May 15
OHIO:
Castro is not 'a monster,' attorney says--Attorneys for Ariel Castro, who was
arrested on charges of kidnapping and raping 3 women, say that he is not the
monster that the media has made him out to be.
Attorneys for Ariel Castro say he plans to plead not guilty if a Cuyahoga
County grand jury indicts him on kidnapping and rape charges in connection with
the decade-long disappearance of three women.
Speaking exclusively to WKYC-TV, attorneys Craig Weintraub and Jaye Schlachet
say that Castro has been unjustly depicted in news accounts.
"The initial portrayal by the media has been one of a 'monster' and that's not
the impression that I got when I talked to him for three hours," Weintraub
said.
Castro, 52, is currently in Cuyahoga County Jail on charges of kidnapping and
raping Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus in his Seymour Avenue
house on Cleveland's near west side. Knight was reported missing in 2002, Berry
in 2003 and DeJesus in 2004.
Weintraub said that Castro has not admitted anything to him, including the
kidnappings.
When asked how the three women ended up in Castro's home, Weintraub said: "That
fact will be disclosed as the case progresses. I am aware of how he came into
contact with them."
DNA tests have also confirmed that Castro fathered a child with Berry, Ohio
Attorney General Mike DeWine has said.
"I can tell you that Mr. Castro is extremely committed to the well-being and
positive future for his daughter, who he loves dearly," said Schlachet. "And if
people find that to be a disconnect from what he's alleged to have done, then
the people will just have to deal with it. We just know how he feels about his
little girl."
The attorneys say they plan to mount the "best defense we can."
"I know the media wants to jump to conclusions and all the people in the
community want to say terrible things about the person who's accused,"
Schlachet said. "We are not even at the beginning of the process. If this was a
marathon race, we're not even at the starting line yet."
They may also seek a change of venue in an effort to make sure Castro gets a
fair trial, given that "this happened in Cuyahoga County, (and) it's on the
heels of the (Anthony) Sowell case," said Weintraub. Sowell was convicted of
murdering 11 women whose bodies were found inside his house in 2009.
In the meantime, Castro is currently being held in isolation under suicide
watch.
"He's watched completely," said Schlachet said. "He has a window through his
door. He doesn't have a television, doesn't have radio, doesn't have magazines,
no access to newspapers. He's completely isolated from society."
(source: USA Today)
KANSAS:
Trial for rape, murder of 8-year-old delayed to 2014; Trial delayed to allow
defense more preparation time
The jury trial of Billy Frank Davis Jr., which was scheduled to start Oct. 7,
was postponed Tuesday until April 2014 to allow defense attorneys more time to
prepare.
Davis, 29, faces 2 alternative counts of capital murder in the killing of
8-year-old Ahliyah Nachelle Irvin.
Davis also is charged with an alternative count of premeditated 1st-degree
murder, rape, aggravated kidnapping, 2 counts of aggravated burglary, 1 count
of burglary and 2 counts of misdemeanor criminal damage to property, all in the
March 2012 abduction and slaying.
"There is still a large amount of work to be done," defense attorney Mark Manna
said in asking Shawnee County District Court Judge David Debenham for more
time.
Defense attorneys continue to receive records about Davis' military service,
schooling and hospitalizations, as well as information to compile social and
family histories about Davis, Manna said.
Developing a social history for Davis is extremely important, Manna said,
particularly in the penalty phase of the jury trial.
If a jury convicts a defendant of capital murder, jurors then must enter the
penalty phase of the trial when they decide whether to recommend the death
penalty or life in prison without parole.
If jurors pick the death penalty, the judge must examine the jury verdict
imposing the death sentence to determine whether evidence supported the
verdict. If it didn't, the judge could change the sentence to life in prison
without parole.
District Attorney Chad Taylor said prosecutors didn???t object to the
continuance.
Davis waived his right to a speedy trial within 90 days of his arraignment,
which is a constitutional and statutory right. The judge asked Davis for his
input on the trial continuance.
"That's fine with me," Davis said.
Debenham granted the continuance and scheduled the 4-week trial to start April
7, and the 4th week would end May 2. Orientation days for jurors would be March
24 and 25.
Tuesday was the 2nd continuance granted to Davis based on defense motions. On
Jan. 14, Debenham granted a continuance from the March 4 trial date to the Oct.
7 date.
In January, Manna asked for more time because defense attorneys would be
"fundamentally unprepared" to handle the guilt and sentencing phases of trial
if the trial started in March.
Sherry Mason, an aunt of Ahliyah, cried when the postponement was discussed,
saying she was upset because the trial is delayed until April 2014
"(But) if that's what it takes to get justice, then April 7 is what it takes,"
Mason said.
Debenham on Tuesday denied a defense motion seeking to suppress a statement
Davis made to Topeka police during an interview on March 13, 2012. Debenham
said Davis was told his Miranda rights, he understood them, he waived them, and
he agreed to talk to police.
Davis made a knowing and voluntary statement to police, the judge said.
In seeking to suppress the statement, defense attorney Julia Spainhour earlier
contended Davis was questioned by police for 6 hours, was suffering a mental
disorder and distress, and was undergoing alcohol and cocaine withdrawal. That
meant his statements weren't freely and voluntarily made but were a product of
coercive actions of interrogating detectives, Spainhour said.
Chief deputy district attorney Jacqie Spradling responded during an earlier
hearing that Davis' actions on the night Ahliyah was kidnapped, sexually
assaulted and killed demonstrated "a clear thought process" during the crimes
and his discussions with law enforcement.
Davis told police he kidnapped Ahliyah, sexually assaulted her and choked her
in the basement at 2413 S.E. Belleview, Apt. F, a detective testified during
Davis' preliminary hearing in June 2012.
When she wouldn't quiet down, Davis used a naked choke, she made a snoring
noise and was alive when Davis placed her in a clothes dryer, the detective
said Davis told him.
Davis told police he was suffering a flashback to his military service in Iraq
and thought he was clearing a house in Iraq.
Jeffrey Dazey also is an attorney on the defense team.
(source: Topeka Capital-Journal)
NEBRASKA:
Filibuster Kills Death Penalty Repeal Bill
Nebraska lawmakers hoping to repeal Nebraska's death penalty have failed to
overcome a filibuster by senators opposed to the repeal.
The Unicameral voted 28-21 to invoke cloture and end debate, but the vote
needed 33 to pass. That effectively kills the bill for this session.
Senator Ernie Chambers, of Omaha, has attempted to repeal the death penalty in
Nebraska more than 30 times and vows to bring the measure back again next
session.
The bill would have replaced the death penalty with life imprisonment without
parole.
(source: KLIN News)
SOUTH DAKOTA:
Death penalty decision looming in local case----Attorney general says family,
defense being contacted
Prosecutors will likely decide this week whether to seek the death penalty for
a man accused of killing a Mitchell woman in March, according to South Dakota
Attorney General Marty Jackley.
At a hearing last week in Chamberlain, Judge Bruce Anderson asked prosecutors
to decide this week whether to seek the death penalty against Kent Davidson.
Davidson, 36, is accused of fatally shooting 26-year-old Crystal Schulz in the
head with a shotgun on March 11. Schulz's body was found March 14 in a shed at
her mother???s residence in rural Chamberlain. Davidson and Schulz were engaged
to be married, according to their Facebook pages.
Prosecutors have reviewed the investigation, listened to input from law
enforcement and are continuing discussions with Schulz's family, Jackley said
Tuesday in an interview with The Daily Republic.
"I anticipate we will make the announcement of our decision to seek or not to
seek the death penalty this week," Jackley said, "once we have first conveyed
that decision to defense counsel and the victim's family."
Davidson pleaded not guilty last month to 1st-degree murder, 2nd-degree murder,
1st-degree manslaughter and committing a felony while armed with a firearm.
Judge Anderson set Davidson's trial for January.
1st-degree murder has a minimum punishment of life in prison with the option of
a death sentence, which is a lethal injection. Prosecutors have also accused
Davidson of being a habitual offender because of 5 prior felony convictions on
his record.
Davidson has already been sentenced to 5 years in prison, which was reimposed
by the South Dakota Board of Pardons and Paroles for his failure to return to a
minimum-security facility where he was living while on parole last year.
(source: Mitchell Republic)
ARIZONA:
Jodi Arias returns to court as jurors weigh whether death penalty should be
sentencing option
Jodi Arias heads back to court as jurors consider whether the death penalty
should be an option for sentencing the former waitress after convicting her of
1st-degree murder last week.
The 32-year-old aspiring photographer admitted killing her onetime boyfriend
Travis Alexander in June 2008, at his suburban Phoenix home. She initially
denied involvement then later blamed masked intruders. 2 years after her
arrest, she said it was self-defense when he attacked her after a day of sex.
Prosecutors said she planned the killing in a jealous rage as Alexander wanted
to end their affair.
Testimony began in early January. The jury reached its verdict last Wednesday
after about 15 hours of deliberations over 4 days.
Jurors on Wednesday will hear testimony before deciding whether the death
penalty should be an option for sentencing Arias.
(source: Associated Press)
*************************
Jodi Arias reportedly transferred back to jail after suicide watch in
psychiatric unit
After being on suicide watch in another facility, convicted killer Jodi Arias
has been transferred back to the all-female Estrella jail in Phoenix, Ariz.,
where she will be housed until the penalty phase of her trial has concluded.
Arias underwent a psychological evaluation at the Lower Buckeye Jail, which is
routine for inmates under suicide watch, AZcentral.com reports. The Maricopa
County Sheriff's Office transferred Arias back to Estrella after doctors
determined she no longer needed to be under suicide watch, reports the website.
AZcentral.com reports that Arias spent five days in a psychiatric unit after
telling a Phoenix Fox affiliate that she would rather die than spend her life
in prison.
The 32-year-old was convicted last week of 1st-degree murder in the shooting
and stabbing death of her on-again, off-again lover, Travis Alexander, at his
suburban Phoenix home in 2008. The trial will enter a new phase on Wednesday,
during which jurors will weigh whether or not she should be sentenced to death.
Arias' defense team argued that she killed Alexander in self-defense.
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio told CBS affiliate KPHO that Arias will
remain at Estrella "on closed custody status." Authorities say she is held
alone in a cell and allowed out for 1 hour each day for phone calls and
showers.
The jury will recommend a sentence to the judge, who will make the final
determination on Arias' fate.
(source: CBS News)
*************************
Montiel loses motion to dismiss or remand----Charged with murder of Jamie
Treakle, could face death penalty
The defense for Joseph Montiel was told Monday that Montiel's case will not be
dismissed or sent back to the Grand Jury for a new indictment.
Attorneys for Montiel originally filed a motion for dismissal or remand in
December. Judge Michael Bluff held that motion until after the county attorney
gave notice that the state would seek the death penalty for Montiel for the
alleged murder of his estranged wife, Jamie Treakle Montiel, 28.
The defense maintained several issues which it disputed in the presentation of
the evidence to the Grand Jury for the indictment.
Lead attorney Robyn Varcoe and Rita Gltsos contended that the grand jury was
told of Montiel's felony release from jail on a charge related to the same
victim that could be prejudicial. Montiel is said to have stabbed Jamie while
he was released from jail on bond for a prior charge for assaulting her.
Judge Bluff said it was a "closer call" on the allegation of kidnapping. He
said that evidence could be inferred of physical force or injury and evidence
of threats to Jaime and her children.
After a search for the woman, who went missing after being released on bond
from the county jail, Montiel's truck was found high-centered and stuck off the
Old Cherry Road. A perimeter search found Jamie's body near, but not inside, a
mineshaft, near milepost 9. The medical examiner says the cause of death was a
stab wound to the chest.
The judge denied the dismissal of charges or remand to the Grand Jury.
At the request of defense, he set Montiel's next appearance for July 23 for a
pre trial conference.
(source: The Bugle)
COLORADO:
Accused mass murderer James Holmes on Monday pleaded not guilty by reason of
insanity, in a hearing on the Colorado movie massacre.
Holmes is accused of killing 12 people and wounding 70 last July during a
midnight premiere of the Batman movie "The Dark Knight Rises" at the Century 16
theater in Aurora.
Holmes could face the death penalty if convicted of murder, but Colorado does
not execute the criminally insane.
At the arraignment in March, an Arapahoe County judge entered a not guilty plea
on Holmes' behalf after his attorneys said that they weren't prepared to enter
a plea.
At Monday's status hearing, defense attorney Daniel King revealed what had
changed in the last 2 months.
"We now have a diagnosis that is complete," King told Judge Carlos Samour,
saying a mental health expert had evaluated Holmes and prepared an opinion on
his mental state.
King did not disclose the diagnosis or who made it.
He said that though the defense had "hit the ground running" and had been
"working on all cylinders, all the time," the arraignment came too soon for a
medical evaluation that apparently had been going on behind the scenes for
months.
Judge Samour, who had ordered the defense to show good cause for the plea
change, found King's explanation adequate.
"I am persuaded and satisfied that the defense acted diligently once it had
[Holmes' medical] information," the judge said.
The new plea will not be official until the end of the month. Samour delayed
Holmes' advisement until May 31 to allow both sides to file arguments about the
proposed change.
Prosecutors said they did not have a problem with the change of plea, only with
the time that it took the defense to do it.
Prosecuting attorney Jacob Edson demanded a more specific accounting of the 2
months since Holmes' arraignment, including the date when the diagnosis was
delivered. He asked how the defense counsel could make so little progress in
the 294 days since they were appointed.
King countered: "I think it's remarkable that we have made the progress we have
made. He cited the prosecution's statement that it had reviewed more than
40,000 pages of discovery and Samour's description of the case filed as
"voluminous."
Samour said that that letting Holmes change his plea was "consistent with
fairness and justice."
Samour denied requests from King and fellow public defender Tamara Brady to
delay the advisement hearing until June, saying he was "very eager" to press on
with the agreed-upon pretrial schedule.
The judge refused to extend a May 31 motions deadline by more than a day
despite King's contention that his team was "burning the midnight oil."
Holmes' advisement hearing is scheduled for May 31 at 9:30 a.m. The next status
hearing is June 4. The trial is slated to begin in February 2014.
(source: Courthouse News)
******************************
Prosecution's document lists 3,500 potential witnesses for James Holmes trial
James Holmes in court 5-13-13
Court documents say prosecutors in the Colorado theater shootings have listed
about 3,500 potential witnesses they could call during the trial of defendant
James Holmes.
The estimate was in a defense motion filed Tuesday, in which Holmes' lawyers
requested more time to work through the list and perform a "complete and
thorough conflict of interest check with respect to all named witnesses."
The number illustrates the complexity of the case. Lawyers also say nearly
40,000 pages of documents about evidence have been filed.
There is so much evidence, in fact, that a detective with the Aurora Police
Department is assigned to work full-time managing the information.
The shooting, which occurred during a showing of the "The Dark Knight Rises,"
left 12 moviegoers dead and injured 70 people.
Holmes, a 25-year-old former University of Colorado graduate student in
neuroscience, is charged with 166 counts in the July 20 shooting. The charges
include multiple counts of murder and 1st-degree murder and prosecutors are
seeking the death penalty.
Holmes' lawyers have indicated a desire to change his plea to not guilty by
reason of insanity, but the judge hasn't decided on that yet.
Another judge entered a standard not guilty plea on Holmes' behalf in March
when his lawyers said he wasn't ready to plead.
Judge Carlos Samour has scheduled the Holmes trial to begin on February 3,
2014. Prosecutors suggested the trial might take 3 months, while the defense
team said it would likely take 9 months. The judge scheduled the trial for 4
months.
(source: thedenverchannel.com)
**************************
Shooting victim's mom to Hickenlooper: Execute Nathan Dunlap
In the face of their client's pending execution, Nathan Dunlap's lawyers are
asking Gov. John Hickenlooper to grant clemency to the man convicted of killing
four at an Aurora Chuck E. Cheese 17 years ago.
In a petition issued last week, the lawyers say Dunlap had undiagnosed bipolar
disorder and the jury that convicted him did not know about his mental health
issues.
In a letter addressed to the governor this week, the mother of 1 of Dunlap's 4
victims wrote a letter pleading with the governor to "make no decision."
"Sit back," wrote Sandi Rogers, who lost her 17-year-old son Benjamin Grant in
the attack. "Allow the (decision) that 12 people made after listening to all
the evidence 17 years ago stand."
It was a clear plea, asking Hickenlooper to ignore the political pressure some
believe is being placed on his shoulders by several Democrats hoping to abolish
the death penalty - and hoping to begin that push with Dunlap.
However, those same Democrats were unable to garner the necessary support to
get House Bill 1264, a measure seeking to repeal Colorado's death penalty, past
a House Judiciary Committee during the last legislative session. This was
despite the fact that Democrats hold a majority in both the House and the
Senate.
Though there was some speculation that Hickenlooper would have vetoed the bill
if it has passed through the legislature, the governor is yet to take an
official public stance on the death penalty.
Now faced with publicly declaring a decision on the issue for the 1st time,
Hickenlooper is weighing the opinions of Dunlap's lawyers, the families of the
Chuck E. Cheese victims and law enforcement officials. He has held private
meetings with those groups over the course of the past 2 weeks.
Sandi Rogers is making sure her voice is heard loud and clear, issuing the
public letter this week. She claims that if Hickenlooper had been given the
chance to meet with her son, who was mourned by hoards of fellow Smoky Hill
students at his funeral in 1993, the decision would be an easy one.
"I wish you could have ...listened to all of the things said about him after
this act of planned murder - the amount of love that flowed," Sandi wrote, "I
honestly think...you would have no doubt the decision for death."
Arapahoe County District Attorney George Brauchler and Chief Deputy District
Attorney Matt Maillaro wrote a joint letter to to Hickenlooper echoing Rogers'
sentiments.
The 2 said they're "not asking John Hickenlooper to put Nathan Dunlap to
death." Instead, they wrote, they're asking the governor to "defend the process
that has lead us here."
(source: KDVR News)
****************************
Carroll: Gov. Hickenlooper boxed in on Nathan Dunlap
"Because all three current death row inmates are African-American and were
convicted in Arapahoe County (and were apparently all from the same high
school)," declares the local district attorney in a letter to Gov. John
Hickenlooper, "the anti-death penalty advocates claim that the prosecutors
elected in Arapahoe County ... must be bloodthirsty racists who use the death
penalty only against African-Americans.
"It is a vile, disgusting, and offensive argument ... ."
We are used to impassioned rhetoric by those who oppose the death penalty. But
George Brauchler, district attorney for the 18th Judicial District that
includes Arapahoe County, and Matt Maillaro, his senior chief deputy who
co-signed the letter to the governor, have no trouble mustering indignation of
their own against those who would spare Nathan Dunlap, whose execution has been
set for the week of Aug. 18.
Brauchler and Maillaro's 32-page rebuttal to Dunlap's plea for clemency is a
tour de force of controlled but heated - and occasionally sarcastic - argument.
And nowhere are they more effective than on racial bias.
I say that as someone who in February argued that the governor should commute
Dunlap's sentence to life in prison without parole, which is what his attorneys
officially requested this month. The death penalty in Colorado is rarely
pursued and even more rarely achieved (exactly one execution since 1967),
giving it a random, peculiar quality that mocks our commitment to equality
before the law.
But racist is another matter.
Dunlap's attorneys know that American history has been stained at times by
horribly bigoted prosecutors and juries, and by disturbing death-row numbers.
So they resort to a few bleak statistics, such as blacks comprising 41 % of
death-row inmates nationally and 100 % of Colorado's, implying the latter is
especially damning.
What they don't mention is that a U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2002
overturned the death sentences in Colorado of two whites and a Latino. And as
Brauchler and Maillaro point out, "since 1980, according to the appellate
reported cases, the death penalty was sought against 12 whites, 7 blacks and 9
Hispanics" in numerous judicial districts.
The last time a black man was executed in Colorado was 1947. University of
Colorado Professor Michael Radelet, in his study "Capital Punishment in
Colorado, 1859 to 1972," concluded blacks accounted for 10 of 102 executions in
that period and whites 77 (78 since 1997). Ethnic bias was pervasive in
Colorado's early decades and can't be discounted as an influence, but it's hard
to look at such data and argue the state has conspicuously targeted blacks for
execution.
Nor was the decision to pursue the death penalty against Dunlap, who coldly
murdered four at an Aurora Chuck E. Cheese in 1993, a strained interpretation
of the law.
For that matter, how could the governor plausibly object to how the death
penalty is applied when he stepped in a few weeks ago to stop the legislature
from a repeal effort? By doing so, he didn't just undermine bad arguments for
commutation but good arguments, too, such as the roulette-like process by which
a killer such as Dunlap ever gets to the point of actually facing death.
Hickenlooper could of course base his commutation on the the theory that "Mr.
Dunlap was not cold or cruel," as his lawyers argue. "He was sick. He was a
teenager suffering from bipolar disorder and psychosis, in the grip of his
first full-blown manic episode" - and the jury never knew it. Brauchler and
Maillaro pour scorn on that claim, too, and maybe the governor can determine
which side's experts are more credible.
And if not? Then our broken death-penalty system - the one the governor
intervened to save - will stagger into action and execute someone for only the
2nd time in 46 years.
(source: Opinion, Vincent Carroll, Denver Post)
IDAHO:
Murder suspect granted extension to enter plea
A Boise man charged with murder was granted an extension to enter a plea at his
Tuesday arraignment. Bruce William Macomb, 62, allegedly strangled his wife to
death in February, before attempting to kill himself.
Macomb can enter a plea May 28, Judge Ronald J. Wilper ruled. Beba Macomb, 58,
died at 5 a.m. on Feb. 16. Police did not find her body until 4 p.m. when they
performed a welfare check at the home. Officers said Bruce Macomb had slashed
his own neck and wrists in an attempt to commit suicide before police arrived.
Bruce Macomb is charged with a felony count of murder and a misdemeanor count
of failing to report a death. If convicted, he could face the death penalty, or
life in prison. Prosecutors have not yet said if they will seek the death
penalty in the case. He is being held without bond.
(source: Idaho Statesman)
WASHINGTON:
Jury begins deliberating whether to impose death penalty in Washington prison
guard killing
A jury has begun deliberating whether to impose the death penalty on a
Washington prison inmate who strangled a corrections officer. The case went to
the jury before noon Tuesday in Everett without any word from Byron Scherf.
The Daily Herald reports defense lawyer Karen Halverson asked jurors not to be
swayed "by the voices of vengeance or retribution."
Prosecutor Paul Stern reminded jurors of something Scherf told detectives in
his confession, "If you take a life, you give a life."
The jury took about an hour Thursday to convict Scherf of aggravated murder for
strangling Jayme Biendl with an amplifier cord in January 2011 in the chapel at
the Washington state Reformatory at Monroe.
The 54-year-old convicted rapist was already serving life in prison without
parole.
(source: Associated Press)
USA:
US appeals court in Va. weighs conviction of Somali man called biggest US
piracy catch
In the violent world of piracy, Mohammad Saaili Shibin was a multilingual
negotiator based in lawless Somalia, working his cellphone to negotiate
multimillion-dollar ransoms for merchant ships and sailors that dared to
venture into pirate-infested international waters off Africa.
Does that make him guilty of piracy?
The question was the central argument Tuesday as a federal appeals court
debated with an attorney seeking to overturn Shibin's piracy conviction and a
government prosecutor arguing against it.
A 3-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is expected to issue
an opinion in several weeks or longer in a case that could ultimately end up
before the U.S. Supreme Court.
A federal judge sentenced Shibin last August to a dozen life sentences for his
role in the hijacking of a German merchant vessel in 2010 that involved the
torture of crewmembers to secure a higher ransom and the shooting deaths of
four Americans aboard the yacht Quest in 2010.
Shibin has been called the top U.S. catch since it joined an international
effort to combat piracy off Africa. That effort has brought nearly 20
bedraggled pirates for prosecution to Norfolk, where ships based at the huge
naval base there have been deployed to combat the crimes.
James O. Broccoletti argued his client couldn't be convicted of piracy because
he never set out on the high seas, a requirement set out by U.S. law. "He never
left Somalia," he told the judges.
Define the "line, where does it cut off," for someone to be considered a
pirate? asked Judge Paul V. Niemeyer. "I'm trying to find out what piracy is,"
he said.
Broccoletti responded that the crime must occur in international waters. "He
never left the territorial water of Somalia," he said.
U.S. law governing piracy, which dates back nearly two centuries, defines
piracy as boarding a ship at sea and robbing it. Since the U.S. began its
crackdown in 2010, courts have come to conflicting conclusions on how the law
should be interpreted.
The government maintains the U.S. statute incorporates broader international
law and recognizes that piracy is an organized crime. That means it includes
those who work onshore, such as Shibin, to research how much ransom a pirated
vessel can come up with and to negotiate a payment for release.
"It's very difficult to get them," Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Hatch told
the judges. "It was very difficult to get Mr. Shibin. But we got him."
Broccoletti and Hatch, a lead prosecutor in the U.S. piracy convictions, each
could barely string 2 sentences together as Niemeyer, Judge Diana Gribbon Motz
and Judge Henry F. Floyd fired question after question at the 2 attorneys. The
questioning, though, didn't signal which way they were leaning on the appeal.
And it was occasionally light-hearted.
"These guys don't dress like pirates, do they? Niemeyer asked.
"No, your honor, they do not," Hatch said.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against the three men charged with
shooting the Americans on the Quest.
11 other men who boarded the yacht have pleaded guilty and been sentenced to
life terms.
Quest owners Jean and Scott Adam of Marina del Rey, Calif., and friends Bob
Riggle and Phyllis Macay of Seattle were the 1st Americans to be killed in
pirate attacks in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean.
Shibin also was involved in the piracy of the Marida Marguerite, a
German-operated tanker carrying $10 million worth of fuel when it was hijacked
in early May 2010.
Investigators said the Somali pirates tortured the 22 crewmembers "in
indescribable ways" for hours at a time before receiving several million
dollars' ransom and releasing the ship on Dec. 27, 2010.
(source: Associated Press)
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