Feb. 3
TEXAS----impending execution // female
2 courts won't block woman's execution in Texas
A federal judge has joined Texas' top criminal court in refusing to stop this
week's scheduled execution of a woman condemned for the torture slaying of a
mentally impaired man more than 15 years ago outside Houston.
U.S. District Judge Sim Lake on Monday turned down an appeal from 59-year-old
Suzanne Basso hours after Texas Court of Criminal Appeals rejected a similar
appeal. She's set for lethal injection Wednesday evening in Huntsville.
Basso's attorney contends she is mentally incompetent for execution for the
slaying of 59-year-old Louis "Buddy" Musso.
Additional appeals to delay her punishment are likely headed into the federal
appeals courts.
Basso would be the 14th woman executed in the U.S. and the 5th in Texas since
the Supreme Court in 1976 allowed capital punishment to resume.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Monday rejected an appeal from 59-year-old
Suzanne Basso. She's set for lethal injection Wednesday evening in Huntsville.
Basso's attorney asked the court to reverse a ruling last month that Basso is
competent to be executed for the slaying of 59-year-old Louis "Buddy" Musso at
a home in Jacinto City, just east of Houston.
(source: Associated Press)
NEW HAMPSHIRE:
Repeal of the Death Penalty
For 2 centuries, the New Hampshire legislature has tinkered with the death
penalty - each iteration more arbitrary than the last. Legislation to expand
and/or repeal the death penalty have been won and defeated by small margins.
Elected officials, from both parties, have consistently raised concerns about
New Hampshire's death penalty.
In a few short weeks, the House of Representatives will be voting on HB1170 an
act repealing the death penalty. Since 1974, the modern era of the death
penalty, New Hampshire has amended its statue 8 times. During that same time
period, not a single person has been executed, and the state recently, has
spent more than 4 million dollars ($4M) on litigation, paying for both the cost
of the defense and prosecution councils.
From the time of the 1st recorded execution in 1739 to the last execution in
1939, 22 prisoners were hanged by the state, and 1, Ruth Blay, is now
recognized as having been the victim of a "Wrongful execution."
The state of New Hampshire currently has no "Death Chamber". Depending on the
manner of the execution, the cost, by 2010 estimates would be roughly $1.7
millions of dollars for its construction. Citizens in southern New Hampshire do
not want such a chamber to be constructed at the Concord facility. Several have
advocated constructing such a chamber at the newest correctional facility
located in Berlin. The logic being that Berlin is far removed from the state
capital and hence would not be subject to demonstrations to the extent that the
Concord correctional facility would be.
Over 140 innocent men and women placed on death row have been exonerated since
1973. These exonerations have revealed cases that are riddled with problems
including mistaken eyewitness identification, incompetent lawyers, shoddy
forensics, unreliable jailhouse snitches, and coerced confessions. New
Hampshire is not immune to these problems in the criminal justice system. But
New Hampshire already has a corrections system with the sentence of life
without the possibility of parole for 1st degree murder that ensures public
safety and also eliminates the risk of taking the life of an innocent human
being.
Families and friends living through the trauma of homicide want an outcome in
the court system that is swift and sure. The death penalty provides neither. Of
those individuals sentenced to death, roughly 15% will actually be executed in
the United States. The final outcome in most death penalty cases - whether it
is a dismissal, reduced sentence or an execution - can take decades. The loved
ones of those innocent victims must endure a long journey of recurring
emotional trauma. Let us not forget that the families of murdered loved ones
are not the only innocent victims. Those family members and friends of the
convicted murderer also undergo a series of emotional ups and downs, for
numerous years as well.
Michael Addison convicted and sentenced to death of the 2006 murder of
Manchester police officer Michael Briggs, would be the 1st death row inmate to
be executed in New Hampshire since 1939. Addison's prosecution, alone, has cost
the state $2.3 million as of September 2013. The future cost to the state will
be expensive. The NH Supreme Court Addison case is less than half finished. The
entire appeal could cost millions by the time Addison exhausts his rights in
federal court as a much older man. If Addison loses all of his appeals, the
state would have no choice but to build a death chamber.
Do not get me wrong, I am not soft hearted. I have no sympathy for rapists,
killers, and those who prey on the most vulnerable in our country. But ask
yourself, could you commit the final act by flicking a switch, pressing a
button or, pulling a lever, sending, perhaps an innocent human being to their
death?
I firmly believe that repealing the death penalty is the right course of action
for New Hampshire.
Respectfully,
Rep. Robert L. Theberge
Coos, Dist. 3 (Berlin)
(source: Guest Column, Berlin Daily Sun)
FLORIDA:
Convicted killer Emilia Carr's lawyer argues appeal before Florida Supreme
Court
Counsel for a Marion County woman sentenced to death row argued for a sentence
reversal before the Florida Supreme Court Monday morning, stating his client is
less culpable in the crime than her co-defendant - who is serving life
imprisonment for the same offense.
Standing before the panel in Tallahassee, Emilia Carr's attorney, Christopher
S. Quarles, argued the Supreme Court should rule on the issue instead of
choosing another remedy: sending the case back to the trial court to deal with
the sentence question, either in a separate hearing or through a
post-conviction relief proceeding.
"I think the evidence is very clear Joshua Fulgham is more culpable," argued
Quarles, referring to Carr's co-defendant. "He had the motive, he hatched the
plan, he brought the victim to the scene of the crime, and it's very
unfair...he is serving a life sentence when she is sentenced to death."
According to trial testimony, Fulgham, who was Carr's lover, lured his
estranged wife, Heather Strong, 26, to a trailer in Boardman, which is in north
Marion County near McIntosh. There, the pair duct taped her to a chair,
suffocated her and then buried the body.
The co-defendants were tried in separate trials, and the state sought the death
penalty for both. They both were found guilty of first-degree murder and
kidnapping.
In the 1st trial, a jury recommended death for Carr in a 7-5 vote in December
2010. The judge in that case followed the recommendation and put her on death
row.
The jury in the 2nd trial returned a recommendation of life imprisonment for
Fulgham in April 2012. Again, the judge followed the recommendation.
"They had different judges, they had different juries, they had different legal
teams," said Quarles.
He argued that during each trial the state painted that defendant as the
mastermind, even though evidence shows Fulgham had been manipulating both
Strong and Carr in the time period leading up to the crime.
Justice Charles Canady pointed out that Carr, 29, has an IQ of 125, while
Fulgham, 32, is intellectually challenged.
"In the actual commission of the crime Ms. Carr was heavily involved in what
was going on," countered Assistant Attorney General Sara Macks.
She pointed to several factors motivating Carr including the fact that Carr
wanted to raise a family with Fulgham.
Carr gave birth to Fulgham's child during her time inside the Marion County
jail pending trial. Macks also pointed to threats Carr had made of hiring
someone to kill Strong.
Justice Jorge Labarga wondered why the 2 trial court judges didn't wait and
sentence the co-defendants around the same time after receiving the respective
jury recommendations.
As part of her explanation, Macks said Fulgham's trial had been delayed more
than 1 year when counsel from Miami had become involved.
She urged the high court to resolve the direct appeal before redirecting the
case back to the trial court. Macks said if the issue is addressed at the trial
court level during post-conviction relief, Carr's defense would also be able to
bring up any issues connected with mitigation.
"This is not a death case," Quarles argued in rebuttal before the panel
adjourned.
A ruling is expected at a later date.
Carr is currently housed at Lowell Correctional Institution with the other 5
women on Florida's death row. Fulgham is currently housed at Florida State
Prison in Raiford, according to state prison records.
In August, Fulgham sent a hand-written letter to the Marion County Jail through
his mother intended for convicted murderer Michael Bargo. Inmates are not
granted the same privacy as the general public and therefore their mail is
public record except for medical records and legal correspondence.
In the letter, Fulgham offered Bargo advice about prison. "A lot of people will
tell you a life sentence is the same as death row," he wrote, adding that such
advice is wrong.
"If you do end up in prison at all, it isn't that bad," Fulgham wrote,
describing his access to an MP3 player, television and Playboy magazine.
(source: Ocala.com)
MISSISSIPPI:
Miss. death penalty case before US high court
The U.S. Supreme Court will consider Feb. 21 whether to hear an appeal from a
woman on Mississippi's death row who is seeking a new trial in the 1999 slaying
of her husband based on claims that she was abused.
Court officials say a decision could be announced shortly after the court
conference.
Michelle Byrom argues her original lawyer failed to present evidence of
physical and sexual abuse at the hands of her husband. Prosecutors say the
abuse issue was raised at her trial and denied.
Byrom, now 56, was convicted of capital murder in 2000. In a rare move, she
asked the judge, instead of the jury, to decide her sentence. The judge
sentenced her to death.
State and federal courts have denied Byrom's appeals for a new trial.
(source: Biloxi Sun Herald)
OHIO:
Attorneys for condemned Cleveland killer seek injunction of death penalty to
litigate lethal injection issues
The legal fight to keep condemned Cleveland killer Gregory Lott alive continued
Monday, as his attorneys sought an injunction that would postpone his scheduled
execution and allow time to challenge the state's lethal injection policy in a
courtroom.
Lott is set to be executed March 19 for the 1986 slaying of John McGrath, an
82-year-old man who was beaten, tied up and burned in his East Cleveland home.
Lott's attorneys filed a lawsuit last month in U.S. District Court in Columbus
that claimed the drugs used in the lethal injection process in Ohio amounted to
cruel and unusual punishment.
The attorneys said in Monday's filing that it could take 45 minutes before Lott
would die of the injection of 40 mg of hydromorphone, a painkiller, and 10 mg
of midazolam, a sedative. The filing before U.S. Judge Gregory Frost mentions
the lingering death of Dennis McGuire, who was executed Jan. 16 using the
two-drug concoction. His execution lasted 26 minutes. A prison expert had said
it would take a fraction of that time.
"Especially in light of the public spectacle created by the execution of Dennis
McGuire, (Frost's) careful consideration of Lott's claim serves the public
interest and lends legitimacy to the death penalty in Ohio,'' Lott's attorneys
wrote in the request for the injunction.
A spokesman for Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, whose office has prosecuted
the cases, declined to comment, citing the pending litigation.
Advocates for the death penalty, however, have seethed over the ongoing fight.
They say the pleas about cruel and unusual punishment for death-row inmates
distracts from the pain and suffering the victims faced. McGuire was convicted
in the 1989 rape and slaying of Joy Stewart, who was pregnant, in Preble
County.
Stewart's family released a statement that discussed the stories about McGuire
suffering and stressed that McGuire was treated "far more humanely than he
treated (Stewart)."
McGrath's family members have said they oppose the death penalty and wants Lott
to spend the rest of his life in prison, instead of being executed.
In the filing Monday, Lott's attorneys said Ohio law requires lethal injection
"to quickly and painlessly cause death." They said the way that McGuire died
was hardly quick or painless. They said Lott's execution "presents a
substantial risk of unnecessary pain, lingering death, humiliation and
disgrace."
Those who witnessed McGuire's execution noted that he gasped for air and
struggled for several minutes, snorting and choking. Lott's attorneys said
McGuire suffered from "air hunger," in which his body and mind struggled to
breathe.
They said Lott could face similar problems. In the lawsuit filed last month,
attorneys said the state's use of 10 mg of midazolam is too small and
ineffective. It noted that Florida uses 500 mg of the drug in an execution.
The state prison system is investigating McGuire's execution. A prison
spokeswoman declined to comment on McGuire's execution or the drugs involved.
The state's use of hydromorphone and midazolam in McGuire's death marked the
1st time the drugs were used in an execution.
The prison system switched to the 2-drug method after pharmaceutical companies,
citing ethical and moral reasons, refused to release compounds used in prior
executions.
(source: Cleveland Plain Dealer)
*******************
Man appeals death penalty after 3-county crime spree
The Supreme Court of Ohio on Tuesday will hear the death penalty appeal of a
Cuyahoga County man found guilty of shooting and killing a laundromat employee
during a 2009 robbery, 1 of multiple crimes he committed in 3 counties back in
June 2009.
Johnson, then 30, went on a crime spree that started in Sandusky and ended in
Cleveland with the killing of Tracy Pickryl, 38. Pickryl was still holding the
quarters in her hand at the Soap Opera Laundry in Cleveland when she was shot
and killed.
Jackson's crime spree began 24 hours earlier with Maurice A. Harrison, 32, and
James Dixon, 25, both of Cleveland. The men allegedly robbed Sandusky's Howard
Johnson Express North on Cleveland Road, entering the hotel through the front
lobby where Katherine R. Schaffer was watching television. They all had
handguns.
One pointed a gun at her as he pushed her left shoulder into a chair.
She gave the men money from the register before they led her to the office
where they duct-taped her hands and feet, telling her they were not going to
rape her.
Hours later, the Walgreens pharmacy off of state Route 2 in Lorain was robbed,
where Jackson allegedly pointed his gun at a customer's head. Police in
multiple jurisdictions were able to tie the cases together, charging the 3 men
in combined cases tried in Cuyahoga County.
Harrison and Dixon pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the crimes. Harrison
was sentenced to 21 years in prison and Dixon was sentenced to 24 years.
Following a trial, Jackson was convicted of aggravated murder, 2 attempted
murders, several robberies, kidnapping, and other offenses.
On Tuesday, starting at 9 a.m., attorneys for Jackson will argue that his
intellectual capacity is impaired enough by some standards that the state may
be barred from executing him.
Jackson's attorneys believe that the trial court showed bias favoring the state
when it ordered a hearing to consider whether Jackson was intellectually
disabled. They claim the court held the hearing, without a request by the
defense, to try to prevent an appeal on this issue.
Among other claims of errors made during Jackson's trial, the attorneys contend
that Jackson did not freely agree to waive his right to jury trial given that
he said his head was banging and he was having difficulty focusing during the
waiver discussion.
They also maintain that the Cuyahoga County grand jury did not have
jurisdiction to indict Jackson for the offenses that took place in Erie and
Lorain counties.
(source: WKYC news)
SOUTH DAKOTA:
Reader Panel: Death penalty should not be repealed
Today's question: Rep. Steve Hickey, R-Sioux Falls, says he'll ask the state
Legislature to repeal the death penalty. Do you think South Dakota should
repeal the death penalty? Why or why not? What is a suitable punishment for the
most heinous crimes?
Don't have to worry about recidivism. Don't have to feed, house or provide
medical care. Impossible to measure how much of a deterrence it's been in the
dissuasion of crime in the past but it does play a role in discouraging
malfeasance. Keep it. Use it.
Rod Lammer----LaMoure, N.D.
--
I favor the death penalty in state court, like the murder of prison guard and
state trooper for example. On federal crimes I favor the death sentence for the
likes of the Fort Hood shooter-terrorist but in that case I would expedite the
execution by executive order to do so quickly.
Bernie Webb----Gettysburg
--
Mahatma Gandhi said it best: "An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole
world blind." After all, should a society not be better than the worst among
it? Life in prison without possibility of parole is as far as an enlightened
country can go.
Douglass Carter----Aberdeen
--
I believe we need to keep the death penalty. It has not been abused and I don't
agree with allowing a prisoner, who has committed a heinous crime, to sit on
death row for up to 20 years. That is costing the taxpayers. He should reap
what he's sown!
Sharon Thompson----Rapid City
--
No repeal of the death penalty. Crimes such as murder, rape and sexual abuse of
children should never be tolerated. No chance for rehabilitation. They made the
choice to commit these acts and should be forever punished for them. One bullet
to save on costs.
Keith Petersen----Aberdeen
--
Repeal. As a practical matter, I'm opposed to policies that have been proven
over decades to be both expensive and ineffective. Leaving moral questions
aside, FBI studies have shown the death penalty to be more expensive than
lifetime incarceration and statistics have shown capital punishment to be
ineffective as a deterrent.
Roylene Schwab----Aberdeen
--
I believe we need to keep the death penalty. Keeping these people alive for as
long as they live is costly. Inmates have better health care, sleeping areas,
three meals a day. Some of our veterans have a lot less and they paid a lot
more.
Dorothy Graves----Aberdeen
--
We should not only not repeal the death penalty, we should expand its use. Why
Rep. Hickey thinks taxpayers should pay for murderers and child molesters to
sit in prison for decades is beyond me. There is simply no rehabilitating the
worst of the worst.
Jacob Lakhany----Aberdeen
--
Yes, repeal it. It hasn't stopped crime and the state has gone soft on so many
other crimes anyway. Make sure they do not get out on some technicality.
Lucille Speidel----Aberdeen
--
As a veterinarian ... I have humanely euthanized dogs, cats and horses with
injectables. ... A similar injectable has been used for the execution of
heinous crime convicts. Now they are saying that method is not only inhumane,
but the preparation is difficult to obtain. Let's not return to firing squads,
hanging or electrocution.
Bill Fuhrman----Aberdeen
--
Why repeal the death penalty? It is one deterrent to capital crime, regardless
to what the experts think. It is a financial death penalty to those who have to
feed and give medical treatment to them for life. It is time to quit
mollycoddling those who harm others.
Mark Holty----Aberdeen
(source: Letters to the Editor, Abdereen News)
OREGON:
Jury selection begins in Gillette murder trial
Jury selection in the double murder trial of Johan Gillette got underway this
morning, with the judge dismissing 1 potential juror because of her opposition
to the death penalty.
Lane County Circuit Judge Ilisa Rooke-Ley also set a hearing for Friday to
determine if a key prosecution witness will agree to testify or whether she
plans to assert her constitutional right against self-incrimination. If the
witness does not wish to testify, an attorney will be appointed to advise her
of her rights.
Jury selection is expected to take 2 weeks as both prosecution and defense
attorneys work to appoint a 12-person panel and at least 2 alternates to hear
the case. The trial is set to begin Feb. 18.
Gillette is accused of aggravated murder in the death of his father, James
Gillette, and his father's domestic partner, Anne Dhu McLucas, a retired dean
of the University of Oregon School of Music. They were found bludgeoned to
death in James Gillette's home in September 2012.
Gillette faces a possible death sentence if convicted. Potential jurors are
being asked about their positions on the death penalty as part of the
questioning and can be dismissed from consideration if they say they would be
unable to consider the sentence.
(source: The Register-Guard)
_______________________________________________
DeathPenalty mailing list
DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu
http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty
Search the Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/deathpenalty@lists.washlaw.edu/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A free service of WashLaw
http://washlaw.edu
(785)670.1088
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
