Dec. 8
TEXAS:
Suspect Could Face Death Penalty in West Side Double Murder
Police have named a suspect in connection with the brutal murders of 2 people
on the city's west side on Sunday, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
Detectives say Christopher Bernard Doss is charged with Capital Murder-Multiple
Persons, a charge that potentially carries the death penalty. He remains at
large and is the object of a manhunt.
Police say when a 34 year old woman, believed to be an ex girlfriend of Doss,
was walking to an SUV in front of her home in the 2300 block of Delgado Sunday
afternoon, when Doss walked up behind her, grabber her around the throat, and
then shot her several times in the chest.
Doss then allegedly opened fire into the SUV, shooting the woman's boyfriend to
death, and then shot and killed the family dog.
2 girls, an 8 year old and a 15 year old, were also present. The 8 year old,
identified as Yessenia Vasquez...was hit by broken glass and suffered injuries.
The 15 year old was not hurt.
(source: WOAI news)
MARYLAND:
Appeals court hears arguments from death row inmate
Maryland's 2nd-highest court is weighing the future of Jody Lee Miles, 1 of 4
men left in limbo on death row after lawmakers abolished the death penalty.
Lawyers for Miles and state Attorney General Doug Gansler agree that Miles
can't be executed because the state no longer has the authority to carry out
the death penalty. But in arguments before the Maryland Court of Special
Appeals in Annapolis on Monday, Miles' lawyers and Gansler offered different
suggestions of what should happen next.
Miles' lawyers are asking for his case to be sent to a lower court for a new
sentencing hearing, and they hope a jury would be able to consider either life
in prison or life in prison without the possibility of parole. Gansler said
Miles' sentence should be changed to life in prison without the possibility of
parole.
Miles was convicted of the robbery and murder of musical theater director
Edward Joseph Atkinson on the Eastern Shore in 1997.
Maryland's death penalty had been on hold since 2006, when a court threw out
the state's regulations for lethal injection, and new regulations were not
written. Then in 2013, state lawmakers abolished the death penalty.
"The sentence of death can no longer be carried out," said Robert Biddle, one
of the lawyers representing Miles.
There's no indication when the court will rule.
Outgoing Gov. Martin O'Malley, meanwhile, has signaled that he may be weighing
whether to commute the sentences of Miles and the other 3 men on death row. He
has spoken with some of the victims' families in recent weeks, but has not
indicated whether he will take action.
(source: Baltimiore Sun)
GEORGIA----impending execution
Georgia Is About To Execute An Intellectually Disabled Man Whose Lawyer Was A
Drunk Felon
Robert Wayne Holsey's attorney during his capital trial was an alcoholic who
admitted to drinking up to a quart of vodka every night while he was
representing Holsey at trial. While the trial was going on, the lawyer was also
facing a lawsuit from a client he had taken over $116,000 from. Eventually, the
attorney lost his law license and was sentenced to three years in prison over
the dispute with this client. During the period when he was preparing for
Holsey's trial, the attorney got into an argument with his neighbors that
culminated in him threatening them with a gun while screaming "N*gger, get the
fuck out of my yard or I'll shoot your black ass." Holsey is African American.
In 2006, perhaps due to the shambles the lawyer's life was rapidly descending
into, a Georgia state judge determined that Holsey's attorney "failed to
prepare and present any meaningful mitigation evidence as a defense to the
death penalty" during the phase of Holsey's trial that determined that he would
be sentenced to die. Perhaps most damningly of all, the attorney "advised the
trial judge at a pre-trial hearing that I.Q. and mental retardation were not
going to be issues at trial." A Georgia law provides that a defendant may be
found "guilty but mentally retarded," and that capital defendants who receive
this verdict cannot be executed. Several years after Holsey"s conviction, the
Supreme Court held that "death is not a suitable punishment for a mentally
retarded criminal." (The term "mentally retarded," though widely viewed as
offensive today, used to be the clinical term for the disability now known as
"intellectually disability.")
The attorney's failure to introduce evidence that could have spared Holsey from
a death sentence is expected to be addressed at a last-minute clemency hearing
that takes place on Monday. Holsey's best path to escape execution, however,
most likely stems from the fact that, as someone who is probably intellectually
disabled, he should be ineligible for the death penalty.
There is significant evidence showing that Holsey is intellectually disabled.
Several experts testified in subsequent proceedings, where Holsey was
represented by different counsel, that Holsey has "significantly subaverage
intellectual functioning with an IQ of approximately 70," according to Holsey's
current attorneys. An IQ of 70 or less is one of the standards clinical
psychologists use to measure intellectual disability. Yet Holsey is scheduled
for execution on Tuesday and, unless a court or a clemency board rethinks a
state law that hobbles the constitutional ban on executing the intellectually
disabled in Georgia, Holsey's execution is likely to proceed.
Although Georgia law does permit intellectually disabled inmates to argue that
they are ineligible for execution, the state supreme court reads the state's
law to only permit such inmates to win this argument if they are "found beyond
a reasonable doubt to be retarded." The "beyond a reasonable doubt" standard is
an extraordinarily high evidentiary burden - it is the standard prosecutors
must overcome in order to obtain convictions because our Constitution requires
the state to overcome a high burden before denying anyone of life or liberty -
and it is not typically imposed on people who have themselves been accused of a
crime. Indeed, Holsey's lawyers argue that Georgia's decision to impose this
burden on intellectually disabled inmates is "unique" among the states.
Applying this rigid standard, the state judiciary has thus far refused to grant
Holsey relief from his death sentence. Until recently, moreover, it appeared
that they were free to do so. Although the Supreme Court ostensibly forbade
executions of the intellectually disabled in its 2002 decision in Atkins v.
Virginia, that opinion contained a significant loophole. Atkins, left "to the
State[s] the task of developing appropriate ways to enforce the constitutional
restriction upon [their] execution of sentences." As a result, it appeared that
Georgia might have the authority to place a burden on intellectually disabled
inmates that many of them would not be able to overcome.
Earlier this year, however, in a case called Hall v. Florida, the Court began
to close this loophole. Hall recognized that "[i]f the States were to have
complete autonomy to define intellectual disability as they wished, the Court's
decision in Atkins could become a nullity." Though "the States play a critical
role in advancing protections and providing the Court with information that
contributes to an understanding of how intellectual disability should be
measured and assessed," they do not have "unfettered discretion to define the
full scope of the constitutional protection."
This language in Hall suggests that the Supreme Court has grown frustrated with
state laws that create too many barriers between intellectually disabled
inmates and their constitutional rights. The most important question in
Holsey's case, however, is likely to be whether the justices' frustration
extends to Georgia - or, alternatively, whether the Georgia courts are willing
to preempt this question by eliminating the requirement that Holsey prove his
case beyond a reasonable doubt.
(source: thinkprogress.org)
MISSOURI----impending execution
Missouri prepares to execute convicted killer Paul Goodwin; would be state's
10th this year
Missouri is preparing for its final execution of 2014, a year in which the
state has rivaled Texas with its use of the death penalty.
Paul Goodwin is scheduled to die by injection at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday for the
1998 killing of a 63-year-old St. Louis County woman with a hammer. He would be
the 10th person put to death in Missouri this year - the most since the death
penalty was instituted. Already, the state has tied for the record set in 1999.
33 people have been executed in the U.S. this year, Texas topping the list with
10. Texas, Missouri and Florida have combined for 27 of them.
An appeal from Goodwin's attorney to the U.S. Supreme Court raises concerns
about Missouri not disclosing the name of compounding pharmacy from which it
obtains the pentobarbital used for executions. The Missouri Attorney General's
office, in a response, notes that the court has already denied similar
petitions in previous executions.
Attorney Jennifer Herndon also has filed appeals to the Missouri Supreme Court
and the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, along with a clemency petition to
Gov. Jay Nixon, claiming Goodwin has an IQ of 73 and is mentally incapable of
helping with his defense.
Herndon said Goodwin, 48, understands he is about to be executed, but lacks the
mental capacity to articulate information that might help his cause.
"The big problem is he can't help us at all," Herndon said. "He can't
understand what we're doing to help him, and he can't provide any information
to be helpful."
In the mid-1990s, Goodwin lived in a St. Louis County boarding house that was
next door to Joan Crotts, a widow. The 2 had been involved in several verbal
confrontations.
Goodwin was evicted in 1996 after he and friends harassed Crotts, including
throwing beer cans into her yard. Court records show that Goodwin blamed Crotts
for his eviction, telling her, "I'm going to get you for this," according to
testimony from Crotts' daughter.
On March 1, 1998, Goodwin entered Crotts home and confronted her. After a
sexual assault, he pushed her down the basement stairs, and then used a hammer
to strike her in the head several times.
Herndon said Goodwin is remorseful.
"He was drunk when he did it," she said "From the beginning he's said, 'This is
horrible.' But he's so impaired that he doesn't really have the ability to show
remorse like a normal adult would."
(source: Associated Press)
ARIZONA:
Day 17 of Jodi Arias trial: No trial this week, judge rules
A Maricopa County Superior Court spokesman said the next court date is an
evidentiary hearing at 9:30 a.m. and the jury won't return until Monday, Dec.
15.
The jury has already been off since last week as two evidentiary hearings were
Thursday and Friday.
The defense last week tried again to get her murder conviction tossed out on
the grounds they claim certain computer evidence was destroyed while in the
custody of Mesa police.
Another juror, Juror No. 3, was dismissed Tuesday and defense witness and
clinical psychologist Dr. L.C. Fonseca was back on the stand for further
cross-examination by prosecutor Juan Martinez.
The Arias trial has garnered national - even worldwide - attention. A jury on
May 8, 2013, convicted her of murdering her ex-lover Travis Alexander, and
while they found her eligible for the death penalty, they could not unanimously
agree to hand down the sentence.
Because of that, Judge Sherry Stephens declared a mistrial in the penalty phase
of the trial.
After months of legal wrangling, a new jury was eventually impaneled, and a
retrial of the sentencing phase began Oct. 21. It is expected to last until the
middle of the month.
In the meantime, rumors that Arias herself will once again take the stand
continue to swirl.
(source: KPHO news)
CALIFORNIA:
Is it time to abolish the death penalty? Panelists ponder the moral, racial and
ethical aspects of the long-simmering debate at a Levan Institute conversation
The death penalty debate was organized by the Levan Institute for Humanities
and Ethics.
A bumper sticker reads, "Why do we kill people who kill people to show that
killing people is wrong?"
The question was examined during a recent panel discussion held on the
University Park Campus. "Is It Time to Abolish the Death Penalty?" was
organized by the Levan Institute for Humanities and Ethics, housed in the USC
Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.
Recent botched executions by lethal injection have renewed the debate. New
advances in DNA technology are leading to the exoneration of more and more
prisoners on death row. Calls of racial discrimination in the selection process
have raised concern.
Panelist Ralph Wedgwood, professor of philosophy at USC Dornsife, specializes
in ethics and epistemology. He argued against the death penalty, saying that
while killing someone who is posing an imminent threat - or in self-defense -
can be justified, executing a condemned person in prison offers no advantage to
the public.
"The condemned prisoner is locked up in a cell, he is defenseless and poses no
threat to anyone," Wedgwood said.
Executing a prisoner runs a high risk, he added.
"Speaking from the perspective of epistemology, I do not believe the past is
ever utterly certain. People can be framed, evidence can be planted, memories
play tricks on people. I don't think we can ever be certain enough to justify
risking the extraordinary injustice of killing someone who may be totally
innocent."
Wedgwood brought up legal philosopher Antony Duff, who believes that when we
punish people, we still must regard them as human beings - they are members of
the human family.
"I believe in punishing someone, we should always leave room for the
possibility of their repenting for their crime, with the goal ultimately of
reconciliation," Wedgewood said. "If you kill someone, you preclude that
possibility."
Alone in the world
Moderator Sharon Lloyd, professor of philosophy, law and political science at
USC Dornsife, said the topic resonates more with people now because the public
has become more educated on the issue.
"The United States is almost alone in the civilized world in imposing the death
penalty on its own citizens," Lloyd said. "Under the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights, life is a human right, and for a government to kill its citizens
is a violation of that most fundamental right."
According to Lloyd, support for the death penalty has been slowly eroding in
the U.S., due in large part to economic concerns.
In the discussion, panelist Dan Simon of the USC Gould School of Law pointed
out that the cost is about 100 times more to convict and sentence someone to
death than to incarcerate them for life. He said cases of botched executions
have raised the concern that the death penalty violates our constitutional
right not to be subjected to "cruel and unusual punishment."
Racial bias?
Panelists - who also included USC Dean of Religious Life Varun Soni and Martin
Levine, USC vice provost and senior adviser to the provost and Michael Brennan
of USC Gould - touched on the issue of racial bias and how minorities and lower
socioeconomic classes are disproportionately affected.
"One benefit to the death penalty debate is that it's focusing more attention
on the functioning of the criminal justice system," Simon said.
Brennan, who has worked as a criminal defense attorney, noted that the system
of capital punishment in the U.S. simply does not work. Death penalty cases can
take as long as 20 years in the courts, becoming incredibly expensive. In the
past 40 years, 12 people in California have been put to death, he said, costing
$4 billion.
"The combination of too many mistakes and too much money doesn???t justify the
few people who are actually executed in California."
The religion perspective
Soni discussed the death penalty from the perspective of religious traditions.
He maintained that religions and their ancient texts must be malleable and
interpreted within a modern social and technological context. In past
civilizations, he said, justice was meted out much differently in the absence
of modern legal and prison systems as well as scientific and DNA-based
evidence.
But even the modern system is flawed, he said, quoting 12th-century Jewish
legal scholar Mosheh ben Maimon, who said, "It is better and more satisfactory
to acquit a thousand guilty persons than to put a single innocent one to
death."
"And yet we know in our modern criminal justice system, we have not upheld this
ideal," Soni said. "We know we have killed people who were later exonerated
through DNA evidence."
One argument often cited by proponents asks whether a person would support the
death penalty if it was their family member that was murdered.
"Many of us would say 'yes'," Soni said. "Of course - we are human, we are
upset and angry. But that's why we have the criminal justice system and not a
system of posse justice. We have substantive and procedural due process, and
it's not up to us to mete justice."
Levine brought up what he called "the informal justice system" in our country,
or excessive use of force.
"The formal criminal law process in America executes 30, some years maybe 100
people. But the informal way to execute people is for a policeman to pull out
his gun and kill a person. That's something in the order of 1,000 people a
year."
All things considered, Levine said the "unofficial death penalty" is more
important than the official one. Reforming the criminal justice system should
have as much to do with the police force and its rules of engagement, and what
can be improved systematically within law enforcement organizations.
Rise above it
Wedgwood's final comments questioned the emotional urge for retribution.
"When you really, deeply hate someone, you have a wish to destroy them. Lots of
religious traditions have observed natural human impulses like this one, but
nonetheless dictate that we have to rise above them."
He cited Socrates and Plato, who argued that the belief in retaliation should
be rejected.
"In the end, the kind of certainty and level of confidence you'd need to
justify running the risk of killing an innocent person would have to be
extraordinarily high," Wedgwood said. "Going back to Duff's theories of
punishment, I believe we should always hold the hope for reconciliation,
however forlorn that might seem."
(source: USC News)
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