Feb. 20
OHIO:
Ohio court rejects request to set execution date
The Ohio Supreme Court has rejected a prosecutor's request to set an execution
date for an inmate sentenced to die for slitting a man's throat during a 1985
burglary.
Ross County Prosecutor Matthew Schmidt argued that Lawrence Landrum had
exhausted all state and federal appeals in the killing near Chillicothe.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday sided with attorneys for Landrum who said the
inmate should be allowed to pursue an additional federal appeal based on poor
legal assistance during his trial.
The 51-year-old Landrum argues he couldn't have raised the issue early on
because his trial attorneys also worked on his initial appeals.
Part of Landrum's claim addresses a decision by his lawyers not to call a
witness who would have testified that Landrum's co-defendant killed 84-year-old
Harold White.
(source: Associated Press)
INDIANA:
Victim's family: Teens in crime spree deserve death penalty
Some family members of the murder victim from last week's crime spree say the 2
teens accused in the crimes deserve the death penalty.
"Whatever the court gives to them is not harsh enough for what they've done to
all of us," said Janet Yingling. Her ex-husband, John Yingling, was fatally
shot behind the wheel of his truck while leaving for work last week.
"It doesn't matter whether they're kids or not," Janet said. "They made an
adult choice. Therefore they should pay the adult price."
Janet's daughter, Stacey, also wants the death penalty for the teens.
"If it was their parents, they'd want it too," Stacey said.
Although sentencing a juvenile to the death penalty was deemed unconstitutional
by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2005, the teens accused in the crime spree face
serious penalties.
Sirquain Burr, 17, is already charged as an adult and faces multiple counts,
including murder.
Prosecutors also want Gabriel Edwards, 15, to be charged as an adult.
Fox59 has learned that the Marion County prosecutor will file a petition to
waive Edwards to adult court during his initial hearing in juvenile court
Thursday morning.
Janet said she has heard others expressing sympathy for the teens and their
parents.
She has none.
"I can see it both ways," she said. "I can see their parents because they're
about to lose their son. But my kids lost their father. And there is no going
and visiting him in jail."
Stacey said she's trying to remain positive by remembering good times with her
fun-loving father. But she can also feel her anger through her tears.
"He didn't deserve any of this," she said. "He didn't deserve it at all."
(source: Fox59 News)
ARIZONA:
Jodi Arias trial: Valley attorney weighs in on Arias' self-defense testimony
Jodi Arias spent Wednesday trying to convince jurors she killed Travis
Alexander in self-defense but a Valley attorney said it was not a great day for
her.
"He [Arias' attorney] wanted her to say she feared for her life. She thought in
no uncertain terms that had she not acted against Travis Alexander he would
have killed her at that point in time and he didn't get that out of her the way
he wanted to and without that that makes self-defense real hard," said Brent
Kleinman.
Kleinman added he also noticed a lack of real emotion for Arias while talking
about such a life changing event.
"You're crying for an hour and a half. Your eyes are a little blood shot. It
shows. Her face isn't showing the emotion that she's portraying it to be," said
Kleinman.
Kleinman said Arias needs to show emotion to connect with jurors and for them
to believe her story.
"You would think there would be more sadness, horror, disbelief in what she did
but more it's like the person who says I'm sorry because I got caught not I'm
sorry for what I did," said Kleinman.
Kleinman feels based on how things have gone so far Arias might avoid the death
penalty but he does not think she'll be a free woman anytime soon.
"The cross examination is what's either going to really help or hurt her and
that experts that come after but I don't think not guilty is a possibility in
this trial."
(source: ABC News)
OREGON:
Gary Haugen's arguments against Kitzhaber's execution reprieve outlined in
legal brief
An attorney for death-row inmate Gary Haugen contends that the Oregon Supreme
Court established long ago that an inmate can reject an "act of clemency," such
as the 2011 reprieve granted by Gov. John Kitzhaber that halted Haugen's
execution.
In a brief filed Tuesday, attorney Harrison Latto also said that Kitzhaber's
reprieve is a "ruse" in which the governor is unlawfully suspending Oregon's
capital punishment laws, which he morally opposes. It should be the
legislature, not the governor, who amends or repeals laws, Latto wrote.
The brief comes less than a month before Latto and Kitzhaber's lawyers are to
argue their cases before the Oregon Supreme Court.
In his 76-page brief, Latto argues that the state's highest court has
repeatedly ruled that an inmate can reject an act of clemency. The court clung
to that interpretation, even after the U.S. Supreme Court established a
different standard that found the "public welfare" could trump an inmate's
refusal of an act of clemency, Latto wrote. Kitzhaber has not provided a
compelling argument for the Oregon Supreme Court to reverse its approach, he
said.
In addition, Latto argued that requiring Haugen to live with the uncertainty of
his sentence in order to allow the public to debate the death penalty is
unjustified and violates Haugen's constitutional protection against cruel and
unusual punishment, Latto wrote.
Haugen, a twice-convicted murderer who was sentenced to death in 2007, waived
his legal appeals and prepared for his execution in 2011. But Kitzhaber, citing
his moral opposition to capital punishment, issued a reprieve and declared he
would not allow any executions as long as he was governor.
Haugen, who maintains he has the right to have his sentence carried out, then
challenged Kitzhaber's authority to issue the reprieve. A senior judge agreed
with Haugen's arguments, setting up the governor's appeal. The state Supreme
Court will consider oral arguments on March 14.
(source: The Oregonian)
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