May 9
TEXAS----impending execution
Court rejects death row convict's appeal claiming an inept lawyer
Reopening an uncomfortable subject for the state's highest criminal court,
lawyers for death row inmate Robert Campbell argued that Tuesday's scheduled
execution should be halted because an incompetent lawyer botched an appeal that
could have spared the convicted murderer's life.
The Court of Criminal Appeals, however, rejected the request Thursday in a 5-4
ruling that did not address the quality of Campbell's appellate representation.
Instead, Judge Elsa Alcala filed a dissenting opinion that said Campbell's
appeal should have been reopened to examine another complaint raised by defense
lawyers - that Campbell, with an IQ of 68 according to a recently discovered
test, has an intellectual disability that makes him ineligible for execution
under a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
The dissent by 4 judges gave defense lawyer Rob Owen hope that the federal
courts will closely examine evidence of an intellectual disability in the next
round of appeals for Campbell, 41, who was convicted in a Houston abduction and
murder more than 2 decades ago.
But Owen said he was particularly disappointed that the Texas court declined to
address Campbell's allegation that he was harmed by a previous appellate
lawyer's incompetence in 1996.
Campbell's allegation pointed to a 2006 American-Statesman investigation, and a
State Bar of Texas analysis a year later, that found a pattern of sloppy, lazy,
incomplete and incomprehensible appeals that some lawyers submitted to the
court - at taxpayer expense - for more than a decade.
The Court of Criminal Appeals tolerated shoddy work by court-appointed lawyers
despite a state law requiring the court to ensure that condemned inmates
receive competent legal help, the Statesman review concluded.
Pushed by the State Bar and other advocates, the Legislature created the Office
of Capital Writs in 2009 to ensure that death row inmates receive professional
legal help on petitions for a writ of habeas corpus, which are intended to
reinvestigate aspects of a capital murder case to ensure that a death sentence
was constitutionally levied.
But the court has struggled with how to address the legacy of substandard
petitions, allowing a handful of inmates to file new appeals but denying most
requests from those complaining about incompetent habeas lawyers - sometimes
with pointed dissents arguing that fairness demanded a new appeal with a new
lawyer.
Campbell has been on death row for almost 22 years for the 1991 carjacking,
sexual assault and murder of Alexandra Rendon, a bank employee who was
kidnapped from a gas station in Houston late at night. Several friends
testified that Campbell admitted to shooting Rendon in the back in a remote
field.
Campbell's latest petition acknowledged that Rendon's murder was horrific and
cruel, but it argued that fairness - and Texas law - required that the Houston
man be appointed a competent habeas lawyer to examine his case.
Instead, Campbell was given Conroe lawyer Stephen Taylor, who submitted a
"last-minute, perfunctory" habeas filing in 1996 that raised only 2 objections
- both copied from petitions Taylor had prepared for other inmates, the new
filing said. Neither claim was supported with facts, giving judges nothing to
rule upon, the filing said.
Taylor was paid $7,455 for Campbell's petition, and his billing records showed
that he didn't meet with Campbell before filing the petition, did none of the
required investigation beyond spending almost 45 hours reading the trial
record, and filed Campbell's petition within a week of 2 other death row habeas
petitions that were equally perfunctory, the new brief said.
"There's no indication that Mr. Taylor did anything, and that's got to rank him
very near the bottom of a very bad bunch (of habeas lawyers)," said Owen, with
Northwestern University???s law school in Chicago.
Taylor, now an assistant district attorney for Liberty County, said Thursday he
couldn't respond to specific allegations made by Campbell's lawyers because
he'd have to "pull a file" before being able to comment.
Asked if he believed he provided adequate representation to Campbell, Taylor
said, "As far as I know, yes sir."
Harris County prosecutors declined to comment on the court's ruling,
characterizing it as a routine function in the legal system's review of death
row cases.
In a separate challenge, a federal court in Houston will conduct a hearing
Friday on a request to halt Campbell's execution until Texas officials provide
information about the lethal drugs to be used.
(source: Austin American-Statesman)
*******************
Bipartisan Panel Releases 'Required Reforms' in Texas Death Penalty Law
A national commission headed by former Texas Gov. and Attorney General Mark
White has made several key recommendations to reform capital punishment in the
United States, News Radio 1200 WOAI news reports.
The bungled execution of a killer in Oklahoma last week and the refusal of
Texas and other states to reveal the source of the drugs they use in carrying
out lethal injections has driven public support for the death penalty to its
lowest level ever.
The panel, put together by the non partisan 'Constitution Project' has released
a dozen recommendations to restore public faith in the death penalty, pointing
out that the Texas system 'requires significant reforms.'
Number one, according to Meghan McCracken, a law professor at the University of
California and a member of the commission, is full transparency in executions.
"The procedures are shrouded in secrecy, and the necessary information about
the drugs has not been revealed," she said.
McCracken also called for one uniform single-doze execution protocol to be used
in all states which carry out lethal injections. She points out that Oklahoma
uses a '3 drug cocktail,' which led to the problems last week.
"They're changing the protocols, using new drug combinations, using different
doses," she said. "We used to see that every state used a 3 drug protocol."
But most of the recommendations involve getting to the execution date. The
panel recommends, for example, that so called 'unintentional felony murder'
crimes, or what is known in Texas as 'the law of parties' not be eligible for
execution. That is when a person participates in a crime that leads to death,
but is not the person who actually causes the victim to die.
The panel also said there needs to be a fair system of review of all lawyers
who advise people facing the death penalty. They pointed out that many 'public
defenders' provide low quality representation, pointing to a Texas case where a
court appointed lawyer admitted he slept through portions of the trial.
One member of the commission who has a truly unique viewpoint is Anthony
Graves. Graves spent 16 years on death row in Texas for a crime he did not
commit before he was completely exonerated. Graves says the 'tough on crime'
political system is the biggest problem.
"When a man walks into that courtroom he should be innocent unless proven
guilty, not until," Graves said. "That is a set up, because you're saying we
are going to get there eventually."
(source: WOAI news)
PENNSYLVANIA:
Dismiss death penalty challenge in Sunbury Craigslist killing, DA says
A judge should dismiss a challenge to the death penalty designation given to
the case of a woman accused of killing a man she met through Craigslist, and
send the charges to court for trial, the Northumberland County district
attorney says.
In response to an omnibus defense motion challenging the designation,
Northumberland County District Attorney Anthony J. Rosini says Judge Charles H.
Saylor, at this time, can only review whether the prosecutor abused his
discretion in designating the case a capital case.
In Pennsylvania, aggravating circumstances must be shown to obtain the death
penalty. Rosini is citing robbery and the use of torture as aggravating
circumstances.
In a brief filed Tuesday, Rosini said that if Miranda Barbour is found guilty
of 1st-degree murder in the Nov. 11 stabbing death of Troy LaFerrara, the judge
would then review each aggravating circumstance before they could be submitted
to jurors who would decide whether to impose the death penalty.
The charges allege Barbour, 19, arranged a meeting with LaFerrara, of Port
Treverton, through Craigslist. Prosecutors say Barbour's husband, Elytte, 22,
hid on the backseat floor of her car while she drove LaFerrara into Sunbury,
then restrained him with television cable around his neck while Miranda Barbour
fatally stabbed him. Elytte Barbour is also charged with first-degree murder,
and could face the death penalty if convicted.
Rosini argues that evidence presented at the preliminary hearing, and another
on April 1, shows LaFerrara's wallet, containing about $150, was stolen after
he was repeatedly stabbed and left in an alley behind the 200 block of
Catawissa Avenue in Sunbury.
He also argues that sufficient evidence was presented to support the homicide
and related charges. The evidence includes excerpts from a jailhouse interview
of Miranda Barbour by a reporter for The Daily Item of Sunbury.
The defense also has raised a spousal privilege issue but Rosini said a review
of court transcripts shows no confidential statements between Barbour and her
husband.
Excerpts from the jailhouse interview are included in the brief. According to
one excerpt, when the reporter asked Miranda Barbour if she decided she wanted
to go through with the killing, her reply was: "Yes. I was thinking of letting
him go. But he did the wrong thing."
(source: PennLive)
VIRGINIA:
Death penalty to be sought in baby's death
Pulaski County prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty against a man accused
of killing his infant son.
Howard Cole, 32, of Pulaski is charged with capital murder and illegal disposal
of a body.
Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Justin Griffith said the prosecution is
dropping a child-abuse charge so it can focus on the capital murder case.
Griffith announced the decision Wednesday during a hearing in Pulaski County
Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court on the abuse charge.
A hearing on the other charges is set for May 23 in circuit court.
Police found the body of Cole's 5-month-old son, Cory, in a wooded area in
Draper on Jan. 30.
The infant's mother, 29-year-old Samantha Warden, is charged with child
neglect.
(source: Richmond Times-Dispatch)
FLORIDA:
Gov. Scott Sticking By Lethal Injection Formula Despite Gruesome Execution in
Oklahoma
A new report issued by the Constitution Project on Wednesday recommends that
states like Florida scrap the 3-drug lethal injection cocktail that resulted in
a botched execution in Oklahoma last week and switch to a single drug instead.
But Gov. Rick Scott's administration says it is sticking by the current
triple-drug formula despite the drawn-out death of Oklahoma death row inmate
Clayton Lockett, who died of a heart attack 43 minutes after the execution
began on April 29.
Last year, Florida began using midazolam hydrochloride as the 1st of the
triple-drug lethal injection protocol, instead of the previously used
pentobarbital sodium. The drug, the 1st of 3 injections, renders the inmate
unconscious.
Florida and Oklahoma's lethal injection protocols are almost identical, but the
quantities of the drugs are different, with Florida using 500 milligrams of
midazolam while Oklahoma's protocol calls for 100 milligrams.
Switching from 3 drugs to 1 - which 8 states currently use, according to the
Death Penalty Information Center - is one of more than three dozen
recommendations made by the Washington, D.C.-based Constitution Project. Former
Florida Supreme Court Justice Gerald Kogan is co-chair of the committee that
issued the death penalty report released Wednesday.
The committee also recommends that states require unanimous verdicts in the
sentencing phase of death penalty cases. Florida is 1 of only 3 states that do
not require unanimous decisions.
The 217-page "Irreversible Error" report, in the works long before Lockett's
execution last week, addresses myriad issues surrounding capital punishment and
is aimed at ensuring the death penalty is applied equally and fairly, said
committee member Mark Earley, a Republican and former Virginia attorney
general.
"Without substantial revisions - not only to lethal injection, but across the
board - the administration of capital punishment in America is unjust,
disproportionate and very likely unconstitutional," he said.
A uniform, single-drug protocol used by all states with the death penalty could
help ensure that "whatever it is you're injecting into the person who's being
executed doesn't constitute cruel and unusual punishment," said Kogan, who
opposes the death penalty.
Following the Oklahoma execution, President Obama ordered U.S. Attorney General
Eric Holder to review the death penalty, and several other states are
re-examining their lethal injection protocols.
But Scott - who signed a death warrant 3 days after Lockett died - is not
reconsidering Florida's lethal injection process, Department of Corrections
spokeswoman Jessica Cary said.
"Carrying out the sentence of a court in a capital case is the Florida
Department of Corrections' most solemn duty, and the Department remains
committed to doing everything it can to ensure a humane and dignified lethal
injection process," Cary said.
17 death row inmates have been executed under Scott's orders, the most of any
Florida governor in recent history.
Lockett's botched execution is the latest of a string of troubling executions
throughout the country.
In 2006, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush put a temporary hold on executions in the wake
of the botched death by lethal injection of Angel Diaz, who took more than 30
minutes to die after being injected with the lethal cocktail then used by
corrections officials.
In 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the 3-drug protocol comprised of
sodium thiopental, pancuronium bromide, and potassium chloride does not violate
the constitutional protection against cruel and unusual punishment. But since
then, drug shortages have forced states to use different drugs.
Florida and other states are switching their lethal injection protocols because
Denmark-based manufacturer Lundbeck, which makes pentobarbital sodium, decided
to refuse to sell the drug directly to corrections agencies for use in
executions and ordered its distributors to also stop supplying the drug for
lethal-injection purposes.
A 1-drug protocol "that achieves death by an overdose of a single anesthetic or
barbiturate, as opposed to the 3-drug method" would "decrease the problems
associated with drug administration and eliminate the risks from using
paralyzing or painful chemical agents," the report reads.
Late last year, the Florida Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the current
protocol using midazolam does not violate the constitutional ban on cruel and
unusual punishment.
But the drug, as well as the lethal injection protocol, is the subject of a
federal lawsuit where lawyers for 5 death row inmates are challenging, among
other things, the secrecy involved in where the drugs are obtained and how they
are administered.
"The botched execution in Oklahoma, a state which uses the same combination of
drugs as Florida, demonstrates how important it is that the courts have the
opportunity to review Department of Corrections' procedures. The manner in
which the state designs and seeks to execute a prisoner should not be shrouded
in secrecy. We are hopeful that the Federal District Court in Jacksonville will
allow our lawsuit to proceed so that Florida's lethal injection procedures can
be subjected to judicial review in an open and public forum," said Maria
DeLiberato, an attorney representing death row inmate Dane Abdool.
DeLiberato filed the lawsuit with the U.S. district court in Jacksonville.
Wednesday's report coupled with the Oklahoma execution especially resonate for
Florida death penalty opponents because of a new law passed last year aimed at
speeding up executions. The Florida Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a
challenge to the "Timely Justice Act" earlier this year, but has not yet
rendered a decision.
Florida and other states began using lethal injection because it was considered
more humane than the electric chair, said Stephen Harper, a Florida
International University law professor who teaches a course on the death
penalty, runs the school's death-penalty clinic and has represented numerous
clients charged with capital crimes.
"I think what happened in Oklahoma sort of brought home the fact that the
anti-death penalty advocates who were perceived as trying to impede the
execution of clients, that there???s some truth in what they were saying," he
said.
An overdose of a single, anesthetic drug would be the best way to put people to
death, Harper agreed.
"They go to sleep and they don't wake up. That would seem to be the most humane
way to execute the person," he said.
Florida should "pause and figure out how best to implement its death penalty,"
Harper said. "Whether it will do that or not, I don't know. But lawyers are
going to continue to challenge it."
The recommendation that capital punishment should not be imposed in the absence
of a unanimous verdict is an even bigger issue for Florida, Harper and Kogan
agreed.
It is "ridiculous" that Florida does not require unanimous decisions for death
penalty sentences but does require unanimous decisions regarding the guilt
phase, Kogan said.
"It's ludicrous to say you need a unanimous verdict to find somebody guilty and
then after you find them guilty you don't need a unanimous verdict to sentence
them to death. I think it defies logic," he told The News Service of Florida on
Wednesday.
The committee also recommended doing away with another Florida practice that
gives judges the power to override jury decisions regarding death penalty
verdicts.
(source: flaglerlive.com)
LOUISIANA:
Accused child killer worried about 'jailhouse snitches,' wants cell away from
other inmates
An attorney for a Carencro man jailed in the April killing of his girlfriend's
toddler son is asking a judge to move Bryant Rogers away from other inmates at
the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center.
Rogers wants to avoid contact with potential informants, or "jailhouse
snitches," who could lie on the witness stand and send Rogers to death row,
according to a motion in Rogers' case, filed this week by 1 of his
court-appointed attorneys, Thomas Alonzo.
Alonzo also is asking state District Judge John Trahan, who will preside over
Rogers' potential death penalty trial, to order jail officials to make sure
none of the hundreds of other inmates at the Correctional Center talks to
Rogers.
"We just want to make sure our client is protected," Thomas said Thursday.
Alonzo and Rogers' other attorneys "wanted to take measures to assure that no
jailhouse snitches are created in this case," according to the motion.
The motion states informants many times lie to get their own sentences cut
short.
"(Rogers) has absolutely no intention of talking to anyone but his lawyers
about the facts of the case, although he has been approached by other inmates
during his incarceration," Alonzo said.
Rogers, 25, has been in the parish jail since he was arrested April 4 by
Lafayette Parish sheriff's deputies, who found 11-month-old Carson Dupuis
unresponsive.
The boy died at a Carencro residence Rogers shared with the child's mother,
Karin Dupuis. Dupuis told deputies and emergency personnel that her son stopped
breathing sometime the night before. Detectives arrested the couple that day.
On April 23, grand jury indictments charged Rogers with 1st-degree murder and
Dupuis with criminal negligence.
Rogers is being held without bail, while Dupuis' bond was set at $250,000. She
also remains in jail.
Sheriff's Capt. Kip Judice said Carson died from trauma brought on by prolonged
abuse.
"Because this case has death penalty potential, exacting standards must be
met," Alonzo said in the motion, filed Wednesday.
Rogers' refusal to talk to others in the jail is not enough, Alonzo said. He
said there's no way to prevent an inmate from concocting a story about a jail
cell confession that paints the defendant guilty and which prosecutors buy
into.
"He is therefore justifiably nervous that someone in the cell with him will
simply make up a story," according to the motion.
The motion leans heavily on court decisions relating to the death penalty.
"The death penalty is unique in its irrevocability," Alonzo wrote, citing
federal appellate court decisions.
Rogers' next scheduled hearing is Sept. 4 in Judge Trahan's courtroom.
(source: The Advocate)
OHIO:
Capital punishment in Ohio could see changes
After 2 years of study and debate, capital punishment in Ohio could see some
changes.
A 22-person panel, which included Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters and
Clermont County Sheriff A.J. Rodenberg, created a 79 page report.
Included in the report are 56 recommendations designed to promote fairness in
death penalty cases for everyone involved -- including the state, the
defendants and victims.
Taking a 2nd look at something is generally a good idea. That's what Ohio
Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor thought when it came to the
state's policy on the death penalty.
"She didn't want a discussion to get going about should we have one or not,"
said Rodenberg. "It's basically, we've got one, how can we make it more fair?"
Rodenberg was on that panel. For 2 years, a lot of back and forth led to the
report which includes nearly 5 dozen recommendations.
"I think the idea was to make it more fair for everybody. When you say
everybody, we mean prosecution, defense, defendants, victims and society," said
Rodenberg
Fights over drugs for injections and botched executions in Oklahoma and Ohio in
January have again sparked the debate.
While none of these recommendations pertain to that, any 2nd look at the
state's system is welcome.
"We've had problems with executions. We've had problems with drugs. We've had
problems getting the right person. The prudent thing to do is to make sure
we're putting in place all the appropriate safeguards," said Kevin Werner with
Ohioans to Stop Executions.
Ohioans to Stop Executions is a loud voice against the death penalty. The
recommendations will not abolish the punishment here, but they are satisfying.
"We think that the death penalty is outdated. But, where we do agree with
people on the other side of this issue is that it's got to be fair and it's got
to be accurate," said Werner.
As for the next move, the recommendations head to the Supreme Court and
legislators hopefully addressing what Rodenberg says was the biggest concern.
"We don't want anyone executed who isn't clearly guilty," he said.
Some panel members issued a 50 page "minority report."
In it, they challenge some of the initial report's findings. They say the task
force veered off its mandate and is making anti-death penalty recommendations.
You can view both reports in their entirety here:
Supreme Court of Ohio and The Ohio State Bar Association Joint Task Force:
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1156870-supreme-court-of-ohio-osba-joint-task-force-to.html
Minority
Report----https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1156869-minority-report-final.html
(source: WXIX)
******************
High court backs death for trucker----Former Toledoan shot 2 co-workers in 2007
Despite arguments that he was mentally ill when he shot and killed 2 co-workers
in 2007, the Ohio Supreme Court on Thursday upheld Calvin C. Neyland, Jr.'s
convictions and death sentence.
By a vote of 5-2, the court upheld the former Toledo man's convictions for the
Aug. 8, 2007, killings at Liberty Transportation in Perrysburg Township during
a meeting in which Neyland, a trucker, was about to be fired because of his
increasingly erratic behavior.
Douglas Smith, 44, Neyland's Sylvania Township branch manager, was worried
enough about the meeting that he asked the company's corporate safety director,
Thomas Lazar, 58, of Belle Vernon, Pa., to attend. Both were killed.
The court's majority rejected Neyland's challenge to the constitutionality of
the death penalty and his claim that he was mentally ill at the time of the
killings. Conflicting evidence was presented about Neyland's mental state,
including the suggestion that he suffered from paranoia and possibly
schizophrenia, but he was found competent to stand trial.
Neyland, 50, remains Wood County's sole inmate on Ohio's death row at the
Chillicothe Correctional Institution.
His Toledo attorney, Spiros Cocoves, said he was "disappointed" in the ruling
and said he will pursue whatever options remain. He could ask the Supreme Court
to reconsider and ask the U.S. Supreme Court to hear an appeal. Neyland still
has a federal avenue of appeals ahead.
Wood County Assistant Prosecutor Gwen Howe-Gebers, who argued the case, could
not be reached for comment.
The state Supreme Court agreed that the prosecution should not have been
allowed to present evidence to the jury of other weapons and ammunition not
connected to the crime, which were found in Neyland's motel room and a storage
unit. But it found that was a harmless error that did not lead the jury to
impose a death sentence.
"Nothing in the nature and circumstances of the offenses appears to be
mitigating," wrote Justice Sharon Kennedy for the majority. "Neyland shot and
killed 2 officials at Liberty Transportation who were about to fire him.
Neyland left notes in his storage unit before the shootings occurred that
indicated his intent to carry out these offenses. These offenses establish
horrific crimes that lack any mitigating features. Neyland's character offers
little in mitigation."
She was joined in the majority by Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor and Justices
Judith Lanzinger, Terrence O'Donnell, and Judith French.
Justices Paul Pfeifer and William O'Neill dissented.
Justice Pfeifer, who as a former senator helped to write Ohio's capital
punishment law, now opposes the state's death penalty. But he has still voted
to uphold death sentences under the law. In this case, he agreed Neyland was
guilty but found his mental state should have taken the death penalty off the
table.
Justice O'Neill believes the death penalty to be unconstitutional and routinely
refuses to vote to set execution dates.
"Neyland's mental illness was apparent as far back as 1999, when he simply fell
through the cracks in the system," he wrote. "At the time he killed Douglas
Smith and Thomas Lazar, Neyland was living in his truck because he believed
that people were breaking into his house to listen to the messages on his
answering machine. ... It is plain that Neyland is not now mentally fit and
that he was suffering from mental defects at the time he committed his terrible
acts."
(source: Toledo Blade)
******************
Ohio Supreme Court upholds death sentence of truck driver who killed 2 at
company
The Ohio Supreme Court has upheld the conviction and death sentence of a truck
driver sentenced to die for killing his boss and another man. Death row inmate
Calvin Neyland Jr. was convicted of fatally shooting the 2 men at Liberty
Transportation outside Toledo in 2007 as he was about to be fired.
The court's 5-2 ruling on Thursday rejected arguments by Neyland's attorneys
that he suffers from schizophrenia and should not be executed, although the
court agreed Neyland made bizarre comments and behaved oddly during the trial.
Justices also rejected arguments that forcing Neyland to wear leg shackles
prejudiced the jury against him.
The 50-year-old Neyland was sentenced to die for killing his boss, Douglas
Smith and Thomas Lazar, the company's safety director.
(source: Associated Press)
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