Nov. 2
FLORIDA:
Jurors hear testimony in death penalty case for 2007 murder
Only hours after a jury began weighing the death penalty for convicted rapist
and murderer Kenneth Ray Jackson, one juror told the judge she was overcome
emotionally and begged to be excused. Testimony about Jackson's learning
disabilities as a child reminded her too much of her youngest son. She couldn't
take any more.
Voting for life or death is something no one can prepare for. The remaining 13
- 12 jurors and 1 alternate - began hearing a history of Jackson's entire life
Thursday to help them decide. Today, they'll give their recommendation.
A week ago, they convicted him of the 2007 rape and murder of Cuc Thu Tran, 50,
a Seffner mother of 3 whom Jackson attacked as she jogged past the St. Francis
of Assisi Catholic Church near her mobile home before dawn. He raped and
fatally stabbed her there, then drove her body to Gibsonton in a stolen van,
where he set the van on fire. On Tuesday, Assistant State Attorney Scott Harmon
told jurors that Jackson had planned every part, learned her jogging schedule,
stolen the van because it had sliding doors and killed her because she lived
near him and could identify him. Under the law, his actions met a required
aggravating factor for the death penalty - "cold, calculated, premeditated
murder."
Jackson's actions, Harmon said, met another aggravating factor - "heinous,
atrocious and cruel."
But Assistant Public Defender Charles Traina said that how Jackson got that way
- how he grew up to become a sexual predator and killer - was why he deserved a
life sentence rather than death.
The defense presented teachers who taught Jackson almost 2 decades ago and
psychologists to portray him as a friendless child abandoned by his mother,
raised by a grandmother who set no boundaries - a wild, unreachable boy who
eventually formed a full-blown antisocial personality disorder.
Rosemary Borden, his 5th-grade teacher in Gibsonton, remembered him as "the
only student I ever had to Baker Act." She said he was taken to a crisis center
after drawing a stick figure lying on a road. He wrote underneath "Kenny is
dead. Kenny will die."
This was a boy, she said, who had come from Texas where he had been labeled
emotionally disturbed and could read only on a first-grade level. He had an IQ
of 75.
Psychologist Yolanda Leon, testifying for the defense, said Jackson told her
he'd been "tortured" as a child by being ordered to strike a wood post with a
baseball hat until his hands went numb.
She said he told her he had smoked marijuana since age 5.
But prosecutor Harmon suggested Jackson exaggerated stories of abuse. He said
Jackson's grandmother loved him, and his mother stayed in his life.
Testimony concludes today. Then the jury will vote on a recommendation to
Hillsborough Circuit Judge William Fuente. Their vote needn't be unanimous. By
law, Fuente is required to give it "great weight."
(source: Tampa Bay Times)
LOUISIANA:
Cope jury can't agree on life or death penalty; Defense witnesses note Cope
struggled with school, weight, tasks that required focus
A Caddo District Court jury reported before 7 p.m. that it couldn't agree on a
sentence -- life behind bars or the death penalty -- for Christopher Cope who
was convicted Tuesday of killing a Shreveport police officer.
District Judge Mike Pitman instructed the jury to try again and ordered dinner
for them. The jury, which took 2 hours to convict Cope, had been deliberating
on his sentence for just under 3 hours.
The 2nd day of the penalty phase in the Christopher Cope murder trial opened
with defense testimony from the convicted man's father, a cousin and long-time
friend.
The collective picture they painted was of a young man who had struggled with
school, needed constant reminders about the task at hand and been an outcast
because of his weight.
In their closing arguments, prosecutors said Cope wasn't insane, had suffered
no trauma and, because his father had been a police officer, knew where to
shoot Sgt. Tim Prunty to avoid hitting his bullet-proof vest.
The jury of 10 women and 2 men must decide if the 26-year-old will face the
death penalty or life in prison for shooting to death Prunty outside a
convenience store in 2010. Cope, convicted after 2 hours of jury deliberation
Tuesday, had pulled up to the store in his car and then opened fire on the
officer, hitting the 19-year police veteran 5 times. Wednesday's testimony put
on by the prosecution offered emotional recollections by those close to Prunty,
including Police Chief Willie Shaw.
Cope is the son of former Shreveport police captain, Carl Cope, who told the
Caddo District courtroom that he was watching a Sunday TV news report when he
learned of his son's arrest in the Oct. 24, 2010. The retired police officer
said his feelings had been hurt that none of his friends on the force had
called him to let him know about his son's arrest.
Reviewing a series of photos of his son as a child, the elder Cope said
Christopher appeared to be a happy child, though the photos did show a steady
weight gain over the years. He said Chris had to repeat the 7th grade 3 times,
the last time attending a campus with a program for the developmentally
disabled. Previous testimony noted that the convicted killer had an IQ of 77.
His father said Cope also had attention deficit disorder.
Carl Cope said he and Chris sometimes worked on cars together but needed close
supervision for anything beyond changing the oil or replacing spark plugs. The
father, who served on the force in the 1970s and 1980s related his own
experience in a fatal shooting. He had been shot in an on-duty incident. The
incident saddened him, he said, but he was able to move on because the shooting
was in the line of duty. The elder Cope also noted that 2 of his children had
died as infants, only a few days after their births.
Cope's cousin, Kyle Triplett, told the court that he and Chris had both been
something of outcasts in school. Triplett had been short for his age and Chris
was overweight. Both struggled academically and Chris always supportive anytime
Triplett failed in school work.
Chase Crowder, a U.S. Army veteran, recalled how his friend, Christopher Cope,
had been supportive whenever Crowder had spoken of losing friends in the
Afghanistan war.
In the afternoon, another cousin, Lloyd Triplett, 51, spent an emotional time
on the stand, recalling his closeness with Cope and their occasional hunting
trips together. Triplett also noted that he and the victim had been in a
martial arts class together, particularly recalling Prunty's sense of humor.
Cope's 2nd grade teacher, Rhonda Barr, also took the stand, recalling how she
made a conscious decision to use positive reinforcement rather than punishment
to boost the withdrawn student's performance. She remembers being surprised
when Cope was one of the students who accepted an invitation to attend her
wedding.
(source: KTBS News)
OKLAHOMA:
Closing arguments set in Okla. death penalty case
An Oklahoma jury is deciding whether to impose the death penalty or life in
prison on a 30-year-old man who has been convicted of killing a woman and her 2
children.
A 12-member McClain County jury began deliberating a sentence Friday in the
trial of Shaun Michael Bosse of Blanchard.
The same jury convicted Bosse of arson and counts of 1st-degree murder in the
2010 deaths of 25-year-old Katrina Griffin and her children, 8-year-old
Christian Griffin and 6-year-old Chasity Hammer.
The victims were killed in a fire at their mobile home in Dibble.
Defense attorney Gary Henry told the jury the death penalty would not bring the
victims back to life.
District Attorney Greg Mashburn says Bosse deserves to suffer the consequences
of his actions.
(source: Associated Press)
ALABAMA:
Death row inmate Jason Sharp, convicted in 1999 Madison County slaying, to get
new case review
The Alabama Supreme Court wants the state's criminal appeals court to take
another look at the case of Jason Sharp, who is on death row after being
convicted of the 1999 rape and murder of Tracy Morris.
The case took years to go to trial before Sharp was convicted in 2006.
The appeals process has bounced back and forth from various Alabama courts
since Sharp's lawyers alleged prosecutors improperly struck black would-be
jurors from the jury pool.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that prosecutors must have race-neutral
reasons for striking jurors. Both Sharp and Morris are white.
The state's high court today denied a request by the State of Alabama to
reconsider its order from last month, directing the Alabama Court of Criminal
Appeals to allow Sharp's attorneys and the state to file new briefs on the
issue of whether Sharp received a fair trial.
The dispute centers the complaint by Sharp's attorneys that the prosecution
improperly struck all but two of 13 potential jurors who were African American.
The defense struck the other 2 black potential jurors.
In December 2009, the Alabama Supreme Court overturned the conviction and
ordered a hearing before Circuit Judge Laura Hamilton, who presided over
Sharp's trial. The court required prosecutors to spell out their reasons for
striking black jurors. If the prosecution, led by Madison County District
Attorney Rob Broussard failed to persuade the trial court that the juror
strikes were proper, Sharp would be entitled to a new trial.
The hearing was held and Hamilton ruled in June 2010 that prosecutors did not
discriminate in picking a jury. The prosecution had argued a number of the
black potential jurors said they opposed or would be reluctant to impose the
death penalty, or didn't appear to have the professional or social
"sophistication" to comprehend technical DNA evidence.
Broussard said he struck twice as many white potential jurors based on the DNA
issue and has insisted there was no discrimination in the Sharp case.
The sophistication argument was ridiculed by the defense for appearing to
suggest the jurors weren't intelligent enough. And in one instance, a woman
with a bachelor's degree from Alabama A&M University was excluded, the defense
argued, but two white jurors with no college education did make the jury.
The case took another turn in February 2011, when the Alabama Court of Criminal
Appeals ruled that the prosecution had discriminated against the black members
of the jury pool and said Sharp was entitled to a new trial.
But in February of this year, the same court, though with a slightly different
make-up, reversed its decision from the previous year and said prosecutors did
not discriminate.
That ruling was appealed by Sharp's lawyers to the Alabama Supreme Court. The
court ruled Oct. 18, that the lower court must let the 2 sides provide briefs
to the appeals court on the issue of whether Hamilton's ruling was correct that
the prosecution did not discriminate against members of the jury pool.
(source: The Huntsville Times)
NORTH CAROLINA:
DA to seek death penalty in two Marshville-area cases
The Union County District Attorney said he will seek the death penalty in 2
unrelated cases - a triple homicide and a double homicide that occurred near
Marshville over the summer.
District Attorney Trey Robison made that disclosure this week during separate
"Rule 24" conferences for Randall Hank Morrison, 24, and Bradrick Layne Wolfe,
49.
Morrison is charged in the July 7 triple homicide. Wolfe is charged with
killing his father-in-law and brother-in-law Aug. 21.
Those 2 crimes - along with the still-unsolved killing of Charles Ronald
Godwin, 60, on Aug. 30 - left 6 homicide victims over the summer around the
Marshville area in eastern Union County.
While the cases were unrelated, the crimes unsettled the community. Authorities
said they could not recall another time where there were as many homicide
victims in proximity with each other and in a relatively short time.
One of the biggest homicide investigations in county history was launched after
Morrison told authorities he had discovered 3 bodies at his next door
neighbor's house.
Authorities said the victims - Ronnie Dale Overcash, 46, his live-in
girlfriend, Crystal Dawn Hicks, 38, and Jerry Wayne Marsh, 61 - were all killed
with a knife and a shotgun at Overcash's home in the 1000 block of Landsford
Road. Less than a week later, Morrison was arrested.
A neighbor said Morrison and Overcash's friendship ended when Morrison's dog
killed Overcash's cat, although authorities have not commented on a possible
motive in the case.
In the other case, David Lee Bass, 57, and David Clay Bass, 39, were found dead
outside their home in the 3300 block of Lanesboro Road.
Wolfe was demanding that his wife let him see his children, who were in the
home when the killings occurred, authorities have said.
Both Wolfe and Morrison remain in Union County jail without bail.
Robison said it is too early to predict when the cases could come to trial.
(source: Charlotte Observer)
OHIO:
Ohio opposes condemned killer's delay request
Ohio is asking a judge to deny a condemned killer's request to delay his
upcoming execution over allegations that the state continues to deviate from
its written execution policies.
The Office of Attorney General Mike DeWine says death row inmate Brett Hartman
hasn't provided any proof he's at risk for severe pain during his Nov. 13
execution.
DeWine's office said in a court filing Wednesday that Hartman also hasn't
provided evidence that any alleged changes to the state's written procedures
would cause him suffering.
Hartman argued last month without giving examples that the state altered its
procedures during April and September executions.
The 38-year-old Hartman was sentenced to die for the Sept. 9, 1997, slaying of
46-year-old Winda Snipes of Akron.
(source: Associated Press)
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