Oct. 30
TEXAS:
Texas man guilty in burning death of store clerk
A jury has found a North Texas man guilty of capital murder for setting a clerk
on fire as he robbed her convenience store.
The Dallas County jury turned to the penalty phase Wednesday after finding
38-year-old Matthew Johnson guilty in the May 2012 death of Nancy Harris.
Johnson admitted to police that he killed the 76-year-old Harris and the
incident was videotaped by the Garland store's surveillance camera.
Johnson's attorneys had asked jurors to find him guilty of murder rather than
capital murder. He's now eligible for the death penalty.
Johnson poured lighter fluid on Harris as she stood behind the store counter.
He set her on fire after she had opened the register for him.
Harris suffered burns over 40 % of her body and died days later.
(source: Associated Press)
**************************
Court Orders New Mental Competency Hearing in Death Penalty Case
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Wednesday sent the case of death row
inmate Marcus Druery back for new hearing in a Brazos County trial court to
determine whether he is mentally competent to face execution for the Aug. 1,
2002, fatal shooting of a 20-year-old man.
Druery's lawyers contend that his psychotic disorder renders him incompetent
for lethal injection. In their unanimous decision to send the case back to the
trial court, the 9 judges on the appeals court panel wrote that Druery had made
a "substantial showing of incompetency to be executed" and that he is entitled
to both a hearing and the appointment of at least 2 mental health experts to
determine his competency.
"Much of the evidence of Mr. Druery's mental illness comes from the State's own
mental health professionals, who have repeatedly diagnosed Mr. Druery as
schizophrenic, paranoid and delusional," Kate Black, a lawyer at the Texas
Defender Service who represents the inmate, said in a statement. "A full
hearing is critically important to establish that Mr. Druery lacks a rational
understanding of his execution."
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Friday granted a stay of execution for
Marcus Druery, who was scheduled for lethal injection on Wednesday.
Druery's lawyers argue that his severe mental illness has rendered him
incompetent to be executed. They sought a stay of execution from the state's
highest criminal court after Brazos County state district Judge J.D. Langley
denied their request this week for a hearing to determine whether Druery was
competent to face execution.
"Executing Mr. Druery, who lacks a rational understanding of his punishment,
would stand in clear violation of the Constitution," Kate Black, a staff lawyer
at the Texas Defender Services, who represents Druery, said in a statement. "We
are hopeful the court will find that Mr. Druery is entitled to a full and fair
hearing to present the evidence of his severe psychosis."
(See below for the Tribune's original and ongoing coverage.)
Updated, July 26, 2012:
Lawyers for death row inmate Marcus Druery filed a request with the Texas Court
of Criminal Appeals late Wednesday for a stay of execution for their client.
They argue that executing Druery, who has been diagnosed with schizophrenia,
would be unconstitutionally cruel and unusual punishment.
On Wednesday, the trial judge in Druery's case, J.D. Langley, also unsealed the
inmate's medical record from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Among
the records is a report from a May 2012 examination by Dr. Diane Mosnik, a
neuropsychologist who wrote that Druery "suffers from severe, active psychotic
condition, meeting criteria for a clinical diagnosis of schizophrenia."
The severity of his mental illness, Dr. Mosnik wrote, prevents Druery from
having a understanding that he is going to be executed Aug. 1.
"Although he has a factual awareness that an execution date has been scheduled
for the crime for which he was tried, he does not believe that he will be
executed because of his illogical, fixed, and firmly held delusional belief
system," she wrote.
The request for a stay follows the denial earlier this week by Langley of
Druery's request for a hearing to determine whether he is competent for
execution because of his mental condition.
Updated, July 24, 2012:
Brazos County District Court Judge J.D. Langley on Tuesday denied a motion to
hold a full hearing on the claims of Marcus Druery's lawyers that he is
incompetent for execution because he is severely mentally ill.
Kate Black, who represents Druery and is a staff attorney at the Texas Defender
Service, said that the convicted murderer does not have a rational
understanding of his upcoming execution and the she was disappointed with the
judge's decision.
"Mr. Druery's execution would violate the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel or
unusual punishment because he suffers from a psychotic disorder that renders
him incompetent to be executed," Black said in a statement. "The State's own
mental health professionals have diagnosed him as schizophrenic, noting that he
suffers from delusional and paranoid thoughts and auditory hallucinations."
Black said Druery's lawyers will appeal to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
Druery is scheduled to be executed Aug. 1.
Original story, July 23, 2012:
Marcus Druery says that his cell on death row at Livingston's Polunsky Unit is
wired. The wires, he believes, carry voices into his cell and transport his
thoughts to other people. Prison staff members, he claims, have contaminated
his food with feces, urine and insects.
Druery, 32, is scheduled to be executed Aug. 1 for the 2002 fatal shooting of a
20-year-old man in Brazos County. On Tuesday, his lawyers will ask a judge to
appoint experts to examine the convicted murderer, who they argue is ineligible
for execution because of his severe mental illness.
"He started to experience voices and hearing echoes in his cell and has
deteriorated pretty quickly since arriving on death row," said Kate Black, who
represents Druery and is a staff attorney at the Texas Defender Service.
A spokeswoman for the Brazos County district attorney's office declined to
comment on the ongoing case, but said that the state would file a response to
Druery's motion before the hearing.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2007 in another Texas death penalty case,
Panetti v. Quarterman, that it isn't enough for prisoners to simply understand
the fact that they will be executed and are being punished for a crime. The
court ruled that inmates must have enough mental capacity to have "a rational
understanding of it."
Druery was sentenced to death in 2003 after his conviction in the murder of
Skyyler Browne. Druery, along with 2 teenagers, drove Browne to a pasture.
Druery shot Browne repeatedly, took his cellphone, cash, pager and a bag of
marijuana and set his body on fire before tossing it in a stock pond. Browne's
body was found 2 weeks later. The 2 teenagers were not charged in the crime.
At Tuesday's hearing, Druery's lawyers will ask the judge to appoint two
independent experts to evaluate his mental competency. In documents requesting
the hearing, they wrote that Druery's "psychotic disorder prevents a rational
understanding of the connection between his crime and his punishment."
Since 2009, Druery has been in and out of the Texas Department of Criminal
Justice's Jester IV unit for psychiatric treatment, and staff members have
diagnosed him with schizophrenia with "psychotic, delusional symptoms." He
refuses to take anti-psychotic medication, because he doesn???t believe that he
is mentally ill and worries that the medicine contains poison, Black said.
In hundreds of letters that Druery has sent to attorneys, courts and others, he
refers to nonexistent "settlements" and "options" that he says should have
secured his freedom. In a January 2011 letter to the Texas Court of Criminal
Appeals, with the subject line, "Wired Situation," Druery told the judges that
his case had been thrown out and yet people were hindering his freedom. "I'm
still under wires in prison and don't know what to do about it," he wrote,
going on to list a litany of imagined infractions and dangers, including
stabbings and torture. "There is still a speaker in my cell playing
continuously and it needs to end ASAP!" he wrote in closing.
Despite Druery's continued bizarre behavior, though, he does not meet the
prison???s criteria for forced medication. And he is back on death row in
Livingston.
The question in Druery's case does not concern his guilt or his sanity at the
time of the crime, but rather, Black said, whether he is able to understand now
why he is being executed.
"He's factually aware there is an execution date, but because of his delusional
thought content, he doesn't believe that date applies to him or that he will be
executed because of a crime he's committed," Black said.
Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center in
Washington, D.C., said that although there has always been a ban on executing
the insane, the courts have struggled to deal with the developing science of
mental illness.
"We don't yet have a definition of what mental illnesses are so debilitating
they would bar the death penalty," Dieter said.
In addition to requesting psychiatric evaluation of Druery's mental competency,
Black said, his lawyers have also asked the court to withdraw his Aug. 1
execution date. Druery's condition, she said, has worsened as that date draws
closer.
"Since the setting of the execution date, we've seen an even more rapid
decline," Black said. "His delusional thought content is becoming more
disorganized."
(source: The Texas Tribune)
PENNSYLVANIA:
Montco man says willing to die if convicted of murders
An Upper Merion man accused of last October's murders of a 61-year-old
grandmother and her infant granddaughter says he will be willing to die if
convicted of those crimes.
Raghunandan Yandamuri, 27, formerly of the Marquis Apartments complex, said he
was prepared to "voluntarily take the death penalty" if convicted of 1st-degree
murder for the deaths of 10-month-old Saanvi and her paternal grandmother,
Satyavathi Venna.
The claims were made in several pretrial motions that Yandamuri filed this
month on his own behalf with the Montgomery County Court.
One of the motions is to withdraw a motion filed by his defense team to bar the
prosecution from seeking the death penalty.
In another of the motions, Yandamuri asks the prosecution not to introduce
impact testimony by the victims??? family during the sentencing phase of his
trial because he "intends to take death penalty without any hearing for
sentence."
Yandamuri, in yet another motion, asks the court to allow him to represent
himself.
Yandamuri, who has been held in jail without bail since his arrest Oct. 26,
2012, is charged with first- and second-degree murder, kidnapping and related
offenses in the suffocation death of Saanvi and the stabbing death of her
grandmother during a kidnapping for ransom that went awry.
The court appointed Stephen G. Heckman to serve as Yandamuri's trial counsel
and Henry S. Hilles to serve as his death penalty counsel.
In the petition to serve as his own lawyer, Yandamuri said he has a "conflict"
with his lawyers over trial strategy. The conflicts were not specified.
In a recent interview with reporters from a TV station in India, Yandamuri
alleged that 2 others were behind the robbery and deaths, according to
SearchIndia.com. He admitted to writing the ransom note but only because the
other 2 threatened his wife and unborn child, SearchIndia reported.
In the interview, Yandamuri maintained that the videotaped confession he gave
to authorities in which he even acted out what occurred was coerced by police
and detectives, SearchIndia reported.
Montgomery County Judge Steven T. O'Neill, who will preside at the trial, is
scheduled to hold a status conference Tuesday.
The charges against Yandamuri stem from an incident that began at 1:15 p.m.
Oct. 22, 2012, when Upper Merion police were dispatched to the Marquis
Apartments complex in response to a 911 call reporting both a killing and a
missing child.
When they arrived, they found the lifeless body of the grandmother in the
kitchen.
The grandmother, a native of India who had arrived in the United States in June
2012 for a 6-month visit, was babysitting Saanvi while her parents were at
work.
Police could not find the baby but they did find a ransom note asking the
parents, both software engineers, for $50,000 in cash.
Authorities, including township police, county detectives and the FBI, held out
hope through the week that the child would be found alive.
Yandamuri, who lived in the same apartment complex as the Venna family and was
a close family friend of the baby's parents, was brought to the police station
for questioning on Oct. 25. After initially denying any involvement in the
incident, Yandamuri allegedly admitted he was responsible for the death of the
grandmother and the baby, according to the criminal complaint.
After allegedly killing the grandmother, Yandamuri stuffed a handkerchief in
Saanvi's mouth to stop her from crying, covered her face with a towel to keep
the handkerchief in place and then removed the baby from the apartment in a
suitcase he found there, the criminal complaint claims Yandamuri told
authorities.
Authorities found the baby's body in the suitcase hidden in an unused sauna in
another building at the apartment complex at about 4 a.m. Oct. 26, 2012.
Authorities believe that Yandamuri's alleged past and current significant
gambling debts were a major motive behind the kidnapping-for-ransom scam,
according to court documents.
(source: phillyburbs.com)
**************************
Montco Man Charged With Murdering Infant and Grandmother Wants To Defend
Himself
The Upper Merion, Pa. man accused of murdering a grandmother and her infant
granddaughter during what prosecutors say was a botched kidnapping last year in
King of Prussia wants to shake up his legal representation as the case moves
closer to a trial date.
Raghu Yandamuri has sent a number of communications to his attorneys, the
judge, and even the district attorney's office. But the judge says the 2
motions filed earlier this week are the most serious.
Yandamuri, 27, wants to fire his legal team and represent himself in court.
Defense attorney Steve Heckman says the judge is taking Yandamuri's request
under advisement and may schedule a hearing in the future.
"As of right now and continuing on, Mr. (Henry) Hilles and I still represent
Mr. Yandamuri, and we will be fighting for him as we always have to the best of
our ability," Heckman told KYW Newsradio this morning.
Yandamuri is accused of killing 10-month-old Saanvi Venna and her grandmother
in October 2012. If convicted of 1st-degree murder, he would face the death
penalty.
In a recent interview to an Indian news agency, he complained about his
attorneys and blamed the murders on 2 men he says broke into the apartment.
(source: CBS News)
FLORIDA:
Death row inmates challenge lethal injection drug
Death row inmates are seeking to stop the use of a new drug mix Florida is
using in lethal injections, asking federal courts Tuesday to declare the
procedure unconstitutional.
The claims say use of the sedative midazolam hydrochloride won't prevent
excruciating pain and suffering when the next 2 drugs are administered. Use of
the mix would be a form of cruel and unusual punishment, thus violating the
condemned prisoner's right, according to the complaints.
Florida used the new mix during the execution of William Happ on Oct. 15. It
was the 1st time it was used in an execution and Happ didn't file any appeals
challenging its use. It appeared to an Associated Press reporter that it took
longer for Happ to lose consciousness than others who have been executed under
the previous drug mix, which used pentobarbital to render prisoners unconscious
before drugs that induce paralysis and cardiac arrest are administered.
7 death row inmates are challenging the new procedure in U.S. District Courts
in Jacksonville, Ocala, Tampa and Orlando. The inmates had previously sued to
stop the previous lethal injection drug mix and filed amended complaints to
reflect the new procedures.
"Midazolam is not intended for use as an anesthetic," the suit said, adding
that it is typically used to sedate patients before anesthesia is administered.
"Its use in this context is wholly untested."
It claims that because the second drug used in the mix causes paralysis, the
condemned would not be able to express the severe pain he or she is going
through. About seven minutes after Happ's execution began, he moved his head
around and appeared to swallow.
The Florida State Prison warden and Department of Corrections Secretary Michael
Crews are named as defendants in the suit. A federal judge in Jacksonville will
hold a hearing on the complaints Nov. 6. The Department of Corrections didn't
immediately respond to emails and a phone message seeking comment on the
complaints.
Florida is scheduled to execute Darius Kimbrough on Nov. 12. He isn't one of
the plaintiffs in the lawsuits challenging the lethal injection procedures.
Ohio plans to use a combination of midazolam and hydromorphone, a painkiller,
in a Nov. 14 execution. It will be the state's 1st time using that mix.
Kentucky has procedures to use the two-drug combination as a backup, but hasn't
used it during an execution.
(source: Associated Press)
******************
Death Row Inmates Sue Florida Over Experimental Execution Drug
7 Florida death row inmates on Tuesday sued the state, saying a new 3-step
lethal injection procedure could inflict "cruel and unusual punishment" and
called on a court to halt executions until the procedure is reviewed.
Florida is the latest of several states facing a shortage of pentobarbital, a
barbiturate that has long been the 1st of t3 drugs administered in executions.
Supplies of pentobarbital have fallen because its manufacturer has clamped down
on sales of the drug for executions, prison officials said.
Florida recently adopted a new lethal injection protocol that uses the sedative
midazolam in a drug cocktail designed to induce unconsciousness, paralysis and
death by cardiac arrest.
The lawsuit claims that midazolam, commercially known as Versed, is a drug
primarily used in the treatment of anxiety, and is not an anesthetic. Its use
in lethal injections is experimental.
Under the cocktail of drugs, lawyers for the inmates allege, prisoners remain
aware of their surroundings but are unable to speak or move, and they endure
extreme pain.
While several states have shifted toward a safer 1-drug procedure, the Florida
Department of Corrections "has clung to an out-of-date, error-prone, 3-drug
protocol," according to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in
Jacksonville.
"Furthermore, Florida has compounded the risk of inflicting unnecessary pain
and suffering -- and violating the constitution -- by adding a new,
experimental execution drug to the mix," the lawsuit said.
Earlier this month, Florida prison officials carried out the 1st execution in
the United States using midazolam as 1 of 3 drugs in a lethal injection.
The drug was used in the Oct. 15 execution of convicted murderer William Happ.
Citing eyewitness accounts of the execution, the inmates' lawyers said Happ
appeared to remain conscious for a longer time and made more body movements
than prisoners executed under a previous formula.
Misty Cash, a Florida Department of Corrections spokeswoman, said after the
execution that Happ did not appear to show any signs of suffering or any
unusual reaction.
The lawsuit seeks to stop any executions until the courts thoroughly review the
3-drug formula and determine whether it abides by state and federal
constitutions.
On Monday, state officials in Ohio said they would administer a combination of
2 drugs, midazolam and hydromorphone, during an execution scheduled to be
carried out next month.
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's database of drugs,
midazolam injections are marketed by a number of companies including Fresenius
Kabi USA, a unit of German drugmaker Fresenius Kabi AG, and hydromorphone and
midazolam are both marketed by Hospira Inc and Akorn.
Fresenius Kabi suspended shipments of another drug, propofol, to a U.S.
distributor earlier this year after the German company learned that some of it
had been sold to the state of Missouri for executions. Missouri eventually
returned the drug.
4 of the 7 Florida inmates have a hearing scheduled in Jacksonville federal
court on Nov. 6, contending the use of midazolam might violate the U.S.
Constitution's ban on "cruel and unusual punishment" by allowing inmates to
suffer in their final minutes.
(source: Reuters)
OHIO:
East Cleveland man accused of murdering 3 women now faces death
A Cuyahoga County grand jury has re-indicted an East Cleveland man accused of
abducting and killing 3 women this summer. The new charges include the death
penalty.
36-year-old Michael Madison has been in custody since July, when police found
the bodies of 38-year-old Angela Deskins, 28-year-old Shetisha Sheeley and
18-year-old Shirellda Terry wrapped in plastic bags near his home. He was
charged with kidnapping, rape, murder and abuse of a corpse.
The indictment announced by Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty today
includes the death penalty specification that the murders came during the
course of Madison committing other felonies. Madison's attorneys had hoped to
avoid a capital murder charge.
(source: WKSU news)
************************
Ohio opposes request by condemned child killer to attend hearing on new lethal
injection drugs
Ohio is opposing a condemned child killer's request to attend a court hearing
over the state's plan to use a never-tried lethal drug combination on him next
month.
Lawyers for death row inmate Ronald Phillips say he needs to be at Friday's
hearing in federal court in Columbus to testify.
Attorneys for the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction question that
need.
They also say Judge Gregory Frost should consider the expense and security
involved in transporting a death row inmate to a hearing.
Phillips is suing over the state's adoption of a combination method of a
sedative and painkiller for his Nov. 14 execution.
The 40-year-old Phillips was sentenced to die for raping and killing 3-year-old
Sheila Marie Evans in 1993.
Death row prisoners typically don't attend such hearings.
*********************
Ohio prosecutor seeks death penalty
An Ohio prosecutor announced Tuesday after a lengthy review that he will seek
the death penalty against a convicted sex offender accused of killing 3 women
and leaving their bodies in trash bags in a run-down East Cleveland
neighborhood.
Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty said a county grand jury added
specifications that could lead to a death sentence for Michael Madison. The
death-penalty option was added in an updated indictment that came after
prosecutors reviewed the case.
(source for both: Associated Press)
*****************************
Medical examiner: Tallmadge mother, son died of 'unspecified violence'
The deaths of a Tallmadge mother and her son, whose bodies were discovered in
August, have been officially ruled homicides.
The Summit County Medical Examiner's Office announced Tuesday that the death
certificates for Wendy Ralston, 31, and her 5-year-old son, Peyton, have been
signed and ruled homicides.
The rulings do not specify a definitive cause of death, likely because of the
significant decomposition of the remains that had taken place before the bodies
were recovered Aug. 10. The mother and child had been missing for about 18
days.
Authorities have listed the cause of death for Wendy Ralston as "unspecified
violence" with a contributing factor of "perimortem hyoid bone fracture," or an
injury to the bone located in the throat area that took place around the time
of death.
The manner of Wendy Ralston's death has been ruled as "homicide: unspecified
violence with body transport and concealment."
The cause of death for Peyton was also listed as "unspecified violence" with
the manner ruled as "homicide: unspecified violence with body transport and
concealment."
A spokesman for Medical Examiner Lisa Kohler said no further explanation of the
findings would be released. Similar "unspecified violence" rulings have been
made in homicide cases involving victims whose remains took on extensive
decomposition.
Investigators say the remains of Ralston and her son consisted essentially of
bones, which made any forensic examination more challenging in terms of
determining exactly what killed the mother and son.
As a result, Kohler had the remains sent to Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pa.,
where they were examined by anthropologists in an attempt to learn a manner of
death.
Daniel T. Tighe, 39, of Breiding Road in Akron, has been charged with
aggravated murder in the July slayings of Ralston, his longtime girlfriend, and
their 5-year-old son.
The case, which carries death penalty specifications, has been assigned to
Summit County Common Pleas Judge Lynne S. Callahan.
The bodies of Ralston and her son, Peyton, were found wrapped in bedding and
buried behind their home Aug. 10. Court records show authorities believe the
slayings occurred July 23.
Ralston's mother, Marie Ralston, found the remains while searching the property
for her missing daughter. Police believe they were killed inside their Stone
Creek Drive home and then moved to the patch of woods about 100 yards away.
Tighe was arrested Oct. 3 and charged with murder, aggravated murder, two
counts each of tampering with evidence, abuse of a corpse and domestic
violence. His next court appearance was scheduled for Nov. 6. He has pleaded
not guilty.
Tighe remains in the county jail, unable to meet terms of a $1 million bond.
(source: Akron Beacon Journal)
INDIANA:
Jury recommends death for William Clyde Gibson; 4-hour deliberation follows
murder conviction for accused serial killer
Mike Whitis testified last week that he had been childhood friends with William
Clyde Gibson III.
But, after a jury decided Tuesday to sentence Gibson to death for killing his
mother, 75-year-old Christine Whitis, he said he and his family were pleased
justice had been served.
"It seems like it makes her life worth more - if the price to be paid is so
serious, and that is what we were hoping for," said Whitis, 57. "It is good to
realize that 12 of his peers saw that her life was worth the ultimate price."
During the trial, Whitis had been called by the prosecution to provide a
testimony, where he explained he has known Gibson since he was born.
The Whitis and Gibson families have deep ties, as Christine Whitis,
Clarksville, and Gibson's mother had been best friends.
Gibson, 56, New Albany, told police after his arrest that Christine Whitis had
even baby-sat him as a child.
"It has been the most difficult thing that I have ever faced," Whitis said of
his mother's brutal murder and the subsequent court proceedings, some of which
included the family looking at heinous photos from the crime scene and an
autopsy on a large projection screen in the Floyd County Superior Court No. 1
courtroom.
The discovery of Whitis' remains by Gibson's sisters April 19, 2012, led to the
uncovering of the remains of Stephanie Kirk, 35, Charlestown, who was found
buried in Gibson's backyard April 27, 2012.
Gibson would later admit to killing Karen Hodella, 45, whose body was found in
the Ohio River in 2003.
Whitis has previously referred to his mother as an angel that led to the
uncovering of Hodella's and Kirk's deaths.
"I feel like someone sent her [Christina Whitis] there on a mission, and she
saved 2 other families from not knowing what happened to their daughters and
loved ones," he said.
A jury sequestered from Dearborn County deliberated for nearly four hours
Tuesday afternoon before reaching a consensus to send Gibson to death row. As
the verdict was read by presiding Judge Susan Orth, Gibson appeared completely
unfazed by the sentencing.
"He is a pretty icy person. I have no feeling for him one way or the other,"
Whitis said of Gibson. "He is a plague on society, and I'm glad he is going to
go away."
Gibson was represented by court-appointed attorneys J. Patrick Biggs and George
Streib. The state was represented by Floyd County Prosecutor Keith Henderson
and Chief Deputy Prosecutor Steven Owen.
"This is the outcome we thought was appropriate for the crime that was
committed," Henderson said after the day of trial. "It is the ultimate
penalty."
No mention of Gibson's alleged involvement in the deaths of Hodella or Kirk
were admissible during the Whitis trial, but the jury still decided on the
state's most severe sentence.
"This case on its face was egregious enough that it was worthy of the death
penalty," Henderson said. "This is the verdict we wanted. This is the verdict,
I believe, the family wanted."
Henderson said the trial resulted in no winners, but that justice had been
served.
"We have to reserve the worst of the worst for the ultimate penalty, and the
law in our state is that the death penalty is that ultimate punishment," he
said.
A death penalty verdict is automatically sent to the Indiana Supreme Court for
appellate review, but Henderson said he is not concerned the recent decision
will be reversed by a higher court.
"I don't have any concerns, [but] I have been around long enough to have seen
cases get sent back over a variety of issues. I don't anticipate that, here,"
Henderson said. "I have no reason to believe this conviction will not be
upheld."
The trial for Whitis' murder began Oct. 21 and the jury came back with a guilty
verdict in Whitis' murder after just 17 minutes.
The sentencing phase of the trial began Monday. Today, the jury will here
evidence on whether Gibson will be considered a habitual offender, which is an
aggravating factor to a sentence in Indiana.
(source: News and Tribune)
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