Feb. 1
TEXAS----stay of impending execution
Execution halted for man convicted in Corpus Christi stabbing death----2 days
before death row inmate John Ramirez was scheduled to be executed, a federal
district court in Corpus Christi halted the execution.
A federal district court in Corpus Christi halted the execution of Texas death
row inmate John Ramirez on Tuesday, 2 days before he was set to die.
Ramirez, 32, was convicted in 2009 in the stabbing death of Pablo Castro in
Corpus Christi during a 2004 robbery. Castro was stabbed 29 times, and Ramirez
wasn't arrested until more than 3 years later when he was found near the
Mexican border, according to court documents. He was set for execution on
Thursday.
The stay comes after 2 motions were filed last week by federal death penalty
attorney Greg Gardner, even though he had no previous experience in the case.
The court granted the motions to stop the execution and grant Ramirez new
counsel because, the motion claimed, Ramirez's previous attorney had failed to
file a clemency petition.
The state has appealed the court's decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for
the Fifth Circuit, which has the ability to overrule the lower court's decision
before Thursday and reverse the stay.
On July 19, 2004, Ramirez and 2 women, Angela Rodriguez and Christina Chavez,
were driving around in a van looking for people to rob for drug money when they
spotted Castro taking the trash out from the convenience store where he worked,
according to an opinion by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Rodriguez and
Ramirez approached Castro, and Ramirez slashed his throat and repeatedly
stabbed him in his head, neck, shoulders and back, according to court records.
Rodriguez went through his pockets and came back to the van with $1.25,
according to Chavez's testimony. The 2 woman were found the night of the murder
appearing high and drunk, records stated.
Rodriguez is currently serving a life sentence for murder, and Chavez pleaded
guilty to aggravated robbery and got a 25-year sentence, according to prison
records. She became eligible for parole in January.
Ramirez evaded arrest until Feb. 20, 2008, when he was found near the
Texas-Mexico border. He was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death;
he's been on death row for almost 8 years.
In the recent motions filed Friday, Ramirez claimed his previous appellate
attorney abandoned him by not filing a clemency petition, a motion commonly
filed in capital cases to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles and the
governor asking for a stay of execution or commutation to life in prison.
About 3 weeks after receiving an execution date, Ramirez wrote his previous
attorney, Michael Gross, saying he wanted Gross to remove himself from his case
so he could seek new representation. Gross complied, and didn't file a clemency
petition, but neither did anyone else.
Attorney General Ken Paxton argued for Texas that Gross was simply following
Ramirez's instructions, but the court ruled Gross was still responsible because
he hadn't been replaced. After Ramirez's godmother called Gardner, he filed the
motions.
Paxton said the 2 lawyers were engaging in "gamesmanship," noting that both
were involved in another death penalty case that was recently stayed. The court
said a hearing did not suggest any such tactics.
It is the 1st stay of execution in Texas this year, stopping what would have
been the state's 3rd execution. Another execution is set for next Tuesday for
Tilon Carter.
***************************
Texas lawmakers aim to eliminate death penalty for convicts who didn't
kill----At least 2 Texas Democrats and one Republican are pushing to reform the
death penalty under the law of parties, which holds those involved in a murder
equally responsible, even if they weren't directly involved in the actual
killing.
Months after Jeff Wood narrowly and temporarily avoided execution for a murder
he didn't commit, his case has motivated Texas lawmakers on both sides of the
aisle to call for death penalty reform.
Wood, 43, was convicted in the 1996 murder of Kriss Keeran, who was fatally
shot by Wood's friend in a Kerrville convenience store. Wood was sitting in a
truck when his friend, Daniel Reneau, went into the store to steal a safe and
then pulled the trigger on Keeran, who worked there as a clerk.
Even though Wood didn't kill Keeran, he was convicted of murder and given the
death penalty under the Texas statute known as the "law of parties," which
holds that those involved in a crime resulting in death are equally
responsible, even if they weren't directly involved in the actual killing.
He was scheduled to die last August, but, after a rally in front of Gov.
Abbott's mansion and uproar from a group of lawmakers, the Texas Court of
Criminal Appeals stayed, or stopped, his execution six days before it happened,
sending it back to the trial court to review claims of harmful testimony.
With the 2017 legislative session underway, at least 2 Democrats and a
Republican in the Texas House are working to stop Texas counties from
sentencing people to death under the law of parties, keeping people like Jeff
Wood out of the execution chamber.
"We've got to start somewhere when it comes to reforming the death penalty, and
there's no better place to start than the law of parties," said state Rep.
Terry Canales, D-Edinburg, about his bill, House Bill 316, which would make
those convicted of capital murder under the law of parties ineligible for a
death sentence.
State Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, who has become heavily involved in Wood's case,
said he plans to file his own bill as well as work with Canales.
Leach said he never really took a great interest in the law of parties until
Wood's case came up, and then he immersed himself in it, fighting against
Wood's execution and even planning a trip to meet him in prison next month.
"I am strongly in support of us continuing to have the death penalty, but only
for the most heinous crimes and offenders that we know actually committed
crimes," said Leach.
There are 2 pieces to Texas' law of parties. The 1st puts criminal
responsibility on those who help commit a crime, even if they aren't directly
involved - think of the getaway driver in a robbery. The 2nd states that all
parties are responsible for one felony that stems from another if the 2nd could
have been "anticipated." So, in Wood's case, he was participating in a robbery
that turned into a murder, and the jury determined he could have "anticipated"
the murder based on the robbery.
"He may have suspected, he may have anticipated, but he didn't know," Leach
said. "You can't be executing people like that, you just can't. We can keep
them in prison for life, but to execute them is an entirely different
conversation."
Aside from the new interest, there is Rep. Harold Dutton, D-Houston. He has
filed a bill similar to Canales' legislation every session since 2009, along
with one to abolish the death penalty. But Dutton's bill is more limited.
House Bill 147 focuses only on the 2nd section of the law of parties. It would
make the death penalty ineligible for people like Wood, who was involved in a
murder that stemmed from a robbery, even if he anticipated the robbery may turn
to murder. But it wouldn't touch on those who are convicted for helping the
killer commit the murder.
Texas is 1 of 6 states that has executed people who did not actually commit the
murder in which they were convicted, according to the Death Penalty Information
Center. The center has confirmed five such executions in Texas, and 5 other
states have each had one. Armanda Marzullo with the Texas Defender Service, a
group of death penalty defense lawyers, said that difference highlights the
disproportionality of the justice system.
"[The new bills] are important for maintaining the integrity of Texas' death
penalty," she said.
Still, many prosecutors fight to keep the law of parties to give them more
options in special cases, said Shannon Edmonds with the Texas District and
County Attorneys Association. For example, there's the "Texas 7," a group of
violent prisoners who escaped and went on a crime spree in 2000 that included
the fatal shooting of Irving police Officer Aubrey Hawkins. In that case, all 6
who were eventually captured - 1 committed suicide beforehand - were sentenced
to death, some under the law of parties.
"[Prosecutors] want to have as many tools available to them as possible in some
of these heinous cases," Edmonds said.
In a death penalty trial currently undergoing jury selection in Walker County,
John Falk is charged with capital murder under the law of parties. According to
the Huntsville Item, Falk escaped a Huntsville prison with another inmate in
2007, and the other inmate killed a guard during the escape.
Dutton's previous attempts to reform the law of parties have all failed, with
the bills never making it onto the House floor. But he and the other 2
lawmakers hope the recent publicity in Wood's case will help their cause. In
his efforts to stop Wood's execution, Leach said he was able to gather
signatures from more than 50 legislators from both sides of the political
spectrum.
"I hope the Legislature's smart. ... Around here, it's sometimes persistence
that matters," Dutton said.
Canales said he anticipates amendments and substitutions to his bill but that
he thinks it could ultimately survive the conservative Legislature.
"Oftentimes we file bills, and the conversation begins," he said. "More than
anything I think it's an important step to begin the conversation in regards to
capital punishment with the law of parties."
Even if a law is passed, Danny Wood, Jeff Wood's father, has trouble finding
solace in it. He advocates for reform of the law of parties, but his biggest
concerns remain with his son.
"The bummer is, as much as I look forward to [new legislation], we also face
the idea and realization that that does nothing against [already sentenced]
cases," he said, which would include his son.
(source for both: Texas Tribune)
FLORIDA:
Put capital punishment on Florida's death row
The death penalty is dying.
As the Legislature tries yet again to make Florida's capital punishment system
legal, the institution itself is a dead man walking. Nationally, just five
states carried out a combined 20 executions last year. That total was the
lowest since 2009, and is down from nearly 100 in 1999.
Gov. Rick Scott has tried to make Florida a leader in this fading trend. The
state executed 7 people in 2013 and another 8 in 2014. Yet the number fell to
just 2 in 2015 and only 1 last year. Despite the governor's best efforts - and
the so-called Timely Justice Act in 2014 - 383 people remain on Florida's death
row.
As executions decline, so do death sentences. According to the Death Penalty
Information Center, Florida judges sentenced just 10 people to death in 2015.
In 1991, it was 45.
Trace the decline to 1994, when the state allowed juries to recommend life in
prison without possibility of parole. While some politicians swoon over capital
punishment, jurors deal with reality and responsibility. They want killers
confined, but they also don't want to kill someone who is innocent.
Florida leads the nation when it comes to inmates freed from death row. Life
without parole allows jurors to protect public safety with a clear conscience.
Inmates still can argue their innocence.
Florida's history shows the futility - from a practical and legal standpoint -
of trying to create a system in which the state becomes the killer.
For decades, Florida's method of execution was the electric chair. In 1997,
however, the mask covering Pedro Medina caught fire during his execution.
Florida switched to lethal injection, but in 2006 it took 34 minutes to kill
Angel Diaz. Though a U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowed Florida to resume lethal
injection, a new problem arose.
Florida is just one of three states that don't require juries to be unanimous
in recommending a death sentence to the judge. Until last year, a simple
majority - 7 votes - was sufficient, though all 12 jurors must find defendants
guilty.
In 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the system gave disproportionate
power to judges, who can overrule a recommendation of life without parole and
issue a death sentence. The Legislature raised the jury standard to 10 votes.
Last October, however, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that the recommendation
must be unanimous. The U.S. Supreme Court had overruled the state's decision to
uphold the sentence of Timothy Hurst. The vote to recommend death was 11-1.
The new Florida Supreme Court decision said, "Requiring unanimous jury
recommendations of death before the ultimate penalty may be imposed will ensure
that in the view of the jury - a veritable microcosm of the community - the
defendant committed the worst of murders ..." So bills in the Florida Senate
and House would require a unanimous recommendation.
Death row surely would be much smaller if Florida had applied that standard
when executions resumed in 1979. But if the method of execution has been
problematic, so is the method of determining the recommendation.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys argue over whether the aggravating factors in
a killing - Was it "especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel"? - outweigh any
mitigating factors - Was the defendant "under the influence of extreme mental
or emotional disturbance?" If determining guilt or innocence in a capital
punishment case is objective, determining punishment is subjective.
Critics, including the American Bar Association, have argued that Florida's
system is racially biased. Of the 383 death row inmates, 149 are
African-Americans. That's nearly 40 %; blacks make up roughly 16 % of the
state's population. The percentage of white inmates is 57 %. Roughly 78 % of
Floridians are white.
Little credible evidence suggests that capital punishment deters crime. Ample
credible evidence suggests that abolishing the death penalty saves money and
brings justice sooner. Retaining capital punishment also places Florida in the
same criminal justice class with such enlightened countries as North Korea,
Iraq, Yemen, Sudan, Somalia and China, which won't even disclose how many
people the Communist government kills.
With the death penalty, emotional often prevails over rational. Still,
abolishing capital punishment could be part of needed criminal justice reform.
Florida's new legislation only would keep a doomed patient on life support.
(source: Randy Schultz, Sun-Sentinel)
ARIZONA:
Lawyers for inmates rip revised execution procedures
Lawyers for death-row inmates say recent changes to Arizona's procedures for
carrying out the death penalty didn't do enough to confront abuses in the
state's power to decide the methods and amounts of drugs used in executions.
The state released the revisions to the procedures earlier this month as it
battles an inmate lawsuit that challenges the way the state handles the death
penalty. Executions in Arizona remain on hold until the lawsuit is resolved.
Attorneys for the condemned inmates said in court papers filed Friday that the
state's corrections director, under the revisions, still has complete freedom
to deviate from the written procedures.
They say the revisions let the corrections director change timeframes for
disclosing the types and amounts of drugs when he determines that there's an
unexpected contingency. The lawyers for inmates said this particular revision
is meaningless as an accountability check because it depends on the corrections
director's subjective conclusion.
The state says the revisions take away the power of the corrections director to
deviate from key aspects of the execution process, such as doses of drugs, but
they do let him depart from the procedures in a limited way when addressing
unforeseen contingencies.
(source: Associated Press)
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