April 26
OKLAHOMA----new execution date
Execution date set for OSP death row inmate
An execution date has been set for an Oklahoma State Penitentiary death row
inmate.
James Lewis DeRosa, 36, is set to be executed June 18 at 6 p.m. by lethal
injection in OSP's death chamber.
Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt filed a request March 25 with the
Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals to set DeRosa's execution date after the
U.S. Supreme Court denied the inmate's final appeal.
In October of 2000, Curtis Plummer, 73, and Gloria Plummer, 70, both of Poteau,
were found dead in their home with multiple stab wounds and with their throats
cut.
About 1 year later, in October of 2001, DeRosa was found guilty by a jury of
his peers for the LeFlore County 1st-degree murders of the Plummers. He was
subsequently sentenced to death.
According to Pruitt, DeRosa was briefly employed by the Plummers and told
several friends on multiple occasions he thought the elderly couple would be an
easy target to rob. DeRosa's 21-year-old friend, Eric Castleberry, now 33
(12/4/79), and also known as John E. Castleberry, agreed to help with the
robbery. Castleberry's 18-year-old friend, Scotty White, now 30 (8/1/82),
agreed to drive.
Pruitt said DeRosa and Castleberry were welcomed into the Plummer's home, which
at the time was equipped with a security system. Once in the home, Pruitt said,
DeRosa and Castleberry brandished knives and, while the couple begged and
struggled for their lives, DeRosa stabbed the Plummers multiple times and slit
their throats.
"DeRosa and Castleberry left the scene with $73 and the couple's pickup truck,"
Pruitt said. "The truck was ditched in a nearby lake.
In exchange for a life sentence without the possibility of parole, Castleberry
testified at DeRosa's trial. Castleberry is serving his 2 life sentences at OSP
in McAlester.
White was charged with accessory to 1st degree murder after the fact and
received 2 25-year sentences, to be served concurrently, and the last 7 years
to be served as probation. He is serving time at the Lawton Correctional
Facility and has since been convicted of escaping from the Department of
Corrections. He is scheduled to be released on Nov. 10, 2026, and has a parole
hearing set in August of 2015.
DeRosa was received into the Oklahoma Department of Corrections on Dec. 10,
2001. He has been housed in Oklahoma's death row at OSP in McAlester.
(source: McAlester News)
NEBRASKA:
Nebraska Legistlature bills to watch
The Nebraska Legislature only has a little more than a month left until this
session is over, and now legislation is beginning to appear on Gov. Dave
Heineman???s desk.
More than 500 different bills have been introduced, and only a select few make
it out of committee. Here are a few bills that have a chance of being signed by
the governor.
ABOLISHING THE DEATH PENALTY
Every legislative session, Omaha Sen. Ernie Chambers has introduced an
amendment to abolish the death penalty.
After his brief hiatus, he submitted LB543 - which does just that. Chambers has
made this bill his priority, and it is currently in general file. In support,
Sens. Colby Coash, Brad Ashford, Amanda McGill and Danielle Conrad have added
their names to the bill. If signed by Heineman, it would change the maximum
penalty in the State of Nebraska to life imprisonment without the chance of
parole. Nebraska has executed 3 people since 1976, and there are currently 11
people on death row. If abolished, Nebraska would become the seventh state to
do so.
(source: Daily Nebraskan)
COLORADO:
Appeals court rejects Nathan Dunlap's secrecy challenge
An appeals court has denied condemned killer Nathan Dunlap's effort to force
the state Department of Corrections to throw out its procedures for carrying
out an execution and create the plans from scratch, this time with public
input.
The Colorado Court of Appeals decision, released Thursday, affirms a lower
court's ruling.
Dunlap's legal team had argued that a DOC document spelling out exact details
of how an inmate would be executed should be tossed out because it was compiled
without public input and wasn't available for public scrutiny.
Writing for the court majority, Judge Jerry Jones said the legislature gave the
DOC's executive director broad powers to manage inmates, and that includes
carrying out death sentences.
Dunlap's legal team said they will appeal.
"We believe that the court is wrong to find that lethal injection procedures in
Colorado are exempt from the Administrative Procedures Act," attorney Jessica
Yates said in a statement.
"No execution should be allowed to take place in Colorado until - at a minimum
- that court has had a full and fair opportunity to review this issue."
The state DOC spells out procedures for carrying out an execution in a
document, known as Administrative Regulation 300-14. That document describes
procedures for carrying out "the death penalty by lethal injection in a
professional, humane and dignified manner ...," and much of it is secret,
including which drugs would be used to kill Dunlap and the dosage of each.
Dunlap's attorneys contend the state should not be able to keep those details
secret.
Those attorneys got a glimmer of hope for their cause in the partial dissent of
Judge David J. Richman. Richman agreed with the majority that the DOC can make
decisions about managing inmates.
"However, the mechanics for carrying out the extremely rare and terminal
sentence of death cannot be compared to the routine of administering an
ordinary prison sentence," Richman wrote.
Therefore, he said the DOC should disclose the contents of its document that
details death penalty procedures.
(source: The Denver Post)
NEVADA:
4 Accused of Murdering State Insurance Examiner in Court
A group of Carson City friends accused of brutally murdering a Nevada state
employee appeared in a Carson City courtroom for the first time Thursday for a
scheduled preliminary hearing. The 4 are possibly facing the death penalty for
the death of William McCune. What happened was actually a status conference to
officially pair each of the 4 with attorneys and set the schedule for the next
step.
But this was the 1st time we've seen the 4 defendants. The 1st time they've
been together since their arrests. Clothed in their jail garb they entered 1 by
1, eyes downcast. Raul Garcia, Anthony Elliott or Tony Morris as he's known,
Michael Evans and Makyla Blackmore.
Police say they plotted to go to William McCune's apartment seeking money for
drugs. And while Blackmore waited outside the three young men beat McCune to
get his credit cards, checks and other items they would later try to pawn.
Police say they then dumped his body, wrapped in a blanket into the Carson
River.
All are charged with open murder. Whether prosecutors will seek the death
penalty is still to be determined. Carson City District Attorney Neil Rombardo
had announced on April 10 he would assemble a team of prosecutors to analyze
the evidence and reports to determine whether the death penalty is appropriate.
Saying Thursday after the hearing, "We're looking at the statutes, the
law...looking at the case law. The statutes are clear ... You have to look at
aggravators and mitigators."
The attorney for Evans though, Mark Picker, says the law is on his side.
"There's a specific statute in Nevada law that says only certain factors can be
considered for the death penalty," says Picker, "And so it's a laundry list but
it's a fairly short list. And the state cannot go outside of that. They can
only use what are called aggravating circumstances to decide whether something
is a death penalty case."
One potential aggravating factor is already evident. That's McCune's age. If
evidence shows he was bound and tortured that could be another. Each was
assigned a public defender. Picker and others were also assigned as death
penalty qualified counsel.
At this point the district attorney's office is going to try all 4 at once.
That could make for a complicated process. We saw the 1st complication Thursday
as they tried to work out a date for the preliminary hearing that fit
everyone's schedule.
That was finally set for July 9, 2013.
(source: KOLO TV News)
ARIZONA:
Jodi Arias Juror Dismissed After 4 Months of Listening to Case
A juror who has spent 4 months listening to tedious testimony in the Jodi Arias
murder trial was dismissed Thursday, just a week before the case goes to
closing arguments.
The man known as Juror 8, who has taken copious notes throughout the trial and
submitted several questions to witnesses on the stand, was dismissed without
comment by Judge Sherry Stephens.
He is the 3rd juror to be dismissed from proceedings since the trial began in
the Phoenix courtroom in January. 15 jurors will listen to the rest of the
trial, and 12 will enter into deliberations.
The news came on the same day that the state rested its case against Arias
after calling 9 rebuttal witnesses.
The defense will call 1 additional witness next week, and closing arguments are
expected on Thursday and Friday. The case will then go to the jury.
Arias, 32, faces the possibility of the death penalty if convicted of
1st-degree murder in the 2008 death of ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander. She
initially denied killing Alexander, 30, but claimed 2 years later that she
killed him in self-defense.
(source: ABC News)
CALIFORNIA:
Attorney Leo Branton Jr., a fighter for social justice for everyone, dies
Attorney Leo Branton Jr., Los Angeles' almost mythical dragon slayer who
traveled the country's courtrooms securing civil, criminal and social justice
for African-Americans for more than 60 years, has died.
Branton, 91, died of natural causes Friday afternoon in the Kaiser Permanente
Hospital surrounded by his family. He is said to had been in declining health,
which did not keep him from attending several recent community events, which
was an activity the popular effusive "people's lawyer" loved to do.
Although he maintained a law office in Los Angeles, Branton practiced his craft
in courtrooms all over the country - wherever the rights of men and women were
being curtailed. He kept his bar card active for almost 62 years and he
practiced for the last 10 years pro bono.
Branton was the 1st Black lawyer in the country to do eight specific things in
court: He was the 1st lawyer of any color to file numerous cases against the
Los Angeles Police Department for misconduct against Black people; and he was
the 1st lawyer period to successfully challenge the unconstitutional practice
of denying jury duty to Black people in a Riverside court.
He was the 1st Black lawyer to represent a national labor union when he
represented the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Fisherman's Union;
the 1st Black lawyer to have tried numerous maritime tort cases, thus becoming
an expert in that field, and the first Black attorney to represent prominent
entertainers, such as Nat King Cole, Dorothy Dandridge, Richard Pryor, Miles
Davis and the estate of Jimi Hendrix, for example.
Branton was the 1st Black attorney west of Chicago to form an interracial law
firm - his Los Angeles firm of Margolis, McTernan and Branton; the first to
become a member of the State Bar Review Board, which ruled on all disciplinary
proceeding against California lawyers; and the 1st to volunteer his services
during the years of the civil rights war by making many trips into the Southern
battleground to get warriors out of prisons and represent them in court.
In 1971, Branton represented Angela Davis, an admitted member of the Communist
Party, who was charged in Santa Clara County with the murder of a judge and the
permanent paralysis of a district attorney. As the lead attorney among four,
Branton brought about an acquittal by an all-white San Jose jury. Then, in
1972, Branton defended 13 members of the Black Panther party who were charged
with an assortment of felonies ensuing from a "shoot-out" with the LAPD in
South L.A. Branton handled the case pro bono and eventually got all 13
acquitted of the major charges.
While Branton was definitely a social justice zealot, his family said Branton's
proudest achievement came from his fight against the death penalty, which he
waged in the courthouse as well as within any public forum he could reach. He,
along with Charlie Garrey, worked to amend the death sentence of one Wesley
Robert Wells to life without parole after more than 10 years on death row. And
when the Supreme Court declared the death penalty unconstitutional in 1972, the
pair procured Wells' complete release from prison on a petition for a writ of
habeas corpus.
Branton was born on Feb. 17, 1922 in Pine Bluff, Ark., the eldest of 5
children. He earned his B.A. with honors from Tennessee State University in
1942. While being the only person of color in his class, Branton obtained his
juris doctorate degree in 1948 from Northwestern University Law School in
Chicago, after serving 3 years in the Army.
California Court of Appeal's retired Presiding Justice Vaino Spencer said she
and Branton had been close friends since 1950. "I have always been impressed by
his work," Spencer said. "He was very helpful to me with evidentiary problems.
I use to call him so much and so early in the mornings, that he had to tell me
to stop calling him."
She pointed out that while Branton crisscrossed the country defending civil
rights cases, he also defended some of the "Hollywood 10" - the actors, writers
and directors who were charged with being communists during the infamous
McCarthy Era. Spencer said Branton came to his convictions early in life
because as a youth, he protested racial discrimination in his hometown of Pine
Bluff and was arrested.
"As Leo told it, some men went to his father and warned him that a group was
planning to hurt Leo and suggested that he leave town," Spencer said. "At which
Leo's father, who owned a bus company, sent him to Chicago and probably saved
his life and certainly set him on his career path."
"Leo was such a remarkable man," Spencer added, as she recounted that the
Langston Law Club voted him into its Hall of Fame several years ago, and the
ACLU honored him for his civil rights work at a luncheon last year.
Retired Judge Roosevelt Dorn said "Branton was one of the greatest trial
lawyers I have ever had the opportunity to observe. As a bailiff in the Los
Angeles County Superior Court where I worked, I observed truly great trial
lawyers on a daily basis. I observed Branton in writs and receivers; I observed
him in civil and criminal matters. The 1 thing that made him truly unique is
that he was always completely prepared. He told me once that the difference
between a good trial lawyer and a great trial lawyer was preparation,
preparation, preparation."
When he wasn't in court, Branton was engaged in his other favorite past time:
sports, as he was a passionate enthusiast of basketball, football and track.
Which is how he and his neighbor, Brad Pye Jr. became fast friends over the
years - through their membership in the 100 % Wrong Club, a sports group that
honored the late UCLA football coach Red Sanders and Hall of Famer Ernie Banks.
Branton is survived by his sons Leo "Chip" Branton, Anthony Nicholas and Paul
Nicholas; brother, Sterling Branton; sister, Julia Branton Jones; 5
grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews. His wife, Geraldine Pate Branton
predeceased him in 2006.
Funeral arrangements are pending and the family is asking that in lieu of
flowers, donations be sent to the ACLU of Southern California, 1313 W. 8th St.,
Suite 200, Los Angeles 90017 or to the Rosa Parks Institute, 535 Griswold St.,
Suite 111-513, Detroit, MI, 48226.
(source: Wave Newspapers)
USA:
Dangerous minds: new research unravels the brains of psychopaths; Can an inside
look at grey matter help explain unsettling behavior?
What goes on inside the brain of a psychopath? One new study, the latest in a
line of controversial recent research tackling that question, offers yet
another clue about how the grey matter of individuals diagnosed with
psychopathy - a complex personality disorder often characterized by impulsive
behavior, lack of remorse, and antisocial tendencies - might be "hardwired"
differently than those who don't fit the profile.
A research team based out of the University of Chicago used functional magnetic
resonance imagery (fMRI) - tests that evaluate brain activity - to scan the
grey matter of 80 male prisoners aged 18 to 50 during a series of experiments.
Some of these prisoners met the standard diagnostic criteria for psychopathy,
known as the Hare Psychopathy Checklist, while others acted as controls.
"Psychopaths are emotionally 'aware' of the pain of others, but this signal
doesn't register."
Researchers wanted to figure out how the brains of psychopaths and
non-psychopaths responded to 2 violent visual stimuli: videos of people being
intentionally harmed, and photos of people experiencing pain and suffering.
Indeed, differences arose between the 2 groups. When viewing the videos and
images, study participants with diagnosed psychopathy exhibited less activation
in several brain regions, including the orbitofrontal cortex and ventromedial
prefrontal cortex - both key to evaluating consequences and weighing decisions.
They also exhibited greater activation in the insula, which plays "a pivotal
role in emotional awareness," study author Jean Decety, Ph.D., told The Verge.
Combined, the results suggest that "psychopaths are emotionally 'aware' of the
pain of others, but this signal doesn't register in other regions of the brain
... and this contributes to their insensitivity and lack of empathy," Decety
noted.
The idea that psychopaths lack empathy is hardly surprising. But this latest
research, the first fMRI study to target brain activity in the context of
empathic responses, joins a growing body of evidence which indicates that
psychopathic behavior might be reflected in distinct, perceptible differences
inside the brain. Several earlier studies, many of them by Dr. Kent Kiehl, a
professor of psychology at the University of New Mexico and a co-author on this
research, suggest that psychopathic brains exhibit unique differences in
structure and function.
"Psychopaths do tend to process this information differently."
In one particularly fascinating instance, Kiehl in 2009 performed a series of
tests on Brian Dugan, a convicted rapist and serial killer. Dugan's brain
exhibited similar characteristics to those of these new study participants and
around 1,100 others that Kiehl had already evaluated at the time. "We have a
lot of data that shows psychopaths do tend to process this information
differently," Kiehl told NPR. "And Brian looked like he was processing it like
other individuals we've studied with psychopathy." The finding was used,
unsuccessfully, by Dugan's defense team in an effort to prevent their client
from being sentenced to the death penalty - the 1st time fMRI data was admitted
as evidence in capital sentencing.
Fascinating as this burgeoning field of research might be, it isn't without
controversy. Most notably, some experts argue, fMRI techniques aren't refined
enough to pick up on subtleties that might be integral in drawing any
conclusions about psychopathy. "If you get more and more refined, an area that
once looked highly active starts to look more like a mosaic of activity," Dr.
James Fallon, a professor of psychiatry and human behavior at UC Irvine, told
The Verge. "And maybe one part of that mosaic processes a certain kind of
empathy, and another part processes another kind. We just don't know."
"At what point can you conclusively say, 'this is a certain kind of person'?"
Not to mention that the brain is only one part of a complex equation - one
that's also informed by genetics and an individual's environment. "At what
point can you conclusively say, 'This is a certain kind of person'?," Fallon
asked. "Once you look at subjects, you define them genetically, you define them
with brain imaging, you look at their behavior, and you look at their
environment ... then you get a little closer."
But the role of fMRI scans in evaluating psychopathy is becoming increasingly
salient, several experts told The Verge, as the overlap between neuroscience
and the legal process continues to evolve. Anecdotal evidence suggests "an
increased use of neuro-imaging in capital sentencing cases," Stephen J. Morse,
J.D., Ph.D., a professor of law and psychiatry at the University of
Pennsylvania, said. And preliminary studies indicate that judges might dole out
more lenient sentences when biological explanations of a defendant's
psychopathy are introduced.
"Some individuals are very excited about the potential of neuroimaging to
change our practice, policy, and individual case decision-making," Morse said.
"[But] I don't think we have the data, yet, to alter our moral and legal
landscape."
(source: The Verge)
_______________________________________________
DeathPenalty mailing list
DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu
http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty
Search the Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/deathpenalty@lists.washlaw.edu/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A free service of WashLaw
http://washlaw.edu
(785)670.1088
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
