August 1
ARKANSAS:
Death penalty sought in killing of former state senator
Prosecutors say they plan to seek the death penalty against a woman charged
with killing a former Arkansas lawmaker.
Former State Senator Linda Collins was found dead outside her own home last
month, June 4.
On Tuesday, Prosecutor Henry Boyce told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette his
office would formally announce the death penalty request.
In a court arraignment, Rebecca Lynn O’Donnell said she understood the charges
and her attorney entered a not guilty plea to capital murder on her behalf.
Collins was found dead June 4 outside her home in Pocahontas, which is about
130 miles northeast of Little Rock.
Authorities have released few details about Collins’ killing and have not said
how she died, but later in the day documents were released that indicated
Collins was stabbed.
The judge has ordered O’Donnell be held on no bond.
(source: Associated Press)
UTAH:
State to seek death penalty for Utahn accused of killing, dumping young couple
in mine shaft
Prosecutors in Utah County will seek the death penalty for the man charged with
killing a young couple and dumping their bodies in an abandoned mine shaft in
2017.
Utah County Attorney David Leavitt announced the decision at a Wednesday news
conference in Provo, where he said a jury will ultimately decide the fate of
Jerrod William Baum.
"My decision is to allow the death penalty to be considered in this case,"
Leavitt said as family members of the slain Riley Powell, 18, and Brelynne
"Breezy" Otteson, 17, listened. "It is my role to give the people the option."
The teens' family members have called for the death penalty if Baum is
convicted.
Baum, 42, faces 2 counts of aggravated murder, a 1st-degree felony, in the
deaths of the teens.
"if pulling a trigger or injecting a needle would bring Breezy and Riley back,
I would do so personally," Leavitt said. His decision is based not just on
pursuing justice for the teens but also protecting the public, he told
reporters and others.
Leavitt said he did not make the announcement in order to secure a plea deal
that would send Baum to prison for life with no possibility of parole, and
called such a tack "morally repugnant" and a misuse of plea bargains. When
pressed to say whether he would no longer pursue the death penalty if Baum were
to admit to the charges, Leavitt declined to give a definitive answer.
"I'm not going to engage in plea negotiations in the middle of a press
conference," he said. "I will say that I am not charging the death penalty in
order to get him to plead guilty."
During his press conference, Leavitt also touched on reforms his office is
pursuing, saying the criminal justice system is "completely out of balance" and
most cases are resolved in plea deals instead of trials, a trend he believes
grants prosecutors too much power.
(source: KSL news)
ARIZONA:
Mexican immigrant accused of murder tries to keep death penalty off table
Lawyers for a Mexican immigrant charged with murder in the 2015 shooting death
of a convenience store clerk are urging the Arizona Court of Appeals to reject
an effort by prosecutors to seek the death penalty against their client.
Earlier this month, authorities appealed a lower-court decision that said
prosecutors could no longer seek the death penalty against Apolinar Altamirano,
34, in the shooting death of 21-year-old clerk Grant Ronnebeck because
Altamirano is intellectually disabled. Prosecutors argued the judge failed to
make an overall assessment of Altamirano’s ability to meet society’s
expectations of him and adapt to the requirements of daily life as an adult.
But Altamirano’s lawyers said in court records filed a week ago that the judge
already had considered evidence of their client’s weaknesses and strengths in
such “adaptive behavior,” including his work ethic, relationships with loved
ones and ability to hold down a job and support his family.
Altamirano’s lawyers said the state isn’t saying the judge “committed legal
error or abused his discretion, but instead merely takes issue with the way in
which he weighed and assessed the credibility of the evidence.”
The case against Altamirano has been cited by President Donald Trump, who has
railed against crimes committed against American citizens by immigrants who are
the United States illegally.
Trump, who has created a new office to serve victims of immigration crimes and
their relatives, has invoked such crimes at rallies, pointing to cases in which
people were killed by immigrant assailants who slipped through the cracks.
Altamirano, whose hometown is Damian Carmona in central Mexico, has lived in
the United States without authorization for about 20 years. He was deported
after a marijuana possession arrest and returned to the United States.
He is accused of fatally shooting Ronnebeck at a store in Mesa after the clerk
insisted that Altamirano pay for a pack of cigarettes. Authorities say
Altamirano stepped over Ronnebeck to get several packs of cigarettes before
leaving the store.
He led officers on a high-speed chase before his arrest, and handguns and
unopened cigarettes were later found in his vehicle, police said.
Altamirano has already been sentenced to six years in prison for his earlier
guilty pleas in the case to misconduct involving weapons.
He still faces murder, robbery and other charges in Ronnebeck’s death. He has
pleaded not guilty to the remaining charges.
His trial was scheduled to begin Thursday, but it has been postponed. No new
trial date has been set.
In an October decision, a judge prohibited prosecutors from introducing
evidence at Altamirano’s trial that he was in the United States illegally. The
judge said the prejudice from Altamirano’s immigration status outweighs any
relevance it may have.
The U.S. Supreme Court in 2002 barred the execution of intellectually disabled
people.
(source: Associated Press)
NEVADA:
Roadblock brings murderer back to face death penalty in Washoe County
Luke Prengaman, Chief District Attorney for Washoe County, knew the Tracy
Petrocelli case would be a challenge considering that the case was more than 30
years old and most of his witnesses had died or were too sick to travel.
"When we began reaching out and trying to find the original witnesses who
testified in the case, it quickly became apparent that quite a number of them
passed away and some were in very poor health," he said.
Petrocelli killed car dealership owner James Wilson on March 29, 1982, and was
was convicted and sentenced to death.
However, following his conviction in the 1980s, a federal appeals court ruled
his rights were violated in the penalty phase.
As a result, in May the case went back to court where Washoe County jury heard
the 37 year-old case again -- this new jury ruled he should remain on death
row.
Nonetheless, it wasn't a slam dunk case.
Prengaman said he wanted to call witnesses in the case, but because most were
not available, he had to use other prosecutors and investigators in the
district attorney's office to read original testimony given in the 80s.
"It was helpful to rely on other prosecutors who are familiar with the
process," Prengaman said.
Using staff to re-read testimony is not common -- and while it has been done
before -- it has never been done to this extent in Washoe County.
"It's infrequent but it does happen. You rarely run into a case where, like
this one, where you have such a substantial number of witness testimony that
you're doing that with," Prengaman said.
Ed Wilson was 1 of only 2 witnesses who read his own transcript from the 1st
penalty phase in the murder case.
Ed was at the car lot on March 29, 1982 when his dad, James Wilson, took a
test-drive with Petrocelli and never returned.
He was later found shot near Pyramid Lake, and the Volkeswagen Petrocelli
test-drove was found stuck in the desert.
Wilson said he was not looking forward to reading the testimony of his then 22
year old self.
"In this case I thought I owed it to my family and my dad to get the guy back
where he belongs on death row," he said. "It was actually harder this time than
it was originally I think because I think I was in a state of shock when it
happened. And that's why when I read the transcripts I broke down a bit."
The only other original witness to read their own transcript was retired Washoe
County Sheriff's Detective Greg Martinelli.
Martinelli discovered the first piece of evidence in the case -- the victim's
business cards. It had been 37 years, and he didn't remember many details of
the case.
"When I talked to the D.A. he told me I had recovered some evidence. And I had
no relocation until I read my report and I looked at the pictures. Oh yeah, now
I remember that," he said."
Using staff to re-read old testimony isn't ideal, but the district attorney's
office stated that it can be necessary.
"Less than ideal but a matter of necessity to do it and I think it worked,"
Prengaman said.
Ed Wilson says he's pleased that the jury again confirmed the death penalty for
Petrocelli.
"I was kind of surprised really being that we're in a different time from
1982," He said.
Wilson said as tough as it was to read his old transcript, he's glad he could
help keep Petrocelli on death row for killing his dad.
"Yeah, I think that's why we, why I did it a lot because justice for him."
Wilson followed in his dad's footsteps, and sells cars along Kietzke Lane, but
refuses to accompany customers who want to test-drive in a vehicle.
(source: Fox News)
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