Feb. 13
TEXAS----impending execution
Plano man set for execution
A Plano man is set to be executed Tuesday after the U.S. Supreme Court refused
to hear his latest - and likely final - appeal.
In December 1990, then-19-year-old Gustavo Garcia shot and killed store clerk
Craig Turski, according to police. He confessed to the crime after being
arrested in connection to the murder of another store clerk the following
month.
Police found Garcia hiding inside a store cooler after his friend, Christopher
Vargas, 15, shot and killed Gregory Marin, 18. Garcia was charged in that case
but never tried.
Garcia's attorneys have long contended that his written confession should have
been thrown out because it did not include language that he had "knowingly,
intelligently and voluntarily" waived his right to remain silent.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturned his conviction in 1994, only to
reinstate it during a follow-up hearing.
In 1998, Garcia joined 6 other inmates in a daring prison escape attempt.
Garcia surrendered before making it off prison grounds.
Garcia was given a new sentencing hearing in 2000 after a chief psychologist
with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice testified that being Hispanic
made him a threat.
Garcia received another death sentence in 2001.
Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Garcia's latest appeal. It
then refused to revisit that decision Wednesday.
Garcia will be the 3rd Texan executed this year, and the 1st one from Collin
County since 2010. He will be just the 7th Collin County man executed since
Texas resumed the death penalty in 1982, according to officials.
(source: starlocalmedia.com)
GEORGIA----impending execution
GA Pardons and Parole Board to hear clemency request of death row inmate
The Georgia Pardons and Parole Board will consider a clemency request for a
death row inmate slated to die on Wednesday, Feb. 17.
Former Navy crewman Travis Hittson, 45, was convicted of killing fellow sailor
Conway Utterbeck back in 1993.
Hittson's attorneys have argued in the past that their client was emotionally
and physically mistreated as a child, had limited intelligence, and severe
alcohol problems.
They also say Hittson was only following the directions of another sailor also
convicted in the killing - Edward Vollmer. They say Vollmer masterminded the
killing and manipulated Hittson.
Additionally, they argue Hittson should not be put to death since Vollmer, who
is serving a life sentence, has the possibility of one day being released on
parole.
If clemency is not granted, Hittson will be put to death by lethal injection at
7 p.m. Wednesday at the State Prison in Jackson.
(source: WTVM news)
FLORIDA:
When it comes to Florida's death penalty, it's a dog's life
You might get the idea that Florida's lawmakers are real sticklers when it
comes to sanctioning executions.
But only if you consider dogs, and not people.
This month, both houses of the state legislature demonstrated unanimous concern
for a black Labrador retriever named Padi that had been condemned to death for
biting off part of a 4-year-old boy's ear last summer.
The boy encountered Padi in a veterinarian's office in Bradenton. Accounts
differ as to what led the dog to bite the boy. Was he playing with the dog or
tormenting it? The bite itself occurred out of sight when the boy followed the
dog under a desk.
A movement to keep Padi from being euthanized grew, and it was picked up by
Rep. Greg Steube, who introduced what became known as "Padi's bill" to his
colleagues.
The legislation restricted dogs from being labeled "dangerous" if their attacks
came as a result of being tormented, assaulted or abused. And it gave dog
owners more legal rights to keep their pets from being euthanized by the
government.
As for the 390 people facing state-sponsored euthanization in Florida, their
issues aren't being handled with the same sort of alacrity that was exhibited
for Padi.
And Florida's people-euthanization law is as seriously flawed as its
animal-euthanization law had been.
Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court, on an 8-1 vote, ruled that Florida has been
operating with a death row sentencing procedure that is unconstitutional
because it allows a judge, rather than a jury, to decide whether a person is
condemned to die.
During the sentencing phase in murder cases where the death penalty is sought,
12-member juries weigh mitigating and aggravating factors in the crime, then
deliberate to give a life-or-death recommendation to the judge.
Unlike the verdict of guilt or innocence, the jury recommendations on death are
not required to be unanimous in Florida. The judge can ignore the jury
recommendation and give weight to evidence not presented at the trial when
deciding whether the defendant will be executed.
As a result of this system, 279 of the 390 inmates on Florida's death row have
been condemned to death with less than unanimous jury recommendations that they
be executed.
In the case heard by the U.S. Supreme Court, Timothy Hurst, 19, was convicted
in the 1998 killing of the store manager of a Popeye's chicken restaurant in
Pensacola where they both worked.
The jurors weighed aggravating circumstances - that the murder to facilitate a
robbery was done with a box cutter, making it especially heinous and cruel -
along with mitigating circumstances, that Hurst had an IQ of 69, the result of
being poisoned in the womb with the daily alcohol consumed by his 15-year-old
mother.
The jury verdict was 7 for death, 5 for life in prison. The trial judge then
held a separate hearing, using his own reasoning to sentence Hurst to death.
"The Sixth Amendment protects a defendant's right to an impartial jury," U.S.
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote for the majority of the court. "The
right required Florida to base Timothy Hurst's death sentence on a jury's
verdict, not a judge's fact-finding."
The ruling has put Florida's death row executions on hold until the state
legislature fixes the sentencing law.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruling didn't address whether it was constitutional to
execute people on less than unanimous jury verdicts.
Out of 32 death penalty states, Florida is 1 of 3 that doesn't require a
unanimous jury recommendation for death.
A poll commissioned by the Florida International University College of Law
found that 73 % of Floridians support requiring juries to make unanimous
decisions when condemning a person to die. The poll found support for this
position among different political parties, genders, regions, races, ages, and
religions.
The Florida Senate agreed: To kill a person, the jury recommendation for death
should be unanimous.
But the Florida House is balking, the same Florida House that unanimously
rushed to spare the Labrador retriever from an unfair euthanization process
doesn't want to spare some death row inmates from euthanization just because a
few people on their juries who weighed all the evidence in their cases think
they ought to live.
As long as 9 of the 12 jurors vote for death, that's close enough to kill, the
Florida House consensus has been, creating a rift that has stalled the
legislation.
So when it comes to diligence in fixing Florida's capital punishment laws,
you're better off being a 4-legged perp than a 2-legged one.
(source: Column, Frank Cerabino; Palm Beach Post)
ALABAMA:
No DNA linking John Clayton Owens to slaying of elderly neighbor, jurors hear
No DNA links John Clayton Owens to the August 2011 murder of his 91-year-old
neighbor, jurors learned Friday afternoon.
Details of the autopsy of Doris Richardson and testimony from a DNA analyst
took up the majority of the afternoon Friday, the 2nd full day of testimony in
Owens' capital murder trial. He faces the death penalty in the death of
Richardson, who was found slain in her home at 2206 Bide-A-Wee Drive on Aug.
26, 2011.
Dr. Valerie Green, the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences pathologist who
performed Richardson's autopsy 3 days after her death, testified that the
elderly woman died of manual strangulation.
She said there were obvious signs of trauma on Richardson, who stood just 4
feet, 9 inches tall and weighed about 105 pounds. The first thing the doctor
noticed was bruising and abrasions on the victim's neck.
The marks could be consistent with blunt force trauma, Green said, but
alongside all of the other autopsy findings, the wounds were more consistent
with Richardson's throat being squeezed.
She also had bruising on her arms and legs, as well as bruises inside her
mouth, on the inside of her lips where they align with her gum line. Those
wounds were consistent with pressure being placed over Richardson's mouth.
Though she did not have her top dentures in, her bottom set were in her mouth.
The extensive bruising on her arms was consistent with defensive wounds, Green
said.
When Green opened up Richardson's neck, she found that the woman's hyoid bone,
the U-shaped bone that supports a person's tongue, was fractured. A 2nd bone
behind the Adam's apple was broken and there was bleeding in her neck muscles.
Richardson also had petechial hemorrhaging in her eyes, another common sign of
strangulation.
Green said she could not say how long it took Richardson to die.
On cross-examination, defense attorney Ron Smith asked Green if medications
Richardson was taking for various medical conditions, such as blood thinners,
could cause her to bleed easily. He questioned whether the pathologist would
expect to see soft tissue bleeding in a woman in her 90s.
Green said she would not anticipate it unless something occurred to cause the
bleeding.
Smith asked whether Green could say with certainty that all of the injuries she
found were caused the night Richardson died. She said she could not.
He also asked whether she could say with certainty that all of the injuries
were caused by strangulation.
"I can say that the injuries of the neck were caused by the manual
strangulation," Green said.
Owens, 32, is accused of killing 91-year-old Doris Richardson, who was found
slain in her bed on Aug. 26, 2011. He faces the death penalty in Richardson's
death.
Prior to Green's testimony, the 1st witness after the lunch break Friday was
Lillie Harper, forensic biology section chief for the DFS' Huntsville lab.
Harper's testimony dealt with DNA testing on items found at the crime scene.
Prosecutor Tim Gann had Harper explain the different methods of finding DNA
from semen, saliva and skin cells. He focused mainly on what is called "touch
DNA," which involves what is left behind when a person touches a surface.
Harper testified that the presence of touch DNA on a surface depends on a wide
variety of factors, including the surface type and the length of time a person
touches that surface.
She added that a surface could have DNA on it, but if crime scene investigators
do not collect enough skin cells or body fluid in a sample, the DNA might not
be found.
"There are a lot of variables there as to whether we would detect it or not,"
Harper said.
Harper testified that in the Owens case, she analyzed Doris Richardson's
nightgown, a rape kit taken from Richardson's body at the morgue and DNA
reference samples from Richardson, Owens and Owens' friend, Jimmy Justice.
Justice was a potential suspect in the case because he had 2 stolen guns from
Richardson's house in his possession.
There were no signs of semen in the rape kit, and Richardson had no foreign DNA
under her fingernails, Harper said. The victim's nightgown, dentures and
bedding also were negative for semen.
Harper said Richardson's own blood was found on the nightgown and dentures.
Later in the investigation, in 2013, Harper received Richardson's dentures for
further testing, along with the handle and dial of the safe from her house, a
flashlight found on her kitchen table, a barbecue fork used to pry her back
door open and a reference DNA sample from Owens' uncle, Thomas Owens.
The defense has pointed the finger at Thomas Owens as Richardson's real killer.
Harper said that in the second round of testing, she found no DNA on either the
safe handle or dial. She was able to obtain a limited profile on the flashlight
that did not match Richardson or either Owens.
Harper said the results didn't mean that the people named had never touched the
items.
"You can just say that what was detected...." Gann asked.
"Could not have come from them," Harper finished for him.
She also said DNA testing cannot determine with certainty who the last person
to touch an item was.
On the barbecue fork, she could not include or exclude Richardson as the source
of DNA she found. She was able to exclude both John and Thomas Owens as the
source.
Again, Harper said the DNA results did not mean that the people tested had
never touched the fork.
Under cross-examination by Smith, Harper testified about the testing done on
hairs found at the scene of the crime. Hair found on Richardson's nightgown did
not produce a DNA profile.
Harper explained that the root of the hair must be intact to find nuclear DNA.
Hair without a root can be tested for mitochondrial DNA, but the Huntsville
forensics lab does not perform mitochondrial DNA.
Smith asked if a manual strangulation would leave DNA from the killer on a
person's neck. Harper said it is possible, depending on the circumstances.
Jurors learned during testimony on Thursday that Richardson's neck was not
swabbed for DNA or analyzed for fingerprints.
Smith brought up feces found in a toilet at Richardson's house, which a crime
scene technician previously testified had not been processed for DNA. The
attorney asked Harper if the stool could contain DNA material.
"Yes. When you think that this is passing through a person's body, coming into
contact with biological material in the body as well as the body itself, there
could be some cells," Harper said.
She said skin cells could also be found on used bath tissue, which was also
found in the toilet after Richardson's death. No tests were conducted on the
tissue, either.
Officer Jeff Kreiter, one of the Huntsville police officers who took Owens into
custody at Big Spring Park the day of his arrest, testified briefly Friday.
Kreiter told jurors that he and a colleague walked up behind Owens, who had
been designated a "person of interest" in the case, called out his name and,
when Owens responded, placed him under arrest without incident.
The only thing Owens said at the time, Kreiter said, was, "How did you find
me?"
The final testimony of the day came from Charlie Gray, the lead investigator on
the case. Gray went over much of the same ground that jurors heard from
previous witnesses, describing the start of the investigation on Bide-A-Wee
Drive.
Gray talked about canvassing several of Richardson's neighbors, who said they
had noticed that her bedroom light remained on overnight the night of Aug. 25.
The neighbors also noticed that her newspaper - which she picked up from her
lawn religiously by 6 a.m. each day - remained in the grass all day on Aug. 26.
When he first went to Owens' home at 2204 Bide-A-Wee Drive, there was no answer
and no one appeared to be home. He said he first talked to Thomas Owens the
following day, when the older Owens reported finding some of Richardson's
stolen property in and outside his home.
Though Thomas Owens testified Thursday that he and a cousin found some of the
items hidden between the bed and the wall in his nephew's bedroom, Gray
testified that Owens initially said he'd found the items on John Owens' bed.
Gray said that once he had placed the coins, jewelry and empty jewelry boxes
into evidence, he showed them to Richardson's daughter, Carolyn Bentley. She
was able to identify the items as her mother's and tell him where each item had
been kept in her mother's ransacked house.
When Gray initially questioned John Owens, the suspect claimed he had last been
in her house several weeks before the murder to fix her broken hot water
heater. He also cut her grass on occasion and did other odd jobs for her.
Owens' story changed when he learned that police had searched his bedroom and
found the items he'd stolen from Richardson. Then, Gray said, Owens admitted
stealing the items, but said he'd done so a week before the homicide.
He denied killing her.
Circuit Judge Alison Austin ended the day shortly after 5 p.m. Testimony will
resume with Gray on the stand on Tuesday, following the Presidents Day holiday.
(source: al.com)
******************
Man sentenced to death again
Jessie Livell Phillips, the Albertville man convicted in 2012 for the death of
his estranged wife and unborn child was re-sentenced to death today. Phillips
shot his estranged wife, Erica Phillips, during an altercation at a
Guntersville carwash on Feb. 27, 2009. He was convicted and sentenced to death
in 2012, but a recent Supreme Court case brought into question the
constitutionality of Alabama's capital punishment system causing Judge Tim
Riley to reconsider the conviction.
"The judge re-imposed the death penalty today," District Attorney Steve
Marshall said. "Part of the question the judge was dealing with was regarding a
recent Supreme Court case that brought into question Alabama's system. "The
same Supreme Court case shut down Florida's system, and Alabama's is similar.
That was the question today. He decided to not rule ours unconstitutional."
(source: Sand Mountain Reporter)
*****************
True Opelika crime story ---- How a murderer on the run was brought to justice
A missing woman, a concerned family and skeletal remains, all tangled in a web
of crime, lies and intrigue. While that sounds like a plot straight off the
silver screen - it was a well-documented Lee and Macon County crime of 1914.
The 28 newspaper articles capturing the details provided the sources for this
story.
Photographs of Pomp Dickerson showed he was a handsome man, the son of Squire
and Emma Dickerson. According to the 1920 U. S. Census, this family's race was
listed as Mulatto. Contacts with descendants revealed Emma was Native-American
while Squire was African-American.
As an adult, Pomp worked for the railroad in Philadelphia, Penn. He met and
married Bessie. The couple came to Alabama to visit the Dickerson family in the
little Texas community of Macon County near the southwest Lee County line.
After a time, Pomp returned alone to Philadelphia, telling his family that
Bessie had returned earlier. Bessie was never seen alive again.
After a time, Bessie's family became concerned about her disappearance and
contacted Alabama authorities. Today it would be called a missing person
report. Griffin Butler was Lee County Sheriff when the investigation started.
John Moon was Sheriff when it ended.
This was a time when public resources were scarce. Education for law
enforcement did not exist. Officials just did the best they could in conducting
criminal investigations.
As the investigation continued, witnesses revealed they saw the couple walking
near the family home; Pomp was carrying a gun. A gunshot was heard. The
skeletal remains of a female were soon found. Clothing matching the description
of Mrs. Dickerson's was found with the remains.
Pomp was arrested in Philadelphia and extradited to Lee County. Deputy Sheriff
W. A. "Tobe" Betts brought the suspect back to Opelika.
The Opelika Daily News of Dec. 2, 1914 documented Pomp's trial, which
reportedly attracted the largest crowd ever seen here. The jury was charged at
11:30 a.m. and returned a verdict of guilty at 2 p.m. Death on the gallows was
the sentence. Judge Duke set the execution date for Jan. 29, 1915.
On Dec. 3, a follow-up article provided more details of the trial. A letter
written by Dickerson, while in jail, to a friend in Philadelphia was
intercepted by authorities. Dickerson requested his friend write a letter to
the sheriff saying she was alive and to sign it "Bessie Dickerson." "The
defendant never lost his composure," even though the state dumped Bessie's
bones out of a sack before the court. Case closed? No. There was much more to
come.
The Jan. 29 execution date was suspended because this case was appealed to the
Alabama Supreme Court, but that court upheld the lower court's decision.
Dickerson's execution was rescheduled for June 25, 1915.
On May 18, Pomp claimed that his father, Squire Dickerson, fired the shot that
killed Bessie. Squire Dickerson was arrested and jailed. A subsequent hearing
found no basis for Pomp's claim and Squire was released.
With only 4 more days to live, Pomp Dickerson escaped from the Lee County Jail.
He had carved a wooden key with his pocket knife from a slat of a straight
chair and opened the cell door with it.
Promptly, a wanted notice with a reward of $200 from Governor Henderson and a
$200 reward from Sheriff Moon for the arrest of Pomp Dickerson was posted.
To satisfy doubters of the wooden key story, a 2nd wooden key was quickly
carved by a second person. The cell door was opened with this key, before
witnesses.
Pomp was recaptured within a few days in a corn crib 5 miles from town toward
Gold Hill. He was armed and shots were fired. Dickerson was hit in the arm but
taken into custody. Mitchell Merchant, who was married to Dickerson's cousin,
was arrested for harboring the fugitive.
Dickerson was returned to the county jail, put in a cell on the 2nd floor,
shackled and chained to the wall with a guard outside the door. Dickerson,
suffering from the gunshot wound, was treated.
July 26, 1915, Judge Duke re-sentenced Pomp Dickerson "to be hanged by the neck
until you are dead on August 27, 1915 - and God be your helper." Pomp was
ordered taken to Montgomery since the Lee County Jail was "unsafe for the
confinement of a prisoner under the sentence of death."
Dickerson's conviction was upheld by the Alabama Supreme Court.
In early August, Pomp was again in the news as prison authorities reported a
suicide attempt. The local paper reprinted an article from the Montgomery
Advertiser claiming that Pomp's mother brought him a basket of poisoned food.
The jailer put out the word if Pomp died from the poison his mother would be
sentenced to death. After that confrontation the mother grabbed the basket and
"rushed for the door." The food was listed as fried chicken, a cake, pies and
biscuit.
At some point before the date of execution, Pomp Dickerson was returned to
Opelika where he was to be hung. He also confessed to the murder for the 1st
time, before a number of people including Dr. and Mrs. J. W. Darden, Rev. W. T.
Paulk, pastor of the A. M. E. Zion Church, Deputy Tobe Betts and Deputy Percy
Griffin, and asked that the written confession be given to the local paper.
The lengthy confession was printed in the Daily News. It described an unhappy
and troubled marriage. As to the murder, he said, "At that time a quick passion
went all over me and before I could think, I shot her for she kept me in
trouble and worried me all of the time. She had me almost crazy half of the
time ... ." The date of the murder was given as July 22, 1914.
An Aug. 27, 1915, headline read: "Pomp executed for murder at 11:15 today."
After Deputy Betts adjusted the noose, Dickerson was asked if he had anything
to say. He made a lengthy reply which included, "I want to let you all who have
gathered here to see me and all the world to know I am receiving my just
reward. I am paying, with my life, the just penalty for the crime I committed.
I have made peace with my maker and I am going to my death without the least of
fear..."
15 minutes after the trap was sprung, Dickerson was pronounced dead. His
remains were released to the parents and interment took place in the Little
Texas community in Macon County.
Was that the end? Not entirely. In 2003, one of Pomp's sisters was still
living. She was 105-years-old. A gentleman had contacted her concerning
"lynchings" in the south. He was referred to Edna Ward who provided him copies
of the Dickerson newspaper articles and assured him that Dickerson was legally
executed following a jury trial which was reviewed and upheld by higher courts.
Although over 100 years have passed since this murder, we offer it as excellent
example of law enforcement at a time when resources and education for law
enforcement were limited.
(source: Edna Ward, Opelika Observer)
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