May 16
OHIO:
State agrees, seeks death penalty; Randall Ross shot himself in the head after
killing estranged wife; remains under guard at hospital.
A Fremont man accused of storming his sister-in-law's Carroll Township home to
kill his wife faces the death penalty if he's convicted of aggravated murder.
Randall Ross, 47, remains in Magruder Hospital, where he's been since he was
released May 8 from a Toledo hospital. Ross shot himself twice in the head
after allegedly killing his wife, according to Ottawa County deputies.
An Ottawa County deputy has been posted at Ross' hospital room ever since.
Ross allegedly shot to death his wife of 12 years, Amy Ross, 42, on March 27.
The incident came about a month after she moved into her sister's Carroll
Township home.
Ross then turned the .40-caliber gun on himself, but he somehow survived both
shots to the head. He was standing in the front yard of the North Leutz Road
home when police arrived.
The indictment lists seven criminal charges against Ross, including 2 counts of
aggravated murder, which carry multiple death specifications, 2 counts of
murder, 2 counts of aggravated burglary, and kidnapping.
The indictment also includes weapons specifications that would add years to his
prison sentence if he's convicted.
Other indictments an Ottawa County grand jury handed down:
-- Derek Thayer, no age given, Bono, failure to appear.
-- Johnathan Trunk, 26, Lorain, theft.
-- Dennis Saldusky, no age given, Fostoria, 2 counts election falsification.
(source: Sandusky Register)
INDIANA:
Indiana Legislators Debate Death Penalty
We told you about a local sister who serves a man on death row.
Now we hear from Valley resident Randy Steidl, who served on death row 17 years
for a wrongful murder conviction.
This comes following the conclusion of the 2013 legislative session in Indiana,
where a bill to abolish the death penalty was proposed.
NBC 2's Paige Preusse reports that lawmakers are torn on the topic.
"I went from the comfort of my home to death row on the word of a mentally ill
woman and a town drunk," said Randy Steidl.
Randy Steidl is an example of how flawed the justice system can be, something
Indiana State Representative Democrat Clyde Kersey says is the main reason
legislators should support abolishing the death penalty.
"From the fairness issue, many people are executed who are not guilty of a
crime," said Kersey.
Kersey says an appeal process is necessary to ensure that an innocent man isn't
executed, but says, there's just one problem.
"It's very very expensive," said Kersey.
And it's the millions of taxpayer dollars that helped Randy Steidl convince
Ill. to ban the death penalty last year.
"Illinois did a study, and they spent more than $3.5 million trying to execute
me. Times that by 20 for the innocent people who sat on death row in Illinois,
and that's more than $ 70 million that was taxpayer money wasted," said Steidl.
But Indiana lawmakers like Republican Alan Morrison firmly believe the death
penalty is necessary to cut crime, Morrison says if cost is the issue, the
solution is simple.
"We shouldn't hold them so long. If we could expedite the sentencing and the
price they're going to pay, I think we'll save quite a bit of money," said
Morrison.
Kersey says if we did that, we'd eliminate our most efficient approach to
avoiding errors.
But We're dealing with a human life, so it's important that we go through all
of those steps," said Kersey.
On the other hand, Kersey says if we abolish the death penalty.
"It'd save us millions and millions of dollars," said Kersey.
But Morrison says, when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned state death penalty
laws in 1972 crime rose significantly until Indiana reinstated the death
penalty in 1977.
"It's a good deterrent to know that if I commit a crime, not only would I spend
a lot of time in jail, but I could meet my maker," said Morrison.
"I believe an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth still rings true," said
Morrison.
So what are the chances Indiana will eliminate the death penalty, maybe
sometime in the future.
"This may just be the 1st time we deal with this, and if it comes up again next
session we'll add to it, and again the next time, until eventually something
will happen," said Kersey.
(source: mywabashvalley.com)
OKLAHOMA:
1 trial for man in deaths of Oklahoma girls, woman
A man charged in the 2008 shooting deaths of 2 young Oklahoma girls and the
2011 death of his 23-year-old girlfriend will be tried for the crimes at the
same time in January, a judge ruled Wednesday.
Kevin Sweat, 27, was scheduled to face a 1st-degree murder trial next month in
the death of his girlfriend, Ashley Taylor. He will instead be tried in January
in Taylor's death as well as the shooting deaths 3 years earlier of 13-year-old
Taylor Placker and 11-year-old Skyla Whitaker, Okfuskee County District Judge
Lawrence Parish ruled.
Parish also ruled that the joint trial will be held in Creek County, where he
previously said Sweat would face trial in Taylor's death.
Sweat has pleaded not guilty to all the charges. Prosecutors are seeking the
death penalty.
Parish joined the cases in agreement with defense attorneys and prosecutors.
Sweat's defense attorneys filed a motion to join the cases last month after
Parish ruled evidence concerning the girls' deaths could be presented during
Sweat's trial in Taylor's death.
"We believe that joinder is required," said defense attorney Gretchen Mosley of
the Oklahoma Indigent Defense System.
The defense motion said that while prosecutors could have referred to the
girls' deaths during Sweat's trial for Taylor's death, defense attorneys would
have been limited in their ability to defend him against the evidence. The
presentation of evidence concerning the girls' shootings in Weleetka
essentially would be a "dry run" at prosecuting Sweat for those deaths, defense
attorneys said.
"We believe the cases need to be joined so that the evidence will have to be
proven beyond a reasonable doubt," Mosley said.
Prosecutors suggested a possible connection between the three deaths while
questioning witnesses at a January preliminary hearing. They questioned Sweat's
mother and her cousin about statements Sweat made about his relationship with
Taylor and his desire to break up with her.
Assistant District Attorney Maxey Reilly asked if Sweat had told them Taylor
would spread lies about him if he broke off the relationship, including blaming
him for the girls' deaths. Sweat's mother, Deborah Sweat, and cousin, James
McClellan, said they did not remember Sweat claiming Taylor had threatened to
tell authorities he shot the 2 girls.
At Wednesday's hearing, Reilly said prosecutors did not object to trying the
cases simultaneously. But she expressed concern at the amount of time that
elapsed between the 2 cases.
Riley said state law allows joinder of criminal cases that are similar in
nature, occurred within the same general area and are close in time. The
longest span of time between joined cases in state law previously was just
eight months, Riley said.
"That is our main concern," Riley said.
Parish agreed to join the cases only after asking Sweat if he had discussed the
legal strategy with his attorneys.
"Yes, I have, and I do agree with it," Sweat said as he stood at the defense
table, shackled at the wrists and ankles and wearing a bullet-proof vest.
Following the hearing, Taylor's father, Michael Taylor, said he expected
Sweat's trial for his daughter's death to be postponed and was not surprised
prosecutors agreed to join Sweat's trials.
"They feel it's going to be beneficial to their case," Michael Taylor said. "We
have to defer to their judgment."
(source: Associated Press)
NEBRASKA:
Give the death penalty the chair
It happens about this time every year: the Nebraska Legislature debates the
wisdom of eliminating the death penalty. (Or not: the bill Tuesday was subject
to filibuster and cannot return before the end of the session.)
It has been effectively rendered ineffective anyway - the death penalty, not
the Legislature, although that could be discussed - but for purposes that are
not all that mysterious to most of us, members of the Legislature make this
annual attempt to mandate its removal as law.
Editorially we have supported eliminating the death sentence. It tends to raise
eyebrows amongst conservatives and liberals alike. Conservatives generally
applaud our positions and liberals tend to not applaud our positions. Our death
penalty position runs contrary to those conservative leanings.
But frankly, it is difficult to understand how anyone who adamantly opposes
abortion can accept killing an adult. I understand the revulsion of aborting an
innocent. And the rationalization of executing a convicted murderer - an eye
for an eye, so to speak.
But the fact remains that to honor life, we need to honor all life. It is
doubtful the death penalty acts as a great deterrent to crime. It is debatable
what it does to us as a society.
Regardless, the purposeful killing of a human can be rationalized from
conception to old age. Perhaps we should stop rationalizing.
Time for the death penalty to die.
(source: Opinion; Peter Rogers is the publisher of the North Platte Telegraph)
COLORADO:
Governor Releases List Of Clemency Consultations
Gov. John Hickenlooper has spoken with seven prosecutors and 2 defense
attorneys as well as victims' families as he ponders whether to grant clemency
to Nathan Dunlap, who faces execution in August for ambushing and killing four
people in 1993.
The governor's office provided a list to The Associated Press on Tuesday of 15
officials who were contacted. The list also includes three investigators and a
victim-witness assistant in the prosecutor's office.
Hickenlooper has not said when he will make his decision.
Dunlap has been on death row since 1996, when a jury convicted him of murder
and sentenced him to die for the shooting deaths of four employees who were
cleaning a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant in the Denver suburb of Aurora
after-hours.
The victims were Ben Grant and Colleen O'Connor, both 17; Sylvia Crowell, 19;
and Margaret Kohlberg, 50. Co-worker Bobby Stephens, then 20, was injured but
survived.
Dunlap, then 19, had recently lost a job at the restaurant.
A judge has scheduled his execution for the week of Aug. 18, with the day to be
set by the head of the Corrections Department. It would be the 1st execution in
Colorado since 1997.
Hickenlooper had resisted releasing the list of people he spoke with, saying
some did not want to be identified. A Colorado Open Records Act request by the
AP for the names was denied on the grounds that no written list existed.
However, Hickenlooper did agree to release the names of public officials with
whom he has consulted.
George Brauchler, district attorney for the 18th Judicial District, where the
crime and the trial took place, said he told Hickenlooper he shouldn't
intervene.
"20 years of trial work and post-conviction jurisprudence have said the same
thing...the outcome was fair and just," Brauchler said.
Brauchler said Hickenlooper is acting like a "superjuror" who can overturn the
verdict.
Hickenlooper's spokesman responded that the governor's role is defined by the
state constitution and he is taking his duty seriously by listening to all
sides.
Madeline Cohen, 1 of Dunlap's attorneys, said Dunlap should be spared because
he had undiagnosed bipolar disorder at the time of the crime.
She also said Colorado's death penalty system is racially biased and that the
sentence is imposed inconsistently across the state. All 3 people on death row
are black, and all were convicted in the 18th District, which includes east and
south Denver suburbs.
Brauchler dismissed claims of racial bias as "loose, wild and unsubstantiated."
Parents of 2 victims have confirmed they spoke with the governor - Bob and Marj
Crowell, parents Sylvia Crowell, and Sandi Rogers, mother of Ben Grant.
Rogers said Wednesday that she told Hickenlooper to let the execution go on as
planned.
"I know putting Nathan Dunlap to death is not going to bring my son back,"
Rogers said in a telephone interview from her home in Wisconsin. "I also know
it is the right thing to do.
"He has outlived my child. He has been in prison longer than my child was on
Earth," she said.
(source: Associated Press)
************************
3,500 Potential Witnesses in Aurora Shooting Trial
Nearly one year ago, James Holmes entered a Century movie theater in Aurora,
Colorado with tear gas and guns, killing 12 people and injuring over 60 others.
The shooting took place during an opening weekend showing of The Dark Knight
Rises, turning crowded summer movie blockbuster premieres into yet another
place where Americans are now wary of guns (though at least one Missouri movie
theater recently forgot this).
Now, Holmes' murder trial is about to begin, and prosecutors seem to have an
incredible amount of evidence to demonstrate that he was the shooter. According
to an Associated Press report, prosecutors this week filed a motion in court
that states they have close to 3,500 potential witnesses that could be called
on to testify. In addition, prosecutors estimated they have almost 40,000 pages
of evidence that have been filed.
Holmes will be tried on multiple counts of 1st-degree murder. Prosecutors have
turned down a plea offer from Holmes' defense for the suspect to plead guilty
if they agree not to seek the death penalty, stating they do intend to seek the
death penalty. Holmes??? lawyer recently requested the suspect's plea be
changed to not guilty by reason of insanity, which the judge in the case is
currently deciding whether or not to accept.
(source: webpronews)
ARIZONA:
Jodi Arias may get death sentence as Arizona murder trial concludes
Jodi Arias, facing the death penalty for murdering an ex-boyfriend in Arizona,
was due back in court on Thursday for the final phase of a 4-month-long trial.
Arias was found guilty last week of murdering Travis Alexander, whose body was
found slumped in the shower of his Phoenix-area home 5 years ago. He had been
stabbed 27 times, had his throat slashed and been shot in the face.
The same jury that convicted Arias deliberated for about 3 hours on Wednesday,
1st day of the penalty phase, before ruling that she had acted with extreme
cruelty in the 2008 killing, qualifying her for capital punishment.
On Thursday, prosecutors and defense lawyers will present additional testimony
and arguments for the jury to weigh before one last round of deliberations to
determine whether Arias is sentenced to death or to life in prison.
The defense is expected to revisit its claim that Arias acted out of fear, and
that her relationship with Alexander, 30, was fraught with abuse and efforts by
Alexander to control her.
The most relevant mitigating claim is likely to be that Arias acted under
"unusual or substantial duress".
The jury rejected Arias' claims of self-defense when it found her guilty of
premeditated murder.
It was not certain whether Arias, who took the witness stand to testify in her
own defense, would opt to make any further statements in court before the jury
delivers its sentence.
SUICIDE WATCH
Arias had been placed on suicide watch in a psychiatric ward after saying in a
post-conviction television interview that she would prefer the death penalty to
life in prison. She was returned to her jail cell on Monday.
Arias has admitted shooting Alexander and said she opened fire on him with his
own pistol when he attacked her in a rage because she dropped his camera while
taking snapshots of him in the shower. She said she did not remember stabbing
him.
The case featured graphic testimony and photographs as well as a sex tape,
which became a sensation on cable television news and unfolded in live Internet
telecasts of the proceedings.
On Wednesday, prosecutors focused on details of the murder in their bid to cast
the crime as especially cruel, a legal standard for aggravating factors that
qualify for the death sentence.
Prosecutor Juan Martinez said Arias had repeatedly stabbed Alexander for 2
minutes as he tried to escape from the bathroom. She then followed the bleeding
victim down a hallway and slashed his throat when he was too weak to get away.
Alexander knew he was going to die and was unable to resist his attacker at
that point, Martinez said.
"Each and every time that blade went into his body, it hurt," Martinez told the
jury. "It was only death that relieved that pain. It was only death that
relieved that anguish, and that is especially cruel."
The defense argued that adrenaline would have prevented Alexander from feeling
the pain of the knife blows. If he was shot in the forehead first, rendering
him unconscious in seconds, he would not have suffered, attorney Kirk Nurmi
said.
(source: Reuters)
WASHINGTON:
Jurors recommend Byron Scherf should be put to death
Jurors took just 3 hours Wednesday to decide Byron Scherf deserved to die for
killing corrections officer Jayme Biendl. But the 54-year-old inmate may be in
his 70s before he faces a possible execution.
It took jurors less than half an hour last week to find Scherf guilty of
1st-degree aggravated murder in Biendl's 2011 slaying. She was strangled with a
cord inside the sanctuary of the prison chapel.
On Monday, jurors heard emotional testimony from Biendl's father.
"The worst part is the feeling of loss just doesn't seem to go away," said
Biendl's father, James Hamm.
Hamm wasn't expecting the jury to recommend the death penalty for Scherf, but
Wednesday, he was pleasantly surprised.
"It's so hard for someone to say, 'I'd like to see you die. I'd like to put
somebody to death,'" said Hamm. "It's just immorally, it's hard to do. But I
was hoping."
The jury was asked to decide if there were any mitigating factors that should
spare Scherf from being executed. Jurors unanimously voted that the court
should not show any leniency in sentencing Scherf to death.
"I've been waiting 837 days exactly to hear those words that he's got the death
penalty," said Biendl's sister, Lisa Hamm. "And I'm going to continue to count,
until he's finally dead."
Scherf, 54, is serving a life sentence for crimes against women, including
rape.
His attorneys argued that Scherf's life was worth saving. Before the killing,
he earned a high school diploma and enrolled in therapy.
"It is obvious that Byron is a damaged, broken man. But he is not beyond
redemption. He is not evil," said Karen Halverson, Scherf's attorney.
Prosecutors said the programs did not work. They said Scherf completed an anger
management class in 1989 and was released from prison, and raped a woman 6
years later. He then took an in-custody therapy class but killed Biendl 6
months later, they said.
The judge issued a death sentence for Scherf on Wednesday afternoon. He will be
moved to a state prison in 10 days.
After the Snohomish County Judge hands down the official death sentence
Wednesday afternoon, the Department of Corrections will move Scherf to a
different facility; presumably the State Penitentiary in Walla Walla. But as
with most death row cases, it could be years before Scherf is executed.
But Biendl's family will count months and years before Scherf faces the death
penalty.
There are 8 men on death row in Walla Walla -- convicted child killer,
Johnathan Lee Gentry, was sentenced nearly 22 years ago.
A death sentence is automatically reviewed by the state Supreme Court. Scherf's
attorney said the convicted rapist and murderer will fight for his life.
"He will be filing his appeal so I think that speaks for itself. He will be
appealing," said attorney Karen Halverson.
Biendl's friend, Lawrence Heiser, said he's ready for the court fight that is
just beginning.
"It could be 20 to 30 years before they execute him. He got a fair trial. I'm
sure he'll get a decent execution and that's more than he deserves," said
Heiser.
(source: KIRO News)
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