July 14
MASSACHUSETTS:
Council confirms Gaziano for seat on state's high court
The 1st of 3 nominations by Republican Gov. Charlie Baker to fill upcoming
vacancies on the state's highest court was unanimously approved Wednesday by
the Governor's Council.
Frank Gaziano, currently a Superior Court judge, was praised by several
councilors for his fairness and integrity before the 8-0 vote. The Scituate
resident was interviewed for several hours at a public hearing last week before
the council, an elected body that reviews all judicial nominations.
Councilor Michael Albano, a Democrat and former Springfield mayor, said Gaziano
allayed any fears that the Supreme Judicial Court might "tilt to the right"
under a Republican governor.
Albano, who called the nominee a "superstar," said Gaziano expressed support
for abortion rights, affirmative action and issues affecting working families
during his confirmation hearing.
Albano and 2 other Democrats on the council, Terrence Kennedy and Robert
Jubinville, did acknowledge concerns over Gaziano's support for the death
penalty. But they noted that it was unlikely that the Legislature would move to
reinstate capital punishment in Massachusetts anytime soon.
Gaziano was the lead prosecutor in the federal death penalty case against Gary
Lee Sampson, who pleaded guilty in 2001 to the carjack killings of 2
Massachusetts men. Sampson is now awaiting a new sentencing trial after his
original death sentence was set aside by a federal judge.
Gaziano was called a "judicial centrist" by Councilor Jennie Caissie, a
Republican.
"There was not a bad word spoken about him throughout this process," she said.
Associate Justices Fernande Duffly, Francis Spina and Robert Cordy all
announced plans to retire from the SJC by the end of the summer, giving Baker a
unique opportunity to put his stamp on the 7-member court, billed as the oldest
continuously-operating appellate court in the Western Hemisphere. 2 other
justices will reach the mandatory retirement age of 70 before the governor's
1st term ends.
In addition to Gaziano, Baker nominated Superior Court judges Kimberly Budd and
David Lowy and the council has scheduled confirmation hearings for them later
this month.
"I thank the members of the Governor's Council for their thoughtful
deliberation and overwhelming approval of a highly qualified candidate like
Judge Gaziano, and look forward to their future consideration of our remaining
nominees," Baker said in a statement.
(source: Associated Press)
PENNSYLVANIA:
Judge wants answers from accused baby killer's shrink
Judge James Nilon said Tuesday that he intends to hold a hearing with a
psychiatrist retained by death penalty counsel in the case of accused baby
killer Ummad Rushdi.
Rushdi, 33, is accused of killing 7-month-old Hamza Ali in August 2013 at his
parent's home in the 6600 block of Chestnut Street, Upper Darby, then
transporting the body elsewhere and burying it at an unknown location.
He has been charged with 1st-, 2nd- and 3rd-degree murder, kidnapping and abuse
of a corpse, for which he faces the death penalty.
Dr. Muhamad Aly Rifai was paid $10,000 last year to produce an expert report on
Rushdi's mental state. Death penalty counsel Scott Galloway said Tuesday that
Rifai has provided only some preliminary reports.
Defense counsel Michael Malloy was not present Tuesday, but previously
indicated he needs Rifai's report for his own expert to complete another
report. Malloy previously indicated that he would not invoke a plea of not
guilty by reason of insanity or incompetency defense based on prior reports.
Deputy District Attorney Stephanie Wills called it a "disgrace" that the final
reports are still not available, noting the judge ordered them to be produced
by November 2015.
"We have a trial date in this matter and neither counsel has complied with any
of the court's orders, rulings, scheduling orders, anything," said Wills, who
also needs to review both reports with her own expert. "We keep coming back and
it's the same conversation every time."
The case has so far seen 10 motions hearings and nine status conferences. Trial
is scheduled to begin Oct. 31.
Galloway could not say when, if ever, he might hope to have the final report in
hand from Rifai and suggested he might file a motion to have Rifai replaced
with another expert.
Nilon asked Galloway to furnish the doctor's address to the court and asked him
to hold off on filing the motion to remove Rifai from the case until after a
hearing could be held.
The judge indicated the hearing would take place before the end of next week
and that an order would follow. He added the commonwealth might not be invited
to the hearing.
"This is an issue between the court and the expert, so I'm going to take the
action that I deem appropriate," he said.
Nilon also set a new status hearing for Aug. 9.
(source: Delaware County Daily Times)
SOUTH CAROLINA:
Judge refuses to set state's Dylann Roof trial before feds' case
A judge on Wednesday refused to "take up the state's battle" and try Dylann
Roof before federal authorities.
Circuit Judge J.C. Nicholson denied a prosecutor's request to move up the trial
date, keeping the federal proceeding on track to begin Nov. 7, just ahead of
the holiday season.
The judge said that "the horse was out of the barn," and it was likely too late
to change that schedule now. The state's trial is set to start Jan. 17.
"I'm not the one to fight with the federal government on who tries it first,"
Nicholson said during an afternoon hearing in downtown Charleston. "That's not
my job. ... I'm not going to do it."
Ninth Circuit Solicitor Scarlett Wilson had sought the move to avoid
back-to-back trials for the survivors and the families affected by the slayings
last year of 9 black worshippers at Charleston's Emanuel AME Church.
To ease their ordeal, Nicholson said he would likely further delay the state's
trial. Both Wilson and Roof's defense lawyers agreed. The judge was expected to
later issue a written order calling for jury selection to start in mid-January
with opening statements and testimony weeks later.
Wilson had argued that the state should try Roof 1st to avoid problems with
carrying out his sentence. Roof, a white 22-year-old from Eastover, was
indicted on 13 counts in state court and 33 federal charges, including hate
crimes. Some of those charges in each case make him eligible for the death
penalty, but the federal system is historically less likely to execute people.
After the hearing, Wilson said her concerns about "primary custody" of Roof - a
legal concept calling for the state to impose its sentence 1st - had been
largely ignored.
"It doesn't seem to matter. I'm afraid that leads us to 2 trials," she said.
"In the long run, I hope I am wrong about this."
Roof is the 1st person to be prosecuted in state and federal death penalty
cases at the same time, so how the cases and his sentences play out is unknown.
Wilson told Nicholson that defense lawyers had unfairly called her "reckless"
for fighting for an earlier trial. In documents filed before the proceeding,
she said the attorneys' stance on the issue amounted to "unsupported outrage."
Nicholson told Wilson that she was not reckless and that he understood her
concern. But his courtroom was the wrong place for her argument, he said. He
encouraged Wilson to file a motion in U.S. District Court, though Wilson had
already expressed her wishes in a letter to the federal judge, Richard Gergel.
"I don't even know why we're having this argument," Nicholson said.
Roof's lawyers in federal court had asked for a speedy trial - leading to the
scheduling dilemma that prompted Wilson's request for an earlier date. Circuit
Public Defender Ashley Pennington, 1 of Roof's attorneys in state court, had
opposed the move.
"I don't see any stumbling blocks or impediments to (the federal court)
actually being able to commence on Nov. 7," Pennington said Wednesday.
Problems could arise, though - particularly in selecting a jury. Roof's lead
federal defender, David Bruck, has said he didn't plan to ask for a trial
outside the Charleston area. But he said in a filing Wednesday that it would be
"irresponsible to declare an absolute" position because of "unforeseeable new
developments" that could change his stance. If an impartial jury cannot be
chosen, he explained, the defense team might ask for a change of venue.
If the federal date remains unchanged, Nicholson's decision Wednesday means
that 2 historic trials are on course to happen simultaneously. A week before
Roof's federal proceeding, the murder trial of former North Charleston police
officer Michael Slager is set to begin. Slager, who is white, fatally shot
Walter Scott, a black man, during a traffic stop last year.
Both trials are expected to last weeks.
"We'll just have to play it by ear and see what happens," Wilson said.
(source: The Post and Courier)
GEORGIA----impending execution
Parole Board turns down John Wayne Conner's clemency request
The State Board of Pardons and Paroles today turned down John Wayne Conner's
request to stop his execution set for Thursday evening.
The board reached its decision about 2 hours after District Attorney Timothy
Vaughn, the prosecutor in Telfair County, laid out the details of the 1982
murder of J.T White, but also told of 2 other people Conner had killed - 1 when
he was 15 and the other just months before White's death. Earlier in the day,
the 5 board members heard from Conner's attorneys, 2 sisters and other friends
who wanted to the board to consider his violent upbringing as they considered
his clemency request.
The board does not explain its reasons.
Unless the courts grant his appeal, the 60-year-old Conner will die by lethal
injection at 7 p.m., becoming the 6th person Georgia has executed this year.
His execution would come 34 years to the day of when he was convicted
. Conner, then 25, and White, 29, had spent the evening of Jan. 9, 1982, at a
party but wanted to keep drinking once they returned to Conner's house in
Milan.
They walked to a neighbor's house in search of a ride to the liquor store, but
the neighbor refused.
Walking back to Conner's house, the 2 got into a fight when White said he
wanted to have sex with Conner's girlfriend, Beverly Bates. Conner beat White
with a quart bottle and an oak tree branch.
Leaving White in a ditch, Conner went home to get Bates so they could leave
town, but on the way Conner stopped at the ditch where he had left White.
To make sure White was dead, Conner beat him with a tree limb and then stabbed
him with a stick.
Conner and Bates were arrested the next day in Butts County, on their way to
Gainesville.
(source: myajc.com)
KANSAS:
Bennett to be evaluated
A Labette County judge ordered Wednesday a mental health evaluation of a
quadruple murder suspect based on his behavior while jailed.
David Cornell Bennett Jr., 24, is charged in Labette County District Court with
capital murder or in the alternative 4 counts of 1st-degree murder. The
punishment for capital murder is death by lethal injection or life in prison
without parole, but the punishment requires an additional hearing after a
finding of guilt. The prosecution filed notice that it is seeking the death
penalty. Bennett also faces a rape charge, 3 counts of criminal threat, all
felonies, and 4 misdemeanors, 2 counts of phone harassment and 2 counts of
criminal deprivation of property.
Bennett is accused of strangling Cami Umbarger and her 3 children, Hollie
Betts, 9, Jaxon Betts, 6, and Averie Betts, 4, in November 2013. Their bodies
were discovered on Nov. 25, 2013, at Umbarger's home in Parsons after she
didn't show up for work.
Bennett's defense is handled by the state's Death Penalty Defense Unit, a
division of the Kansas Board of Indigents' Defense Services. His attorneys are
Tim Frieden and Jeffrey Wicks. The Kansas Attorney General's Office is
prosecuting the case.
Late last month, Frieden and Wicks filed a motion to determine competency of
their client, writing that he'd been exhibiting behavior that makes them
question whether he's capable of understanding the legal process enough to
assist in his defense.
Bennett has been jailed since November 2013 in isolation. He has limited family
and friends who communicate with him, the attorneys wrote.
Bennett reports hearing voices and sounds and the voices are critical of him
and they interfere with his ability to think, the attorneys wrote. He reports
being "out of it" and "out of touch." He's also paranoid and fears jailers
intend to kill him. He's also exhibiting compulsive behavior, the attorneys
wrote.
His attorneys asked Wednesday in a brief hearing for Bennett to be sent to
Larned State Security Hospital for a competency evaluation, even though the law
requires him to go through an evaluation at a local mental health center first,
in this case Labette Center for Mental Health Services in Parsons. Jessica
Domme, an assistant attorney general, asked Judge Robert Fleming to follow the
law and order an evaluation at Labette Center for Mental Health first. Fleming
said if the center recommends further evaluation at Larned, then that could be
done by order rather than by a hearing.
Domme suggested the report from Labette Center for Mental Health be turned into
the court by July 29.
A hearing on motions in Bennett's case is set for Aug. 4 and these motions
likely will be heard another time depending on the mental health evaluation
process.
Bennett's trial is scheduled to begin July 10, 2017.
(source: Parsons Sun)
SOUTH DAKOTA:
South Dakotans gather in Sioux Falls with goals to repeal the death penalty
A number of South Dakotans got together in downtown Sioux Falls to pay their
respects to Thomas Egan. He was an innocent man who was executed in Sioux Falls
in 1882. This group is using his story to bring change to the state's death
penalty.
The reunion began with a short moment of silence. People were given the
opportunity to share how the death penalty has affected their lives. Denny
Davis is the director of the South Dakotans for Alternatives to the Death
Penalty and believes the community needs to convince the legislature that
execution is not the answer.
"I think it's important that the citizens make them aware that this is an
important issue for us. That we are better people than this. If we say that we
are as we have so many times said that we are a pro-life state then it has to
be all of life. This would include executing a human being," he said.
Davis also says innocent or not, it is unfair to the families who have to deal
with the aftermath of an execution.
(source: KSFY news)
******************
Death Penalty Critics Remember The Wrongly Executed----18 people have been
executed in S.D. since 1877, including Thomas Egan in 1882
Mary Ihly had just graduated from college working as a nurse, when she was
summoned for jury duty - almost 4 decades ago. It was a case that could have
ended in a death sentence.
"It does something to the inside of you when you say yes to murder somebody
else," she said, "I know, because I was one of them."
Ihly and the other 11 jurors found the man guilty of his crimes. But there was
another part of the process she won't soon forget.
"The 2nd part of that is you have to decide if he gets life in prison or
whether he gets the death penalty," she recalled.
Conflicted with decision to put a man to death or leave him in jail for the
rest of his life, Ihly sought comfort through prayer in the back pews of St.
Joseph's Cathedral in Sioux Falls.
"Can I say yes, to killing another person?" she asked herself, "and it just hit
me."
Ihly described it as a clear sign from God, which helped her make a decision in
this case.
"'Mary, you can kill him today, but I was going to convert him tomorrow.'"
That's what Ihly remembers thinking. After leaving the church she headed back
into the Minnehaha County courtroom, and alongside other jurors, sentenced him
to life behind bars.
Her change of heart kept the man alive, but acts as a sobering reminder for
Denny Davis and other opponents of South Dakota's death penalty law, that death
in exchange for a crime is never the answer.
Those in favor of repealing the death penalty gathered around the historical
maker known as "The Hanging of an Innocent Man." It tells the story of Thomas
Egan who was hanged for killing his wife. Years later, on her death bed, his
daughter confessed to killing her mother.
Davis says that Egan's story is a prime example that death penalties for crimes
often come with uncertainty.
"We are better than what this person has done," said Davis, "we're not going to
lower ourselves and kill because this person was killed."
Davis and Ihly hope that lawmakers see this vigil and hear these stories to
write legislation that would repeal the law one and for all.
The death penalty is legal in 30 other states. South Dakota currently has 3
people on death row.
(source: KDLT news)
UTAH:
Cost of death penalty giving rise to competing bills
A Utah lawmaker still intends to run a bill next year to condense Utah's death
penalty appeals process, even though state law enforcement officials Wednesday
told legislators it's already as tight as possible.
The legislation, planned by Rep. Paul Ray, R-Clearfield, would compete with a
bill calling for repeal of the death penalty - a proposal that passed in the
Senate earlier this year but didn't make it to the House floor before the end
of the session.
After lawmakers heard from the Utah Attorney General's Office and an expert on
national death penalty information, opponents of capital punishment said they
felt confident legislators would recognize that abolishing the death penalty is
the only cost-effective and rational choice.
"There's really no basis for an argument based on the testimony that was
brought forward here today," Ralph Dellapiana, director of Utahns for
Alternatives to the Death Penalty, said after Wednesday's meeting of the Law
Enforcement and Criminal Justice Interim Committee at the Capitol.
Andrew Peterson and Thomas Bunker, both with the Utah Attorney General's
Office, told lawmakers that most delays in the appeals process happen in
federal court.
"The way the statute is right now is the best that the state can do to move the
cases along in both state and federal court," Bunker said.
Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, said
every cost study done in the U.S. has indicated that the death penalty is
"generally far more expensive" than life in prison.
Dunham also said a "fast-track" state process could also mean more delays in
federal proceedings.
"There's no argument to try to speed it up any further," Dellapiana said. "It's
only going to cost more and increase the possibility of innocent people being
executed, so I don't see anybody signing up to support such a bad idea."
Still, lawmakers are pushing forward with the discussion.
Ray, who did not attend Wednesday's meeting because he was traveling for work,
said he'll study the information, but it's not going to "deter" him.
"People will present all different kinds of opinions, but my job is to find the
most efficient and effective way," he said. "And I've met with some judges, and
I've seen some areas we can make changes. Even if we take five years off of
(the appeals process), that's five years we will save the taxpayer."
Ray said information presented at the meeting was "skewed" because it only
addressed legal costs and not other expenses associated with life without
parole sentences, such as medical costs for aging inmates.
"The reason we're talking about this is not because we're a blood thirsty
Legislature and we just want to hurry up and execute everyone," said Sen. Todd
Weiler, R-Woods Cross.
Lawmakers are "digging deep" on the costs and what makes the process take so
long, Weiler said. The length of the appeals process can be difficult for
victims' families, he said.
Legislative fiscal analysts estimate a capital murder case from trial to
execution in Utah costs state and local governments $1.6 million more on
average than a life without parole case.
9 condemned death-row killers in Utah have yet to exhaust all of their appeals
in state and federal courts. The average length of stay on death row among
those men is just over 23 years, with Ron Lafferty and Douglas Carter being the
longest at 31 years, and Floyd Maestas the shortest at 8 years.
The last person to be executed in Utah was Ronnie Lee Gardner, who was killed
by firing squad in 2010 after spending 24 years on death row.
Last year, the Utah Legislature passed a law - also sponsored by Ray - to bring
back the firing squad if the lethal injection drugs aren't available.
Pharmaceutical companies no longer sell the drugs for that purpose.
Ray has said he believes there's a "98 % chance" the state's next execution
will be by firing squad.
(source: Deseret News)
CALIFORNIA:
Trial begins for Canyon Country man accused of double murder
The trial of Lance Holger Anderson, accused of killing his wife and sister 2
1/2 years ago, got underway Wednesday with opening statements made by lawyers
before a judge, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney's
office said.
Anderson, now 63, appeared Wednesday in San Fernando Superior court charged
with 2 counts of murder, District Attorney spokesman Ricardo Santiago said.
The trial is scheduled to continue Thursday, he said.
Anderson was ordered to stand trial in October 2015 following a 1-day
preliminary hearing.
During that hearing Oct. 15, Deputy District Attorney Julie Kramer presented
evidence in both slayings, calling at least 10 people to the witness stand.
If found guilty on all charges and the special allegations, Anderson faces the
possibility of the death penalty. A decision on whether to recommend the death
penalty upon conviction lies with the District Attorney's Office.
Anderson, who lived at a condominium complex on Claudette Street in Canyon
Country, was arrested Dec. 11, 2013, on suspicion that he killed his
68-year-old wife, Bertha Maxine Anderson, and his 58-year-old sister, Lisa
Florence Nave.
Anderson's wife died of an apparent gunshot wound, homicide detectives said.
His sister was killed in a nursing home in North Hills in the San Fernando
Valley.
(source: Santa Clarita Valley Signal)
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