April 19
NEW HAMPSHIRE:
N.H. senate death penalty vote 'gut wrenching'----A pair of Democrats from the
same city split their votes and showed a deep divide remains.
The opposing votes cast by Manchester's 2 Democratic state senators reflect the
deep divide of lawmakers and residents on the topic of repealing the state's
centuries-old death penalty. State Sen. Lou D'Allesandro, who has 2 relatives
on the Manchester, N.H., police force, voted to retain the death penalty. The
state senate split 12-12, which keeps the penalty alive.
State Sen. Donna Soucy voted in favor of repealing New Hampshire's death
penalty in an "intensely personal ... and difficult vote."
This year's death penalty debate revolved largely around slain Manchester
police officer Michael Briggs and his killer, Michael Addison, the state's only
death row convict. The debate was punctuated Thursday by a 12-12 vote, with the
tie meaning capital punishment remains on the books.
Manchester veteran Sen. Lou D'Allesandro, a political science professor, voted
against repeal while 1st-term Sen. Donna Soucy, a lawyer, voted in favor. They
said Friday they were unconcerned about political fallout in their home
districts and their votes reflect deeply held beliefs.
"This vote to me, and I believe to my colleagues, was really an intensely
personal, emotional and difficult vote," Soucy said. "If I was making a
calculating, political decision I would not have voted for repeal."
D'Allesandro, as a state representative in 1974, voted in favor of a new death
penalty statute lawmakers crafted to comply with mandates set out by the U.S.
Supreme Court when it invalidated death penalty laws nationwide in 1972. He has
never wavered in his support of the penalty in 4 decades, but he also called
Thursday's vote "gut-wrenching" for all 24 senators.
"We use it judiciously," D'Allesandro said, contrasting New Hampshire to Texas
and other Southern states that have high numbers of executions. "We put
something in place that we thought would benefit the public, and I think it
has."
D'Allesandro was the only Democrat to vote against repeal. 2 Republican
senators, Bob Odell and Sam Cataldo, voted in favor.
Addison was convicted of shooting Briggs to death in 2006 and was sentenced to
die in 2008. The state Supreme Court in November upheld his conviction and
sentence in the 1st death penalty appeal to come before it in 50 years. New
Hampshire has not executed anyone since 1939.
Soucy and D'Allesandro spoke passionately about Briggs' life and death before
Thursday's vote as Manchester Police Chief David Mara stood in the Senate
gallery amid officers looking down on the debate.
D'Allesandro has 2 relatives on the Manchester police force, including a cousin
who was a first responder when Officer Dan Doherty was shot 7 times while
pursuing a suspect.
"Briggs was killed in my district. Doherty was shot in my district,"
D'Allesandro said. "There have been numerous murders in my district."
He said he respects Soucy's vote.
"She's a very devout Catholic, and I think she did what she thought was right,
and I applaud that," he said.
Andy Smith, director of the University of New Hampshire Survey Center, said he
doubts the senators' votes will weigh against them when they run for
re-election.
"Although the death penalty is a very emotional issue for a lot of people, for
most voters it's not high on the list of things they think about coming into a
campaign," Smith said.
He said it could come into play against D'Allesandro in the unlikely event he
faces a challenger in a primary. He said he doubted Soucy would suffer any
fallout in a primary because she voted along party lines.
(source: Kennebec Journal)
PENNSYLVANIA:
Super 8 stabbing suspect to get mental exam; Wilkins Marte-Escano is due back
in court in July for death-penalty case
A man facing the death penalty if convicted of 1st-degree murder in the fatal
stabbing of a pregnant woman, which also resulted in the death of their unborn
child, will get a competency evaluation.
Wilkins Gerald Marte-Escano, 30, is accused of stabbing Olga L. Vascones-Garcia
at the Super 8 motel at 40 Arsenal Road where they had checked in the day
before on March 28, 2012.
Vascones-Garcia, 24, was transported to York Hospital where she was pronounced
dead. Her male infant was delivered, according to Northern Regional Police
reports, but was unable to breathe on his own.
Thursday in York County court, Marte-Escano's attorney, assistant public
defender Ronald Jackson, said his client will be evaluated to determine if he
is competent to stand trial.M
To be found competent in a criminal trial, the defendant must understand the
nature of the charges against him and be able to participate in his own
defense.
Judge Gregory M. Snyder scheduled a competency hearing for July 17, following
Marte-Escano's evaluation.
The York County District Attorney's Office is seeking the death penalty under
the aggravating circumstances of creating a grave risk to others, specifically
the couple's then-5-year-old daughter who reportedly witnessed the stabbing,
and knowledge that the alleged victim was pregnant.
Aggravating circumstances are specific factors, established by the legislature,
that make a 1st-degree murder deserving of the death penalty.
The maximum penalty for 1st-degree murder of an unborn child in Pennsylvania is
life in prison without parole.
Marte-Escano remains in county prison without bail.
(source: York Daily Record)
TENNESSEE:
Joining parish gives death-row inmates support, sense of belonging
Some of the newest members of Holy Family Parish will never attend Mass at
their church.
They will never talk with fellow parishioners over coffee and doughnuts after
Mass, join the church choir or volunteer for a mission trip.
They are inmates on death row at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in
Nashville. Some have been at Riverbend for decades, with few visitors and
limited contact with the outside world.
Parishioner and prison minister James Booth said welcoming them to join Holy
Family "gives them a sense that their faith is not in isolation, even though
they are." It sends the message that "whatever evil they've done, they are
forgiven and accepted," he added.
After some of the prisoners requested church membership this winter, Booth
approached the parish council and Father Joe McMahon, the pastor, who granted
approval. About a dozen Riverbend prisoners -- from death row and another side
of the prison -- are now officially registered as Holy Family parishioners.
"For all the men at RMSI this is a huge deal and a remarkable event," death-row
inmate Bill Stevens wrote in an open letter to Holy Family parishioners.
For prisoners like Stevens, who have been abandoned by their families and have
no outside support network, weekly visits from Catholic volunteers are a
welcome break in their routine existence. According to the prisoners, to feel a
sense of belonging at a parish is a true blessing.
The blessing, though, is balanced by the anxiety of the death-row inmates, as
the state pushes to execute 10 people in the next 18 months.
Father McMahon said he hopes his parishioners understand how seriously the
Riverbend inmates take their faith and their parish membership. But first, Holy
Family members must see their brothers as human beings, he said.
The men may have done great harm, Father McMahon told the Tennessee Register,
Nashville's diocesan newspaper, but they still deserve respect.
"No one loses their human dignity and no one is beyond redemption," the priest
said.
Father McMahon became involved in prison ministry about 3 years ago at the
request of Nashville Bishop David R. Choby.
"Father Joe was the 1st person of faith that has ever treated me like a child
of God, without making me feel judged and condemned," wrote death-row inmate
Ron Cauthern in a booklet introducing himself to Holy Family parishioners. It
included calligraphy, photographs and drawings.
Father McMahon said one of his most vivid memories of prison ministry is
baptizing Cauthern, surrounded by guards, with his hands and feet shackled.
After pouring holy water over Cauthern's head and blessing him, "I told him,
'Ronnie, real freedom is on the inside,'" he recalled. "It was a profound
experience."
When Father McMahon was named pastor of Holy Family last year, he recruited
Booth to join the chaplains at Riverbend. Booth, a political science professor
at Vanderbilt University who will be ordained a deacon in June, was already
making weekly visits to prisoners at the Charles B. Bass Correctional Complex.
Ministering on death row "can be a raucous, messy thing," Booth said. Sometimes
he and other volunteers and chaplains meet with the prisoners in the middle of
a large room with people streaming in and out. Or they may gather in a small,
awkwardly shaped visiting area, cramped together, reading Scripture and sharing
their reflections.
Generally, about eight of the 76 death-row inmates attend Booth's Saturday
morning service. Some are lifelong Catholics; others are recent converts; some
were raised in different faiths but enjoy the discussion.
"Clearly their faith has not followed a straight path, and they are on the
periphery, but they are slowly finding their way back," Booth said.
One of the non-Catholics who participates is Charles Wright. For the last 10
years, almost every week, Holy Family parishioner Kathy Ingleson has visited
Wright. She has come to know him as a friend, someone who loves motorcycles and
is proud of his job as a prison cook, she said.
Ingelson's friend may soon be put to death. Convicted of two first-degree
murders, part of a 1984 drug deal gone wrong, Wright has been on death row for
3 decades. He is among 10 men who recently received an execution date from the
state: June 23, 2015.
"He asked if I would be in the room when it happened," Ingleson said. "I told
him we'd have to talk about it later." While she fervently hopes Wright will be
spared execution, she knows abolishing the death penalty "is an uphill battle
in this state."
The push to step up executions in Tennessee came after convicted serial killer
Paul Dennis Reid died last fall from natural causes, in a hospital room, rather
than by lethal injection.
Ingleson considers the death penalty an abomination.
"I feel there is no sense in a death for a death," she said, adding that it is
especially hard to understand the value of executing a man who has served 30
years in prison and is no longer the same person who committed crimes decades
ago.
Wright "has spent his time trying to make life more meaningful," Ingleson said.
"I think I've gained as much from him as he has gained from me."
Ingleson is helping launch Holy Family's "adopt-a-prisoner" initiative that
matches volunteers with prisoners to write and visit.
So far, 9 parishioners have stepped up. Steve Hayes, a new volunteer, said he
"feels called to go and give the gift of time to someone who doesn't have
anything but time."
(source: Catholic Sentinel)
OKLAHOMA----impending executions
Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals denies death row inmates' request to stop
executions
The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals denied a stay on Friday for 2 death row
inmates set to be executed this month, saying it didn't have jurisdiction -
even though the state Supreme Court says it's the only court that does.
In a 3-2 decision, the Criminal Appeals court rejected the request from lawyers
for Clayton Lockett and Charles Warner, saying it disagrees with a state
Supreme Court ruling that the appellate court is the correct authority to issue
a stay.
"While the Oklahoma Supreme Court has authority to deem an issue civil and so
within its jurisdiction, it does not have the power to supersede a statute and
manufacture jurisdiction in this court for appellant's stay request by merely
transferring it here," the judges wrote.
Lockett and Warner are suing the state over what they called a "veil of
secrecy" surrounding its execution protocol. A lower court ruled in their favor
last month that the state statute protecting drug suppliers was
unconstitutionally broad because inmates could not find out the source of drugs
used in their executions, even during court proceedings.
The case has bounced among four different state and federal courts since it was
originally filed in February.
Lawyers for the 2 men had most recently asked the Court of Criminal Appeals for
an emergency stay while other courts sort out the secrecy lawsuit. They said
they will appeal Friday's decision - but do not yet know in which court.
"In a case where a state court has already ruled Oklahoma's secrecy law
unconstitutional, and in which the state's highest court wrote only yesterday
of the 'gravity' of the constitutional issues involved, it would be unthinkable
to move forward with the executions of Mr. Lockett and Mr. Warner before the
Oklahoma Supreme Court has a chance to consider the substantive issues at
stake," lawyers for the inmates said in an emailed statement.
Lockett is scheduled to be executed Tuesday for the 1999 shooting death of a
19-year-old Perry woman. Warner is slated to die the following Tuesday for the
rape and murder of his roommate's 11-month-old child.
The 2 dissenting judges said the inmates are in imminent danger and should have
been granted a stay.
"I would grant a stay to avoid irreparable harm as the appellants face imminent
execution," Vice-Presiding Judge Clancey Smith wrote. "I would do so in
consideration of the appellants' rights, to avoid the miscarriage of justice,
and in comity with the Supreme Court's request for time to resolve the issues
pending before it."
A spokesman for the Oklahoma Attorney General's Office, Aaron Cooper, said the
court correctly recognizes that the claims raised by the two men "are not about
guilt or innocence or about access to the courts, but are instead more shell
games designed to delay the punishment handed down by a jury."
The Attorney General's Office had also filed an appeal Friday challenging the
decision last month by Oklahoma County District Judge Patricia Parrish. The
office said in its appeal to the state Supreme Court that Parrish ruled in
error that the state could not keep secret the source of the drugs it uses for
executions.
Over the past decade, many major drugmakers have stopped selling the drugs used
in lethal injections to U.S. prisons and corrections departments. Some states
turned to substitutes made by compounding pharmacies, which custom-mix
prescription drugs. Opponents of the death penalty have in turn demanded more
disclosure about the suppliers and cast doubts on the effectiveness of the
drugs.
(source: Associated Press)
NEBRASKA:
Sen. Ernie Chambers tries to undo Nikko Jenkins' convictions
The Nebraska Supreme Court should refuse to appoint a 3-judge panel to consider
whether Nikko Jenkins deserves the death penalty - a move that would
effectively nullify, for now, Jenkins' convictions in the killings of 4
Omahans, a state lawmaker says.
Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha, a watchdog of both judges and death penalty
cases, said he will write a letter to Chief Justice Michael Heavican asking him
to halt the formation of the panel and to set aside Jenkins' no-contest pleas
to the murders of Juan Uribe-Pena, Jorge Cajiga-Ruiz, Curtis Bradford and
Andrea Kruger.
Chambers, who holds a law degree, said District Judge Peter Bataillon was "as
crazy in his handling of this (case) as Nikko Jenkins has proved himself to
be." Chambers said Jenkins, who represented himself in court, will not walk
free again, but he shouldn't go straight to death row.
"Nothing about any of these proceedings has gone forward in a way that could be
called judicious," Chambers said. "There are so many irregularities that this
could be called nothing but a kangaroo court."
Bataillon declined to comment.
However, both Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine and Public Defender Tom Riley,
who served as Jenkins' adviser, said Bataillon governed his courtroom as well
as any judge could when dealing with a defendant who insists on representing
himself and presenting his grievances.
Chambers said he is not advocating that Jenkins "walk free" - saying the
27-year-old will spend the rest of his life in prison.
However, he questioned how Bataillon could allow Jenkins to essentially plead
to death row and make a "Barnum & Bailey" circus of the justice system.
Chambers said Bataillon committed the following "irregularities":
--Allowing Jenkins to essentially fire the Public Defender's Office and act as
his own attorney. Chambers pointed to a 2008 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that
states that even if a defendant is ruled competent to stand trial, that does
not mean he is competent to represent himself.
Riley said, however, that there are nuances in that and other high court
rulings. In one such ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court said that all defendants,
if deemed competent to stand trial, have a right to enter guilty or no-contest
pleas, even if they may not be skilled enough to handle a trial.
--Allowing Jenkins to plead no contest for Jenkins' stated reason: that he
wanted to proceed with a civil rights lawsuit claiming he was being held on
unconstitutionally obtained evidence. Jenkins clearly didn't understand the
law, Chambers said.
Jenkins, he said, bought into the folly that other prisoners sometimes follow:
that another judge, or a federal judge, will throw out the evidence and free
him. Such actions, called writs of habeas corpus, rarely succeed.
--Allowing Jenkins to plead no contest after Bataillon initially said he would
accept only a guilty plea.
Just last week, Bataillon rejected Jenkins' attempts to plead no contest to the
killings. Bataillon said he had concerns about Jenkins' "competency to act as
his own attorney" - noting Jenkins' "incongruent" requests. On one hand, he was
complaining about his access to documents to prepare for trial. On the other
hand, he was saying he wanted to plead.
With the death penalty on the table, Bataillon said then, Jenkins would have to
plead guilty or go to trial.
Fast forward to Wednesday. Jenkins initially pleaded guilty to all the charges.
Prosecutors then gave the factual basis for the crimes, as is customary. The
judge turned to Jenkins and asked if he had any problems with the factual
basis.
Jenkins, who had scoffed at parts of the accounts, said he did.
Bataillon then asked him if he shot each victim.
To that, Jenkins claimed to have remembered being at the crime scenes but said
he didn't remember any of the actual shootings because a serpent god had
ordered him to shoot the people.
The judge leaned his head back and let out a long sigh.
He asked prosecutors if they had any objection to Jenkins' pleading no contest
- reversing his stance from the week before. Prosecutors stated no objections.
Bataillon then asked Jenkins if his plan to plead no contest was his own "free
and knowing" act.
"I wouldn't say 'free,'" Jenkins said.
Bataillon noted that if the pleas weren't freely given, he couldn't accept
them.
Seconds later, Jenkins agreed he was doing it of his own volition. He entered
the no-contest pleas.
Chambers noted that Jenkins entered the pleas after he had made several
complaints about his ability to prepare for trial, including access to police
reports and the jail law library.
"There has been so much confusion in this case," Chambers said. "The judge
makes statements and then contradicts himself.
"What the judge should have done is just adjourn the hearing. It's clear from
the way (Jenkins) comported himself in court that he was not competent enough
to represent himself."
Attorneys inside and outside the courtroom disagreed.
They pointed to signs that Jenkins knew what he was doing and several
safeguards the judge took before accepting Jenkins' pleas:
--Kleine said Jenkins was crafty and calculating - far from "deranged," as
Chambers described him.
Jenkins capably argued some points, including a motion in which he attempted to
get his confession thrown out. In that motion, he argued that detectives had
coddled him and baited him, even hugging him, as he made his statements.
--A rare in-chambers meeting between Jenkins and the judge. Jenkins -
accompanied by Riley and Scott Sladek, assistant public defender - aired
several grievances, including his ability to access the jail law library.
No court reporter was present at that in-chambers meeting. However, Bataillon
said he advised Jenkins that he would resolve those issues.
And, the judge said, he told Jenkins to be cautious - that Jenkins would
forfeit all of his rights if he pleaded to the charges.
--A detailed recitation of Jenkins' rights.
Before allowing Jenkins to enter his pleas, Bataillon rattled off the battery
of rights and challenges that Jenkins would be giving up. Judges typically
recite that litany before accepting a plea.
Both Riley and Kleine said there wasn't a "circus atmosphere" as Chambers
claimed. Outside the courtroom and on his way out of the courtroom, Jenkins
often cursed or carried on - at one point, howling like a hound at the moon.
In court, Bataillon wasn't afraid to cut off Jenkins - once pounding his palm
on the bench to get Jenkins to be quiet. On Wednesday, he didn't allow Jenkins
to present crime scene photos of the killings.
"I don't think he lost control of the courtroom at all," Riley said.
He said judges are obliged to give defendants representing themselves "a little
bit of leeway. I think the judge did that - he allowed him to state his case,
except when the defendant made statements that were not germane."
Riley said Jenkins has a few options now.
He could try to withdraw his plea. In his more than 35 years as an attorney,
Riley said, he can recall only 1 or 2 defendants who have been allowed to do
so. High courts almost always uphold pleas.
He could seek civil relief. Chambers and several attorneys say Jenkins' civil
lawsuit - seeking to throw out his arrest - is a long shot at best.
He could appeal Bataillon's ruling finding him competent to stand trial and
competent to serve as his own attorney. Riley said that is Jenkins' most likely
route - after his sentencing.
He said he doesn't know if the Nebraska Supreme Court would have recourse to
intervene before appointing the 3-judge panel, as Chambers has suggested.
(source: Omaha World-Herald)
*****************
Nebraska Supreme Court Denies Latest Appeal From Death Row Inmate
The Nebraska Supreme Court on Friday rejected an appeal by death row inmate
Michael Ryan seeking to be released from prison.
The now 65-year-old Ryan was sentenced to death in 1985 for the cult-related
killings of 26-year-old James Thimm and 5-year-old Luke Stice in Rulo.
Ryan filed a request with the Richardson County District Court for
post-conviction relief in 2012, challenging how Nebraska obtained one of three
drugs that would be used to execute him. Inmates typically file post-conviction
relief motions after they have exhausted all other appeals. The lower court
denied Ryan's request without holding a hearing and Ryan appealed.
The state's high court upheld the rejection of Ryan's request, saying courts
can only enter relief when a prisoner shows that a denial or infringement of
his constitutional rights would nullify his conviction.
"Like most Nebraskans, I strongly support the death penalty for the most
horrific crimes," said Attorney General Jon Bruning. "Michael Ryan committed
one of the most brutal murders in our nation's history and he deserves to be
put to death. I'm pleased the court turned away Michael Ryan's latest attempt
to thwart justice."
(source: WOWT news)
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