November 29
MISSOURI:
Missouri adjusts policy for media witnesses at state executions
The state of Missouri has a new policy for media members who apply to witness
inmate executions.
The Missouri Department of Corrections will no longer pick and choose who gets
to serve as media witnesses to state executions. It stems from a lawsuit filed
by the ACLU on behalf of an NPR reporter who once worked in St Louis, who was
continually denied access to be a witness. The reporter has since moved on to
another outlet, and he covers capital punishment across the country.
The practice was discriminatory, said Tony Rothert, an ACLU attorney.
"Prior to these new policies the director of the department of corrections had
complete discretion on who to invite, or not invite, to be a media witness,"
Rothert said.
The ACLU alleges that the previous director of corrections denied permission to
witness executions based on reporters' political leanings.
The new policy dictates The Associated Press, the Missouri Broadcasters
Association, and the Missouri Press Association will select which reporters
will serve as media witnesses, and act as so-called pool reporters.
(source: KMBZ news)
KANSAS:
Killer in KCK's infamous Pamela Butler kidnapping case loses death penalty
appeal
The man who kidnapped, raped and killed a 10-year-old Kansas City, Kan., girl
in 1999 lost an appeal of his conviction and death sentence Wednesday.
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the claims of Keith D. Nelson
that his attorney had provided ineffective assistance.
Nelson, now 44, kidnapped Pamela Butler, who was rollerblading near her house
when Nelson grabbed her, threw her into a pickup truck and sped away.
2 of her sisters witnessed the kidnapping, including Casey Eaton, who in 2017
was fatally shot near where Pamela had been taken.
Several days after Pamela was kidnapped, her body was found in a wooded area in
Grain Valley. Nelson was the subject of a widely-publicized manhunt, and his
arrest was broadcast live on television.
Nelson was linked to the crime by DNA, and in 2001 he pleaded guilty in U.S.
District Court in Kansas City to a charge of interstate kidnapping resulting in
death.
He was subsequently sentenced to death. At his sentencing hearing, Nelson
showed no remorse and unleashed a "profanity-laden tirade" in court, according
to Wednesday's appeals court ruling.
An initial appeal by Nelson was previously denied, and the U.S. Supreme Court
denied his request for a hearing.
Wednesday's ruling dealt with several issues pertaining to how Nelson's
attorney represented him, including advising him to plead guilty.
The court denied the appeal on each count.
(source: Kansas City Star)
COLORADO:
Death penalty sought in case against man accused of killing Adams County
Sheriff's deputy
The Adams County District Attorney will seek the death penalty in a case
against the man accused of fatally shooting Adams County Sheriff's deputy Heath
Gumm, it was announced Tuesday.
Dreion Martise Dearing, 22, is formally charged with 4 counts of 1st-degree
murder and 1 count each of 1st-degree burglary, possession of a weapon by a
previous offender and 3rd-degree assault.
Deputy Heath Gumm was shot after responding to a report of an assault in
progress about 7 p.m. Jan. 24 in the 8700 block of Dawson Street.
Gumm was taken to Denver Health Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.
(source: KDVR news)
UTAH:
Federal court hears case over delays in executing Utah white supremacist killer
One of Utah's most notorious death row cases is before a federal appeals court.
Troy Kell is facing a firing squad execution for the 1994 murder of Lonnie
Blackmon inside the Central Utah Correctional Facility at Gunnison. Kell
stabbed Blackmon 67 times in a murder that was captured on video.
"White power!" Kell screamed at corrections officers who were putting on riot
gear to get into the cell block. Kell, a white supremacist, stabbed his victim,
who is black, and left him to bleed to death on the floor. Kell was already
serving time for another murder in Nevada.
The video of the gruesome killing was entered into evidence and used to convict
Kell, who was sentenced to death.
Now, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is considering how long it has
taken to exhaust Kell's appeals. Recently, a three judge panel heard arguments
over a lower court's decision to stay his case, grinding it to a halt.
"It did so in a way that irrevocably and unreviewably deprives the people of
Utah of their constitutional right to timely carry out their presumptively
valid sentence against Mr. Kell," assistant Utah Attorney General Andrew
Peterson argued before the court.
But Kell's attorney, Lindsey Layer, argued there are still legitimate legal
issues that need to be explored and exhausted by both state and federal courts.
"There have been multiple stays in this case and that might be unusual, but
it’s warranted by the circumstances," she argued.
In their questions, the judges on the 10th Circuit panel wrestled with prior
case law on capital punishment appeals and decisions made by other courts
across the country. Senior Judge Bobby Baldock suggested this case may go to
the U.S. Supreme Court.
"We either do have jurisdiction or we don't have jurisdiction," he said. "The
groundwork's been laid if there's 4 Circuits gone one way, we go another...
perfect vehicle for the Supreme Court to straighten it out."
The 10th Circuit Court panel took the case under advisement with no timeline
for when they will release a decision. The Utah Supreme Court is also
considering this case.
(source: Fox News)
CALIFORNIA:
Ministers of Justice, Sant’Egidio ask Jerry Brown for death penalty halt
Ministers of Justice from 25 countries have joined the Rome-based Community of
Sant'Egidio, one of the new lay movements in the Catholic Church, to jointly
issue an appeal to California Governor Jerry Brown to impose a moratorium on
the death penalty in his state.
Should Brown comply, the moratorium could be short-lived, since Gavin Newsom
will be sworn in as California’s new chief executive on Jan. 7. Yet Sant'Egidio
insists the measure is urgent, since California presently has the largest death
row in the Western world with 742 inmates awaiting execution.
The appeal came from a Sant'Egidio-sponsored conference at the Italian
parliament on "A World Without the Death Penalty." It was presented by Mario
Marazziti, coordinator of Sant'Egidio's campaign for a universal death penalty
moratorium, representing the Community of Sant'Egidio and the Ministries of
Justice from South Africa, Benin, Zimbabwe, and Malaysia.
"We launch an appeal to a great American politician, Jerry Brown, governor for
4 terms with a vision for the State of California, the state with the largest
death row in the Western world in San Quentin: 742 death row inmates waiting
for execution, among them innocent people - as the Vincente Benavides and Fred
Watherton case have shown this year."
Benavides is a Mexican national freed after nearly 26 years on death row after
a reexamination of forensic evidence found he was not culpable for the charges
of rape and sodomy upon which he'd been convicted. Weatherton's conviction on 2
counts of murder, with special circumstance allegations, was overturned by the
California Supreme Court on the basis of juror misconduct allegations.
"The appeal I launch, on behalf of this congress and the Ministers here
gathered, is that the governor declare a death penalty moratorium and begin the
process to commute all death sentences before leaving his office by the end of
the year," Marazziti said.
"It [would be] a gesture of great political wisdom that will strengthen the
authoritativeness of the system of justice in California, a state where half of
death sentences come from only 3 counties out of 53, [and] where they seem to
be related more to geography than the nature of the crimes and those convicted
for the crimes," Marazziti said.
"I hope Governor Brown is willing to leave this legacy as a present to his
citizens, to all Americans, to the world, and through this leaving a sign in
history," he said. "All hope we will soon be able to celebrate a death penalty
moratorium where we will light up the Colosseum to celebrate California and the
political courage of Governor Brown."
In reality, if Brown were to take such a step, its significance would be
largely symbolic. Of the 971 California death sentences recorded by the Death
Penalty Information Center since 1978, only 13 condemned inmates have been
executed, while Californians have paid more than $5 billion to maintain the
system.
According to a report by the Death Penalty Information Center, the state would
save $170 million each year by converting all death sentences to life without
parole.
In July, the Catholic bishops of California came out in support of a ballot
measure to end executions in the state altogether.
"Our commitment to halt the practice of capital punishment is rooted both in
the Catholic faith and our pastoral experience," a statement said. "Our support
to end the use of the death penalty is also rooted in our unshakeable resolve
to accompany and support all victims of crime," the bishops said. "They suffer
the very painful consequences of criminal acts. With the violent loss of a
loved one, a sword has pierced their heart. Their enduring anguish is not
addressed by the state-sanctioned perpetuation of the culture of death."
"Capital punishment has repeatedly been shown to be severely and irrevocably
flawed in its application. In the long - but absolutely necessary - process of
ensuring an innocent person is not put to death, we have seen many accused
persons being exonerated as new forms of forensic investigation have enabled us
to better scrutinize evidence," they said.
"The high cost of implementing the death penalty has diverted resources from
more constructive and beneficial programs both for rehabilitation and
restoration of victims and offenders. Finally, repeated research has
demonstrated that the death penalty is applied inconsistently along racial,
economic and geographical lines," the bishops said.
(source: cruxnow.com)
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