Nov. 27
PENNSYLVANIA:
Judge upholds trial, death sentence of Freemansburg cop killer
A Freemansburg man sentenced to die for murdering a borough police officer in
2011 saw the 1st his appeals denied Wednesday by a Northampton County judge,
the start of legal challenges that will take years, if not decades, to decide.
George Hitcho Jr.'s post-trial motions were denied by Judge Anthony Beltrami in
a 135-page opinion, with the judge finding Hitcho is not entitled to a new
trial, or a new sentencing hearing, as he was seeking.
A jury sent Hitcho to death row in May 2012 for 1st-degree murder for shooting
patrolman Robert A. Lasso in the back of the head with a shotgun.
On Aug. 11, 2011, Lasso was at Hitcho's New Street property after being called
for an argument between Hitcho and a neighbor. The 31-year-old officer was
being attacked by Hitcho's dogs and was moving to use his stun gun against them
when he was felled by a 12-gauge blast.
At trial, Chief Public Defender Michael Corriere cast Hitcho as a paranoid man
with cognitive limitations who was terrified that his house would be broken
into and his dogs harmed. District Attorney John Morganelli said Hitcho knew
exactly what he was doing when he fired on Lasso from 5 feet while his back was
turned.
With Beltrami's decision, Hitcho's case will now automatically be appealed to
the state Supreme Court.
If prisoners are unsuccessful in their direct appeals, they next turn to
post-conviction relief proceedings in which they can question whether their
attorneys effectively represented them. If those challenges fail, they can go
to the federal courts and argue constitutional violations.
The last person put to death against his will in Pennsylvania was in 1962. In
the 1990s, 3 inmates were executed, but only because they waived their legal
challenges and asked to be put to death.
Hitcho, 48, is jailed at Greene State Prison in southwestern Pennsylvania,
which holds the state's largest death row.
(source: Morning Call)
NEVADA:
Prosecutors denied access to juvenile records of man charged in deaths of
woman, child
The Nevada Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that Clark County prosecutors cannot
use juvenile delinquency records to help prepare a death penalty case against
Bryan Devonte Clay Jr.
The high court's ruling is significant as prosecutors seek aggravating factors
to present to a jury at his trial set for April 14, 2014.
Clay has pleaded not guilty to charges he sexually assaulted and killed a Las
Vegas woman and her daughter and nearly killed their husband and father with a
hammer in April of 2012.
Clark County prosecutors sought the release of his juvenile records, and the
Juvenile Criminal Court in October 2012 ordered the documents unsealed and
released to the state and Clay's defense counsel.
Clay appealed the decision to the Supreme Court.
A 3-judge panel of the court said in its ruling that Nevada law does not allow
the state to inspect a person's sealed juvenile records for use against the
person in subsequent criminal proceedings.
In reviewing Nevada law and legislative history, Justice Nancy Saitta, who
wrote the opinion, said: "There is no indication that the Legislature intended
the statute to allow a prosecutor to inspect a defendant's sealed juvenile
records to obtain information that could later be used against him or her."
This is the 2nd legal success Clay's defense team has won in recent months.
In August, Clay struck a deal with prosecutors that allowed him to plead guilty
to 2 counts of domestic violence battery and one count of petit larceny for
twice beating his ex-girlfriend, who was pregnant with his child.
As part of the deal, prosecutors dropped 3 felonies against Clay. Had Clay been
convicted of the felonies, prosecutors could have used them as aggravating
factors to convince a jury to sentence the 23-year-old to death in the double
murder case.
At a death penalty hearing, a jury decides a convicted defendant???s punishment
based on aggravating or mitigating factors. Prosecutors and defense lawyers
present as many of these factors as they can to a jury. But the jury determines
how much weight to give each factor - meaning 1 mitigating circumstance in his
favor could outweigh 12 aggravators, or vice-versa.
The domestic violence case took a turn in July when the Nevada Supreme Court
tossed one of the child abuse charges.
The high court ruled that prosecutors failed to properly explain the statutory
definition of "physical injury" to a grand jury while presenting their case.
The justices said the grand jury could have confused the common definition of
"physical injury" with the statutory one, which is a permanent or temporary
disfigurement or impairment of any bodily function or organ.
The victim told the grand jury Clay slapped her across the face. But the grand
jury received no other evidence.
The ruling was significant because state law prevents prosecutors from using
misdemeanor convictions as aggravating factors, but they can be used to show a
defendant's prior bad acts.
Clay is accused in the April 15 attacks on Ignacia "Yadira" Martinez,
10-year-old Karla Martinez and Arturo Martinez. 2 other Martinez children were
unharmed. Clay also is accused of trying to rape a woman hours before the home
invasion.
He is set to stand trial for the double murder before Judge Jessie Walsh.
Prosecutors said Clay sexually assaulted a 50-year-old woman near the
intersection of Vegas and Tonopah drives before going to a home at 1016 Robin
St. in April 2012.
Once inside, investigators say, Clay used a claw hammer to pummel Arturo
Martinez, then 39, and sexually assault and beat to death both his wife and
daughter.
Arturo Martinez survived the attack.
The couple's 2 sons, then 9 and 4 years old, were not attacked.
(source: Las Vegas Review-Journal)
************************
Nevada death row inmate loses bid for rehearing
A divided Nevada Supreme Court won't rehear a death-row inmate's challenge of
his capital sentence, although 1 justice said he'd grant the man a new penalty
hearing in front of a jury.
An order dated Friday rejected William Castillo's bid to reconsider his death
sentence for the murder of 86-year-old Isabelle Berndt in Las Vegas in 1995.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that Castillo challenged 2 of 4
aggravating factors found by his death sentence jury as invalid.
Justice Michael Cherry dissented from 5 colleagues who said the jury would have
concluded that mitigating circumstances didn't outweigh valid aggravating
factors.
Castillo was convicted of hitting Berndt with a tire iron, smothering her with
a pillow while she was asleep and returning later to set Berndt's house afire.
Prosecutors have a significant amount of DNA evidence to support their case,
court documents show.
Clay told investigators he was drunk and high on drugs and blacked out and has
no memory of what happened that night.
(source: Las Vegas Review-Journal)
CALIFORNIA:
Judge sentences 'ruthless predator' to death
Judge Sweet addresses Naso directly----"You being in this world, Mr. Naso, has
made this world a worse place."
----Honorable Andrew Sweet, Marin County Superior Court Judge
Perched at his defense table, frocked in a white-and-yellow striped jumpsuit,
convicted serial killer Joseph Naso interrupted prosecutors, standing up to
salute a solitary photographer inside a Marin County courtroom, and flipped off
the camera at his Nov. 22 sentencing hearing.
"The photographer is angering me," Naso said, eerily staring into the lens. "I
should have some respect."
Victims' family and friends filled the first 2 rows on Friday morning. Police
officers, witnesses and jury members listened as Judge Andrew Sweet called
Naso, a "ruthless, pathological predator," and a "cold-blooded killer," while
sentencing him to three concurrent penalties of death.
Naso was found guilty of the first-degree murder of 4 Northern California women
with matching initials in the 1970s and 1990s. He will be transported to San
Quentin State Prison by next week.
"I have scoured the record looking for the slightest indication of remorse,
regret or sorrow [from Naso]," said Sweet, who called Naso an evil and
disturbed man. "There's none."
"You being in this world, Mr. Naso, has made this world a worse place."
Sweet said evidence proved that Naso inflicted "abhorrent and repugnant levels
of suffering and cruelty" on the victims. Naso also photographed his victims
and detailed his accounts in what prosecutors call his "Rape Journal."
Victim Carmen Colon's daughters began to cry uncontrollably as Sweet described
the "vicious and brutal" murder of their mother. "It involved a high degree of
cruelty," Sweet said.
Both women exited the courtroom to regain their composure before giving victim
impact statements.
"My sister and I have been on a roller coaster ride since we were four years
old," Rachael Smith said. "We suffered as children and as adults . . . We
suffered great mental, physical and sexual abuse because he killed my mother.
"I want him to sit there, alone, and know what it's like to have everything
taken away from him," she said. "Let him die alone."
Motion for retrial denied
Though Naso, 79, was formally charged with the murders of Roxene Roggasch,
Colon, Pamela Parsons and Tracey Tafoya, Sweet concluded he was responsible for
a total of 6 slayings. Naso is presumed guilty of murdering Renee Shapiro (also
known as Sara Dylan), a Bob Dylan fan that disappeared in 1992, and Sharieea
Patton, a former resident at a San Francisco apartment complex that Naso
managed in 1981. The prosecution believes all 6 women were strangled.
After being found guilty on Aug. 20, the jury recommended Naso be put to death
after only three hours of deliberation on Sept. 17. Roggasch's murder didn't
receive a death penalty verdict because the capital punishment was illegal in
the state of California at the time of her murder.
Sweet listened to 3 motions presented by the defense Friday morning - 2 asked
for a life sentence without the possibility of parole and 1 requested a new
trial.
"This was a hate crime against me," Naso said.
Naso argued that the incriminating DNA found on Roggasch's body was "planted"
and that his previous sexual offenses, including alleged rapes that go as far
back as the 1950s, weren't relevant.
"What I did 50 years ago has nothing to do with this case," Naso said.
He asked the judge to consider his age. But Sweet pointed out that Naso was 43
when Roggasch was murdered, 44 when Colon was murdered, 59 when Parsons was
found dead and 60 at the time of Tafoya's death.
Naso claimed that the trial shouldn't have been conducted in Marin. "It's
political. The District Attorney bought himself a conviction at a very high
price."
Naso also argued the jury was "greatly influenced" by media coverage, though
the jury was banned from reading or listening to any trial-related news
throughout the proceedings.
"He shows absolutely no remorse," Deputy District Attorney Dori Ahana said.
"Absolutely no remorse."
Sweet denied all three motions. He also decided to seal all photographs in
evidence that depicted women who were partially or fully nude and all pictures
of crime scenes where victims were discovered.
"I can't put into words the devastating impact these murders had on their loved
ones," Sweet said. "I hope that family and friends of these victims, after all
of these years, can receive some measure of peace."
But for the remaining "List of 10" victims, peace may never come. The other 4
listings refer to the "Girl near Heldsburg, Mendocinco Co.," the "Girl on Mt.
Tam," the "Girl from Miami near down peninsula, and the "Girl from Berkeley."
The case
The Nevada Department of Public Safety charged Naso with 4 counts of murder,
crimes of sexual assault, rape, violation of parole, possession of firearms and
identification theft after 2 searches of his Nevada home in April and May of
2010. Naso was on felony probation for theft in El Dorado County.
A plastic container of ammunition and knives were found. A bullet and a small
advertisement for the sale of a gun were also found in his pocket. He was
arrested for the parole violations.
Officers soon discovered Naso's "List of 10," which was believed to label
places where his victims' bodies were discarded and later discovered.
Police seized more than $152,000 in cash, weapons, women's clothing, newspaper
clippings, mannequin legs, dolls, bullets, a $30,000 coin collection, knives,
5,000 photographs - and a "Rape Journal," which contained graphic depictions of
sexual assault.
Many of the photographs found in Naso's possession are believed to be of
unconscious or deceased women.
Police also located 2 US Bank and Wells Fargo safe deposit box keys, which
contained a small black purse, personal documentation of other women,
passports, driver's licenses, newspaper articles and more. Naso lived in close
proximity to all the victims at the time of their murder.
Restitution
Naso may also have to pay restitution to the victims' families that covers
costs related to the crimes and the trial, District Attorney Edward Berberian
said.
"He may have to compensate families for anything out-of-pocket," Berberian
said.
Naso complained that he should not have to pay any restitution because he'd
paid enough into restitution funds as a California taxpayer.
"If anyone gets restitution in this case, it should be me," he said. "I lost
everything."
Naso represented himself at the trial to save nearly $1 million in assets.
Public defender Pedro Oliveros was assigned as "advisory counsel" to provide
limited assistance.
The last death sentence by a Marin jury was in 1990 and the state has 741
inmates (including 20 women) on death row. California's death penalty was
enacted through the voter-initiative process and has not executed a death row
inmate since 2006.
(source: MarinScope)
USA:
Tsarnaev lawyers lose bid for more evidence from prosecution
A federal judge today declined a request by lawyers for alleged Boston Marathon
bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to force prosecutors to turn over more evidence so the
defense could better prepare its opposition to the death penalty.
US District Court Judge George A. O'Toole Jr. said in a 9-page ruling that the
defense was requesting blanket disclosure of information without showing that
the information would be material to the trial, which is the standard
prosecutors must follow.
"The defendant has not made a prima facie showing of materiality," the judge
said. "He essentially seeks access to the government's information haystack
because he is confident there are useful evidentiary needles to be found there.
That is simply not enough to trigger a disclosure obligation."
Though prosecutors have turned over evidence already, the defense attorneys
argued that the government has refused to turn over information such as
interview reports with Tsarnaev's friends and family members, as well as the
family members' immigration records.
The defense argued that the evidence could help them prepare a presentation
opposing the death penalty. The prosecutors, however, argued that they had
already produced all the information they were required to. They also argued
that they had no obligation to turn over materials that would help in a death
penalty presentation, that they would only be required to turn over information
for a trial.
O'Toole ruled that the government could be required to turn over information
for the death penalty presentation, because arguments over punishment would be
part of the penalty phase of the trial and decided by the same jury.
However, the judge said, the defense attorneys still had failed to prove that
the information they requested was material - relevant and significant - to
their case.
"The information requested to be produced must be material to the defense, and
the defendant bears the burden of making a prima facie showing of materiality,"
the judge said.
He said the defense team could file another request if it determined the
government had specific evidence that would be relevant to its case.
Tsarnaev, 20, faces multiple charges that carry the death penalty for his
alleged role in the April 15 bombings, which killed 3 people and injured more
than 260. He and his brother, Tamerlan, were also accused of fatally shooting
an MIT police officer. Tamerlan was killed during a confrontation with police
in Watertown on April 19; Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was arrested later the same day.
In addition to arguing against the death penalty if Tsarnaev is convicted,
defense attorneys are also allowed to make a presentation to US Attorney
General Eric Holder before the trial. Holder is to decide by the end of January
whether prosecutors will seek the death penalty.
Judge O'Toole did grant one defense request. He ordered prosecutors to turn
over actual recordings of Tsarnaev's phone calls from jail, not just the
transcripts, because the actual recordings could convey information beyond the
words themselves, such as vocal inflection.
(source: Boston Globe)
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