Nov. 27
TEXAS:
Texas Preps for Last Inmate to Die in 2013----State will end the year with 16
inmates put to death
On Dec. 3, Jerry Duane Martin is slated to be the final inmate Texas puts to
death this year. He was convicted and sentenced to die 5 years ago for the 2007
murder of Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison guard Susan Canfield
during a prison escape.
Martin and an accomplice, John Ray Falk Jr., were part of a work detail in the
prison onion field at the Wynne Unit in Huntsville when Martin used a ruse to
get near a guard, stole the guard's .357 revolver and tossed it to Falk. The 2
inmates then climbed a fence where, on the other side, 59-year-old Canfield was
on horse-mounted patrol. Falk struggled with her and stole her rifle while
Martin stole a pickup truck parked nearby. Martin drove that truck into
Canfield and her horse, pitching her onto the windshield. She sustained head
injuries and reportedly died immediately. Martin and Falk then drove a short
distance, abandoned the pickup truck, and carjacked a woman in a bank parking
lot. After police shot out a tire in that vehicle, the pair fled on foot. Falk
was picked up within the hour and Martin was found 3 1/2 hours later, hiding in
a tree.
Martin was already serving 50 years for attempted capital murder for shooting
at police officers in Collin County in 1994; he was convicted and sentenced to
die for Canfield's murder in 2007. This June, he waived his right to appeal his
conviction, telling the court that when his father passed away in February,
"[f]or the first time in my life I felt what it was like to lose a loved one.
... I think Mrs. Canfield's family deserves that closure," the Huntsville Item
reported. The state is also seeking death for Falk, who was charged as a party
to Canfield's murder.
Martin will be the 16th and final inmate put to death in Texas in 2013, the
508th executed since reinstatement, and - according to the Death Penalty
Information Center ??? the 1,263rd ever executed in the state.
The year-end tally of 16 executed inmates tops 2012, which saw 15 executions.
Still, the number has decreased significantly since the late 90s and the early
part of this century, when it peaked at 37 in 1997, and an astounding 40
executions in 2000, according to a chart of yearly executions dating back to
1974 maintained by the Texas Execution Information Center
(www.txexecutions.org).
Also in death row news, the Court of Criminal Appeals on Nov. 20 issued an
unsigned opinion declining to consider an appeal by Duane Buck, who seeks a new
sentencing hearing free of racially biased testimony. The court, in a 6-3
holding, concluded that Buck's claim of bias and ineffective counsel wouldn't
be heard because it is procedurally blocked.
At issue is whether Buck should be resentenced because of the prejudicial
testimony offered by a psychologist who opined that blacks are more likely to
pose a continuing threat of violence. In capital cases, jurors are asked
whether there is mitigating evidence to ease a defendant's culpability and
whether the defendant poses a future danger, either inside or outside prison,
unless put to death. Buck, who is black, was sentenced to die.
In a lengthy dissent, Judge Elsa Alcala, joined by Judges Tom Price and Cheryl
Johnson, noted that Buck's case was not only infected by racial animus but also
by deficient lawyering that failed to raise any cognizable issues ???
presumably, including the bias claim - for the court to review. Buck's lawyers
said they will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court (see "CCA Dismisses Buck
Appeal," Newsdesk, Nov. 20).
(source: Austin Chronicle)
*******************
AC livens up death penalty debate
We applaud Amarillo College for hosting a recent debate on capital punishment,
which featured local attorneys arguing both sides of the issue.
These public forums are beneficial for an educational institution as well as a
community, no matter what side of the death penalty you support.
It is a few days after the debate, but allow us to participate - and inject
another part of the capital punishment debate that is being overlooked.
For starters, any comparison to Nazi genocide during World War II and capital
punishment in America (which was mentioned in the AC debate) is so far to the
radical extreme of capital punishment opponents that it is difficult to address
this opinion logically. The horror and madness of Nazi genocide compares to few
governmental atrocities in world history, much less the U.S. justice system.
Here's some advice for those invoking Nazis/Adolf Hitler to describe those they
disagree with politically - stop. There is nothing in this day and age in
America that can compare with this form of evil, and we should be thankful.
Then there is the recent issue of DNA evidence as it relates to capital
punishment.
Don't forget, it is called capital "punishment," and sometimes the ultimate
form of punishment is appropriate for the most heinous crimes.
When DNA evidence is available (and it is not always), does this scientific
advancement not remove one of the primary concerns of death penalty opponents -
that an innocent person might be put to death?
If anything, this scientific advancement - DNA - reinforces the justice behind
capital punishment, because guilt or innocence can be determined on a
scientific basis, when such evidence is legally applicable or available.
Ultimately, debates such as these should be welcome, and - again - thanks to
Amarillo College.
(source: Editorial, Amarillo Globe-News)
PENNSYLVANIA:
Prosecutors seek death penalty for woman accused of murdering newborn
Prosecutors will seek the death penalty against an Allentown woman charged with
killing her newborn after secretly giving birth in the bathroom of a pub.
Amanda C. Hein deserves to be executed because she murdered a child,
Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli alleged in a legal filing
as Hein was arraigned Wednesday at the courthouse in Easton.
Hein, 27, is accused of keeping her pregnancy secret from those around her,
delivering in the stall of Starters Pub in Lower Saucon Township, then
returning to her friends and watching the hourlong conclusion of the
pay-per-view wrestling tournament for which they came.
On Aug. 19, cleaners found the infant's body after the toilet wouldn't flush.
Opening the tank, employees uncovered a boy of 33 to 36 weeks' gestation
wrapped in a plastic bag that had lined a small garbage can in the stall,
authorities say.
Pennsylvania allows prosecutors to seek the death penalty in cases of
premeditated murder with at least one of 18 aggravating circumstances. The
notice in Hein's case was expected, since the death of a child under the age of
12 is one of those aggravators under the law.
"We acknowledge that. We were prepared for that," Chief Public Defender Michael
Corriere, Hein's attorney, told Judge Paula Roscioli.
Hein, in a red prison jumpsuit, her brown-blond hair in a bun, showed little
reaction to the notice, nodding slightly to Corriere as he showed it to her.
Though expected, Morganelli's decision also comes amid statistics that show
that the killing of a newborn is often treated in the justice system with less
severity than other forms of homicide.
That's according to interviews this fall with two scholars who study
neonaticide. One of them, Dr. Phillip Resnick, a forensic psychiatrist at Case
Western Reserve University in Cleveland, expressed doubts that Hein would ever
be put to death, pointing to a study that found the median sentence for the
killing of a newborn was 9 years in prison.
Cheryl Meyer, a psychologist at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, who
has written about mothers who kill, said neonaticide cases often elicit more
sympathy than those involving the deaths of older children, or those killed
through neglect or abuse.
"We're seeing that these woman are not getting the sentences of other women who
killed their children," Meyer said.
Hein is somewhat older than most of those accused of neonaticide - usually they
are in their teens - but other details of her case appear to be typical, Meyer
said.
Such mothers usually live with their families but feel isolated and fear that
they will be exiled by their loved ones should their pregnancies be discovered,
said Meyer. That can cause them to be in denial of their pregnancies, even as
they grow bigger and bigger as they come to term, she said.
"They are just scared kids," Meyer said, who irrationally fear the consequences
should their loved ones find out they are pregnant. The world is "so much
smaller" for them than it is for people with more maturity and experience, she
said. They worry that their pregnancy "is going to define everything about me."
County Coroner Zachary Lysek has said the baby's cause of death was
suffocation, and there was no water found in his lungs. The newborn was a
viable fully-developed child, close to full term, he has said.
According to court records, the 5-foot-2-inch, 160-pound Hein said she had
known she was pregnant since May or June but did not disclose it to anyone. She
was identified by police through the Route 378 pub's reservation records, which
led them to a friend of hers who was with her that night.
Interrogated by police a day after her child's body was found, a distraught
Hein admitted the boy was born alive and couldn't explain what she had done,
township police officer James Connell testified at her preliminary hearing in
October.
In a September interview with The Morning Call, Hein's mother, Karen H. Giesen
of Coopersburg, said she wonders why her daughter didn't confide in her. Giesen
called Hein "fragile, very fragile," and said she suffered from "very severe
depression" that became noticeable with the onset of puberty.
Her daughter had been hospitalized in the past for mental-health problems and
also struggled with substance abuse, Giesen told the newspaper.
At the time, Giesen was aware that prosecutors were likely to seek her
daughter's execution, a prospect she said she feared.
"Then she'll just die completely lost," Giesen said. "That is not what God
wants for her."
On Wednesday, Roscioli scheduled the trial for April, though Corriere had asked
for a September date, given the voluminous investigation that defense attorneys
are required to do in death-penalty cases.
(source: Morning Call)
FLORIDA:
Lethal Injection Cocktail Debate Headed Back to Florida Supremes
The debate about the state's current cocktail for lethal injections is headed
back to the Florida Supreme Court, after a lower court judge ruled the drugs
now being used would not violate a convicted murderer's rights.
Askari Abdullah Muhammad, who was set to die Dec. 3, won a temporary reprieve
from the Florida Supreme Court last week while the courts consider his
challenge to the 3-drug mixture that the state uses in executions.
Muhammad's attorneys have argued that William Frederick Happ, who was executed
last month using a new mix, was conscious for an unusually long time while
being put to death and moved his head - showing that Muhammad might experience
pain while being executed if the new combination is used.
Happ was executed using a combination of chemicals including midazolam
hydrochloride - instead of the previously used pentobarbital sodium - as part
of the cocktail. The drug, the 1st of 3 injections, renders the inmate
unconscious.
But in a ruling Monday, Bradford County Circuit Judge Phyllis Rosier said in a
2-day hearing she held last week, that she was not convinced that the use of
the drug would violate the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
Rosier was tasked with taking a first look at the case, which will now be
considered by the high court.
"There is no dispute that the dosage amount used in Florida's protocol is such
that it would induce not only unconsciousness when properly administered, but
also respiratory arrest and ultimately death," she wrote.
"Additionally, even if Happ did move after the midazolam was administered
during his execution, there is no evidence before this court that his movement
equated to actual pain or suffering," she wrote.
The case now goes back to the Supreme Court, which is set to hear oral
arguments Dec. 18 if the justices choose to do so.
Muhammad, 62, was slated to be executed for stabbing corrections Officer
Richard James Burke to death with a sharpened spoon in October 1980, while
Muhammad was already on death row.
Muhammad, who was known at the time as Thomas Knight, was initially convicted
of kidnapping and killing Sydney and Lillian Gans in 1974. He also escaped from
the Dade County Jail while awaiting trial and was involved in a liquor store
robbery in Cordele, Ga., where 2 clerks were shot, and one killed.
The new drug combination used by the Department of Corrections was prompted
after Denmark-based manufacturer Lundbeck, which makes pentobarbital sodium,
decided to refuse to sell the drug directly to corrections agencies for use in
executions and ordered its distributors to also stop supplying the drug for
lethal-injection purposes.
States have since been struggling to maintain stockpiles of pentobarbital
sodium.
"The News Service of Florida's Brandon Larrabee contributed to this report."
(source: CBS news)
OHIO:
Trial date set for Akron man accused of killing his girlfriend and their son
A September trial date has been scheduled for an Akron man charged with
aggravated murder and death penalty specifications in the July slayings of his
longtime girlfriend and their 5-year-old son.
Daniel T. Tighe, 39, of Breiding Road, waived his speedy trial rights. His
trial date is Sept. 2, with the beginning of jury selection, before Summit
County Common Pleas Judge Lynne S. Callahan.
Tighe was arrested in early October following a Tallmadge police investigation
that began in August, when the bodies of Wendy Ralston, 31, along with their
son, Peyton, were found buried and wrapped in bedding behind their home.
Court records show authorities believe the slayings occurred July 23.
Ralston's mother, Marie Ralston, found the remains Aug. 10 while searching the
property for her missing daughter.
Tighe is in custody at the county jail under a $2 million bond.
(source: Akron Beacon Journal)
INDIANA:
William Gibson execution set for Nov. 26, 2014, says 'ain't no big deal'
A judge in Floyd County sentenced convicted murderer William Clyde Gibson to
death and set a tentative date of Nov. 26, 2014 for his execution Tuesday
morning.
Gibson said after Floyd Superior Judge Susan Orth announced his execution date
that "I deserve what I'm getting. It ain't no big deal."
He asked that the court dispense quickly with his next two murder trials. "It's
my right," Gibson told Orth.
In the recently concluded capital murder case, Gibson was accused of strangling
and sexually assaulting Clarksville resident Christine Whitis, a family friend
and grandmother who'd come to his New Albany home to comfort Gibson following
his mother's death.
Investigators testified during last month's trial that the brutality of the
2012 slaying stunned them. Evidence presented in court showed that Gibson
strangled Whitis, and broke her ribs and lower spine before cutting off her
breast with a kitchen knife and placing it in the glove compartment of the
woman's van.
Police tracked down the 56-year-old Gibson at the wheel of Whitis??? van at
Walmart on Grant Line Road in New Albany, a half mile from the crime scene.
Gibson's sister had found Whitis' body dumped beside some garbage bags inside
his garage and called police.
Under Indiana law, the death sentence also is automatically appealed to the
Indiana Supreme Court. Two additional appeals involving post-conviction review
and federal habeas corpus review of constitutional rights also are provided
unless a defendant decides to forgo them.
In Indiana, executions are performed with lethal injections.
After reading his sentence at the conclusion of a brief hearing, Orth appeared
to choke up as she said, "Mr. Gibson, may God have mercy on your soul."
Floyd County Prosecutor Keith Henderson said after the proceeding that Gibson
clearly has no remorse for the crimes and deserves what he's getting. The man's
request for a fast and speedy trial means that the court likely will need to
schedule a date within the next 6 months for his 2nd trial in Kirk's death.
Gibson faces a 2nd death penalty murder of Stephanie Kirk, 35, of Charlestown,
whose body was found buried in Gibson's yard after Whitis' corpse was
discovered. A 3rd case, a non-capital murder charge, centers on Karen Hodella,
a 44-year-old Florida woman whom Gibson admitted stabbing to death in late
2002.
A jury from Dearborn County was transported to New Albany last month to ensure
Gibson received a fair trial from people who weren't exposed to pre-trial
publicity about the crimes. Dearborn jurors returned the death penalty after
deliberating just 17 minutes on an initial guilt phase of the trial.
(source: Courier-Journal)
ILLINOIS:
Sharing his story for justice----Noreen McNulty remembers the life of a
passionate activist against the death penalty.
We lost a freedom fighter, a poet, a friend and a beautiful soul a few days ago
in Chicago. Delbert Tibbs passed away in his home on November 23.
Delbert was known to people around the world as a witness to the barbarism of
the death penalty system in the U.S. and an activist against it. Delbert spent
3 years on Florida's death row until he was found innocent and exonerated.
Delbert was born in Mississippi to tenant farmer parents--when he was 12, he
and his mother moved to Chicago. While traveling the country in 1974, Delbert
was stopped and questioned by police in Florida about the rape of a teenaged
woman and the murder of her companion, both of them white.
The description of the suspect from the surviving victim was nearly the
opposite of Delbert. The suspect was described as 5-foot-6-inches, with a dark
complexion. Delbert had a light complexion and was over 6 feet tall. Delbert
had a solid alibi, but that didn't stop prosecutors from putting him on trial,
aided by the testimony of a jailhouse snitch who later said he fabricated his
claim that Delbert had confessed to him in the hopes of lenient treatment on a
rape charge. An all-white jury convicted Delbert after 2 days of deliberations.
There was a public campaign for Delbert's freedom--folksinger Pete Seeger wrote
a song about his case. The Florida Supreme Court eventually reversed his
conviction and Delbert was released in 1977. Five years later, the charges
against him were officially dropped.
Delbert went on to speak across the country and around the world, often on
national and international tours for the anti-death penalty group Witness to
Innocence. But Delbert is especially well known and loved by the abolitionist
community in Chicago, where he was always ready to share his story and speak
out for justice at rallies, protests, public forums and church meetings.
Delbert's fellow Chicago and fellow death row exoneree Darby Tillis remembered
his friend this way:
He was just a wonderful man and a gentle giant. He touched a lot of people all
across the world. He's been out there speaking for more than 30
years--constantly on the go. He had just returned from a tour. He never said
anything to offend anyone. He was humble.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Because of what happened to him, and what he saw happening to so many other
Black men caught up in the injustice system, Delbert always pointed to the
issue of racism in U.S. society. The Final Call quoted him telling a gathering
of several dozen people: "If you're Black and grew up in America, you know
nothing else has been applied fairly. So why would the death penalty be applied
fairly?"
Whenever you would see Delbert, he was ready with warm words and a strong hug.
When he told his story in his deep and steady and persuasive voice, he moved
people to become more committed opponents of capital punishment. If you want to
see Delbert at his persuasive best, watch this segment from the series of short
films about innocence and the death penalty called One for Ten.
The creators of the play The Exonerated also featured Delbert, along with five
other former death row prisoners, talking about the death penalty and justice
in their own words. One of Delbert's speeches goes to the heart of the
tough-on-crime hysteria:
I understand why people are afraid. I mean, I do think the world itself can be
quite frightening by getting up everyday. I understand, but you can't give in
to that. It's like they say in those cowboy pictures: nobody's going to live
forever, so if you got to go, then you might as well go being about the highest
thing that you can be. And that means learning not to fear other people.
Delbert always had faith in people and thought that when they were mobilized,
they could do great things. He felt uplifted when people took his words to
heart--one person told him that after hearing him speak, he was inspired to go
into public interest law. Delbert said, "It really makes me believe the Great
Spirit laid this trip on me so that I could bear witness of this terrible thing
we call the death penalty in the U.S."
Delbert's kind soul and powerful words will live on in his poetry and in all of
the hearts he touched. Rest in peace, Delbert.
(source: Socialist Worker)
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