Jan. 3
NEW JERSEY:
Death penalty needed in NJ, writes JJ reader
I would like to see the death penalty put in effect. These thugs and druggies
just killed a Hoboken attorney for a car.
If you had the death penalty, just maybe people would think twice before
killing someone. They don't care. All their friends and murderers are in there.
Sen. Nicholas Sacco should run for governor of New Jersey. He voted for the
death penalty. He's the only one with courage to put these animals on death
row. But they haven't used it since 1963. Why? These people know this and are
brazen about it.
SAMUEL CASCIO----NORTH BERGEN
(source: Letter to the Editor, The Star-Ledger)
ALABAMA:
Alabama's 5 death sentences last year were most of any state per capita
5 people were sentenced to death in Alabama in 2013, the highest number per
capita in the country.
The numbers come from the Death Penalty Information Center and were reported by
the Equal Justice Initiative.
Nationwide, 80 death sentences were imposed last year, according to the Death
Penalty Information Center report.
That was up slightly from 77 in 2012. But the trend has been fewer death
sentences since the 1990s, as more states have abolished the death penalty. In
1996 there were 315 death sentences, according to the report.
Death sentences by state in 2013:
-- California 24 (population 38 million)
-- Florida 15 (19 million)
-- Texas 9 (26 million)
-- Alabama 5 (4.8 million)
-- Ohio 4 (11.5 million)
-- Pennsylvania 4 (12.8 million)
-- Arizona 3 (6.5 million)
-- Indiana 3 (6.5 million)
-- Missouri 3 (6 million)
-- Mississippi 2 (3 million)
-- Nevada 2 (2.8 million)
No other state had more than 1 death sentence. Among other southern states,
Georgia and North Carolina had 1 each. Tennessee, Louisiana, Kentucky and South
Carolina had none.
Alabama also has the nation's highest death row population per capita,
according to EJI, about 4 per 100,000 people. There are 194 inmates on death
row in Alabama, according to the Department of Corrections.
There were 39 executions in the United States last year, including one in
Alabama. That is down from a peak of 98 in 1999.
(source: al.com)
INDIANA:
Plea deal removed, death penalty will be sought in grisly Harrison murders
Prosecutors will seek the death penalty now that a plea deal is no longer being
considered in the murder cases of 2 Southern Indiana teens accused of brutally
killing a Harrison County couple.
A plea deal offered in October would have given suspects Kevin Andrew "Drew"
Schuler and Austin Scott life in prison without parole in exchange for their
guilty pleas.
But attorneys for both young men told Harrison Superior Judge Roger Davis
during short hearings Friday that they weren't ready to accept the plea deal.
Harrison County Prosecutor Otto Schalk told Davis he plans to file information
seeking the death penalty in the cases after neither defendant accepted plea
deals by Friday???s deadline.
"We are filing for the death penalty," Schalk said in an interview afterward,
noting formal charging information will be filed by the middle of next week.
Scott's attorneys, Chris Sturgeon and co-counsel Amie Newlon are both certified
to handle death penalty cases.
"We believe there's more investigation we have to do on his behalf," Sturgeon
said as to why they didn't accept the plea deal.
Judge Davis agreed Friday to push back the March 31 trial start date, but no
other date has been scheduled. He also granted Sturgeon's request to file
"ex-parte" motions, ones that don't have to be revealed to prosecutors.
Schuler, of Greenville, and Scott, of New Albany, each face 2 counts of murder
in the deaths of Gary Henderson, 70, and Asenath "Senie" Arnold, 57.
The 2 teens told police that they stabbed 1 victim to death, left and then
returned, when they bludgeoned the 2nd victim in her bed, The Courier-Journal
previously reported.
After killing Gary Henderson - he was stabbed 23 times - and stealing handguns
and other items, the pair told police, they returned a short time later hoping
to bag more stolen goods when they realized someone else was alive inside the
house, Harrison County Sheriff Rod Seelye said.
They heard a woman call out for Henderson and then stormed into Asenath "Senie"
Arnold's bedroom and bludgeoning her to death, Seelye previously told the
Courier-Journal.
Arnold, who used a wheelchair, was found in bed, her skull crushed, Harrison
County Coroner Rusty Sizemore said.
"It was brutal, absolutely brutal," Sizemore previously said. "I think I've
seen things, but this is the worst.
Both men also face burglary and theft charges and police have accused the pair
with stealing weapons, cash, credit cards and prescription medication.
Schalk said Friday after the hearings he wanted to give the defendants the
opportunity to accept a plea deal before proceeding with the lengthy discovery
process of death-penalty trials.
Capital trials costs more than standards trials, but Schalk said this shouldn't
be a factor for prosecutors representing the state and victims' families.
"You reserve the death penalty for the worst cases," Schalk said.
Schalk said it's still too early in the case to determine how much it will
cost, which will depend on how many experts and other witnesses are called to
investigate and testify for both sides.
(source: Courier-Journal)
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