Aug. 20
TEXAS----impending execution//foreign national Petition to Greg Abbott,
Governor of the State of Texas: To stay the execution of Bernardo Aban Tercero
and grant him clemency
see:
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/Greg_Abbott_Governor_of_the_State_of_Texas_To_stay_the_execution_of_Bernardo_Aban_
Tercero_and_grant_him_clemency/
(source: avaaz.org)
NORTH CAROLINA:
Crime lab backlog continues to delay death penalty case
Nearly 3 years after an Ardmore woman was shot to death, only 1/3 of the
physical evidence that Winston-Salem police seized in their investigation has
been sent to the State Crime Lab, according to a letter from an attorney
representing one of the defendants.
And only about 20 % of the evidence sent has been examined, David Botchin, an
attorney representing Anthony Vinh Nguyen, writes in a July 29 letter to
Jennifer Martin, the chief assistant district attorney who is 1 of 2
prosecutors in the case.
Nguyen, 23, is charged with 1st-degree murder, 1st-degree burglary, 1st-degree
kidnapping and armed robbery in the death of Shelia Pace Gooden, 43.
Authorities say Nguyen and 2 other men -- Daniel Aaron Benson, 24, and Steve
George Assimos, 23 -- broke into Gooden's house at 700 Magnolia St. on Oct. 11,
2013, held her against her will and stole a flatscreen television valued at
$200.
Benson, Assimos and Nguyen are all facing the same charges, but only Nguyen is
facing the death penalty because prosecutors allege that Nguyen shot Gooden in
the head.
The delay is largely due to protocols that the State Crime Lab has put into
place for dealing with backlog. The State Crime Lab sets limits on the amount
of evidence that law-enforcement agencies send at one time. According to the
State Crime Lab guidelines, homicides are limited to 10 pieces of evidence per
discipline for the 1st submission and 5 items for subsequent submissions. The
lab has been criticized for having too few analysts to handle the backlog of
requests from law enforcement to review evidence.
"At this rate it will take, as a minimum, another year-and-a-half to complete
the process," Botchin wrote in his July 29 letter. "Has your office made any
inquiries of the Lab about the long delays in examining the evidence or what
can be done to move things along?"
Botchin said in the letter that Martin has told him previously that she waits
closer to the trial to let defense attorneys review physical evidence and that
she would want all three defendants in this case to view the evidence at the
same time. Botchin and Nguyen's other attorney, John Bryson, also had
complained last year about delays in getting access to physical evidence.
"We have a statutory right to examine the evidence and we know of no statutory
right that permits the State to determine when and how it is to be viewed,"
Botchin wrote.
Martin said the rules of professional responsibility prohibited her from
commenting on pending criminal matters.
Martin had filed a motion last September asking the state Crime Lab to waive
the policy. She said in the motion that the policy would cause lengthy delays
in the prosecution of the case and could potentially prejudice both prosecutors
and Nguyen's attorneys. At a hearing in October 2014, she said that she and
Assistant District Attorney Ben White had talked to officials at the State
Crime Lab about the policy. She said she had confidence that some of the items
could be analyzed without too much delay in the case.
Some progress has been made. Last fall, a Forsyth County judge ordered that
defense attorneys can have access to cellphones and laptops that were seized.
A hearing on Botchin's request to view physical evidence is scheduled for Sept.
10. No trial date has been set. All 3 defendants are in the Forsyth County Jail
with no bond allowed.
(source: Winston-Salem Journal)
ALABAMA----female may face death penalty
Heather Keaton to be sentenced in deaths of stepchildren
Heather Keaton, who was convicted of killing her 2 stepchildren, will be
sentenced on capital murder and manslaughter charges on Thursday.
Keaton could face the death penalty for the killing of Jonathan and Natalie
DeBlase. A jury convicted Keaton in May of capital murder for the death of
Jonathan Chase DeBlase, and manslaughter in the death of Natalie DeBlase.
If sentenced to death, Keaton would be the 1st woman in Mobile County to face
the death penalty.
In January, her common-law husband, John DeBlase, was sentenced to death by
lethal injection for his role in the murders.
The 2 young children, were killed on separate occasions, according to
prosecutors. Prosecutors said Keaton played a vital role in their deaths,
knowing that the children were mistreated, knowing that their lives were in
danger and then willingly participated in the disposal of the bodies in a
wooded areas near Vancleave, Mississippi and Citronelle, Alabama.
When questioned in the interview about disposing of Natalie's body, Keaton
said, "We stopped and it was really dark and there were a lot of trees. He got
out and went to the trunk and I guess he walked into the trees."
Natalie was not seen thereafter. In June, Keaton said Chase also became ill and
was unresponsive on Father's Day morning. Keaton said Chase's limp body was
still warm when she picked him up off of the floor.
She said she told DeBlaze, "I think I still hear him breathing. I think I hear
him mumbling. Are you sure we shouldn't try anything?"
(source: WALA news)
KANSAS:
Kansas College Republicans call for end of death penalty but lawmaker slams
decision----Group says death penalty costly, secretive
The Kansas Federation of College Republicans is calling for an end to the death
penalty, a practice that has traditionally held greater support among
conservatives.
1 Republican lawmaker, however, accused the group of wanting "cop killers to
have a shot at adding child rape to their record."
The organization's board - an umbrella group for college Republicans throughout
the state - unanimously passed a resolution opposing the death penalty. The
resolution says the death penalty is costly, the lengthy appeal system burdens
victim families and the administration of the punishment has become secretive
with questionable methods.
The resolution urges the Republican Party of Kansas to add an official platform
plank calling for the repeal of the death penalty in Kansas and calls on the
Legislature and governor to pass a law repealing the death penalty.
"More young conservatives like myself," the group's chairman, chairman Dalton
Glasscock, said in a statement "recognize that our broken and fallible system
of capital punishment in no way matches up with our conservative values. By
ending the death penalty, Kansas has an opportunity to promote a culture of
life and fiscal responsibility. As Republicans - whether young or old - this is
a smart reform that we should support."
A news release announcing the resolution said the adoption of the resolution
language took place at a meeting of the organization's state board in July.
The Kansas Republican Party currently takes neither a pro- or anti-death
penalty stance in its platform. The Kansas Republican Liberty Caucus has passed
a resolution opposing the death penalty.
In a statement, Edward O'Brien, the Kansas Republican Party's 2nd district vice
chair, said GOP attitudes are changing.
"Recently, I've seen more Republicans reconsider their views on the death
penalty and come to oppose it. I'm encouraged to see young people, committed to
protecting life, leading the GOP in the right direction on this issue," O'Brien
said.
Rep. J.R. Claeys, R-Salina, took to Twitter soon after the announcement from
the college Republicans to denounce the resolution.
"(College Republicans) want cop killers to have a shot at adding child rape to
their record," Claeys tweeted, adding a hashtag that said over my dead body.
Several top Republican leaders support the death penalty, at least in some
cases. Gov. Sam Brownback has described his position as opposing the death
penalty except when society cannot be protected from the perpetrator.
During the 2014 gubernatorial campaign, however, Brownback ran TV ads that
suggested his Democratic opponent, Paul Davis, would appoint Supreme Court
justices who would overturn death penalty sentences. The ads questioned the
high court's ruling that overturned death penalty sentences for Reginald and
Jonathan Carr. The 2 brothers killed 5 people in Wichita in 2000.
The death penalty was reinstated in Kansas in 1994, but no one has been
executed since. The last execution in Kansas came in 1965, when George Ronald
York and James Douglas Latham were hanged.
(source: Topeka Capital-Journal)
OKLAHOMA:
Oklahoma Group: It's Time To Give Homicide Victims A Voice
Death row inmate Richard Glossip is set to be executed in less than one month.
Since his murder conviction he has maintained his innocence, and has garnered
all kinds of support from behind bars.
But now one group in Oklahoma said they've had enough and it's time the victims
have a voice.
"I'm not here to change your opinion. I'm not here to change their opinion. All
I'm here to say is why I support the death penalty. Why it is just," said Ken
Busch with the Homicide Survivor's Support Group.
Ken Busch has heard a lot of opinions lately. The loudest are in support of
convicted murderer Richard Glossip. Anti-death penalty Activist Sister Helen
Pejean continues a constant flow of support on Twitter, writing the state risks
executing an innocent man, pointing to flaws in Glossip's case and how his
conviction rests on the testimony of one man.
Most recently Oscar Winning actress Susan Sarandon has brought celebrity power
to Glossip's defense. The actress is raising international eyebrows.
"Governor of Oklahoma is just a horrible person and a woman so it's even more
disturbing," said actress Susan Sarandon.
Sarandon has since apologized for that statement and has stuck to what she
hopes that Glossip is at least granted a stay for his new attorneys to collect
more evidence in his case.
But Busch has a message to Sarandon and any anti-death penalty advocate
attempting to withhold what he considers justice.
"My question to her is how do you know? How do you know and how could you even
imagine. Have you walked one step in my shoes? Just one. I don't want you to,"
Busch said.
That's because Busch himself takes each day in stride. In 1990 his
7-year-daughter Kathy was brutally beaten, stabbed and murdered then left in a
dumpster.
"You can either crawl in the corner and die with them or you can stand and
fight," Busch said.
This time Busch has decided to fight for support of Barry Van Treese's family.
Van Treese was beaten to death with a baseball bat in 1997 by Justin Sneed, who
Glossip hired to carry out the murder.
Busch is part of the group Homicide Survivors Support. Each member was united
by the pain left when a loved one was murdered.
"We're not a group with blood dripping from our fangs, we don't have a blood
lust we're not out here to see every killer out there executed. We want
justice, we want the right person executed," Busch said.
To the group, Glossip is the right person. Found guilty by 2 juries, his
sentence was upheld through multiple appeals.
"By any definition in the United States, that's guilty. So it's time for
justice to be served," Busch said.
Years after his daughter's murder, Busch watched Kathy's killer being executed.
After that he said he felt less stress and less worry -- emotions he feels the
Van Treese family deserves.
"If he had been given life without paroles than that's what they family would
accept, life without parole," said Busch. "For (the Van Treese) family to see
justice, sentences have to be carried out."
(source: 9news.com)
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