June 26
TEXAS:
State Won't Compensate Wrongly Convicted Ex-Death Row Inmate----The Texas state
comptroller has denied compensation to a man who served 12 years on death row
for a murder prosecutors and a judge have said he didn't commit.
The Texas state comptroller has denied compensation to a man who served 12
years on death row for a murder prosecutors and a judge have said he didn't
commit.
A judge had ruled Alfred Dewayne Brown, at the request of Harris County
prosecutors , innocent last month of the 2003 slaying of a Houston police
officer. Brown had been convicted and condemned in 2005 for Officer Charles
Clark death during a robbery of a check-cashing store.
Officials had said Brown is entitled to almost $2 million under state law.
However, the Houston Chronicle reports the state comptroller's office offers
little insight to the reason for its denial of compensation.
Brown's attorney, Neal Manne, says he'll ask the comptroller to reconsider. If
nothing results, he can appeal to the Texas Supreme Court.
(source: Associated Press)
NORTH CAROLINA:
What does it take to bring a death penalty case to trial in NC?
Just 43 people have been sentenced to death in North Carolina since 1984. Even
more are waiting in prison for their execution dates.
"There are many cases where it is fully justified and very appropriate,”
Henderson County district attorney Greg Newman said.
He said, when considering the death penalty, prosecutors need to consider
multiple factors, including the strength of the case.
"In other words, do you have strong facts that support a charge of murder?”
Newman said.
Newman said prosecutors also need to consider the defendant's criminal history.
The majority of people currently on death row in North Carolina face multiple
charges in addition to 1st-degree murder. "The 3rd thing that I consider is who
is our victim?" Newman said. "Is this person a very active and productive and
valued member of our community."
Newman said another consideration is the people sentencing the suspect to
death.
"What is the likelihood that a jury will feel strongly enough about the case to
return a death verdict?" Newman said.
Even once a jury returns a death penalty verdict, it's likely the case will go
through decades of appeals, exhausting the court system and placing a burden on
the victim’s family.
"Any time that we decide to embark upon this road, it is a major undertaking in
terms of our time, in terms of what families are going to experience, in terms
of what we are asking witnesses.” Newman said.
(source: WLOS news)
FLORIDA:
'Judicial activism' raised in key death penalty case
Reversing the state’s retroactive consideration of certain death-penalty cases
would amount to “the most egregious judicial activism in the history of
Florida,” a lawyer for a Death Row inmate argued in a brief filed Monday with
the Florida Supreme Court.
The filing, in the case of convicted murderer Duane Eugene Owen, comes as a
revamped Supreme Court is exploring whether to reverse course on decisions that
allowed dozens of convicted murderers to have their death sentences
reconsidered.
Justices are looking at the issue after Gov. Ron DeSantis reshaped the Supreme
Court early this year, turning what had been widely viewed as a liberal-leaning
majority into a court dominated by conservative justices.
The issue stems, in large part, from rulings in 2016 by the U.S. Supreme Court
and the Florida Supreme Court about the state’s death-penalty sentencing
system.
In a case known as Hurst v. Florida, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the
state’s death-penalty sentencing system was unconstitutional because it gave
too much power to judges, instead of juries, in deciding whether defendants
should be sent to death row.
That ruling, premised on a 2002 decision in a case known as Ring v. Arizona,
led to sentencing changes, including requiring that juries be unanimous in
finding necessary facts and in recommending imposition of the death penalty.
In a pair of decisions in December 2016, the Florida Supreme Court decided that
the sentencing changes would apply retroactively to cases that became final
after the 2002 Ring ruling. Re-sentencing should only be an option for cases in
which jury recommendations for death were not unanimous, the court also
decided.
But the revamped Florida court in April ordered Owen’s lawyer and the state to
address the retroactivity issue. That prompted Attorney General Ashley Moody’s
office to urge justices to make a relatively rare move of receding from the
previous retroactivity rulings in what are known as the Mosley and Asay cases.
Moody’s office said the Supreme Court should rule that the death-penalty
sentencing changes should apply only to new cases, not retroactively to older
cases. Moody’s office also contended that “stare decisis,” the concept of
relying on court precedent, should not prevent the Supreme Court from
revisiting the issue.
“The decisions in Asay and Mosley were premised on ignoring long standing
existing precedent without justification,” the attorney general’s brief said.
“Consequently, neither should be protected by stare decisis.”
But the “presumption in favor of stare decisis is strong,” Owen’s lawyer, James
L. Driscoll, argued, relying on previous court rulings.
“The citizens have the right to rely on the death penalty being imposed or
maintained under a constitutional system in a fair and non-arbitrary manner.
Each pre-Hurst condemned individual was denied that,” Driscoll wrote in the
21-page reply brief Monday. “This court should never reverse stare decisis when
the result would be to take away the availability of a remedy for
constitutional violations that cause unfairness and unreliability.”
Roughly 1/3 of the inmates resentenced since the 2016 retroactivity decisions
have received life sentences instead of the death penalty, according to
Driscoll.
The state “offers no compelling reason” for the court “to take the
extraordinary step of overturning its precedent,” he wrote.
“The state has invited this court to engage in the most egregious judicial
activism in the history of Florida,” Driscoll wrote. “If this court accepts the
state’s invitation, the ability of individuals to seek a remedy for state and
federal constitutional violations will be hindered for generations. ... This
court should avoid judicial activism, maintain stare decisis and apply
Florida’s consistent and workable retroactivity framework.”
Owen, 58, has spent more than three decades on death row after being convicted
of the 1984 rape and murder of Georgianna Worden in Palm Beach County.
Driscoll also argued that retroactivity should apply to all of the state’s
death row inmates, not just those whose sentences were final by 2002. Cases
with resentencing since the Hurst decisions “show that what previously produced
a death sentence would not necessarily do so now,” he argued.
(source: Fox News)
ARKANSAS:
Arkansas Judge Asks to Be Put Back on Death-Penalty Cases
An Arkansas judge whose participation in a 2017 anti-death penalty rally led to
his lifetime ban from hearing capital-punishment cases is asking the state
Supreme Court to restore his ability to hear cases involving the death penalty.
Pulaski County Circuit Court Judge Wendell Griffen, who is black, said in his
filing on Monday to the high court that it had no legal grounds to disqualify
him from overseeing criminal and civil death penalty cases, and that no white
member of the Arkansas judiciary “has ever been summarily banned from hearing
and deciding an entire category of cases.”
Griffen stepped into the death-penalty debate 2 years ago at the peak of
Arkansas’ rush to execute an unprecedented 8 inmates before its supply of the
lethal-injection drug midazolam expired.
Just hours after ruling in favor of a pharmaceutical company’s request to block
the state from using vecuronium bromide in its executions, Griffen joined
protesters in front of the governor’s mansion in Little Rock, strapped to a
makeshift gurney and sporting an anti-death penalty button. Photos showed the
judge, who is also a Baptist pastor, lying on a cot appearing to be loosely
tied down by rope and surrounded by demonstrators who carried signs opposing
the state’s execution plan.
The Arkansas Supreme Court removed Griffen from the case and his order was
lifted 2 days later. The state proceeded to execute four men in eight days
before its batch of the drug expired.
In his restoration petition filed Monday, Griffen argued that a white judge who
pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated and reckless driving was only
removed from presiding over any DWI cases for 8 month. He also noted that the
dismissal of his ethics case by the Arkansas Judicial Discipline and Disability
Commission earlier this month eliminated any basis to punish him.
That ethics case was dismissed on June 14 because of the commission’s failure
to prosecute the allegations within the 18-month time limit.
Griffen’s civil rights lawsuit against all 7 members of the Arkansas Supreme
Court was dismissed last year for failure to state plausible claims for relief.
The Eighth Circuit upheld the ruling.
Griffen was elected to the bench in 2010 and re-elected in 2016.
(source: Courthouse News)
**********************
Prosecutor will seek death penalty for stepmom accused in 3-year-old’s death
Prosecutors in Miller County will seek the death penalty for a stepmother
accused of capital murder in the death of her husband’s 3-year-old daughter.
McKenna Faith Belcher, 26, appeared before Circuit Judge Kirk Johnson with
Andrea Stokes and Adam Chandler of the Arkansas Public Defenders Commission for
arraignment Tuesday afternoon at the Miller County jail courtroom in Texarkana,
Ark. Stokes entered a not guilty plea on Belcher’s behalf to capital murder in
the death of McKinley Cawley and to 2nd-degree domestic battery for allegedly
abusing McKinley’s 2-year-old brother.
Miller County Prosecuting Attorney Stephanie Potter Barrett said her office
will seek the death penalty for Belcher. The only other punishment option for
capital murder is life without parole. If found guilty of 2nd-degree battery,
Belcher faces 3 to 10 years in prison and a fine up to $10,000.
Belcher’s husband, Everette John Cawley, 23, pleaded not guilty to 2 counts of
permitting the abuse of a minor at a hearing June 11 before Circuit Judge Brent
Haltom. One of the counts facing Everette Cawley is connected to McKinley’s
death and the other relates to injuries allegedly found on his son. The charge
relating to the death of his daughter is punishable by five to 20 years in
prison and a fine up to $15,000. The charge connected to injuries allegedly
found on his son, Everette Cawley faces up to 6 years in prison and a fine up
to $10,000.
Everette Cawley is accused of knowing that his wife was abusing the children
and failing to intervene to protect them.
Everette Cawley brought McKinley to a local emergency room at about 4:30 a.m.
April 2, according to a probable cause affidavit. Hospital staff immediately
suspected child abuse caused the severe blunt force injuries noted on the child
and contacted police.
Everette Cawley allegedly told investigators that McKenna Cawley kicked and
beat McKinley with a wooden slat from a bed. Investigators seized a pair of
steel toe boots belonging to McKenna Cawley and noted there were clumps of hair
discovered in the couple’s Texarkana, Ark., duplex when it was searched and
clumps of hair were found in McKinley’s underwear.
McKinley’s head had been shaved when she arrived at the hospital and
investigators theorized this was done to hide that clumps of her hair had been
ripped from her head.
Belcher is being held in the Miller County jail without bond. Cawley’s bail is
set at $1 million. Both remain in custody.
Johnson set a trial date of Oct. 28 for Belcher. Cawley’s case is set for jury
selection before Haltom on Aug. 26.
(source: txktoday.com)
MISSOURI----new execution date
Execution date set for Missouri death row inmate convicted of 1996 murder
The Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday issued a warrant of execution for Russell
Bucklew, who was convicted of killing a southeast Missouri man in 1996 during a
crime rampage.
The state’s high court set Bucklew’s execution date for Oct. 1.
The warrant comes after the U.S. Supreme Court in April ruled against Bucklew’s
bid to halt his death by lethal injection. Attorneys for Bucklew, now 51,
argued his medical condition would lead to extreme suffering when put to death
by lethal injection.
Bucklew’s medical condition, cavernous hemangioma, causes weakened and
malformed blood vessels, and tumors in his nose and throat could rupture and
bleed.
“The Eighth Amendment has never been understood to guarantee a condemned inmate
a painless death,” Justice Neil Gorsuch said in April. “That’s a luxury not
guaranteed to many people, including most victims of capital crimes.”
Bucklew’s execution has been delayed numerous times in the 22 years since he
was convicted of 1st-degree murder.
In 1997, a Boone County jury recommended the death penalty for Bucklew after
convicting him of killing Michael Sanders, 27, the boyfriend of Bucklew’s
ex-girlfriend. The murder trial was moved to Boone County on a change of venue.
Sanders was killed at his Cape Girardeau County mobile home in March 1996.
Bucklew was also found guilty of abducting and raping his ex-girlfriend, who
was living with Sanders. Bucklew eventually drove the ex-girlfriend to the St.
Louis area. He was captured after a shootout with police on Interstate 270 in
Town and Country.
During the penalty phase of the trial, the ex-girlfriend’s mother and the
mother’s fiance testified that during Bucklew’s 2-day escape from the Cape
Girardeau County Jail, he attacked them with a hammer.
Bucklew is currently imprisoned in the Potosi Correctional Center in Mineral
Point, Mo.
Steele Shippy, a spokesman for Gov. Mike Parson, did not say whether the
governor would commute Bucklew’s death sentence.
"Our office will conduct a thorough review of this matter," he said in a
statement.
These are the men the state has executed since 2000
The 47 men Missouri has executed since 2000
Executed March 22, 2000: James Henry Hampton
Executed June 28, 2000: Bert Leroy Hunter
Executed Aug. 30, 2000: Gary Lee Roll
Executed Sept. 13, 2000: George Bernard Harris
Executed Nov. 15, 2000: James Wilson Chambers
Executed Feb. 7, 2001: Stanley Dewaine Lingar
Executed March 28, 2001: Tomas Grant Ervin
Executed April 25, 2001: Mose Young, Jr.
Executed May 23, 2001: Samuel D. Smith
Executed July 11, 2001: Jerome Mallett
Executed Oct. 3, 2001: Michael S. Roberts
Executed Oct. 24, 2001: Stephen K. Johns
Executed Jan. 9, 2002: James R. Johnson
Executed Feb. 6, 2002: Michael I. Owsley
Executed March 6, 2002: Jeffrey Lane Tokar
Executed April 10, 2002: Paul W. Kreutzer
Executed Aug. 14, 2002: Daniel Anthony Basile
Executed Nov. 20, 2002: William Robert Jones, Jr.
Executed Feb. 5, 2003: Kenneth Kenley
Executed Oct. 29, 2003: John Clayton Smith
Executed March 16, 2005: Stanley L. Hall
Executed April 27, 2005: Donald Jones
Executed May 17, 2005: Vernon Brown
Executed Aug. 31, 2005: Timothy L. Johnston
Executed Oct. 26, 2005: Marlin Gray
Executed May 20, 2009: Dennis James Skillicorn
Executed Feb. 9, 2011: Martin C. Link
Executed Nov. 20, 2013: Joseph Paul Franklin
Executed Dec. 11, 2013: Allen L. Nicklasson
Executed Jan. 29, 2014: Herbert L. Smulls
Executed Feb. 26, 2014: Michael Anthony Taylor
Executed March 26, 2014: Jeffrey R. Ferguson
Executed April 23, 2014: William L. Rousan
Executed June 18, 2014: John E. Winfield
Executed July 16, 2014: John C. Middleton
Executed Aug. 6, 2014: Michael Worthington
Executed Sept. 10, 2014: Earl Ringo, Jr.
Executed Nov. 19, 2014: Leon Vincent Taylor
Executed Dec. 10, 2014: Paul Goodwin
Executed Feb. 11, 2015: Walter Timothy Storey
Executed March 18, 2015: Cecil L. Clayton
Executed April 15, 2015: Andre Cole
Executed June 9, 2015: Richard Strong
Executed July 14, 2015: David Zink
Executed Sept. 1, 2015: Roderick Nunley
Executed May 11, 2016: Earl Forrest
Executed Jan. 31, 2017: Mark Christeson
(source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
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