Dec. 7
OHIO:
Ohio executions set to resume in January 2017
As Ohio resumes executions in the new year, death row inmate Ronald Phillips is
scheduled to die on January 12, 2017. Phillips was sentenced to death in 1995
for the 1993 rape and murder of his girlfriend's 3 year-old daughter, Sheila
Marie Evans.
Phillips, originally from Akron, OH, has always had a fear of needles.
According to the Associated Press, this fear stems from his childhood, when he
would witness his parents sell drugs and let strung-out addicts shoot up in
their kitchen.
Negative sentiments against the death penalty in Ohio have been expressed on
Denison's campus through speakers like Jim and Nancy Petro. A former auditor
and attorney general of Ohio and former Cuyahoga County commissioner, Petro is
now a member of Ohioans to Stop Executions' board of directors with his wife
Nancy. Denison also welcomed death row exoneree Ronald Keine to tell his story
in 2014. And in 2016, Sister Helen Prejean, a staunch death penalty opponent,
was the keynote speaker at Denison's 175th commencement.
Courses such as Jack Shuler's "Dead Man Walking: Executions in America"
contribute to the discussion on the death penalty by examining its history and
present issues with executions.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, Ohio has performed 53 total
executions, placing it in the top 10 states with the most executions. Texas
tops the list at 538.
Phillips' execution has been delayed several times over his 20-plus stay on
death row. The most recent delay occurred when he requested to donate a kidney
to his mother in 2013. This request was ultimately denied. However, attorneys
are still attempting to vacate the death sentence for Phillips.
Last Thursday, the Ohio Parole Board held a clemency hearing at the Ohio
Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections for Phillips. The hearing started
at 9:00 a.m. and didn't conclude until 6:30 p.m. After hearing from the defense
and prosecution, the board did not make an immediate decision, so it's unclear
whether or not Phillips' execution will be vacated or delayed.
While Phillips' defense team is responsible for some of the delays, a
moratorium that was placed on executions after Dennis McGuire's botched
experience in 2014 is a significant reason why Phillips still lives on death
row.
McGuire's execution lasted 26 minutes. Executed on January 16, 2014 for the
murder of his girlfriend and unborn child, McGuire was the 1st to be executed
with a new lethal injection cocktail. The drugs: midazolam and hydromorphone, a
sedative and narcotic painkiller respectively, were injected into McGuire's arm
at 10:27 a.m. Lawrence Hummer, a pastor McGuire requested at his execution,
said that three minutes into the execution, "'he lifted his head off the
gurney, and said to the family who he could see through the window, 'I love
you, I love you,' then laid back down' (2015). At 10:58 a.m., his stomach began
to swell. For the next 10 minutes, according to Hummer, "he struggled and
gasped audibly for air." Hummer cringed for the next 11 minutes while "McGuire
was fighting for breath, his fists clenched the entire time." Hummer heard his
gasps through the glass wall. "The gasps turned to small puffs like a dying
animal fighting for another breath."
At 10:53 a.m., the warden finally called the time of death. McGuire's execution
was the longest since 1999 when Ohio resumed executions. According to an
article by Jeremy Pelzer from 2015, McGuire's family, traumatized after
witnessing his death, ended up filing a federal lawsuit in January of 2015
saying he suffered needless pain. In February of 2015, less than a month later,
his family dropped the lawsuit after Ohio said it would not use the 2 drug
combo again. Despite McGuire???s family's attempt to ban the 2 drug combo, and
unfortunately for Phillips, Ohio will use midazolam along with rocuronium
bromide, which paralyzes the inmate, and potassium chloride, a substance that
stops the heart, reports Andrew Welsh-Huggins in a 2016 Associated Press
article.
Kevin Werner, Executive Director of Ohioans to Stop Executions, isn't new to
reading about heinous crimes. But some have wondered why he would continue to
fight for the abolition of the death penalty when these heinous crimes occur.
"The work I do on the death penalty isn't necessarily always for the inmates. I
think a lot of them don't belong there, I don't think they're the worst of the
worst, but they are all there for horrific crimes," Werner begins. "But in
those tough cases what I really think about is the impact on the victim's
family."
Werner, a father himself, understands the emotional reaction people have toward
a case like this because he recognizes his kids have also been the age of
Sheila Evans. "I get that people want justice and want to exact revenge, but I
also think about how this is a family who had unimaginable things happen to
them. They have to relive it every time there's a hearing or something new
happens with the case." At this point, Sheila's family has been reliving this
for over 20 years.
"So in this case I empathize more for the family who has lost a loved one. I
ask myself, 'what do they really need? Do they need to be back in court or do
they just need this person to go anonymously away into the prison system.'"
Werner believes that the latter is often the better outcome for families.
"That's where the empathy is in these cases - with the family," he said.
But Phillips still sits on death row awaiting his execution. Now in his early
40s, he has medium length salt and pepper hair with a goatee and mustache to
match. He smiles with his eyes when he looks into the camera, his hands firmly
clasped together. Without the crime attached to him, he just looks like a
normal guy with a fear of needles.
(source: The Denisonian)
NEBRASKA:
Secrecy of death penalty legislation
Knowing that the federal government would not allow lethal injection drugs into
the country, Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts went ahead and wasted $54,000 in
taxpayer money on drugs from India. Today, a little more than a year later, the
governor has yet to lose his resolve to execute Nebraskans. In his defense, the
Nebraskans whose lives he is trying to end are on death row. Plus, the
referendum on death penalty last month (you know, the one Ricketts poured
$200,000 of his own personal wealth into, after the legislature overturned his
veto) yielded favorable results for capital punishment.
While the death penalty is here to stay for now, rather than administering it
with complete transparency, the Nebraska Department of Corrections with the
support of the Ricketts administration has proposed new death penalty protocol
that shrouds the practice in secrecy. The new proposed rules would allow the
state not to release any records of the company or entity producing the
requisite drugs. They would also allow the state to keep the drugs secret until
60 days before a request for a death warrant.
Attorney General Doug Peterson has said that the purpose of the new protocol is
not meant to surround executions with secrecy. Instead, the new protocol is
meant to protect the pharmacies creating the drugs from harassment from death
penalty opponents, though it is unclear what is meant by "harassment." As
consumers, we certainly have the right to withhold our business from companies
with whom we have philosophical disagreements with.
Furthermore, considering the wide-ranging problems facing the DOC, including
persistent understaffing/overtime issues, mass-overcrowding, lack of behavioral
and mental health treatment and so much more, how can citizens trust the DOC to
handle an issue as fragile as execution?
The new rules, and any subsequent attempt to carry out an execution, will face
legal challenges by inmates on death row and possibly even some of our own
lawmakers. As he is a Republican, one would expect Gov. Ricketts to be a
staunch advocate of small government, one of the anchors of conservatism. But
that is obviously not the case. There is nothing "small government" about the
state taking someone's life.
As the governor said himself in his 2015 State of the State address,
"Overregulation delays progress and growth." And by regulating how we allow our
government to kill its citizens, the governor's administration is certainly
delaying societal progress. The only countries that execute more of their own
citizens than the U.S. are China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. Countries that
I, and hopefully Gov. Ricketts, would argue are controlled by overbearing
governments that trample citizens' inalienable rights.
What's more is that pushing new rules and regulations on how to carry out an
execution is a sideshow to the real problems facing our state. As I have
written about in a previous article, our state is facing a projected $900
million budget shortfall, our prisons are spilling over their edges with
overcrowding, our education is fairing poorly and we have a long-standing
humanitarian crisis in Whiteclay, Nebraska. An execution has not even taken
place in nearly 2 decades, and no death row inmate has escaped in that time, so
there is very little worry in regard to a threat on citizens' safety. Rather
than fretting about how to kill people who are not a public danger, our state's
most executive officer should focus on the most poignant issues facing
Nebraska.
That said, the citizens have spoken and the story they are telling is that of
being pro-death penalty. Like many of the results that rolled in on election
night, I disagree with this one. But I respect the fact that the Repeal
campaign won, and that Nebraskans overwhelmingly want the death penalty. What
was not on the ballot, though, was secrecy and backdoor dealing.
In fact, Trump's win is, in many ways, a widespread rebuke of these exact kinds
of behind-the-scenes governing policies that Gov. Ricketts is trying to
implement. As a country, we have to answer to most the rest of the Western,
democratic world as to why we still use such a barbaric form of punishment. As
our governor, Mr. Ricketts has to answer to us as to why he is trying to
execute Nebraskans without at least affording his constituents complete
transparency.
(source: Willy Morris is a junior political science major; The Daily Nebraskan)
CALIFORNIA:
How Prop 66's death penalty law will work, and a look at 10 Orange County death
row cases
State passes Proposition 66----California voters
Yes: 6,603,585 (51.1 %)-----No: 6,312,750 (48.9 %)
Orange County voters
Yes: 652,016 (59.1 %)-----No: 450,891 (40.9 %)
[source: Secretary of State's Office]
Skylar Deleon was sentenced to death in 2009 for tying an Arizona couple, who
had docked their yacht the
Well Deserved in Newport Beach, to an anchor and tossing them overboard into
the waters off of Catalina in an attempt to steal the 55-footer.
More than 6 years after his conviction for the murders, Deleon's 1st of 3
standard appeals he can file has yet to reach the California Supreme Court.
Deleon is 1 of 749 inmates - including 63 others convicted in Orange County -
awaiting execution on California's death row.
Proponents of Proposition 66, barely approved a month ago by California voters,
hope it will reduce the time for cases like Deleon's to fully play out. But the
measure, designed to speed up legal proceedings for California executions that
stretch decades, could become bogged down in its own legal snarls.
Here is a close look at the proposition and and death row:
Q. How does Proposition 66 work?
A. A major reason for delays is the small pool of appellate attorneys
designated to handle capital cases. Inmates can sometimes wait 5-plus years to
get a specialized lawyer. Prop. 66 would expand the pool of lawyers hired by
the state to handle the cases. All state appeals must be exhausted within 5
years. A secondary appeal known as a habeas corpus petition, where a defendant
can raise claims such as prosecutor misconduct or new evidence, would have to
be filed within 1 year instead of 3.
Q. When was the last California execution?
In 2006. There hasn't been one since because of legal battles over the state's
previous 3-drug lethal injection method. But last month the Department of
Corrections approved new regulations for the injections, and Proposition 66
eliminated a time-consuming administrative review of the state's new rules for
single-drug executions.
Q. When does Proposition 66 take effect?
A. Former Attorney General John Van de Kamp and Ron Briggs, a former death
penalty advocate, have filed a lawsuit saying the measure would cause confusion
in the courts, cost more money and deny inmates' constitutional rights. They
have asked the state's Supreme Court to put an immediate stay on the measure
during litigation. The Secretary of State's Office is scheduled to certify the
election results on Dec. 16, then the high court is expected to consider the
stay.
Q. If the State Supreme Court denies the stay, can California then begin
executions?
A. Possibly. About 20 death row inmates have exhausted all of their appeals and
would be 1st in line for execution. One, William Peyton, was convicted in the
1980 stabbing death of a Garden Grove woman. Kent Scheidegger, director of the
Criminal Justice Legal Foundation and a Proposition 66 author, said he believes
the state can resume executions within 6 months.
"I'm optimistic that the mature cases, in which all the reviews of judgment are
complete, will go forward," Scheidegger said.
But some legal experts expect more lawsuits.
Q. Will it work?
A. Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said the appeal process
would move faster because the cases won't all be in a bottleneck waiting for
the California Supreme Court.
Q. Some believe Prop. 66 will actually slow down executions?
Yes. Wes Van Winkle, a Berkeley-based defense attorney who specializes in
capital cases, who is representing Deleon in his first appeal, said he believes
the measure will create more legal steps. Under the current process, for
example, a defendant can file a habeas corpus petition directly with the state
Supreme Court.
Under Proposition 66, the defendant must first file the appeal with the trial
court, where the original judge who presided over the case will consider it. If
the judge rejects the appeal, the defendant can petition the appellate court
and then the California Supreme Court.
Q. Can enough qualified lawyers be found willing to take on death row appeals?
A. Van Winkle said he isn't so sure because of how detailed and time-consuming
such appeals are. "A lot of lawyers will do it once and never again, because
it's so much work," he said. "It's not something you can do in a year."
Rackauckas said the notion that there aren't enough attorneys who can handle
capital cases is "ridiculous."
"If nothing else, just the fact that we can get attorneys appointed to handle
these cases a few years earlier will make a big difference," he said.
Q. What is the worst fear of many who oppose Prop. 66?
A. That a defendant will be executed too quickly, not allowing a lawyer
sufficient time to find favorable evidence.
"In a jurisdiction where we've found important discovery 10, 20 and 30 years
later, the idea that you now will have to find all evidence within 1 year
doesn't make any sense," Scott Sanders, a prominent Orange County public
defender, said about the habeas corpus petition. "It isn't fair and it isn't
constitutional."
Q. What do those who favor Proposition 66 say?
A. Rackauckas said the measure will indeed uphold defendants' constitutional
rights while helping mend a broken system and relieve decades of delays.
"These cases are defended with great vigor, and the chances of somebody not
getting a fair trial in a death penalty case are very slight," he said. "There
won't be any laxity in terms of the work done on appeal."
SOME DEATH ROW INMATES WITH O.C. TIES
Daniel Patrick Wozniak, 31
A former community theater actor from Costa Mesa, he killed 2 friends in an
attempt to fund his 2010 wedding. Wozniak lured his neighbor, Samuel Herr, 26,
to the Joint Forces Training Base is Los Alamitos, where he shot and killed
him. He later returned and cut off his head and other body parts and tossed
them in Long Beach's El Dorado Park. Wozniak then killed Juri "Julie" Kibuishi,
23, and staged the crime scene to try and throw police off of his trail.
Iftekhar Murtaza, 32
He killed Jayprakash and Karishma Dhanak, the father and sister of his
ex-girlfriend, and nearly killed her mother, Leela Dhanak in 2007. He
apparently believed his girlfriend's family, which lived in Anaheim Hills,
caused the breakup because they were devout Hindus and Murtaza is a Muslim.
Alejandro Avila, 41
Avila was sentenced to death for the kidnapping, sexual assault and murder of
5-year-old Samantha Runnion. Her nude body was found dumped in the hills above
Lake Elsinore in 2002. In the trial, a forensics expert testified that
Samantha's DNA, possibly from her tears, was found in Avila's car. The
California Supreme Court upheld his death sentence in June.
Gerald Parker, 61
Dubbed the Bedroom Basher, Parker was convicted in 1999 for murdering 5 Orange
County women and an unborn child in a string of 1970s slayings. Parker
confessed to the killings after he was confronted with DNA evidence. His
confession led to the exoneration of ex-Marine Kevin Green, who had been behind
bars for 17 years.
Randy Kraft, 71
Also know as the Scorecard Killer and the Freeway Killer, Kraft may have killed
more than 60 young men in Oregon, Michigan and California during 13 years
ending in 1983. He was sentenced to death in 1989 after a nearly yearlong
trial. The killing spree of the meek-looking computer programmer from Long
Beach ended after police stopped him on suspicion of drunken driving and found
a dead Marine in his car.
Maria del Rosio "Rosie" Alfaro, 45
She became the 1st woman sentenced to death in Orange County in 1992 when
convicted of stabbing 9-year-old Autumn Wallace more than 50 times in 1990
after a botched burglary attempt to get money for drugs.
Rodney James Alcala, 73
Alcala is a convicted rapist and serial killer sentenced to death in 2010 for 5
slayings, including the murder of 12-year-old Robin Samsoe, abducted in
Huntington Beach in June 1979, the year Alcala was arrested. He is known as the
Dating Game Killer, because he once appeared on "The Dating Game" TV show. In
2013, he was sentenced in New York to 25 years to life for murdering 2 women in
the 1970s. In September, Alcala was charged in Wyoming with the killing of a
pregnant woman reported missing in 1977.
James Marlow, 60
Known as The Folsom Wolf, Marlow and his girlfriend, Cynthia Coffman, traveled
throughout Southern California killing young women. Marlow was sentenced to
death in 1990 for abducting, raping and strangling Lynel Murray, 19, of
Huntington Beach. Coffman, a former cocktail waitress who had "Property of the
Folsom Wolf" tattooed on her behind, was sentenced to life in prison. Both were
sentenced to death in San Bernardino County in 1989 for the murder of Corinna
D. Novis, 20, of Redlands.
Skylar Deleon, 37, and John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 51
Deleon, a former child actor and AWOL Marine, and Kennedy, a Long Beach gang
member, were both sentenced to death in 2009 for the murders of an Arizona
couple. Thomas and Jackie Hawks were tied to an anchor and thrown overboard
while still alive in a botched attempt to steal their yacht in 2004. Deleon was
also convicted in a separate murder-for-money incident of Jon Peter Jarvi, who
was slashed to death on a Mexican highway in December 2003.
John Samuel Ghobrial, 46
He murdered Juan Delgado, a 12-year-old La Habra boy, in 1998. Ghobrial, a
trained butcher, dismembered the boy's body with a meat cleaver and stuffed his
remains into concrete cylinders. Ghobrial then scattered the concrete cylinders
around the neighborhood.
Maurice Steskal, 57
Steskal was a Bible-reading ex-convict who hated cops. In 1999, Steskal, armed
with an AK-47 assault rifle, ambushed Orange County sheriff's Deputy Bradley J.
Riches at a 7-Eleven in Lake Forest by firing 30 rounds, killing the deputy.
More than 60 sheriff's employees sat in the courtroom to see the death penalty
imposed
(source: Orange County Register)
***************
Quadruple Murder Suspect Faces Potential Death Penalty Case
A suspected member of a Jamaican gang potentially faces a death-penalty case in
connection with a quadruple murder at a makeshift eatery in West Adams.
Marlon Jones, whose false identities range in age from 35 to 41, was captured
Friday, a day after the FBI placed him on its 10 Most Wanted list. Prosecutors
said cops caught up with him following a car chase in South L.A.
The bureau said in a statement that Jones, who allegedly is involved in
marijuana trafficking, is an East Coast gangster who came to Dilly's
underground Jamaican restaurant on Oct. 15 "to settle a disagreement with the
rival gang." Prosecutors today alleged that Jones entered the converted home in
the 2900 block of Rimpau Avenue, where a birthday party was taking place, and
opened fire on a rival, killing him.
"More gunfire was exchanged between the groups, killing 3 men and wounding 10
others," according to a statement from the Los Angeles County District
Attorney's Office.
2 others arrested after the violence, 33-year-old Mowayne McKay and 25-year-old
Diego Reid, were later released, Los Angeles Police Department Detective Isidro
Soto said last week.
Jones was charged today with 4 counts of suspicion of murder. A special
circumstance of multiple murders was attached to the case, prosecutors said,
meaning he could be eligible for the death penalty. Prosecutors have not yet
announced whether they intend to seek the death penalty.
(source: laweekly.com)
USA:
Trial of accused Emanuel AME Church shooter expected to begin Wednesday
The federal death penalty trial for the man charged with hate crimes in the
deaths of 9 people at Emanuel AME Church is expected to begin Wednesday.
Authorities say Dylann Roof, 22, sat with the black churchgoers in Bible study
for an hour on June 17, 2015 before opening fire and hurling racial insults.
In all, the Eastover man faces 33 federal charges: 9 counts of violating the
Hate Crime Act resulting in death; 3 counts of violating the Hate Crime Act
involving an attempt to kill, 9 counts of obstruction of exercise of religion
resulting in death, 3 counts of obstruction of exercise of religion involving
an attempt to kill and use of a dangerous weapon and 9 counts of use of a
firearm to commit murder during and in relation to a crime of violence.
This is the 1st day in a week that Roof will have his attorneys represent him.
The suspect represented himself as 67 people - 50 white men and women, 15 black
men and women, one pacific islander and one that identified as "other" - were
qualified for the jury pool, but submitted a hand-written note Sunday asking
for his counsel to take over for the next phase of the trial.
Once 12 jurors and 6 alternates are seated, opening statements and witness
testimonies are expected to begin. The jurors chosen would decide whether Roof
lives or dies for his alleged crimes.
Roof currently pleads not guilty, but his lawyers have offered a plead guilty
several times if prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty.
On Tuesday, Judge Richard Gergel denied a motion to delay the trial.
Roof's attorneys said they wanted to hold off on the trial because of the
publicity surrounding the mistrial in a former North Charleston police
officer's case.
The motion stated the Michael Slager mistrial "declared less than 48 hours
before the scheduled start of the trial in this case, is highly likely to
create undue pressure on the jury to compensate for the judicial system???s
apparent failure to punish Mr. Slager by imposing a harsher punishment here."
U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel said he wouldn't allow other events to
affect the progression of the trial.
(source: WTOC news)
****************
Feds: Brothel enforcer could face death penalty in 2 killings
An alleged enforcer for a New Jersey prostitution ring has pleaded not guilty
to federal murder and racketeering charges in connection with 2 killings in
Trenton more than 3 years ago.
NJ Advance Media reported in October that Wilmer Chavez Romero, of New
Brunswick, had been charged under an 8-count indictment in U.S. District Court
with 2 murders in 2012 and 2013.
Chavez Romero, 27, was arraigned on the indictment Tuesday before District
Judge William H. Walls in Newark, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
The indictment describes Romero, who was first arrested on a human trafficking
charge in September 2014, as the "house manager" for a Bridgeton brothel run by
a statewide prostitution ring.
The unnamed criminal organization also operated other brothels in New
Brunswick, Trenton, Orange, Asbury Park, Lakewood, according to the indictment.
Chavez Romero, who the indictment states served as an enforcer for the
organization, allegedly killed 2 people on Sept. 4, 2012 and Jan. 23, 2013 in
Mercer County.
The indictment identifies the victims only as "N.R.G." and "B.E.,"
respectively, but news reports from Trenton at the time name them as Neemias
Reyes-Gonzales, 36 and Benito Escalante, 26.
The indictment doesn't specify a motive for these 2 killings, but prosecutors
say the group employed violence both against rivals and associates who they
perceived to be disloyal.
Chavez Romero specifically is alleged to have committed violent acts both in
order to further organization's criminal aims and to hide its illegal
activities.
According to reports, Reyes-Gonzales previously had been arrested in a
prostitution sting in July 2012, and Escalante was killed in a home that had
been visited by law enforcement in a similar investigation around that time.
Alleged brothel enforcer charged
Authorities say Wilmer Chavez-Romero served as the manager of a Bridgeton
brothel and an enforcer for its owners.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Chavez Romero faces the possibility of
death or life imprisonment if convicted of murder in aid of racketeering, the
use of a firearm during a violent crime or conspiring to harbor aliens
resulting in death.
The U.S. Attorney's Office did not indicate if prosecutors would seek the death
penalty on those charges.
The racketeering and racketeering conspiracy offenses Chavez Romero is charged
with carry a maximum sentences of life in prison.
Chavez Romero's case is currently scheduled for trial Jan. 3, 2017.
(source: nj.com)
_______________________________________________
A service courtesy of Washburn University School of Law www.washburnlaw.edu
DeathPenalty mailing list
DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu
http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty
Unsubscribe: http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/options/deathpenalty
