Sept. 8
TEXAS:
County may renew membership in death penalty defender program
The Hunt County Commissioners Court is scheduled this week to renew the
county’s membership in a program which helps pay for defense attorneys in death
penalty capital murder cases.
A vote to approve the renewal of the interlocal agreement with Lubbock County
through the Regional Public Defender for Capital Cases program is included
under the consent calendar for the regular session, starting at 10 a.m. Tuesday
inside the Auxiliary Courtroom, 2700 Johnson Street, in Greenville.
Hunt County has been a part of the program since first enrolling in August
2012.
The West Texas Regional Public Defender Office was established in 2007 through
interlocal agreements between the counties in the 7th and 9th judicial regions,
with Lubbock County serving as the administrative county. Each participating
county agrees to pay a yearly fee, based on its population and the number of
capital murder cases it has filed within the last 10 years.
The cost of the program to Hunt County is on a sliding scale, with the costs
rising each year.
There are some limitations to the program. In the event 2 people are charged
with capital murder and are facing the death penalty in the same case, the
office could only defend 1 of them. The office also doesn’t handle the appeals
of any convictions, nor does it pay for “second chair” defense attorneys, both
of which would be still be paid for through the county. The office also does
not handle capital murder cases where the death penalty is not being sought.
Hunt County currently has 4 potential death penalty capital murder cases
pending trial, two of which at last report are being represented by the West
Texas Regional Public Defender Office.
(source: Greenville Herald-Banner)
******************
Lawyers say the Texas judge who presided over this Jewish death row inmate’s
trial later called him anti-Semitic slurs----Lawyers for Randy Halprin, a
member of the "Texas Seven," are requesting a stay of his execution amid
allegations that the judge who handled his case made racist and anti-Semitic
comments during his time on the bench.
“Lawyers say the Texas judge who presided over this Jewish death row inmate’s
trial later called him anti-Semitic slurs” was first published by The Texas
Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and
engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide
issues.
Lawyers for “Texas Seven” gang member Randy Halprin, who is Jewish, requested a
stay of his execution set for Oct. 10 amid allegations that the judge who
handled his case in 2003 made racist and anti-Semitic comments during his time
on the bench.
In a filing Thursday, Halprin’s lawyers accused former criminal court Judge
Vickers Cunningham of describing Halprin using expletive-laden anti-Semitic
comments after the trial ended. The Dallas Morning News also reported during
Cunningham’s 2018 Republican primary race for Dallas County commissioner that
each of his children could only receive an inheritance by marrying a straight,
white Christian. During the election, Cunningham acknowledged putting such
stipulations in his will. He lost the race by 25 votes.
Halprin is on death row for capital murder in connection to a high-profile 2000
prison escape during which seven inmates went on the run. The group robbed a
North Texas sporting goods store on Christmas Eve, and Irving police Officer
Aubrey Hawkins was shot and killed as he responded to that crime. The escaped
inmates fled to Colorado, where most of them were arrested in January 2001.
Four of the gang members have already been executed, and a fifth shot himself
before police could arrest him. The seventh member is also scheduled to be
executed this fall.
Halprin’s attorneys wrote in the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals filing that
Cunningham could have biased the case in areas ranging from jury selection to
evidence submission. Cunningham also prevented the jury from knowing that state
officials labeled Halprin as the “weakest” of defendants, according to court
documents, which his attorneys said might have caused jurors to consider
alternative sentences to the death penalty. Cunningham has denied the
allegations of bias in Halprin’s case, and of being racist and anti-Semitic,
according to various news reports.
The 69-page filing calls Cunningham a “racist and anti-Semitic bigot” in the
first sentence and accuses him of believing Jews “needed to be shut down
because they controlled all the money and all the power.” Halprin’s lawyers
also wrote that minorities who walked into his courtroom knew they were “going
to go down” regardless of the evidence or what happened at the trial.
Halprin’s federal public defender, Tivon Schardl, said they began looking into
Cunningham following the Morning News’ investigation last year. Prior to that,
Schardl said they had never heard of any evidence of anti-Semitic bias in the
case.
Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot took the rare step of declining to
oppose Halprin’s filing, which the convicted killer’s lawyers are using as
further evidence in their accusation that Cunningham unfairly biased the trial.
The Court of Criminal Appeals filing is part of a federal court appeal
requesting a new trial for Halprin based on Cunningham’s alleged comments.
Schardl said he was grateful to Creuzot but not necessarily surprised by the
decision, considering the district attorney campaigned on eliminating bias in
the criminal justice system in Dallas.
“That’s not just a campaign promise. I think he really believes that,” Schardl
said. “It was remarkable compared to historical precedent, but I think given
who John Creuzot is and what he stands for — it was a pleasant surprise but not
super shocking.”
Neither the district attorney nor Cunningham has responded to The Texas
Tribune’s requests for comment.
Halprin testified during the 2003 trial that he did not shoot Hawkins, but his
capital murder charge did not require him to have done so in order to still
receive the death penalty. The state only had to prove that he intended to kill
Hawkins or anticipated the killing would occur. Halprin’s lawyers attempted to
challenge the use of this reasoning when it came to sentencing, but Cunningham
denied it, according to court documents.
Cunningham also presided over the trials of three other members of “Texas
Seven” before Halprin.
(source: The Texas Tribune)
FLORIDA:
Jury in Everett Miller trial hears from forensic experts
Jurors in the Everett Miller murder trial spent the morning hearing from
medical and forensics experts who claimed to link Miller to a murder weapon and
talked about how two Kissimmee police officers died.
Miller faces the death penalty for shooting and killing Officer Matthew Baxter
and Sgt. Sam Howard 2 years ago.
“Were you able to determine, in your medical forensic opinion, the cause and
manner of his death?” the prosecutor asked the medical examiner.“Cause of death
was gunshot wounds of the head and the manner is classified as homicide,” the
medical examiner replied.
The medical examiner said Howard was shot at twice in the head at point-blank
range.
“Were you able to classify that as a close-contact or direct-contact wound?”
prosecutors asked.
“I said it was 'near contact,' again because of the stippling. Based on how
it's dense, the end of the gun was close,” the medical examiner replied.
After lunch, lawyers grilled potential witnesses in front of the judge. One
expert witness said Miller calls himself a "Moorish sovereign," and rejects any
kind of authority.
“If you believe you're a protected national of a particular group, US laws
don't necessarily apply to you. Unfortunately the people you're most likely to
come in contact with are police officers, so there's gonna be a lot of
animosity towards police officers,” the expert said.
Prosecutors maintain Miller killed the officers because he hates the
government. The defense say Miller suffers from depression and anxiety.
The jury will be back 9 a.m. on Monday to continue Miller's trial.
(source: Fox News)
OHIO:
Family of victim questions state on death drugs
Vicki Williams has waited 17 years for her daughter’s killer to be executed. As
the state of Ohio considers using expired execution drugs, she’ll have to wait
longer.
“I’m in the state of mind I was in when she first died,” Williams said. “That
is what it does to me. It puts me back to that. When I got to sleep, it’s the
last thing I think about. When I wake up, it’s the first thing I think about.
And all throughout the day.
“It’s so painful for them to keep delaying when nobody deserves to die more
than he does.”
Back in 2002, Cleveland Jackson and Jeronique Cunningham stood in a kitchen
with eight hostages — many of them teenagers — waiting to rob Layshane Liles.
When he arrived, the two men opened fire on the small crowd. Of the eight, six
survived the night with bullet wounds. Three-year-old Jala Grant died in the
crossfire, and Leneshia Williams, 17, died from a gunshot to the back of the
head.
Bessie Smith, Leneshia’s grandmother, said officers came to inform her of her
granddaughter’s death early the next morning at 5 a.m. They woke her up with
the banging.
“You still remember when they come and tell you. All that. I remember all that.
All of that,” Smith said.
“(Bessie) was downstairs, and my sister was upstairs. All she could hear was
her screaming,” Leneshia’s mother, Vicki Williams, said. “It was like it was a
dream, but a nightmare. I kept thinking she would come home, but she never came
home again.”
Leneshia’s killers were arrested soon after. While Jackson and Cunningham’s
story continued in court with hearings as the state hammered out the details of
a death penalty, Williams family waited for two decades for what Williams calls
“justice.”
The story after
Almost 20 years after her death, Leneshia is still a favorite topic for her
grandmother and mother.
“We miss her. We talk about her a lot,” Smith said, “some of the silly things
that she was doing.”
Back in 2002, Leneshia was like many teens, the two women explained. Vicki said
Leneshia had just set her eyes on the medical field as a potential career, and
she was on the edge of getting her driver’s license. Sometimes, the two would
fight, as mothers and daughters do. Vicki remembered a tiff over the dishes,
which provoked Leneshia to run to her grandmother’s house, who took her in and
calmed her down.
The two women laughed about it now as they recollect the days when Leneshia was
still alive.
Today’s memories aren’t always happy. For Vicki, she may be reminded of her
daughter after seeing another girl playing in the street, or by the sight of an
article of clothing. When that happens, she’ll break down, and she’ll let her
family know she’s having a “’Neshia” moment.
Today, Vicki holds off on the holiday season completely to avoid such memories.
Starting in September, she said she’s often reminded more and more of Lenisha,
and she often ignores Christmas altogether as it reminds her of the time she
last saw her daughter with the rest of the family.
“I tried it, and I just sit there and think: ‘She ain’t there.’ So I just stay
at home so I don’t bum everybody else out,” Williams said.
“People always tell me, ‘You’re so strong; you’re strong.’ It’s not that I’m
strong; I just have no choice. What am I going to do? I can’t just lay down and
die. I got to keep on going. That doesn’t mean I don’t hurt on the inside. I
do,” Williams said. “It’s just a big hole where she’s supposed to be in
everybody’s life. Not just mine. In everybody’s.”
Expired drugs
While death penalty cases are known for dragging along as multiple appeals are
considered by the courts, the latest has slowed Ohio’s death row cases to a
standstill due to concerns about the three-drug cocktail currently used to
execute prisoners.
As dean of Ohio Northern University’s Raabe College of Pharmacy, Steven Martin
said the drugs should work in theory by putting individuals to sleep, eliminate
breathing and stopping the heart, but the procedure doesn’t always work as it
should.
In January, a federal judged ruled that because of such difficulties — in 2014,
an Ohio man took 25 painful minutes to die after the injection — Ohio’s
execution process qualifies as “cruel and unusual.” Relatedly, the execution
drugs in Ohio’s possession have since expired, which creates legal issues due
to restrictions on the use of such drugs.
Proponents of the death penalty, such as Williams, argue that many of the
prisoners on death row had little regard for their victims, and the use of such
drugs are a moot point. But the law is clear, and Gov. Mike DeWine has already
stated that his administration will not use expired drugs.
With such roadblocks in place, DeWine has pushed state correction officials to
find a new set of execution drugs, but pharmaceutical companies aren’t exactly
chomping at the bit to make a suggestion, Martin said.
“It’s not a conversation drug manufacturers want to have in a public place.”
Martin said. “(Drugs) are simply not designed for (execution).”
Such legal issues have left family members of victims wondering what’s taking
so long. Jackson was scheduled to be executed May 29, but that was pushed back
to Nov. 13.
“I didn’t realize the years it would take to do it,” Williams said. “So now I
know they’re in prison, but they’ve been in prison before. They’re not getting
the punishment they deserve. … It makes me disappointed in the system, in the
state, whoever, whoever’s responsible and I’m afraid, I’m really afraid they’ll
change the state law. I’d be so devastated if they did that.”
Smith said, “Let me at him. I’d give him the same thing he gave to that woman.
I do not like guns. I’ve never had a gun in my life, but put one in my hand
now. I wouldn’t shed a tear.”
“I think I’ll have peace when they’re dead. I think I’ll have peace. I don’t
have peace now, because I’m going always: ‘My baby’s gone, and they’re not.’”
Williams said.
Williams’ next step, she said, is to try to talk to DeWine. She said she’s
preparing a letter she hopes to send to ask him if it was his daughter who was
murdered, would he still be stalling.
“I want (Jackson) to hurt. I don’t want him to just go to sleep and not feel
nothing. I want it to hurt a little bit, and I want to sit there and look at
him. I wish I could say something to him, but I know I can’t. But in my mind,
I’m going to be saying: ‘Good for you. Good for you. That’s what you get.’”
Williams said. “I hate to sound so angry, but I am angry. I’m still angry after
all this time.”
(sourceL limaohio.com)
CALIFORNIA:
Shooter charged in Tulare County dairyman's death
The man accused of killing a Tulare County dairyman has been charged with
homicide and various gun crimes.
He also faces charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
"The taking of any human life is unacceptable. This senseless, violent, and
horrific murder not only impacts a family but an entire community," District
Attorney Tim Ward said. "My office will be seeking the maximum sentence allowed
under California law."
If law allowed by law, because Rivera lied in waiting, he could face death
penalty.
Jorge Rivera, 26, is charged with first-degree murder with the special
allegations of personal use of a firearm, one count of being a felon in
possession of a firearm, and one count of possessing an assault weapon which
was found in his vehicle.
He also has a prior 2013 drug charge out of Arizona, according to court
records.
The deadly shooting was reported around 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday at the Pete Dragt
and Sons Dairy on Avenue 352 and Road 112.
Rivera, detectives said, is familiar with the business. He was hired at the
dairy in 2018. He stopped showing up to work in June, Tulare County Sheriff
Mike Boudreaux said.
Using nearby surveillance video, detectives believe Rivera drove to the area
around 1:30 p.m. in a black Chrysler 200. He asked several people where owner
Tony Dragt was, according to witnesses.
He eventually found Dragt sitting in a vehicle near the victim's home. Rivera
emptied a .45-caliber handgun into the vehicle. He then fired a single 9mm
round into Dragt's head.
It's unclear why Rivera was looking for Dragt.
"We do know (Rivera) wanted to kill Dragt," Boudreaux said.
Detectives worked throughout the night to gather evidence linking Rivera to the
slaying.
Rivera's cellphone was tracked to a home in Richgrove. Undercover detectives
watched the home for more than 4 hours.
Rivera was arrested near County Line Road and interrogated by detectives in
Tulare County. Detectives found multiple weapons inside the vehicle, including
a shotgun and an AR-15.
He remains behind bars. Bail has been denied for Rivera.
If convicted of all charges, Rivera faces life in prison.
(source: visaliatimesdelta.com)
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