Jan. 25
NORTH CAROLINA:
Donovan Richardson sentenced to life in prison for 2014 double murder
A Wake County jury on Wednesday sentenced Donovan Richardson to life in prison
without the possibility of parole for the murders of 2 elderly men nearly 4
years ago in Fuquay-Varina.
The verdict capped several hours of deliberations in which the jury could have
sentenced him to death penalty. Jurors found him guilty of the murders of two
senior citizens - Arthur Lee Brown, 78, and David Eugene McKoy, 66 - on July
19, 2014 at their Howard Road home.
Richardson was 1 of 3 men accused in the crime:
Gregory Crawford pleaded guilty in May 2016 to charges of 1st-degree murder,
robbery with a dangerous weapon and burglary in connection with the slayings.
He was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Kevin Britt was charged with 2 counts of 1st-degree murder, robbery with a
dangerous weapon and burglary. He has not been sentenced yet, but he did plead
guilty to being an accessory to murder. He also testified against Richardson
during his trial.
The jury began deliberations on Tuesday after attorneys finished their closing
arguments. While formally sentencing Richardson, Judge Graham Shirley pointed
out in no uncertain terms that Richardson will never taste freedom again in his
life.
"You have a life expectancy of 52.35 years, so I want you to know for the next
27.5 million minutes of your life that (prison) is where you are going to
remain," Shirley said. "Never to be a free man again."
Wednesday's decision was the 9th time Wake County prosecutors have sought the
death penalty in the last decade in a case, but was rebuffed when the jury
handed down a life sentence.
"This was a case that we felt strongly (that) under the law (and) under the
facts of the case, it was appropriate to go to a jury on that issue," said
Lorrin Freeman, the Wake County district attorney. "And we respect the jury's
decision."
Prosecutors said the 2 men did not deserve to die in their own home.
"This is everybody's worst nightmare of 2 men who worked hard (and) loved their
families (but) were murdered in the sanctity of their home at night," Freeman
said.
Rick Gammon, the defense attorney, said he and his client, respected the jury's
decision.
"He's not good, but he's not as bad as he could be quite frankly," he said.
"He's very appreciative of the jury's consideration."
(source: WRAL news)
SOUTH CAROLINA:
S.C. Senate panel advances bills to address lethal injection drug shortage for
death penalty
A South Carolina Senate subcommittee advanced 2 bills Wednesday that would help
the state work around a long-running shortage of lethal injection drugs to
carry out the death penalty.
The 1st measure would protect the identity of pharmaceutical companies that
provide the drugs needed for lethal injections. Gov. Henry McMaster called on
the Legislature to pass such a bill, known as a "shield law" or "secrecy law,"
in November.
The 2nd bill under consideration would allow the state to use the electric
chair for executions if a lethal injection is not possible. Under current law,
death row inmates are given the right to choose between electrocution and
lethal injection.
Both bills are sponsored by state Sen. William Timmons, R-Greenville. The
committee favorably reported both by a 3-1 vote. The lone objector was Sen.
Marlon Kimpson, D-Charleston, who argued the shield law would reduce public
transparency.
"I think we're going to find ourselves in more legal trouble than where we
started," Kimpson said.
The full committee is scheduled to consider both measures on Feb. 1. If
approved there, the bills would head to the Senate floor for a vote.
Privacy
"I'm glad we were able to move the legislation forward so that the full
committee can take a look at it," said Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey,
R-Edgefield. "I think everybody has to acknowledge that there's a problem right
now that the Department of Corrections can't carry out the law."
All 35 death row inmates in South Carolina are currently winding through the
legal appeals process, so there are not any executions the state could not
complete due to the drug shortage.
Massey said he hopes the measures can move forward before the state reaches
that point.
"It's important that people know that the law will be carried out," Massey
said. "So it would be a bit of a stain if the state has a law and does not
empower the agencies of the state to carry out the law."
(source: Post and Courier)
*************
South Carolina must be able to carry out death penalty
While it can be a controversial topic, South Carolina has the death penalty.
This has been the law in our state for a very long time. There are 2 ways for
this punishment to be carried out: by electrocution or by lethal injection.
Under current state law, a person sentenced to death may choose which method is
used for execution. Right now, the drugs used for lethal injection are not
available. This means that death row inmates can choose lethal injection
knowing that this is a punishment that will likely never happen. Simply put,
they are using a loophole in the law to turn a death sentence into a life
sentence.
I have introduced 2 bills designed to correct this issue. One bill makes the
second method of execution available if the inmate's chosen method is not. If
an inmate chooses electrocution, but this is not available for any reason at
the time of the scheduled execution, then lethal injection may be used. If the
necessary drugs are not available for lethal injection at the time of
execution, then electrocution will be used. The goal of the bill is for justice
to be carried out as determined by the judicial process.
The 2nd bill is commonly referred to as a "shield law." The bill provides
confidentiality to pharmaceutical companies that sell lethal injection drugs to
the state. Right now, these companies fear legal challenges and retribution for
selling these drugs to states that have the death penalty, so they will not
sell them to us. These companies are merely providing the ability to carry out
lethal injection and should not be punished for that.
What these bills do not do is revive the debate for discussion about whether we
have the death penalty, nor does it debate the methods. It does not "bring back
the electric chair" as some have said. The electric chair never went away; it
simply has not been chosen as a method in the recent past. My goal with these
bills is to ensure that the rule of law is carried out as determined by a jury
of our peers after weighing information presented in a court of law.
In a Senate subcommittee recently, we heard testimony from the director of the
Department of Corrections, prosecutors, and victims' families speaking in favor
of this legislation. For the Department of Corrections, the inability to
execute inmates as prescribed by law violates the department's mission and is
expensive. Prosecutors testified that they are wary of pursuing the death
penalty because it is a sentence that cannot be fulfilled. For victims'
families, the pain and anger they feel knowing that death row inmates can get
around their sentences is consuming.
This is a miscarriage of justice for the victims and their families. The
victims were not given an option when faced with unspeakable pain and terror,
before their lives were ended at the hand of another. The victims' families and
friends have to live with that knowledge every day. We owe it to them to fix
this so that justice may be served as prescribed.
(source: Opinion; William Timmons is an attorney, entrepreneur and State
Senator for District 6----Greenville News)
FLORIDA:
Supreme Court rejects 10 more death penalty appeals
With the total number of similar rulings reaching 30 over t3 days, the Florida
Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected appeals by another 10 death row inmates
challenging their death sentences.
Justices, in a highly unusual move, have released batches of 10 rulings each
day this week, with all of the cases dealing with issues about jury unanimity.
The appeals were based on a 2016 U.S.Supreme Court opinion in a case known as
Hurst v. Florida and a subsequent Florida Supreme Court decision.
The 2016 U.S. Supreme Court ruling found Florida's death-penalty sentencing
system was unconstitutional because it gave too much authority to judges,
instead of juries.
The subsequent Florida Supreme Court ruling said juries must unanimously agree
on critical findings before judges can impose death sentences and must
unanimously recommend the death penalty. But the Florida Supreme Court made the
new sentencing requirements apply to cases since June 2002.
That is when the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling known as Ring v. Arizona
that was a premise for striking down Florida's death-penalty sentencing system
in 2016. In each of the cases Wednesday, the death row inmates had been
sentenced to death before the Ring decision and argued that the new sentencing
requirements should also apply to their cases.
The inmates who lost their appeals Wednesday were Donald David Dilbeck in a
Leon County case; Steven Maurice Evans in an Orange County case; Etheria
Verdell Jackson in a Duval County case; Gregory Alan Kokal in a Duval County
case; Harold Gene Lucas in a Lee County case; John Christopher Marquard in a
St. Johns County case; William Earl Sweet in a Duval County case; Steven
Richard Taylor in a Duval County case; William Gregory Thomas in a Duval County
case; and Robert J. Trease in a Sarasota County case.
(source: news4jax.com)
*******************
Florida governor wants death penalty on the table in alleged murder-for-hire
The brutal killing of a Florida woman has renewed debate in the state over the
use of the death penalty.
Gov. Rick Scott sent a letter on Tuesday to State Attorney Aramis Ayala to
confirm that the death penalty was up for consideration in the killing of
Janice Zengotita-Torres, a spokeswoman said.
The married mother was abducted and killed on January 8 in a murder-for-hire
plot gone awry, the Osceola County Sheriff's office said.
3 people have been arrested on murder charges in the death of Zengotita-Torres,
Sheriff Russ Gibson said. They are accused of killing her even though they
realized they had wrongly identified her as the target of their plot.
"Governor Scott sent the letter to confirm that every option is on the table to
hold those accused of this horrific crime fully accountable," spokeswoman Kerri
Wyland said in an email.
This isn't the 1st time Scott and Ayala -- the lead prosecutor in Orange and
Osceola counties -- have tangled over the death penalty.
A contentious relationship
Ayala made national headlines in 2017 when she announced her office would not
seek the death penalty.
Scott responded by reassigning more than 30 cases from her office to another
one. Ayala sued Scott, arguing the death penalty is expensive, inhumane and
does not increase public safety.
Florida's Supreme Court sided with Scott, saying he was within his executive
right to reassign the cases. As for Ayala, the court said that by imposing a
blanket prohibition of the death penalty instead of judging each case on its
own, Ayala was exercising "no discretion at all."
Ayala said she would follow the court's ruling. To that end, she created a
panel of prosecutors in her office to review each case eligible for the death
penalty. She vowed not to interfere with the panel's decisions and said she
expected it to result in some death penalty cases.
Ayala's office said in October that it would seek the death penalty in the case
of a woman accused of robbing and killing 2 men in a Kissimmee hotel.
Prosecutors then missed a deadline to file a notice of intent to seek the death
penalty, leading Gov. Scott's general counsel to send Ayala a strongly-worded
letter criticizing the misstep.
The case ended in a plea deal that gave defendant Emerita Mapp a life sentence.
A 'heinous' crime
The latest controversy stems from what law enforcement describes as a love
triangle that turned into a murder-for-hire plot, leading to the murder of the
wrong person.
"I've seen a lot of very bizarre, heinous crimes, and this ranks in the top,"
Osceola County Sheriff Russ Gibson said of Zengotita-Torres' killing.
According to Gibson, Ishnar Marie Lopez-Ramos, 35, moved to Florida from Puerto
Rico in December and fell in love with a man already in a relationship with
another woman. She enlisted the help of Alexis Ramos and his girlfriend
Glorianmarie Qui???ones, both 22, to kill her romantic rival, the sheriff said
in a January 12 news conference.
The morning of January 8, they waited outside a Ross Department Store for their
intended target. Instead, they abducted Zengotita-Torres, Gibson said.
They stole her ATM card and used it to withdraw money from her bank account.
When they realized they had the wrong person, they decided to kill her anyway,
Gibson said. The suspects bound the victim with zip ties and wrapped her head
in duct tape and garbage bags, said Gibson.
"The victim struggled and Alexis began beating the victim until she was
unconscious," Gibson said. They dumped her body in Ormond Beach and disposed of
her car, he said.
Lopez-Ramos was arrested on January 12 after she tried to use the stolen ATM
card, Gibson said. She gave a full confession and led police to Ramos and
Quinones, who also confessed, he said. The 3 suspects have been charged with 2
counts of murder each. Court records did not list defense attorney names or
pleas.
"It touches me deeply that one of our citizens was killed in such a manner over
a mistaken identification and in the end it appears to be a lovers triangle,"
he said. "We are going to put a solid case to send to the state attorneys
office to make sure it gets prosecuted to its full extent," he said.
A process in place
State representative Bob Cortes said the circumstances of the case make it
worthy of death penalty consideration. Fearing Ayala may not pursue the death
penalty, Cortes asked Gov. Scott to remove her office from the case.
"She has proven her lack of objectivity in seeking appropriate justice in
capital cases," he said in a letter to Scott.
Cortes' letter, dated January 16, was sent before Scott sent his to Ayala.
In response to Scott's letter, Ayala said in an email to CNN that her "position
and process" for seeking the death penalty "has already been made clear."
"If there are any changes, I will make it known publicly," she added.
(source: CNN)
*********************
Discovery en Espanol Presents "LATINOS EN EL CORREDOR DE LA MUERTE"----The
documentary features the story of Juan Balderas and his wife's struggle to
prove his innocence after being sentenced to death row
A murder, a man charged with the crime and a desperate woman willing to do
anything to save her husband's life. Time is quickly running out and he will be
executed by lethal injection if the appeal is denied. This is the story of Juan
Balderas a prisoner on death row. LATINOS EN EL CORREDOR DE LA MUERTE premieres
Sunday January 28 at 10pm E/P as part of the "Discovery a Fondo" investigation
block.
There are currently 2,843 prisoners on death row in the United States including
375 Latinos.
The Texas Polunsky Unit houses 60 of those inmates. 1 of them is Mexican born
Juan Balderas, accused of murdering a fellow gang member. Balderas spent 8
years waiting for trial while claiming his innocence and is currently running
out of options to avoid lethal injection.
For the last 12 years his wife Yancy Balderas, a Salvadoran immigrant, has been
desperately trying to demonstrate irregularities in the sentence and claiming
the need for a new trial.
On December 6, 2005, a hooded man breaks into a house in Houston, Texas, and
kills Eduardo Hernandez, a member of a local gang called La Tercera Crips. Days
later, Wendy Bardales, sister of the victim's girlfriend, identifies the
murderer as Juan Balderas and he is sent to Harris County jail, where he waited
for a trial for 8 1/2 years. Yancy decides to quit her job and study legal
courses at Houston University.
Narrated and directed by acclaimed "Clandestino" journalist and producer David
Beriain, LATINOS EN EL CORREDOR DE LA MUERTE features testimonies from some of
Balderas' relatives, Department of Criminal Justice spokespeople, attorneys who
are experts in capital punishment, and Juan Melendez, the last Hispanic who
managed to rectify the United States judicial system in a death penalty case.
The new 1-hour documentary is a Discovery en Espa???ol production headed by
Michela Giorelli, Rafael Rodriguez, and Carlos Cediel, and produced by 93
Metros.
For more about network programming, please follow us on
facebook.com/discoveryenespanol, Twitter @DiscoveryenESP and Instagram
@discoveryenespanol.
About Discovery en Espanol
Discovery en Espanol connects Spanish-speaking viewers in the U.S. to the world
and all its wonder and possibilities. It provides quality programming focusing
on bold storytelling across core genres including adventure, ingenuity, natural
history, investigation and current affairs. Created by Discovery
Communications, Discovery en Espanol is widely distributed on Hispanic tier
packages throughout the country. It also reaches audiences on the "Discovery en
Espanol Go" TV Everywhere app. For more information, please follow us on
Facebook at facebook.com/discoveryenespanol, Twitter: @DiscoveryenESP and
Instagram @discoveryenespanol.
(source: prnewswire.com)
*****************************
Jury selection begins in Alexandria Chery murder case
Jury selection began Monday for the death penalty trial of man accused of
killing his girlfriend's 16-year-old daughter and leaving her body in the woods
near the Osceola-Polk county line.
Sanel Saint-Simon, 46, is charged with 1st-degree murder in the death of
Olympia High School student Alexandria Chery. Attorneys and Judge John Marshall
Kest asked jurors about whether they can fit a 2-week-long trial into their
schedules, whether they know about the high-profile case, and what their
personal opinions are about the death penalty.
Alexandria was reported missing July 28, 2014. She was supposed to go to work
with her mother that morning, but stayed home because she did not feel well.
When her mother came home, she found Alexandria's belongings missing, her
bedsheets stripped, and blood on a large stuffed bear's foot, records show.
Alexandria's body was found Aug. 1.
Saint Simon was arrested on charges of providing false information to a
law-enforcement officer and attempted destruction of evidence. A grand jury
indicted him on a 1st-degree murder charge 2 about months later. This is the
4th death penalty case prosecutors from Ocala-based State Attorney Brad King's
office will bring to trial in Orange and Osceola counties. Gov. Rick Scott
reassigned 29 death penalty cases to King in 2017 after Orange-Osceola State
Attorney Aramis Ayala announced she will not seek the death penalty for anyone.
(source: Orlando Sentinel)
ALABAMA----impending execution
Alabama Is Going to Execute an Inmate Who Can't Remember His Crime----After a
series of strokes, Vernon Madison doesn't know why he is on death row.
On Thursday, Alabama plans to execute Vernon Madison, an inmate who has been on
death row for more than three decades for the 1985 murder of a police officer.
Madison was scheduled to die in May 2016, but his lawyers successfully
intervened when a rather drastic competency issue presented itself: As as
result of several strokes and neurological deterioration, Madison could no
longer remember the crime for which he was charged. "I never went around
killing folks," he told a psychologist in 2016.
Madison's case goes to heart of the question of how competency is judged in
death penalty cases. The Supreme Court has ruled that mentally incompetent
prisoners cannot be executed, but even that standard is not cut and dry. An
inmate with a severe mental illness may be ruled competent to be executed as
long as he or she understands their punishment and why it's happening, leaving
states plenty of room for interpretation.
Madison, now 67, has spent almost 1/2 of his life on Alabama's death row.
According to court documents he is legally blind, cannot walk without
assistance, and slurs his speech. "[Madison] is failing mentally and
cognitively," Angie Setzer, a lawyer for Madison, tells Mother Jones.
In April 1985, Madison, who is black, killed Julius Schulte, a white police
officer who had been called to Madison's residence for a domestic issue.
Madison shot Schulte twice before turning his gun on Cheryl Greene, his
girlfriend, who survived the shooting. He was charged with capital murder and
convicted, and though his case ran into legal complications resulting in 3
different trials, he was sentenced to death each time.
Madison was no stranger to life behind bars before coming to Alabama;s death
row in 1985. He had previously been charged with robbery and assault, and spent
14 years incarcerated in Misssissippi. During his time in prison in
Mississippi, Madison received "psychiatric assistance" more than 30 times. A
prison doctor concluded that he suffered from "a paranoid illness of profound
proportion."
"He can't really connect the offense to the punishment. There's a real
disconnect."
Madison's case was further complicated by bad luck and incompetence. Madison
was first convicted and sentenced to death in 1985, but a state court sent the
case back to trial because prosecutors improperly struck black people from the
jury. He was tried again in 1990, but the case was sent back to trial yet again
because of an improper testimony from an expert witness for the prosecution. At
his 3rd and final trial in 1994, the jury recommended life in prison, but Judge
Ferrill McRae overruled the panel and sentenced Madison to death. According to
court documents, Judge McRae has overruled 6 life sentences, more than any
other judge in Alabama.
Madison's lawyers believe that his memory problems began when he suffered 2
major strokes in 2015 and 2016. The 2015 stroke affected his vision and his
motor coordination. Afterwards, he asked prison staffers to tell his mother
that he had a stroke even though his mother had passed away years before. After
the 2016 stroke, medical records indicate that Madison was "very confused" and
"disoriented" as well as showing signs of memory loss. In February 2016, after
Madison told his legal team that he planned to move to Florida after he was
released from prison - a clear sign of confusion given that he was sentenced to
death - they decided to ask a state court for a competency hearing.
The hearing was granted and in April 2016, Madison was evaluated by Dr. Karl
Kirkland, who was retained by the state of Alabama, and Dr. John Goff, who
Madison's counsel hired. The 2 conclusions could not have been more different.
Dr. Goff diagnosed Madison with major vascular neurological disorder and said
Madison suffered from retrograde amnesia and could not recall certain events
that occurred before his stroke in 2016. He said that Madison could not
describe the sequence of events from the day of his crime to his arrest or to
the trials. According to court documents, Madison said that other people had
told him that he had 3 trials and Judge McRae had overridden the jury. The
doctor testified that it didn't appear that Madison remembered he had murdered
Schulte in 1985. Madison was able to tell Dr. Goff that he "must have been"
convicted in Mobile and that the crime "must have been a murder" but denies
that he actually committed the crime. As a consequence of his memory issues,
"he can't really connect the offense to the punishment," Madison's attorney
Setzer says. "There's a real disconnect."
But Dr. Kirkland offered a different diagnosis. While noting that Madison's
strokes had caused a cognitive decline, according to court documents the
prosecution's doctor said that he could still recall memories from his
childhood and could describe his previous appeals and the fact that a judge had
overridden the jury during his 3rd and final trial. "Mr. Madison...appears to
be able to have a rational understanding of the sentence, the results or
effects of the sentence," Kirkland's report concluded, "and to still be able to
discuss defense and legal theories with his attorneys."
Kirkland's report was the more persuasive. A state court ruled that Madison was
competent to be executed the following month.
The state supreme court subsequently denied a request for a stay of execution
just 1 day before Madison was scheduled to be put to death on May 12, 2016.
But, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals intervened in the final hours and
granted the stay. The same court found Madison incompetent to be executed in
March 2017, and the state of Alabama appealed the decision to the US Supreme
Court.
In November 2017, the 9 Supreme Court justices overturned the 11th Circuit
ruling saying that the lower court had overstepped, but did not address the
question of whether or not a state may execute an inmate who cannot remember
his crime.
In the days leading up to the execution, Madison's team of lawyers have not
stopped trying to get the execution called off. Setzer and her colleagues filed
another pleading to the US Supreme Court, this time asking the court to stay
the execution based on how his declining health has affected his memory. "At
this point," Setzer says, "We're hopeful the court will do the right thing."
(source: Mother Jones)
***************
Julius Schulte, officer killed by Vernon Madison, remembered as execution nears
It has been nearly 33 years since Mobile Police Cpl. Julius Schulte died in the
line of duty. As Alabama Death Row inmate Vernon Madison faces execution at 6
p.m. today for his murder, a fellow officer says Schulte's legacy lives on.
"I knew Julius when I was a young kid," said Det. Raymond Grissett, now 59. "I
grew up in this department.
He means that literally. His father, Raymond Grissett Sr., was a homicide
detective. "I rode with him when I was young," he said. "That's how I met
Julius."
SCOTUS had ruled in November that Alabama can execute Vernon Madison, a death
row inmate who claims to be mentally incompetent. Madison had initially been
granted a stay of his execution by SCOTUS just hours before his scheduled 2016
execution.
Later, fresh out of the Marine Corps, the younger Grissett joined the force in
1982. Now Schulte was a colleague and an example.
"He was a big ol' teddy bear," Grissett said Wednesday. He "always made time to
listen," for those who needed it.
And one more thing, said Grissett: "He took it personally when it involved
kids."
On April 18, 1985, it did. Cheryl Greene, who lived with Madison at the time,
had gone to work and left her daughter in Madison's custody. When she came
home, she couldn't locate either of them. Because of Madison's
sometimes-violent treatment of her, she was worried for her daughter and called
police.
The relationship between Greene and Madison was "very volatile, for lack of a
better word," said Grissett. Madison had a troubled past, having served time
for robbery and assault in Mississippi. And Greene later testified that since
the murder of his sister in February 1985, he'd been angry and sometimes
irrational.
Despite that background, Schulte wasn't responding to a typical domestic
violence call. He was a juvenile officer responding to a child welfare call,
and the girl was determined to be with Madison's mother. According to trial
testimony, Schulte was wrapping things up with Greene when Madison approached.
They had a brief conversation and Madison left - only to return and shoot
Schulte twice in the head as he sat in his car filling out paperwork.
He also shot Greene as she fled. She survived to testify; Schulte died after
about a week on life support. Grissett said that Madison was found and arrested
the next day.
Grissett wasn't in Mobile at the time. That January he'd moved to Colorado. He
got the news in a call from his dad, who'd retired by then, and his brother
Kenny, who was on the force. It shocked him.
"It opened my eyes up to how dangerous police work was getting," he said.
It also illustrated the particular danger of domestic confrontations. "A
domestic violence call can go sideways on you in a heartbeat," said Grissett.
He got a personal reminder the day after Christmas in 1988, when he was with
the sheriff's office in Adams County, Colorado. His partner and a rookie had
arrived at the scene of a domestic violence call when the man involved opened
fire on them, killing the veteran officer and wounding the rookie.
(source: al.com)
OHIO:
Moritz alumnus featured in new documentary "The Penalty"
Director Will Francome brings to light one of America's most divisive issues in
his latest documentary, "The Penalty," which makes its Columbus debut this
weekend.
The feature-length documentary uncovers the human costs of capital punishment
by following the stories of 3 central characters affected by the death penalty
in the course of four years, including an alumnus of the Moritz College of Law,
Allen Bohnert.
"The Penalty" takes an in-depth look at stories that have dominated headlines
in the United States, humanizing capital punishment by following Ohio's botched
execution of Dennis McGuire; the wrongful conviction of Damon Thibodeaux that
led to 15 years on death row; and the family of Darlene Farah, whose daughter
Shelby was brutally murdered in 2013.
"The death penalty is not really serving [families]," Francome said. "We were
always told that it's for the families - to give them closure. But we think
that for most of them, it does exactly the opposite. It prolongs their grief,
it prolongs their time in court [and] it prolongs their having to deal with
it."
Francome said the idea behind "The Penalty" grew out of his previous work "One
For Ten," a series of films that profiles 10 wrongly convicted people on death
row. From that project, Francome knew there was a larger story to tell, one
that focused on a different aspect of the issue.
"There's been many great films about someone who sits on death row, but we
wanted to show that there was more than that, that it affected families, it
affected the exonerees and the lawyers," he said. "It was so much more than
that sort of classic image of a person sitting behind the glass and waiting for
their death."
In the case of Allen Bohnert, assistant public defender for the Southern
District of Ohio, his role began in 2014, 2 weeks before the execution of
McGuire and the 1st-ever use of a lethal-injection method.
Francome said Bohnert's role wasn't originally slated to be a driving story
throughout the film, but after his client, McGuire, endured an unprecedented
degree of suffering during his execution - it took 26 minutes to pronounce him
dead - Bohnert immediately became a source to be followed. "It's a story that
could be any of my colleagues all across the country who do this kind of work,
who represent unpopular clients [and] who do it to the best of our abilities,"
Bohnert said. "There's always a price to be paid for the work that we do
because the work that we do is toxic."
McGuire's botched injection resulted in a 3 1/2-year hiatus of executions in
Ohio, which ended in July 2017.
As the execution of Ohioan Raymond Tibbetts approaches on Feb. 13, "The
Penalty" is being screened throughout Columbus as a push for a favorable
clemency decision for Tibbets and a way to encourage Gov. John Kasich to stop
the execution.
"I just want [the audience] to really consider how the death penalty affects
America and where it fits within society here," Francome said. "I really didn't
want to make a film that preaches too hard one way or the other. I wanted it to
be something that feels more balanced and allows people to come in and make
their own decisions after they watch these few stories and consider how it's
affected the people within the film."
Four screenings of "The Penalty" will take place in Columbus on Friday, Sunday
and Monday including a showing at the Moritz College of Law's Saxbe Auditorium
at 9 a.m. Monday. Francome will hold a discussion after each screening and
Bohnert will be present at Monday's showing to answer questions from the
audience. Admission to all screenings is free.
(source: The Lantern)
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