Aug. 21
WISCONSIN:
Wisconsinites remain divided on death penalty, other crime policies
Most of the attention given to the most recent Marquette University Law School
poll focused on what the statewide survey said about Gov. Scott Walker and
President Barack Obama. Both leaders, the poll showed, have middling approval
ratings in the Badger State.
But an overlooked part of the poll gives an in-depth look at Wisconsinites'
attitudes on crime and punishment.
For starters, most Wisconsinites don't seem to be living in terror of crime.
The vast majority (85.9 %) say they generally feel safe walking alone at night
in their neighborhoods.
However, on what to do about the crime that does take place, the people of the
state seem conflicted, even hypocritical.
Over 1/2 of respondents agreed that prisoners who have served half of their
terms should be released from prison and subjected to a less costly punishment.
And yet, 2/3 of respondents voiced support for "Truth-in-Sentencing," a policy
put in place in 1998 that effectively ended parole in Wisconsin. Most
respondents (60 %) also agreed that the "courts are too lenient on criminals,"
a position that suggests that the "tough-on-crime" measures that have led to an
explosion in Wisconsin's prison population in the past 15 years haven't gone
far enough.
Darren Wheelock, a Marquette criminology expert who helped devise the poll
questions, says the apparent contradiction displays a public that wants to
support rehabilitation-oriented policy but isn???t willing to get rid of the
most significant roadblocks.
"In the abstract people are more supportive of the idea (of rehabilitation),"
he says. "In practice it gets a little complicated."
Indeed, the truth-in-sentencing reforms of the 1990s committed the state to a
traditional prison policy in which criminals, including many non-violent drug
offenders, were incarcerated for long periods of time, rather than directed
toward community services.
"We get very strong support for truth-in-sentencing, which at least in
Wisconsin is very punitive and isn't really about having a more responsive and
reflexive criminal justice system," he says. "It's really about having
offenders serve their times, no matter what."
Marquette Professor Michael O'Hear, who collaborated on the study with
Wheelock, suggests on his blog that the public remains divided over whether to
pursue criminal justice policy from an "instrumental" perspective or a symbolic
one. An instrumental policy, he explains, is one that advances public safety
and is cost-effective. A symbolic policy, in contrast, "expresses an ideal or
value."
"When we asked respondents whether prisoners should be released at the half-way
mark and given a less costly form of punishment if they can demonstrate they
are no longer a threat, we were implicitly inviting our respondents to think in
instrumental terms - the ideas of cost and safety figure centrally in the
wording of the question," he explains.
"But, when we asked about truth in sentencing, we moved respondents to a much
more symbolically rich terrain. After all, when we think about truth-telling,
we often think of it as a virtue in its own right and without regard to its
consequences - it's simply the 'right thing to do.'"
But on at least one key criminal justice issue, the poll shows an unambiguous
trend in one direction.
"Support for capital punishment is starting to taper," says Wheelock, noting
that the decline in support for the death penalty in Wisconsin corresponds to
increasing opposition to executions nationally.
According to the poll, 50.5 % of Wisconsinites oppose capital punishment for
convicted murderers, while 46.6 % support it. Just 7 years ago, 55.5 % of
Wisconsin voters approved a non-binding referendum in support of establishing
the death penalty, which the state abolished in 1853.
(source: The Cap Times)
MISSOURI:
Propofol Used For Death Penalty
With execution dates now set for 2 men on death row in Missouri, the state is
on track to be the 1st to use the drug Propofol for the administering of the
death penalty. Propofol, a sedative, is un-chartered territory when it comes to
capital punishment and some critics are now raising concerns about whether the
drug has been properly vetted and is an appropriate execution method.
"Missouri is about to use a new drug that no other state has used, that has
never been used in executions," Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death
Penalty Information Center, tells Daily RFT, adding; "You never want to
experiment with humans."
[source: riverfronttimes.com & MJWN]
(source: MJ World)
NEW MEXICO:
Capital Murder Trial Begins for Arizona Fugitive
John McCluskey was arrested wearing one of the victims' baseball caps. But his
defense attorney said Monday prosecutors will be unable to prove that the
escaped Arizona prison inmate shot and then incinerated a retired Oklahoma
couple after they crossed paths with a trio of criminals at a highway rest
area.
The government's whole case, Michael Burt said in opening statements, hangs
solely on the testimony of his 2 alleged accomplices: one a man who has a
history of violent crimes and drug abuse, the other a woman who the defense
team contends has repeatedly lied to investigators.
Burt questioned their credibility, noting they both made deals with federal
prosecutors and avoided the death penalty.
"Our defense is going to be the government can't prove without a reasonable
doubt that John McCluskey pulled the trigger and killed Gary and Linda Haas,"
he said.
McCluskey is facing capital murder and a number of other charges in the 2010
carjacking and slaying of the retirees from Tecumseh, Okla.
Prosecutor Greg Fouratt said "unspeakable crimes" resulted from the tragic
collision on Aug. 2, 2010, of the Oklahoma couple's annual camping trip to
Colorado with the flight of McCluskey, a fellow escapee, and an accomplice.
"Ultimately this case is about the targeting, the carjacking, the shooting to
death and the incinerating of a husband and wife," said Fouratt, who said the
Haases were married more than 40 years.
Fouratt said his team plans to call about 50 witnesses and jurors will be shown
a few hundred exhibits, including photographs and audio and video clips.
Testimony began Monday afternoon with a friend of the Haases and an
investigator with the Arizona Department of Corrections who responded the night
McCluskey and 2 other inmates escaped from a medium-security prison near
Kingman, Ariz.
An audience that included family and friends of the victims packed the
courtroom for Monday's proceedings. The trial is expected to last up to four
months.
It took nearly 3 weeks for attorneys to settle on a jury of 9 women and 3 men
and 4 alternates. Dozens of prospective jurors were questioned about everything
from their understanding of the justice system to their opinions about the
death penalty.
McCluskey made no secret of his desire to steer clear of a trial and the death
penalty. He agreed to plea negotiations earlier this year, but federal
prosecutors were intent on moving to trial.
Prosecutors have said the Haases, both 61, were targeted for their pickup truck
and travel trailer when they stopped at a rest area near the Texas-New Mexico
state line.
According to court documents, they were forced at gunpoint to drive to a
desolate spot off of Interstate 40, where they were then ordered into their
trailer and shot. The truck and trailer were then driven miles down a series of
dirt roads to a more remote location. The trailer was unhitched and torched,
with the Haases' bodies inside.
It was 2 days before a ranch hand discovered the crime scene and called
authorities. Among the charred debris were skull fragments, eyeglass frames and
Linda Haas' wedding ring.
During Fouratt's opening statement, he displayed photos of the fugitives'
weapons and the burned-out trailer.
To provide timelines for the separate trips of the victims and the fugitives,
the prosecution showed images from surveillance cameras at various locations
and traced their journey on a map. One of the surveillance images showed Gary
Haas wearing his John Deere cap, the same cap that McCluskey was wearing when
arrested.
McCluskey and the other prisoners escaped in July 2010, with the help of his
cousin and fiance, Casslyn Welch. One of the inmates was quickly captured after
a shootout with authorities in Colorado, while McCluskey, Welch and inmate
Tracy Province embarked on a crime rampage that sparked a 3-week nationwide
manhunt.
Burt, the defense attorney, said the case is as much about 2 separate trips
colliding as it is about "individuals seeking freedom." He pointed to the
Haases enjoying the open road and the inmates taking advantage of an
opportunity to get beyond the prison walls.
Province and Welch pleaded guilty last year to charges stemming from the
Haases' deaths. Both face life sentences.
McCluskey was previously serving 15 years in Arizona for attempted 2nd-degree
murder, aggravated assault and discharge of a firearm.
(source: Associated Press)
ARIZONA:
Jodi Arias Trial Update: What Happens Next?
The case surrounding Jodi Arias' 1st-degree murder of her ex-boyfriend Travis
Alexander in 2008 has captivated the nation - and it isn't over yet. As Arias
sits in an Arizona jail cell awaiting the selection of another jury for a new
sentencing phase, what's next for the embattled defendant?
During the intial trial, defense attorneys argued that the 32-year-old
California native killed Alexander in self-defense because he was physically
and emotionally abusive and sexually exploited her, reports the Associated
Press. However, the jury sided with prosecutors who claimed that Arias'
jealousy drove her to deviously plot and carry out a cruel revenge murder after
he began seeing other women following the couple's breakup.
Arias was convicted of first-degree murder on May 8 in the ghastly death of
Alexander in his suburban Phoenix home. The original jury only took 3 hours of
deliberation to decide Arias had killed Alexander in an "especially cruel,
heinous, or depraved" manner that would warrant the death penalty. Medical
examiners found that Arias stabbed Alexander 27 times, primarily in the back,
torso and heart. She also slit Alexander's throat from ear to ear, nearly
decapitating him, and shot him in the face, before she dragged his bloodied
corpse to the shower. In total, the gruesome killing was done in a little less
than 2 minutes.
However, the same jury failed to reach an unanimous decision on her sentence.
As a result, she will face another trial to determine whether she will be
sentence with capital punishment or life in prison.
A new hearing will take place on Aug. 26.
In the meantime, HLN TV host Jane Velez-Mitchell's new book "Exposed" details
Arias' long history of stalking behavior and her obession with murder
Alexander. According to Velez-Mitchell, Arias previously dyed her hair blond
and got breast implants to look more like one boyfriend's ex-wife.
The book goes on to say that Arias was clingy and jealous from the start of her
relationship with Alexander, a motivational speaker and practicing Mormon, in
2006. She was also hellbent on marrying Alexander even when the relationship
seemed purely sexual, Velez-Mitchell writes. The book is scheduled for release
on Aug. 20.
(source: Latino Post)
CALIFORNIA:
Jury finds California man guilty of 4 killings
A jury will reconvene in 2 weeks to decide whether a former photographer
convicted of murdering 4 young women decades ago will go to death row.
Jurors deliberated for about 8 hours over 2 days in Marin County Superior Court
before finding Joseph Naso, 79, guilty Tuesday. Prosecutors called him a
remorseless serial killer who preyed on young prostitutes.
The jury of 6 and 6 women will reconvene Sept. 4 to determine if Naso gets the
death penalty for killing the 4 women with alliterative names: Roxene Roggasch
in 1977, Carmen Colon in 1978, Pamela Parsons in 1993 and Tracy Tafoya in 1994.
Even if Naso is sentenced to death, it is unlikely he will be executed. There
are 725 inmates already on California's death row, and executions have been on
hold since 2006, when a federal judge ordered an overhaul of the state's
execution protocol.
All the victims were found dumped in rural Northern California locations.
Roggasch's body was found in Marin County and was the reason Naso's trial was
held in the historical Marin Civic Center designed by noted architect Frank
Lloyd Wright. Colon was found in Contra Costa County, and the other 2 victims
in Yuba County.
Investigators believe Naso could be responsible for as many as 6 more murders
and authorities are exploring Naso's connections to several unsolved murders.
Naso was arrested in 2010 after probation officers visiting his Reno, Nev.,
home in connection with an unrelated gun conviction discovered a macabre
dwelling with incriminating evidence.
Investigators found numerous photographs of nude women posed in unnatural
positions who appeared dead or unconscious with mannequin parts and lingerie
strewn about nearby. Investigators said they also found a "List of 10" that
Naso had scrawled with descriptions of 10 women, including references
prosecutors believe described the 4 victims he was charged with killing.
Prosecutors in Naso's 2-month trial said he drugged and photographed his
unconscious victims, then strangled them and disposed of their naked bodies.
Naso acted as his own attorney and told jurors during his closing arguments
that he often hired prostitutes to photograph in exotic poses and enjoyed
off-beat art. But he insisted he was no killer.
Nonetheless, the balding Naso, who often seemed befuddled and repeated himself
during his rambling closing arguments, struggled to explain away some of the
most persuasive evidence against him.
Naso's DNA was found on the pantyhose Roggasch was wearing when her body was
found. His ex-wife's DNA was found on pantyhose wrapped around Roggasch's neck.
Naso told the jury that the evidence only showed he had had sex with Roggasch.
He said there was no proof that he killed her and that prosecutors had no way
of knowing who put the pantyhose around her neck.
Legal analysts said Naso made a mistake representing himself, even if he
boasted at one point that "I think I'm doing quite well" during his closing
arguments, which consumed all day Friday and half of Monday.
"He's bright," said attorney Brian Kanel, who watched some of the trial. "But
not that bright."
Another legal observer agreed.
Steven Clark, a former prosecutor now in private practice, said a good defense
attorney would have hired a DNA expert to at least try to throw some doubt on
how the evidence was gathered, stored and processed to undermine the
prosecution's strongest argument.
"The prosecution did have a challenging case because it happened so long ago,"
Clark said. "Why Mr. Naso chose to focus on the things he focused on is beyond
me. I'm not sure what his plan was."
(source: Miami Herald)
USA:
"The Corruption of Innocence" - the Joseph O'Dell
A new book by Lori St John, The Corruption of Innocence: A Journey to Justice,
recounts the author's quest to save the life of Joseph O'Dell because of her
strong belief in his innocence. St John describes the resistance she
experienced in trying to have crime-related items tested for DNA evidence, and
the international support that O'Dell attracted while on death row. O'Dell was
executed in Virginia in 1997. Among those who had expressed doubts about
O'Dell's guilt were 3 Justices of the Supreme Court. Sister Helen Prejean,
author of Dead Man Walking, who attended O'Dell's execution, praised the book,
"This amazing story of a woman's valiant attempts to save an innocent man from
execution might seem like a hyped-up, overwrought suspense novel. But
everything told in these pages actually happened. Fasten your seat belt. It's
going to take you for quite a ride."
Lori St John is an attorney and the founder of the Innocence Project at Rutgers
Law School in New Jersey.
(source: DPIC)
***************************
US wants quicker hearings for 9/11 suspects; Prosecutors ask military court in
Guantanamo Bay to bring 5 alleged plotters to trial in 2014
The US government is pushing for an acceleration of preliminary hearings in the
case of 5 alleged September 11 plotters as proceedings resumed in the
Guantanamo Bay detention camp.
Lead prosecutor Brigadier General Mark Martins told the court on Tuesday he
hoped to see progress "this week" after prosecutors filed a motion calling for
a September 2014 trial date.
Self-declared mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, wearing camouflage garb and
his beard tinted with henna, appeared in the military court at the US prison in
Cuba with his 4 co-defendants.
All face the death penalty if convicted of plotting the 2001 attacks on New
York and Washington, which left nearly 3,000 people dead. Preliminary hearings
in the case began in May 2012.
"The current practice of being in court for 5 days approximately every 6 weeks
is inefficient and will result in litigation that is unnecessarily prolonged,
and does not serve the interests of justice," the prosecutors' motion said.
Defence lawyers countered, however, that their efforts had been hindered by a
variety of factors.
'We can't handle discovery'
The hearings have been delayed due to storms and problems in retransmitting the
proceedings from the US prison in Cuba to the Fort Meade military base outside
Washington.
The current practice of being in court for 5 days approximately every 6 weeks
is inefficient and will result in litigation that is unnecessarily prolonged.
US military prosecutors
David Nevin, who represents Mohammed, said internet problems were slowing down
defence efforts. "We can't handle discovery correctly," he said.
Cheryl Bormann, lawyer for Walid bin Attash, called for the hearing to be
suspended, saying her client was unwell. Walter Ruiz, who represents Saudi
national Mustapha al-Hawsawi, cited his client's "neck condition".
"Please hear the difficulties we have... the situation has deteriorated,"
Bormann told the court, asking Judge James Pohl to look into the problems in
attorney-client communications.
"When is it going to end?" Pohl asked.
In their scheduling motion, prosecutors have called for the trial to begin on
September 22, 2014.
"Lots of work has been done," Martins said, urging the court to stick to the
timetable set out by prosecutors.
"The government has provided approximately 185,000 pages of unclassified
discovery to defence counsel for each accused, so that the accused may
meaningfully confront the charges against them," Martins said late Sunday in a
statement.
Defence lawyers countered that nearly 80 percent of the documents provided by
the government were about the 9/11 attacks themselves and not about the
conditions under which the accused have been detained.
"There is no justification for artificial deadlines and restrictions," wrote
attorney James Connell, who represents Mohammed's nephew Abd al-Aziz Ali, also
known as Ammar al-Baluchi.
The 5 defendants were held incommunicado in secret CIA prisons from 2002 to
2006, before they were transferred to Guantanamo.
The detainees' treatment has come under close scrutiny. Mohammed is known to
have been subjected to 183 sessions of waterboarding, the technique of
simulated drowning which has been decried as torture by rights groups.
(source: Al Jazeera)
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