Oct. 25
OHIO:
Convicted murderer indicted in stabbing death
A Youngstown man who already served 30 years in prison for murder was indicted
on an aggravated murder charge Thursday in the stabbing death of a Columbiana
County woman and he could face the death penalty.
David Hackett, 51, was indicted by a Mahoning County grand jury on one count
each of aggravated murder with death penalty specifications and rape, and 2
counts of kidnapping. The rape and kidnapping charges carry repeat violent
offender specifications.
He is being held on a $2 million bond.
Police said Hackett stabbed Collena Carpenter, 30, of Homeworth, dozens of
times. Her body was found Oct. 14 lying in a pool of blood on the ground on
West Avenue across from the old city water department building on the city's
West Side. A pile of her belongs was found a short distance away.
Detectives said Hackett and Carpenter knew each other.
Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction records show Hackett was
convicted in 1979 of aggravated murder and aggravated robbery from a case
originating in Mahoning County. He was paroled in April of 2009.
(source: WKBN News)
*********************
Test for the truth
In May, the Ohio Supreme Court opened the door to new DNA testing in the case
of Tyrone Noling. A 5-2 majority reversed a lower court decision and sent the
question to Judge John Enlow of the Portage County Common Pleas Court. Earlier
this month, attorneys for Noling filed a motion asking the court to permit
testing of additional evidence. The request makes sense - if the objective is
justice, or at least addressing the mounting doubt about the Noling conviction.
A jury found Noling guilty of the 1990 killings of Cora and Bearnhardt Hartig
in their house in Atwater Township. He has resided on death row the past 17
years. The indictment of Noling didn't come until 5 years after the episode,
described by prosecutors as a robbery that turned into murder. Key to the
conviction was the testimony of 3 friends of Noling at the scene.
They long ago recanted, citing coercion by the prosecution. On their own, these
reversals might be played down. Striking is how they fit into a pattern, the
case against Noling having eroded so substantially. Noling and his friends were
involved in earlier robberies in Alliance. At the Hartig house, there was no
physical evidence linking them to the crime. Nothing was taken from the house.
If many in prison proclaim their innocence, know further that Noling's gun
didn???t match the murder weapon. He passed a polygraph test.
4 years ago, attorneys for Noling learned through a public records request
about an alternative suspect. The information wasn't shared at the trial. Yet
the person in question lived near the Hartigs and eventually murdered a young
woman. He received a death sentence and was executed.
Noling wants to apply the more sophisticated DNA testing of today to a
cigarette butt found on the driveway. (He already has been excluded.) A search
for the truth requires such a step. So does state law, the legislature in 2010
expanding the concept of a "definitive" DNA test.
As the Supreme Court stressed, a test must be performed if it hasn???t been
conducted yet and the outcome could be "determinative," or likely change the
result of a trial. Find the presence of an alternative suspect, including a 2nd
possibility, an insurance agent for the Hartigs who refused to take a
polygraph, and that surely would be the result. It would be especially so in
view of the collapsing case of the prosecution on other fronts.
Logic follows: If the cigarette butt is tested, then a jewelry box and shell
casings should be tested, too. The prosecution has argued that both were
touched by the killer. Recent advances in DNA testing make possible gaining
decisive evidence from each item. An opportunity exists to clear up the many
uncertainties about whether Tyrone Noling murdered the Hartigs. More, the state
must take necessary care to ensure that Ohio avoids the grievous mistake of
executing an innocent man.
(source: Editorial, Akron Beacon Journal, Oct. 23)
*******************************
Youngstown man could face death penalty for murder of former Columbiana County
woman
The indictment of a Youngstown man for the stabbing death of a former
Homeworth, Ohio woman includes a specification for the death penalty.
The Mahoning County Grand Jury handed up a 4 count indictment Thursday against
51-year-old David Hackett for allegedly murdering 30-year-old Collena Lynn
Carpenter.
The indictment also charges Hackett with kidnapping and rape.
Investigators tell 21 News that Carpenter had been stabbed more than sixty
times before her body was found in a vacant lot along West Avenue in Youngstown
last week.
Carpenter had been staying with Hackett and his fiancee in Youngstown.
At the time Carpenter's death,Hackett was out on parole from a life sentence
for a previous murder.
In 2009, Hackett was paroled from the Lorain Correctional Institution, where he
had been serving a life term for a 1979 robbery and murder of a store owner.
According to sources, Hackett has also been charged with rape 3 times since his
release, but has been found not guilty on those charges.
(source: WFMJ)
************************
Court upholds cop-killer's death sentence; Defense attorney vows wants to take
case to U.S. Supreme Court.
The attorney for Daryl Lawrence, who fatally shot a Columbus police officer 8
years ago, said he'll appeal yesterday's federal court decision upholding the
death penalty for his client.
Kort W. Gatterdam said he'll ask all the active judges on the 6th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals to rehear the case. Yesterday's decision was made by a 3-judge
panel from the court.
In a 75-page decision, the appeals panel rejected 24 claims of error that
Gatterdam argued were committed during Lawrence's 2006 federal trial and
sentencing, when a jury found him guilty of armed robbery and using a firearm
to kill Columbus Police Officer Bryan Hurst.
The jury sentenced Lawrence to death for killing Hurst with malice and life in
prison for shooting Hurst during a robbery.
Hurst, 33, was working special duty at the Fifth Third Bank at 6265 E. Broad
St. on Jan. 6, 2005, when Lawrence entered with a drawn handgun and killed the
officer during an exchange of gunfire.
Gatterdam said the inconsistency of the 2 sentences is a matter that the full
court of 15 judges should review.
"The way the jury decided the penalty phase of the case was inappropriate for a
number of reasons," he said. "The penalty phase was supposed to be about
Lawrence's sentence, but it was more about Bryan Hurst's life."
Gatterdam said that if the appeals court won't rehear the case, he will ask the
U.S. Supreme Court to consider it.
This is the 2nd time the appeals court has ruled in favor of the death sentence
for Lawrence.
The 1st was after U.S. District Judge Gregory Frost ruled that the sentences
imposed by the jury were inconsistent and asked that a new jury decide whether
Lawrence should get death or life in prison.
The U.S. attorney's office appealed Frost's ruling. The appeals court threw it
out in 2009.
The same 3-judge appeals-court panel has ruled in both appeals.
(source: Norwalk Reflector)
******************************
Parole board: No mercy for condemned Ohio killer facing death under new
execution drug policy
A death row inmate who raped and killed his girlfriend's daughter doesn't
deserve mercy, the Ohio Parole Board said Thursday, moving him one step closer
to execution under the state's new, untested lethal injection process.
The board by a unanimous vote rejected arguments raised by attorneys for Ronald
Phillips that he was sexually, physically and verbally abused during childhood.
The board said it wasn't convinced that Phillips has accepted responsibility
for his crimes or changed for the better in prison. It also said evidence of
his childhood abuse was not clear.
"Phillips's crime is clearly among the worst of the worst capital crimes. Its
depravity is self-evident," the board said. "Words cannot convey the barbarity
of the crime. It is simply unconscionable."
If his execution proceeds, Phillips would be the 1st person to die under the
state's new execution procedures. They allow Ohio to continue using the
sedative pentobarbital in a dose obtained from a specialty pharmacy that
produces non-FDA-regulated batches of medicine for specific patients.
If that option isn't available, the state will move to an untried method of 2
other drugs - the sedative midazolam and the painkiller hydromorphone -
injected intravenously.
The warden at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility, which houses death row,
will determine by Nov. 1 whether the state has a usable supply of pentobarbital
from a so-called compounding pharmacy. Ohio's previous supply expired last
month. Its manufacturer has made it off-limits to executions in the future, a
move that doesn't affect the production of small supplies of the drug by
compounding pharmacies.
A federal judge is reviewing Ohio's new method, and legal challenges are
expected.
Phillips, 40, is scheduled to die Nov. 14 for raping and killing Sheila Marie
Evans in Akron in 1993 after a long period of frequent abuse.
No judge or jury ever heard the full story of the abuse suffered by Phillips,
which included being repeatedly raped and beaten by his late father, according
to a document filed with the board ahead of his Oct. 16 clemency hearing.
"Ronald Phillips is not and was not a monster," his attorneys said in the
filing. "Ronald Phillips instead was a 19-year-old high school student, who had
experienced nothing but violence, chaos, and abuse, and who learned through
those life experiences that violence and abuse were the norm."
The state says Phillips long denied suffering the type of abuse he now alleges.
Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh says Phillips is raising it only
now with his execution imminent. She urged the board to reject the claim.
"It is curious that the disclosures have been made now, on the eve of his
execution and after his father's death," Walsh said in a response to Phillips'
clemency plea, also filed with the parole board.
Phillips' attorneys say he was only able to reveal the abuse recently to them
and to 2 psychologists.
Gov. John Kasich has the final say.
Phillips' father, Williams Phillips Sr., died in 2009. His mother, Donna
Phillips, declined to discuss the allegations against her late husband, who she
acknowledged could be "stern."
She said her son is sorry for what happened.
(source: Associated Press)
TENNESSEE:
Tennessee death row inmate Irick to be executed in January
Tennessee has scheduled its 1st execution in nearly 5 years for January. It
will also be the 1st using a new single-drug method.
Billy Ray Irick, 55, is scheduled to be executed on January 15 according to
Tennessee Department of Correction spokesperson Dorinda Carter. The execution
order was filed Tuesday.
Irick was convicted in the 1985 rape and killing of 7-year-old Paula Kery Dyer,
a Knoxville girl he was babysitting.
Attorney Gene Shiles said he is not surprised by the announcement, but is
disappointed by the decision and still plans to appeal.
Tennesseans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty also issued a statement.
"Tennesseans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty is deeply disappointed that
the state is moving forward to resume executions in Tennessee. Tennessee's
death penalty system continues to be plagued with a lack of fairness in its
application, the continued risk of executing the innocent, and costs to
taxpayers that far exceed the costs of available alternatives like life without
parole. Rather than spending millions of dollars to execute an individual who
has suffered with severe mental illness since childhood like Billy Ray Irick,
Tennessee could better spend that money to ensure that such individuals have
access to the mental health treatment they need before a horrible tragedy
occurs."
Tennessee announced last month that it's switching from a 3-drug lethal
injection method to using only the sedative pentobarbital to put an inmate to
death.
There are 79 inmates on Tennessee's death row, including 1 woman.
(source: Associated Press)
INDIANA:
Prosecution rests case in S. Indiana murder trial
Prosecutors have rest their case in a southern Indiana man's murder trial in
the slaying of his late mother's best friend.
After Floyd County prosecutors rested their case Thursday against William Clyde
Gibson, defense attorney Patrick Biggs told the judge overseeing the case that
he expects to be done calling witnesses by noon Friday.
The Courier-Journal of Louisville, Ky., reports (http://cjky.it/HeD6Qq ) Judge
Susan Orth told attorneys to be prepared to deliver their closing arguments to
the jury shortly afterward.
Prosecutors say Gibson lured 75-year-old Christine Whitis to his home in April
2012 and sexually assaulted, strangled and mutilated her. Gibson faces the
death penalty if convicted in her killing.
He's also accused of killing two other women over a decade. Gibson will be
tried separately in those 2 killings.
(source: Associated Press)
ILLINOIS:
Devine: 'I Don't Recall' Any Questions Raised About Freeing Death Row Inmate
Former Cook County State's Attorney Richard Devine has said he doesn't remember
one of his top prosecutors raising concerns about the innocence of a man who
was freed from death row in 1999, in a case that became a catalyst to end the
death penalty in Illinois.
The current State's Attorney, Anita Alvarez, has reopened an investigation into
the 1982 murders of Marilyn Green and Jerry Hillard, after attorneys for the
man currently behind bars for the crime raised new concerns about the case.
Alstory Simon has been behind bars since 1999, when he confessed to the
murders, leading to the release of another man, Anthony Porter, who had been on
death row since 1983, after he was convicted at trial. Porter was 2 days from
execution when he was released.
However, Simon's attorneys have since said he was coerced into confessing by a
Northwestern University professor, students, and - specifically - the class's
private investigator. They said the investigator told Simon if he confessed to
the murders in self-defense, he'd only serve a short time, and would get rich
from book and movie deals.
Simon's attorneys also have claimed they have an affidavit from former
prosecutor Thomas Epach, the man who was chief of the criminal division for
Devine's office office, and who told them "questions remained about the guilt
of Simon and the innocence of Porter" when Simon confessed, and Porter was
freed.
They said Epach "expressed those concerns to Mr. Devine," but Devine prosecuted
Simon anyway.
Devine said that's now how he remembers it.
"If Mr. Epach had these issues, I don't recall him ever raising them with me.
Maybe he raised them with other people. That's possible, but I don't recall
their being raised with me," Devine said.
However, Devine said he does believe Simon's claims "should be looked at and
evaluated" to determine if the right man is behind bars.
Porter's release from prison drew the attention of then-Gov. George Ryan, who
began an effort to reform the death penalty system, and eventually declared a
moratorium on executions, in the wake of a series of wrongful convictions in
death penalty cases.
2 years ago, lawmakers abolished the death penalty altogether in Illinois,
following years of heated debate.
(source: CBS News)
MISSOURI:
Death Penalty: New Missouri Execution Rules Prompt ACLU Lawsuit
Propofol is out and Penobarbital is in.
Gov. Jay Nixon announced a new execution drug-of-choice this week, prompting
the ACLU to file a first amendment lawsuit over the Missouri's altered lethal
injection protocol.
It's illegal to release the identities of people involved in executions, such
as physicians and pharmacists. When state officials changed the drug, they also
changed the rules about whose identity could be protected, expanding the
privilege to include suppliers of execution drugs.
"There's no basis for the government to keep the name of suppliers a secret,"
says Tony Rothert, ACLU's Missouri legal director. Rothert said two other
states -- Arizona and Georgia -- made similar rules that were later struck
down. "We think it's unconstitutional here, too."
On Wednesday the ACLU filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of
protecting suppliers, especially since the group published names of suppliers
on their website to bring attention to what Rothert calls "questionable
practices."
"When we got the records before and saw the questionable practices the
suppliers and Department of Corrections were using to get execution drugs, it
certainly raised a lot of serious questions -- serious enough that an execution
was cancelled and the drugs returned," Rothert says.
Nixon postponed the Oct. 23 execution of Allen Nicklasson, guilty of murdering
a good samaritan, when the European Union, which is against the death penalty,
threatened to restrict U.S. shipments of propofol, a popular anesthesia and the
substance at the center of Michael Jackson's manslaughter trial, because
Missouri uses it for executions.
Read Nixon's full statement:
As Governor, my interest is in making sure justice is served and public health
is protected. That is why, in light of the issues that have been raised
surrounding the use of propofol in executions, I have directed the Department
of Corrections that the execution of Allen Nicklasson, as set for October 23,
will not proceed. I have further directed the Department to modify the State of
Missouri's Execution Protocol to include a different form of lethal injection.
The Attorney General will immediately request a new execution date for Allen
Nicklasson from the Missouri Supreme Court.
Missouri obtained propofol mistakenly from a distributor of German drug
manufacturer Fresenius Kabi, according to documents obtained by the ACLU. The
distributor realized the mistake and asked for the drugs back, but Missouri
held on to the drugs for 11 months.
"There's a certain degree of shadiness at the very least in how these drugs
were acquired," Rothert says. "It certainly does not inspire confidence that
the drugs will be lawfully or ethically obtained or that they will even be what
they're supposed to be."
Missouri chose pentobarbital, often used to euthanize pets, to replace their
execution drug.
But Missourians are no longer entitled to know where the penobarbital comes
from.
"It doesn't really surprise me that they would want to keep that secret, but
this is really something the public has a right to know," Rothert says.
Nicklasson's execution has not yet been rescheduled. Joseph Paul Franklin is
the next person scheduled to be executed in Missouri on Nov. 20.
(source: River Front Times)
*****************************
Dropping death penalty 'a possibility' in slaying case; Prosecutor, detective
read transcript in hearing said to include confession in 17-year-old's death
Wearing Dickies blue jeans, baseball batting gloves and a shirt that could
repel stains, Gabriel Roche allegedly told detectives he had his "murder suit
on."
He donned the outfit, according to an alleged confession revealed during a
court hearing Wednesday, before walking into the woods planning to kill
17-year-old Weston North.
Detectives asked Roche, of Republic, who was 18 at the time, why he stabbed
North in the chest with a butcher knife on Dec. 31, 2011. North's body was
found in a ditch near Republic.
"I wanted it to be clean," Roche allegedly replied. "I didn't want to hurt the
poor kid."
He might have wanted West to die quickly, officials said Wednesday, but it
didn???t work out that way. Instead, they said, Roche had to chase his victim
down again and ultimately slice his throat.
For now, prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Roche for a crime
they???ve described as "wantonly vile, horrible or inhumane." By law, they have
the right to change that strategy.
At Wednesday's hearing, Prosecutor Dan Patterson and Detective Chris Hunt of
the Greene County Sheriff's Office read from the transcript of the nearly
4-hour interview that officials say included Roche's detailed confession.
Roche's attorneys also revealed in open court portions of what they referred to
as the "interrogation." They focused on statements that they say showed Roche's
inability to knowingly waive his rights, as well as what they call evidence of
coercion by investigators.
The defense attorneys pointed out that when Roche referred to "creatures,"
"forest people" and "bush guys."
"When a tree all of a sudden just doesn't have to be a tree anymore," Roche
allegedly said.
Attorneys also counted 493 instances in which Roche's comments were
"unintelligible."
Roche's attorneys also went after the interviewer whom, they say, left out
important words when asking Roche if he intended to waive his right to remain
silent or seek the advice of an attorney.
Prosecutors sharply defended the conduct of the interview, pointing out that
Roche appeared to read a waiver of rights form before he signed it.
Roche's attorneys argued their client's statements should be thrown out.
Judge Calvin Holden said he would consider whether Roche's alleged confession
should be admitted as evidence in an upcoming trial.
(source: News-Leader)
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