June 20
PENNSYLVANIA:
New attorney in 'Scotty' murder case
The man allegedly at the center of the brutal murder of 3-year-old Scott
McMillan has hired a new attorney to represent him in the death penalty case he
faces, a move that is not expected to delay the eventual trial next year,
according to those involved.
Gary Lee Fellenbaum III appeared in Common Pleas Court Monday before Judge
William P. Mahon to formally ask that the two members of the Chester County
Public Defender's Office representing him be removed from the case and his new,
private attorney, allowed to appear on his behalf.
His new attorney, George Yacoubian of Philadelphia, entered his appearance on
May 25.
First Assistant Public Defender Nathan M. Schenker, who along with Assistant
Public Defender Loreen Kemps had represented Fellenbaum since his arrest in
November 2014, asked Mahon to formally allow them to withdraw as his attorneys.
Mahon did so after asking Fellenbaum if that was what he wanted.
Fellenbaum, 24, clean shaven and dressed in a black t-shirt and black pants,
said it was. He did not elaborate on why he chose to switch attorneys.
"Are you comfortable with this?" Mahon asked Fellenbaum. "Yes," the defendant
answered.
Afterwards, Fellenbaum was returned to Chester County Prison, where he has been
held without bail since his arrest. Yacoubian declined comment outside the
courtroom.
Yacoubian, a former prosecutor who has represented clients such as the lead
defendant in the so-called "Tacony House of Horrors" case in Philadelphia, and
who was briefly mentioned as a possible representative of former television
personality Don Tollefson, will now get all the discovery and defense related
material that the Public Defender's Office has received in the intervening
months since Fellenbaum's arrest.
Yacoubian told Mahon that he would be prepared for a pre-trial conference to
discuss scheduling later this summer, and that he expected to begin filing
pre-trial motions on behalf of his client in September.
Mahon asked if he would be ready to try to case in May 2017, and Yacoubian
indicated that he would, absent any unforeseen issues arising.
First Assistant Michael Noone, who is prosecuting the case with Deputy District
Attorney Deborah Ryan of the DA???s Child Abuse Unit, asked whether Yacoubian
was going to need assistance from a so-called mitigation counsel, who would
handle the case if Fellenbaum is found guilty of 1st-degree murder and
consequently faced a penalty phase in the trial. But Mahon said he did not
expect that Yacoubian would have to answer that question.
"I am not going to get in and micro-manage this case," the judge said.
Scott McMillan was found unresponsive at the West Caln home that his mother,
Jillian Tait, had beg sharing with Fellenbaum, her boyfriend, and his wife,
Amber Fellenbaum, sometime in September 2014. She had 2 sons who lived with
them, as well as Fellenbaum's child.
Beginning in October, according to the allegations set forth in the case
against the Fellenbaums and Tait, Gary Fellenbaum began physically abusing both
the boys in October. The abuse included punches and beatings, but also whipping
with a crudely fashioned "cat o'9 tails," and tying the boys to chairs or
hanging them upside down by their feet.
Allegedly Fellenbaum's beating of Scott McMillan escalated to the point where
he could not hold down his food. Angered, Fellenbaum allegedly punched him in
the face so hard he fell out of his chair, and later punched him in the
stomach. The boy began vomiting and later passed out. Although Fellenbaum and
Tait tried to revive him, they left him alone in a bedroom for several hours
before finding him completely unresponsive.
Both allegedly gave incriminating statements to police investigators after
their arrests.
In 2011, Yacoubian was hired to represent Linda Ann Weston, the alleged
ringleader in the "Tacony House of Horrors" case. She was accused of a mountain
of crimes, including 2 murders, kidnapping, racketeering, conspiracy, hate
crimes, wire and mail fraud, sex trafficking and forced human labor.
Authorities said Weston and four co-defendants lured and abused mentally
disabled people and stole $212,000 in disability payments.
6 adults and 4 children were victimized between 2001 and October 2011 in
Philadelphia, Texas, Virginia and Florida, prosecutors said. Weston and her
co-defendants were arrested in October 2011, after Philadelphia police
discovered 4 victims locked in the filthy basement of a Tacony apartment
building.
Yacoubian was removed from the case after it was transferred to federal court.
At the time, the judge overseeing the trial decided that Yacoubian did not have
enough experience with capital punishment cases in the federal system,
according to news reports.
Last week, the United Way of Chester County dedicated one of its "Born
Learning" trail initiatives at the Struble Trail in Downingtown to honor Scott
McMillan's memory.
(source: Daily Local News)
OKLAHOMA:
Death Penalty Phase Resumes In Albert Johnson Murder Trial
Albert Johnson's defense and attorneys are calling their own set of witnesses
in the death penalty phase of his capital murder trial.
On Monday there is a forensic psychologist on the stand, saying he diagnosed
Johnson with a psychotic disorder while in jail. The psychologist says Johnson
has an anti-social personality disorder and an IQ of 77. On cross examination,
psychiatrist admitted he did not perform any tests on Johnson himself.
The same jury that found Johnson guilty on all counts last week must now decide
if he should face the death penalty for the crimes he committed, which included
murder, rape, kidnapping, and assault and battery.
(source: news9.com)
NEBRASKA:
False Promises----In the Battle Over Nebraska's Death Penalty, Victims'
Families Refuse to Be Political Pawns
Miriam Thimm Kelle carries a grim treasury to illustrate the lack of closure
the death penalty brings for families of murder victims: a thick album of news
stories about her brother, James, the victim in one of the most violent and
disturbing murders in Nebraska's history. She brought the book with her last
year to the Nebraska State Capitol, where it sat by her side during a hearing
in which she urged lawmakers to pass a bill abolishing capital punishment once
and for all.
Kelle's father had begun collecting the articles after James's death in 1985,
passing them on to his other children before he died. The first three pages of
the album are about James's funeral. The rest chronicle the long saga that
ensued, the trial and subsequent appeals. The lurid details of James's death
appear again and again. "Each time I read through it," Kelle told me, "it's
just more crazy and awful."
The man who killed James, a white supremacist cult leader named Michael Ryan,
was sentenced to die in 1986, but in 2015 remained alive on death row. As
decades passed, Ryan enjoyed notoriety and attention, while Kelle's family
lived in a sort of "purgatory," endlessly awaiting an execution date. As Kelle
spoke before lawmakers that day, Ryan was dying of cancer. She had no need to
see him executed. But she felt betrayed by what she called the "false promise"
of the death penalty. "Michael Ryan was sentenced nearly 30 years ago," Kelle
testified. "At that time, my son was in diapers. Now my son has two children of
his own. And Michael Ryan still sits on death row." Kelle said she would "give
anything" to go back in time and ask for a life sentence.
Kelle was one of several witnesses at the hearing who were feeling hopeful. The
abolition bill, LB268, had been put forward by veteran state Sen. Ernie
Chambers - an outspoken champion of social justice who introduced anti-death
penalty legislation every year. But recently a coalition of conservatives had
joined the fight, reframing the death penalty as a wasteful government program
- expensive, ineffective, and contrary to Christian values. Leading the charge
was Republican state Sen. Colby Coash, who described how as a college student
he had once joined the bloodthirsty throngs outside Nebraska's death chamber as
an execution was carried out. Now he was a staunch fighter for abolition - and
part of a growing trend that has seen transforming conservative attitudes about
the death penalty.
In May 2015, 2 months after Kelle testified before lawmakers, the Nebraska
legislature passed LB268, in a historic victory for abolitionists. In a 30-19
vote, lawmakers overrode a veto by Gov. Pete Ricketts, making Nebraska the 1st
red state to end the death penalty in 40 years.
Yet the battle over Nebraska's death penalty was far from over. In November,
voters will have an opportunity to overturn LB268, thanks largely to the
efforts - and considerable family fortune - of Gov. Ricketts. Denouncing the
law as proof that "the legislature has lost touch with the citizens of
Nebraska," Ricketts poured his own money into repealing it, funding a petition
drive launched under the banner Nebraskans for the Death Penalty. Last summer,
the group attracted enough signatures to put the issue on the November 2016
ballot; in September, the Lincoln Journal Star reported that the group had
raised more than $913,000 - "1/3 of it from Gov. Pete Ricketts and his father,
Joe Ricketts," the founder of TD Ameritrade. Last month the Nebraska Supreme
Court heard oral arguments in a lawsuit alleging that the governor improperly
downplayed his role driving the referendum in order to mask the "violation of
his duty" to enforce state laws, even those with which he disagrees.
With the court set to rule on the lawsuit soon, anti-death penalty activists
have launched Retain a Just Nebraska, organizing events throughout the state to
convince voters to reject the death penalty in November. Sen. Coash has taken a
leading role in the campaign, making his case in speeches and in the press. But
as was the case in winning abolition in Nebraska, preserving it will also rely
on murder victims' families who have worked behind the scenes for years. For
people like Kelle, this means continuing to revisit a deep-seated trauma over
and over again, as part of the exhausting work of changing hearts and minds.
Speaking over the phone after a recent work shift, Kelle was intent on
describing the looming referendum as an opportunity to educate Nebraskans about
why the death penalty is wrong. But her fatigue was also clear. "It took me 10
years to work through the anger and all the emotional aspects" of James's
death, she told me. It took several more years to find the courage to tell her
story. After 12 years fighting to end the death penalty, "I was hoping that we
would be done. Because it's very traumatic to go over it every time."
The murder of James Thimm was shocking. Potential jurors for Michael Ryan???s
1986 trial were asked if they had "queasy stomachs." One district judge who
upheld the conviction called it "the most horrendous torture and sickening
murder imaginable." When she gives speeches, Kelle tries to let people know
that "it's a difficult story," she said. "I use that as an option out."
Thimm was raised by foster parents in Beatrice, Nebraska, where he was part of
a devout Mennonite community. At some point in his late teens, he became
attracted to the religious cult led by Ryan, eventually moving to the cult's
farm in Rulo, on the southeastern edge of the state. But Thimm began to
question Ryan's messianic claims; Ryan responded by declaring that Thimm was
the devil and ordered him punished. Over 3 days, he was brutally tortured by
Ryan and his followers. In August 1985, months later, Thimm's body was
discovered following a raid by law enforcement. He had broken bones and had
been partially skinned. Buried next to him was the son of 2 cult members,
5-year-old Luke Stice, also killed by Ryan. At trial, cult members described
how Thimm was "chained, whipped, shot in the fingers and forced to have sex
with a goat."
As Kelle's family reeled from the trauma of her brother's horrific murder,
prosecutors pushed them to support the death penalty for Ryan. "We were told
this was the only option" that would ensure he couldn't hurt others, she said.
"The state said he would be a danger to other people beyond James," including
prison guards. "And we didn't want that." Ryan was convicted and sentenced to
die.
Kelle had never been comfortable with the death penalty. She was a nurse as
well as a Mennonite and leaned more toward healing and forgiveness. Over time,
she found herself reaching out to those who had participated in her brother's
murder. One of them had described himself as James's "best friend," yet
admitted to torturing him, saying he'd been brainwashed. He was sentenced to 15
years. "I was really scared that he wouldn't be better when he got out," Kelle
recalled. She feared he would remain in the grip of that same "false doctrine -
we now call it radicalization." She began visiting him in prison, trying to
work with him to ensure that he would be ready for release, a decision she
acknowledges is "difficult for people to understand."
It was not until years later, after Kelle got a brief part-time job working at
Nebraska's Tecumseh Prison, that she was finally able to publicly disavow the
death penalty. The prison was home to death row, where Ryan was incarcerated.
She saw firsthand how bogus the state's claim to her family had been - the
prison's security was more than enough to keep Ryan from harming employees.
Kelle reached out to Nebraskans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty and
eventually met other murder victims' family members who were opposed to
executions. "It was just so validating to know that they felt the same way,"
she said.
Today Kelle criticizes the way politicians treat grieving families like
political pawns, "putting you on a chessboard to their advantage." If you agree
with the state, they'll support you at trial and beyond, she said. But if you
stand up against executions, "all of a sudden, along comes the big King, or in
our case, Governor Ricketts, [to defeat you]. And that's really very
disheartening when you work so hard and it costs so much emotionally to do this
work."
This dynamic was on display in April of last year during the floor debate over
the abolition bill. Lawmakers opposed to the bill described Thimm's murder in
graphic detail, casting him as a "victim who is unable" to speak for himself.
Kelle was not present, but her fellow activist Elle Hansen, who has lost three
loved ones to murder, was at the Capitol that day. "I already have plenty of
PTSD," Hansen told me. As she listened to Republican Sen. David Schnoor
describe how Thimm had been sodomized with a shovel, she realized, "I could not
sit and listen to that again." From that point on, Hansen brought earbuds to
hearings and played the Sara Bareilles song "Brave" whenever testimony became
too graphic.
For those who have lost loved ones to murder, such experiences are "horribly
re-traumatizing," Hansen explained. Politicians exploit other people's
tragedies when "they are not their losses to speak about, to dictate about." As
she listened to lawmakers argue that day, Hansen felt increasingly unsettled by
a meeting she had recently attended with the governor that she could not shake
from her mind.
On April 7, 2015 - less than 2 months before the abolition bill passed -
Hansen, Kelle, and a handful of other activists sat down with Gov. Ricketts in
Lincoln. It was a chance to make their case for abolition. As Hansen recalls,
she was telling the governor that if the state reinvested the money it spends
on the death penalty toward crime prevention, the murder rate would decline,
"and your likelihood of sitting here as a person whose lost a loved one to
murder would go down considerably." The governor's response surprised her. "I
actually have lost a loved one to murder," he told Hansen. Ricketts had never
revealed this part of his family'a past. Hansen went home and researched the
case. The victim had been Ricketts's 1st cousin, 22-year-old Ronna Anne Bremer,
who went missing right before Christmas in 1988. A pregnant mother of 2,
Bremer's death was confirmed only after an anonymous person mailed her skull to
a sheriff's office. The crime was never solved.
Hansen could certainly empathize with the family's plight, but she was
disturbed by Ricketts???s lack of transparency. As a relative of murder
victims, she said, "I stood up ... and I said, 'Look, I have skin in the
fight.'" She didn't see why the governor, as an elected official, should not be
just as forthcoming. Afterward, Hansen watched as Ricketts personally funded
the referendum to repeal the abolition law. "I thought for sure ... he was
going to say something," Hansen said. But months later, petitions were being
turned in, "and he still didn't say anything."
Hansen got angry. She had already been disgusted by Ricketts's unethical
approach to executions, the way he had tried to import lethal injection drugs
from foreign countries in violation of federal law. Now he was deploying his
wealth and power to roll back the law she and others had fought so hard to win
through the democratic process.
In September, Hansen met with Joe Duggan, a reporter for the Omaha
World-Herald. She told him about the meeting with Ricketts. She also shared her
own story, talking in detail about the 3 loved ones she'd lost to murder.
Afterward, Hansen said, "I went to the bathroom in the coffee shop and I just
bawled."
Later, Duggan broke the story about the meeting and Ricketts's cousin. The
governor refused to comment, but a spokesperson issued a statement. "The
Ricketts family continues to grieve Ronna's tragic death, and pray that the
person who took her life will be brought to justice."
It is impossible to know how deeply his cousin's case has influenced Ricketts's
views on the death penalty. But the contrast of Ricketts's personal war against
abolition with the positions of Kelle and Hansen illustrates the different ways
people react to a tragic loss. 29 murder victims' families publicly expressed
their support for the abolition bill last year - but there are surely 29 others
who might disagree. Within Kelle's own family, she said, there are those who
would have liked to see Michael Ryan executed. But in the end they too
experienced the disparity between how the death penalty works in theory and its
cruel reality.
Michael Ryan died on May 24, 2015, after nearly 30 years on death row. 3 days
later, LB268 passed, abolishing the death penalty in Nebraska. As the fight
over abolition drags on, proponents of capital punishment will have a harder
time pointing to Ryan as proof that the death penalty works. For her part,
Kelle will continue to carry her collection of articles and to urge the state
to stop wasting money on a policy that punishes the very families the death
penalty claims to heal. "Resources could be used for so many other things," she
said. "Victims' rights, cold cases ... I mean, just pick whatever you'd like.
Anything but that."
(source: theintercept.com)
USA:
Prosecutor: Roof Federal Case Conflicts With State, Holidays
The state prosecutor trying accused Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof says
trying Roof in federal court in November for hate crimes and other charges
interferes with both his scheduled January state trial and the victims' and
jurors' holidays.
Roof's federal trial in the Emanuel AME shootings is set for Nov. 7 and
attorneys say it could last six weeks. The 22-year-old also faces nine counts
of murder in state court in January.
Scarlett Wilson, who said she raised the concerns during a brief court hearing
Monday, said in an email to The Associated Press that November is "a horrible
time for a trial for anyone."
And Wilson said the state has primary custody of Roof so he must serve his
state sentence before a federal sentence regardless of who tries the case
first. Both the state and the federal governments are seeking the death
penalty.
The Post and Courier reported ( http://bit.ly/28KFXQj ) that during the
hearing, Judge J.C. Nicholson said the state trial is now unlikely to happen in
January because of the federal case. He made no immediate decision about the
schedule.
Earlier this month Chief U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel set Nov. 7 to begin
selecting jurors in Roof's federal trial. The federal trial date has been
delayed a number of times as the Department of Justice weighed whether to seek
the death penalty.
The decision was finally announced last month by Attorney General Loretta Lynch
who said she was compelled to seek the death penalty by "the nature of the
alleged crime and the resulting harm."
Wilson said in her email the state had been waiting for the decision.
"For 11 months nobody knew what they were going to do. Nobody," she wrote.
"Meanwhile the state moved forward without hesitation. Now suddenly the federal
court and the DOJ want to try this case without regard for the fact that it
interferes with the previously scheduled trial and the victims' holidays."
She said the federal trial also interferes with the jurors' holidays as well as
a second highly publicized trial - that of Michael Slager, the former North
Charleston police officer facing a murder charge in the shooting death of a
black motorist in April of last year.
That trial, which Wilson is also prosecuting, is set for Oct. 31. But Slager's
attorney, Andy Savage, also represents several of the victims in the church
shooting.
A hearing is set Tuesday in the Slager case in which scheduling is also
expected to be discussed.
(source: Associated Press)
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