April 26
TEXAS:
Death Sentence Handed Down After 'Expert' Testifies That Black People Are
Dangerous
There's no question that Duane Buck is to blame for the 1995 double-murder of
his ex-girlfriend and her friend on July 30 in Houston. According to The
Intercept, Buck forced his way into the home of Debra Gardner armed with a
rifle and shotgun and opened fire. He took aim at one of Gardner's friends
first, but missed. He then shot his stepsister straight in the chest; she
survived. He also shot and killed another one of Gardner's friends named
Kenneth Butler. Gardner ran from her home, after which Buck followed and shot
her dead in the street while her 2 children looked on. In 1997, he was tried
and convicted of capital murder and sentenced to die.
The issue now is whether racially charged testimony from a psychologist caused
Buck to be sentenced to death rather than life in prison. His legal team opted
to retain a now discredited psychologist, Dr. Walter Quijano, who testified
that Buck poses more of a danger to society because he is African-American. His
racially charged testimony went unchecked in early court proceedings, and even
after Buck was given a new lawyer.
Racism permeating the criminal justice system also had a lot to do with his
harsh sentencing. According to a 2012 study conducted by the University of
Maryland, investigators in Harris County were more than 3 times as likely to
seek the death penalty against Black defendants than white defendants, and
jurors were more than twice as likely to sentence Black defendants to death,
The Intercept reports.
"Mr. Buck received a death sentence that is the product of explicit and blatant
racial discrimination," one of Buck's attorneys, Kate Black, wrote in an email
to The Intercept. "The Supreme Court now has the opportunity to reaffirm the
fundamental constitutional principle that racial discrimination has no place in
our modern system of justice."
Per Think Progress, Buck is now seeking authorization to get "determination of
whether 'extraordinary circumstances' exist that would permit a lower court to
determine whether the racist testimony elicited by his own counsel prejudiced
the outcome of his sentencing proceeding." If he is successful in doing so, he
then gets a new sentencing hearing. That trial would literally be a matter of
life and death.
Former Texas Attorney General John Cornyn, who is now a U.S. senator, conducted
a review of capital cases back in 2000 and found that this wasn't the 1st time
Quijano offered racially charged testimony in a death penalty case. Cornyn's
staff discovered 6 other cases where the psychologist offered similar
statements. In Buck's trial, Quijano testified that Blacks and Latinos are more
likely to be dangerous because they're "over represented in the Criminal
Justice System," Think Progress reports. Cornyn's office then declared that it
wouldn't stand in the way of inmates seeking to overturn their sentences based
on testimony given by Quijano.
"Infusion of race as a factor for the jury to weigh in making its determination
violated [a defendant's] constitutional right to be sentenced without regard to
the color of his skin," they said in a brief submitted in one of the cases.
Unfortunately, 6 of the inmates who requested new sentences were subsequently
re-sentenced to death, 3 of whom who have already been executed, according to
The Intercept. In Buck's case, the State of Texas reneged on its promise and
determined that Buck didn't deserve a new hearing because it was his own legal
counsel who called the psychologist to testify. Now, he faces a similar fate if
the Supreme Court doesn't step in to hear his case.
A glimmer of hope came in 2013 when the Supreme Court decided that "there
should be a 'narrow exception' to the previously existing rule that an
attorney's ignorance or inadvertence in a post-conviction proceeding does not
qualify as cause to excuse a procedural default," Think Progress reports. This
gave Buck another chance to turn around the ineffective legal counsel he had
received in the past. Now armed with 6 lawyers from the NAACP Legal Defense
Fund, founded by Justice Thurgood Marshall, Buck has a good shot at receiving a
new hearing.
(source: atlantablackstar.com)
VIRGINIA:
Police: He shot his wife, then an officer, then asked police to shoot him
The former Pentagon IT specialist accused of fatally shooting his wife, then a
police officer who responded to a 911 call at his Northern Virginia home, asked
an investigator to kill him soon after he'd been handcuffed.
Shortly after authorities say Army Staff Sgt. Ronald "Ronnie" Hamilton killed
his wife Crystal Hamilton, 29, and fatally shot police officer Ashley Guindon,
28, on Feb. 27, he was placed in the backseat of a police cruiser. He waived
his Miranda rights and agreed to answer questions from a Prince William police
sergeant.
"He said, 'I ruined my life. Take your gun out and shoot me now,'" Sgt. Joey
Medawar recalled of his conversation with Hamilton. "I said, 'I'm not going to
shoot you. Help me understand what happened.'"
Medawar recounted the conversation as he testified Tuesday in Prince William
County General District Court. A judge ruled there was enough evidence for a
grand jury to consider whether to indict Ronald Hamilton on charges including
capital murder for the killing of a police officer and 1st-degree murder for
the death of his wife..
In an interview after the hearing, Prince William County Commonwealth's
Attorney Paul Ebert said he will "likely" pursue the death penalty against
Hamilton, 32.
In a candid discussion with Medawar shortly after being arrested, Hamilton
admitted to the slayings, according to the sergeant's testimony. He said he
shot his wife because they were "arguing," though Medawar had not pressed
Hamilton on why the couple was fighting. Hamilton told the sergeant he shot his
wife with an AK-47 and opened fire on Guindon - along with 2 other officers -
because they were "storming" Hamilton'sWoodbridge home, Medawar said.
Medawar asked him why he shot the officers.
"He thinks he may have snapped and that he has PTSD (post-traumatic stress
disorder)," the officer testified, noting that Hamilton had said he'd served in
Iraq and Afghanistan. (Hamilton's official military record shows that he only
served in Iraq.) Medawar asked him whether a doctor diagnosed him with PTSD,
and Hamilton said "'No,' but he thinks he has it."
The shootings prompted an outpouring of anguish across the Washington region,
particularly because Guindon had just become an officer and was killed on her
1st day on the street. Guindon's slaying marked the 1st killing of a Prince
William police officer since 1990. 2 other officers were wounded.
Thousands of people, including law enforcement officers and citizens who didn't
even know her, paid their respects for Guindon at a memorial ceremony in early
March at the Hylton Memorial Chapel in Woodbridge. 2 weeks later, a vigil was
held for Crystal Hamilton at the Marine Memorial Chapel in Quantico. Many
people spoke about the care she'd given their sick or wounded relatives as part
of her job at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda.
During Tuesday's hearing, Medawar also testified that Ronald Hamilton expressed
surprise that he hadn't been killed by the officers who arrived at his home
that evening. "He thought the officers were going to shoot him. He said, 'the
officers showed a lot of restraint,'" Medawar said. The sergeant asked him,
"Were you trying to commit suicide-by-cops?" Hamilton said no, according to
Medawar.
It's not clear what precisely prompted Hamilton to allegedly open fire on his
wife, especially while the couple's 11-year-old son, Tyriq, was in the house.
Hamilton's father, a retired major from the Charleston, S.C. police department
who also is named Ronald W. Hamilton, has said his son was depressed after 2
tours of duty in Iraq in 2003 and then in 2005.
[He's a retired cop. Now his son has been charged with murder.]
Crystal's sister, Wendy Howard, told The Post earlier this month that Hamilton
never served in a combat role because he was an IT specialist.
A family member close to the couple - who met growing up in South Carolina -
also has told The Post that Hamilton admitted to his wife around Christmas to
having an affair with another woman, and that Crystal had decided to leave him
and seek full custody of their son. The relative also told The Post that Ronald
Hamilton was jealous of Crystal's friendships with men she worked with at
Walter Reed, and worried she was having an affair.
On the night of her killing, Crystal was supposed to go out for a "girls night"
with friends. Her husband insisted that she stay home, but Crystal refused,
according to relatives. Howard, Crystal's sister, has told The Post that the
couple's son saw his father throw Crystal up against a wall with such force
that a television fell down. After Crystal told Tyriq to flee the house, he
heard 2 loud gunshots on his way down the stairs, Howard said, followed by his
mother's silence.
During Tuesday's hearing, Medawar said Hamilton seemed remorseful sitting in
the police cruiser. He asked the sergeant 1 question that stuck out:
"Are the officers okay?"
Medawar said he chose not to respond.
(source: Washington Post)
FLORIDA:
Tisdale capital murder sentencing likely watched statewide
When Circuit Judge Dan Vaughn convenes court Friday, the man who brutally
gunned down St. Lucie County Sgt. Gary Morales during a 2013 traffic stop may
learn if he will be executed for his crimes.
Or, maybe not.
Vaughn hasn't declared what he will do Friday, but he's expected to be the 1st
trial judge to sentence a defendant convicted of capital murder before the
sentencing system was struck down in January and after a new law was enacted
last month. His actions likely will be watched statewide by courts, prosecutors
and defense lawyers mired in capital murder trials when circumstances changed.
That's because a lot has changed since Vaughn in January put off sentencing
Eriese Tisdale, 28, who faces life in prison or the death penalty - the
punishment preferred 9 to 3 by a jury that convicted him of 1st-degree murder
of a police officer during an October trial. The delay followed the U.S.
Supreme Court opinion that found Florida's death penalty system to be
unconstitutional.
Ruling 8-1 in the case of Timothy Hurst, who was convicted of the 1998 murder
of a Pensacola restaurant manager, the Supreme Court found Florida gave too
much power to judges to make the final decision to sentence someone to death.
That decision shucked death penalty sentencing rules out the window - including
ones guiding Tisdale's trial - temporarily halted executions and prompted
legislators to overhaul the law.
One legal expert suggested Vaughn may not sentence Tisdale and instead order
the state to conduct a do-over penalty phase using a new jury and the new
rules.
Ambiguity aside, Gary Morales's extended family - a wife, 2 young daughters and
dozens of local relatives - want the protracted prosecution to end, his brother
Ken Morales said.
"The trial has been going on since October," he said. "We are just ready to get
these court proceedings done and over with."
Old law, new rules
When Tisdale's jury voted 9-3 for execution, it satisfied a mandate that a
majority of jurors agree to advise a death sentence. The new law requires at
least 10 out of 12 jurors vote in favor of execution. And prosecutors must
first spell out the reasons, or aggravating factors, why a death sentence
should be imposed. It also requires the jury, during the initial guilt phase of
a death penalty trial, to decide unanimously if there is at least one reason
that justifies it.
That didn't happen during Tisdale's trial, but the jury's verdict - which found
him guilty of 4 additional violent felonies - didn't require it.
Still, his lawyers have told Vaughn because the death penalty law changed
during Tisdale's prosecution, the only remedy is to order he serve life in
prison without parole.
Assistant Public Defender Stanley Glenn said via email he has no clue what
Vaughn will do in court and he's getting no hints.
"I also have had zero input from the prosecution regarding how they intend to
proceed," he added.
Chief Assistant State Attorney Tom Bakkedahl said he has no reason to believe
Vaughn won't follow the jury's recommendation and sentence Tisdale to death.
And if it turns out to be wrong, he said it'll be sorted out during an appeal
filed directly to the Florida Supreme Court.
"If the judge ... sentences him to death, they are certainly not going to
execute him before he has an opportunity to appeal that decision," Bakkedahl
said. "That seems to be the most reasonable, logical way to approach it."
Ken Morales agreed.
"The punishment should fit the crime and he (Tisdale) killed my brother; he
deserves the death penalty," he said. "But if he gets the death penalty, or
it's life in prison because of this new thing that's going on, either way he's
spending his life in prison and he's not getting out."
Legal options
A review of capital murder prosecutions shows Vaughn has few places to seek
guidance on imposing Tisdale's sentence, a murder case in the trial pipeline
when the state's death penalty sentencing system was struck down.
University of Florida law professor George "Bob" Dekle said Vaughn faces a
dilemma with options.
"Either go ahead and sentence him (Tisdale) to death on the 9-3 recommendation
or say (the U.S. Supreme Court) has bollixed everything and we've got to
sentence him to life," noted Dekle. "A third option is to say ... we will have
to have another penalty phase here, before another jury."
Dekle, a retired state prosecutor who saw to the conviction of serial killer
Ted Bundy, said if he were Tisdale's judge, he'd order a new penalty phase be
conducted before a new jury.
That's what the state asked Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Nushin G. Sayfie to do in
January in an effort to finish the death penalty sentencing of Charles Johnson,
which, like Tisdale's, was delayed.
In November, Johnson was convicted of 1st-degree murder and his jury too, voted
9-3 in favor of execution. Prosecutors filed papers in January asking Sayfie to
hold off sentencing him until after the Legislature provided new sentencing
rules. The case has been delayed since January and records show Johnson's next
court date is May 5.
Retroactive
The state Supreme Court meanwhile, is deciding whether the U.S. Supreme Court's
ruling and, with it Florida's new law, should apply retroactively to the nearly
390 death row inmates. Some legal experts say condemned inmates whose jury's
voted less than 10-2 should have their sentences reduced to life in prison.
Others counter they should all be granted new sentencing hearings, which could
result in a new death sentence.
Justices heard oral arguments in February and a ruling is expected soon.
Regarding Tisdale, retired Circuit Judge O.H. Eaton Jr., of Sanford, a renowned
death penalty expert, said the retroactivity issue should be resolved before
any sentencings are held in death penalty trials. And he believes ordering a
new penalty phase is premature.
"Why spend the time, energy and effort on something like that when it's all up
in the air?" Eaton said.
Dekle suggested Vaughn has another option.
"You look at the defendant and say, 'You've got a choice: we proceed to
sentencing right now as is, or we hold a new penalty phase, it's up to you',"
he said. "That's an option."
(source: tcpalm.com)
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