July 20
TEXAS----new death sentence
Man gets death penalty in 1992 killing of 6-year-old
It took more than 2 decades for Angelo Garcia's mother to see her 6-year-old
son's killer sent to death row.
On Friday, she said it was worth it.
"It's the greatest news, and it took 21 years," the woman said after jurors
sent Obel Cruz-Garcia to death row for the 1992 slaying. "It was good when they
got the DNA, but this is better."
Cruz-Garcia marks the 1st defendant from Harris County this year to receive the
death penalty.
Over the past 2 weeks, jurors heard a brutal story about a home invasion that
turned into a rape that turned into a kidnapping and murder. They also learned
it was the sexual assault that ultimately led police to identify the
45-year-old.
Cruz-Garcia was serving time for kidnapping in Puerto Rico in 2007 when DNA
from the 15-year-old rape kit tied him to the 1992 case.
Cruz-Garcia and another man were wearing ski masks when they broke in to the
family's south Houston apartment around midnight on Sept. 30, 1992.
The child's mother and stepfather testified they were part of the defendant's
cocaine-trafficking operation. They said they were tied up while the duo
ransacked the home.
The men then fled with Angelo in a car driven by a third man, who testified
that Cruz-Garcia and the other suspect took the child to a Baytown lake, where
he was stabbed. His remains were found in the lake about a month later.
On Monday, jurors convicted Cruz-Garcia of capital murder after deliberating
about 4 hours. After days of more testimony, they sentenced him to die Friday.
Thinking about the time between crime and punishment left the victim's family
weeping after the verdict.
'Waited all these years'
"We just waited all these years, all this time, and it finally happened," said
Angelo's brother, James Garcia, with tears in his eyes.
Cruz-Garcia, who jumped bail on a felony drug case to flee the country 2 days
after the abduction, was brought back to Houston in 2008 for trial.
Prosecutors praised the verdict after jurors deliberated about 7 hours over 2
days.
"It's an important decision, and sometimes it takes some people a little bit
longer to get there," said Assistant Harris County District Attorney Natalie
Tise. "All in all, they weren't deliberating all that long."
Defense lawyers for Cruz-Garcia said they were disappointed and that the
defendant is focused on his appeal.
Cruz-Garcia did not react to the verdict when read by state District Judge
Renee Magee.
"He was pretty even-keeled through the entire trial," said defense attorney
Mario Madrid. "He didn't show a lot of emotion during the trial or after
trial."
Cruz-Garcia has denied any involvement in the home invasion, the abduction or
the child's death.
(source: Houston Chronicle)
*******************
Sheriff says prosecutors will seek death penalty against Eric and Kim Williams
Prosecutors will go before a Kaufman County district court on Friday, July 26
and formally announce they will be seeking the death penalty for Eric and Kim
Williams, accused of 3 murders earlier this year.
Kaufman County Sheriff David A. Byrnes gave that information to a crowd of
Kaufman Lions Club members at the organization's weekly meeting on Friday (July
19).
Judge Michael Snipes of the Criminal District Court No. 7 of Dallas County will
be in Kaufman to sit on that pre-trial proceeding, according to his court
coordinator.
Snipes was appointed as the presiding judge on the capital murder cases after
422nd Judicial District Judge B. Michael Chitty recused himself.
"We're going to try to seat a jury in Kaufman County," Byrnes said, heading off
questions about whether or not a trial would be held here. "We think we can do
that."
"We think the people of Kaufman County deserve to hear this case."
Byrnes was the club's guest speaker at its luncheon and was asked there to talk
to members about the events that began in late January.
"Jan. 31st, at 8:43 a.m., changed Kaufman forever," Byrnes began. "Mark Hasse
was assassinated on his way to work."
Hasse, a Kaufman County assistant district attorney, was shot and killed at the
scene, 1 block from the courthouse.
On March 30, the day before Easter Sunday, district attorney Mike McLelland and
his wife Cynthia were shot and killed in their home.
In subsequent weeks, former justice of the peace Eric Williams was jailed for
sending a terroristic threat by email.
Days later, during an interview with law enforcement, his wife Kim Williams
confessed that she had been the driver of the vehicle that had carried her and
her husband to both murder scenes and said her husband was the shooter in both
cases.
Both McLelland and Hasse were the prosecuting attorneys in the 2012 trial of
Eric Williams that saw a jury hand down 2 guilty verdicts on state jail felony
charges.
Chitty was the presiding judge on that case.
The result of that trial saw Eric Williams removed from office and have his
license to practice law suspended by the State Bar of Texas.
(source: Kaufman Herald)
***********************
Albert Love Receives Death Penalty For Spring Street Murders
Albert Leslie Love Jr. has received the death penalty for his role in the 2011
shooting deaths of Tyus Sneed and Keenan Hubert.
This sentence comes after the jury in the case convicted Love of capital murder
on Tuesday.
The punishment phase of the trial began this past Wednesday.
Today after Love's sentence was announced, both Hubert's mother and father gave
victim impact statements about the loss of their son where they spoke to Love
directly calling him a "coward" and saying he was "getting what he deserved."
Tyus Sneed's father also took the stand speaking to Love saying he had "robbed"
his family of a son and brother who "hadn't even done anything wrong."
The jury went into deliberations Friday afternoon around 2:30 to decide whether
Love would receive the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility
of parole until they reached a verdict on the sentencing at around 4 P.M.
The defense started the day by continuing it's case where jurors heard from
Love's mother, Tonya Bibb.
She defended Love saying she had done her "very best" to raise her son to know
the difference between right and wrong, and she also denied that he was ever a
part of the Bloods street gang, despite Love's own admission that he was an
active member.
The defense then called 2 doctors to testify about a brain injury Love suffered
from that they argued impaired his decision-making abilities and planning
skills.
The prosecution countered those claims by reading and showing the jury very
graphic and detailed sexually explicit letters and drawings that Love had sent
to his wife while in jail.
Before closing arguments, Love was given one last opportunity to testify before
the jury, but he ultimately declined.
(source: KXXV News)
PENNSYLVANIA:
No death penalty, defense in Bethlehem Puerto Rican club shooting says; Lawyer
tells court standards aren't met in Bethlehem Puerto Rican club shooting.
A 33-year-old man charged with gunning down a woman during a chaotic shootout
outside a Puerto Rican social club in Bethlehem shouldn't face the death
penalty if convicted, his attorney said in a legal filing Friday.
Northampton County prosecutors want Rene Figueroa of Allentown to receive the
ultimate punishment, given that three others were wounded during the gun battle
last year.
But Figueroa's lawyer, Gary Asteak, asked Judge Anthony Beltrami to throw out a
possible death sentence, saying there isn't evidence to support the
prosecution's aggravating factors: that the defendant put others in grave risk
of death and committed the shooting in perpetration of other felonies.
Asteak's request was contained in pretrial motions in a case that is scheduled
for trial in December. Asteak is also seeking to have the charges dismissed
altogether and to compel further discovery from authorities.
Figueroa and co-defendant Javier Rivera-Alvarado are charged with multiple
felonies in a melee Dec. 2 outside the Puerto Rican Beneficial Society that
left 23-year-old Yolando Morales of Bethlehem dead. But only Figueroa is
charged with homicide.
Authorities call it one of the Lehigh Valley's worst gunfights, with a minor
incident in the East Third Street club spilling into the street and creating a
crime scene so complicated that investigators had to draw diagrams to make
sense of what happened.
Figueroa and Alvarado, 39, of Allentown were also hurt during the chaos.
Adding to the confusion, at a preliminary hearing in February, the
prosecution's main witness misidentified which defendant was which, according
to authorities, fingering Alvarado and not Figueroa as the fatal triggerman.
First Deputy District Attorney Terence Houck says that independent evidence
sorts out which gunman was which. On Friday, he said he is confident his
death-penalty notice will be upheld by Beltrami.
"We don't take that lightly when we file that, and we have to have the
supporting evidence for it," Houck said.
(source: Morning Call)
GEORGIA:
How Georgia Just Spared The Life of Man It Desperately Wants To Kill
You just can't make this stuff up.
Georgia has been trying desperately for decades to execute Warren Hill, a
convicted murderer who long ago was sentenced to death for a gruesome crime.
But just when it looked like state officials would get their wish, just when it
looked like the state and federal courts had rejected all of the substantive
and procedural arguments Hill's attorneys could gin up, just when it looked
like state sovereignty would prevail over the Eighth Amendment, Georgia blew
it.
The state blew it because in its zeal to execute Hill, in its desire to keep
the "machinery of death" cranking in the Peachtree State, it enacted this past
spring a wholly unnecessary (and patently unconstitutional) "state-secret" law
that sought to keep vital information about capital procedures from the
public--and the state's judiciary. Georgia thereby failed to abide by the
governing principle of legal argument: quit while you are ahead.
It was this brand new law--designed to protect the people and corporations that
manufacture the controversial (and not always safe) drugs used in the state's
lethal injections--that a state court judge on Thursday found to raise serious
constitutional questions under the First Amendment and Eighth Amendment. The
judge asked the obvious question: How can the executive branch constitutionally
conspire with the legislative branch to block the judiciary from considering
all relevant components of a planned execution?
How indeed. Declaring the new law likely unconstitutional, the judge promptly
stayed Hill's execution, which was then scheduled for tonight at 7 p.m ET.
Georgia was unable to appeal the trial judge's ruling today to the Georgia
Supreme Court because state lawyers did not receive on time the court
reporter's transcript from Thursday's hearing. And the state's death warrant
for Hill expires tomorrow. This means that Hill won't be executed this week or
anytime soon.
This is now the second time this year alone that Hill was scheduled for
execution only to receive a stay. The last time, in February, Hill earned a
reprieve so that the courts could evaluate the merits of his underlying claim
that he cannot be lawfully executed anyway because the Eighth Amendment forbids
the execution of the "mentally retarded.*" Back then, Georgia officials blamed
Hill's attorneys for the delay. Today, those state officials have no one to
blame but themselves.
For years now I have been writing about how the death penalty in America is
slowly losing popular support because of the arbitrary and capricious manner in
which it is carried out. For years now I have been chronicling instances where
state officials are so ardent in their zeal to execute people that they lose
sight of the larger commands of constitutional law. This case is just the
latest, and most potent, example of this lamentable trend.
To prove my point, let me briefly recap what's happened here. First, state
officials argued in court that Hill was not "mentally retarded" beyond a
reasonable doubt, the standard required under Georgia's uniquely onerous
capital laws. Then, when the 3 government doctors who examined Hill changed
their minds, when they conceded that their initial evaluations of Hill had been
flawed and that his retardation in fact satisfied the state's standard, Georgia
argued that it was too late for Hill to rely upon this changed evidence.
And then, while Hill's lawyers and state attorneys were fighting over that
standard, and federal procedural rules, and Hill's mental condition in light of
the Supreme Court's recent prohibition against the execution of the "mentally
retarded," the state Department of Corrections went to state lawmakers and
asked them to enact a "secrecy" law so that the suppliers of lethal drugs
(which are getting scarcer and scarcer these days after European manufacturers
stopped shipping phenobarbital to the U.S. for fear it would be used in
executions) would not be subject to public scrutiny or judicial review. While
Georgia was fighting over core constitutional principles, it sought to shield
its fight from public view. As a matter of law, as a matter of ethics, as a
matter of morality, it's deplorable.
What happens now? Georgia must appeal the trial judge's ruling to the state
supreme court, the justices of which leave for vacation at the end of July.
Hill's attorney tells me that the drugs that were to be used on his client this
week will expire in early August. The state likely won't be able to issue a new
death warrant unless and until it wins its appeal on the new "secrets" law
(which it likely won't). And the United States Supreme Court, which was on
standby all this past week waiting to see if it would be needed, has placed
Hill's case on its conference docket for September.
The bottom line is that Warren Hill is alive tonight because Georgia officials
wanted him dead so badly that they disregarded basic constitutional principles.
That's this story, at least for now, and in a larger sense it is the story of
capital punishment in America in 2013: Those who seek to execute the condemned
feel so strongly about their mission that they just can't help themselves. The
lesson of this story, the moral of it, is clear. But having covered enough of
these cases over the years I've long since given up hope that it will be
learned.
(source: The Atlantic)
**********************
Georgia death row inmate's execution remains on hold
The scheduled execution date of Georgia death row inmate Warren Hill passed
Friday night without the sentence being carried out.
The execution remained on hold under a stay granted earlier in the week because
the state attorney general's office did not file an appeal Friday, The Atlanta
Journal-Constitution reported.
Attorney general's office spokeswoman Lauren Kane said prosecutors need a
transcript of this week's hearings before Fulton County Superior Court Judge
Gail Tusan before an appeal could be filed. She said the transcript will not be
ready until Monday, the Journal-Constitution said.
"We are deeply relieved that Warren Hill will not be executed tonight in order
for the courts to more thoughtfully deliberate Mr. Hill's mental retardation
claim and the extreme secrecy surrounding Georgia's lethal injection law,"
defense attorney Brian Kammer said.
Kammer contends Hill should not be executed because he is mentally retarded,
but the stay was granted to consider the constitutional concerns about a new
state law that keeps secret the identities of those who make and supply
Georgia's lethal injection drugs.
The delays also mean the warrant ordering Hill's execution will expire at noon
Saturday and state attorneys will have to go back to a judge to get a new
warrant that provides a 1-week window to carry out the execution.
Another impending complication is the state's aging supply of pentobarbital,
the drug it needs to carry out Hill's execution. Court records indicate its
current supply expires Aug. 8.
Hill was sentenced to life for killing his 18-year-old girlfriend. In 1990, he
fatally battered fellow inmate Joseph Handspike, drawing the death penalty.
(source: United Press International)
****************
Warren Hill Execution Stay Extended
A challenge to Georgia's "Lethal Injection Secrecy Act" has led the Fulton
County Superior Court in Atlanta to extend Warren Hill???s stay of execution.
An appeal from the state of Georgia won't be filed in time and his execution
warrant will expire.
The secrecy law, which went into effect July 1, allows the state to withhold
from the courts information about the drugs they intend to use in executions.
This, of course, makes it impossible for the courts to determine if said drugs
will be effective enough to prevent excessive pain and suffering that would
render the execution a "cruel and unusual punishment" in violation of the
constitution.
There is also a "separation of powers" question: can the executive and
legislative branches of government set up a system that keeps the judicial
branch in the dark about the most awesome and extreme power the state can
wield? In other words, is it OK that the public and the courts are denied
information they need to ensure that the law is upheld and that human rights
and constitutional rights are protected?
It is unclear why Georgia authorities are in such a rush to kill Warren Hill,
given that he has a petition pending at the U.S. Supreme Court, and given that
several of the trial jurors and the victim's family now oppose the execution.
Hill's petition, on the question of his "mental retardation" and the consequent
unconstitutionality of his execution, is due to be considered by the Supreme
Court on September 30.
It now appears possible that Warren Hill might still be alive then.
(source: Brian Evans, Amnesty International USA, blog)
****************
How many stays or delays can a death row inmate get?
Georgia death row inmate Warren Lee Hill has been granted another stay of
execution just before he was scheduled to be put to death for the killing of a
fellow inmate in the 1990's, but is there a limit to how many times an
execution can be postponed?
Dougherty County District Attorney Greg Edwards says the inmate's lawyer has
the ability to be granted a stay or delay as much as they see fit if the judge
finds their argument reasonable.
Edwards says in order for the execution to be turned over completely, however
the legal team would need to get the case in the appellate court to try and
overturn the jury death penalty ruling.
If an appellate judge finds enough sufficient evidence against the original
ruling, they can appeal the death penalty and reissue another sentence.
(source: mysouthwestga.com)
FLORIDA:
Fla. court to decide whether to halt execution
A stay of execution for a former escort service owner has been lifted, but the
case is now headed to the Florida Supreme Court.
A Bradford County judge ruled this week that Marshall Lee Gore was sane and
could be executed.
Gore had been scheduled to die earlier this month by lethal injection. But a
judge halted Gore's execution to consider whether Gore is mentally ill. Gore's
lawyer - who says his client is insane - immediately appealed the latest
decision. The Florida Supreme Court gave attorneys for Gore and the state until
Aug. 7 to file motions.
Gore was convicted in the 1988 slaying of Robyn Novick, a 30-year-old exotic
dancer. In addition to Novick, Gore also was sentenced to death for the 1988
slaying of Susan Roark.
(source: Associated Press)
*****************
S. Fla Killer's Execution Appeal Headed To FL Supreme Court
A South Florida killer has had his stay of execution lifted, but his case is
now headed to the Florida Supreme Court.
A Bradford County judge ruled this week that Marshall Lee Gore, a former escort
service owner, was sane and could be executed.
Gore had been scheduled to die earlier this month by lethal injection. But a
judge halted Gore's execution to consider whether Gore is mentally ill.
Gore's lawyer - who says his client is insane - immediately appealed the latest
decision. The Florida Supreme Court gave attorneys for Gore and the state until
Aug. 7 to file motions.
Gore was convicted in the 1988 slaying of Robyn Novick, a 30-year-old exotic
dancer whose naked body was found in a rural part of Miami-Dade, partly covered
by a blue tarpaulin.
In addition to Novick, Gore also was sentenced to death for the 1988 slaying of
Susan Roark.
(source: CBS Miami)
******************
Killer denied request for new trial----Delmer Smith, 41, was convicted in the
2009 death of Kathleen Briles at her Terra Ceia home.
Convicted killer Delmer Smith has been denied his request for a new trial.
Circuit Judge Peter Dubensky filed a written order Friday, ruling that Smith
"did receive a fair and impartial trial."
Smith, 41, was convicted in August in the 2009 death of Kathleen Briles at her
Terra Ceia home. After determining that Smith bludgeoned the woman to death
with an antique sewing machine, the 12-person jury unanimously recommended
Smith receive the death penalty. Dubensky upheld that recommendation.
Smith's defense attorney, Bjorn Brunvand, argued last month that newly
discovered evidence warranted a new trial.
That evidence is a medical encyclopedia allegedly taken from the Briles' home
that had Smith's fingerprints on it. Brunvand said he did not become aware
until after Smith's trial that the logo on the encyclopedia appeared different
from the one on Briles' encyclopedia. The book placed Smith inside the victim's
home.
During the hearing for a new trial, prosecutors presented an expert witness who
said the books are the same.
Dubensky wrote that the testimony was "very persuasive" and that
"'misperception' of evidence does not meet the standard for newly discovered
evidence."
Other evidence included a Sarasota County deputy's admission to lying under
oath in a related case. The issue about which the deputy lied was addressed
during an evidentiary hearing Smith's other case.
Dubensky wrote that the new evidence "is irrelevant and immaterial for the
purposes of this case."
Though Smith's defense argued discrepancies in evidence should be enough for a
new trial, Dubensky disagreed.
In his order's final point, the judge wrote, "the other evidence at trial was
more than sufficient to convict the defendant."
Smith should be transferred from the Manatee County jail to the state prison
intake center for processing.
(source: Herald-Tribune)
ALABAMA----impending execution
State of Alabama Plans to Execute Mentally Ill Man
Andrew Lackey is a young man on Alabama's death row who has suffered from
mental illness his entire life. The Alabama Supreme Court has ordered him to be
executed on July 25 even though no state or federal court has completed
appellate review in the case to determine whether his trial was fair or his
sentence appropriate.
Alabama prison doctors currently are treating Mr. Lackey with multiple
psychotropic medications and his mental illness is longstanding. His mother
testified at trial that he "lives in Andrew land," that he does not fully
understand "what is really going on," and that there has been "something wrong"
with him since he was an infant.
Mr. Lackey was sentenced to death in the tragic killing of Charles Newman in
2005, when Mr. Lackey was 22 years old.
Recently, Mr. Lackey has attempted suicide, saying that his "mind has started
to break down," and that he was in an "infinite loop where he sees the end as
the beginning." After his failed suicide attempt, Mr. Lackey's suffering led
him to ask the State of Alabama to execute him.
Despite the extensive evidence of serious mental illness, however, the trial
judge refused to order an expert competency evaluation of Mr. Lackey, failed to
inquire about which psychotropic medications he is taking and how they affect
his mental state, and did not even ask state officials what mental illness they
have diagnosed Mr. Lackey as suffering from.
EJI appealed, arguing that the judge should have properly evaluated Mr.
Lackey's competency before permitting him to waive his appeals, but the Court
of Criminal Appeals found that it was acceptable to allow him to be executed.
Even though no state or federal court has completed appellate review in the
case to determine whether the trial was fair or the sentence appropriate, the
State of Alabama moved to set an execution date, and the Alabama Supreme Court
scheduled Mr. Lackey's execution for July 25, 2013.
(source: Equal Justince Initiative)
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