June 3
JUNE 3, 2018:
TEXAS:
Caprock Chronicles: Few of many convicted Lubbock County murderers executed
EDITOR'S NOTE: Caprock Chronicles is edited each week by Paul Carlson, emeritus
professor of history at Texas Tech University, This week's essay, by Chuck
Lanehart, a Lubbock historian and attorney, looks at executions of Lubbock
County murderers.
Hundreds of murder cases have been staged in Lubbock County. Some resulted in
acquittals or mistrials, many resulted in convictions, but only a few of those
convicted of murder were executed for their crimes.
Lubbock's first murder trial, in 1913, was State vs. William Taylor, for the
murder of Tom Collins. Taylor, a deputy city marshal, shot and killed Collins
and J.J. Reynolds at the Blue Front Restaurant. His self-defense claim was
successful, and he was acquitted. The second case against Taylor, for killing
Reynolds, was dismissed.
20 years later, the 1st death sentence was handed down by a Lubbock County
jury. Paul Mitchell was convicted of killing Robert Tharp during the 1932 armed
robbery of a grocery store. In 1934, his death warrant was commuted to a life
sentence, and in 1950 he was granted a full pardon.
In 1934, a Dickens County case was transferred to Lubbock for the trial of
Virgil Stalcup. Stalcup was convicted of murdering Dickens County Sheriff W.B.
Arthur during a jailbreak. He was electrocuted at Huntsville in 1936, becoming
the first defendant tried in Lubbock County and executed.
The 1st Lubbock County crime resulting in an execution was State vs. Walter
Whitaker. The 20-year-old Reese AFB airman was tried for the January 1953
strangulation of his 18-year-old girlfriend, Joyce Fern White. His fate was
decided 6 months later by a Wilbarger County jury on a change of venue.
Whitaker was electrocuted on Sept. 1, 1954.
No other Lubbock County defendant died in "Old Sparky," Huntsville's electric
chair, Texas' official execution method from 1924 to 1964. Before 1924, Texas
executions were conducted locally in the county of conviction - usually by
hanging - and there is no record of a Lubbock County hanging or other form of
execution prior to Whitaker's 1954 electrocution.
Between 1967 and 1977, the US death penalty was suspended. Since reinstatement
of the death penalty, 10 Lubbock County defendants have been executed by lethal
injection.
Michael McBride was convicted of the 1985 shooting deaths of his ex-girlfriend,
Christian Fisher, and her companion, James Alan Holzer, outside McBride's home.
Fisher went to the house to collect some personal items, and McBride confronted
her with a rifle. He shot Fisher, walked to the car and shot Holzer, then shot
himself in the head, but survived. McBride was executed May 11, 2000.
Orien Joyner was convicted in the 1986 stabbing deaths of 2 waitresses, Carol
Lynette Huckabee and Eva Marie DeForest. Both were bound with duct tape and
stabbed repeatedly. Joiner lived next door. Blood stains found on Joiner's
shirt tested positive for both women's blood type. His execution was July 12,
2000.
Mack Hill was convicted in the 1987 robbery-murder of his sometime business
partner Donald Franklin Johnson. Johnson's body was found 5 months after his
disappearance in a 55-gallon drum that had been filled with concrete and dumped
into a lake. Hill was lethally injected Aug. 8, 2001.
Adolph Hernandez was convicted of the 1988 robbery and murder of 69-year-old
Elizabeth Alvarado in Slaton. Hernandez beat her to death with a baseball bat
in her home. Hernandez was executed Feb. 8, 2001.
In October of 1989, Jack Clark murdered 23-year-old Melisa Ann Garcia of
Slaton. She suffered 2 fatal stab wounds to the chest after she was abducted,
forced into Clark's car, taken to a remote area and sexually assaulted. He died
by lethal injection Jan. 9, 2001.
Robert Salazar Jr. fatally injured a 2-year-old girl, Adriana Gomez, in 1997.
While baby-sitting the girl, Salazar inflicted wounds consisting of a fractured
skull, bruised heart, fractured ribs and ruptured intestines. After injuring
the girl, Salazar placed her in her crib and left the residence. The girl's
mother arrived from work, finding Adriana in her crib and Salazar absent.
Adriana was pronounced dead at a hospital. Salazar's execution took place March
22, 2006.
In 1997, Michael Rosales burglarized the home of 68-year-old Mary Felder, who
surprised him during the burglary. He stabbed her 137 times with a kitchen
knife and struck her on the head with a hard object. Rosales was executed April
15, 2009.
In 1998, Michael Yowell shot his father, Johnny Yowell, strangled his mother,
Carol Yowell, and set fire to their house. His grandmother, Viola Davis, was
unable to escape the burning house and died several days later. He was executed
Oct. 9, 2013.
In 2001, Vaughn Ross killed Douglas Birdsall, a Texas Tech administrator and an
18-year-old woman, Viola Ross. His execution took place July 18, 2013.
In 2008, the "Suitcase Killer," Rosendo Rodriguez, was convicted of the 2005
murder of Summer Baldwin, who was 10 weeks pregnant. Her body was found in a
suitcase at the city landfill. His execution was March 27, 2018.
2 convicted Lubbock County murderers remain on death row: Brian Suniga and Joe
Franco Garza.
(source: Lubbock Avalanche-Journal)
********************
Capital murder trial date postponed
The trial for a McAllen man accused of helping his father kill the man's
estranged wife last May and dumping her body in the Laguna Madre has been
postponed until late August, court documents show.
Monte Eric Jordan, 60, the victim's son-in-law, appeared Thursday morning in
court and was granted a continuance in the case. Both Jordan and his father,
Terry Lee Adams, 68, are charged with capital murder and have pleaded not
guilty. The Cameron County District Attorney's Office is not seeking the death
penalty.
Court documents indicate that Terry Lee Adams and his estranged wife, Martha
Beatrice Adams, 53, had been married 12 years but had been recently separated
at the time of the murder. Martha Beatrice Adams' body was discovered April 30.
Investigators accuse Jordan of participating in the killing and disposing of
the victim's body.
(source: Brownsville Herald)
ILLINOIS:
Northwestern University settles suit with man imprisoned after journalism
school probe
Northwestern University on Friday reached an undisclosed settlement to end a
lawsuit by a man who spent more than 15 years in prison for a 1982 double
murder - a conviction later vacated by prosecutors - in the aftermath of an
investigation conducted by the university's journalism school.
The Northwestern investigation of Alstory Simon led by professor David Protess,
who was a defendant in the suit, played a major role in Simon's initial
conviction for the killing of two teens at a Chicago park and also was central
to Illinois eventually abolishing the death penalty.
Another man, Anthony Porter, spent 16 years on death row for the double murder
of 2 teens at a Chicago park, before the Northwestern team uncovered evidence
pointing to Simon's role and persuaded him to confess to the crime.
In the aftermath of the Northwestern investigation, Porter was exonerated for
the killings and the governor at the time, George Ryan, was so unnerved by the
case that he placed a moratorium on the death penalty in Illinois.
But Simon, whose conviction was vacated in 2014 after a prosecutor review of
the case, contended in his lawsuit that he was set up by the Northwestern team,
which included Protess, private investigator Paul Ciolino, and students. He
claims the set-up was part of an effort by the university's journalism program
to burnish the school's reputation and boost fundraising.
Simon said that Ciolino and another man "bull rushed" his apartment and falsely
told him that he was facing the death penalty and that the Chicago police were
on their way to Simon's house to arrest him.
He also said that Ciolino promised him that Protess would ensure he received a
short prison sentence if he agreed to give a videotaped statement. Simon also
claimed he was coerced by the promise of large sums of money from book and
movie deals about the case if he cooperated.
Alan Cubbage, vice president for university relations, said under terms of the
settlement "Northwestern does not admit to any wrongdoing." Matthew Piers, an
attorney representing Protess, said in an interview that his client stands by
his and his team's investigation.
"The financial burden of this case was destroying my client," said Piers, who
said Protess would have preferred to seen the case go to trial if he could have
afforded it.
In 1998, Porter was given a stay two days before his scheduled execution after
his lawyer successfully argued his IQ was so low that he didn???t understand
what was happening.
Months later, Simon gave a videotaped confession to Ciolino, who was working
with Protess and Northwestern students on the investigation. Simon also
repeated his confession several times, and apologized to the victims' families
in court before being sentenced to serve a 37-year prison term.
But in 2014, Simon's conviction was vacated by the then county prosecutor,
Anita Alvarez, who said she had concerns about the case.
She said her office's reexamination of the case raised questions about the
conduct of Ciolino, who Simon said coaxed him into confessing to the killings
of 17-year-old Jerry Hillard and 19-year-old Marilyn Green as they were sitting
in a Chicago park.
Simon filed a $40 million suit against Northwestern, Protess and Ciolino in
2015. His attorneys on Friday fled a motion to drop the suit against Ciolino as
they announced the settlement with the university and Protess
Terms of the settlement were not publicly disclosed in court documents.
Attorneys for Simon, Protess and a spokesman for Northwestern declined to
comment details of the settlement, citing a confidentiality clause that
prohibits all parties from discussing the terms.
Alvarez in announcing her decision in 2014 to vacate the conviction of Simon
described Ciolino as a "rogue investigator." She accused him of barging into
Simon's Milwaukee home with another man who had a weapon, and she took issue
with him showing Simon a video that featured a paid actor who said he witnessed
Simon commit the murder.
Alvarez said she was also "deeply troubled'" by the legal representation Simon
received during his trial. Simon was represented by an attorney, Jack Rimland,
who was recommended to him by Ciolino.
Jennifer Bonjean, an attorney for Ciolino, maintains that Simon carried out the
killings and that Alvarez moved to vacate the conviction because she despised
Protess and the university's work on shedding light on wrongful convictions,
which over the years has led to several murder convictions being overturned in
Illinois.
Ciolino filed a defamation lawsuit in January against Simon Alvarez, Simon's
attorney Terry Ekl, and the makers of a documentary critical of the
Northwestern team's work that led to Simon's conviction.
The defamation suit alleges that the documentary falsely portrays "that with
the blessing of Northwestern University, David Protess and...Paul Ciolino
framed an innocent man (SIMON) so that death row inmate Anthony Porter could
become a 'poster boy' for the bid to end executions in Illinois."
"He is guilty and this was a proud shakedown of Northwestern," Bonjean said of
Simon. "We continue to fight this in the state court."
(source: kiitv.com)
ARKANSAS:
2 Arkansas death row inmates cite mental testing in new appeal
2 Arkansas death row inmates applied Friday to the U.S. Supreme Court for
relief in what is the latest appeal over the standards under which Arkansas
courts and prison officials review claims of mental incompetence.
A petition for a writ of certiorari was filed on behalf of inmate Bruce Earl
Ward. It argues that the Arkansas Supreme Court has been incorrectly applying
30 years of case law by holding that psychiatric evaluations performed at the
State Hospital in Little Rock meet the minimum standards set by the U.S.
Supreme Court for an indigent defendant's right to mental evaluation.
Federal Public Defender April Golden of the Capital Habeas Unit in Little Rock,
said a similar petition would be filed on behalf of Don Davis, another
convicted murderer on death row.
Earlier this year, the justices on the Arkansas Supreme Court declined to
reverse their previous rulings rejecting Ward's and Davis' claims, thus
prompting appeals to the U.S. high court.
Davis has no stays placed on the imposition of his death sentence, and he faces
the possibility of having an execution date set by the governor if no court
intervenes.
Ward has a stay in place from another case regarding his mental fitness for
execution.
Regardless of the pair's legal maneuverings, the state doesn't have the ability
to execute anyone. A state prison spokesman said Friday that the Department of
Correction lacks one of the three drugs needed to carry out lethal injections.
Attorney General Leslie Rutledge's office on Friday said in a statement it
would "continue to vigorously defend the lawful guilty verdicts and death
sentences" given to Ward and Davis.
Ward, 61, was convicted in 1990 of fatally strangling Rebecca Doss, a
night-shift clerk at a convenience store on Rodney Parham Road in Little Rock.
Davis, 55, received a death sentence 2 years later for killing Jane Daniel
during a robbery in her Rogers home.
While awaiting trial, lawyers in each of their cases sought access to
psychological evaluations. Ward spent 2 weeks at the State Hospital in Little
Rock, and a doctor later testified that Ward had antisocial personality
disorder, according to court records.
An appointed "state-sponsored mental-health expert" diagnosed Davis with
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Neither man's mental issues were determined by state experts to rise to a level
that would make them ineligible for the death penalty.
On appeal, Ward and Davis argue that past U.S. Supreme Court decisions should
have made them eligible for examination from court-appointed psychologists who
were independent of state prosecutors and who could have assisted the defense
at trial and sentencing.
"Bruce Earl Ward's mental illness has been at the forefront of his legal case
for nearly three decades," attorneys wrote in his petition, specifying that
Ward experiences "grandiose delusions" about his case.
After being scheduled as the 1st pair in a series of four planned double
executions last April, Ward and Davis were awarded temporary reprieves from
Arkansas justices while the U.S. Supreme Court decided McWilliams v. Dunn. In
that Alabama case, the justices held that "the state must provide a defendant
with access to a mental health expert who is sufficiently available to the
defense and independent from the prosecution." Arkansas ended up carrying out 4
of the eight planned executions.
Earlier this year, when considering the appeals of Ward and Davis in light of
McWilliams, the Arkansas Supreme Court said the experts who were provided to
the inmates met that standard.
Now their attorneys are asking the U.S. justices to again settle the question
of how independent court-appointed mental health experts must be, a right the
court first recognized in the 1985 case Ake v. Oklahoma.
After receiving Ward's petition, the U.S. Supreme Court has given the state
until July 2 to respond with its arguments.
(source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)
NEBRASKA:
State's haste, stonewalls on executions very troubling
When it comes to executions, state officials have an itchy trigger finger.
Attorney General Doug Peterson has urged the Nebraska Supreme Court to expedite
its consideration of an execution warrant for convicted killer Carey Dean Moore
in hopes of scheduling his execution July 10. A major impetus for this haste is
that the state's supply of potassium chloride, 1 of the 4 drugs in this lethal
cocktail, expires Aug. 31.
Let's slow down.
This breakneck speed, coupled with how much remains unknown about the drugs
themselves and the broader execution protocol, should give Nebraskans pause -
if not outrage them.
While the Journal Star editorial board has opposed the death penalty on
principle, we understand it is the will of the voters of this state. But
Nebraskans didn't vote for a hastily developed process that lacks
accountability and transparency.
No hard-and-fast evidence has been presented to prove the execution drugs were
obtained legally. All we have is the state's word - and, given a mortifying,
high-profile failure to illegally import substances from India in 2015, that
isn't worth much.
Since the state is carrying out this lethal injection, the burden of proof lies
squarely on its shoulders.
Instead, Nebraska officials have sought to distort an open-records lawsuit by
the Journal Star and others. They've cited reporters' words that they'd pursue
additional information surrounding the purchase of these drugs and argued this
as proof positive they'd be able to identify the execution team, in violation 1
of 21 codified exemptions to the state's sunshine laws, when that's not the
issue at hand.
(Besides, the defense of "Journalists will do their jobs" fails to hold water
as a compelling reason to shield documents from the public.)
At least the state appears to have information to withhold regarding its
acquisition of the four lethal injection drugs. Its own words indicate it sped
through the creation of its execution protocol without any such paper trail.
In response to an open records request by the Journal Star, the Nebraska
Department of Correctional Services said it crafted the new policy in a single
draft without input from the governor, attorney general, Corrections director,
outside experts or other state officials.
The agency couldn???t provide public records because none exist.
Simply astounding.
Again, all Nebraskans have to rely on is the state's word that these substances
were "tested according to state law" without any empirical proof to back that
claim - despite the fact Nebraska's 4-drug cocktail has never been used to
execute a person in the United States.
Individually, each of these items should concern Nebraskans. When combined,
however, officials' flippancy regarding the power of life and death they hold
borders on the unconscionable.
In their race - one against nobody and nothing more than an expiring drug -
toward Nebraska's 1st execution since 1997, state officials have failed to do
their due diligence. This frantic pursuit must stop until the state can prove
to its citizens that it???s fully in compliance with the law.
(source: Editorial, Lincoln Journal Star)
CALIFORNIA:
Attorney general candidate Dave Jones an unexpected ally of death row inmate
Condemned inmate Kevin Cooper, who says he was framed for 4 murders that sent
him to death row, has a new ally in his pursuit of new DNA testing of
crime-scene evidence - state Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones, who has raised
it as an issue in his campaign against Attorney General Xavier Becerra.
Cooper, now 60, was convicted of fatally slashing a man, a woman and 2 children
in 1983 in a home in San Bernardino County, near a prison from which he had
recently escaped while serving a sentence for burglary. He came within eight
hours of execution in 2004 before a federal court granted a stay, but now has
lost the final appeal of his death sentence.
Five federal appeals court judges, however, signed a dissenting opinion in 2009
saying Cooper was "probably innocent" and raising questions about the handling
of the evidence in the case. Cooper's lawyers asked Gov. Jerry Brown in
February 2016 to grant a reprieve and order an investigation that would include
modern-day DNA testing of a bloody T-shirt found near the victims' home, a
hatchet, and hairs found on the bodies that may have come from the killer or
killers.
Brown has not yet responded. His press secretary, Evan Westrup, said the matter
is still under review. But 2 weeks ago, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., who
opposed the DNA testing when she was the state's attorney general, said she now
supports it and said she hoped the governor and the state would allow testing
in the case. Jones, running against fellow Democrat Becerra in Tuesday's
primary election, has now added his voice.
Jones opposes the death penalty. As attorney general, he said in an interview,
"I'll be sworn to enforce the death penalty, but I'll work towards its repeal,
and in cases like the Kevin Cooper case I would advocate for DNA testing of the
evidence."
Based on Cooper's claims of innocence, he said, this is "a very clear and
compelling case for using the most recent DNA technology to test that
evidence." One reason he opposes capital punishment, he said, is that "criminal
justice is a human system and humans make mistakes. ... I think it's quite
possible that someone could be put to death by the state who was wrongly
convicted. We've had a number of exonerations on death row."
Jones also said Becerra, who has custody of one of the disputed items of
evidence - the T-shirt - has refused to recommend releasing it for testing.
Becerra's campaign manager, Dana Williamson, did not comment on that allegation
but said Jones "clearly hasn't read the job description for attorney general."
"It would be inappropriate for the attorney general to make a personal
statement about a matter that is under consideration by his client - in this
case, the governor," Williamson said in a statement.
But Norman Hile, a lawyer for Cooper, said he would seek court approval to test
the T-shirt if the attorney general agreed. He also said support from Becerra
for DNA testing might persuade Brown and San Bernardino County District
Attorney Mike Ramos to release all of the evidence.
Becerra supports the death penalty. Brown opposes it but also said, while
serving as state attorney general, that there were no innocent people on
California's death row.
Cooper was convicted of murdering Doug and Peggy Ryen, their 10-year-old
daughter, Jessica, and an 11-year-old houseguest, Chris Hughes, in the Ryens'
home in Chino Hills in June 1983.
The Ryens' 8-year-old son, Josh, was stabbed in the throat but survived. He
later testified that he recognized Cooper as the lone attacker. But while being
treated for his wounds in a hospital, he communicated to a social worker with
hand signals that the assailants had been three or four white men. Cooper is
black.
DNA testing ordered by a court in 2004 found Cooper's DNA on the T-shirt. But
Judge William Fletcher, who wrote the appeals court dissent in 2009, said the
defense had evidence of preservatives in the blood sample - an indication, he
said, that police had taken the blood from a lab in an effort to frame Cooper.
(source: Bob Egelko, San Francisco Chronicle)
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