Nov. 10
TEXAS:
Condemned Killer of Houston Girl, 2, Loses Court Appeal
A federal appeals court has refused an appeal from a 56-year-old Houston man on
Texas death row for the rape and fatal beating of his girlfriend's 2-year-old
daughter 15 years ago.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected arguments from Kerry Dimart
Allen that his lawyers at his Harris County trial in 2001 were deficient. The
court late Monday also turned down arguments that the state, its death penalty
law and the trial court's actions during jury selection all violated Allen's
constitutional protections.
Allen already was a convicted sex offender when he was arrested for the May
2000 slaying of Kienna Lashay Baker. He'd been living with the child's mother
and watched her 4 children when she went to work.
Allen does not yet have an execution date.
(source: NBC news)
FLORIDA:
Last chance to spare Tommy Zeigler's life may be modern science----Death row
inmate files motion for additional DNA testing
It's a thrift store on Dillard Street now, but in 1975, a Christmas Eve
nightmare unfolded inside the Zeigler Furniture store in Winter Garden when 4
people were murdered, and the owner, Tommy Zeigler was wounded.
Within days, Zeigler was charged in the killings of his wife, Eunice, her
parents, Perry and Virginia Edwards, and customer Charlie Mays. They were shot,
some with multiple guns, and the men were beaten.
The prosecution, led by then-State Attorney Robert Eagan, called it a plot
devised by the businessman to collect $500,000 on insurance policies he'd taken
out on his wife months earlier. The state also persuaded a jury that Zeigler
tried to frame Mays, a customer and local citrus worker.
Just 7 months later, in July 1976, Zeigler was sent to death row.
A jury that originally deadlocked on the case before reaching a guilty verdict
recommended a life sentence. But presiding Judge Maurice Paul, who now sits on
the U.S. District Court of North Florida, sentenced Zeigler to death. WESH 2
News has previously reached out to Paul, but he has declined to discuss the
case.
Recently, Zeigler wrote to WESH 2 News from his jail cell at the Union
Correctional Institution in Raiford. In the letter, Zeigler said there are 2
major developments in his case. 1 involves DNA testing and the other is a
document.
"I did not kill my wife," Zeigler said. "I did not kill Mr. and Mrs. Edwards. I
did not kill Mr. Mays."
Greg Fox, reporter: "You're innocent?"
Zeigler: "Yes."
Zeigler claims he was jumped by the killers.
"It was dark in there, and like I said, I was being bounced around like a ping
pong ball, off the walls and everything," Zeigler said. "And I was shot!"
Nearly 40 years later, Zeigler's last chance to spare his life may be modern
science. He's filed a motion for "additional DNA testing" on "every single
bloodstain" on his shirts, his wife's clothing and father-in-law's "finger
nails."
Zeigler claims today's testing, not available years ago, will prove he's
innocent.
"It was a bloody mess. How can you beat somebody to death and not get their
blood on you?" he said.
Zeigler's legal team has also uncovered court documents in Colquitt County,
Georgia, where victims Perry and Virginia Edwards lived, that show his in-laws
withdrew and were changing their will to make Zeigler the executor, giving him
control of millions of dollars.
Zeigler recalls the proposed change in the will infuriated his late
brother-in-law Perry Edwards Jr., who was the executor, along with Eunice
Zeigler, at the time. Photos shows Edwards Jr. looked similar to Zeigler in
1975, and the death row inmate believes Edwards Jr. designed the murder plot to
keep control of his family's money.
Zeigler is counting on the new evidence to win an acquittal or a new trial.
"The facts are what they are," said State Attorney Jeff Ashton. "None of this
stuff changes that. It never has, and it never will."
Ashton has been prosecuting the Zeigler case since he took over in the 1980s.
He said Zeigler's fifth motion for DNA testing is irrelevant, citing the
Supreme court ruling that reads: "...we do not believe that Zeigler has
presented a scenario under which new evidence resulting from DNA typing would
have affected the outcome of the case."
"If Mr. Zeigler got every DNA test he asked for today, he'd find something else
to ask for," Ashton said.
Zeigler's attorney, Dennis Tracey, who's been on the case since 1986, said the
evidence is a slam dunk.
"40 years later, we are very confident that if we test this DNA, we will find
out who the killer was." Tracey said. "You don't execute someone when there is
definitive evidence in the courthouse that you haven't looked at."
Tracey also told WESH 2 News that a key witness in the case, Felton Thomas, has
given a recorded statement, recanting some of his testimony. Thomas said in the
interview that authorities told him the night of the murders that Zeigler was
believed to be the killer. But they never provided a photo lineup so Thomas
could attempt to identify the man he thought he had seen earlier in the evening
with murder victim Mays.
Tracey will be seeking court subpoena for a sworn deposition from Thomas to
submit to the court.
Fox: "Did you commit these murders?"
Zeigler: "I did not, and I have done everything in the world that I can
possibly do to prove that."
But time is running out. At age 70, Zeigler's odds of freedom or escaping his
3rd death warrant are fading.
"I would say I probably have a 50/50 chance, depending on what happens with
this latest motion with the DNA," Zeigler said.
A hearing to determine if Zeigler's motion for DNA testing will be granted is
likely to be scheduled for December.
(source: WESH news)
OKLAHOMA:
ACLU sues governor for failing to release public documents
A news organization and a not-for-profit are going to court based on claims
Gov. Mary Fallin and her office failed to comply with the state's Open Records
Act.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma filed a lawsuit in Oklahoma
County District Court Monday on behalf of The Oklahoma Observer and A Perfect
Cause, a not-for-profit that advocates for Oklahoma's nursing home patients.
Fallin's office failed to provide access to public records sought more than a
year ago in each case, the lawsuit contends. This is the 4th time the
governor's office has been sued in connection with its failure to public
records sought by news agencies and other entities.
Arnold Hamilton, editor of The Oklahoma Observer, made his request July 16,
2014, for documents related to the Pardon and Parole Board's recommendation
that death row inmates Garry Thomas Allen and Brian Darrell Davis receive
clemency. Both men were executed as scheduled.
Hamilton told reporters he requested any records and communications the
governor had with officials from the attorney general's office, Department of
Corrections and the Pardon and Parole Board.
"I wanted to know what went into the governor's thinking" in refusing clemency
for the two inmates, Hamilton said. "From where we stand the death penalty is
the greatest sanction government can impose on its citizens."
Hamilton said he finally received a package containing 41,600 pages of
documents from the governor's office, but it was the wrong information. The
documents were related to 2014 executions carried out by Oklahoma, not the
executions of Allen and Davis, which occurred in 2012 and 2013.
Fallin's spokesman, Alex Weintz, said he was unaware Hamilton had received the
wrong information and would look into the matter.
Meanwhile, A Perfect Cause Director Cecilia Smith on March 4, 2013, sought
records of communication between the governor and her staff with nursing home
operators and long term care providers on any related issues or concerns. They
also wanted communications between the governor's office and seven state
officials who A Perfect Cause asked to resign because of widespread neglect and
abuse allegations in nursing homes statewide, said Wes Bledsoe, founder of the
not-for-profit.
The underlying reason for the documents request was to determine the governor's
policy on nursing homes and the abuse allegations, an ACLU official said.
On Jan. 8, 2014, Bledsoe met with Fallin's chief of staff, Denise Northrup and
the governor's legal counsel, Steve Mullins. Bledsoe also met with Mullins 2
months later with Mullins informing him the governor's office intended to focus
on the nursing home surveys, which are conducted to determine it any
deficiencies exist at individual nursing centers.
However, the request for documents from A Perfect Cause was never complied
with, said ACLU Legal Director Brady Henderson.
Henderson and ACLU Executive Director Ryan Kiesel said the governor???s office
is violating the Open Records law by not answering official requests for
documents. The governor's office takes unnecessary steps designed to delay
production of records requests, the lawsuit contends.
Staff members rescan digital records, such as e-mails and pdf documents, into
non-searchable optically scanned images to make it more difficult for reporters
and the public to search available records. This process is performed by either
digital conversion or physically printing hard copies of digital documents and
then scanning the hard copies with an optical scanning device, the lawsuit
states.
The ACLU also contends requests are delayed even more by requiring the
governor's legal staff to inspect all documents that will be released. The ACLU
claims the governor's office also is reviewing the documents for "political
sensitivity or other non-legal reasons."
"After dealing with this administration, we don't see any alternative other
than litigation," Kiesel said.
However, Weintz defended the system that is used at the governor's office,
saying Fallin's administration has disclosed 357,000 pages of requested public
documents since 2012.
"The scope of this is unprecedented," Weintz said, claiming no other governor
has been asked to produce that many public records. "We take our obligation
seriously. The Open Records Act is something Gov. Fallin supports. It is our
obligation to read these documents before we can turn them over so private
information is not disclosed. It is a time consuming process."
Weintz contends neither Gov. Frank Keating nor Gov. Brad Henry was asked for so
many public records and communications during their time in office.
The governor's office has three attorneys and a paralegal who spend part of
their workdays reading documents that have been requested by news agencies and
other individuals. The public and the press should be "realistic and fair"
before criticizing the governor's office for failing to provide the documents
under the Open Records Act, Weintz said. The requests for documents are
answered as they are received, he said.
However, the ACLU claims a year or longer is not "reasonable or prompt" as
stated in the Open Records Act. Henderson believes it will take a thorough
legal challenge to force the governor's office to move at a faster pace when
answering records requests.
"This tool (Open Records Act), if we don't defend it, can become mute," he
said. "What's said is we've had to do this at all."
USA:
1 in 10 death row inmates are military veterans, report says
1/1/0 of those who currently on death row in the United States are military
veterans, including some with post-traumatic stress disorder that was not
factored into their sentences, according to a new report released on the eve of
Veterans Day.
This report arrives as the country's use of the death penalty is simultaneously
declining and facing increased scrutiny, something that has been argued before
the U.S. Supreme Court and on the presidential campaign trail this year.
While it is not known exactly how many veterans have been sentenced to death,
the report released Tuesday by the Death Penalty Information Center says that
about 300 of the country's more than 3,000 death-row inmates have served in the
military. It goes on to argue that a person's military service should be
factored into a possible sentence, particularly if the person facing trial has
shown signs of trauma and possible post-traumatic stress disorder.
"At a time in which the death penalty is being imposed less and less, it is
disturbing that so many veterans who were mentally and emotionally scarred
while serving their country are now facing execution," Robert Dunham, executive
director of the Death Penalty Information Center, said in a statement.
The number of people put to death is falling nationwide, as are the number of
death sentences handed down and the number of states carrying out executions.
So far this year, 25 people have been executed, and the country is likely to
have fewer executions this year than it has in nearly a quarter of a century.
The 1st person put to death in the United States this year was Andrew Brannan,
who killed a Georgia sheriff's deputy in 1998. Brannan, who served in Vietnam,
had argued that he developed post-traumatic stress disorder after his
experiences in combat.
This new report outlines Brannan's case and many others, stating that "many
[veterans] have experienced trauma that few others in society have ever
encountered - trauma that may have played a role in their committing serious
crimes," considerations that should be factored into how they are sentenced.
The report also noted that for many veterans currently on death row, their
military service and any related mental illnesses "were barely touched on as
their lives were being weighed by judges and juries."
It adds: "Even today, there are veterans on death row with PTSD that was
unexplored at their trial or undervalued for its pernicious effects."
As a possible remedy, the report says that attorneys in capital cases should
make sure to ask about possible military service, have mental health
assessments that focus on possible trauma from that service and educate
prosecutors, defense attorneys and judges about the effects of post-traumatic
stress disorder.
(source: Washington Post)
*********************
Last Day of Freedom (32min) When Bill Babbitt realizes his brother Manny has
committed a crime he agonizes over his decision- should he call the police?
Last Day of Freedom is a richly animated personal narrative that tells the
story of Bill's decision to stand by his brother, a Veteran returning from war,
as he faces criminal charges, racism, and ultimately the death penalty. This
film is a portrait of a man at the nexus of the most pressing social issues of
our day - veterans' care, mental health access and criminal justice. Original
music by Fred Frith.
Currently we are nominated for Best Short Film by the IDA and semi- finalists
for the Oscar in Best Short Documentary. The film was awarded the Jury Award
for Best Short at Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, an Academy Awards
(Oscar) qualifying category; the Film Maker Award from the Center for
Documentary Studies at Duke, the Jury Award for Best Short Documentary Hamptons
International Film Festival, NY, Golden Strands Award, for outstanding
documentary short film, Tall Grass International Film Festival, KS, Animated
Short Doc Award, Bar Harbor, MA, Impact Award (In) Justice for All
International Film Festival, IL and Honorary Mention Best Animated Documentary
Short Film, Dok Leipzig, DE
Link to the trailer http://www.lastdayoffreedom.net [www.lastdayoffreedom.net]
-- Making of video - on IndieWire:
http://www.indiewire.com/article/watch-exclusive-
behind-the-scenes-clip-from-award-winning-short-last-day-of-freedom-20151001
(sources: DH-J & RH)
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