Jan. 16
VIRGINIA----impending execution
Va. inmate who asked for death set to be executed
When Robert Gleason Jr. walks into Virginia's death chamber Wednesday night and
is strapped into the rarely used electric chair, it will mark the end of a
twisted quest to speed his own death.
Gleason says it's not because he wants to die, but rather because he knows he
will kill again if he's not executed. He was already serving life in prison
when he killed his cellmate then vowed to continue killing unless he was put to
death. When the system wasn't moving fast enough, he strangled another inmate
and warned that the body count would rise if they didn't heed his warnings.
Gleason waived his appeals, and he remains in a legal battle with his former
attorneys as they file last-minute appeals to try to save his life against his
wishes.
"Why prolong it? The end result's gonna be the same," Gleason said from death
row in his thick Boston accent in one of numerous interviews he's given to The
Associated Press over 3 years. "The death part don't bother me. This has been a
long time coming. It's called karma."
Gleason is scheduled to die at 9 p.m. Wednesday at Greensville Correctional
Center in Jarratt. Condemned Virginia inmates can choose between lethal
injection and electrocution, and Gleason is the first inmate to choose
electrocution since 2010.
The unusual choice follows a series of other shocking moves.
Deputies had to use a stun gun on him during a violent outburst in court in
2008 before he pleaded guilty to a shooting death that sent him to prison for
life. Despite there being little evidence against him, Gleason admitted to
shooting Mike Jamerson, whose son was cooperating in a federal investigation
into a methamphetamine ring that Gleason was involved in.
A year later he got so frustrated when prison officials wouldn't move his new,
mentally disturbed cellmate, 63-year-old Harvey Watson Jr., that Gleason
hogtied, beat and strangled the older man. Gleason remained in the cell with
Watson's lifeless body for more than 15 hours before officers discovered the
crime.
"Someone needs to stop it. The only way to stop me is put me on death row," he
told AP at the time, repeating his threats in court on numerous occasions.
While awaiting sentencing at a highly secure prison in the mountains that is
reserved for the state's worst inmates, Gleason strangled 26-year-old Aaron
Cooper through the wire fencing that separated their individual cages on the
recreation yard.
Gleason claims he's killed others - perhaps dozens more - but he has refused to
provide details. He claims he's different from the other men on Virginia's
death row for 1 important reason: he only kills criminals.
Watson was serving life for killing 1 man and injuring 2 others. Cooper was a
carjacker with gang ties.
"I ain't saying I'm a better person for killing criminals, but I've never
killed innocent people," Gleason said. "I killed people that's in the same
lifestyle as me, and they know, hey, these things can happen."
Gleason says he only requested death in order to keep a promise to a loved one
that he wouldn't kill again. He said doing so will allow him to teach his
children, including 2 young sons, what can happen if they follow in his
footsteps.
"I wasn't there as a father and I'm hoping that I can do one last good thing,"
he said. "Hopefully, this is a good thing."
Cooper's mother, Kim Strickland, put aside her religious beliefs in opposition
to the death penalty when Gleason sent her Bible verses that preached an eye
for an eye before his sentencing. She testified that he deserved to die for
killing her son. She is suing the prison system over the death.
"May God have mercy on his soul," Strickland told AP. "I've been praying and
will continue to pray that his family can heal from this ordeal."
Gleason, 42, was born in Lowell, Mass., a proud Yankee who still signs his
letters "Bobby from Boston." After going to art school in North Carolina,
Gleason became an award-winning tattoo artist in shops up and down the East
Coast. He settled down for a while outside of Richmond, owned a tattoo shop and
embraced religion. He later said he was feigning interest in religion to
benefit his tattoo business.
In court papers, attorneys detail his "profoundly disturbed and traumatic life"
marked by abuse as a child and depression and other mental health problems as
an adult. Gleason starting drinking alcohol as a teen and later abused cocaine,
meth and steroids, among other drugs. His long criminal record dates back to
armed robberies as a teen. He looked up to an older brother who died in a
Massachusetts prison during a botched escape attempt.
Attorneys who continue trying to intervene on his behalf claim Gleason is
severely disturbed. They argue his competency has deteriorated over the year
he's been in isolation on death row, and that he suffers from extreme paranoia,
delusional thinking, severe anxiety and other mental afflictions that leave him
with "a nearly overwhelming urge to end his own life."
"...his mental illness is causing him to be suicidal, and he is enlisting the
government's help to end his life," attorney Jon Sheldon wrote in court
documents asking a federal appeals court to require a new competency
evaluation. Two other evaluations deemed Gleason capable of making his own
decisions.
While those closest to Gleason acknowledge he's had a troubled life, they also
describe a man who dressed up as a big, purple dinosaur for his young son's
birthday and comforted him when he was scared of the costume, who organized a
motorcycle run to raise money for a child with cancer and who is fiercely
protective and supportive of those he loved.
"It's a shame," one friend told attorneys of Gleason's death sentence,
according to court papers, "because there's a lot of goodness in him."
But there's no mistaking Gleason's dark side.
Prison and jail officials have intercepted letters and calls in which he either
discussed killing or directly threatened judges, attorneys, jurors and mental
health experts tied to his criminal cases. He told investigators that killing
was "like tying a shoe" or "going to the fridge to get a beer."
Those on both sides of the death penalty debate have seized on Gleason's case
to prove their point.
Death penalty supporters say that keeping Gleason alive puts others at risk.
Opponents of capital punishment argue that the prospect of being executed gave
him incentive to kill Watson and Cooper.
Gleason agrees with death penalty opponents on at least 1 point: that it's
likely individuals feel immense pain during a lethal injection. That's partly
why he chose electrocution.
The other reason: He just can't imagine going out lying down.
"I can't do that," he said. "I'd rather be sitting up."
(source: Associated Press)
PENNSYLVANIA----death row inmate dies
Man on death row in 1988 NW Pa. kidnap-murder dies in prison of natural causes
Officials say a man on death row in the kidnap and murder of a woman in
northwestern Pennsylvania a quarter-century ago has died in prison.
A Department of Corrections spokeswoman says 56-year-old David Copenhefer died
Sunday of natural causes in the state prison in Greene County.
Copenhefer was convicted of killing 37-year-old Sally Weiner near Corry in Erie
County in 1988 after kidnapping her and seeking a ransom from her banker
husband.
He challenged the death sentence, arguing that the trial court paid
insufficient attention to his lack of a prior record, and won a new sentencing
hearing, but a federal appeals panel upheld the sentence last year.
(source: Associated Press)
***************
DA seeks death penalty against alleged killer of Upper Merion 10-month-old
Prosecutors have decided to seek the death penalty against Upper Merion's
Raghunandan Yandamuri over an alleged kidnapping that left 2 dead in October.
District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman filed the paperwork Tuesday morning before
Montgomery County Judge Steven T. O'Neill in the murders of 10-month-old Saanvi
Venna and her grandmother, 61-year-old Satyavathi Venna.
According to the notice of intent, the Commonwealth is seeking the death
penalty against Yandamuri in connection with the 1st- and 2nd-degree murders
with which he is charged. Prosecutors allege Yandamuri went to the victims'
house with the intention of kidnapping the little girl and holding her for
ransom. He told investigators he panicked after the grandmother opened the door
Oct. 22 and a struggle ensued.
"We only seek the death penalty in limited cases, reserving it for the worst of
the worst," said First Assistant District Attorney Kevin R. Steele.
"In this case, we carefully evaluated the evidence before deciding to file the
notice of our intention to seek the death penalty. In the 2 murders of Saanvi
and Satyavathi, there is evidence of a number of aggravating factors including
murder, while the victim was being held for ransom, killing in perpetration of
a felony, multiple murders, murder of a child under (age) 12 and murder of a
witness."
Yandamuri, 26, was arrested and charged on Oct. 26, 2012 and appeared for a
preliminary hearing before Magisterial District Justice James Gallagher in
Bridgeport. During that hearing, a 23-minute videotaped confession was played
in court, showing Yandamuri reenacting the events of that day, wherein he
claims he accidentally slit Satyavathi Venna's throat with a butcher knife.
"I know this is not a small mistake. I had a good job, a good life. I really
feel sorry for what I did," Yandamuri can be heard saying on the tape. He
reportedly knew the victims' family as neighbors in the Marquis Apartments on
West Dekalb Pike in King of Prussia. Like him, the mother and father of Saanvi
were young technology professionals from India.
(source: The Reporter Online)
************************
Death penalty sought in baby, grandmother killings
Prosecutors in Montgomery County confirmed to Action News on Tuesday that they
will seek the death penalty against the man accused of killing a baby, and the
child's grandmother, during a botched kidnapping.
Raghunandan Yandamuri, 26 is charged in the deaths of 10-month-old Saanvi Venna
and 61-year-old Satayvahti Venna.
On videotaped confession, Yandamuri demonstrates how he held the baby in one
arm and fended off her grandmother. He says he accidentally slashed her across
the throat with a kitchen knife, dropped the baby, and then fell on top of her.
Yandamuri then describes how he tried to keep the crying baby quiet by stuffing
a handkerchief in her mouth and securing it with a towel.
"I kept the kerchief in the mouth and I surrounded the head with a towel around
the neck and tied it hard. But I don't know if that was too tight for her," he
said on the video.
He then describes how he stuffed Saanvi into a suitcase and left her in an
unused fitness room in the basement of one of the buildings at the Marquis
Apartments on Route 202 in King of Prussia.
He says he went home and showered and then went to work.
When he arrived back home around 3:30 p.m. Yandamuri says he went to check on
Saanvi and feed her, but she was already dead.
Yandamuri has a gambling problem, and investigators say he was hoping to ransom
Saanvi for $50,000.
Police say Yandamuri joined the candlelight vigils and stood at the family's
side as they pleaded for public help to find their daughter.
(source: WPVI News)
MARYLAND:
O'Malley predicts voters would back death penalty repeal----Governor says death
penalty is expensive, doesn't work
"It would seem to me that especially in tough times, if there's something we're
doing in our government ... that is expensive and does not work, we should stop
doing it," he said.
By putting death penalty repeal on his legislative agenda for the 1st time
since 2009 - when he had to settle for a compromise that left capital
punishment on the books - O'Malley signaled not just a willingness to push for
its passage but also a confidence that he has lined up enough votes to win.
"I believe there is the will in the Senate. I believe there is the will in the
House," he said.
Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller, a supporter of the death penalty, said
Tuesday that he, too, believes there are enough votes to pass a repeal measure
in the Senate. Though he said he would prefer to see the use of the death
penalty expanded, Miller has expressed his intention to allow a vote of the
full Senate on repeal.
"I think we'll have the votes to shut off debate if there's a filibuster,"
Miller said. The Senate president repeated his prediction that if a repeal bill
passes, it would be petitioned to a referendum that would appear on the 2014
ballot.
O'Malley expressed optimism that if faced with the decision, voters would
uphold the legislature. "I don't fear the judgment of the people of Maryland,"
he said.
Speakers at Monday's announcement, including O'Malley, invoked the memory of
the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. during an announcement held on the civil rights
leader's birthday. The governor was joined at the news conference by NAACP
President Benjamin Jealous, Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown, Montgomery County
Executive Isiah "Ike' Leggett and Prince George's County Executive Rushern L.
Baker Jr.
Jealous said winning repeal is a step in the NAACP's goal of eliminating
capital punishment nationwide. He said that when more than half the states have
abolished executions, the group can press the Supreme Court to rule that the
death penalty is "cruel" and "unusual" - language used in the Eighth Amendment
to describe which punishments are prohibited.
"That's how we get from Maryland to Georgia. That's how we get from Maryland to
Texas and Mississippi," Jealous told the crowd in the Senate Judicial
Proceedings hearing room.
Outside the room one of the committee members, Baltimore County Democratic Sen.
James Brochin, vowed to fight death penalty repeal - even if it meant joining
Republicans in a filibuster.
Brochin said the death penalty works well for prosecutors who use the threat of
seeking capital punishment to get defendants to accept sentences of life
without parole.
"Even if it's rarely used, it has to be on the books so it's a bargaining tool
to make sure the worst of the worst never walks the streets again," he said.
(source: Baltimore Sun)
*********************
Martin O'Malley to introduce Maryland death penalty repeal bill
Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley is giving a repeal of his state's death penalty
another shot, announcing on Tuesday that he will file a bill to do away with
the ultimate punishment.
"The death penalty is expensive and it does not work," O'Malley said during a
news conference. "And for that reason alone, I believe we should stop doing
it."
The governor said the state should instead focus on measures that have proven
to reduce crime rates, such as deploying police forces strategically,
collection and use of DNA evidence, and using modern policing technology.
He also tied the abolition of capital punishment to a moral imperative,
pointing out that the U.S. was among the seven countries that oversaw the most
state executions: Iran, China, Iraq, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and the
United States.
"In whose company do we choose to walk forward?" he asked. "Will we be a
society guided by the notion that two wrongs somehow make a right? Or will we
be a society that's guided by the fundamental civil and human rights that we
understand are bestowed on humankind by God?"
O'Malley was flanked by members of the legislative black caucus, county
executives and NAACP officials.
The NAACP has made it a priority to scrap capital punishment in Maryland this
year, with the ultimate goal of abolishing it nationwide.
Opponents of repealing the death penalty argue that it should be kept for the
most serious crimes. Del. Pat McDonough, R-Baltimore and Hartford counties,
said last week that he would introduce 5 bills to require the death penalty in
the cases of mass murder, murder of a law enforcement or corrections officer,
contract murder or serial murder.
O'Malley has long attempted to abolish the state's death penalty, though bills
to do so have languished in committee. Death penalty proponent Senate President
Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr., D-Prince George's and Calvert counties, has said he
would allow a bill onto the floor for a vote if O'Malley has the votes to pass
it.
O'Malley told reporters on Tuesday that he believed there was the will in the
state Senate to pass the repeal.
(soruce: Washington Examiner)
*****************
End Md.'s death penalty; Our view: Lawmakers should not be deterred by a recent
poll showing support for capital punishment and should enact a repeal this year
Today, Gov. Martin O'Malley joins the NAACP and other civil rights groups in an
all-out push to abolish capital punishment in Maryland. Advocates say they
believe they have the votes in both the Senate and House of Delegates, and a
long-standing bottleneck in the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee appears
no longer to be an obstacle to a floor vote on the issue. Given the governor's
commitment to make this legislation part of his agenda, and the turnover in the
Senate since the last major push for a repeal in 2009, the odds for abolishing
capital punishment in Maryland appear better than ever.
What is somewhat incongruous about the timing of this push is that it comes a
few days after the release of new poll data showing that Marylanders, by a
solid margin, do not favor a repeal. An OpinionWorks survey conducted late last
month and early this month found 48 percent opposed to a repeal and 42 percent
in favor. Given the recent success of conservative activists in petitioning
acts of the General Assembly to the ballot, it's fair to ask whether the
governor and other repeal proponents are setting themselves up for failure.
We don't think so. There is strong reason to believe that when Marylanders
think more deeply about the issue - and the alternatives to capital punishment
- that a majority will support the end of a policy that costs too much,
achieves little, and diminishes us as a society.
Support for the death penalty in Maryland is markedly lower than it is
elsewhere - the most recent Gallup poll on the issue found support at 63 %
nationally, a significant drop from a high of 80 % recorded in 1994. But both
Gallup and OpinionWorks asked the question as a straight yes-or-no proposition,
rather than presenting respondents with options. When life without parole is
offered as an alternative in polls, the response nationally and in Maryland is
quite different. A 2010 Washington Post poll found Maryland voters in favor of
the death penalty by a 60-32 margin. But when the paper asked respondents
whether they preferred life without parole or the death penalty as a punishment
for murderers, life in prison won, 49-40.
That corresponds with the way Maryland juries have viewed the issue in recent
years. In 2011, a Harford County jury decided against the death penalty for a
Rosedale man convicted in a contract killing. The next year, an Anne Arundel
County jury opted against the death penalty for a man already serving life in
prison who was convicted of killing a prison guard. In fact, a Maryland jury
has not sentenced anyone to death since 1998. Maryland has executed 5 people
since reinstating capital punishment in 1976 and has five people on death row
now, three of whom were sentenced in 1983. If jurors, who are forced to
confront the gruesome facts of the most heinous murders, choose life without
parole instead of capital punishment, so too will Maryland voters, if they are
given a chance.
The last time the legislature took up this issue, a repeal bill was amended on
the Senate floor to instead tighten the rules for the kinds of evidence
prosecutors need to present in order to pursue the death penalty, with the idea
that by requiring biological evidence like DNA or a videotape of the crime or
of a confession we can eliminate the possibility of executing an innocent
person. That is not enough. Errors are always possible, and such rules don't
begin to address the very real questions of fairness and equity inherent in
Maryland's death penalty, which has suffered from racial and geographic biases
in its application. Nor does it limit the economic costs of all the appeals
necessary to make sure an execution is just.
Maryland has not executed anyone since the Court of Appeals found fault with
the manner in which the state's capital punishment protocol was approved. But a
de facto moratorium is not sufficient. So long as the death penalty remains on
the books, it perverts the criminal justice system into a vehicle for
vengeance.
Replacing the death penalty with a maximum sentence of life without the
possibility of parole serves to protect society and render severe punishment on
those who commit the worst crimes. It is cost-effective, and it provides
finality for the families of murder victims in a way that the death penalty
does not. If our lawmakers pass a repeal and explain it in those terms,
Maryland's voters will support them.
(source: Editorial, Baltimore Sun)
****************
Maryland latest US state to move against death penalty
The governor of the eastern US state of Maryland said Tuesday he will present a
bill to abolish the death penalty.
If the legislation passes, Maryland would become the 18th state in America to
do away with capital punishment. The bill will be formally presented next week.
Governor Martin O'Malley, a Democrat, said pursuing a capital case is three
times as expensive as pursuing a non-death penalty homicide conviction and that
the punishment does not deter crime.
"Every dollar we spend on an ineffective death penalty is a dollar we're not
spending on crime-fighting tools that actually work," O'Malley told a news
conference organized by the NAACP, a venerable advocacy group for
African-Americans.
Maryland has not executed anyone or issued a death penalty conviction since
2005, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. The state has 5
prisoners on death row.
O'Malley 1st came out against the death penalty in 2009, calling it
intrinsically unfair.
He presented a bill that would abolish it, and divert to families of murder
victims the money that would have gone to pursuing death penalty convictions.
But the bill failed to gain passage.
O'Malley said most executions in the world take place in Iran, North Korea,
China, Yemen and the United States, and questioned what company America wanted
to keep on this issue.
Last year Connecticut became the 17th US state to abolish the death penalty.
That raised to 29 the number of states that, either on paper or de facto, have
renounced it, says the DPIC.
(source: Agence France-Presse)
GEORGIA:
Court to hear appeal of conviction in boy's death
A Georgia man is appealing the convictions and death penalty he received for
the 2007 rape and murder of a 6-year-old boy.
The state Supreme Court will hear arguments Wednesday in the appeal of David
Edenfield. He was convicted in 2009 in the death of Christopher Barrios in a
trailer park outside Brunswick.
Edenfield's lawyers argue the trial court shouldn't have allowed incriminating
statements Edenfield made, saying they were improperly obtained. They also say
the judge should have declared a mistrial when the prosecutor called Edenfield
an "animal" during sentencing.
Prosecutors argue Edenfield's statements were correctly obtained and note the
prosecutor apologized for his "animal" remark, and the judge instructed jurors
to disregard it.
The arguments will be held at the University of Georgia School of Law in
Athens.
(source: Associated Press)
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