Feb. 21
TEXAS----execution
Texas executes man who lit ex-girlfriend on fire
A man convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend by dousing her with gasoline and
setting her on fire was executed in Texas on Thursday after the U.S. Supreme
Court refused his final appeal.
Carl Blue, 48, was condemned to die for attacking Carmen Richards-Sanders at
her apartment in Bryan, about 100 miles northwest of Houston, in September
1994. He also tossed gasoline on a man in the apartment, but the man survived
and testified against Blue.
Blue claimed it was a prank gone wrong, but prosecutors said it was an
intentional attack sparked by jealously.
In his final statement, Blue greeted his victim's daughter, Terrella Richards,
as she entered the death chamber viewing area by telling her he loved her.
"I never meant to hurt your mama," Blue said while strapped to a gurney. "If I
could change that, I would. ... I hope you can forgive me."
He then told his parents, watching from an adjacent room, that he loved them
and acknowledged he had done something wrong. He said he was "paying the
ultimate justice. ... It may be crooked justice but I forgive those people."
He later added: "Cowboy up. I'm fixin' to ride, and Jesus is my vehicle."
Blue took about a dozen breaths as the lethal drug began taking effect. He said
he could "feel it," then slipped into unconsciousness before being pronounced
dead at 6:56 p.m.
Richards declined to take questions after the execution, but said her journey
was over. "I can move on with my life," she said. "My journey has ended today."
Prosecutors said Blue walked seven miles from his home to a convenience store,
and had been drinking malt liquor and smoking crack behind the store, when he
bought 50 cents' worth of gasoline and put in a "Big Gulp" cup.
Court records said he waited outside Richards-Sanders' apartment, then when she
opened the door, rushed in and told her: "I told you I was going to get you."
He then doused Richards-Sanders and set her ablaze.
When Blue discovered Larence Williams at the apartment, he threw what was left
of the gasoline on Williams, setting him on fire.
"He had only one true love in his life ... and here she was with another guy,"
recalled John Quinn, the lead defense attorney at Blue's 1995 trial.
Hours after the attack, Blue turned himself in to police.
"When I went to knock, she snatched the door open and had a cigarette," Blue
told police in a tape-recorded statement played at his trial. "I wasted gas on
both of them. And she caught on fire, and he caught on fire, and I took off
running ... I was scared, man."
Shane Phelps, a prosecutor at Blue's punishment trial, said Richards-Sanders
was trying to start her life over after she and Blue broke up months earlier,
"and Carl wasn't part of that, and that was a problem for Carl."
In appeals this week, Blue's attorney, Michael Charlton, argued that it was a
conflict of interest for one of Quinn's co-counsels to represent him in appeals
because he likely wouldn't contend his previous work was deficient. The
conflict "resulted in valuable and worthwhile claims not being presented to any
court," Charlton said.
But the Texas Attorney General's office said the federal appeals were meritless
because Blue had waived his right to a different lawyer, negating the conflict
claim.
5 years after Blue's conviction, his death sentence was among about half a
dozen in Texas overturned by a federal judge who ruled it was improper for a
former state prison psychologist to testify that the black man's race could
indicate a propensity for violence. But Blue again was sentenced to die at a
second punishment trial in 2001.
Blue becomes the 1st condemend inmate to be put to death this year in Texas and
the 493rd overall since the state resumed capital punishment on December 7,
1982. At least 11 other prisoners are scheduled for lethal injection in the
coming months in Texas, which executed 15 inmates last year. Blue becomes the
254th condemned inmate to be put to death since Rick Perry became Governor of
Texas in 2001.
Blue becomes the 2nd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA
and the 1322nd overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977.
(sources: Associated Press & Rick Halperin)
MARYLAND:
Maryland Senate panel approves repeal of death penalty
Legislation to repeal Maryland's death penalty scraped out of a state Senate
committee Thursday night.
The measure -- a legislative priority of Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley --
would abolish the death penalty and replace it with life imprisonment without
the possibility of parole.
The measure passed out of the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee with a 6-5
vote. It is expected to be considered by the full Senate as early as Tuesday.
The committee eliminated part of the bill that would have set aside money for
programs that aid crime victims and their families. Committee Chairman Sen.
Brian Frosh, D-Montgomery County, said that measure was taken out because of
concern that it would prevent Marylanders from putting the bill on the ballot
for referendum. Bills that appropriate money are not subject to referendum.
Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr., D-Prince George's and Calvert
counties, has said that he expects the repeal to go to referendum.
In a letter to Frosh, O'Malley said he would independently set aside that money
for victims' aid.
The committee also instructed the governor to commute the sentences of
Maryland's 5 current death row inmates to life imprisonment without the
possibility of parole. The wording of the original bill was vague as to which
punishment those inmates should receive.
Committee members also killed a number of poison pill amendments that would
have either watered down or gutted the death penalty repeal.
Sen. Christopher Shank, R-Washington County, wanted to make the repeal an
amendment to Maryland's Constitution. He said it would be the only way to make
absolutely sure voters get to decide the fate of capital punishment.
A constitutional amendment also requires 29 votes to pass the Senate, instead
of the usual 24, and legislative leaders have said they believe they barely
have the 24.
Sen. James Brochin, D-Baltimore County, offered 2 failed amendments to keep the
death penalty. One would have allowed capital punishment only in cases where
DNA evidence proved a suspect guilty. The other would have allowed the death
penalty only in cases where a criminal kills more than 1 person in a single
incident.
Maryland hasn't executed anybody since 2005, and only 5 convicts in the last 50
years. The state hasn't been able to since 2006, when Maryland's highest court
threw out the rules for lethal injection. That happened a year before O'Malley
took office, and his administration has not put new procedures in place.
In 2009, Maryland passed the most restrictive death penalty overhaul in the
country, reserving its use for cases where there was DNA evidence, a videotaped
confession or video of the accused committing the crime.
(source: Washington Examiner)
*****************************
Maryland Death Penalty Repeal Pass First (And Biggest) Test
Maryland's Senate Judicial Proceeds Committee has voted 6-5 in favor of SB 276,
the bill that repeals the death penalty. (Sadly, a provision that would have
allocated some funds saved from abandoning capital punishment to support
victims' families was stripped from the bill.)
Passing repeal through this committee was a major hurdle, and one that had
proved insurmountable in previous years. But a critical mass of support for
abolishing capital punishment has been reached, both across the state and
inside Annapolis, and the bill is now headed to the Senate floor.
SB276 could get its 1st Senate floor debate as early as Saturday, and it is
likely that the full Maryland Senate will vote on death penalty repeal this
coming week.
The vote will be close, and the debate will be contentious, presumably with
many amendments offered. Those of you in Maryland should take action now to let
your legislators know that passing death penalty repeal - without amendments -
is very important to you.
Those of you living outside of Maryland can also take action, letting Governor
O'Malley know that his efforts so far are appreciated, but that we expect him
to keep pushing until the bill to repeal the death penalty is on his desk with
his signature on it.
(source: Brian Evans, Amnesty International USA blog)
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