March 22
INDIANA:
State seeks death penalty in S. Ind. teen's death
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against a convicted sex offender
accused of sexually assaulting and killing a 17-year-old southern Indiana girl.
The News and Tribune reported Thursday that prosecutors made the request during
a hearing for 49-year-old Richard Carley Hooten Jr. of Clarksville. He's
charged in Clark Circuit Court with the March 2 rape and murder of a neighbor,
17-year-old Tara Willenborg.
Hooten has admitted to reporters that he raped and murdered Willenborg in the
Clarksville apartment where she lived with her boyfriend. He's also charged
with criminal deviate conduct and being a habitual offender.
Hooten served 15 years in a Georgia prison on convictions of rape, aggravated
sodomy and aggravated assault. He also has a previous Clark County conviction
for sexual battery and residential entry.
(source: Associated Press)
COLORADO:
Hickenlooper veto comment on death penalty scrambles repeal effort
Colorado prosecutors studying death penalty law in Nathan Dunlap caseHouse
Democrats on Thursday acknowledged they're torn on how to proceed with a
measure to repeal the state's death penalty after Gov. John Hickenlooper
indicated he could veto the bill if it arrived at his desk.
"I'm not sure what's going to happen with this bill, or when and if we will
vote on it," said Rep. Daniel Kagan, D-Cherry Hills Village, who is chairman of
the House Judiciary Committee. "As a caucus we have to discuss some things."
House Democrats are considering a caucus meeting Friday to talk about the
issue.
On Tuesday - after more than 9 hours of testimony from proponents and opponents
- Kagan asked that a vote be delayed on the measure, which would repeal the
death penalty for any crimes committed after July 1.
The committee will meet again Tuesday, though Kagan said a decision hasn't been
made on whether to continue forward with the measure.
A decision to withhold a vote on House Bill 1264 followed a luncheon Tuesday
where Hickenlooper, a Democrat, told House members of his party that he had
issues with the legislation and mentioned a possible veto.
After Hickenlooper signed a civil-unions bill into law Thursday, he was asked
about the death penalty.
"At least the last time I was out there it seemed like a pretty significant
majority of people still favored the death penalty," Hickenlooper said. "I
think it's worth a little more discussion before we mail in the votes, as it
were."
Moreover, Hickenlooper said he generally thinks that issues have a sense of
time.
"Should we have done civil unions 5 years ago? Sure. Was the majority of people
in the state 5 years ago for it? Probably not. Are they now? Yes," he said.
"I'm wondering whether we don't need just a little more maturation."
Whether to repeal capital punishment is not a party-line issue.
Reps. Claire Levy, D-Boulder, and Jovan Melton, D-Aurora, sponsors of HB 1264,
have bipartisan support for the bill.
Melton said he has enough votes for Democrats to push forward with his bill to
repeal the death penalty, despite Hickenlooper's remarks.
"We're not going to pull back at all. It's a decision the governor's going to
have to make when it arrives at his desk," Melton said Thursday.
By contrast, Rep. Rhonda Fields, D-Aurora, who has a personal connection to the
state's death row because 2 men on it were
Representatives Claire Levy, right, D-Boulder and Jovan Melton, D-Aurora,
co-sponsors of a bill to repeal the death penalty in Colorado introduce their
bill before the House Judiciary Committee at the Capitol on Tuesday, March 19,
2013. (AP | Ed Andrieski)convicted of killing her son in 2005, wants voters in
2014 to decide whether to repeal the death penalty. Fields, who is the lone
sponsor of a bill that would create such a ballot issue, has expressed that she
is staunchly against repeal of capital punishment in Colorado.
She has introduced her measure as an alternative to having lawmakers give a
final say on the ultimate penalty.
On Twitter on Thursday, Fields criticized Melton, saying that when he was her
campaign manager, he never called the death penalty "failed policy."
She later deleted the post and offered an apology.
Hickenlooper's mention of vetoing the measure has drawn scorn from some of
those who testified in favor of the bill.
Boulder County District Attorney Stan Garnett, the Democratic nominee for
attorney general in 2010, on Facebook called Hickenlooper's idea of vetoing the
measure a "shame."
"Many committed Democrats risked their careers on this important effort. We
need to do the right thing while we can, and can't always have our fingers in
the air, testing the political winds," wrote Garnett.
Rep. Tony Exum, D-Colorado Springs, said if HB 1264 arrived on the House floor,
he would vote in favor of it.
"But it's an issue I've lost sleep over," Exum said, "and I'm sure a lot of my
colleagues have as well."
(source: Denver Post)
ARIZONA:
Jurors question expert witness in Arias trial
Jurors in Jodi Arias' murder trial paid close attention to an expert witness
who diagnosed her with post-traumatic stress disorder and amnesia as many of
the panel's questions Thursday focused on specific details of his evaluation
and how he could come to any conclusions relying on Arias' repeated lies.
Psychologist Richard Samuels, a defense witness, testified for a 5th day
Thursday after telling jurors his diagnosis explains why Arias can't remember
much from the day she killed her lover.
Arizona is one of a few states where jurors have a legal right to query
witnesses through written questions read aloud by the judge. In most other
states, it's up to the judge to determine whether to allow it.
Samuels answered more than 100 questions Thursday, and then was questioned by
attorneys on both sides about his answers. He resumes testimony on Monday.
Many of the juror questions Thursday focused on Arias' lies, how Samuels could
be sure she is telling the truth now, whether her memory loss could be
fabricated and his opinions on premeditation.
"How can we be certain that your assessment of Ms. Arias is not based on her
lies?" one juror question read.
"The diagnosis of PTSD is a function of an evaluation based upon my 35 years of
experience in working with individuals with PTSD," Samuels replied, noting he
can say with "all reasonable psychological probability" that she meets the
criteria.
Arias faces a possible death sentence if convicted of first-degree murder in
the June 2008 killing of Travis Alexander in his suburban Phoenix home.
Authorities say she planned the attack on her lover in a jealous rage. Arias
initially told authorities she had nothing to do with it then blamed it on
masked intruders. Two years after her arrest, she said it was self-defense.
When Samuels initially began his evaluation, Arias was sticking to the intruder
story.
Jurors asked if Samuels could be certain that Arias wasn't still lying about
the day of the killing.
"Not with 100 % certainty," he said. "Psychology is the science of behavior so
we're seldom 100 % sure."
Samuels testified previously that Arias was likely suffering from acute stress
at the time of the killing, sending her body into a "fight or flight" mode to
defend herself, which caused her brain to stop retaining memory.
The jury asked Thursday whether this scenario could occur even if this was a
premeditated murder, as the prosecution contends.
"Is it possible? Yes. Is it probable? No," Samuels said.
"Can acute stress occur if someone plans to kill versus defending themselves
from danger?" the panel asked.
"Um, homicide is of a different nature," Samuels said before being cut off by
an objection from the prosecutor.
"Possible but not probable," he continued.
The jury later asked if it is possible for a defendant to trick a psychologist
into thinking they have PTSD.
Samuels said it was possible but unlikely, noting when a person is telling the
truth their stories tend to change slightly as they are questioned repeatedly.
He said Arias' intruder story remained exactly the same until she eventually
said it was self-defense.
"It is my feeling that once the story changed (from intruders) she was
essentially telling actually what happened," he said.
Defense attorney Jennifer Willmott later questioned Samuels.
"Is it rational for a person who was at a crime scene to leave evidence behind
that they were at the crime scene?" Willmott asked.
"No," Samuels said.
"Well thought out?" she prodded.
"No," Samuels replied.
Prosecutor Juan Martinez seized on Samuel's credibility, accusing him of
forming a relationship with Arias and being biased.
Samuels previously testified he had compassion for Arias.
In his typical dramatic fashion, Martinez displayed a page from the dictionary
defining the word "compassion."
"A desire to alleviate someone's distress is an indication of sympathy isn't
it?" Martinez yelled.
"According to Webster's," Samuels replied calmly.
"So you felt sorry for her," Martinez snapped back.
"No, I didn't, a sense of compassion," Samuels said.
Alexander suffered nearly 30 knife wounds, was shot in the head and had his
throat slit. Arias' palm print was found in blood at the scene, along with her
hair and nude photos of her and the victim from the day of the killing.
Arias said she recalls Alexander attacking her in a fury. She said she ran into
his closet to retrieve a gun he kept on a shelf and fired in self-defense but
has no memory of stabbing him.
She acknowledged trying to clean the scene, dumping the gun in the desert and
working on an alibi to avoid suspicion.
None of Arias' allegations of Alexander's previous abuse, that he owned a gun
and had sexual desires for boys has been corroborated.
(source: Associated Press)
WASHINGTON:
Felon accused of killing grandparents could face death penalty
King County prosecutors today charged Michael Chadd Boysen with 2 counts of
aggravated-1st degree murder in connection with the March 9 slayings of his
grandparents.
The only punishments for aggravated 1st-degree murder are life in prison
without the possibility of parole, or the death penalty.
Prosecutors typically have 30 days after a defendant's arraignment to decide
whether to seek the death penalty, but that time limit is often extended so the
defense can provide any mitigation evidence that could warrant leniency.
Robert and Norma Taylor, who celebrated their 59th wedding anniversary earlier
this month, were found together in a bedroom closet inside their Renton-area
home, both strangled with a bloody shoelace detectives found partially wrapped
around Norma's neck, according to the charges filed against the Taylors'
26-year-old grandson.
Boysen had been released from the Monroe Correctional Complex on March 8 after
serving 9 months of a 16-month sentence for a 2012 attempted burglary. His
maternal grandparents were killed just hours after they picked him up from the
prison, according to the King County Sheriff's Office.
According to charging documents, after the slayings, 2 inmates at the Monroe
prison told sheriff's Detective Christina Bartlett that Boysen spoke of his
plan to kill and rob his maternal grandparents once he was released. They said
Boysen was "angry at his grandparents," but the charging papers don't say why.
Despite Boysen's troubled history, his mother said his grandparents supported
him and loved him more than life.
Boysen, who was arrested after a 10-hour police standoff in an oceanfront motel
in Lincoln City, Ore., on March 12, was transferred from the Multnomah County
Jail in Portland to jail in King County just before 1 p.m. today, jail records
show. He is scheduled to be arraigned on April 4.
King County judges in recent weeks have tossed out the death penalty as a
possible punishment for 3 defendants currently facing homicide trials.
The trials of Joseph McEnroe and Michele Anderson have been on hold since late
January after Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Ramsdell ruled that prosecutors
could not seek the death penalty. McEnroe and his former girlfriend Anderson
are accused of killing 6 members of Anderson's family in Carnation of Christmas
Eve 2007.
Ramsdell found that Prosecutor Dan Satterberg erroneously considered the
strength of the state's evidence against McEnroe and Anderson in deciding to
seek the death penalty. Ramsdell wrote in his 13-page order that prosecutors
should have weighed only whether mitigating circumstances existed in the
decision to seek the death penalty.
In February, another judge threw out the death penalty in the case against
accused police killer Christopher Monfort, but ruled that it could proceed as a
capital case so as not to delay his trial.
Chief criminal Judge Ronald Kessler ruled that Satterberg abused his discretion
by relying on a "flawed, practically useless" investigation into mitigating
factors that could have merited leniency for Monfort - a life sentence instead
of death. Kessler said Satterberg considered "minimalist mitigation materials"
in reaching his decision to seek the death penalty.
The prosecutor's office is appealing both rulings.
(source: S eattle Times)
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