Feb. 27
TEXAS:
Punishment phase begins in capital murder trial
Family of Brendon Gaytan are expected to plead for his life to be spared Friday
during the punishment phase of his capital murder trial in the February 2014
death of 2 young girls.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penaltyFamily of Brendon Gaytan are expected
to plead for his life to be spared Friday during the punishment phase of his
capital murder trial in the February 2014 death of 2 young girls.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty after a jury of 7 men and 5 women
convicted Gaytan on Thursday.
The jury is scheduled to return at 9 a.m. Friday in 347th District Judge Missy
Medary's court to begin the punishment phase.
The jury had the option of finding Gaytan guilty of capital murder,
manslaughter or deadly conduct in the shooting deaths of 6-year-old Neveah
Oliva and 2-year-old LillyAnna Valent at a birthday party Feb. 16, 2014.
Gaytan's half-brother, Cruz Salazar, also will be tried.
Capital murder carries 2 punishment options of either life in prison or death
by legal injection.
More than 30 bullets struck the house in the 4700 block of Cheryl Drive and
multiple bullets struck the girls. Lillyanna died of a gunshot wound to her
head and Nevaeh of a gunshot to her left chest. No one else was injured.
The jury is scheduled to return at 9 a.m. Friday in 347th District Judge Missy
Medary's court to begin the punishment phase.
The jury had the option of finding Gaytan guilty of capital murder,
manslaughter or deadly conduct in the shooting deaths of 6-year-old Neveah
Oliva and 2-year-old LillyAnna Valent at a birthday party Feb. 16, 2014.
Gaytan's half-brother, Cruz Salazar, also will be tried.
Capital murder carries 2 punishment options of either life in prison or death
by legal injection.
More than 30 bullets struck the house in the 4700 block of Cheryl Drive and
multiple bullets struck the girls. Lillyanna died of a gunshot wound to her
head and Nevaeh of a gunshot to her left chest. No one else was injured.
Defense attorneys and Gaytan's family have maintained the man's innocence.
(source: Corpus Christi Caller-Times)
ARIZONA:
Defense Pleads for Arias' Life in Death Penalty Trial, Jury Begins Deliberation
After months of hearing sexually explicit testimony, the jury in the Jodi Arias
sentencing retrial is now tasked with deciding whether to sentence the
convicted killer to life in prison or execution for the murder of her lover,
Travis Alexander.
Prosecutors in the high profile case claim Arias killed her on-again off-again
boyfriend during a jealous rage after he planned to leave her and go on a
vacation with another woman. However, Arias argues that she killed him in
self-defense after he attacked her.
According to medical examiners, Arias stabbed Alexander 27 times, primarily in
the back, torso and heart in his Phoenix home. She also slit Alexander's throat
from ear to ear, nearly decapitating him. In addition, she shot him in the face
before dragging his bloodied corpse to the shower and taking pictures of him.
Although she was found guilty of 1st-degree murder in May 2013, jurors in her
1st trial failed to reach a unanimous decision on her sentencing. As a result,
a Maricopa County Superior Court jury will deliberate whether or not to spare
her life. If all 12 jurors don't agree to sentence her to death, then Arias
will automatically be given life in prison. Or, if this 2nd jury reaches
deadlock, under state law Arias would be sentenced to life, reports AZ Central.
If for any reason, Arias is given life behind bars, then it will be up to Judge
Sherry Stephens to decide whether Arias should or should not be eligible for
release after 25 years.
Before jury deliberation began Wednesday afternoon, lead defense attorney Kirk
Nurmi pleaded with jurors to spare the killer's life during his closing
statement. Nurmi also presented the Phoenix jury with photos of Arias and
Travis Alexander during the happier times in their relationship, reports The
Associated Press.
Nurmi told jurors that Arias was the victim of abuse in her twisted
relationship with Alexander, who he said sexually humiliated her.
"Why did we go from this sexual encounter to the killing?" Nurmi said. "Because
of this tumultuous relationship. Because the emotional stress all this was
bringing on."
Meanwhile, prosecutor Juan Martinez presented gruesome photos of Alexander's
lifeless body and called Arias dishonest. He also questioned her claim of being
remorseful and undercut the defense argument that she suffers from mental
illness.
(source: Latin Post)
USA:
Judge in Fell death penalty case removes himself from case
The federal judge who presided over Vermont's only death penalty case for more
than a decade abruptly transferred the case Wednesday to a new U.S. District
Court judge sitting in Rutland.
Judge William K. Sessions has presided over the case in Burlington involving
accused killer Donald Fell since Feb. 7, 2001 when he arraigned the Rutland man
and his deceased accused accomplice, Robert Lee, on charges of carjacking and
killing Terry King of North Clarendon.
In a brief order issued Thursday, Sessions assigned the case to federal Judge
Geoffrey Crawford, who received his judicial commission as a federal judge in
August after serving for years as a state judge in Vermont including a 1-year
stint as an associate judge on the Vermont Supreme Court.
Fell was convicted of the killing in 2005 and sentenced to death in June 2006.
Over the years, Sessions has issued a ruling finding the death penalty
unconstitutional - a decision that was overturned by the U.S. Second Circuit
Court of Appeals - and a more recent decision that nullified both the sentence
and guilty verdict against Fell. That decision wasn't appealed - ending Fell's
8-year stay at the federal death row penitentiary in Terre Haute, Ind.
But federal prosecutors announced last month that they will retry Fell with the
goal once again of putting him to death.
In September 2002, Sessions wrote that the death penalty was unconstitutional
because it denies defendants' right to due process.
He wrote the law allows evidence and procedures that could not be used at trial
to be used for sentencing people to death, specifically, in the Fell case a
statement that Lee - who died in prison before the judge's order was released -
gave to authorities after his arrest.
Sessions also wrote that the federal death penalty statute prevents defendants
convicted of capital crimes from questioning witnesses before being sentenced
to death.
In July, Sessions ordered a new trial for Fell on the grounds that he was
denied a fair trial by the misconduct of 1 juror on the case.
The juror's conduct was so "egregious, biased and dishonest" that it tainted
the results of Fell's trial," Sessions wrote.
"Because of Juror 143's deliberate misconduct, Fell had a jury that was not
capable, nor willing, to decide his case solely on the evidence before it. He
was therefore denied a fair trial and his conviction and sentence must be
vacated," Sessions wrote, using the juror's number rather than his name to
identify him.
"While the court is reluctant to turn back the clock on a matter that has
required such significant resources in terms of time, effort, and, for some,
emotion, it sees no alternative. ... In particular, the court is mindful of the
impact upon Mrs. King's family, which has suffered for so long as a result of
this tragedy."
But King's family members have said in the past that it is Session's own bias
against the death penalty that has tainted the case.
"This is not anything that we didn't expect," King's sister Barbara Tuttle said
in July. "He's prejudiced against the death penalty. He's written about his
opposition to it. How can he make an unbiased decision?"
King was carjacked on the night of Nov. 26, 2000, as she arrived to work at
Price Chopper supermarket in downtown Rutland.
Police and prosecutors say she was forced at gunpoint by Fell and his
accomplice Robert Lee - who died before his case went to trial - to drive to
Dutchess County, N.Y., where the 2 men allegedly used rocks and their feet to
bludgeon her to death.
The 2 men were arrested 4 days later in Clarksville, Ark., driving the deceased
woman's car.
Why Crawford, a relatively new federal judge who has handled only a small
number of federal criminal cases thus far, was selected to preside over the new
trial is unclear.
Sessions, who could not be reached this morning, didn't give an explanation for
the reassignment or the decision to assign Crawford rather than Chief U.S.
District Court Judge Christina Reiss.
Reached Friday by his office staff, Crawford declined to comment on the
assignment and Acting U.S. Attorney in Vermont Eugenia Cowles and former
Vermont U.S. attorney Tristram Coffin said they couldn't comment on the
decision or how it might affect the case.
(source: Rutland Herald)
************************
Is the Death Penalty Christian?
The attorney general, Eric Holder, yesterday called for an end to executions in
America, or at the very least, a lengthy moratorium. This naturally raises the
question about what the Christian view of capital punishment is. It's a
question worth answering.
Capital punishment was instituted by God following the flood of Noah. According
to Genesis 9:5-6, God says, "From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for
the life of man. Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be
shed, for God made man in his image."
Here God is clearly delegating his authority to man - "by man shall his blood
be shed" - to carry out the death penalty for the wanton taking of innocent
human life. God himself is the one who is requiring this "reckoning for the
life of man," because the murderer has destroyed someone created "in his
image." Murder defaces and destroys the image of God, and for that God demands
an accounting.
Prior to the flood, capital punishment was not allowed as a punishment for
crime or as a deterrent for homicide. In fact, God himself declared that he
would take vengeance "sevenfold" on anyone who punished Cain for his
cold-blooded murder of Abel (Genesis 4:15).
It is as if God was saying, "Alright, you think capital punishment is barbaric.
We'll do it your way for 1700 and see how that works out." And so mankind did,
from the days of Cain until the days of Noah. How well did this kinder, gentler
approach to justice work?
It lead to vigilante justice and barbarism, as men took matters of punishment
into their own hands. Said Lamech, "I have killed a man for wounding me, a
young man for striking me. If Cain's revenge is sevenfold, then Lamech's is
seventy-sevenfold" (Genesis 4:23-24). So vigilante justice, without God's
authorization, was almost immediately exercised for non-capital offenses.
And by the time Noah arrived, the lack of a system of justice had so
contributed to social deterioration and the collapse of character that "the
wickedness of man was great in the earth, and ... every intention of the
thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Genesis 6:5). There was
nothing for God to do but wipe everything out and start over. It was much like
finding an 18-month old carton of cottage cheese in the back of a refrigerator
when the power's been out during the heat of summer. There's nothing to
salvage. You have to dump the lot and start with a fresh container. This was
the story of the flood.
So God established a new rule following the wild, wild East of the pre-flood
days. From now on, God said, murder will be dealt with through capital
punishment.
This standard is re-established in the Ten Commandments, where God succinctly
commands, "You shall not murder" (Exodus 20:13).
The King James version, "Thou shalt not kill," has led some to erroneously
believe that God was prohibiting killing of every kind, but he most certainly
was not. The Sixth Commandment is specifically a command against cold-blooded
murder. Killing in self-defense, war, and as punishment for murder are not only
permitted but prescribed in the Scripture.
In fact, on the next page on the book of Exodus, in chapter 21, there are 6
specific crimes for which capital punishment is the prescribed penalty. As an
aside, it's worth noting that the death penalty was mandated for participation
in the slave trade: "Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in
possession of him, shall be put to death" (Exodus 21:16).
In other words, if the United States had simply followed the standards found in
Scripture, slaves never would have appeared on our shores, slavery never would
have been an issue, and the Civil War would never have been fought. Then, as
always, the Scriptures show us the way forward not just personally but
politically as well.
Capital punishment is reaffirmed by the Apostle Paul in the book of Romans as
the antidote to vigilante justice and social chaos. He tells us in Romans
12:19, "Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for
it is written, 'Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.'" How does the
Lord exact vengeance? As Paul immediately goes on to say, through the
instrumentality of the state. Civil government has been invested with God's own
authority to execute justice, including capital punishment. Government "does
not bear the sword in vain," Paul says in Romans 13:4. A sword, of course, was
an instrument of lethal force.
And for what purpose does civil government bear the sword? Paul immediately
explains: "For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath
on the wrongdoer" (Romans 13:4).
It bears emphasizing that capital punishment is thus not just an Old Testament
concept, but is reaffirmed as a principle of justice under the terms of the New
Covenant in Christ.
Solomon adds an important word of wisdom, on the subject of deterrence. Many
argue - falsely it turns out - that capital punishment is no deterrent at all.
Well, it certainly deters the murderer from killing anybody ever again, which
sounds like deterrence to me.
But the Scripture indicates that unless capital punishment is carried out in a
timely manner, it not only loses its deterrent force but actually makes things
worse instead of better. "Because the sentence against an evil deed is not
executed speedily, the heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil"
(Ecclesiastes 8:11).
Keeping murderers and serial killers alive on death row for a decade or more
has no deterrent effect whatsoever, and yet that's what we're doing. According
the Bureau of Justice, the average time between sentencing and execution in
America is now up to 169 months, or just over 14 years. This is up from 50
months in 1977.
By the time the sentence is carried out, the public - and potential murderers
who might have had some sense scared into them - have forgotten all about the
crime. There is simply no connection in the public mind between crime and
capital punishment.
Contrast this, for instance, with the fate of the conspirators who worked
together to assassinate Abraham Lincoln. He was assassinated on April 14, 1865.
The plotters had been apprehended, tried, and hung by the neck til dead by July
6, a scant 83 days later.
According to polling data, there still is a significant residue of
Judeo-Christian morality left when it comes to the death penalty. Gallup found
as recently as 2010 that 64% of Americans support the death penalty while just
29% oppose it. This is an encouraging result, given the relentless brainwashing
from the left to convince us otherwise. (It's worth noting that as recently as
1995, the split with 80-16 in favor of executing murderers.)
Bizarrely, in 2004 fewer people who went to church weekly favored the death
penalty (65%) compared to those who never went (71%). This is likely due to the
way in which the gospel of Christ has been feminized by the modern church, all
its firm edges sanded off in order not to offend. It's sobering to think that
people outside the church have a more biblical view of justice than those
inside the church, which certainly is an indictment of the teaching coming from
America's pulpits.
Critics argue that capital punishment demonstrates a low view of the value of
human life. It's exactly the reverse. It is imposing the death penalty that
enables a culture to declare its highest regard for life. With the death
penalty, society says that human life is so valuable that if someone takes a
human life without just cause he must forfeit his own life in return. Justice
truly is, as the book of God's truth says, "Life for life."
(source: Bryan Fischer, cowgernation.com)
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