April 25
TEXAS----execution
Texas executes John William King in racist dragging death of James Byrd
Jr.----King and 2 other white men were convicted in the brutal East Texas
murder of Byrd, who was black. King was the 2nd man executed for the crime;
another man is serving a life sentence.
It’s been more than 2 decades since an infamous hate crime in East Texas, where
3 white men were convicted of chaining a black man to the back of a pickup
truck, dragging him for miles and then dumping the remains of his body in front
of a church.
On Wednesday evening, John William King, 44, became the 2nd and final man to be
executed in the 1998 murder case of James Byrd Jr. Lawrence Brewer was put to
death in 2011 for the crime, and Shawn Berry is serving a life sentence.
King had previously been involved in a white supremacist prison gang, and he
was notoriously covered in racist tattoos, including Ku Klux Klan symbols, a
swastika and a visual depiction of a lynching, according to court documents.
But King maintained that he was innocent in Byrd’s murder — claiming that Berry
dropped him and Brewer off at their shared apartment before Byrd was beaten and
dragged to death.
In a last-minute appeal, King’s attorney argued that a recent U.S. Supreme
Court ruling entitled his client to a new trial because his original lawyers
didn’t assert his claim of innocence to the jury despite King’s insistence. The
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals narrowly rejected this appeal in a 5-4 ruling
Monday, and the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against stopping the execution about
30 minutes after it was scheduled to begin Wednesday.
After the ruling, King was taken from a holding cell and placed on a gurney in
the death chamber and hooked up to an IV. He had no personal witnesses at his
execution and spoke no final words, but he did provide a written statement
beforehand, stating "Capital Punishment: Them without the capital get the
punishment."
He was injected with a lethal dose of pentobarbital at 6:56 p.m., and
pronounced dead 12 minutes later, according to the prison department.
2 of Byrd’s sisters and his niece planned to watch King's death. One of the
sisters, who also watched Brewer's execution in 2011, told The Texas Tribune
Tuesday that she didn’t understand why King’s case was tied up for so long with
numerous appeals. He was sentenced to death in February 1999.
“He wants to find a way not to die, but he didn’t give James that chance,” said
Louvon Harris. “He’s still getting off easy because your body’s not going to be
flying behind a pickup truck being pulled apart.”
Byrd’s brutal murder drew a spotlight on the small town of Jasper and violent
racism in the modern world. Evidence at trial showed police found most of the
49-year-old’s body on June 7, 1998, with three miles of blood, drag marks, and
other body parts — including his head — on the road behind it. At the beginning
of the gruesome trail, police found evidence of a fight, Byrd’s hat and
cigarette butts later tied to King, Berry and Brewer, according to court
documents. The three men were arrested shortly afterward.
Though King didn’t give an official statement to police or testify at his
trial, he wrote a letter to The Dallas Morning News while awaiting trial
proclaiming his innocence, saying Berry knew Byrd from jail and stopped the
truck to pick him up after seeing Byrd walking down the road. King told The
News that Berry then dropped him and Brewer off before leaving with Byrd alone.
But in a jail note written to Brewer, he said he didn’t think his clothes
police took from their apartment had blood on them, but his sandals may have
had a “dark brown substance” on them.
“Seriously, though, Bro, regardless of the outcome of this, we have made
history and shall die proudly remembered if need be…. Much Aryan love, respect,
and honor, my brother in arms,” King wrote, according to a court filing.
Still, King maintained before and through his trial that he wanted to argue for
his innocence and unsuccessfully complained to the court when he said his
attorneys refused, his current lawyer, Richard Ellis, said in his latest
appeals. King claimed that because his attorneys instead conceded his guilt in
the murder, a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling should have allowed him to get a
new trial.
In Robert McCoy’s case out of Louisiana, the high court held last year that a
defendant has the right to choose the objective of his defense — so trial
lawyers can’t concede guilt if the defendant wants to assert innocence. King
said his lawyers didn’t assert his innocence, instead largely focusing on
whether the murder could be considered death penalty eligible.
The Jasper County District Attorney’s Office knocked the appeal, saying in a
brief that King pleaded not guilty and his lawyers, unlike McCoy’s, didn’t
concede guilt but were “substantially limited” based on the given physical
evidence, his letter to The News and his jail note to Brewer.
“Counsel could not create evidence where none was available, and counsel’s
failure to manufacture exculpatory evidence where none existed is not
equivalent to a ‘concession’ of guilt,” wrote Sue Korioth for the prosecutor’s
office.
The Court of Criminal Appeals tossed King’s appeal Monday without reviewing its
claims based on its late timing, but 2 judges wrote short concurring opinions
and 4 signed on to a dissent. Judge Kevin Yeary agreed with the court’s
rejection, arguing there was no indication that McCoy’s ruling would apply
retroactively to King’s case. And Judge David Newell said in his opinion that
King’s case is different from McCoy’s, and noted that King had already made a
similar argument against his lawyers that was recently rejected by the Supreme
Court.
Judge Michael Keasler, however, joined by Judges Barbara Hervey, Bert
Richardson and Scott Walker, said he would have stopped the execution, noting
that his court has recently been admonished by the high court for
unsuccessfully implementing another one of its rulings in the death penalty
case of Bobby Moore.
“In light of this Court’s recent earnest, but ultimately unsuccessful, attempts
to implement new Supreme Court precedent in death-penalty cases, and especially
in light of the horrible stain this Court’s reputation would suffer if King’s
claims of innocence are one day vindicated... I think we ought to take our time
and decide this issue unhurriedly,” Keasler wrote.
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected the appeal stemming from the Texas ruling
without any opinion. King’s lawyer, Ellis, also raised the McCoy case in an
appeal shortly before another Texas execution this year, but the courts also
decided against Billie Coble, who was executed in February.
Before the execution, Harris said King's death would bring her some closure,
but she will still have to be involved in Berry’s case as he becomes eligible
for parole in 2038. And though some hate crime laws were passed in Byrd’s name
after his murder, she still dedicates herself to fight against racism in the
country in her brother’s name.
“As long as there’s still hate in America, we still have a job to do,” said
Harris, who serves as the president of The Byrd Foundation for Racial Healing.
(source: Texas Tribune)
****************
Texas executes white supremacist convicted in gruesome 1998 hate crime
A killer in one of the most gruesome hate crimes in modern U.S. history was
executed Wednesday by lethal injection in Texas.
John William King, 44, was pronounced dead shortly after 7 p.m. local time in a
Hunstville prison after murdering James Byrd, Jr., 2 decades ago in Jasper,
Texas.
King and 2 other white men were convicted of murdering Byrd in the early
morning hours of June 7, 1998. They beat Byrd, 49, chained him to the back of a
pickup truck and dragged him for 3 miles down a logging road in Japser County,
tearing his body apart.
Prosecutors said Byrd was targeted because he was black. King, a white
supremacist who orchestrated the attack, is the second man to be executed in
the case. Lawrence Russell Brewer was executed in 2011 while Shawn Allen Berry
was sentenced to life in prison.
The Supreme Court refused a last-day appeal from King shortly before his
execution. Prison officials said he was stoic as he awaited the lethal
injection, which 2 of Byrd's sisters and a niece witnessed.
One of Byrd's sisters, Clara Byrd Taylor, said the execution was a necessary
step in the saga of her brother's murder.
“It’s a very, very sad time,” Taylor, 71, said before the execution. “You don’t
feel any satisfaction in observing this but it is absolutely necessary to send
a message: Hate crimes – especially this type of savagery – will not be
tolerated in our society.”
The murder rocked the city of Japser, a city of 7,600 people about 140 miles
northeast of Houston, and drew international and national attention.
Texas and federal hate crime legislation are named in memory of Byrd. The
family also created the Byrd Foundation for Racial Healing, which still raises
money for diversity training and scholarships today.
The execution may not bring closure for the city's community, said Mia
Moody-Ramirez, a Baylor University professor and researcher who has studied the
impact of Byrd's murder on Jasper.
"They might say, 'OK, this person has been executed, we could move on,'" she
said before the execution. "But people won’t ever forget."
(source: USA Today)
**********************
Executions under Greg Abbott, Jan. 21, 2015-present----43
Executions in Texas: Dec. 7, 1982----present-----561
Abbott#--------scheduled execution date-----name------------Tx. #
44---------May 2------------------Dexter Johnson----------562
45---------Aug. 21----------------Larry Swearingen--------563
46---------Sept. 4----------------Billy Crutsinger--------564
(sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin)
******************
USA----countdown to nation's 1500th execution
With the execution of John King in Texas on April 24, the USA has now executed
1,494 condemned individuals since the death penalty was re-legalized on July 2,
1976 in the US Supreme Court Gregg v Georgia decision. Gary Gilmore was the 1st
person executed, in Utah, on January 17, 1977. Below is a list of scheduled
executions as the nation approaches a terrible milestone of 1500 executions in
the modern era.
NOTE: The list is likely to change over the coming months as new execution
dates are added and possible stays of execution occur.
1495-------May 2--------------Scotty Morrow--------------Georgia
1496-------May 2--------------Dexter Johnson------------Texas
1497-------May 16-------------Donnie Johnson-----------Tennessee
1498-------May 16-------------Michael Samra------------Alabama
1499-------May 23-------------Robert Long--------------Florida
1500-------Aug. 15------------Stephen West-------------Tennessee
1501-------Aug. 21------------Larry Swearingen---------Texas
1502-------Sept. 4------------Billy Crutsinger---------Texas
1503------Sept. 12------------Warren Henness-----------Ohio
(source: Rick Halperin)
NORTH CAROLINA:
Jury sentences Godwin to death in 2016 case
For the 1st time in Carteret County since 1992, a jury handed down a death
sentence Tuesday for David Isaiah Godwin in the 2016 murder of Morehead City
resident Wendy Tamagne.
A jury found Mr. Godwin, 28, of Newport, guilty on 5 counts of 1st degree
murder April 12. After about 2 1/2 hours of deliberation Tuesday, the same jury
unanimously recommended the death penalty for the man who beat, strangled and
stabbed Ms. Tamagne to death before dismembering her body and fleeing to Oregon
on July 4, 2016.
Presiding Superior Court Judge Joshua Willey upheld the jury’s recommendation
and officially imposed Mr. Godwin’s death sentence. The decision brings a
nearly month-long trial to a close.
“May God have mercy on his soul,” the judge said as his final words before
dismissing court Tuesday afternoon.
Mr. Godwin will be transported to Central Prison in Raleigh where he will be
placed on death row to await execution. He has the right to appeal his case to
state appellate courts.
Following the reading of the verdict, Ms. Tamagne’s sister and mother presented
victim impact statements, provoking tears from many of the jurors and others in
the courtroom.
“Wendy’s life mattered. It mattered to her family, her friends, even to people
she doesn’t know,” her mother Jill Bergener said. “But most importantly, it
mattered to her. She had a life to live and it was taken away from her.”
Ms. Bergener said Ms. Tamagne was a mother, daughter, sister, aunt, friend to
many and an animal lover. She said she will be remembered for her sense of
humor and kind spirit.
“We are grateful for the short time we had with her and the stories we have,”
she said. “Now, more than ever, we will tell those stories, because there will
be no more new stories to tell.”
Mr. Godwin sat at the defense table with his head down, as he had for most of
the three-plus weeks of proceedings. Addressing him, Ms. Tamagne’s mother said
she could not forgive the man who murdered her daughter, and she was glad
justice had been served.
In an interview following the sentencing, Ms. Bergener said she was glad the
ordeal was over.
“I’m feeling elated that this is finally come to an end,” she said. “And it’s a
sad time for both families, but relief and justice actually came to me when the
verdict was first read and he was guilty of first-degree murder. That’s when I
was able to let go of a lot.”
Ms. Bergener said her strong faith and the desire to see justice for her
daughter helped her through the past month of trial proceedings.
“I needed to be there for my daughter and for her family to eventually have an
end to all this, that Wendy might now be able to rest well,” she said.
“…Justice has definitely been served and I am thankful.
“I’m looking forward to getting my life back and knowing that Wendy can rest in
peace.”
In capital punishment cases, the trial is split into a guilt/innocence finding
phase and a sentencing phase. During the sentencing phase, a jury weighs
aggravating and mitigating factors to determine whether to impose the death
penalty.
In this case, the jury found the following aggravating factors to be true: the
murder was committed while the defendant was engaged in the commission of an
armed robbery; the murder was committed while the defendant was engaged in the
commission of dismemberment of human remains; the murder was committed for
pecuniary gain; and the murder was especially heinous, atrocious or cruel.
The jury also considered mitigating evidence presented by the defense last
week. Defense attorneys Ernest Conner Jr. and Philip Clarke III argued a
history of mental illnesses, childhood trauma and other factors made Mr. Godwin
undeserving of the death penalty.
During final statements Monday, Assistant District Attorney David Spence, who
prosecuted the case along with Assistant District Attorney Ashley Eatmon, urged
the jury to impose the death penalty because it is a punishment reserved for
the “worst of the worst.”
“I contend to you that this is the most horrific murder that has ever taken
place in Carteret County,” he said.
In a press conference following the sentencing, District Attorney Scott Thomas
echoed those sentiments.
“Every murder case is heinous, atrocious and cruel, but this case was
especially heinous, atrocious and cruel,” he said.
Mr. Thomas said the last successful death penalty case prosecuted in Carteret
County took place in 1992. In that case, Michael Reeves committed the murder in
Craven County, but the trial was transferred to Carteret County courts. Mr.
Reeves is still on death row in Raleigh awaiting execution.
Mr. Godwin joins the ranks of 141 other death row inmates awaiting execution in
North Carolina, according to the N.C. Department of Corrections. There has not
been an execution carried out in the state since 2006, and many of the inmates
on death row have been there since the 1990s. One offender has been there since
1985, according to NCDOC records.
The defense enlisted the help of the Center for Death Penalty Litigation, a
nonprofit group based in Durham that seeks to reduce instances of capital
punishment. Mitigation specialists and expert witnesses hired by the group gave
testimony during the sentencing hearing phase of the trial in an effort to
reduce Mr. Godwin’s sentence to life in prison without possibility of parole.
The case was investigated by the Morehead City Police Department, with the
assistance of the State Bureau of Investigation, the North Carolina State Crime
Lab and officials with the police department in Warrenton, Ore.
(source: carolinacoastonline.com)
GEORGIA----impending execution
Clemency hearing scheduled for man sentenced to die for Hall murders
The State Board of Pardons and Paroles will meet Wednesday, May 1 to consider
clemency for a man convicted almost 25 years ago of the murders of 2 women in
Hall County. Scotty Garnell Morrow, 52, is scheduled to die at 7 p.m. May 2 at
the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson.
Morrow was convicted of murder in the fatal shootings of his ex-girlfriend
Barbara Ann Young and her friend Tonya Woods at Young’s Gainesville home in
December 1994. A 3rd woman was also shot but survived.
Lawyers for Morrow have said the killings were “spontaneous and
emotionally-charged” and that he shouldn’t have been sentenced to die.
The board will have 3 options after the meeting: Commute Morrow’s sentence to
life imprisonment, deny clemency or issue a stay on the execution for a maximum
of 90 days.
If the sentence is commuted, the board also can choose whether Morrow would
have the possibility of parole.
In a 1995 court filing regarding the death penalty, then Northeastern Judicial
Circuit District Attorney Lydia Sartain wrote “the offense of murder of Barbara
Ann Young was outrageously and wantonly vile, horrible or inhuman in that it
involved torture and depravity of mind.”
Morrow and Young began dating in June 1994, but she broke up with him that
December because of his abusive behavior, according to a Georgia Supreme Court
summary of the case. Morrow called Young on Dec. 29, 1994, and she told him to
leave her alone, the summary says. Young was in her kitchen with 2 friends and
2 of her children when Morrow showed up a short time later and the pair argued.
Woods told Morrow to leave, saying Young didn’t want anything to do with him
anymore. Morrow yelled at her and pulled out a handgun and began shooting,
hitting Woods in the abdomen and severing her spine, the summary says.
Morrow also shot Young’s other friend, LaToya Horne, in the arm.
Young ran from the kitchen. Morrow ran after her and kicked open the door to
her bedroom, where he beat her head and face and then followed her into the
hallway, grabbed her by the hair and fired the fatal shot into her head, the
summary says.
Young’s 5-year-old son was hiding in a nearby bedroom and saw Morrow kill his
mother, the summary says.
Morrow then returned to the kitchen, where he fired a fatal shot under Woods’
chin and then shot Horne in the face and arm, the summary says. He cut the
telephone line and fled.
Young and Woods died from their injuries, and Horne was severely wounded but
managed to leave the house to seek help.
Morrow was arrested within hours. He confessed and the gun used in the killings
was found hidden in his yard.
Attorneys representing Morrow in post-conviction proceedings challenged the
constitutionality of his sentence in a petition filed in federal court in 2012.
“The death penalty is rarely sought — let alone obtained — in response to
spontaneous and emotionally-charged crimes like that committed by Mr. Morrow,”
they wrote.
When Morrow went to Young’s home, he pleaded with her to get back together. He
pulled out his gun when Woods mocked him, saying Young had used him for money
and companionship while her “real man” was in prison, the petition says.
Georgia uses an injection of compounded pentobarbital, a sedative, to execute
condemned prisoners.
(source: Gainesville Times)
*************************
Cinderella story gone wrong: D.A. slams Tiffany Moss as 'evil stepmother' in
death penalty case----Tiffany Moss declined to make an opening statement, while
the District Attorney laid out a detailed account of what he says were her
stepdaughter's final days.
"This is a case of a Cinderella story gone horribly wrong," District Attorney
Danny Porter said during opening statements at Tiffany Moss' death penalty
murder trial, which started this morning at the Gwinnett County courthouse.
Moss is accused of starving her stepdaughter to death in 2013 and burning her
body in an effort to hide the crime. At 11 years old, Emani Moss only weighed
32 pounds when she died.
Moss is acting as her own lawyer, despite the judge’s efforts to convince her
to use public defenders. If convicted, she could face the death penalty.
She has 2 court-appointed standby attorneys to answer any legal questions she
may have. However, she has only spoken to them once since the trial began last
week.
On the 1st day of her murder trial, Moss declined to give an opening argument.
She also declined to cross examine the state's 2 first witnesses -- a police
officer and Emani's grandmother.
“There won’t be any happy ending (to this story),” Porter said. “This is a case
where you only have an evil stepmother. As a result of that, a 11-year-old
child is starved to death while her (the defendant’s) own children remained
healthy and happy.”
And with that, Porter began laying out what he says were the final days,
months, and years of Emani Moss’ short life.
“This is a terrible case,” said Porter in opening statements. “The facts of
this case are difficult. There will be photographs and testimony and it will be
hard not to look away.”
Moss was convicted of abuse several years before Emani’s death. Porter said
that the incident launched an escalating cycle of horrific abuse, because Moss
was no longer able to resume her former job as a preschool teacher.
During the time Emani was allegedly suffering abuse at the hands of her
stepmother, she was living in the home with her father and her two
stepsiblings. They were the biological children of Tiffany and Eman Moss,
Emani’s father. According to the D.A. and court records, there is no record of
abuse toward the other 2 children in the home.
“In order to reach the truth of this case you can’t flinch. You can’t turn away
from the truth,” Porter told the jurors.
Porter walked the courtroom through Emani’s final days. When her father
returned home from work, on Oct. 24, 2013, he found her daughter unresponsive
in a bathtub and placed her in her bed. She never left that bed, dying a few
days later, Porter said.
According to the D.A., Tiffany Moss decided they needed to burn Emani’s body
and report her as a runaway. Moss was still on probation for the earlier abuse
charge and was scared she would lose custody of her 2 biological children.
In one particularly disturbing scene during opening statements, Porter
explained how he said Tiffany and Eman Moss manipulated Emani’s body into a
trash can so they could burn it. He crouched down on the balls of his feet on
the floor, illustrating how the girl’s body was compressed to fit inside.
Jurors turned away or looked at the floor as he crouched on the ground.
During all of this, Tiffany Moss stared down or straight ahead showing no
emotion as she has during the entirety of the trial.
Porter finished his statements by telling jurors that Emani’s dad eventually
called police to tell them of his daughter’s murder, while Tiffany Moss fled
with her other 2 children. Eventually, she surrendered to a Roswell Police
officer.
Eman Moss, Emani’s father, is expected to testify against his wife. He is
serving life in prison without parole for his crimes. A plea deal was also
offered to Tiffany Moss but she declined.
The trial is expected to last until next week.
If sentenced to death, Moss would be just the 3rd woman executed in Georgia.
(source: 11alive.com)
FLORIDA:
Florida Governors and the Death Penalty: Could DeSantis Pass Rick Scott?
Former Governor Rick Scott signed more death warrants than any other Florida
governor since the death penalty was reinstated in the state in 1976.
Is there a chance current Gov. Ron DeSantis can pass Scott's mark?
Any lawyer will tell you it depends on each case and Governor DeSantis'
leanings toward the death penalty.
Currently, there are 342 death row inmates.
Potentially, 202 of those inmates could face execution during DeSantis's term.
However, execution numbers are down from previous years. There were 25
nationwide in only 8 states including Florida in 2018.
Florida put to death 2 last year, bringing the total since 2015 to 8.
DeSantis signed the death warrant for convicted serial killer Bobby Joe Long on
Wednesday. If his execution occurs on schedule next month, he would be ahead of
former Gov. Scott's pace -- Scott's 1st execution was in late September of his
1st year in office.
Former Gov. Scott presided over 28 executions during his 2 terms as governor
from 2011 to 2018.
How does that number compare to his predecessors?
Former Gov. Charlie Crist only had 5 during his term.
Jeb Bush signed death warrants for 21 death row inmates. His 1st came a year
and a half after he took office.
(source: mynews13.com)
*******************
Parkland shooter to get hefty inheritance; public defender asks to withdraw
from case
The Broward Public Defender’s Office has asked to withdraw from confessed
Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz’s death penalty case, court records show.
The teen is entitled to 1/2 of a nearly $865,000 life insurance policy as of
April 23, the court filing shows.
Gordon Weekes, assistant public defender, said: “We have to withdraw.”
This development will throw the criminal case off track. The judge had hoped to
begin trial in January.
Some say the amount is nowhere near enough to cover the costs for a new
death-penalty qualified defense attorney. Others say, Cruz will never see the
money because victims’ families who have sued Cruz in civil court have already
won default judgments against him.
“The defendant and undersigned counsel were previously unaware of this
entitlement,” the public defender’s motion, filed Wednesday in Broward Circuit
Court, said. “The Law Office of the Public Defender is statutorily prohibited
from representing a non-indigent defendant.”
Simply put, the public defender’s office handles clients who cannot afford to
hire their own lawyers and taxpayers foot the bill.
Cruz and his younger brother, Zachary, are to split a MetLife policy valued at
$864,929.17, presumably a death benefit for their mother, Lynda, who died
unexpectedly of a flu-like illness in November 2017.
Someone with $400,000 is not indigent. The judge will have to determine who
Cruz’s new defense lawyer will be, Weekes said.
His office will share certain material with the new defense attorney, Weekes
said, but it will be up to the new lawyers to determine their strategy for
Cruz’s defense.
A plea of not guilty to the murders of 17 students and staff at Marjory
Stoneman Douglas High on Valentine’s Day 2018 was entered on Cruz’s behalf.
The teen, on the advice of his public defenders, had offered to plead guilty to
the killings if the State Attorney’s Office would take the death penalty off
the table and instead agree to life in prison without the possibility of
parole. Prosecutors have declined to do that.
Death penalty cases are notoriously time consuming and expensive and it is
unclear who Cruz could hire to represent him for a mere $400,000.
Even with those assets, Cruz would be hard pressed to find a lawyer willing to
take the case with no guarantee of future payments.
Because there were 34 victims — 17 dead and 17 wounded — it makes the case very
unusual and complex.
It is possible that a private lawyer would take on the case, which would create
delays, Cruz quickly would run out of money and taxpayers would end up paying
for his defense anyway.
Veteran Broward County defense attorneys say $400,000 would not go very far in
a death penalty case.
“That money goes pretty fast,” lawyer David Bogenschutz said.
The judge likely could warn the new lawyer that they would not be allowed to
withdraw when the money ran out, he said.
Also, the judge has expressed that she wants to move the case expeditiously, so
Cruz’s new lawyer would have to “literally close down part of your practice for
the next six months to a year to get this case ready, if you can get it ready
in a year,” Bogenschutz said.
And a second lawyer would need to join the defense team to argue why the
defendant should be spared execution during the death penalty phase of the
trial, he said.
Not to mention the numerous expert witnesses that would be needed to testify
about insanity, psychological impairment and other issues.
“Of that $400,000 you could spend $200,000 on experts easily,” Attorney
Hilliard Moldof said.
The new lawyer’s job would be more difficult, Moldof said, because of the
stance the public defender’s office took very early on after the massacre --
that Cruz would plead guilty if the death penalty were taken off the table.
“I think that was shortsighted for the public defender’s office to concede
guilt publicly without some agreement from the state,” he said.
This latest turn of events, Bogenschutz said, could push the State Attorney
Office into reconsidering their position on the death penalty. A spokeswoman
for the Broward State Attorney’s Office declined to comment on that
possibility.
The death penalty decision likely rests on whether this is the kind of case it
was made for, Bogenschutz said. “If the answer to that question is ‘yes,’ all
the other stuff falls by the wayside.”
“This certainly is the type of case the death penalty was designed for,” State
Attorney Mike Satz said in a statement issued just days after the school
massacre.
A very young lawyer may take on the case to make a name for him or herself,
Moldof said. But most others would find it too consuming and not worth it,
requiring years of investigation, preparation and possibly even the hiring of
additional lawyers.
It’s unclear when or how Cruz, 20, who is locked up in the Broward Main Jail in
downtown Fort Lauderdale, will get the money. The public defender’s office is
prohibited from helping him.
But that might not really matter, because attorneys for massacre victims will
be filing motions quickly to claim the money.
“We’re going to move to take that money,” said attorney Alex Arreaza, who
represents Anthony Borges who was one of the most critically injured survivors.
He was shot 5 times in his lung, abdomen and legs and spent 2 months in the
hospital.
Borges and the family of the late Meadow Pollack already have won default
judgments against Nikolas Cruz because he did not mount a defense in their
civil suits. Now they will have to ask the court for a specified sum, or
“damages.”
“There are a bunch of families going after that money,” Arreaza said. “He’s not
going to touch any of that.”
Last year, Cruz had said he wanted any money he was due to go to the victims,
Weekes noted.
At a court hearing in April 2018, Cruz said he wanted the victims and their
families to choose a charity to give to.
“He would like that money donated to an organization that the victims’ families
believe could facilitate healing in our community,” said Assistant Public
Defender Melisa McNeil.
Lynda Cruz raised Cruz mostly as a single mom after her husband’s death, and
had trouble controlling Nikolas and his younger brother. Records show she
called police often, describing episodes of Nikolas’ punching walls, destroying
the house and hitting her with a vacuum hose.
She longed for a proper diagnosis for his problems. Various police, school and
mental health records describe him as having attention deficit hyper activity
disorder, depression, autism, obsessive compulsive disorder, and emotional and
behavioral issues.
(source: Sun-Sentinel)
****************************
Death row killer Adam "Rattlesnake" Davis due in court ahead of re-sentencing
Attorneys are expected to update a judge Thursday in the case of a convicted
killer in Hillsborough County who’s trying to get off of death row.
Adam "Rattlesnake" Davis is one of three people found guilty in the brutal
murder of a Carrollwood mother back in 1998.
Back in 1998, Davis who was 19 at the time, his 15-year-old girlfriend Valessa
Robinson and friend Jon Whispel were all convicted in the murder of Valessa's
mom, Vicki Robinson.
The trio tried to inject her with bleach but it didn't work, so they stabbed
her to death and then skipped town.
Davis was the only one sentenced to death in a 7 to 5 vote by the jury. The law
now requires a unanimous decision in death penalty cases.
Davis will get a do-over with a chance to get off of death row in turn for life
in prison.
Davis' attorney was last in court at the beginning of the year and said he
found 17 boxes of transcripts and old testimony he still needed to go through.
Valessa Robinson was released back in 2013 but Davis' attorney argues she was
the main culprit in her mother's death.
Their friend Jon Whispel is set to be released in October.
(source: WFLA news)
************************
DeSantis orders execution for Bobby Joe Long, who killed at least 8 women in
the 1980s----The 1st death warrant signed by the new governor comes in a case
from the Tampa Bay area. Long, 65, has been on death row almost 34 years.
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a death warrant late Tuesday for Bobby Joe Long, a
notorious serial killer who murdered at least 8 women in the Tampa Bay area in
the early 1980s.
The governor ordered Long’s execution 6 p.m. May 23 at Florida State Prison
near Starke. Long has been on death row nearly 34 years.
The warrant and sentencing paperwork were posted late Tuesday afternoon on the
Florida Supreme Court’s website.
It is the 1st death sentence DeSantis has authorized since taking office in
January. His predecessor, Rick Scott, presided over 28 executions, more than
any other Florida governor.
The documents also bear the signatures of Attorney General Ashley Moody and
Secretary of State Laurel Lee, both of whom were Hillsborough circuit judges
before ascending to higher office.
Long, 65, is one of the state’s longest-serving death row inmates. He was
condemned in 1986 for the murder of 22-year-old Michelle Denise Simms, a former
beauty contestant from California.
Her nude body was found in a wooded area near Plant City on May 27, 1984. She
had been bound with rope and her throat was cut.
Several other women, some of whom worked as prostitutes or exotic dancers, also
disappeared from the Tampa area that year, their bodies found near rural
roadsides.
Hillsborough sheriff’s detectives led the hunt for a killer. It ended when Long
was arrested in November 1984 in the kidnapping of 17-year-old Lisa McVey,
abducted while she was riding a bicycle. The teen later persuaded Long to let
her go and gave investigators information that led them to his apprehension.
McVey later became a Hillsborough County sheriff’s deputy and her story was
turned into a TV movie.
After his arrest, Long confessed to murdering Simms and several other women. He
agreed to plead guilty in exchange for life sentences in each case but received
the death penalty in the slaying of Simms.
He also was sentenced to death for the murder of Virginia Johnson in Pasco
County, but the Florida Supreme Court later overturned his conviction and
ordered him to be acquitted in that case.
In a TV interview soon after he was sent to prison, Long struggled to explain
the reasons for his crimes.
“I’m not proud of anything I’ve done,” he said. “And the worst thing is I don’t
understand why.”
His lengthy stay on death row is partly due to challenges he raised on appeal
concerning his guilty plea. He claimed that he would not have pleaded guilty if
he had known about problems with the testing of hair and fiber evidence in his
case by a former FBI analyst. The Florida Supreme Court rejected that argument.
Other delays resulted from the overturning of his death sentence in 1988 and
Long’s repeated attempts to argue for a life sentence.
The death warrant for Long comes as executions are on the decline, in Florida
and nationwide.
In 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court forced Florida to change its capital sentencing
laws to require a unanimous jury verdict for death sentences.
In October, the Supreme Court in Washington struck down that state’s death
penalty, citing concerns about racial bias and arbitrariness. Last month,
California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a moratorium on executions in that state,
which has the nation’s largest death row population.
(source: Tampa Bay Times)
ALABAMA:
Execution set for quadruple killer
Alabama has scheduled a lethal injection for a man convicted in the 1997 deaths
of 4 people, including 2 young girls.
The Alabama Supreme Court set a May 16 execution date for Michael Brandon
Samra, 41.
As a teenager, Samra was convicted of helping his friend Mark Duke kill his
father Randy Duke, his father’s girlfriend Debra Hunt and her 6 and 7-year-old
daughters.
Prosecutors said the Shelby County slayings happened after Duke became angry
when his father wouldn’t let him use his truck. They said the teens executed a
plan to kill Duke’s father and then killed the others to cover up his death.
Authorities say Mark Duke killed his father, Hunt and 1 of the girls, and that
Samra slit the throat of the other child at Duke’s direction while the girl
pleaded for her life.
“The murders which were committed with a gun and kitchen knife were as brutal
as they come,” lawyers for the state wrote in the motion to set an execution
date.
Duke was 16 at the time of the slayings. Samra was 19. Both were sentenced to
the death penalty. However, Duke’s death sentence was converted to life without
parole after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled prisoners couldn’t be put to death
for crimes that happened while they were younger than 18.
Samra’s attorney wrote in a court filing that Duke was the driving force behind
the slayings and prosecutors have acknowledged Duke was the “mastermind” while
Samra was the “minion.”
Defense lawyer Steven Spears also wrote the case also involves the peculating
legal issue of whether people should be executed for crimes committed when they
were younger than 21.
In a separate death penalty case, a judge has scheduled a June trial on another
inmate’s challenge to Alabama’s lethal injection process. A federal judge
earlier this month stayed the execution of Christopher Lee Price. A divided
U.S. Supreme Court vacated the stay, but the decision came after the death
warrant expired.
(source: The Gadsden Times)
LOUISIANA:
Catholic bishop: Louisiana should end the death penalty
2 leading Louisiana legislators, 1 Democrat and 1 Republican, have sponsored
bipartisan legislation to repeal the death penalty in Louisiana. The
Legislature should pass this measure, and the governor should sign it.
For Catholics and many people of good will, the death penalty is inadmissible
in today’s world because it offends the dignity of the human person without
actually helping to promote the common good. Every faith tradition teaches that
each of us is made in the image of God and that all human life has value. A
person does not lose his humanity — even after committing a serious crime.
And in this season of Easter, Christians are reminded of the gift of our
redemption — a gift only available to us because of Jesus’ mercy. For even on
the cross, as he suffered and died, Jesus set an example for us by asking his
Father to “forgive them, for they know not what they do.” It is not our place,
or the role of our government, to take away another person’s opportunity to
seek redemption.
The death penalty is on the decline across the nation, but it is especially
inconsistent with Louisiana’s values. Ours is one of the most religious states
in the country, with more than 70 percent of Louisianans identifying as highly
devout. Extinguishing the life of another person through the death penalty is
simply out of step with our values, and our laws should be updated.
Nationwide, more than 70 percent of the people executed in 2018 showed evidence
of serious mental illness, brain damage, intellectual disabilities, or severe
childhood abuse and trauma. A few years ago, a man who was executed in Missouri
had no criminal history until he suffered a brain injury while working at a
lumberyard. There are better ways to keep the public safe.
At one time, some people supported the death penalty because they did not want
the defendant to ever be released. This fear is no longer a concern. In
Louisiana, a sentence of life without parole means exactly that — life without
any possibility of release. There are other ways of holding defendants
accountable — ways in which we can affirm the inviolable value of all human
life and avoid irreversible mistakes.
For as long as humans are making the decisions, the system will be imperfect.
Since 1973, 165 people have been exonerated and freed from death row with
evidence of their innocence, including 11 people in Louisiana. In fact, per
capita, our state leads the nation in wrongful death sentences. When faced with
these alarming statistics, it becomes impossible to tolerate the very real risk
of taking an innocent life.
Just as the risk of executing an innocent person is unacceptable, so too is the
racial prejudice that infects every aspect of our death penalty process. Nearly
70 % of the people on Louisiana’s death row are people of color, the highest
percentage of any state with more than 3 people on death row. In one study of
Louisiana’s system, the chances of a death sentence were 97 % higher for
defendants whose victim was white than for defendants whose victim was black.
Louisianans should not stand for this prejudice.
Some argue that the death penalty is needed to support the families of victims,
but families are not of one mind on capital punishment. Many victims’ families
do not believe that more killing would help with their healing or honor their
loved one’s memory. For victims who support the death penalty, the process is
more likely to result in decades of appeals rather than the promised closure.
Since 1976, 4 out of 5 death sentences in Louisiana have been reversed. Had
those defendants been sentenced to life without parole from the beginning, the
families could have been spared years of hearings and retrials.
The millions of dollars that Louisiana spends on a small number of capital
cases would be better spent on victims’ services and making sure that families
had the support they needed to heal. In a 2009 poll of police chiefs, the
chiefs ranked the death penalty last among their priorities for crime-fighting
and rated it as the least efficient use of limited taxpayer dollars.
Louisiana has not had an execution since 2010 because the pharmaceutical
companies that make the drugs used in lethal injections do not want them to be
used in executions. The companies have made clear that they manufacture their
products to save lives, not destroy them. This is the only sensible and moral
position.
In nearly a decade, we have seen that we can do without the death penalty. It’s
time for Louisiana to bring our public policies in line with our values, to
embrace a culture of life, to choose mercy, and to end capital punishment once
and for all.
(source: Bishop Shelton J. Fabre heads the Catholic Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux
and chairs the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee Against
Racism----The Advocate)
TENNESSEE----impending execution
Donnie Johnson killed his wife in 1984. Here's a timeline of the crime.
Donnie Edward Johnson, 68, is scheduled to die May 16 for killing his wife,
Connie Johnson, in Memphis in 1984.
Johnson, who now goes by Don, initially told police he wasn't involved, but no
longer contests his guilt.
His attorneys, with the support of Johnson's stepdaughter, have appealed to
Gov. Bill Lee for mercy, saying Johnson's was "an extraordinary case, where
mercy, forgiveness, redemption and the miracle of rebirth in Christ all come
together to warrant an exercise of your constitutional powers."
Here is a timeline of the crime and its immediate aftermath, constructed from
court records and archives of The Commercial Appeal.
Dec. 8, 1984 – Donnie Edward Johnson kills his wife, Connie Johnson, at his
workplace, Force Camping Center in Shelby County. He kills her by stuffing a
plastic bag down her throat. A medical examination also found cuts and bruises
on her head and internal bleeding. Johnson and his coworker Ronnie McCoy move
her body and leave it in her parked van in the lot of the Mall of Memphis.
Dec. 9, 1984 – Around 10 a.m., Donnie Johnson files a missing person’s report
with the Covington Police Department.
Shortly after noon, Johnson’s employer Jim Force finds the van with Connie’s
body inside. Johnson had asked Force to check Memphis shopping areas for the
family van.
Initially, police say her death might have been a robbery.
Dec. 11, 1984 – Police arrest Donnie Johnson for questioning in connection with
the death of his wife.
Dec. 13, 1984 – Donnie Johnson is charged with murder of his wife, Connie
Johnson. According to police, a blood-stained handkerchief and set of van keys
behind a seat in Johnson’s pickup truck linked him to the murder.
Dec. 25, 1984 – The couple’s 7-year-old daughter, whom Donnie Johnson adopted
after their marriage, and 4-year-old son spend Christmas without their parents.
Dec. 28, 1984 – This would have been the Johnson’s 7th wedding anniversary.
Jan. 11, 1985 – General Sessions Court Judge Tim Dwyer decides Johnson’s charge
of murder should be held to the action of the Shelby County grand jury and that
Johnson will remain in the county jail without bond after Ronnie McCoy
testifies about helping to move Connie Johnson’s body.
Oct. 3, 1985 – Donnie Edward Johnson is convicted of 1st-degree murder after a
trial.
Oct. 4, 1985 – Donnie Johnson is ordered to die in the electric chair.
(source: Memphis Commercial Appeal)
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