Mar. 1
COLORADO:
Judge rules James Holmes' family can't offer opinion on death penalty
Family members and friends of the Aurora movie theater gunman will not be
allowed to ask jurors to spare his life, the judge overseeing his murder case
ruled Friday.
Prosecutors had asked Arapahoe County District Court Judge Carlos Samour to
prevent supporters of James Holmes from testifying at trial about their
opinions on the death penalty, which prosecutors are seeking against Holmes.
While family and friends will be allowed to give testimony about Holmes'
character, Samour agreed with prosecutors that opinions about the death penalty
will not be allowed.
Survivors of the shooting and victims' families will also not be allowed to
tell jurors whether they think Holmes should be executed, Samour noted in his
order.
"Since victim impact witnesses may not opine about the proper sentence," Samour
wrote in the order, "defense witnesses likewise should not be heard on what
sentence the jury should impose."
The order was 1 of 3 Samour issued on Friday dealing with the kinds of things
jurors can hear at the trial - which is now set to begin in October and could
last months.
The 2 other orders deal with information gleaned during the independent
psychiatric exams of Holmes, who has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.
In one order, Samour ruled that jurors should not hear any evidence that was
used to determine Holmes is currently mentally competent to stand trial.
In a 2nd order, Samour ruled that statements Holmes made during the exams can
be admitted at trial, so long as jurors are instructed only to consider the
statements when deciding whether Holmes was sane at the time of the crime.
Defense attorneys had argued that jurors would likely be tempted to think about
the statements when deciding whether to sentence Holmes to death.
12 people were shot to death and dozens more wounded by gunfire during the
attack on the Century Aurora 16 theater in July 2012.
******************
Prosecutors seek to bar 11 witnesses in Montour death penalty case
Prosecutors in the death-penalty case against a man who beat a corrections
officer to death are asking a judge to eliminate 11 defense witnesses or
postpone the trial set to begin Tuesday.
During a hearing in Douglas County on Thursday, 18th Judicial District Attorney
George Brauchler argued that attorneys for Edward Montour intentionally waited
until 27 days before opening arguments to present evidence that Montour was
wrongfully convicted in 1998 of killing his 11-week-old daughter.
Brauchler asked the judge not to allow 11 witnesses to testify about that
evidence or postpone the trial for several months to allow him time to evaluate
the evidence. He told Douglas County District Court Judge Richard Caschette he
needs to review the evidence and work with experts to decide whether he will
continue to seek the death penalty or reconsider the case.
"At the end of the day, what I care about is the pursuit of justice," Brauchler
said. "If, at the end of the day, that justice doesn't lead to the death
penalty, then so be it."
More than 11 years after Montour killed 23-year-old Eric Autobee, jury
selection in his 2nd trial began Jan. 6.
During jury selection, defense attorneys filed a motion asking the judge to
hear new evidence they say proves Montour was wrongfully convicted of killing
his daughter, Taylor.
Montour was serving a life sentence for her death when he beat Autobee to death
in the kitchen of the Limon Correctional Facility in 2002. He pleaded not
guilty by reason of insanity in August.
Defense attorneys on Feb. 2 filed a motion arguing that Taylor's death was an
accident. Montour repeatedly told authorities in 1997 that he dropped Taylor -
who defense attorneys now say had an undiagnosed bone disease - as he stood up
from a rocking chair.
On Tuesday, the El Paso County coroner amended the manner of death on Taylor's
death certificate from homicide to unknown.
Prosecutors say defense attorneys violated court orders and intentionally
waited to present evidence challenging the conviction. But Montour's attorney,
David Lane, said prosecutors have known his team was investigating Taylor's
death since late 2012 and asking to postpone the trial is an effort to obtain a
death penalty.
"They will do whatever it takes to kill Mr. Montour," Lane said.
Judge Caschette bowed his head and ran his fingers along his furrowed eyebrows
as he listened to more than an hour of arguments.
Caschette, who will issue a written ruling, said Brauchler's request gave him 2
options: delay the trial or muddle through the evidence if the case is brought
up on appeal.
"You're asking me to throw out 6 months of this court's work," Caschette said.
Autobee's father, Bob, sat in the back of the courtroom, holding a small
container of his son's ashes.
"I wish this wasn't continued," Autobee said. "I wish this was over."
(source for both: Denver Post)
************
Judge says 'no' to delaying death penalty case
In a decision that puts prosecutors in a difficult situation, a Douglas County
District Court judge has decided not to delay the start of a death penalty
trial set to go into opening statements as early as Tuesday.
Prosecutors with the 18th Judicial District Attorney's Office had sought a
delay in the Edward Montour trial if certain defense witnesses were still
allowed to testify on Montour's behalf. Friday, in deciding that he would allow
the testimony of the defense experts, Judge Richard Caschette said the trial
would proceed as scheduled.
Edward Montour has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity in the 2002 murder
of Limon Correctional Facility officer Eric Autobee. Prosecutors are seeking
the death penalty. Jury selection started early last month in Douglas County.
The trial has already been marked by the continual presence of Autobee's father
who has publicly criticized prosecutors for continuing to see the death
penalty. There are also complications surrounding the 1997 death of Montour's
11-week-old daughter Taylor. In 1998, a jury found Montour guilty of 1st-degree
murder in her death. But this week, the El Paso County Coroner's office changed
the cause of Taylor's death from "homicide" to "undetermined."
Montour's defense now believes the girl died not as a result of abuse but from
a rare form of metabolic bone disease. The experts prosecutors were seeking to
strike will testify they believe Taylor might have died as a result of having
very brittle bones.
While Montour has already admitted to killing Autobee, the murder of Taylor
Montour was going to play a critical role as an aggravator during a possible
death-penalty phase of the trial. Prosecutors had accused the defense of
bringing in the "brittle-bone defense" late in the game, and they said they
believed they could not get their own outside experts hired in time to see if
the defense conclusions are in fact true.
Now it appears as if they will have to go to trial on a case that will present
serious questions about the legitimacy of the conviction that put Montour in
prison in the 1st place.
(source: 9news.com)
WYOMING:
Gay: Death penalty isn't cruel and unusual
On Feb. 22, a column entitled "Time to end the death penalty in Wyoming" ran on
the Star-Tribune's editorial page. I differ in opinion considerably from Ms.
Burt and the ACLU.
In my lifetime, Wyoming has only executed 2 prisoners in spite of having
sentenced at least 5 convicts to death. Each and every person so sentenced in
Wyoming in my lifetime has been a white man. Ms. Burt's hypothesis that
execution is biased against people of color does not hold water in Wyoming.
My earliest memory of an execution was one Andrew Pixley, who brutally beat,
sexually abused, and murdered a pair of sisters aged 8 and 12 in the Wort Hotel
in Jackson. Pixley reportedly laughed when his death sentence was handed down
to him. He died in the gas chamber in 1966 with no complaints that his
treatment therein was cruel, unusual, or painful.
The next (and last) person executed by Wyoming was Mark Hopkinson, who ordered
the bombing murder of attorney Vincent Vehar and his family in their home in
Evanston. Hopkinson went on to order the torture murder of Jeffrey Greene while
he, Hopkinson, was incarcerated. Hopkinson was put to death in 1991 by lethal
injection. He did not complain of cruel or unusual treatment, nor did he
complain of pain during the actual execution.
Convicts Ronald Kennedy and Jerry Jenkins were sentenced to death in 1974 for
the 1973 murder of 11-year-old Amy Burridge. Amy was murdered to cover for the
rape and attempted murder of Amy's half-sister, 18-year-old Becky Thomson, at
the Fremont Canyon Bridge located in my home county of Natrona. Kennedy and
Jenkins kidnapped these 2 girls, beat the older one brutally, then tossed the
younger one from the bridge into the water and rocks 120 feet below. They went
on to rape the older sister before marching her onto the bridge to throw her
over the side into the sheer canyon. Becky Thomson survived her ordeal and
testified at the trial of Kennedy and Jenkins. These 2 reprobates were spared
execution due to a technicality ruling by the Supreme Court and their sentences
were commuted to consecutive incarceration which effectively became life
sentences. Victim Becky Thomson paid taxes that supported her 2 tormentors and
catered to their medical treatment, and every other need. Becky Thomson also
paid for her own medical bills and her treatment for PTSD. Murderer/rapist
Jenkins has died, but Kennedy continues to live on the taxpayer's dime. Becky
Thomson succumbed to her PTSD, and returned to the Fremont Bridge in 1992 and
finished dying from the murder that was perpetrated against her 19 years
before. Do you want to talk about cruel and unusual suffering? Consider Becky
Thomson and her family and the collateral damage they suffered.
Wyoming holds Dale Wayne Eaton on its death row at this time, paying for his
every need on the taxpayer's dime. Eaton kidnapped, tormented, raped, and
murdered "Little Miss" Lisa Marie Kimmel in 1988. 18 year-old Kimmel was also
thrown from a bridge in Natrona County, an eerie coincidence to the
Burridge/Thomson murders 15 years earlier. Eaton also killed a cell mate while
in jail on an un-related charge. Eaton has undoubtedly committed a number of
other heinous crimes for which he has not been convicted, but my point is that
incarceration does not prevent persons of his ilk from continuing to murder.
Holding murderers in prison does not prevent them from continuing to murder.
Wyoming's recent history is proof of that.
People like those I have described are evil and un-repentant. I am Christian
and I believe in redemption, yet God's grace is something that has to be
requested. Facing death at the hands of an executioner might just drive home
one's mortality and hasten the individual's request for God's grace. Convicts
have plenty of time to get right with God, so I have no problem with the timely
execution of capital cases.
(source: Opinion, Gerald Gay is state representative for House District 36, in
Casper----Casper Star-Tribune)
ARIZONA:
Mom in child-poisoning case may face death penalty
A Casa Grande mother accused of killing a daughter and of trying to poison her
three other children could face the death penalty.
The Casa Grande Dispatch reports (http://bit.ly/ME9zSh) a Pinal County Superior
Court judge has approved postponing the deadline for the Pinal County
Attorney's Office to file a seeking a death sentence.
According to court documents, the deadline was changed earlier this month from
March 10 to May 9.
Deputy Pinal County Attorney Patrick Gard filed motions Feb. 5 seeking
interviews with Connie Villa's mother and brother as material witnesses.
Prosecutors say 34-year-old Villa is charged with 1 count of 1st-degree murder
in the death of her 13-year-old daughter and 4 counts of attempted murder of
her 3 younger children and of her ex-husband.
(source: Associated Press)
CALIFORNIA:
Dekraai Hearing to Debate Death Penalty; Defense attorneys are arguing that
government misconduct should take the death sentence off the table.
Attorneys today will discuss holding an evidentiary hearing in which defense
lawyers citing "government misconduct" will try to spare their client from
getting the death penalty for the worst mass killing in Orange County history.
Dekraai was convicted of eight counts of murder, with a special circumstance
allegation of multiple murders, for a massacre at the Salon Meritage beauty
shop in Seal Beach on Oct. 12, 2011, when he killed his ex-wife and seven
others.
Attorneys today will discuss holding an evidentiary hearing that will put
senior prosecutors and Orange County sheriff's officials on the stand this
month as defense attorneys try to convince a judge that the government's
alleged misconduct should get the accused off the death penalty hook.
Orange County Public Defenders representing Scott Evans Dekraai filed a motion
a week ago today to have the Orange County District Attorney's Office taken off
the case. Attorneys are expected to also discuss today when to hold a hearing
on that motion.
The defense attorneys want the Attorney General's Office to take over the
prosecution of Dekraai. A ruling from Orange Superior Court Judge Thomas
Goethals on that issue is not expected until the week of March 10, when the
hearing on the government's alleged misconduct allegations could begin.
Assistant Public Defender Scott Sanders alleges that the Orange County
Sheriff's Department is improperly using jailhouse informants to collect
evidence against Dekraai and multiple other defendants.
Assistant District Attorney Dan Wagner, who is prosecuting Dekraai, earlier
this month said a 505-page motion from Sanders was "filled with untruths."
(source: Newport Beach Patch)
OREGON:
Contempt decision stemming from death row inmate Gary Haugen's case will come
next week, judge says
A judge considering whether to expunge contempt-of-court charges from the
record of a former lawyer for death row inmate Gary Haugen expects to issue her
decision next week, she said Friday.
Lane County Circuit Judge Debra Vogt, who was hearing the case for the Marion
County court, said she would allow defendant Andy Simrin and his lawyer
additional time to submit pleadings in the case.
The issue centers on whether contempt of court -- which occupies a strange
status in Oregon law as neither a crime nor a violation -- is eligible to be
expunged. Under Oregon state law, people arrested, charged or convicted of some
violations, misdemeanors and low-level felonies can seek to clear their records
after a waiting period has passed and provided they have not committed other
offenses.
The charges stem from Simrin's last day as court-appointed counsel for Haugen.
The 2 clashed as Simrin fought the inmate's wishes to start execution
proceedings. Marion County Presiding Circuit Judge Jamese Rhoades granted
Haugen's request to have Simrin and his co-counsel removed, but let them remain
until new attorneys could be appointed.
The judge told Simrin and his co-counsel not to file anything on Haugen's
behalf without talking with her, and Simrin said in court he did not imagine
filing anything.
Hours later, he appealed Rhoades' decision without first consulting her. The
move led to contempt-of-court charges being filed against him and his
co-counsel a year later. The charges were dismissed after they wrote letters of
apology.
Marion County Deputy District Attorney Amy Queen argued that the Oregon statute
specifies that only offenses -- felonies, misdemeanors and violations -- are
eligible for expungement under state law. Contempt of court, she said, is not
an offense.
She cited the State v. Coughlin decision in 2013 by the Oregon Court of Appeals
in which the court ruled in favor of a woman who was seeking to have her
forgery conviction expunged. A lower court denied her bid, due to a
contempt-of-court finding. The appeals court, however, ruled that that contempt
of court was not an offense and that a "finding" of contempt is not a
conviction.
But Simrin noted that the 5 contempt of court charges he faced carried a
potential for a fine and 6 months in prison per count. He cited Oregon Supreme
Court decisions in Brown v. Multnomah County in 1977 and State v. Fuller in
2013 that established that the state cannot deny defendants in noncriminal
prosecutions the protections they would receive in criminal prosecutions if the
proceeding retains the characteristics of a criminal prosecution. The potential
prison sentence he faced, he argued, meets that standard.
The arguments came shortly after the judge ruled against a motion by Simrin's
attorney, Larry Matasar, to disqualify the Marion County District Attorney's
Office from acting on behalf of the state in the case. Matasar noted that
Marion County District Attorney Walt Beglau had in 2011 asked Washington County
District Attorney's office to handle the investigation and any filing of
contempt charges because of conflict-of-interest concerns.
Beglau, who was called to testify, said those concerns no longer apply. He said
a number of factors went into his decision to ask Washington County to step in,
including the potential for having to call Judge Rhoades or his deputy district
attorneys as witnesses and concern for the integrity of the high-profile death
penalty case. He said his office no longer had a conflict with no need for
witnesses in the expungement case and the resolution of the Haugen case.
(source: The Oregonian)
USA:
Feds: Boston bomber suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, makes detrimental statement;
Federal prosecutors say an FBI agent overheard Boston Marathon bombing suspect,
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, make a 'statement to his detriment' when his sister visited
him in prison.
Now he's shooting off his mouth.
An FBI agent overheard Boston marathon suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev make a
"statement to his detriment" when his sister visited him in prison, federal
prosecutors said Friday.
Prosecutors did not reveal what Tsarnaev said, but they objected to what they
called an attempt by Tsarnaev's lawyers to suppress the statement.
Tsarnaev made the remark when an investigator working for his lawyers
accompanied his sister on a visit, a meeting that an FBI agent monitored,
prosecutors said.
The investigator started to explain to Tsarnaev's sister the rationale behind
special restrictions placed on her brother in prison, prosecutors said. They
say Tsarnaev, "despite the presence of an FBI agent and an employee of the
Federal Public Defender, was unable to temper his remarks and made a statement
to his detriment which was overheard by the agent."
The government described the conversation in a memo outlining its opposition to
a request from Tsarnaev's lawyers to lift the prison restrictions.
Tsarnaev, 20, has pleaded not guilty in a terror attack at last year's
marathon. 2 pressure cooker bombs were placed near the finish line, killing 3
people, one an 8-year-old boy, and injuring more than 260. Prosecutors have
said they will seek the death penalty against Tsarnaev.
Authorities argued the FBI agent's presence was allowed by the restrictions
because Tsarnaev is forbidden from providing information to people outside the
prison.
But Tsarnaev's lawyers say the measures limit his interactions with people
helping his defense team and have asked the judge to lift them. The attorneys
say the presence of the FBI agent during prison visits by Tsarnaev's 2 sisters
"has thwarted the defense ability to develop important mitigation information."
They note courts have recognized the kind of information the defense wants to
develop as admissible mitigation evidence, including documenting "family
dysfunction, mental illness and the impact of family chaos on the defendant as
he grew up."
Prosecutors call the restrictions necessary in Tsarnaev's case because of his
"commitment to jihad" and his "widespread notoriety."
"There was no expectation of privacy on the part of Tsarnaev, his visitors or
the investigator," they said.
Prosecutors allege Tsarnaev and his brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, built the
bombs and placed them near the finish line of the April 15 marathon. Tamerlan
Tsarnaev died following a shootout with police several days after the bombing.
(source: New York Daily News)
********************
Security----Death penalty for Boston Marathon bomber unlikely; Suspected Boston
Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is unlikely to receive the death...
If I were a betting woman, I'd plunk down $10 right now and bet that suspected
Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev will die in prison and not in an
execution chamber.
Yes, Attorney General Eric Holder recently announced the feds will seek the
death penalty for Tsarnaev, but chances are the 19-year-old may never face the
possibility of being put to death by the U.S. government.
Why do I say that? First, let's review some facts.
Tsarnaev and his older brother Tamerlan, 26, are accused of planting powerful
bombs at the Boston Marathon's finish line, causing the deaths of 3 people and
the wounding of more than 260 others. One of the dead was a police officer who
was shot and killed during the ensuing manhunt for the brothers.
The older Tsarnaev was shot four days later during a final street confrontation
with police. His death was hastened, according to the official indictment,
after his wounded little brother ran over him while fleeing the scene in a
stolen car.
Young Dzhokhar was found the next day hiding in a covered boat in the
residential neighborhood of Watertown, Mass., not far from the bombing site.
Inside the boat he had scrawled a handwritten message saying in part, "The U.S.
Government is killing our innocent civilians. ... I can't stand to see such
evil go unpunished. We Muslims are one body - you hurt one, you hurt us all."
The message ends with the line, "Stop killing our innocent people and we will
stop."
As the evidence against the surviving brother has mounted - and been widely
reported - it doesn't seem that any jury would ever find him not guilty. But
history shows Dzhokhar Tsarnaev might never face a jury.
According to the Federal Death Penalty Resource Counsel, in almost half of
federal death penalty cases over the last 25 years, prosecutors ultimately
withdrew the threat of death before trial. Instead, they agreed to plea
agreements that resulted in life in prison with no possibility of early
release.
Further, since the death penalty was reinstated for some federal crimes in
1988, seventy defendants have been sentenced to the death chamber, but only
three have actually been executed: Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh in June
2001, Juan Raul Garza 8 days later and Louis Jones Jr., who received a lethal
injection courtesy of Uncle Sam in March 2003. (For the record, the 3 convicted
murderers were - in chronological order - white, hispanic and black.)
But let's say prosecutors stick to their guns on the Boston bombing case,
refuse to offer Tsarnaev a plea bargain and he actually goes on trial. I'm
still not convinced he will get the death penalty.
Tsarnaev's lead defense lawyer is none other than Judy Clark, who has been
called "a master strategist in death penalty cases" and has an unmatched track
record of humanizing high-profile murder clients and keeping them off death
row. Among those for whom she won life sentences instead of a date with the
executioner: The Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski; the Atlanta Olympics bomber, Eric
Rudolph; a Sept. 11 co-conspirator, Zacarias Moussaoui; and the young man who
shot Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and killed 6 others, Jared Loughner.
Jurors don't relish condemning to death defendants who were teenagers at the
time of their crimes because everyone knows teens often do stupid, impulsive
things. Clark is sure to use both Tsarnaev's age and his culturally different
and turbulent upbringing to appeal for mercy.
The Tsarnaev family emigrated from Russia in 2002. Dzhokhar is the youngest of
four children born to a patriarchal and religious family whose Muslim faith
considers elders to be important authority figures who are followed without
question. Using one of the oldest tricks in a criminal defense attorney's
briefcase, Clark will likely play on jurors' sympathies by emphasizing that
Dzhokhar's actions were heavily influenced by his fractured family and his
controlling, more radicalized older brother. She will probably stress how
Dzhokhar felt abandoned after being left virtually alone in the wake of his
parents' divorce. Both his father and mother moved back to Russia. The only one
he had left to rely on was his older brother. Sob stories like these have
actually been known to work when it comes time to sentence a defendant.
Another reason I doubt this young man will be condemned to execution has to do
with the current public perception of capital punishment.
Nationally, the latest Gallup poll indicates that public support for the death
penalty continues to decline. Only about 60 % of Americans support the idea
these days. But in the state of Massachusetts -- where any Tsarnaev trial is
likely to be held -- a Boston Globe poll conducted last fall revealed only 33 %
of Bostonians want Tsarnaev to get the death penalty. 57 % said he should be
sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole.
It is a fact that federal prosecutors don't like to bring cases to court that
aren't a slam-dunk win. Another fact: It will be difficult to seat a
death-penalty-qualified jury in a state like Massachusetts. Once a potential
juror says he or she cannot vote for capital punishment, he or she is
disqualified.
Look, I may be all wet. The marathon attack was the most significant
anti-American terrorist act on American soil since the tragedy on Sept. 11, a
fact that is hard to dismiss. If there is a trial, and if it is actually held
in Boston and not moved to another jurisdiction, disfigured victims of the
bombing may attend the proceedings to show the jury, firsthand, the damage done
to them. The anti-death penalty trend of the past decade may snap at that point
and Tsarnaev may, indeed, face the executioner's needle.
But as I said at the outset, if I were a gambler, I wouldn't bet on that.
(source: Diane Dimond is a Washington Examiner columnist)
*************************
"I did not want to live like an animal...," death row exonoree tells U.S.
Congress
At one point, Damon Thibodeaux, on death row for a crime he didn't commit,
wanted to be executed instead of live in solitary confinement.
"I did not want to live like an animal in a cage for years on end, only to lose
my case and then have the state kill me anyway," Thibodeaux told the U.S Senate
Judiciary Committee during its hearing on the practice of long-term solitary
confinement. "I thought it would be better to end my life as soon as I could
and avoid the agony of life in solitary."
Eating rotten vegetables, enduring 100+ degree temperatures in the summer, and
being put on display like an animal during prison tours was part of his life on
death row, he told the committee.
"I saw men lose their minds, and some screamed at all hours of the night," he
recalled in the written portion of his testimony.
Thibodeaux lived for almost 15 years locked in an 8 by 10 cell 23 hours a day
and in near-isolation at the notorious Louisiana State Penitentiary. Released
in 2012, he was the 300th person nationwide and the 18th on death row to be
exonerated by DNA evidence. His legal team included attorneys from the
Minnesota law firm of Fredrikson & Byron, a firm that volunteers with The
Advocates for Human Rights.
The Advocates has submitted a shadow report to the United Nations Human Rights
Committee, detailing how the death penalty in the U.S. violates basic human
rights, including the right to an effective remedy for those exonerated from
death row. The shadow report was prepared for the United Nations' review of the
U.S.'s human rights record in March.
On the steering committee of the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, The
Advocates presented at the 2013 5th World Congress Against the Death Penalty,
held in June in Madrid, Spain and coordinated the 2013 World Day Against the
Death Penalty campaign.
(source: Twin Cities Daily Planet)
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