April 18
TEXAS----impending execution
Death Watch: King Set to Die for James Byrd Lynching----Last-minute appeal
seeks new trial as King maintains his innocence
Only 2 of 2019's 5 (so far) scheduled executions have taken place; the Texas
Court of Criminal Appeals granted Mark Robertson a stay on April 8 – 3 days
before his execution date – "pending further order." Robertson's last appeal
alleges his trial counsel purposely excluded black jurors for fear they
wouldn't be sympathetic to the white defendant. And John King, sentenced to die
for the infamous murder of James Byrd Jr. in 1998, now hopes to be the next
inmate spared – if only temporarily – by the courts.
Byrd's modern-day lynching led to Texas' James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Act, signed
into law in 2001 by Gov. Rick Perry, which controversially (at the time)
included not only race but "sexual preference" in its protected classes. And in
2009, Barack Obama signed the federal Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate
Crimes Prevention Act.
King's friend Lawrence Brewer was executed in 2011; the 3rd man convicted of
Byrd's murder, Shawn Berry, will reportedly be eligible for parole in 2038.
With his execution set for Wednesday, April 24, King's counsel filed appeals on
April 10 at the CCA and at state district court in Jasper, where the crime took
place, which reaffirm his longstanding claim that he got out of Berry's truck
before Byrd was notoriously dragged behind it to his death. King says he told
his original counsel he wanted to present this claim at trial and attempted to
replace them when they refused and eventually conceded his guilt; his appeal
cites the U.S. Supreme Court's 2018 ruling (in McCoy v. Louisiana) that
defendants have a Sixth Amendment right to insist counsel maintain innocence at
trial, as well as a similar ruling by the CCA, and asks for a completely new
trial.
On March 20, King also filed a petition for clemency with the Texas Board of
Pardons and Paroles, which also insists he was not present for Byrd's murder
and cites Brewer's reported statement that he had been pressured to frame King
rather than Berry because of King's criminal record and affiliation with
white-supremacist prison gangs. (Brewer did not testify at King's trial.)
If no stay is granted, King will be the 3rd Texas execution this year, and the
561st inmate killed since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.
(source: Austin Chronicle)
PENNSYLVANIA:
Mumia Abu-Jamal gets new hearing in 1981 police death
A former Black Panther and death row activist convicted of killing a
Philadelphia police officer decades ago will get a new appeals hearing after
the city prosecutor on Wednesday dropped his opposition to it.
Mumia Abu-Jamal, 64, is serving a life sentence after spending decades on death
row in the 1981 slaying of Officer Daniel Faulkner, who had pulled his brother
over in an overnight traffic stop.
Abu-Jamal, who was shot during the encounter, was largely tried in absentia at
his 1982 capital murder trial, after being removed over his repeated objections
and efforts to serve as his own lawyer.
A former radio journalist, Abu-Jamal's prison writings made him a popular cause
among death penalty opponents worldwide -- and a foe of police unions and the
slain officer's widow. The attention to his case quieted after his death
sentence was set aside over flawed jury instructions in 2011, and his appeals
appeared exhausted.
However, in December, Philadelphia Common Pleas Judge Leon Tucker granted
Abu-Jamal a new chance to argue his initial appeal after the U.S. Supreme Court
said a former Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice had improperly heard a murder
case he had overseen as Philadelphia district attorney. The justice, Ronald
Castille, had done the same in Abu-Jamal's case.
District Attorney Larry Krasner initially fought Tucker's order, fearing it
could affect a large number of cases. On Wednesday, he dropped his challenge,
citing a revised ruling from Tucker that narrows the scope of his order.
Krasner agreed that Castille should not have worn "2 hats" in the case, a fact
made more egregious, he suggested, by the discovery of a 1990 note Castille
sent Gov. Robert Casey about "police killers," urging him to issue death
warrants to "send a clear and dramatic message to all police killers that the
death penalty actually means something."
"Although the issue is technical," said Krasner, a longtime civil rights
lawyer, "it is also an important cautionary tale on the systemic problems that
flow from a judge's failing to recuse where there is an appearance of bias."
Castille told The Associated Press last year that Abu-Jamal's lawyers never
asked him to step down from the appeal. He served as district attorney after
Abu-Jamal's murder trial. He said his colleagues on the Supreme Court "knew I'd
signed off on the appeal (filings), but I had nothing to do with the trial."
Tucker, in his opinion, said "the slightest appearance of bias or lack of
impartiality undermines the entire judiciary."
Judith Ritter, a lead lawyer for Abu-Jamal, said her client will now get a
chance to air the alleged trial errors at "a fair appellate hearing."
"The D.A's decision is in the interests of justice. We look forward to having
our claims of an unfair trial heard by a fair tribunal," said Ritter, a
professor at Widener University's Delaware Law School.
(source: WITF news)
GEORGIA:
Woman representing self in death penalty case barely speaks during
trial----Tiffany Moss is accused of starving her stepdaughter and burning her
body.
"No questions, your honor."
Tiffany Moss uttered that phrase twelve times today as she represented herself
in a death penalty case. She’s the Gwinnett woman accused of starving her
10-year-old stepdaughter, Emani Moss, and burning her body and throwing it in a
dumpster in 2013.
For a woman acting as her own lawyer, Moss has had remarkably little to say
during the first 3 days of her trial.
Moss, wearing dark slacks and a navy shirt with a yellow pattern, barely spoke
during the morning proceedings. When the judge read the list of charges she's
facing to prospective jurors, Moss occasionally looked at jurors but showed no
emotion. She declined to question any jurors but she did, for the first time
since this trial began, confer with her standby attorneys.
24 jurors have been qualified and moved on to the final jury selection phase in
the Tiffany Moss murder trial.
Though Moss is representing herself, she has two court-appointed attorneys who
are sitting behind her and available at any time to answer legal questions.
They are, however, not acting as her attorneys at her wish.
She spoke with the attorneys during the portion of the jury selection in which
either side can ask for a dismissal of a juror. The District Attorney had
requested to excuse a juror because he said he could not impose the death
penalty. She conferred privately with the standby attorneys for a few minutes
then told the judge she would not disagree with the DA’s request to excuse that
juror.
He was 1 of 2 jurors excused. The other was excused because of a language
barrier. English is not her first language and it was evidence she would not be
able to follow court proceedings.
In total, 5 more jurors were questioned during the morning session at Gwinnett
County Superior Court in Lawrenceville. Of those, three jurors were held over
for service.
Gwinnett County Police arrested and charged Emani's father and stepmother with
murder. Police said they set her on fire, hoping to make evidence of their
abuse of her disappear. Before her body was burned, the girl was literally
starved to death.
Eman Moss, her dad, signed a plea deal in 2015. He is serving a life sentence
without parole but does not face the death penalty. Tiffany Moss, her
stepmother, has been awaiting trial for more than 5 years.
Tiffany Moss faces 6 counts of murder and concealing a death, plus 2 counts of
felony murder and 1st-degree cruelty to children. She also faces the death
penalty.
(source: 11alive.com)
FLORIDA:
Female ‘killer clown’ who ‘murdered her lover’s wife’ faces death penalty----A
woman who police say dressed up as a clown and killed her lover’s wife now
faces the death penalty.
Sheila Keen-Warren, 55, is accused of shooting Marlene Warren, 40, in the face
in the front doorway of her Wellington, Florida in May 1990.
The last thing Marlene saw was Keen-Warren standing at her door wearing an
orange wig, red bulb nose, and a painted-on smile, handing her flowers and
balloons with one hand – and aiming a gun at her in the other, prosecutors say.
The clown who killed Michael Warren’s fled in a white car, which was found four
days later, but the investigation eventually went cold, the South Florida Sun
Sentinel reported.
Authorities believe Keen-Warren was having an affair with Marlene’s husband,
Michael, at the time of the murder. thumbnail for post ID 9242395At least 28
people dead as tourist bus crashes off mountain road.
The 2 later married in 2002 after Michael was released from jail for financial
crimes related to his used-car business where his alleged mistress worked.
They operated a popular fast-good restaurant in Kingsport, Tennessee for over a
decade as the case remained unsolved.
Keen-Warren was arrested at her home in September 2017 after the FBI announced
they found a hair in a car linked to the murder.
Authorities also said evidence includes hundreds of pages of interviews,
photographs, and reports, but officials did not elaborate on the findings,
according to CBS.
An employee at a nearby costume shop told police that a customer resembling
Keen-Warren begged to be let into the store just before it closed 2 nights
before the murder.
The employee said that the woman told her and another clerk that she needed a
wig, white gloves, a red nose, and white face makeup. The 2nd clerk said the
woman may have been Keen-Warren, but was not completely sure.
Since his Keen-Warren’s arrest, Michael Warren has stood by his wife and also
said he had nothing to do with the murder.
The case will be presented to a jury in February after Keen-Warren waved her
right to a speedy trial and pleaded not guilty the 1st-degree murder charge.
Her lawyer, Richard Lubin, said old evidence is slowing the trial process down
and maintains that his client is innocent.
‘They’ve arrested the wrong person. This case is 100 % circumstantial,’ Lubin
said, adding that there is nothing that links his client to the crime.
Prosecutors announced they are seeking the death penalty.
(source: metro.co.uk)
ARIZONA:
Court overturns death sentence in 1987 execution-style Yuma murder
A federal appeals court Wednesday overturned the death sentence for Theodore
Washington, the last of three defendants still on death row in the 1987
execution-style murder of Sterleen Hill during a “disastrously violent home
invasion” in Yuma.
A divided 3-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that
Washington’s trial attorney failed to present evidence of his client’s “diffuse
brain damage, and his history of substance abuse” and other problems that might
have weighed against the death penalty.
“This raises a reasonable probability that, had the court been presented with
the mitigation evidence the first instance, the outcome would have been
different,” Judge Ronald Gould wrote in the opinion for the court, which
ordered a new sentencing hearing for Washington.
But Judge Consuelo Callahan dissented, writing that there is “no good reason”
to second-guess the trial judge in the case and adding that the only injustice
“is our unwarranted interference” in the case.
Lawyers in the case did not immediately respond to a request for comment on
Wednesday’s ruling, the most recent in years of appeals by Washington.
The case began on the night of June 8, 1987, when two men forced their way into
the Yuma home of Ralph and Sterleen Hill, looking for the Hills’ daughter who
had left her common-law husband and returned to her parents’ house.
The Hills were bound and forced to lie face down on their bedroom floor while
the men ransacked the house, demanding drugs or money and intermittently
twisting a pistol into Ralph Hill’s ear, according to court documents. At some
point, the men shot Ralph Hill in the back of the head with a shotgun, reloaded
and then shot Sterleen execution-style.
She died but Ralph Hill survived with serious wounds.
Fred Robinson, Susan Hill’s common-law husband, was arrested shortly after the
attack and Washington and Jimmy Mathers were arrested soon thereafter. Each of
the men was charged with six counts, including murder, attempted murder,
assault, burglary and armed robbery.
The 2 were tried together in December 1987, all 3 were convicted on six counts
and all were sentenced in January 1988 to death row.
The Arizona Supreme Court vacated Mathers’ conviction for insufficient
evidence, but upheld Washington and Robison’s convictions. The two appealed but
had their convictions and sentences upheld by Superior Court Judge Stewart
Bradshaw, the same judge who presided at their trials and sentencing.
In a subsequent appeal, however, the 9th Circuit vacated Robinson’s death
sentence, agreeing with his argument that his trial attorney had utterly failed
to mount a defense in the sentencing phase of his trial.
Gould said the ruling in Robinson’s case cast a “long shadow” over Washington,
who made a similar argument – among others – on his latest appeal.
Washington said that had his attorney properly investigated his past, it would
have shown that he suffered daily whippings as a child, was sedated with
alcohol and later became an alcoholic, had a cocaine problem and a low IQ – all
of which could have argued against the death penalty.
“The record here amply demonstrates that (defense attorney Robert) Clarke’s
representation of Washington at the penalty phase was objectively unreasonable
and deficient,” Gould wrote.
Gould said Bradshaw “committed precisely the same error” with Washington as he
did in Robinson’s case, and that there was a good chance he would have ruled
differently if he had all the facts about Washington’s past.
The court sent the case back with orders for a new sentencing hearing or, if
not, for the state to change Washington’s sentence to life in prison.
But Callahan said that Bradshaw did have the evidence he needed and was in the
best position to rule.
“There is no good reason for us to dismiss Judge Bradshaw’s conclusion from our
lofty perch 25 years later,” Callahan wrote. She said Washington’s claim of an
ineffective defense “presents no basis for vacating his sentence.”
Callahan also said there is “a temptation to bend the governing legal
standards” to “equalize the outcomes,” because Mathers had his conviction
overturned and Robinson had his death sentence vacated.
“However enticing the impulse, that is not our role,” she said. “Ours is the
duty to apply the law to determine whether Washington has met his high burden
of showing a constitutional violation that deprived him of a fair trial.
“He has not,” Callahan said.
(source: azpbs.org)
CALIFORNIA:
Serial Killer Who Attacked Lisa Rinna's Mom Still on Death Row
"He was straddling me with a hammer in one hand and a knife in the other."
The serial killer who tried to murder Lisa Rinna's mom is still on death row
today.
David Carpenter, AKA the Trailside Killer, has been awaiting execution for 34
1/2 years in San Quentin State Prison in San Francisco.
The now 88-year-old was convicted in the rape and murder of seven women, though
is suspected of having many more victims.
His 1st ever victim, Lois Rinna, luckily managed to escape with her life — 3
years before giving birth to Lisa.
Both women recounted the horrific tale on Tuesday night's episode of "The Real
Housewives of Beverly Hills".
"I was very lucky, very. I should not even be here. You shouldn't even be
here," Lois said to her daughter.
"A few years before I was born, my mom was attacked by a man that she worked
with," Lisa explained in a confessional; the co-worker had invited Lois to come
see his new baby, and picked her up in his car.
But Lois quickly realized something was wrong when he turned down a deserted
road.
"He tried to rape her," Lisa said. "He tried to kill her."
"I thought that was it... that I was going 'bye-bye', Lois recalled with
admirable calm. "He was straddling me with a hammer in one hand and a knife in
the other."
Luckily a military policeman had seen the car turn off onto the dirt road and
got suspicious. Lisa described what happened next to Andy Cohen on "Watch What
Happens Live".
"David Carpenter straddling my mom at that point so he could see out the back
window, and he went at my mom with a knife, and she grabbed the knife with her
hand, and he saw the military police," she told him. "And then he reached in
the back and got the hammer and tried to kill her, trying to kill her when he
drove down."
"And then he somehow got out of the car and then the military police shot him
in the stomach, and he didn't die."
Carpenter was convicted for the attempted murder in 1960, but was sentenced to
just 7 years. Upon release he was convicted again, this time for kidnapping,
and got another 7 years.
But after his 2nd release, he went on a murder spree, stalking, raping and
stabbing to death at least 8 people — mostly young women in their teens and
early 20s — among the hiking trails in state parks near San Francisco, earning
him the moniker the Trailside Killer.
"I was the first one that he went to jail for," Lois recalled. "After he got
out he then did all the murders."
"He became a serial killer," Lisa added. "He killed many people."
In 1988 he was convicted of multiple counts of rape and 1st degree murder, and
sentenced to die in the gas chamber.
Capital punishment is still a legal penalty in the state of California; however
all executions are currently halted indefinitely by an official moratorium
ordered by Governor Gavin Newsom. The last death penalty to be carried out
there was in 2006.
According to the LA Times, there are currently 737 inmates on death row in
California.
On Tuesday's show, Lisa revealed she didn't learn about the attacks until she
was 18, believing her mom had lost her sense of smell and had metal plates in
her head because "some kid in a playground hit you on the head with a hammer" —
a story her mom couldn't even remember concocting.
"When I had finally learned the truth, I had such great sadness and empathy for
my mom knowing that not only did this happen to her but that she basically just
stuffed those feelings for how many years," Lisa said. "She never dealt with
it, she never talked about it, she never even told her daughter about it."
Nevertheless, she grew up "with a lot of fear": "My mom's stuff and attack is
probably in my DNA. When I was in her womb, I picked it up," she surmised.
The reality star even believes it has affected how she has raised daughters
Delilah and Amelia, whom she shares with husband Harry Hamlin.
"I'm very open and honest about how I am because I've been very much like that
in my life and terrified [for] my children and what might happen to them, so
I'm over-fearful," she explained. "But I am overly hyper-sensitive to walking
by myself. I would never go into a garage by myself, like a parking garage. I
grew up with a lot of fear, which I think has saved my life. I do. I think it's
saved me on a lot of occasions."
"I must have put out such an energy that no-one would ever even f--k with me,"
she added. "It's really weird that I'm one of the only people that I know that
was not raped or sexually harassed any way shape or form in my life."
Lisa admitted afterwards on "WWHL" that reliving her mom's story almost 60
years later brought her to tears.
"I haven't seen those headlines since I was 21 years old, so it really hit me
tonight harder than it had in a long time," she said. "And I was in tears, and
I thought my mom was so brave to be that open and honest on TV."
(source: toofab.com)
****************
Jurors cry as prosecutor describes fatal attack on officers
The trial of a man charged with killing 2 Southern California police officers
in an ambush-style attack began with tears Wednesday, as jurors cried when the
prosecutor in the case held up the AR-15 rifle used in the killings and
described the fatal wounds.
Prosecutor Manny Bustamante told jurors in opening statements that admitted
gang member John Hernandez Felix targeted the officers simply because they were
police. Some cried as he spoke of their wounds.
Palm Springs Officers Lesley Zerebny and Jose "Gil" Vega were killed while
responding to a domestic violence call at Felix's mother's house on Oct. 8,
2016. Prosecutors say Felix was wearing body armor when he opened fire with the
AR-15.
"This defendant intentionally took that sunset and any remaining sunsets they
had in their lives, not only because they were Zerebny and Vega, but because
they were Officer Vega and Officer Zerebney," Bustamante said, the Desert Sun
reported .
6 other officers were injured as police and Felix exchanged gunfire in the
residential neighborhood in Palm Springs, more than 100 miles (161 kilometers)
east of Los Angeles. Felix was arrested after a lengthy standoff.
Felix's attorney told jurors that his client has low intelligence and was on
drugs at the time of the crime.
"The acts described by Mr. Bustamante were extremely violent and ultimately
deadly," defense attorney John Dolan said. "Were the acts the only thing to be
considered by the jury, this case would be indefensible."
He said it's Felix's intent that's "the controversy in this case."
Felix's parents described him as lazy and later angry when on drugs, but never
violent, Dolan said. The only time Felix's mother said she feared her son was
the day of the attack.
"She said, 'That was not my son. He was acting very strangely,' " Dolan said.
The Indio courtroom was packed for the first day of the trial, which continued
with testimony in the afternoon.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. Felix's attorneys had argued that he
is too intellectually disabled to face capital punishment, but the judge in the
case disagreed.
Gov. Gavin Newsom earlier this year announced a moratorium on the death penalty
in California. Newsom's reprieve lasts only so long as he is governor and does
not prevent prosecutors from seeking nor judges and juries from imposing death
sentences.
Vega, a father of eight, was a 35-year veteran months away from retirement when
he was killed. He wasn't scheduled to work the day he died but had volunteered
to fill the shift.
Zerebny was a rookie officer just back from maternity leave.
(source: sacbee.com)
WASHINGTON:
Legislation to repeal death penalty dies in the House
Legislation to repeal the death penalty in Washington has died in the state
House of Representatives for the 2nd consecutive year.
"Speaker did not bring it up for a vote: It has died another year without a
floor vote," State Rep. Gael Tarleton said in an email. Wednesday was cutoff
day for legislation in Olympia.
The State Senate, by a 26-22 vote last year and a 28-19 vote in February, has
twice passed bipartisan repeal legislation. Its support has ranged from chief
sponsor Sen. Reuven Carlyle, D-Seattle, to GOP Sen. Maureen Walsh, R-College
Place, whose district includes the Washington State Penitentiary.
"One step closer to justice," Gov. Jay Inslee tweeted in February, when the
Senate voted against hanging.
The failure by the House to act does not mean Washington will have executions.
The State Supreme Court ruled last October that the death penalty in Washington
was arbitrary and racially biased.
Inslee put a moratorium on executions in 2014, and vowed that nobody will be
put to death as long as he is Governor.
20 states and the District of Columbia have abolished executions. There is a
moratorium in effect in Oregon, Pennsylvania and Colorado. Executions still
take place mainly in Texas and states of the deep south.
The death penalty in Washington was restored in 1976 by a 2-to-1 margin in a
statewide vote. The electorate was not swayed by the Committee Against Hanging,
which traveled the state in a flatbed truck with a noose hanging from the rear.
But public attitudes have changed. A poll taken last year by Public Policy
Polling, for the Northwest Progressive Institute, showed majority support for
replacing capital punishment with life imprisonment without parole.
The Senate passed legislation would have imposed a sentence of life in prison
without parole for those convicted of aggravated 1st degree murder.
"I don't know why it didn't come up: I was a 'No' but I don't know where the
rest of the caucus was," said State Rep. Brian Blake, D-Aberdeen.
The failure of the Democratic-controlled House to act represents an
undistinguished end to the tenure of longtime House Speaker Frank Chopp, who
has often hesitated to bring controversial bills to the floor. Chopp has been
strongly protective of the remaining moderate-to-conservative Democrats in his
caucus.
(source: seattlepi.com)
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