Feb. 10
CALIFORNIA:
Defendant makes 1st appearance in teen shooting----A Riverside Poly High teen
was shot to death in 2012. A co-defendant is in state prison and will answer
charges at a later date
1 of 2 defendants charged in the shooting death of a Riverside Poly High School
student nearly 3 years ago appeared in court Friday afternoon, Feb. 6, but his
arraignment was postponed.
Riverside County Superior Court Judge Richard T. Fields continued the hearing
for Cristian Velasquez, 23, of Riverside, to Feb. 20.
He and Manuel Barbarin Jr., 24, of Riverside, are charged with the murder of
Lareanz Simmons, 14. As convicted felons, they are accused of criminal use of a
handgun. Enhancement charges, including being a hate crime and a murder
benefiting a criminal street gang, could add to their sentences if they're
convicted.
Barbarin is in Wasco State Prison serving a 28-month sentence after being
convicted of possession of a handgun by a convicted felon and narcotics addict.
No date has been set yet for his 1st court appearance.
The charges make the defendants eligible for the death penalty, if convicted,
but no decision has been made by the District Attorney's Office whether to
prosecute the case as a death penalty case.
Lareanz was a member of the Junior Army ROTC at Poly and his teacher, Army Maj.
Joe Dominguez, said earlier Friday a few students brought roses and balloons
into the ROTC class to celebrate the arrests.
On Thursday, Riverside Police Chief Sergio Diaz said that Barbarin and
Velasquez are "well-known, documented, self-admitted" members of the East Side
Riva gang who killed "an innocent teenager gunned down for no other reason than
his race."
Lareanz was shot to death Feb. 23, 2012, by someone who jumped out of a car as
the teenager walked to the Georgia Street home where he lived with his
grandmother. Lareanz was black and not a gang member.
Riverside police said earlier they knew gang members were involved, but they
had no proof and initially had only anonymous tips that Velasquez and Barbarin
were responsible. Police said Eastside residents who feared retaliation from
gangs would not come forward with information.
Velasquez was serving a 1-year, 4-month sentence in jail for felony illegal
possession of ammunition when he was charged in the murder case. In some court
cases, his first name is spelled Christian, his last name as Velasques and
sometimes shows a double last name that includes Rosales.
He was on probation in 2010 for battery on a corrections employee and
possession of a jail-brewed alcoholic beverage. He was sentenced to 2 years in
state prison for violating probation and a new conviction of battery on a
deputy, according to court records. He is due in court next month on a
violation of probation and a hearing in a 2014 assault case.
Barbarin was sentenced to 150 days in jail in 2011 for obtaining a vehicle by
theft or extortion, and the next year was sentenced to an additional 90 days in
jail in a burglary and vandalism case, according to court records.
In 2013, he was allowed to enroll in a diversion program after he pleaded
guilty to possession of methamphetamine. A 2014 probation violation resulted in
a 31-day jail sentence.
(source: Press-Enterprise)
OREGON:
Juror's alleged action adds new wrinkle to Eugene death penalty case
It's been nine months since a Lane County jury convicted Eugene resident David
Ray Taylor of murder and instructed a judge to send him to Oregon's death row.
Case closed, right?
Not quite.
Aside from a potentially lengthy appeals process that will at least temporarily
delay Taylor's execution, a bizarre allegation of juror misconduct has now
brought the case back to a courtroom in Eugene.
Part of the issue involves whether a Lane County Circuit Court clerk who served
as an alternate juror in Taylor's trial lied under oath when she told attorneys
during the jury selection process that she knew "really nothing" about the case
at the time - despite an email that suggests she felt Taylor "needs to die."
While that's a potentially criminal allegation, there's an even bigger question
now under investigation.
It deals with whether the now-former court clerk - who as an alternate heard
all trial evidence but did not participate in the jury's closed-doors
discussions that produced the unanimous verdicts last May - said anything to
other jurors during Taylor's trial that might have influenced the subsequent
deliberations.
The Oregon Supreme Court in January ordered a probe into the matter, which
first arose last fall when Lane County Circuit Judge Charles Zennache obtained
a copy of an email that Holly Moser purportedly sent to another person about
her jury summons. The email was written last February, w months before Moser
was picked to serve as an alternate in the capital murder case.
The email recites the basic allegations against Taylor and mentions that the
writer had read search warrants filed in the case.
"He needs to die," the email reads, apparently speaking of Taylor.
Moser, however, said during jury selection that she hadn't formed any opinions
about the case.
It's unclear how Zennache came into possession of the email, a copy of which is
now part of Taylor's court file.
Court Administrator Liz Rambo said today that Moser resigned in September.
Rambo said she is not authorized to immediately answer additional questions
regarding Moser's departure.
Moser could not be reached for comment.
Taylor, 59, returned to court in Lane County earlier today for the 1st time
since Zennache sentenced him to death for masterminding a plot to rob and kill
22-year-old Eugene resident Celestino Gutierrez Jr. in August 2012.
The court appearance came after Taylor's attorneys convinced the state Supreme
Court that an investigation should be conducted to determine if Moser's conduct
tainted other jurors??? consideration of the case.
Moser was 2 of 3 alternate jurors during the trial. Alternates in felony cases
only participate in deliberations when 2 or more members of a 12-person jury
are unable to complete their service during a trial. All jurors, including
alternates, are ordered by trial judges to avoid discussing cases amongst
themselves outside of deliberations.
Zennache scheduled a March 6 hearing to question jurors about their
interactions with Moser during Taylor's trial. The judge will decide in the
interim if Moser should be called to testify.
Lane County Assistant District Attorney David Schwartz said today in court that
he is "pretty confident" that prosecutors would not charge Moser with perjury
if it's shown that she lied during jury selection. But Zennache said if the
investigation reveals that Moser had inappropriately discussed the case with
other jurors prior to deliberations, a contempt charge could apply.
The 7-woman, 5-man panel in Taylor's case ruled that he should be sentenced to
death, after convicting him of robbing 2 banks and murdering Gutierrez.
According to trial testimony, Taylor enlisted two much-younger acquaintances to
lure Gutierrez to Taylor's home off Highway 99, where the victim was slain. The
3 suspects then used Gutierrez's car as a getaway vehicle in a violent,
takeover-style robbery at a bank in Mapleton. Gutierrez's dismembered remains
were later found buried in a forested area southwest of Eugene.
One of Taylor's accomplices, Mercedes Crabtree, is serving a lifetime prison
sentence for the murder. A trial for the 3rd suspect, A.J. Nelson, is scheduled
for February 2016.
As a member of Oregon's death row, Taylor now lives in a 1-person cell at the
Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem, isolated from the prison's general
population.
Taylor previously served 27 years in prison for the slaying of a Eugene gas
station attendant in 1977. He was granted parole in 2004, and released from
post-prison supervision 3 years later.
(source: The Register-Guard)
***************************
Still searching for answers: Brother, uncle of death row inmates questions
investigation
Doug Turnidge believes in the death penalty, even with a brother and nephew on
Oregon's death row.
He isn't convinced, however, that his brother had anything to do with a
Woodburn bank explosion in 2008.
When Doug Turnidge first heard from his daughter that the FBI was investigating
his nephew, Joshua, he didn't know what to think. Turnidge admits Josh was once
the black sheep of the family with a troubled history.
"I thought, 'That's strange,' not knowing that for 6 years our lives would be
completely altered," Doug Turnidge says. "But it never dawned on me Bruce would
have ever been pinned for something like this."
(source: LeGrande Observer)
USA:
Key Issues as Jury Selection Progresses in Theater Shooting
Jury selection in the Colorado theater shooting case is going faster than
expected, and attorneys will start questioning individual jurors Wednesday,
about a week sooner than first thought.
Those chosen will decide whether James Holmes was legally insane at the time of
the July 20, 2012, attack during a showing of a Batman movie in a Denver suburb
that killed 12 people and injured 70 others.
Holmes, 27, is charged with multiple counts of first-degree murder and
attempted murder and has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. If jurors
find him not guilty for that reason, he would be committed indefinitely to the
state psychiatric hospital.
Prosecutors dispute that Holmes was insane and will ask jurors to convict him
and recommend the death penalty, though Colorado has only executed 1 person in
the last 40 years.
A look at the key issues in the case:
----
BY THE NUMBERS:
- An unprecedented 9,000 people in Arapahoe County were summoned as part of the
jury pool.
- 2,000 were told they did not have to report to fill out questionnaires
because enough promising candidates had been identified.
- More than 1,000 were dismissed for various reasons.
- Hundreds will return for individual questioning.
- 120 will be chosen to return again to be questioned in groups.
- 12 jurors and 12 alternates will be chosen.
----
WHY SOME PROSPECTIVE JURORS WERE EXCUSED:
Potential jurors cited everything from military service and panic attacks to
upcoming weddings and health issues as reasons they shouldn't have to serve.
Judge Carlos A. Samour Jr. released more than 1,000 people because they
couldn't speak English, weren't citizens, brought doctor's notes, had family
problems or weren't Arapahoe County residents. One woman was released after she
tearfully told a judge her mother had been murdered and she was wounded in an
unrelated attack. Another was so distraught after being told she had to return
that she broke down in tears and tore out clumps of her hair. She was
dismissed.
----
QUESTIONS THEY WILL FACE:
In the 2nd phase of jury selection, attorneys will question possible jurors in
depth about their views on capital punishment, mental illness and the criminal
justice system. Prosecutors will try to find jurors who have no reservations
about the death penalty, while defense attorneys will look for those
sympathetic to mental illness and uneasy with the idea of executing a person.
----
WHAT JURY LIFE WILL BE LIKE:
Research has shown jurors in death penalty cases have suffered nightmares,
flashbacks and symptoms similar to post-traumatic stress disorder. Jurors will
be allowed to go home every night but can't discuss the case with anyone. After
testimony ends, they can only discuss the case with each other during
deliberations. The trial is expected to run through October, and jurors will be
shown graphic crime scene photos and hear harrowing testimony from witnesses
and survivors. Counseling will be available to them, but only after they've
reached a verdict and the trial is over.
----
WHAT DOES IT PAY:
Not much. Jurors will be paid just $50 a day. Colorado law says employers have
to pay jurors at least somewhat, but only for the first 3 days.
----
THE CRIME:
About 420 people were watching a midnight showing of "The Dark Knight Rises"
when a masked figure standing near the screen tossed gas canisters into the
audience and opened fire. Holmes surrendered to police outside the theater. His
attorneys have acknowledged that he was the gunman but said he was in the grip
of a psychotic episode. The people killed included a 6-year-old girl, 2
active-duty servicemen, a single mom and an aspiring broadcaster.
(source: Associated Press)
***************************
Defense indicates mental issues may be raised at trial of LAX shooter
Attorneys for the 24-year-old suspect accused in a deadly shooting spree at Los
Angeles International Airport raised the specter of a mental health defense for
the 1st time Monday in court, indicating that such an argument may be used in
their attempt to save their client from the death penalty.
Paul Anthony Ciancia could be executed if he is convicted of killing federal
Transportation Security Administration Officer Gerardo Hernandez during the
Nov. 1, 2013, attack that also left 3 other people wounded -- 2 other TSA
workers and 1 traveler.
According to a proposed trial schedule, jury selection is set to start on Jan.
25, 2016, with interviews to begin about a month later for death- qualified
potential jurors.
Both sides on Monday discussed a schedule for when the defense would file
notice of their intent to possibly use mental impairment as part of their case.
Prosecutors filed papers with U.S. District Judge Philip S. Gutierrez,
requesting that he rule on a deadline for the notice to be lodged with the
court. A decision is expected within a week.
Gutierrez warned attorneys to stop making references to the slow-moving Boston
Marathon bombing trial, in which jury selection began Jan. 5 with more than
1,300 potential jurors filling out questionnaires.
"I don't think we're going to have anywhere near the problems (of Boston) that
have been reported in the newspapers," the judge said.
The jury selection process in Boston should not be compared to Los Angeles
because the Southland jury pool is so much larger, Gutierrez said.
Also, the judge said, "many jurors (in the Los Angeles area) don't read the
newspapers or watch the TV news," issues that have apparently hampered the
Boston case.
Ciancia allegedly stormed into Terminal 3 at LAX with an assault rifle after
"substantial planning and premeditation," according to papers filed in Los
Angeles federal court.
3 charges in the 11-count indictment against Ciancia carry the potential for a
death sentence: murder of a federal officer, use of a firearm that led to the
murder and committing an act of violence in an international airport.
Prosecutors wrote that Ciancia "intentionally and specifically engaged in an
act of violence, knowing that the act created a grave risk of death to a
person," and Hernandez "died as a direct result of the act."
Ciancia allegedly shot Hernandez at a lower-level LAX passenger check-in
station and began walking upstairs, but he returned when he realized Hernandez
was still alive and shot him again.
In addition to 1st-degree murder, the indictment charges Ciancia with 2 counts
of attempted murder for the shootings of TSA officers Tony Grigsby and James
Speer. Brian Ludmer, a Calabasas teacher, was also wounded.
Defense filings have mentioned a psychiatrist visiting the defendant at the
federal detention facility where he is incarcerated.
Ciancia is also charged with committing acts of violence at an international
airport, one count of using a firearm to commit murder and three counts of
brandishing and discharging a firearm.
During the shooting spree, Ciancia was allegedly carrying dozens of rounds of
ammunition, along with a handwritten, signed note saying he wanted to kill TSA
agents and "instill fear in their traitorous minds." Witnesses to the shooting
said the gunman asked them whether they worked for the TSA, and if they said
no, he moved on.
Ciancia -- a New Jersey native who had been living in Sun Valley -- was shot in
the head and leg during a gun battle with airport police. He spent more than 2
weeks at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center before he was moved to a San
Bernardino facility and subsequently to the downtown Metropolitan Detention
Center, where he remains held without bail.
Prosecutors told the judge last August they had accumulated about 10,000 pages
and 150 DVDs of discovery in the case, including material collected during a
probe of Ciancia's background in the small town of Pennsville, New Jersey,
which they had presented to the defense.
(source: Los Angeles Daily News)
********************************
Plea deal off the table, trial next in Vt. death penalty case
A potential life saving deal for accused killer Donald Fell is off the table as
federal prosecutors say they plan to take their death penalty case to trial for
a 2nd time.
In December, the U.S. attorney's office in Vermont was discussing a plea deal
that would send Fell, accused of killing Terry King of North Clarendon, to
prison for life.
But less than 2 months later, acting Vermont U.S. Attorney Eugenia Cowles said
the deal is off the table after a discussion between her office and the U.S.
Department of Justice in Washington ended with the decision to seek the death
penalty again in a case that began more than 14 years ago.
"As with all capital cases, it was a department-wide decision involving the
Department of Justice," Cowles said today. "The Department of Justice has made
the decision this should be a death penalty case."
Cowles did not say whether the federal prosecutor's office in Vermont concurred
with the decision and she said there was no timetable yet for when Fell new
trial would begin.
Fell, 34, was convicted and sentenced to death in 2005 for killing King. But
after almost 9 years on death row, Judge William Sessions last year overturned
the conviction based on the misconduct of a juror who traveled to Rutland and
examined crime scenes while Fell's trial was taking place.
(source: Times Argus)
**********************
Fell death-penalty case heading to trial - again
The Donald Fell death-penalty case is heading to trial as a potential plea
agreement has been removed as an option for case settlement, U.S. Attorney
Eugenia Cowles said Monday.
Cowles declined to discuss the specifics of the agreement's removal.
"I really can't talk about the plea negotiations or what happened," Cowles told
the Burlington Free Press. "The decision at this point is that the case has to
go forward as a trial death penalty case."
The deal would have called for Fell to plead guilty to the kidnapping and
killing of a North Clarendon grandmother more than 14 years ago. In exchange,
Fell would have received a mandatory life sentence in prison for the crime he
was previously sentenced to death for committing.
Attempts to reach Fell's lawyers late Monday afternoon were unsuccessful.
No new trial date has yet been set, and Cowles said she is unsure of when the
trial will take place.
Federal prosecutors also filed a motion late on Friday asking for the addition
of trial attorney Julie Mosley into the case. Mosley operates out of Washington
D.C., and she is employed by the U.S. Department of Justice Criminal Division,
according to court papers.
"She's coming in to assist as a specialist from that section," Cowles said. No
decision has yet been made by the court on Mosley's potential addition.
A federal inmate locator indicates that Fell, 34, is currently being lodged at
Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. After his conviction
in 2005, Fell had been on death row at the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute,
Ind.
Fell was found guilty of the November 2000 murder of Terri King, 53, of North
Clarendon.
This summer, Judge William K. Sessions III ruled that juror misconduct during
the 2005 trial was so egregious that Fell deserved a new trial and a new
sentencing.
Members of King's family have said they want Fell to receive the death penalty
and are willing to sit through another trial.
Vermont has no death penalty under state law, but the case was prosecuted under
federal law. Fell's accomplice, Robert Lee, also was charged, but he killed
himself in jail before trial.
(source: Burlington Free Press)
*******************
Jolly proposes harsher federal penalty in police killings
A local congressman is introducing legislation that would allow federal judges
to consider harsher penalties for those involved in the killing of law
enforcement officers.
Rep. David Jolly, R-Seminole, held a news conference Monday outside the
Clearwater Police Department to announce the legislation, named the "Blue Line
Act." If passed, the measure would make the slaying of an officer or first
responder an aggravating factor, allowing more severe sanctions such as the
death penalty - to be considered.
Federal law gives this protection to high-ranking public officials, federal
judges and at-risk groups such as the elderly and children, and the "Blue Line
Act" would extend this to local law enforcement officers killed on federal
lands as part of homegrown terrorism acts or as part of involvement in a
multi-jurisdictional task force that receives federal funding.
Passage of the bill will show first responders that "just as you have our back,
we have your back as well," Jolly said.
Members of the Clearwater Police, St. Petersburg Police and Tarpon Springs
Police were on hand during the announcement. On Dec. 21 Tarpon Springs Officer
Charles Kondek was killed in the line of duty while responding to a noise
complaint.
"We lost one of our own recently, it was a tragic event for us," said Chief
Robert Kochen. "Although this bill would not apply in Officer Kondek's
situation, we do support any bill or any efforts that protect those who put
their lives on the line every day serving their communities."
Federally funded task forces operate in the Tampa Bay area, such as the Human
Trafficking Task Force, and Clearwater Police Chief Dan Slaughter said it's
important that his officers who serve alongside federal agencies are afforded
protection.
If any of his officers found themselves in a situation where they made the
"ultimate sacrifice," Slaughter said, he doesn't want their families or their
memories to receive "some type of watered down justice."
Jolly said similar legislation has been proposed before to include members of
Congress and congressional staff, but those provisions were omitted from his
bill.
"The message is very simple. It says to an individual, 'If you intend to cause
harm and take the life of a local law enforcement officer, you will meet with
swift and strong justice,'" Jolly said.
(source: Tampa Bay Online)
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