April 16
NORTH CAROLINA:
After being spared death sentence for killing neighbors, Wake Forest man pops
off in court
A Wake Forest man who avoided a death sentence for the murders of 3 of his
neighbors 3 years ago insisted Monday that he was framed, blasted prosecutors
and his defense attorneys and threatened jurors before being led off to prison.
Jon Frederick Sander was convicted a week ago of gunning down Sandy Mazzella,
47, his wife, Stephanie Ann Mazzella, 43, and his mother, Elaine Mazzella, 76,
in their home on March 25, 2016.
Prosecutors sought the death penalty against Sander for the brutal murders –
all 3 victims were shot several times at close range with a pump-action
shotgun. But jurors deliberated for almost 5 hours over 2 days before
recommending the life sentence.
Before Superior Court Judge Graham Shirley imposed the sentence, Sander went on
a 27-minute rant, railing against the Mazzellas and the justice system and
implicating Sal Mazzella, Sandy Mazzella's father and Elaine Mazzella's
husband, in the killings.
"Everything's a lie and a scam," Sander said. "This whole thing was fabricated.
Sal killed his family for the insurance money."
Sal Mazzella choked back tears earlier in the hearing as he forgave Sander for
killing his wife and the parents of his grandchildren.
"Though we will forever live with the loss of my precious family members, I do
not hate you," Sal Mazella told Sander. "You heard what I said? I do not hate
you."
"Wait till I'm done with my speech," Sander replied, sarcastically applauding
after Sal Mazzella finished, despite his hands being shackled.
Shirley cut Sander off when the convicted killer started telling jurors he
would be set free on appeal and wouldn't forget their faces. The judge then lit
into him as he handed down the sentence.
"You love the spotlight," Shirley said, noting that Sander repeatedly spoke
directly to a camera in the courtroom. "You've delighted in your celebrity. Let
me tell you something, as horrific as this crime was, when the light goes out
in this courtroom today ... the memory of you in the eyes of the public is
going to fade, and it's going to fade quickly.
"Come Monday, they're going to be watching something else," the judge
continued. "They won't care about you. They won't care about this trial. They
look for entertainment. You'll no longer matter in their eyes. You won't even
be a footnote."
Sander admitted to investigators that he shot the Mazzellas, but he maintained
that he had been overcome with rage and had "snapped."
He lived next door to Sandy and Stephanie Mazzella, and he and Sandy Mazzella
worked together in a landscaping business. But difficulties in dissolving the
struggling business and an allegation that Sander touched a member of the
Mazzella family inappropriately sparked a feud that escalated quickly in early
2016.
The Mazzellas took out restraining orders against Sander in February 2016, when
Sander was charged with threatening the family. The orders expired the day
before the shootings, when a judge said there was no reason to extend them.
In the videotaped interview, which took place several hours after the
shootings, Sander told a Wake County Sheriff's Office investigator that he
feared losing his family because of the molestation allegation, so he wanted to
"get even" and grabbed a loaded shotgun in the garage and headed next door.
During his rambling statement Monday, Sander said he had no problems with the
Mazzellas before the restraining orders, saying he was a "caring friend" to
Sandy Mazzella who tried to help the business grow in every possible way.
But the restraining orders, an attempt by Sandy Mazzella to charge him with
auto theft and the molestation accusation sent Sander over the edge, he said in
court.
"I was going to go to jail for something I didn't do? No," he said. "I was
built up with anger. I was built up with paranoia. I was built up with
anxiety."
During the sentencing hearing last week, the defense presented testimony that
Sander suffered from mental health problems, including being bipolar, that went
untreated and likely contributed to his actions.
Sander said he blasted his way into the Mazzella home and fired shots near both
women and 2 shot into Sandy Mazzella's abdomen before leaving. But he said all
3 were already dead, noting that he was too drunk to notice then and remember
later when he spoke to investigators that the victims were already on the floor
when he went inside.
The Mazzellas' son, Nicholas, wasn't at home during the shootings. On Monday,
he pointed out that Sander destroyed two families that day 3 years ago.
"Was what you did really worth the consequences?" Nicholas Mazzella asked.
"Now, your kids don't even get to see you anymore."
(source: WRAL news)
GEORGIA:
Death-penalty trial begins for Gwinnett woman representing herself
Jury selection is underway in a death-penalty trial against a Gwinnett County
woman who is acting as her own lawyer.
Tiffany Moss, 35, is accused of starving her 10-year-old stepdaughter, Emani,
to death in 2013. Her trial is expected to take about 3 weeks.
Moss sat alone Monday at the defense table, occasionally taking notes with pens
and a legal pad brought to the courtroom for her by District Attorney Danny
Porter. She also thumbed through questionnaires filled out last week by
potential jurors.
Superior Court Judge George Hutchinson is bringing jurors into the courtroom
one by one for individual questioning.
They are being asked for their views on capital punishment and whether they
could consider all three sentencing options if Moss is convicted of murder: the
death penalty, life in prison without the possibility or parole and life with
the possibility of parole.
When it’s his turn to ask questions, Porter is telling jurors know that Moss
has a constitutional right to represent herself and that she’s exercised that
right. He is also asking them what they think about that.
“It’s pretty brave,” said one potential juror.
The man, a former U.S. Navy nuclear engineer who now works for Kroger, said he
wouldn’t hold that against Moss.
As for the death penalty, he said, “If the circumstances equate to it, it
should be a just form of punishment.”
After Porter finished his questioning, Moss rose and posed the first and only
question she asked a juror during the morning session. She reminded the man he
said he wife had talked to him about the case long before he’d received his
jury summons.
If your wife thought I was guilty, Moss asked, would that affect your ability
to be fair and impartial?
No, the man answered, adding, “My wife is over-opinionated.”
Another potential juror, however, said she wasn’t sure how Moss’s decision to
represent herself would affect her thinking.
“Well, if you’re defending yourself you’ve got a certain confidence,” said the
woman, a massage therapist. “… I would think if you’re confident enough to do
that now, why could you not have stopped the death of someone before.”
Moss, who has said she’s putting her fate in God’s hands, has refused
representation from 2 lawyers from the state’s capital defender office. Those
attorneys, Brad Gardner and Emily Gilbert, are sitting behind Moss in the
courtroom gallery as “standby counsel” and are there to assist Moss if she asks
for help. But the defenders have said Moss stopped talking to them months ago.
(source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
ALABAMA:
Court: Alabama can‘t keep its lethal injection method secret
A federal appeals court sided with news media organizations Monday in ruling
that Alabama can’t keep its lethal injection protocol secret from the public.
A 3-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta rejected
Alabama’s argument that its execution method is not a court record and thus
should remain secret.
“Judicial records provide grounds upon which a court relies in deciding cases,
and thus the public has a valid interest in accessing these records to ensure
the continued integrity and transparency of our governmental and judicial
offices,” the court stated in its ruling.
At issue is what the court described as the botched execution of Doyle Hamm on
Feb. 22, 2018. The court said that after several failed attempts to insert a
needle into his veins, the execution was called off as midnight approached. The
Associated Press and other news outlets then sought the state’s execution
protocol and related records.
“Alabama is the most secretive state in the country with respect to its
protocol,” said Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty
Information Center.
“The intense secrecy has obvious problems,” he said. “The Doyle Hamm case is
one classic example of that because the difficulties in finding a vein all
happen out of the view of the public.”
Representatives of the Alabama Attorney General’s Office did not immediately
respond to requests for comment on Monday’s decision, so it wasn’t known
whether they would appeal.
Alabama could ask the appeals court for reconsideration of the case, or appeal
to the United States Supreme Court, Dunham said. The state also could ask for a
stay of Monday’s ruling as appeals play out, he said.
Monday’s decision upheld a federal judge’s ruling last year that the public has
“a common law right of access” to the records. In that May 2018 ruling, U.S.
Judge Karon Bowdre decided that some information can remain secret in the
interest of security, such as the names of low-level prison employees involved
in executions.
Last year’s ruling found that the execution protocol and related records
“clearly concern a matter of great public concern, i.e., how Alabama carries
out its executions,” the appeals court wrote in Monday’s ruling.
(source: Associated Press)
LOUISIANA:
John Bel Edwards may be willing to keep source of Louisiana’s death penalty
drugs a secret
Gov. John Bel Edwards said he might be willing to sign legislation that would
keep the source of Louisiana’s lethal injection drugs a secret and out of the
public record -- a move that could make executions easier to carry out in the
state.
"I would suspect that if it comes to my desk I won’t have a problem with it,
but I always reserve the right to look at it because [bills] typically get
amended, they get changed and that sort of thing. But we will take a look at it
when it gets there, if it gets there,” Edwards said in an interview Saturday
(April 13), referring to House Bill 258.
Louisiana has 72 death row inmates, but hasn’t executed anyone since 2010. A
federal judge has ordered that all executions in Louisiana be delayed until
July 2019 because the state hasn’t been able to obtain lethal injection
ingredients.
Edwards, a Democrat, has also refused to say how he personally feels about the
death penalty. As a legislator in 2014, he voted against a previous piece of
legislation to keep the source of death penalty drugs secret.
Louisiana executions won’t resume anytime soon, but it’s not clear anyone will
do something about it
Gov. John Bel Edwards said the state can't get the drugs to execute people, and
no lawmaker has come forward with legislation to make those types of purchases
easier yet.
Edwards was 1 of just 7 lawmakers -- and 2 House members -- to vote against
that bill 5 years ago. It was supported overwhelmingly, but didn’t end up
getting enacted because its sponsor, former state representative and current
Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joe Lopinto, pulled the bill over an unrelated dispute
with then-Gov. Bobby Jindal.
Edwards’ reticence over the death penalty has led Republican Attorney General
Jeff Landry and other conservatives to speculate that the governor is dragging
his feet over executions, possibly because the governor might have moral
objections to capital punishment.
The Department of Public Safety and Corrections, which Edwards oversees, have
pushed back on that notion and says the governor’s personal views on the death
penalty have nothing to do with the delay in executions. The problems carrying
out the death penalty extend back to when Jindal was in office, officials say.
The agency is struggling to obtain lethal injection drugs for executions, in
part, because Louisiana’s public records laws allow for the disclosure of the
manufacturer and pharmacists that supply the substance, Corrections Secretary
Jimmy LeBlanc has said in previous interviews.
Sources for the lethal injection drugs are unwilling to do business with the
prison system over fear of the blowback from being involved in executions. Some
drug manufacturers also refuse to sell products to the state if they are going
to be used for executions, according to the prison system, according to the
prison system.
The new death penalty drug bill, sponsored by Rep. Nicholas Muscarello,
R-Hammond, would exclude from the public record the identity and any
identifying information of people, pharmacies, manufacturers and others who are
responsible for getting Louisiana lethal injection drugs or “medical equipment”
used to carry out an executions. Courts, boards, tribunals, commissions and
agencies as well as individuals wouldn’t have access to this information, under
this legislation.
Louisiana AG Jeff Landry pushes new execution options: gas, electrocution,
firing squad, hanging
Landry said he will back legislation to make the death penalty easier to carry
out.
It resembles draft state legislation that Landry started pushing last summer,
when the attorney general said that a public records exemption might help get
executions moving again. Several states, including Texas, has passed laws in
recent years to keep the source of their execution drugs a secret. The Arkansas
legislature just approved an updated version of their death penalty drug
secrecy law earlier this month.
The stall in Louisiana’s executions upsets the families of victims of people
sitting on death row. Many families have already been waiting decades to see
the offender who killed their family member put to death, since appeals in
death penalty cases can already take several years. A delay because death
penalty drugs can’t be obtained is frustrating for some, according to recent
testimony from families at a hearing on the death penalty.
While some lawmakers are seeking to resume executions, other are hoping to
abolishment the death penalty. 2 legislators -- State Rep. Terry Landry, D-New
Iberia, and state Sen. Dan Claitor, R-Baton Rouge -- have introduced bills to
end the death penalty for people facing criminal charges moving forward. The 72
people on death row would still be subject to executions, but people who face
criminal charges in the future couldn’t join them on death row.
(source: nola.com)
MISSOURI:
St. Charles man will face death penalty in family murder trial
A man accused of killing his girlfriend, her 2 children, and the children’s
grandmother will face the death penalty in the upcoming trial, the St. Charles
County Prosecuting Attorney said Monday.
Prosecutor Timothy Lohmar said a grand jury indicted Richard Darren Emery last
Friday for the December 2018 killings.
Emery is accused of shooting and killing 39-year-old Kate Kasten, 8-year-old
Zoe and 10-year-old Jonathan Kasten, and 61-year-old Jane Moeckel, Kate’s
mother.
The murders took place at Kasten’s home in the 100 block of Whetstone Drive.
Police found the victims inside the home. 3 of them were dead at the scene. One
of the victims was taken to a hospital where she later died.
Emery was arrested the following day after attempting to carjacking a woman. He
also engaged in a brief shootout with police. Emery was located inside a gas
station bathroom, wounded and covered in blood.
(source: Fox News)
NEBRASKA:
Aubrey Trail's attorneys ask court to order prosecutors to disclose reasons
behind decision to seek death penalty
Aubrey Trail's defense attorneys have asked a judge to order attorneys
prosecuting him to disclose documents in an effort to see if Gov. Pete Ricketts
is behind their decision to seek the death penalty against him.
In a filing Friday afternoon, Ben Murray, one of Trail’s court-appointed
attorneys, said he had no other means of obtaining the reasons behind their
decision.
"To be clear, this motion does not accuse the government of any wrongdoing," he
said. "Instead it seeks information that is necessary to ensure that the
decision to seek the death penalty in this case was based on circumstances of
the case and not on improper political or personal motive."
Murray's motion pointed out that Ricketts and his family spent a large amount
of money on a referendum to reinstate the death penalty after the Legislature
voted to abolish it in 2015.
He said the Nebraska Attorney General's office, which took over prosecution
from the Saline County Attorney, decided to seek the death penalty.
"Absent a court order compelling the prosecuting attorneys to disclose their
reasons, defendant will be unable to investigate and determine whether the
state is acting in an unconstitutional and biased manner in seeking his
execution, contrary to his constitutional rights to due process and equal
protection and his protections against cruel and unusual punishment," Murray
wrote.
He is asking Saline County District Judge Vicki Johnson to order counsel to
disclose:
* All communications between the prosecuting attorneys, any employee of the
Attorney General's office or any agents of the Governor's office regarding
seeking the death penalty in criminal cases.
* All communications between them regarding seeking the death penalty against
Trail and Bailey Boswell, his co-defendant.
* Any documents or records, including emails, letters and phone messages,
between them regarding the decision to seek the death penalty in this case.
Trail is set to go to trial in June on charges of 1st-degree murder and
improper disposal of human remains in the November 2017 slaying of Sydney
Loofe.
Last month, they added a conspiracy charge alleging he conspired with Bailey
Boswell to solicit young women online, to recruit others to carry out a murder
and to select Loofe as their victim.
Loofe, 24, met Boswell on the dating app Tinder and went missing Nov. 16, 2017,
after going on a date with Boswell the night before.
Loofe’s remains were found in Clay County on Dec. 4, 2017, and investigators
allege Trail strangled her before he and Boswell dismembered and dumped her
body and then fled the state, according to court documents.
Trail has told investigators and news reporters that Loofe died at his hands
accidentally.
(source: Lincoln Journal Star)
SOUTH DAKOTA:
Supreme Court won't hear death penalty appeal alleging anti-gay remarks from
jurors
The Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up the case of a gay South Dakota
man who alleges that homophobia played a role in his death penalty sentence.
Charles Rhines, who was convicted of murder in 1993, claimed that members of
the jury made anti-gay statements that influenced their decision to sentence
him to death and that a 2017 Supreme Court ruling that states must consider
racist sentiments of jurors should apply to his case as well.
But the court's decision to not review his case prevents them from expanding
the scope of that ruling and keeps Rhines's death sentence in place.
Rhines alleged that several jurors made anti-gay comments during the course of
his trial, with one juror allegedly saying that Rhines “was a homosexual and
thought that he shouldn’t be able to spend his life with men in prison.”
Rhines claimed that another juror said that a member of the jury made “a
comment that if he’s gay, we’d be sending him where he wants to go if we voted”
to sentence him to life in prison.
A 3rd juror allegedly said the panel had “lots of discussion of homosexuality”
and “a lot of disgust.”
Rhines argued that a 2017 divided Supreme Court ruling that a judge might
reject a verdict if there is evidence of jurors using racial stereotypes or
sentiments during non-death penalty convictions should also be used in his
case, pointing to the severity of his sentence.
Several LGBT rights groups had advocated on behalf of Rhines in the case,
including Lambda Legal, the National LGBT Bar Association and the ACLU.
Rhines was convicted of the 1992 murder of Donnivan Schaeffer at a donut shop
where Schaeffer worked.
The state, which said that Rhines didn't have standing to make his claim of
anti-gay bias, argued that jurors made their decision to sentence Rhines to
death over the "calloused and gruesome nature of the murder."
(source: thehill.com)
COLORADO:
Left-leaning Outlet In CO Says Hickenlooper ‘Making Stuff Up’ On Death
Penalty----Death penalty discussion 'never happened under Hick's watch'—'not
even close'
A left-of-center news outlet in Colorado says presidential candidate and former
Colorado governor John Hickenlooper is exaggerating his track record on the
death penalty while on the campaign trail.
The death penalty has been a significant policy issue for Colorado over the
last decade as Democrats have sought to repeal the punishment in the state.
The left-leaning Colorado Independent said the former two-term governor
"started flat-out making stuff up when he went on to suggest that, as governor,
he encouraged a broad dialogue about capital punishment, its effectiveness and
whether it's being meted out fairly."
In May of 2013, the execution of Nathan Dunlap was fast approaching. Dunlap had
been convicted of killing 4 people and seriously injuring another in a Chuck E.
Cheese restaurant in 1993.
Rather than commute the sentence, Hickenlooper issued a "temporary reprieve,"
meaning Dunlap's execution would only be put on hold, and the next governor
could potentially lift the reprieve and allow the execution to go forward.
"He did not make a decision," former state Republican chairman Dick Wadhams
told the Washington Free Beacon last month. "He found a third way that I don't
think anybody was aware existed, and that is: Kick it to your successor."
After issuing the Dunlap reprieve, Hickenlooper said he wanted to use the
moment to engage in a "statewide" conversation, something he's now selling on
the presidential campaign trail as part of his record of being a
consensus-builder.
"What we've done in Colorado is a statewide conversation on the death penalty,
and I mean it doesn't deter," he said recently on CNN. "I mean of the states
that got rid of the death penalty 40 years ago have no more homicides or mass
killings than states that execute people multiple times a year."
"But such a discussion never happened under Hick's watch," the Independent
wrote.
"Not even close."
"He did call for one in 2013 while under scrutiny about his decision to grant
Dunlap, the convicted Chuck E. Cheese killer, a temporary reprieve rather than
commute Dunlap's death sentence altogether. But once scrutiny blew over and
Hick was re-elected a year later, he seemed to forget about the conversation he
promised and clammed up about the issue during his next 4 years in office."
"It is only now that the moderate seeking support among party progressives has
chosen to speak out," the Indy concluded.
As the Free Beacon has previously reported, Colorado attorney David Lane, one
of the most well known lawyers in the state and a long-time opponent of capital
punishment, has leveled similar arguments against Hickenlooper.
Talking to a local talk-radio show in August of 2014, Lane was highly critical
of the then-governor, who was just three months away from a reelection vote.
"The legislature in Colorado, last year [2013] had the votes to abolish the
death penalty," Lane said on the Craig Silverman Show. "That bill was killed
amazingly, and shockingly, and disappointingly by Governor Hickenlooper. He
killed the bill and lobbied against it, while at the same time he was giving
Nathan Dunlap a reprieve, not a commutation to life without parole."
"The governor called for a statewide conversation on the death penalty, and has
studiously avoided having that conversation since he called for it," Lane said
later.
The high-powered lawyer said he personally called the governor's office to
volunteer to travel the state and participate in town halls as part of
Hickenlooper's proposed statewide conversation.
"I never heard another word from them," he said.
The issue flared up again in 2015 during the sentencing phase for the man
convicted of the Aurora Theater shooting in 2012 that killed 12 and injured
scores more.
A Denver Post article that year again raised the question of how much of a
statewide conversation had occurred since Dunlap's temporary reprieve.
"I'm not aware that's happened, and I think I would have been aware of it,"
Senate Minority Leader Lucia Guzman, a Democrat from Denver, told the Post.
"What kind of conversation was Lucia looking for? What kind of conversation was
she expecting?" Hickenlooper said in response.
In Hickenlooper's defense, the Post story also noted "the formation of the
Better Priorities Initiative, aimed at ending the death penalty, and a series
on capital punishment at both the Denver Seminary and the Iliff School of
Theology."
Currently, Hickenlooper has promised if elected president he would suspend the
death penalty at the federal level. Most other Democrat presidential candidates
have also indicated their opposition to capital punishment.
Requests for comment from the Hickenlooper campaign as well as his leadership
PAC were not returned.
(source: Washington Free Beacon)
CALIFORNIA:
DA Todd Spitzer releases letter to CA governor regarding death penalty
moratorium
Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer and members of his executive team
met with Governor Gavin Newsom’s office to share the concerns of crime victims
over the governor’s death penalty moratorium.
District Attorney Spitzer hand-delivered this letter to the governor to share
the stories of crime victims and how the governor’s moratorium is preventing
these families from having justice for their loved ones. To read the entire
letter, please visit www.orangecountyda.org and select Reports under the
Reports pull-down menu.
This article was released by the Orange County District Attorney’s Office. The
letter from Todd Spitzer addressed to Governor Gavin Newsom is as follows:
Honorable Governor Newsom:
Your blanket mortarium [sic] of the death penalty devastated hundreds of
innocent crime victims and denied them of long-awaited justice. This week is
National Crime Victims’ Rights Week. It is a time when we as a nation remember
those who have been victims of violence and honor the survivors. As a
prosecutor, I have seen firsthand the utter devastation that violent crime has
taken on individuals. I have also witnessed the incredible strength that
victims possess in the pursuit of justice.
Steve Herr spent his son’s 27th birthday praying that police would find his
son’s head. Sam Herr, a combat veteran, had been shot and killed by his friend
and neighbor. The next day, Sam’s killer dismembered his body and cut off his
head, scattering the body parts in a park.
When Sam’s father came to the morgue to identify his son’s body parts, he asked
the coroner to sew Sam’s body back together so he could be buried in one piece.
They did, except for the hand that was never found.Ron and Bruce Harrington
have spent the last 40 years searching for the man who killed their youngest
brother and his wife. Keith Harrington was just 24 years old when he was
bludgeoned to death. Patti Harrington was 27 years old when she was raped and
then bludgeoned to death.
Their lives were just starting. Their possibilities were limitless.
But a monster walked through an unlocked door and beat those possibilities to
death.
Your protection of vicious, brutal, tortuous, and sadistic murderers does not
give you the moral high ground. The crime victims are the only ones entitled to
moral high ground. The decision to show compassion belongs to the victims and
the victims alone.
On April 8, 2019, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office stood with
victims of crime and listened to their stories of the horrendous crimes
perpetrated against their loved ones – and the pain they endured as they
pursued justice.
These stories are hard to tell – and hard to listen to.
But you have not listened.
You have not listened to Steve Herr recount how he spent what should have been
his son’s 27th birthday praying for his son’s head to be found.
You have not listened to how Thanksgiving traditions – and the family that kept
them – were shattered by the loss of the youngest Harrington brother.
For your benefit, the victim’s speeches were videotaped and are being delivered
to you.
Listen to the pain caused by your decision. I am requesting that you view this
tape so that you have an understanding of the devastation and the reopening of
painful memories caused by the moratorium and denial.
Compassion should not be reserved for monsters. Compassion should be reserved
for the victims.
Sincerely,
Todd Spitzer
District Attorney, County of Orange
(source: oc-breeze.com)
USA:
Breyer Signals Tension Surge on Death-Penalty Cases
Unable to muster enough votes Friday, the Supreme Court’s liberal minority
signed onto a biting dissent that shows an increasing division on death-penalty
cases at the court.
“Should anyone doubt that death sentences in the United States can be carried
out in an arbitrary way, let that person review the following circumstances as
they have been presented to our court this evening,” Justice Stephen Beyer
wrote, joined by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.
The dissent comes after the conservative wing of the court voted to vacate a
stay of execution granted to Christopher Price in Alabama.
Price, who was convicted of the 1991 murder of pastor William Lynn, contends
that the state’s 3-drug lethal-injection protocol will cause extreme pain and
that it would be more humane to kill him in a gas chamber.
Though the state court found the inmate’s evidence credible, Breyer notes that
the conservative wing of the court hastily overturned the stay on Thursday
night rather than wait a few hours to discuss the case during a Friday morning
conference.
“To proceed in this way calls into question the basic principles of fairness
that should underlie our criminal justice system,” Breyer wrote. “To proceed in
this matter in the middle of the night without giving all members of the court
the opportunity for discussion tomorrow morning is, I believe, unfortunate.”
Breyer noted that the jurisdictional issue presented by the state warrants
fuller briefing.
“It is possible that Price was given no more than 72 hours to decide how he
wanted to die,” he wrote. “That is not a reason to override the lower courts’
discretionary determination that the equitable factors warrant a stay.”
Price’s appeal comes nearly 2 weeks after the Supreme Court refused a similar
challenge to lethal injection from Russell Bucklew, a Missouri inmate with a
rare blood disorder.
Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the majority in the case that “courts should
police carefully against attempts to use such challenges as tools to interpose
unjustified delay.”
Alabama Attorney General Steven Marshall issued a statement Friday where he
said that Price’s legal fight has revictimized the family of his victim.
Marshall did not return a request for comment Monday.
Because the Supreme Court wrangling stretched so late into the night on
Thursday, Alabama must set a new execution date for Price.
Aaron Michael Katz, an attorney for Price with the Boston firm Ropes and Gray,
did not return request for comment.
In a separate order, Ginsburg, the court voted 5-4 against a new bid by Price
for a stay of execution.
(source: courthousenews.com)
******************
Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange Won’t Face Death Penalty On Ecuador’s Request
Arrested Wikileaks founder Julian Assange may not face the death penalty in the
U.S if extradited.
The arrest of this Internet activist took place in London on April 9 from the
Ecuador Embassy on 2 warrants—1 from the U.K. and other from the US.
Assange faces a U.S warrant of December 2017 relating to his alleged conspiracy
with Chelsea Manning, the Army intelligence analyst, who leaked many classified
materials to WikiLeaks.
The U. S reportedly gave this assurance to the South American country, during
back-channel negotiation to finally evict the activist from the London embassy
and face the legal process.
Since Ecuador opposes death penalty it wanted an explicit assurance from the
U.S. that Assange would be spared from capital punishment if extradited.
The first request in this regard went to the U.K. seeking assurances that it
would not extradite Assange to a country where the death penalty exists.
According to reports, the U.S assurance followed a deal brokered by Ecuadorian
ambassador to Germany and his U.S. counterpart in Germany.
The U. S envoy Richard Grenell updated the State Department about the South
American country’s request, to which Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein
favorably responded.
The report said Ecuador took a decision to insulate from Assange in March 2018.
Assange has been hiding in its London embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden,
where he faced a case of sexual assault on a woman.
Burden on Ecuador
The Latin American country was facing the pressure of financial burden as well.
It reportedly spent $10 million on Assange, including food, medical expenses,
legal counsel and other things in the last seven years.
However, there is no official confirmation from the U.S. Justice Department
that the U.S. would spare the death sentence.
In the U.S, there are 41 federal offenses punishable by the death penalty.
Treason and espionage are part of such crimes.
It is unknown if the U.S contemplated an espionage charge on Assange under the
indictment filed in March 2018 in the Eastern District of Virginia.
The indictment alleged Assange in 2010 sought to assist Manning in cracking a
password stored at the United States Department of Defense computers on a
Secret Internet Protocol Network that houses classified documents and
communications.
(source: International Business Times)
_______________________________________________
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
