Aug. 30
TEXAS:
Man Accused of Murdering Spring, TX Family Will Face the Death Penalty ----
Harris County prosecutors will seek the death penalty against a man charged
with killing a Spring, TX family in 2014.
Prosecutors will seek the death penalty in the case of a Utah man accused of
the execution-style slaying of 6 members of a Spring family in 2014.
Roland Haskell, 36, of Utah, will stand trail in the fall of 2017 for the
murders of Katie and Stephen Stay and 4 of their children Bryan, 13; Emily, 9;
Rebecca 7; and Zach, 4. Another daughter, Cassidy, 15, was shot but survived.
On July 7, 2014, Haskell allegedly went to the Stay's home in a FedEx uniform.
When Cassidy Stay, who was home alone, answered the door he allegedly pushed
his way into the house.
He then bound Cassidy, hand and foot, and waited. Haskell allegedly captured
and bound each member of the family as they came home.
During the ordeal he reportedly interrogated the family about the location of
his ex-wife, Katie Stay's sister, who had left him after multiple instances of
domestic violence.
Haskell allegedly shot each of the family members in the head. On July 9, 2014,
when arraigned for the killings, Haskell collapsed in court.
Haskell is scheduled for trial in the fall of 2017, his attorneys have
indicated that they plan to pursue an insanity defense.
(source: patch.com)
PENNSYLVANIA:
Judge allows Knoble's attorneys to withdraw in Easton hotel murder case
Jeffrey S. Knoble Jr., charged with shooting a man inside a downtown Easton
hotel room, has spewed crude vulgarities at his attorneys in the courtroom over
the last year in his quest to fire them.
On Monday, his public defenders got permission from a judge to leave the case a
week before the capital murder trial was scheduled to begin.
Chief Public Defender Robert Eyer called it a "complete breakdown" of the
attorney-client relationship that would make it impossible for him or his
co-counsel to represent Knoble.
Knoble, 26, of Riegelsville told Northampton County Judge Emil Giordano that
his three public defenders were "ineffective" and "corrupt just like you are."
He said his attorneys do everything prosecutors want them to do and called the
judge and his attorneys a sexual slur.
"I'm going to expose the corruption in the courtroom," a shackled Knoble told
Giordano after refusing to be sworn in for the court proceeding.
Knoble faces a possible death sentence in the March 11, 2015, fatal shooting of
Andrew "Beep" White, 32, of Easton, at the former Quality Inn on South Third
Street. Authorities have called White a good Samaritan who had rented a room
for Knoble that night because he had not place to stay. Authorities say Knoble
then shot White and recorded a cellphone video of the man's corpse.
Relatives of Andrew "Beep" White left the courthouse on Thursday morning
distraught and upset after White's alleged murderer, Jeffery S. Knoble Jr.,
asserted his innocence in court and stuck his tongue out to them saying, "Ha,
ha, ha, ha" to them.
Eyer's request to withdraw as counsel came during what was scheduled as a
suppression and contempt hearing related to the defense attorneys not providing
prosecutors with certain expert reports.
The hearing was delayed by 45 minutes after Knoble refused to wear a stun belt
around his leg underneath his orange jumpsuit. Knoble was warned that a
sheriff's deputy would press a button that would cause a jolt of 50,000 volts
of electricity for 5 to 8 seconds if the defendant made any aggressive or
sudden moves.
The last time he was in the courtroom, Knoble was to plead guilty but decided
in the courtroom not to go through with it and, instead, taunted the family of
White.
Northampton County prosecutors will seek the death penalty against Jeffrey
Knoble, the man accused of slaying Andrew "Beep" White of Easton at a downtown
hotel in March.
Lt. Darlene Coia of the Northampton County Sheriff's Department testified
Monday that Knoble recently sent another inmate to the hospital after throwing
scalding water on him, and now refused to wear the belt.
"He said he would fight deputies, spit on them, give them Hepatitis C and just
cause problems," Coia testified.
Giordano ordered the stun belt and a spit mask be placed on Knoble before the
hearing.
In the courtroom, Knoble sat in a chair with shackles around his wrists and
ankles and wore the mask. He complained about the stun belt, saying he had
heart problems and seizures.
"This is not legal," he said.
Giordano told Knoble it was unfortunate he had such health conditions at his
young age, but the defendant's prior actions prompted safety precautions to be
taken.
After Knoble repeated that he thought his lawyers were ineffective, Giordano
instructed him not to use profanity and asked if he intended to represent
himself.
"How can I adequately represent myself?" Knoble said. "I'm no lawyer. I want a
real lawyer."
Giordano allowed Eyer and defense attorneys Matthew Goodrich and Matthew Potts
to withdraw from the case. The judge said he would contact the county's
conflict counsel team to determine whether there was a death-penalty-qualified
defense attorney available to represent Knoble.
First Deputy District Attorney Terence Houck said his main concern is that the
trial not be delayed.
Giordano said he appreciated Houck's position and needed time to think the
matter over.
After the hearing, Houck said he believes Knoble - not his former defense
attorneys - is trying to manipulate system with his antics and didn't want
Knoble's profane outburst to delay justice.
(source: The Morning Call)
DELAWARE:
Meeting set in case that led to overturning of death penalty
A judge is holding a status conference with attorneys regarding a murder
suspect whose case led to Delaware's death penalty being overturned by the
state Supreme Court.
Tuesday's court conference involves Benjamin Rauf, charged with 1st-degree
murder in last year's drug-related killing of 27-year-old Shazim Uppal of
Hockessin, a fellow Temple University law school graduate. Prosecutors said
they would seek the death penalty.
But after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling regarding Florida's death penalty
statute, the judge in Rauf's case sought a state Supreme Court opinion on the
constitutionality of Delaware's law, which is similar to Florida's.
The justices said Delaware's law was unconstitutional because it allows judges
too much discretion and does not require that a jury find unanimously and
beyond a reasonable doubt that a defendant deserves execution.
(source: Associated Press)
*******************
Carper on death penalty: discussion amongst judges "appropriate" in some cases
Monday marked been just over 4 weeks since the Delaware Supreme Court ruled the
state's death penalty law was unconstitutional.
Since then, a number of state leaders have spoken openly about the issue.
In an interview with 47ABC on Monday, Senator Tom Carper tells 47ABC he has not
been an advocate of mandatory death sentences; however, he believes there are
exceptions.
"I've felt that it was appropriate to allow a judge in certain cases, multiple
pre-meditated murders, to have some discussion if he or she thought that the
capital punishment was warranted," explains Senator Carper.
In early August, Attorney General Matt Denn said he would not appeal the
decision; however, he does not believe the ruling can be applied to the 13 men
currently on death row.
(source: WMDT news)
NORTH CAROLINA:
New judge to hear 4 Racial Justice Act murder cases
A retired judge from the Charlotte area is taking over North Carolina's first 4
Racial Justice Act death penalty cases - all from Cumberland County - the state
Administrative Office of the Courts said.
And in a separate but related issue, the North Carolina Supreme Court is going
to consider whether the rest of the state's roughly 145 Racial Justice Act
defendants are entitled to hearings to pursue their claims that racism tainted
their trials, the Center for Death Penalty Litigation said Monday. The court is
to decide whether those inmates get to use the act, despite the fact that the
state legislature repealed it in 2013.
The Racial Justice Act was enacted in 2009. Most of the state's death row
population tried to use it.
Only 4, all defendants in Fayetteville-area homicides, received hearings before
the legislature overturned the law.
Those 4 persuaded Cumberland County Superior Court Judge Greg Weeks in 2012
that racism influenced the selection of their juries. Weeks commuted their
sentences to life in prison without parole.
The defendants were Marcus Reymond Robinson, who killed a teen in a robbery;
Tilmon Golphin, who with his brother killed a deputy and a state trooper in a
traffic stop; Christina S. "Queen" Walters, who led a gang that kidnapped and
killed 2 women; and Quintel Augustine, convicted of murdering a Fayetteville
police officer.
The state Supreme Court in December overturned Weeks' decisions and ordered new
hearings for the 4 defendants.
The court said Weeks should have given the prosecutors more opportunity to
prepare their response to the defendants' evidence. The evidence included a
detailed statistical study of 20 years of jury selection in capital cases.
The Supreme Court said Weeks should have separated the cases of Augustine,
Walters and Golphin, instead of hearing them as a group.
"No one has said his findings were wrong, just that procedurally there have
been problems," said spokeswoman Gerda Stein of the Center for Death Penalty
Litigation.
Her agency has handled much of the Racial Justice Act litigation.
All 4 defendants were sent back to death row.
The Supreme Court ordered Jim Ammons, the senior resident Superior Court judge
in Cumberland County, to take over the 4 cases. But in June, Ammons withdrew
after the lawyers for the 4 death row defendants contended he has biases and
conflicts of interest that would prevent him from being fair.
On Aug. 19, state Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Martin assigned retired
Superior Court Judge Erwin Spainhour of Cabarrus County, near Charlotte, to
take the cases.
Spainhour, like Weeks before him, is to decide if racism tainted the trials of
the 4 inmates.
Meanwhile, approximately 140 more death row inmates contend they should get the
same opportunity as Robinson, Walters, Golphin and Augustine.
They argue that once the government grants a right and someone attempts to
exercise that right, it's unconstitutional for the government to block the
person from using that right, Stein said.
The question is to be considered by the state Supreme Court for 2 murder cases
from Iredell County, Stein said.
One of the defendants is Rayford Burke. He is a black man who in 1993 was
convicted and sentenced to death by an all-white jury for the shooting death of
a police informant, says a summary of the case from Stein's office.
The other defendant is Andrew Darrin Ramseur, a black man whose jury, too, was
all white. He was sentenced to death for killing 2 white people in a
convenience store robbery, Stein's office said.
The lawyers for the Racial Justice Act defendants say prosecutors for illegal,
racist reasons rejected blacks from serving on the juries in these trials.
(source: Fayetteville Observer)
GEORGIA:
Man accused of killing St. Augustine priest attempts to kill himself in Georgia
jail
Steven James Murray, the man accused of killing a St. Augustine priest,
attempted to hang himself Saturday at the Clayton County jail in Georgia,
officials confirmed.
According to Burke County Sheriff Greg Coursey, Murray was hospitalized after
the suicide attempt and later transported back to the Clayton County jail where
he remains on suicide watch.
In late May, Murray attempted to hang himself with a bed sheet at the Burke
County jail. At that point, he was transferred to a jail in Jefferson County,
where he broke a sprinkler head in the cell on June 18 in his attempt to flood
it. 2 days later he was transferred to Clayton where he has remained since.
Murray, 28, was taken into custody April 13 after the body of missing Rev. Rene
Robert, 71, was found April 18 in a wooded area in the northern part of Burke
County.
The Burke County grand jury on May 19 indicted Murray on charges of murder and
weapon violations in Robert's death. District Attorney Ashley Wright has filed
notice that she intends to seek the death penalty.
Investigators believe Murray tricked Robert, who was trying to counsel the
former Aiken, S.C., resident, into going to Aiken to visit Murray's children on
April 10. Robert was forced into the trunk of his own Toyota, authorities said.
Murray told investigators that he pulled off the side of the road at one point,
took Robert from the trunk and shot him there. He's also was accused of
committng a number of burglaries and an arson in Aiken before being caught late
April 13.
The following week, Murray agreed to show law enforcement the location of the
body, which was off River Road in Burke County.
According to the notice of the intention to seek the death penalty, Wright
listed 4 statutory aggravating circumstances: The slaying was committed while
Murray was committing kidnapping with bodily injury, Murray killed the priest
while engaged in aggravated battery, that Murray killed Robert for money or
something of value and Robert's slaying was outrageously or wantonly vile,
horrible or inhuman in that it involved torture, depravity of mind, or
aggravated battery on the victim.
(source: Florida Times-Union)
FLORIDA:
Judge denies request to block jail recordings in Donald Smith case----Inmate
claimed accused killer of 8-year-old admitted to another homicide
A trial judge ruled to deny a motion filed by the defense team for the man
accused in the 2013 kidnapping, rape and murder of 8-year-old Cherish
Perrywinkle blocking jail conversations between Donald Smith and another inmate
from being used in Smith's trial.
The judge ruled there's no expectation of privacy in jail, that convicted
murderer Rabdall Deviney was not cooperating with the state and, in fact, did
not know the conservations were being recorded.
The conversations between Smith and Deviney were recorded while the 2 were in
adjacent cells in the Duval County jail.
Smith's new attorney, Charles Fletcher, filed a motion to suppress the
recordings, which captured 74 hours of conversations between Smith and Deviney,
claiming that they were obtained unlawfully, without a warrant.
According to testimony, the device was placed June 23, 2015, 8 days after
Deviney's lawyer spoke with the State Attorney's Office, claiming Deviney had
information that Donald Smith committed a prior murder, and that Deviney wanted
to tell the state in exchange for the death penalty being taken off the table
in his case. The state refused and declined Deviney as a witness.
A detective testified that he dressed up as a maintenance worker to place the
recording equipment in the vents and that the device was removed 74 hours
later.
Diviney and letter
While he awaited retrial, Deviney sent a handwritten letter to the State
Attorney's Office, saying that Smith told him about a previous rape and murder
that he committed, and Deviney was willing to trade that information for a
lighter sentence in his murder case.
The State Attorney's Office has said it thinks Deviney was lying about another
case to benefit himself. Deviney has since been reconvicted and resentenced to
death for killing Delores Futrell in 2008. Smith's trial date has not been set.
Smith's attorneys argued last year that since he signed a form the day after
his arrest saying that he would not speak to police, Smith should have been
read his rights because Deviney "was acting as an agent of the state" because
his lawyer had offered help in the case against Smith.
But the state argued Deviney was not acting as an agent because the assistant
state attorney said from the beginning that he was not interested in having
Deviney as a witness.
Smith's next court hearing is scheduled for October. A trial date has not yet
been set because of the uncertainty over Florida's death penalty law.
(source: news4jax.com)
MISSISSIPPI:
Prosecutor to Mull Death Penalty Opposition in Nuns' Slaying
A Mississippi prosecutor said she hasn't decided whether to seek the death
penalty for a man charged with killing 2 nuns who dedicated their lives to
helping people in one of the poorest counties in the nation.
Relatives and colleagues of Sisters Margaret Held and Paula Merrill have
publicly expressed their opposition to execution. A judge denied bond Monday to
Rodney Earl Sanders, 46, of Kosciusko, Mississippi, who is charged with 2
counts of capital murder, 1 count of burglary and 1 count of grand larceny.
Capital murder under Mississippi law is a killing committed along with another
felony. It is punishable by execution by lethal injection or by life in prison.
Held and Merrill, both 68, were found stabbed to death in their home in Durant
after they failed to show up to work last Thursday at a medical clinic in
nearby Lexington, where they were nurse practitioners.
"We are going to consider the heinous nature of the crime and their wishes,"
District Attorney Akillie Malone-Oliver said Monday, referring to the death
penalty opposition by families of the sisters and their religious orders.
Sanders has been held in an undisclosed jail since his arrest late Friday.
Accompanied by at least seven law-enforcement officers, he made a brief court
appearance Monday before Durant City Judge Jim Arnold, who denied bond and said
the state will appoint an attorney after Sanders indicated he could not afford
one.
Sanders - who had been living about 15 miles east of the sisters' Durant home -
confessed to the killings but gave no reason, said Holmes County Sheriff Willie
March, who was briefed by Durant police and Mississippi Bureau of Investigation
officials who took part in Sanders' interrogation.
Warren Strain, spokesman for the Department of Public Safety, which includes
the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, said the organization would neither
confirm nor deny that Sanders confessed.
Sanders' wife attended the hearing and broke down afterward when addressing the
family and friends of the nuns.
"I'm sorry. I don't know what to say to y'all. I'm so sorry. ... I'm so sorry.
I can't take this. Oh, my God," Marie Sanders said, sobbing.
At Lexington Medical Clinic, about 10 miles west of Durant, Held and Merrill
often treated poor and uninsured patients with diabetes and other chronic
conditions. The clinic and the nuns' home in Durant are in Holmes County,
population 18,000. With 44 % of its residents living in poverty, Holmes is the
7th-poorest county in America, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Hours before Sanders' court appearance, Bishop Joseph Kopacz and more than 20
priests from the Diocese of Jackson celebrated a memorial Mass at the small but
ornate Cathedral of St. Peter in downtown Jackson, about an hour's drive south
of Durant. Hundreds of people attended, and the front pews were filled by
family members and sisters from Held's and Merrill's religious orders, the
Kentucky-based Sisters of Charity of Nazareth and the School Sisters of St.
Francis of Milwaukee.
The Rev. Greg Plata, who ministers at the church in Lexington, Mississippi,
where Held and Merrill led Bible study, praised them for their lives of
service. Plata also noted the joint statement against the death penalty
released Sunday by the sisters' orders.
"Justice for a heinous crime demands punishment, but it does not demand
revenge," Plata said.
Records from the Iowa Department of Corrections show Sanders was in prison from
June 2004 to February 2011 on a conviction of 2nd-degree robbery. Records show
he also was in prison in Iowa from August 1999 to August 2002 on a conviction
of theft, and from April to October 1996 for 2 counts of 3rd-offense drunken
driving.
Sanders was on probation after a prison term for a felony drunken-driving
conviction in Mississippi last year, said Grace Simmons Fisher, a spokeswoman
for the Mississippi Department of Corrections. He was also convicted of armed
robbery in Holmes County, sentenced in 1986 and served 6 years.
(source: Asssociated Press)
*******************
Nuns' slaying underscores Christianity
Like most Mississippians, I absorbed the brutal news of the murders of 2
Catholic nuns in their Durant home Thursday with a mixture of incredible
sadness and no small amount of anger.
Sister Paula Merrill of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth in Kentucky and
Sister Margaret Held of the School Sisters of St. Francis in Wisconsin were in
Mississippi to provide hope and help for some of the poorest people in this
nation by serving as nurse practitioners at the Lexington Medical Clinic.
But press accounts have revealed that their service to their fellow man went
far beyond health care. Truly, these women were doing the work of God in a
place where the need could not have been greater and among people who had few
other places or people to whom they could turn.
The more I learned of their service and charity, the sadder the news of their
murders became. And out of those thoughts came another emotion - anger. Who in
the world could ever justify killing a nun? These women shared or gave away
virtually everything they had in service to others.
My thoughts returned to the reliable kindnesses of the Dominican Sisters of
Springfield, Illinois, whose compassion and grace has long marked their service
at St. Dominic Hospital in Jackson. During my late wife's long illness and
during some prior health issues of my own, we came to greatly admire and
appreciate those relationships that went far beyond health care.
I thought of the ministries of so many nuns among the immigrant communities in
the state. Then my thoughts raced back to TV coverage of the crime scene in
Durant. And in those dark thoughts of swift retribution and hard punishment for
whoever committed these murders, I thought back to executions I covered at
Parchman - and I caught myself.
One of the most vivid memories I have of those experiences are the roles the
nuns played in protesting the execution of death row inmates. Whether in the
stifling Delta heat outside the prison gates at Parchman or on Capitol Street
outside the Governor's Mansion in Jackson, the nuns courageously stood for
their faith and their beliefs.
I watched the protesting nuns at Parchman while covering the 2002 lethal
injection execution of Florida career criminal Tracy Alan Hansen for the August
10, 1987 slaying of state Trooper David Bruce Ladner, which marked the 1st time
since 1989 that Mississippi had actually enforced the death penalty and the 1st
since the state stopped using the gas chamber.
The murder of Ladner was particularly heinous. Trooper Ladner was shot twice -
once in the back - by Hansen, who had pulled Hansen's Lincoln Continental over
for a traffic violation on Interstate 10 west of Gulfport.
But the protesting nuns that day never wavered, continuing their peaceful death
penalty protest even after Hansen received the lethal injection and died about
10 minutes later following a rambling final speech in which he confessed to the
crime: "I'm guilty. I shot the guy. I panicked. I was running from the law. I
shouldn't have had a gun."
It came to me through those memories that despite the outpouring of sadness,
grief and, yes, anger by most Mississippians over the senseless murders of
Sisters Paula and Margaret, the victims of this crime would not seek
retribution. Like their sisters, they would advocate forgiveness and peace, not
the death penalty.
It is that irony that leaves so many struggling to make sense of what
transpired on Castalian Springs Road in Durant. Why? Robbery? Again, they
shared or gave away most everything they had as a matter of course on a daily
basis.
Another of the many ironies of this awful crime is that it robs one of
Mississippi's poorest communities of vital health care opportunities. The role
these sisters played in the lives of the poor and the sick in Holmes County
will be assumed by . . . whom? When the faith-based ministries that politicians
like to talk about are targeted, just who takes up that slack?
Because remarkable souls like these innocent, dedicated women don't choose to
come to rural Mississippi every day. Unfortunately, that hard truth will
resonate in Holmes County in the days to come.
(source: Opinion; Sid Salter, The Daily Journal)
LOUISIANA:
Innocent on death row: Rodricus Crawford's timeline to die
On Sept. 7, 2016, the Louisiana Supreme Court will hear the appeal of
25-year-old Rodricus Crawford, an innocent man sentenced for the death of his
1-year-old son who medical experts say died of pneumonia. This is one in a
series of articles examining how an innocent Black man ends up on death row.
Rodricus Crawford was 23 and living with his mother, who was also boarding
other relatives needing a place to live. The habitual marijuana smoker had
never had a real job. On the other hand, he'd never been in real trouble -
Crawford's criminal record consisted of weed possession charges. This in spite
of growing up in a neighborhood known for poverty, drug trafficking and
violence.
He and a young woman he'd known since grade school had a baby together.
Lakendra Lott had psychological problems and was routinely a patient on the
"10th floor," her family's reference to the mental ward at the local hospital.
The 2 made it work with baby Roderius (Bobo) going back and forth between the
2. On Feb. 7, 2012, they celebrated the baby's 1st birthday. A week later,
their lives fell apart.
TIMELINE
Feb. 14, 2012
On Valentine's Day the family awoke around 7 a.m. to Crawford "hollering and
screaming."
Crawford's mother ran into his room and found him standing with Roderius in his
arms, yelling "look at the baby, look at the baby, what's wrong with Bobo,
something is wrong with Bobo."
Crawford's uncle calls 911 while his mother and sister try administering CPR.
Paramedics determine baby Roderius has been dead more than an hour. They wait
for police before telling family.
Police arrive and take both parents to the police station for questioning
instead of allowing them to go to the hospital with the baby.
Crawford tells police baby Roderius hit his head and cut his lip when he falls
between the toilet and the bathtub the day before.
Separately, Lott recalls same events to police. She adds that Baby Lott had a
"little cold."
A forensic pathologist performs the autopsy and determines the baby's bruises
are a result of smothering rather than the pneumonia the baby also had.
Detectives try to get Crawford to confess to waking up on top of his son.
Crawford refuses.
April 20, 2012
Dale Cox, assistant district attorney, indicts Crawford for murder and seeks
the death penalty.
Dale Cox has been featured in The New York Times, CBS' "60 Minutes," and other
outlets giving the following quotes:
"I think we need to kill more people."
"I take it as a failure that I was unable to convince the jury to kill him."
"Over time, I have come to the position that revenge is important for society
as a whole. We have certain rules that you are expected to abide by, and when
you don't abide by them you have forfeited your right to live among us."
The "epidemic of child-killings" is the result of the "destruction of the
nuclear family and a tremendously high illegitimate birth rate."
Nov. 4-12, 2013 - The Trial
Daniel Spitz, the forensic pathologist who co-authored the pathology textbook
used in many medical schools, testifies that Roderius died of pneumonia.
The jury of jury of 9 Whites and 3 Blacks found Crawford guilty.
Crawford's defense team, led by Black defense attorney J. Antonio Florence had
been so certain no jury would find Crawford guilty that they didn't prepare for
the death penalty phase of the trial, which started the day after the verdict.
Nov. 13, 2013
In the death penalty phase, the prosecutor painted Crawford and his family as
deadbeats who didn't obey the law. In his closing, he told the jury Jesus
Christ required them to sentence Crawford to death. He read this New Testament
Scripture that he'd successfully used to get another black man sentenced to
death: "It would be better if you were never born. You shall have a millstone
cast around your neck, and you will be thrown into the sea."
That evening, Crawford was sentenced to death and sent to Louisiana State
Penitentiary, known as Angola. He is the 2nd-youngest man on death row.
(source: rollingout.com)
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