conversation without Collazo's knowledge, but
Connell argued the ploy denied Collazo of her constitutional rights. Police
knew she had an attorney, and they should not have spoken to her without
alerting him first, Connel said.
"She should have been given her rights," he told Smith.
Smith pointed out that Supreme Court rulings have repeatedly upheld the police
tactic and that Collazo was not under arrest or in police custody. However, he
ordered Houck and Collazo to present briefs arguing whether the recording
should be allowed at trial.
Smith also begrudgingly delayed the trial until January after repeated requests
by Connell. Although he said his case was ready to move forward, he said that's
not the case for mitigation experts who will argue Collazo does not deserve the
death penalty in the event she is convicted of 1st degree murder. The trial had
been slated for Nov. 5.
The 3-hour long hearing was attended by nearly a dozen family and friends of
Mark Werkheiser, including three of Collazo's children. As deputies led her
from the courtroom, she called out to them over her shoulder, "I love you."
Upset supporters, many of them wearing T-shirts reading "Mark's voice,"
consoled the children and ushered them from the courtroom.
(source: The Express-Times)
************************
Terry Williams Case Highlights the Need For Death Penalty Moratorium
When Common Pleas Court Judge M. Teresa Sarmina stayed the execution of Terry
Williams, she dealt a blow to the death penalty in Pennsylvania. Now the public
has caught a glimpse of prosecutorial misconduct and evidence suppression in
the application of the death penalty, and it isn't pretty.
In her order, Judge Sarmina -- a former prosecutor -- issued a scathing
indictment of the prosecutor in that case for hiding evidence that Amos Norwood
was allegedly, a sexual predator who had molested Williams and other children.
Sarmina said "evidence has plainly been suppressed," and accused former
assistant D.A. Andrea Foulkes of engaging in "gamesmanship" and "playing fast
and loose." The judge also said Foulkes "had no problem disregarding her
ethical obligations" in an attempt to win.
Given these developments, it is baffling that any governor or district attorney
would want to hitch their wagon to the execution of Terry Williams.
The tainting of capital cases -- the handiwork of renegade prosecutors, police
officers and other actors in the criminal justice system -- is part of the
unseemly underbelly of the death penalty.
It is a broken, arbitrary system that discriminates against the poor and people
of color. Over 130 capital convictions have been overturned in the Keystone
state, the highest in the nation. And Pennsylvania's death row population is
nearly 70 % of color, the highest percentage in the U.S., with the city of
Philadelphia providing the bulk of the prisoners.
Executions are barbaric and a violation of international human rights law. And
as Martin Luther King noted, "Capital punishment is against the better judgment
of modern criminology, and, above all, against the highest expression of love
in the nature of God." Moreover, innocent people are most certainly put to
death.
Since 1973, 141 innocent men and women across the U.S. have been released from
death row. They spent an average of 10 years in conditions that can only be
described as torture. Of these, 6 were wrongfully imprisoned on Pennsylvania's
death row. And official misconduct played a role in nearly all of their unjust
convictions.
Nicholas Yarris, who was sentenced to death for the 1981 rape, abduction of
murder of Linda May Craig in Delaware County, spent 22 years on death row
before he was exonerated. His wrongful conviction was secured through perjured
testimony of a jailhouse informant, and the refusal of the prosecution to hand
over twenty pages of documents.
Wrongfully convicted of murdering a Philly mobster and a female companion, Neil
Ferber spent 14 months on death row. He was also the victim of false testimony
from a jailhouse informant, and evidence of his innocence that was not handed
over to his defense.
Harold Wilson, who was sentenced to death for the murder and robbery of 3
people in South Philadelphia, was exonerated through DNA evidence after
spending 17 years in prison. In 2003 a court ruled that the prosecutor in the
original trial had eliminated potential black jurors.
In 2000, William Nieves was acquitted by a Philadelphia jury for a 1992 murder
someone else committed, yet for which he was convicted in 1994. His original
defense lawyer was paid $2,500 and had no experience handling capital cases.
When he was retried, Nieves' new lawyer had access to evidence that had been
withheld from the defense. Nieves died of liver problems in 2005 due to
improper medical treatment while in prison.
Thomas Kimbell was convicted of four murders in 1998, despite no evidence or
eyewitnesses linking him to the crimes. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court
overturned his conviction in 2000 because the trial judge had unfairly excluded
evidence pointing to his innocence. Kimbell was acquitted of all charges after
a retrial in 2002.
Sentenced to die for a 1979 triple murder, Jay C. Smith was released in 1992.
The state's high court found that the D.A. had committed "egregious" misconduct
by withholding crucial evidence.
According to the National Registry of Exonerations -- a database of 973 of the
2,000 criminal exonerations over the past 23 years, including 32 exonerations
in Pennsylvania -- official misconduct was the 2nd most common factor
associated with murder exonerations in America, occurring in 56 % of cases.
Perjury and false accusations were found 64 % of the time, followed by mistaken
witness identification (27 %), false confessions (25 %) and false and
misleading forensic evidence (23 %).
With 200 people condemned to death, Pennsylvania has the fourth largest death
row in America. With no voluntary executions in the state in half a century,
the tragic story of Terry Williams has reopened the debate on capital
punishment. We do not know how many of death row inmates would be free or
serving a lesser sentence, but for an ethically challenged prosecutor who
believed in winning over seeking justice. Given what we know, now is as good a
time as any to shut down Pennsylvania's broken death machine.
(source: David A. Love is the Executive Director of Witness to Innocence, a
national nonprofit organization that empowers exonerated death row prisoners
and their family members to become effective leaders in the movement to abolish
the death penalty; Huffington Post)
*******************
Death penalty sought in Schmeyer slaying
Prosecutors will seek the death penalty for the man accused of fatally shooting
Monica Schmeyer in her Manheim Township home more than 2 1/2 years ago.
Timothy Matthew Jacoby, 39, was formally arraigned Tuesday in York County Court
on charges of 1st-degree murder, burglary, receiving stolen property, illegal
possession of a firearm by a felon and tampering with evidence, according to
court records.
Also Tuesday, revealed they intend to seek the death penalty for Jacoby.
Southwestern Regional police officers responding to a 911 hang-up call found
the 55-year-old Schmeyer dead in her 3414 Trone Road home about 3 p.m. March
31, 2010.
She died of a gunshot wound to the head and suffered other traumatic injuries
during or prior to the attack, police have said.
Nothing appeared to have been taken from the home, located in a secluded wooded
area, according to police.
Reasons cited: In a 2-page death-penalty notice filed Tuesday afternoon, chief
deputy prosecutor Tim Barker cited two aggravating circumstances as to why
Jacoby should receive the death penalty if convicted of 1st-degree murder.
First, Schmeyer was killed during the perpetration of another felony --
burglary, according to the notice.
The 2nd factor is that Jacoby has a "significant" history of felony convictions
"involving the use or threat of violence," according to the filing.
They include a robbery for which he was sentenced in 2006 and a sentencing
earlier this year for being a convicted felon in illegal possession of a gun.
Neither Barker nor defense attorney Brian Perry could immediately be reached
for comment.
The allegations: According to Jacoby's arrest affidavit, witnesses in the area
saw a man fitting his description walking toward Schmeyer's home about the time
of the homicide.
Charging documents don't reveal a motive for the slaying, and officials aren't
talking about what they suspect the motive might be.
"We are being close-lipped about information," Southwestern Regional Police
Chief Greg Bean has said, adding he is not in a position to discuss motive or
other details of the case.
"We want to make sure our (allegations are) complete before we talk about it,"
he said.
District Attorney Tom Kearney has said the investigation is ongoing, and that
motives "are always subject to continued investigation."
Jacoby is friends with the victim's ex-husband, Dr. Jon D. Schmeyer, an
ophthalmologist formerly of Hanover and now of Williamsburg, Va., documents
state.
At Hooter's: At the time Monica Schmeyer was killed, her husband was at
Hooter's restaurant in York with friend Sara Powell, who at the time was
Jacoby's fiancee, according to Jacoby's arrest affidavit.
Powell told investigators Jacoby usually accompanied them, but wasn't there
that day, the affidavit states, and a former Hooter's employee confirmed
previously seeing Jacoby and Jon Schmeyer together at the restaurant. Police
said the men were part of a social group that frequently met at Hooter's.
Jacoby remains in York County Prison without bail on the murder charges.
He's also serving a 4- to 8-year prison sentence for a previous case in which
he was charged with illegal firearm possession and receiving stolen property.
(source: The York Dispatch)
*****************
Johnson sentenced to death in murder of wildlife conservation officer
An Adams County man has been sentenced to death for the murder of a law
enforcement officer, Thursday, in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
The death penalty verdict carries an automatic appeal. Earlier in the week,
Christopher L. Johnson, 29, of Carroll Valley, was found guilty of 1st degree
murder in the Nov. 11, 2010 shooting death of Pennsylvania Wildlife
Conservation Officer David L. Grove, 31, a Waynesboro native. The case against
Johnson was heard by a 12-member jury composed of Lancaster County residents,
who were chosen for the trial that was held in Adams County Court. The change
of venire was granted due to pretrial publicity. That jury deliberated for
about 30 minutes.
The penalty phase of trial began Tuesday afternoon and ended Thursday night
when the jurors returned their recommendation for the death penalty. To find
the death penalty was warranted, the jurors had to determine that the
aggravating circumstances outweighed the mitigating circumstances. One of those
circumstances was Johnson's previous felony conviction.
Throughout the trial, which began the previous week, the prosecution painted a
detailed picture of the shootout that led to Grove's death. Officer Grove
stopped a pickup truck, operated by Johnson, on Schriver Road, near Red Rock
Road, in Freedom Township, Adams County. Grove was investigating a deer
poaching incident, in connection with a poaching incident. Johnson had told
police he fired at Grove because he did not want to go back to prison for
illegally possessing a .45 caliber handgun when he was stopped.
At 10:32 p.m., that night, Officer Grove notified county dispatch that he had
spotted a vehicle that was illegally using a spotlight to see deer. He also
reported to county that he heard shots. Officer Grove pulled the pickup truck
occupied by Johnson and another man and ordered them out of the vehicle. Grove
then ordered Johnson to come to him.
Johnson was also wounded during the ensuing gun battle. On his way for
treatment at York Hospital, Johnson told a state trooper who was accompanying
him that he had been carrying the gun in his waistband. He said that when
Officer Grove attempted to handcuff him, he drew the pistol and the shooting
began. Officer Grove was shot 4 times.
A bullet fired by Officer Grove hit Johnson in the hip. Johnson fled the scene
but was arrested and taken into custody the next day. A total of 15 shell
casings fire from Johnson's weapon were recovered at the scene. The fact that
Johnson had to reload the pistol was another aggravating factor the jury
considered in rendering its decision. Officer Grove fired 10 shots, from his
.357-caliber Glock revolver.
The jury also found Johnson guilty of weapons offenses and game-law violations.
That was another of the aggravating factors reviewed by the jury.
Grove can also appeal the conviction. Johnson has been committed to the State
Correctional Institute at Rockview. Before a death sentence warrant can be
signed by the governor, all of Grove's appeals must be exhausted.
(source: The Examiner)
FLORIDA:
High court rejects appeal from Miami death row inmate slated for execution;
John Errol Ferguson, convicted of murdering 8 people, lost a round Monday
before the Florida Supreme Court, but several other appeals are still pending.
The Florida Supreme Court on Monday denied an appeal aimed at stopping the
execution of convicted Miami mass murderer John Errol Ferguson. Justices upheld
the decision of a Miami-Dade judge who rejected Ferguson's legal claims as
having been filed too late. Ferguson's attorneys are appealing chiefly on the
grounds that he is mentally ill and his execution would be "cruel and unusual
punishment."
For now, according to Gov. Rick Scott's office, Ferguson is scheduled for
execution Oct. 16. However, many separate appeals are still in the works,
including another request for a stay filed Monday afternoon.
The Miami man was convicted in 1978 of the murders of 6 Carol City residents
during a home-invasion robbery. At the time, it was the worst mass murder in
Miami-Dade history.
Ferguson, now 64, also was convicted separately of murdering 2 teenagers,
Belinda Worley, a 17-year-old Hialeah High School senior, and Brian Glenfeldt,
17, in January 1978.
The 2 teens had gone out for ice cream, and Ferguson pretended to be a police
officer when he stopped them. He shot Glenfeldt to death and raped and murdered
Worley, and stole her class ring.
His lawyers had asked for a hearing to determine his competency. Miami-Dade
Circuit Judge Nushin Sayfie, while saying Ferguson "undoubtedly suffers from
mental illness," denied the request as "untimely."
The battle over Ferguson's mental health is not over yet.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, Ferguson's lawyers will present evidence of his
mental health to a judge in Bradford County, where the execution is set to take
place.
According to his lawyers, Ferguson's mind is so ravaged that he regularly
"communicates" with his dead father and is tormented by "delusions and
hallucinations." Ferguson suffered a tumultuous home life and was shot in the
head as a young man, according to his Washington, D.C.-based defense lawyer
Christopher Handman.
Ferguson's attorneys have also filed a civil lawsuit in federal court
challenging Florida???s use of lethal injection.
(source: Miami Herald)
******************
Florida Justices Deny Death Row Inmate's Appeal
This month's execution of a convicted murderer will continue as planned after
the Florida Supreme Court ruled that a judge properly denied a mental
competency hearing.
The justices unanimously denied the appeal Monday from 64-year-old John Errol
Ferguson, a convicted mass killer scheduled for execution on Oct. 16th.
Circuit Judge Nushin Sayfie of Miami acknowledged Ferguson "undoubtedly suffers
from mental illness" but ruled he waited too long to ask for a clemency
hearing.
The high court agreed in an unsigned opinion.
It rejected other issues raised by Ferguson's lawyers after finding they, too,
were untimely filed.
Ferguson was convicted of killing 6 people in a 1977 drug-related,
execution-style mass killing in Carol City. He also was convicted of killing 2
Hialeah teenagers on their way to a church meeting in 1978.
(source: CBS News)
NEBRASKA:
Nebraskans Against Death Penalty Event Coming Up
Victoria Coward will give the keynote address at the annual gathering of
Nebraskans Against the Death Penalty on October 11th in Lincoln.
Coward's son, Tyler, was murdered in a park near their home in New Haven,
Connecticut. Victoria became an outspoken advocate against the death penalty
and participated in the successful effort to abolish it in early 2012 in
Connecticut.
Coward will join NADP as they honor Nebraska Senator Danielle Conrad for her
leadership in the legislature on efforts against the death penalty.
The death penalty has been losing favor across the country. When Connecticut
acted last spring, it became the fifth state in five years to repeal the death
penalty and replace it with life without the possibility of parole.
In 2007, the Nebraska Unicameral came within 1 vote of approving repeal.
Executions are currently on hold as the State attempts to remedy seemingly
innumerable problems with its protocols for carrying out an execution.
The event will take place at Beacon Hills at Country Inn and Suites, 5353 North
27th Street in Lincoln, and run from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on October 11th.
Tickets are available at www.nadp.net.
(source: nebraska.tv)
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