Oct. 6
TEXAS----impending execution
Texas inmate set for execution for $8 robbery, slaying
No late appeals have been filed on behalf of a Texas inmate who says he
shouldn't die for fatally shooting a Mexican man who was robbed of $8.
Juan Martin Garcia's execution is scheduled for Tuesday. He was convicted of
capital murder for the September 1998 killing and robbery of Hugh Solano in
Houston, where Solano had moved with his family weeks earlier.
The U.S. Supreme Court refused to review Garcia's case in March. The Texas
Board of Pardons and Paroles, in a 5-2 vote, refused a clemency request from
Garcia last week.
Garcia acknowledges shooting Solano outside Solano's apartment complex, but
insists it's not a capital case and that jurors penalized him unfairly because
he didn't take the witness stand in his own defense at trial.
"If it's God's will, it's his will," Garcia, 35, told The Associated Press last
month in a prison interview near Livingston.
His lethal injection to be held in Huntsville would be the 11th this year in
Texas, which carries out capital punishment more than any other state. Three
more executions are scheduled in upcoming weeks.
"At least I'm going home and I won't have to suffer this pain anymore, because
I know that as the Bible says there is an afterlife with no problems and no
sorrow," said Garcia, who spoke to the AP on a phone inside a caged-in
visitors' area outside the state's death row. "And that's all I look forward
to."
Evidence at his 2000 trial and testimony from a companion identified him as the
ringleader of four men involved in the shooting and robbery. The slaying and a
string of other violent crimes tied to Garcia, who was 18 at the time of the
killing, convinced a jury he should be put to death.
Garcia, his two cousins and another man had already carried out a carjacking
when they spotted Solano during the early morning hours of Sept. 17, 1998,
getting into his van to go to work, according to the evidence. Solano's
relatives said the 36-year-old, who did Christian missionary work in
Guadalajara, Mexico, had moved with his wife to Houston weeks earlier so their
children could be educated in the U.S.
Eleazar Mendoza, who pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery and was sentenced to
55 years in prison, testified that Garcia approached Solano and pointed a gun.
Mendoza said Garcia gave Solano orders in Spanish to surrender any money he had
and then shot him when he refused.
Garcia, from prison, said it was Mendoza who came up with the idea to rob
Solano and that Solano escalated the confrontation by resisting.
"He punches me," Garcia said. "First thing that came through my mind is that
the dude is going to try to kill me. He grabbed the gun with both of his hands
and it discharged."
Solano was shot 4 times in the head and neck.
Garcia was arrested more than a week later when he dropped a gun while getting
out of a car that police had pulled over for a broken headlight. He was
released but arrested again when the gun was matched to Solano's slaying.
Evidence and testimony tied him to at least 8 aggravated robberies and 2
attempted capital murders in the weeks before and after Solano's death.
Another defendant, Raymond McBen, pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery and was
sentenced to 30 years in prison. He was paroled a year ago.
The fourth man charged, Gabriel Morales, went to trial and was sentenced to
life on a capital murder conviction.
(source: Associated Press)
****************
Faculty members from Capital Punishment Center review capital punishment cases
in the Supreme Court
Even though the death penalty is less used within the U.S. judicial system now
in comparison to previous decades, it still commands a large portion of the
Supreme Court???s time and resources, according to UT law professor Jordan
Steiker.
Faculty members belonging to the Capital Punishment Center at UT reviewed
Supreme Court capital punishment cases that occurred during the past year at a
case review Monday.
While the death penalty aims to act as a deterrent and a method of retribution,
a large number of Americans have begun to turn their back on it, Steiker,
director of the Capital Punishment Center, said.
Ashley Alcantara, Plan II and government junior and communications director for
University Democrats, said capital punishment should be outlawed.
"Capital punishment is not a good deterrent," Alcantara said. "There is always
a risk of killing an innocent person."
Madison Yandell, government junior and president of College Republicans, said
capital punishment should be reserved for cases that involve heinous crimes.
"People value life, so if they know the punishment is going to be life, it
deters crime," Yandell said. "Capital punishment serves the family of victims
because it is a small way of achieving justice for them."
The faculty panel discussed Glossip v. Gross, a 2015 Supreme Court case that
maintained lethal injection does not violate the Eighth Amendment. Supreme
Court Justices Stephen Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsberg wrote a dissent
representing the shifting opinions of Americans against the prevailing death
penalty.
"There are 4 categories of arguments in the dissent," Steiker said. "Capital
punishment is unreliable because people are wrongly killed, it's often used
arbitrarily, the length of death row is cruel and the growing distance between
sentencing and execution diminishes the aspect of retribution."
There are still Supreme Court capital punishment cases waiting to be heard. For
future cases, the judicial system can be improved by having stricter
regulations on when capital punishment is used, Alcantara said.
"For instance, the judicial system needs to make sure that the mentally ill are
not on death row," Alcantara said. "We must err on the side of caution."
The criminal justice system has already improved by requiring DNA testing for
the use of the death penalty, but the legal system can be made even better
through student involvement, Yandell said.
"I think that students should be more involved in every aspect of the legal
system," Yandell said. "Whether it be directly or indirectly, the Supreme Court
interprets laws that affect you every day."
(source: The (Univ. Texas) Daily Texan)
PENNSYLVANIA:
Defendant in Easton hotel slaying asks judge to bar death penalty
A Riegelsville man charged with murdering a man inside an Easton hotel room is
asking a judge to throw out the death penalty as a possible punishment, saying
authorities can't justify their decision to seek it.
If Jeffrey S. Knoble Jr. is found guilty of shooting 32-year-old Andrew "Beep"
White in the back of the head in March, Northampton County prosecutors plan to
argue that he deserves to be executed.
But in a legal filing Monday, defense lawyers Robert Eyer and Matthew Goodrich
told Judge Emil Giordano that the case lacks an aggravating circumstance as
required by Pennsylvania's death penalty law.
First Deputy District Attorney Terence Houck says capital-murder charges are
justified for 2 reasons: that Knoble allegedly robbed White of his cellphone
and jacket, and that Knoble carried a gun without a license while a convicted
felon.
The defense filing says that authorities have failed to back those claims. With
the robbery, the defense said, "there is a complete lack of evidence to
establish when any alleged theft occurred."
Knoble, 25, is accused of killing White, of Easton, early March 11 at the
Quality Inn on South Third Street, then recording a video of the dead man's
body. Authorities have called White a "good Samaritan," saying he tried to help
Knoble that night, renting a room for him because he had no place to stay.
The death-penalty request was part of a package of pretrial motions by the
defense that Giordano will have to rule on. Knoble's public defenders are also
seeking to have his statements to police barred from trial and the evidence
seized by investigators thrown out for alleged constitutional violations. They
also want a jury selected from residents of another county, due to pretrial
publicity.
On Monday, Houck said it would be premature for Giordano to bar the death
penalty, which could only be imposed if the jury found Knoble guilty of
1st-degree murder. It should also be up to the panel to decide whether Knoble
robbed White or illegally possessed a gun, Houck said.
"These aggravating circumstances, like all of our cases, were filed with a lot
of thought and in good faith," Houck said.
Knoble is scheduled to go to trial next year, when Eyer and Goodrich have said
they may offer a mental-health defense, including the possibility that their
client was insane or operating under diminished capacity.
Knoble was arrested the day of the shooting, after his mother called police
after her son showed her a cellphone video of a man's corpse, according to
testimony. At the time, police had no reports of a homicide in the Easton area,
and Knoble was initially charged only with terroristic threats, based on his
mother's claim that he had repeatedly threatened to shoot and kill police
officers.
Last month, Giordano ruled that prosecutors can try the homicide and threats
cases together, finding they "occurred almost simultaneously, were investigated
simultaneously and share common facts."
(source: Morning Call)
NORTH CAROLINA:
A look back at legislation repealed
This is my last regular column for the Chapel Hill News. I have greatly
appreciated the opportunity to share my ideas and enjoyed reader responses, but
it is time to actually retire - a reward one earns by just adding years.
The column grew out of my newsletters from my 17 years in the North Carolina
Senate, so it is appropriate to end with a review of the work with which I was
involved that was repealed by the Republicans when they took over our
legislature.
Many studies have shown that there is racial bias in jury selection for
1st-degree murder. The Racial Justice Act provided an opportunity for people on
death row to have their sentences reviewed and replaced by life without parole.
Repealed.
Botched executions from lethal injection drugs led to European drug companies
refusing to sell to states with the death penalty. So the Republicans passed a
law that blocks information about the drugs' source. When doctors (instigated
by local death penalty opponents) refused to carry out executions because it
violated their Hippocratic Oath, the legislature removed their presence as a
requirement. Any "reliable person" can administer the legal drugs. (source:
Ellie Kinnaird, News and Observer)
GEORGIA:
Number of Georgia inmates eligible for execution almost doubles
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday nearly doubled the number of Georgia inmates
who are now eligible to be put to death by lethal injection.
The high court rejected appeals from 3 condemned murderers, including the
oldest member of Georgia's death row - 72-year-old Brandon Astor Jones, who was
convicted of killing the manager of a Cobb County convenience store in 1979.
This means state prosecutors can seek execution warrants at any time for 7 men
whose appeals have now been denied.
The Supreme Court, on the 1st day of its October term, rejected three petitions
that had been pending this summer. The decisions also were issued just days
after the highly controversial execution of Kelly Gissendaner, who was the
first woman put to death in Georgia in decades and whose case attracted
international attention.
"Because of all the litigation and questions about lethal injection, there's
been a backlog of cases here in Georgia," said Atlanta lawyer Jack Martin, who
has defended numerous death-penalty cases. "Now it looks like the floodgates
are open. We're going to have to see if we're comfortable with executing
someone just about every other week or so."
Gissendaner became the 3rd person executed by Georgia this year, but there had
been an eight-month lull since 2 inmates - Andrew Brannan and Warren Hill -
were put to death by lethal injection in January. In the meantime, more and
more appeals from condemned killers have been exhausted.
Over the past 15 years, Georgia has executed 35 people, with 4 executions being
the most in any single year, according to the Death Penalty Information Center
in Washington.
The inmates whose appeals were denied Monday:
--Brandon Astor Jones, 72, who was sentenced to death for the 1979 robbery and
murder of Roger Dennis Tackett, a 30-year-old high school teacher working a 2nd
job at a Tenneco convenience store. 10 years after Jones' trial, a federal
judge ordered Jones to be resentenced after it was revealed his trial judge had
granted a juror's request for a Bible during deliberations. In 1997, another
jury sentenced Jones to death a second time. (Jones' co-defendant, Van
Roosevelt Solomon, was executed in 1986.)
--Kenneth Fults, 46, who sits on death row for the 1996 killing of Cathy Bounds
in Spalding County. Fults, who is African-American, ended a weeklong crime
spree by breaking into his next-door neighbors' home. He overpowered Bounds and
shot her 5 times in the back of her head. Fults' latest appeal said he did not
receive a fair trial because one of his jurors was a racist. It included an
affidavit from that juror who said he knew he would vote for death "because
that's what that (racial slur) deserved."
--Daniel Anthony Lucas, 36, who was sentenced to die for his role in the 1998
murders of 3 members of the Moss family during a botched burglary and robbery
in Jones County. Lucas' co-defendant, Brandon Rhode, was executed for the
murders in 2010.
Jones, Fults and Lucas join 4 other inmates who were already eligible for
execution: Brian Keith Terrell, Marcus Ray Johnson, Travis Hittson and Joshua
Daniel Bishop.
Terrell, who was sentenced to death for killing a 70-year-old Newton County man
in 1992, could be the next inmate scheduled for execution.
Terrell's execution previously had been set for March 10. But when
Gissendaner's execution, previously set for March 2, was postponed because a
prison system pharmacist said the drugs prepared to execute her looked
"cloudy," Terrell's execution was postponed too.
(source: myajc.com)
FLORIDA:
Jacksonville man gets off death row after judge finds original lawyers were
ineffective
A Jacksonville man who has been on death Rrow for 17 years just had his
sentence thrown out by the same judge who originally sentenced him to die.
Circuit Judge Henry Davis ruled that the lawyers who originally defended
Raymond Morrison Jr. at trial in 1998 did an ineffective job representing him.
Morrison, 46, was convicted of slashing the throat of 81-year-old Albert
Dwelle, and a jury unanimously recommended death with Davis concurring.
But in his ruling throwing out the conviction, Davis said the errors committed
by defense attorneys Refik Eler and Christopher Anderson led him to believe
Morrison never had a chance at a fair trial. Eler handled the guilt phase and
Anderson handled the penalty phase.
Eler was in private practice at the time he defended Morrison and is now the
chief deputy public defender working for 4th Circuit Public Defender Matt
Shirk. Anderson is still in private practice.
Attorney Martin McClain, who now represents Morrison, said his previous lawyers
never investigated his case before defending him at trial.
"It was like he had no attorney," McClain said.
The office of State Attorney Angela Corey said they would appeal Davis' ruling
to the Florida Supreme Court and ask justices to reinstate Morrison's death
sentence. Morrison will technically remain on death row while that appeal
occurs.
If the appeal is unsuccessful, Corey's office will have to decide whether to
try Morrison again and seek the death penalty. Spokeswoman Jackelyn Barnard
said it was too early to say what would happen if the appeal is unsuccessful.
In his ruling Davis seemed especially concerned that Eler and Anderson didn't
address Morrison's mental health and also said the lawyers didn't actively
investigate the case and prepare for Morrison's defense during the trial and
penalty phase.
There were several people willing to testify that they saw Morrison somewhere
else around the time Dwelle was killed, but Eler didn't call any of them to
testify.
Davis said that was a mistake.
"The court delivered to the jury the standard alibi instruction," Davis said.
"Nonetheless the entire record shows Mr. Eler did not adequately investigate or
prepare an alibi defense."
Examinations of Morrison after he went to death row showed that he had abnormal
brain metabolism, consistent with someone who'd suffered a serious head injury.
One doctor who testified at a post-conviction hearing said Morrison had
"organic brain damage and intellectual disability" likely due to his abuse of
alcohol and drugs and his being born prematurely.
Morrison confessed to killing Dwelle after police questioned him for hours,
with one officer telling him he had to get right with God by confessing to
Dwelle's murder.
"Given the findings of these mental-health experts, it is likely defendant had
a significantly impaired mental state at the time of the interrogation," Davis
said in his ruling. "Because defendant's statement was a key piece of evidence
against defendant, it was unreasonable for counsel not to investigate
defendant's mental state at the time of his statement."
Morrison was sentenced to death for the Jan. 8, 1997, throat slashing of Dwelle
in a Ramona Boulevard apartment. Dwelle, who was disabled, was found a day
later by a Meals on Wheels worker who delivered his lunch.
In his statement to police, Morrison said he went to Dwelle's apartment to ask
for a cigar and a light but wound up taking money from Dwelle's shirt pocket.
That led to a confrontation in which, Morrison said, Dwelle stabbed himself
with a knife.
Police found the murder weapon based on where Morrison said he hid it.
Morrison had also smoked crack cocaine hours before his arrest, and Davis also
said that should have been used by Morrison's lawyer to explain the multiple
stories, some contradicting each other, that Morrison told to police during his
interrogation.
Had he or the jury known about Morrison's serious mental-health issues it would
have been a major factor to evaluate when determining whether Morrison told the
truth in his confession, Davis said.
A number of people also said Morrison had a habit of taking responsibility for
crimes that had been committed by other people, including once confessing to
shooting a man when he had nothing to do with it. Eler never investigated that
or brought it up at trial, and that fact would have allowed jurors to consider
whether Morrison was telling the truth when he confessed this time, Davis said.
McClain said the case was originally handled by the office of former 4th
Circuit Public Defender Lou Frost. But Frost's office had to recuse itself
because of a conflict of interest, and Eler ended up being appointed as a
private lawyer paid for by taxpayers.
Eler seemed to believe that the Public Defender's Office had done all the
investigation necessary on the case, but that wasn't true and a lot of
investigation work never got done, McClain said.
McClain acknowledged it is unusual for the original trial judge to throw out
the conviction and death sentence.
"First time I can ever remember that happening," McClain said. "But that shows
you how serious the issues were in this case."
Morrison is the 3rd Jacksonville person to have his death row sentence thrown
out by a trial court in the last few years. Raymond Curtis Bright and Jacob
Dougan both had their death row convictions thrown out by a trial court,
although it was not the original trial judge who threw out their convictions.
In all 3 cases, it was poor defense work by the original defense lawyers that
led to the convictions being thrown out. Corey and the office of Florida
Attorney General Pam Bondi are appealing the Bright and Dougan cases to the
Florida Supreme Court and asking justices to reinstate their convictions.
McClain said everyone should be concerned with seeing so many convictions
overturned because of bad lawyering.
"It's a major concern," McClain said, pointing out that most death-penalty
lawyers end up getting defended at taxpayer expense, and that money goes up
when new trials become necessary.
*************
What Ever Happened to Charles Kenny Foster?
The average convicted killer will sit on death row in the United States for
more than 16 years. One Bay County man passed that mark long ago. Sunday marked
40 years since a judge sentenced the murderer to die, and it's still known as
one of the most brutal murders in Bay County history.
In 1975, 65-year-old Julian Lanier was visiting family in the area when he met
then 28-year-old Charles Kenneth Foster at a bar.
After a night of drinks, the pair picked up 2 women to continue the party in a
wooded area east of Callaway. That's when Foster snapped. He robbed Lanier,
attacked him, cut his throat and severed his spinal cord after seeing he was
still breathing.
Fewer than 3 months later Foster was sentenced to death. But decades later,
Foster lives, while the victim's family is left to wonder why?
"He was taken by a monster, and that monster is allowed to live?" Julia Austin,
the victim's daughter, said in a 2004 interview with NewsChannel 7.
The case came on the heels of re-instating the death penalty in the United
States in the 1970's.
"There's just so many moving parts in the death penalty," Attorney Walter Smith
said.
That's one reason Smith, who's worked with death row appeal cases, says Foster
is still living.
When a person is sentenced to die, their case enters an automatic appeals
process in the Florida Supreme Court.
"It's an example of an early case when the rules were not well established, and
that's why it keeps coming back for review, because as the rules change, new
issues evolve," Smith said.
Foster's been sentenced to death in 3 separate trials, most recently the 90's
in an 8-to-4 vote.
Florida's 1 of 3 states that doesn't require a unanimous vote to impose the
death penalty. Smith says as federal rules evolve, it could delay Foster's case
even further.
"Until there's some resolution in the U.S. Supreme Court about what rules
apply, and I think one of the rules that will apply is you have to have a
unanimous vote," Smith said.
In the meantime, each trip to the appeals court brings a new issue to light.
"Issues regarding the competency of his council," Smith said. "Obviously when
this was all tried, nobody knew what the rules were, so lawyers didn't know
what they were doing. So now we're reviewing the case in hindsight."
And the legal fees are adding up. According to a report from the year 2000 by
the Palm Beach Post, Florida tax payers pay $51 million annually to execute
inmates. Based on numbers from the Department of Corrections, the state
executes an average of two to three people each year. The DOC also says there's
a yearly cost of about $18,000 to house a prisoner for life.
"But it just makes no legal or rational sense," Smith said.
But many families of the victims just want to see justice for their loved ones.
"I don't know what is wrong with the state of Florida to allow him to live,"
Austin said in a 2002 interview with NewsChannel 7. "I lived in Florida. I paid
taxes so this creep could live."
That's where Smith and Lanier's daughter can agree.
"It's always been broken," Smith said. "You know, it was always broken and
there's no way of fixing it."
There are a total of 10 people from Bay County on death row today.
(source: WJHG news)
ALABAMA:
Means applies for youthful offender status in capital murder case
A Columbiana man indicted on a capital murder charge for allegedly killing
18-year-old Haleigh Green of Shelby has applied for youthful offender status
and has filed motions for change of venue and appointing additional counsel.
An application for youthful offender status for 19-year-old Demarcus Means was
filed in Shelby County Circuit Court on Sept. 25. If arraigned as a youthful
offender, Means would waive his right to a trial by jury, and a judge would
decide his guilt or innocence in the case, according to court documents.
Suspects found guilty in youthful offender cases fare a less-severe range of
punishments.
A motion for change of venue filed Sept. 24 cited "extensive publicity" and
media coverage of the crime as grounds for the change.
"At each of the early stages of this case against the defendant, the
newspapers, broadcast media, online websites and other forms of communication
in Shelby County, Jefferson County and surrounding counties have given the case
such extensive publicity and in a manner so prejudicial to the defendant, that
it is impossible to conduct a fair trial by an impartial and unbiased jury in
this county," the motion read. "The United States Constitution guarantees
criminal defendants a fair trial by a panel of impartial and indifferent
jurors. The United States Supreme Court has held that when prejudicial pretrial
publicity or an inflamed community atmosphere precluded seating an impartial
jury due process requires the trial court to grant a defendant's motion for a
change of venue."
On Oct. 1, a motion to appoint additional counsel for Means, "to appoint one
additional attorney, specifically Michael Shores," was filed in circuit court.
"The State of Alabama has charged the defendant with capital murder and may
seek the death penalty," the motion read. "The defendant's family has retained
counsel but the defendant does not have the resources to retain additional
counsel to represent him.
"Appointment of co-counsel is necessary to represent the defendant adequately,"
the motion continued. "In a capital case, counsel is obligated to consider all
potential claims, thoroughly investigate the basis of each claim, evaluate each
claim in light of the unique characteristics of death penalty law - comprised
of hundred(s) of state and federal death penalty decisions - and present each
claim as forcefully as possible."
Means' attorney is Victor Revill.
Means, who is being held on no bond, is set to appear in court for his
arraignment on Monday, Nov. 9 at 8:30 a.m.
According to his indictment, Means "did on or about July 5, 2015, intentionally
cause the death of another person ... Haleigh Green, by or through the use of a
deadly weapon ... shooting her with a gun, which was fired or otherwise used
within or from a vehicle."
In August, a murder charge against Means was upgraded to capital murder, which
carries the possibility of the death penalty upon conviction.
(source: shelbycounty reporter)
*********************
Suspect charged with 2013 capital murder on trial
Jury selection got underway Monday morning in Bibb County for a man accused of
capital murder.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys spent the day picking a jury. There are 200
potential jury members but that number eventually will be struck down to 12.
Nicholas Dunlap could face the death penalty if convicted for allegedly killing
Jason Hutchinson. According to the District Attorney, the crime took place
September 22, 2013 on Copperas Creek Crossing in East Bibb County.
District Attorney Michael Jackson says there was a dispute between the 2 men.
That dispute turned into a case of road rage. Jackson says Dunlap then forced
Hutchinson's car off the road then pulled a gun and allegedly shot and killed
the victim.
Jackson wants justice for the victims family.
"The family has gone through a lot losing a family member and also the other
victim here. These families have had to go through so much dealing with this.
Nothing can bring him back but we are going to do everything we can to bring
closure to the family," Jackson said.
A female passenger was riding with Hutchinson but was not injured, meaning
Dunlap will also face attempted murder charges. Opening arguments in the trial
are expected to begin Tuesday morning.
(source: WIAT news)
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