May 5
TEXAS:
Vigils object to executions
Re: The Placido Rodriguez column "Bishop says God's gift of life is sacred,
abandon culture of death," A-J, April 30.
It was encouraging to read the column in the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal that
explained powerful reasons to abolish the death penalty in the state of Texas
as well as nationally.
For those who have serious moral or religious reservations about the use of the
death penalty, we invite you to join a public, ecumenical prayer vigil each
time the state of Texas executes a death row inmate.
We meet during the approximate time of the actual execution (between 5:45 and
6:15 p.m.) at the corner of University Avenue and 15th Street in front of St.
John's United Methodist Church across from Texas Tech. The next execution is
scheduled for June 2.
Lubbock People of Faith Against the Death Penalty sponsor these vigils, and the
public is welcome to join us.
ANNE MCDONALD COCHRAN/Lubbock
(source: Letter to the Editor, Avalanche-Journal)
******************
Bluntson's fate on the line
Jurors are set to continue deliberating the fate of Demond Bluntson at 9 a.m.
Thursday in the 49th District Court.
Jurors deliberated for about 5 hours Wednesday evening before telling the court
that they needed rest, according to the Webb County District Attorney's Office
spokesperson.
During closing arguments Wednesday in the punishment phase of his trial,
prosecutors told jurors Bluntson deserves the death penalty while the defense
attorneys said they should impose the real ultimate punishment, a life sentence
in prison without the possibility of parole.
First assistant district attorney Marisela Jacaman told jurors they have a
serious decision to make, but that it will not be a difficult one because of
the evidence the prosecution has presented.
Jacaman went through a timeline of events that led up to the slaying of Brandy
Cerny in El Campo, for which Bluntson has been indicted in Wharton County, and
the shooting deaths of her 2 children, Jaydin Thompson, 6, and Devian, 1, in
room 1408 of the Holiday Inn in Laredo.
She also listed the lives that were destroyed as a result of Bluntson's
actions, including the Cerny and Thompson families.
Elizabeth Martinez, one of Bluntson's lawyers, told jurors they will have to
live with their decision to kill Bluntson for the rest of their lives.
"He is still another human being, no matter how much you may despise him on the
inside," she said.
(source: Laredo Morning Times)
MISSISSIPPI:
Appeal under way for 24-year-old murder case
A Lowndes County man who has claimed his innocence for 24 years is getting a
chance this week to take a step toward proving it.
Experts and a half-dozen attorneys from the Innocence Project began presenting
evidence today they say should at least get 62-year-old Eddie Lee Howard a new
trial if not an out-right dismissal.
He has twice been given the death penalty -- the last time in 2000 -- after
being convicted of capital murder in the Feb. 2 1992 rape and murder of
84-year-old Georgia Kemp inside her home on Southside Columbus. She was stabbed
and her home set on fire although it only smoldered and never fully caught
fire. The smoke attracted passers-by who notified firefighters who discovered
the body.
Defense attorneys claim the expert bite-mark testimony of Dr. Michael West that
was central to the case has since been disproved and recanted by the doctor.
Since 2000, 24 cases tied to West's testimony have proven to be fraudulent,
including the Noxubee County cases of Kennedy Brewer and Levon Brooks. Both
were finally exonerated by DNA evidence after serving a total of more than 30
years. Someone else has since pleaded guilty to the crimes.
West was in the courtroom today, but it is unclear whether prosecutors will
call him.
Howard's attorneys also say DNA testing ordered 3 years ago by the courts
doesn't match fluids found at the scene or on the murder weapon.
Most of today's hearing was spent with a British expert, Dr. Iain Pretty, who
discredits much bite mark evidence. He said the "fundamental underlying
science" in the Howard case was wrong and that "distortion" makes it difficult
to make accurate bite mark comparisons, especially if the body has started to
deteriorate.
In the Howard case, Kemp's body was re-examined by West several days after
burial at the request of former state pathologist Dr. Stephen Hayne whose work
also has been discredited.
Prosecutors tried to show Pretty was not familiar with all the evidence in this
case or the steps used, especially photography. The hearing could last through
Friday.
Lowndes County Circuit Court Judge Lee Howard could dismiss the charges against
Howard completely or order a new trial. If a new trial is ordered, District
Attorney Scott Colom may decide not to try it again because of a lack of
evidence and witnesses.
(source: WTVA news)
KENTUCKY:
Defendant in Versailles boy's death evaluated; report pending
The prosecution and defense are still waiting for a report on a mental
evaluation of the Indianapolis man charged with murder in the death of a
6-year-old boy.
Ronald Exantus, 32, appeared briefly Wednesday before Woodford Circuit Judge
Rob Johnson. Exantus is accused in the death of Logan James Dean Tipton, who
was killed while he slept in his family's Versailles home. The prosecution
intends to seek the death penalty.
During a brief status hearing, attorneys told the judge that they are waiting
for a mental competency report from the Kentucky Correctional Psychiatric
Center in La Grange. Judge Johnson scheduled a new status hearing for June 1.
No trial date has been set.
Public defender Bridget Hofler said after the hearing that the defense has more
information to provide the psychiatric center, but she would not say what that
is.
There was no explanation why Exantus, a former nurse in Indianapolis, came to
Versailles. Hofler repeated that Exantus doesn't remember what happened.
"You have to understand: When someone is psychotic, it's as if somebody else
did all this. He has no recollection," Hofler told reporters.
"Every now and again a case occurs where really there is no explanation for
things," Hofler said. "In nearly 30 years of practice, I have never had a
situation like this. Never."
Commonwealth's Attorney Gordie Shaw declined to comment after the hearing.
Tipton's relatives and supporters who attended the hearing also declined to
comment.
Exantus returned to the Woodford County jail Monday after a couple of months at
the psychiatric center. He remains in jail in lieu of a $1 million bond.
(source: kentkucky.com)
OKLAHOMA:
Jurors choose to spare life of man who killed 22-year-old Arkansas woman
A LeFlore County District Court jury had trouble Tuesday deciding on a sentence
for convicted murderer Elvis Aaron Thacker but finally chose to spare him by
recommending a life sentence.
Neither Thacker nor Bethany Ault-Pyle, the mother of murder victim Briana Ault,
showed any emotion as the foreman of the 6-woman, 6-man jury read the verdict
that rejected the death penalty and recommended Thacker be sentenced to life in
prison without parole.
"We offered [life in prison] a year ago but they wouldn't accept it," Ault-Pyle
said after court. "The death penalty is what we wanted, but this is OK."
"We go home and [Thacker] goes to jail," said her husband. C.W. Pyle. "He'll
never go free. That's what we wanted."
The jury convicted Thacker on Friday of 1st-degree murder and forcible oral
sodomy in Ault's Sept. 13, 2010, death. A fisherman found her nude body with
her throat cut floating in a secluded pond just across the Arkansas line in
Pocola, Okla.
Ault, 22, was from Fort Smith. Elvis Thacker, 28, and his brother Johnathen,
27, who also was charged in Ault's slaying, are from Crawford County.
Johnathen Thacker pleaded guilty in April 2014 to first-degree murder in
exchange for testifying against his brother and to avoid the death penalty. He
told jurors during his testimony he agreed to be sentenced to life in prison
without parole.
First Assistant District Attorney Margaret Nicholson said Johnathen Thacker is
scheduled to be sentenced at 8:30 a.m. July 1.
Nicholson said District Judge Jonathan Sullivan will sentence Elvis Thacker on
the murder and sodomy charges after a pre-sentence investigation, which she
said probably will take about 30 days. Jurors recommended Friday that Thacker
be sentenced to the maximum 20 years on the sodomy charge.
Nicholson said Tuesday that she was pleased with the sentence.
Gretchen Mosley, the head of Thacker's defense team, expressed relief in the
jury's decision not to impose the death penalty.
"I'm glad the jury found reason to extend him mercy," she said.
At the close of the punishment phase of the testimony, jurors began
deliberating at 10 a.m. Tuesday. After nearly three hours, jurors returned to
court to inform Sullivan they were deadlocked and could not reach a decision.
Sullivan instructed jurors that if they could not decide, he would discharge
them and sentence Elvis Thacker himself to prison for life without parole or
life with parole. He then sent the jury back to deliberate further. The jury
returned with its verdict about 20 minutes later.
Elvis Thacker's attorneys and one of his sisters, Sandra Whitlock of Van Buren,
made emotional appeals to the jury to spare his life.
Whitlock read a statement, she said, to show jurors how special her brother is.
In the home in which Sandra, Elvis and their other four siblings were sexually,
physically and emotionally abused as children, her brother was someone she
could talk to and receive reassurance that things would be better, Whitlock
said.
After Elvis Thacker was thrown out of the home by his mother, he earned a
welding certificate, found a job, lived on his his own and took care of his
brothers, William and Johnathen, she said. He loved animals, was artistic and
discovered at some point he had a daughter.
"He loves country music, Southern cooking and he has a huge sweet tooth,"
Whitlock said.
As she sobbed, she pleaded for the jury to spare her brother's life so Elvis
Thacker's daughter could have a chance to be part of his life.
In her closing arguments, Mosley continued to impress on jurors the defense's
theory that Johnathen Thacker killed Ault and blamed it on his brother. The
jury rejected that theory in convicting Elvis Thacker.
Overcome with emotion as she spoke to jurors, Mosley said she found Elvis
Thacker to be caring and nurturing, not the murderer the jury convicted him of
being.
The only reason she said Elvis Thacker could have participated in the crime was
out of some duty to his brother.
"It's because he wanted a family so bad," Mosley said. "It's because Johnathen
is so sick, but Elvis loved him and he didn't have anybody and he needed him."
Nicholson told jurors not to lose sight of the fact that all the pain and
suffering jurors heard about over three weeks of testimony was the fault of
Elvis Thacker's killing of Ault for no good reason.
"All the tears that have been shed in this courtroom, how many have been for
her?" Nicholson said.
In delivering its verdict on Elvis Thacker, the jury accepted as proven the 3
aggravating factors the state presented to justify the death penalty -- that
he was previously convicted of attempted capital murder and kidnapping charges
in Arkansas; that he killed Ault to avoid arrest and prosecution; and that the
danger he would commit more violent crimes in the future made him a continuing
threat to society.
(source: arkansasonline.com)
NEVADA:
2 arrested, 1 sought in Vegas liquor store robbery-killing
2 ex-felons were jailed in Las Vegas on charges that could get them the death
penalty in the killing of a liquor store clerk who couldn't open a safe,
authorities said Wednesday. A third suspect was being sought.
Ray Charles Brown and Lee Dominic Sykes were arrested Tuesday and booked at the
Clark County jail pending initial court appearances scheduled Thursday,
according to police and court records.
Brown and Sykes each face murder, kidnapping, robbery and other charges in the
April 18 killing of store clerk Matthew Christensen at a discount liquor store.
Police said he was complying with the robbers, with his hands up, when he was
shot multiple times.
Police said they were still looking for Sykes' older brother, Lee Murry Sykes.
All 3 suspects are in their early 20s.
2 men identified as robbers were seen on security videotape entering the store
in southwest Las Vegas with guns drawn before the fatal shooting.
Police said Christensen, 24, didn't have the ability to open the safe. He was
called a hero for not revealing that a pregnant manager was in the store.
Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said Wednesday he'll decide in
coming weeks whether to seek the death penalty. He has called Christensen's
death a senseless act of violence and an "execution" murder.
Court records show that Lee Dominic Sykes, with his middle name spelled
Dominique, pleaded guilty in November 2014 in Las Vegas to conspiracy to commit
robbery, a felony. He completed a boot camp program and was sentenced in May
2015 to 3 years' probation.
Brown pleaded guilty in February 2011 to coercion by force. His probation was
revoked in September 2012, and he was sentenced to 1 to 4 years in state
prison.
(source: Associated Press)
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