[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----USA, NEB., MD., VA., TENN., N.C.
March 28 USA: Fired attorneys all reluctant to seek death penalty in federal cases Margaret Chiara, a former U.S. Attorney in Grand Rapids, Mich., appealed several times to the Justice Department against having to seek the federal death penalty. In hindsight, for her it was a risky business. No prisoner has been executed in a Michigan case since 1938, but the Bush administration seemed determined to change that. Indeed, under Attorneys General John Ashcroft and Alberto R. Gonzales, far more federal defendants have been dispatched to death row than under the previous administration. And any prosecutors wishing to do otherwise often find themselves overruled. Chiara was not the only one to run afoul of the administration's stance on the death penalty. In San Francisco, U.S. Attorney Kevin Ryan was ordered by Ashcroft to conduct a capital trial for a Californian charged with killing a man with a mailed, booby-trapped bomb. Ryan persuaded Ashcroft's successor, Gonzales, to drop the death charge; in February, the defendant, David Lin, was acquitted in federal court in San Jose. In Phoenix, prosecutor Paul Charlton was told repeatedly, despite his resistance, to file capital murder in a case where the victim's body has never been recovered. The woman's remains are believed buried in an Arizona landfill, but the Justice Department refused Charlton's request to shoulder the cost -- up to $1 million -- to retrieve the corpse. The 3 prosecutors are among 8 U.S. attorneys terminated in 2006 in a housecleaning by the Justice Department. And while their hesitation over the death penalty was not cited as a reason for their dismissals, Washington officials have made it clear they have little patience for prosecutors who are not with the program. The Justice Department under Ashcroft and Gonzales has demanded far more death-penalty cases than it did under the Clinton administration. Data from the Federal Death Penalty Information Center in Washington show that there have been 95 federal death-penalty trials in the 6 years under Ashcroft and Gonzales, compared with 55 during the 8 years under Attorney General Janet Reno. Richard Dieter, executive director of the center, said that when President Bush came to Washington in 2001, his administration seemed determined not only to toughen the federal death penalty statute but to seek it equitably around the nation -- including in states such as Michigan where laws forbid it. As a result, he said, you see a lot more (capital) cases going to trial, unlike what was happening before, where U.S. attorneys were given some leeway to settle cases or take plea bargains.'' Dieter said: Bush certainly believes in the death penalty, Ashcroft was a fervent believer, and Gonzales was Bush's adviser in Texas, denying all those clemency requests.'' When Chiara was appointed to be the top prosecutor in Grand Rapids in November 2001, she told reporters that she was opposed to the death penalty. But, she added, her personal views would not affect her performance. Nevertheless, said her predecessor, Mike Dettmer: She did not pass the Bush loyalty test on her concerns over the death penalty,'' and she caught a lot of flak for it.'' Two years into her term, she filed capital charges against Michael and Robert Ostrander -- brothers from Cadillac, Mich. -- in the slaying and robbery of an alleged fellow drug dealer. The decision to pursue the death penalty was made by Ashcroft after Chiara and a deputy, Phil Green, flew to Washington and attempted to convince him otherwise, Dettmer said. Paul Mitchell, who represented one of the brothers, said the state law against execution in Michigan was bypassed when Washington made it a federal case based on a firearm being used in a drug-related offense. Police said the brothers met another alleged drug dealer, Hansle Andrews, and invited him to go with them to buy drugs in Grand Rapids. Instead they drove to a remote area outside Cadillac, shot Andrews, robbed him and buried the body in a pre-dug grave. They were convicted of murder but were spared death, receiving life sentences instead. In firing Chiara, the Justice Department did not mention the death penalty but did note that officials felt they had no assurance that DOJ priorities/polices (were) being carried out'' in Grand Rapids. In San Francisco, federal public defender Barry J. Portman said he wonders whether Ryan's hesitation to charge the death penalty might have hurt his standing with Washington too. He cited the Lin case and Ryan's ability to get Gonzales to reverse Ashcroft's decision to raise it to a capital level. Most defense attorneys felt Ryan was not eager to seek the death penalty,'' Portman said. On Feb. 23 Lin was acquitted of mailing a robot dog containing a bomb that killed Patrick Hsu, 18, of San Jose. Ryan was fired for a number of reasons, according to the Justice documents, including complaints that his office was the most fractured one in the country.
[Deathpenalty] FW: Biowarfare Bush's Police State
Francis A. Boyle Law Building 504 E. Pennsylvania Ave. Champaign, IL 61820 USA 217-333-7954 (Voice) 217-244-1478 (Fax) (personal comments only) From: Boyle, Francis Sent: Wednesday, March 28, 2007 8:21 AM To: 'AALSMIN-L at lists.ubalt.edu' Subject: Biowarfare Bush's Police State From: Bonnie Faulkner [mailto:faulk...@gunsandbutter.net] Sent: Wednesday, March 28, 2007 4:09 AM To: promos at kpfa.org; Michael Manoochehri; Michael Yoshida Cc: Yarrow Mahko; Tod Fletcher; Bonnie Bone; Boyle, Francis Subject: Re: Promote Your Show on kpfa.org Guns Butter Wednesday, March 28, 2007, 1:00pm Biowarfare and the Emergence of Police State America Interview with author and professor of international law, Dr. Francis Boyle. The history of biological warfare development and the Biological Weapons Convention; forced anthrax inoculations of the military; anthrax attacks on congress and the resultant Patriot legislation setting up a police state; FBI agent Marion Spike Bowman's thwarting of FBI investigations into both Zacarias Moussoui and the anthrax attacks on congress; the DNC's prevention of impeachment proceedings against Bush and others in his administration for high crimes and misdemeanors. Thank you again for the interview. The show will run tomorrow (Wednesday) 1:00pm PST, 3pm your time, streamed live at www.kpfa.org http://www.kpfa.org/ , and it will be archived at www.gunsandbutter.net. --- Bonnie Faulkner Producer/Host Guns Butter Wednesdays, 1:00PM KPFA Radio 94.1FM www.kpfa.org www.gunsandbutter.net
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----NEB., ARIZ., WYO., OHIO
March 28 NEBRASKA: Senators to consider death penalty again Less than 2 weeks after debating the death penalty, lawmakers are scheduled to take up the issue again. An amendment was filed Tuesday in the Legislature that could make it tougher to sentence people to death, with a public hearing scheduled for Friday. The current law requires juries and judges to determine at least one aggravating circumstance exists in a crime for the death penalty to be imposed. The amendment would require that they first find criminals would pose a substantial risk to others even while incarcerated. A bill that called for the repeal of the death penalty was voted down by the Legislature last week. Sen. Brad Ashford of Omaha crafted the new amendment, which he has said is not specifically aimed at keeping death-row inmate Carey Dean Moore from being executed on May 8. On the Net:Nebraska Legislature: http://www.nebraskalegislature.gov (source: Associated Press) ARIZONA: Man could face death penalty in slayings of mother and sister In Phoenix, a man could face the death penalty after pleading guilty to beating his mother and sister to death with a hammer. 40-year-old Louis D'Ottavio plead guilty yesterday to 2 counts of 1st-degree murder. He now faces a death sentence when the penalty phase of his case begins in Maricopa County Superior Court. D'Ottavio has waived his right to have a jury decide the penalty phase of the case. A judge will decide if D'Ottavio will get the death penalty or spend his life behind bars. Authorities said D'Ottavio killed his mother and sister by striking them with a hammer in September 2004. (source: Associated Press) ** Death penalty sought in domestic murder case Yavapai County Prosecutor Joe Butner has filed a notice of intent to seek the death penalty for Tomas Mendoza-Macias. Mendoza-Macias is jailed on 2 counts of 1st degree murder, aggravated assault and burglary. He is charged with killing his estranged wife in her apartment. Alma Delia Trejo Gonzales was stabbed with a kitchen knife and killed as she returned from a convenience store Jan. 9. Alma was living with her sister, a nephew and 12-year-old granddaughter in the apartment on Mingus Avenue. The couple was separated and getting a divorce. But Tomas expressed to an officer that he was jealous that she was seeing another man. Tomas had a history of abusive behavior toward his wife, especially when he drank heavily, according to police investigators. The defense and prosecution discussed the mental examination that is required by law when a notice is given to seek the death penalty. The court must order a mental screening to test a defendant's intelligence quotient and to make sure he does not suffer mental retardation. The court agreed that Mendoza-Macias will be evaluated. At the urging of the prosecution, Judge Warren Darrow also restricted Mendoza-Macias' access to two family members. Butner said the defendant has contacted members of the family since he has been jailed. Some of the family did not object to the defendant's contact, but the communications must be written not verbal according to the Darrow. Butner told the court that the medical examiner's report on the death has been filed, but it is not complete, since the toxicology tests have not been finished. Judge Darrow gave the attorney's 2 more months to finish interviews in the case and scheduled a status conference for May 21. (source: Verde Independent) WYOMING: Jury deliberates death sentence In Gillette, a jury was deliberating Tuesday evening whether a man it convicted of conspiring to commit 1st-degree murder in the death of a 16-year-old boy should be put to death. Jurors agreed with prosecutors that Kent A. Proffit, 43, directed local teenagers to kill Bryce Chavers, 16, in late 2005 because the teen was about to testify against Proffit in a sexual assault trial. Chavers was shot in bed at his home. The jury returned the verdict late Monday after deliberating for about 3 hours. Deliberations over whether Proffit will be sentenced to death began Tuesday. In a separate case, jurors in November convicted Proffit of ordering 2 men to strangle 19-year-old Jeremy Forquer. Proffit was sentenced to life in prison without parole in that case. Co-defendant Jacob Martinez, who pleaded guilty to avoid the death penalty, told jurors that Forquer was killed because Proffit feared Forquer would snitch on them about some unspecified crime. In closing arguments Monday, defense lawyer Dion Custis said there was no evidence that Proffit had enough influence to cause other people to kill for him. We know who killed Bryce Chavers, Custis said, mentioning a group of teenagers he referred to as a murderous clan. We know who planned the killing of Bryce Chavers, Custis said. We know who went up to a 16-tear-old defenseless kid sleeping. We know. Christopher Hicks, 20, was found guilty last year of 1st-degree murder
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, TENN., IND., USA, N.H.
March 28 TEXASimpending executions Convicted killer of carjacked Air Force officer to die Wednesday After a carjacking left a San Antonio man dead, the gunman needed to change out of his blood-spattered clothes. The shooter, Vincent Gutierrez, threw his clothing in a trash bin and donned some gym shorts and a T-shirt bearing the U.S. Air Force logo. They were in the back of the red Mazda sports car he and a buddy had stolen and belonged to their victim, Capt. Jose Cobo. They looked so awkward on him, Bert Richardson, the former assistant district attorney in Bexar County who prosecuted Gutierrez and his 17-year-old companion Randy Arroyo, recalled witnesses saying. Gutierrez, who was 18 at the time of the shooting, was set to die Wednesday evening for the officer's slaying. The 5-foot-6 Gutierrez, known to his friends as Flaco, Spanish for Skinny, was no physical match for the muscular Cobo, a 13-year Air Force veteran who was chief of maintenance training at the Inter-American Air Forces Academy at Lackland Air Force Base. The Colombia-born Cobo, abducted at gunpoint outside his apartment, was forced to the passenger side of his car. He tried to bolt from the vehicle in slow morning rush-hour traffic on San Antonio's busy Interstate 410 Loop. He was shot in the back while trying to jump out of his own car, thrown out on the highway, said Richardson, now a district court judge. A retired naval investigator coming on an access road got a bird's-eye view. As the car accelerated to the expressway, Vincent had crawled from the back to the front, pulled the seat back and tossed the body to the freeway. 2 hours later, Cobo, 39, was pronounced dead at a hospital. I went ahead and shot him twice, Gutierrez, 28, recently told the weekly newspaper San Antonio Current from death row, explaining he had no intention of returning to jail for a robbery. At the time of the shooting, he'd been free just 2 weeks after spending two months in a prison boot camp for a burglary conviction. Even 10 years later, he remained unrepentant. In order for me to be remorseful, I have to feel for somebody, he said. And I didn't know him, so I don't feel for him. Gutierrez's lethal injection would be the 10th this year in Texas, the nation's busiest capital punishment state, and the first of two on consecutive days this week. Gutierrez and Arroyo, who was driving Cobo's stolen car, were arrested. They were tried together and a jury at their 1998 trial decided both should die. Arroyo had his sentence commuted to life in prison when the U.S. Supreme Court 2 years ago ruled those under the age of 18 at the time of their crime could not be executed. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals late week turned down an appeal to halt Gutierrez's execution. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles refused Monday to commute his sentence to life. No late efforts to spare Gutierrez were planned. At this point, it's basically over, Gutierrez's lawyer, Alex Calhoun, said Tuesday. Authorities said Arroyo and Gutierrez had scoured San Antonio for a particular Mazda model because Gutierrez had the same car and needed some parts. Gutierrez's roommate, Christopher Suaste, dropped them off at dawn March 11, 1997, outside Cobo's apartment, where they hid until he left for work. Suaste surrendered to police after his 2 companions were arrested. He's now serving a 35-year prison sentence for aggravated robbery. He and Arroyo gave statements implicating Gutierrez as the shooter. Arroyo told officers the .357-caliber Magnum pistol used in the slaying and another gun Gutierrez was carrying were tossed into the San Antonio River. The weapons were recovered and Cobo's car was found abandoned and intact. Set to die 24 hours after Gutierrez is Roy Lee Pippin, condemned for the slayings of 2 men in Houston 13 years ago. (source: Associated Press) * Bill supports death penalty for repeat sex offenders The Texas House and Senate are currently reviewing a bill that could be the difference between life and death for repeat sex offenders. House Bill 8, authored by State Rep. Debbie Riddle, R-Tomball, is framed after Florida's Jessicas Law, which includes a mandatory minimum of 25 years in prison and lifetime monitoring of adults convicted of sexual acts against a victim younger than 12 years old. The main difference between that law and the proposed House Bill is a possible death sentence. Jon English, Riddle's chief of staff, said the purpose of the bill is to pinpoint criminals involved in severe cases of repeated sex offenses against minors under the age of 14. New provisions in the bill include a minimum of 25 years to life in prison for a 1st conviction. Second offenders may face the death penalty or life imprisonment without parole. Katryn Hubert, founder and president of the student organization Bobcats for Life, said she does not support the death penalty, but because the victim is a child, it's better than
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news-----worldwide
March 28 ENGLAND/BULGARIA: George Michael plays benefit gig for death sentence nurses George Michael, the former Wham singer turned solo artist, will play a gig in Sofia in May to help raise awareness of the 5 Bulgarian nurses jailed in Libya, pinknews (www.pinknews.co.uk) reports. The event, which forms part of the singer's summer tour, will campaign under the motto You are not alone, a reference to the 5 nurses who were sentenced to death in Libya on changes of deliberately infecting 426 children with AIDS. In November 1998 it emerged that an AIDS epidemic had swept across a Children's Hospital in Benghazi, one of Libya's largest cities. A total 426 Libyan children had been infected with HIV. Libyan authorities took what they described as 'precautionary measures' against the Bulgarian doctors and nurses working at the hospital. On March 7, 1999 6 members of the group being held in isolation were formally arrested on the charge of deliberately infecting the children with HIV. (source: Focus News Agency) JAPAN: Man Faces Execution for Internet Murders A Japanese man was sentenced to death Wednesday for murdering 3 people he lured through a suicide Web site by offering to die with them, a court official said. Hiroshi Maeue, 38, agreed to a death pact with a 25-year-old office worker he met on a suicide Web site, but instead strangled her in a parked car and disposed of her body in western Japan in 2005, according to a police statement. He also killed a 14-year-old boy and a 21-year-old university student in the same year, also by luring them with promises to die together, police said. Maeue was sentenced to death on charges of murder and disposing bodies illegally, according to an Osaka District Court official who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing policy. Maeue pleaded guilty to the 3 murders but has appealed his death sentence, Kyodo News agency reported. Suicide Web sites have been used by dozens of Japanese in recent years to plot group suicides. A record 91 people killed themselves in 34 Internet-linked suicide pacts in 2005, almost triple the number in 2003, when the National Police Agency started compiling statistics. The sites host chat rooms with death wishes and postings on how best to take your own life. They appear to be frequented by young people who are troubled by bullying, romantic breakups or abusive family members. Victims typically die from asphyxiation by lighting charcoal stoves inside a sealed car. (source: Associated Press) ** Suicide website murderer on death row A JAPANESE man was sentenced to death today for killing 3 people he met through an internet site for group suicides in 2005, a local court spokeswoman said. The unemployed man, Hiroshi Maeue, 38, invited a 14-year-old boy out to commit suicide together using charcoal fumes, but then suffocated him to death, Kyodo news agency said. Maeue, killed 2 others a 25-year-old woman and a 21-year-old male college student by similar means and abandoned their bodies, Kyodo said. The nature of the crimes was cruel and made Maeue difficult to correct, Presiding Judge Kazuo Mizushima of the Osaka District Court in western Japan was quoted saying in handing down the sentence. Maeue's defence counsel appealed the ruling, Kyodo said. An increasing number of suicide websites have cropped up in recent years in Japan, where the suicide rate is one of the highest among industrialised countries. Experts say the sites attract those who are afraid to die alone, and police say the number of people who died in group suicide pacts after meeting online totalled 56 in 2006, down from a record 91 in 2005. No religious prohibition exists against taking one's own life in Japan, where suicide was once a way to escape failure or save loved ones from embarrassment or financial loss. (source: Melbourne (Australia) Herald Sun)
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, NEB., ARIZ., PENN., N.C., USA
March 28 TEXAS: Opposite portraits emerge of S.A. killer set for execution tonight The young, tattooed convict scheduled to die tonight after spending almost his entire adult life on death row has vacillated between 2 very different ways of making his exit. Vincent Flaco Gutierrez told one friend he intends to aim a scathing last statement at prison officials and a witness who testified against him in 1998, when he was convicted of carjacking and killing an Air Force captain. He told another pen pal he doesn't want an angry death. He'd rather set a forgiving example for Catholic school children who recently mailed him kind words from Spain. Such are the impulses at war inside the inmate during his final days as half of Bexar County's first double death sentence case. He's just really running awfully scared now, said Sister Doris Moore, a nun who has corresponded with Gutierrez for 8 years and will visit with him in the hours before the execution. He's kind of like ... fighting for your life ... y'know what I mean? Gutierrez was condemned to death along with Randy Baez Arroyo for the abduction and murder of Air Force Capt. Jose Renato Cobo, a 39-year-old stationed at Lackland AFB and the father of a teenage daughter. Arroyo, then 17, wanted parts from Cobo's Mazda RX-7 to fix his own sports car. During the carjacking, when Cobo tried leaping from the vehicle, Gutierrez, then 18, shot him and dumped him on a rain-soaked shoulder of Loop 410 West. Arroyo's sentence was commuted to life in prison 2 years ago after the Supreme Court ruled it's cruel and unusual to execute juvenile killers. Gutierrez was 6 months too old to be similarly spared. Should Gutierrez choose mild last words, it would be the first time he has shown the public a gentler side. Now 28, the convict recently offered a cool and blunt explanation during an interview with the San Antonio Current for why he killed the Air Force instructor. At the time of the carjacking, Gutierrez, who prefers to be called Vicente, had only weeks earlier finished serving time at a boot camp for 3 burglaries. He feared going to prison if Cobo escaped to later identify him. So I went ahead and shot him twice, Gutierrez told the Current. His logic was equally cool when he explained why he felt no sorrow about Cobo's death. In order for me to be remorseful, I have to feel for somebody, Gutierrez said. And I didn't know him, so I don't feel for him. The convict's callousness stunned Joey Contreras, a former assistant district attorney who helped prosecute the case. Cobo's brother Ruben was similarly appalled. Ruben Cobo said he'd felt some sympathy for the murderer until he read Gutierrez's remarks that he'd shot at more than one person before being locked up, that anger had only hardened him and that he'd wreak havoc in Texas if he was ever released. He's probably one of the individuals I can actually say that he shouldn't be here with us, Cobo said. God forgive me for what I say, but I mean ... he's like the devil himself. Gutierrez's coarse comments also surprised Moore, the Daughter of Charity who now lives in Arkansas but started corresponding with Gutierrez after meeting his mother at a conference of death penalty opponents in San Antonio. Moore knows the inmate has long wrestled with anger and rebelliousness - he has repeatedly been disciplined for ignoring prison rules against long hair and beards - but she dismisses his harsh talk. It's either false bravado, she said, or possibly a symptom of undiagnosed bipolar disorder. The real Gutierrez, she said, prays sincerely, talks earnestly about Bible passages and punctuates the greetings in his letters with smiley faces (source: San Antonio Express-News) ** Bodley lawyers attack official's credibility A former Department of Public Safety crime lab technician accused of stealing cocaine testified Tuesday that he handled evidence in the John Joe Bodley capital murder case. Bodley, 22, of Freeport is on trial for capital murder and prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty. He is accused of walking into an apartment in the early hours of July 14, 2005, and shooting four people while a group of children slept in a nearby bedroom. James Beverly, 31, died at the scene while Chasity Smith, 28, died months later in a hospital. The two other victims have recovered from their wounds. Jesus Hinojosa, 30, was working as a crime lab technician with the Texas Department of Public Safetys Houston Division when he was fired in February. Hinojosa was 1 of 4 law enforcement officials to testify Tuesday about the chain of custody of evidence in the Bodley case. He was accused of taking more than 20 kilograms of cocaine out of the DPS crime lab in Houston, said Tela Mange, a DPS spokeswoman. Hinojosa has been arrested on a manufacturing and possession of a controlled substance charge but has not been indicted, he said. Hinojosa has been incarcerated since his arrest
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
March 28 CHINA: CHINA PREPARES FOR OLYMPICSDrop in Executions Leads to Organ Shortage With the Olympics in Beijing just 500 days away, China has begun cleaning up organ trafficking practices. Not only have exports been banned, but with fewer prisoner executions, a major source of organs has dried up. The result has been a kidney shortage in South Korea. The preparations, it is said, are far ahead of schedule. With 500 days to go before the Olympic flame is lit in Beijing for the 2008 Games, construction of 31 venues in the Chinese capital is progressing at a tremendous pace, International Olympics Committee president Jacques Rogge said this week. Even the new medal design was presented on Tuesday. But the planning isn't just taking place on the streets of Beijing. The government is also trying to clean up some of its more blatant human rights violations -- like the export of kidneys from death penalty victims and organs harvested from minors. And it's creating organ shortages in South Korea. According to a report last week in the dailyChosun Ilbo, the already long list of South Koreans waiting for organs is getting longer -- with the number expected to top 10,000 by the beginning of the month -- and their chances of getting a transplant are getting slimmer with China having decided to ban organ exports. In addition, executions in China have dropped sharply since the Chinese New Year in February, meaning that one of the primary sources for exported organs has dried up, organ brokers told the Korea Times. Because South Koreans traditionally shy away from donating their organs, the situation for the seriously ill in the country looks grim. Furthermore, prices for organs have skyrocketed, with kidneys now going for $37,000 whereas prior to China stiffening organ export rules a kidney could have been had for $27,000. China has likewise elected to no longer give foreigners priority when it comes to organ transplant waiting lists. China, though, still has a long way to go to clean up its organ harvesting image. David Kilgour, Canada's former secretary of state for Asia-Pacific, accused China in this week's Sunday Herald of continuing to take organs from jailed Falun Gong practitioners. Kilgour released a study last summer concluding that several thousand organs have been harvested la carte from Falun Gong prisoners since 1999. I realize it is difficult to comprehend, but prisoners, especially Falun Gong prisoners, are being killed for their organs in China right now, he told the paper. They are executing prisoners la carte so that wealthy recipients get organs. (source: Der Spiegel)
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, LA., IND., TENN.
March 28 TEXAS: Texas is Set to Execute a Mentally Retarded Man On April 11, 2007. U.S. Supreme Court Atkins Decision be Damned. On February 26, 2007 the Supreme Court of the United States denied James Clark's Petition for Writ of Certiorari on a Mental Retardation Claim. On February 28, 2007 Texas District Judge Lee Gabriel ordered the State of Texas to execute James Clark on April 11, 2007. NOTE: On June 20, 2002 in Atkins v. Virgina, 536 U.S. 304 (2002), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that it is unconstitutional to execute the mentally retarded. This makes James Clark's case a horrible injustice, for each of the psychological experts who thoroughly tested Mr. Clark swear that he's mentally retarded. Amazingly, Judge Gabriel thinks that she knows better than the experts and ruled that James Clark is not mentally retarded. Just as amazingly, all of the appellate courts affirmed Judge Gabriel's decision -- the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the U.S. District Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and now the Supreme Court of the United States. James Clark meets the Texas legal definition of mental retardation. [See Texas Persons With Mental Retardation Act -- Texas Health Safety Code, Chapter 591.] Yet trial judge Lee Gabriel has been allowed to supercede these laws and rule that for the purpose of the death penalty James Lee Clark is not mentally retarded. BACKGROUND SUMMARY After James Lee Clark exhausted his first round of Texas State and U.S. Federal appeals, the State of Texas set Mr. Clark to be executed on November 21, 2002. Mr. Clark had been sentenced to death for the June 7, 1993 capital murder of 17-year old Shari Catherine Cari Keeler Crews in Denton County, Texas. Jesus Gilberto Garza, 16 years old, was killed along with Miss Crews. Mr. Clark's co-defendant James Richard Brown was tried for the capital murder of Mr. Garza, but was instead found guilty of robbery. NOTE: James Brown wasn't convicted of aggravated robbery, but simple robbery. Even though Miss Crews and Mr. Garza were murdered, the jury felt that Mr. Brown had not caused anyone serious bodily injury, nor had Mr. Brown used or exhibited a deadly weapon. However, in 2002 there was evidence that Mr. Clark is mentally retarded. Under U.S. Supreme Court decision Atkins v. Virginia the mentally retarded are ineligible for execution, and on November 18, 2002 the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals stayed that execution date, also ordering the original trial court to determine whether Mr. Clark was in fact mentally retarded. An application for Executive Clemency was filed on October 31, 2002. However, it was rendered mute when the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals issued it's stay on November 18, 2002. A three day evidentiary hearing was held and on November 20, 2003 Lee Gabriel found that Mr. Clark is not retarded. [See Judge Gabriel's Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law] On March 3, 2004 the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed Judge Gabriel. [See Ex Parte James Lee Clark, WR-37,288-02.] Another execution date was set for April 27, 2004. Another application for Executive Clemency was filed on April 6, 2004 to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles. It was unanimously denied on April 23, 2004. On April 23, 2004 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit stayed Mr. Clark's April 27th execution date because there was sufficient evidence that the State of Texas may have misapplied Atkins v. Virginia. The U.S. Court of Appeals ordered the U.S. District Court to determine whether Lee Gabriel and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals were correct to deny Mr. Clark's claim of mental retardation. On January 20, 2005, without having an evidentiary hearing, the U.S. District Judge David Folsom denied Mr. Clark his claim of mental retardation. [See Memorandum Opinion, Case No. 5:04cv124] On February 4, 2005 James Clark's attorney filed a Motion to Alter or Amend Judgment. On February 16, 2005 that Motion to Alter was denied. However, on March 16, 2005 the U.S. District Judge Folsom did grant Mr. Clark permission to appeal his claim of mental retardation to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. [See Order Granting Application for Certificate of Appealability.] On July 20, 2006 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed the ruling of the U.S. District Court and ultimately Texas District Judge Lee Gabriel. [See James Lee Clark v. Nathaniel Quarterman, Case No. 05-70008.] On August 2, 2006 James Clark's attorney filed a Petition for Rehearing En Banc, which was denied on August 29, 2006. Thus, and once again, Mr. Clark's claim of mental retardation was denied in spite of the fact that the only 2 psychologocial experts who thoroughly tested James Lee Clark found him mentally retarded. On November 21, 2006 James Clark's attorney filed a Petition for Writ of Certiorari with the Supreme Court of the United States. On February 26, 2007 the Supreme Court denied James Clark's Petition for
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news---TEXAS
March 28 TEXAS--execution Killer of Air Force officer executed A San Antonio man convicted of killing an Air Force officer during a carjacking 10 years ago was executed Wednesday by lethal injection. Vincent Gutierrez, 28, did not look at relatives or a friend of the victim as they stood a few feet away looking through a window. He said he was sorry the situation happened, but it was unclear if he was apologizing for the fatal shooting. Where's a stunt double when you need one? he said, laughing. He said a brief prayer and was pronounced dead at 6:23 p.m., 7 minutes after the lethal drugs began to flow. Gutierrez was 1 of 2 carjackers condemned for the March 1997 shooting death of Capt. Jose Cobo, whose body was shoved from his car and dumped on the shoulder of Interstate 410 during a morning rush hour in the Alamo city. Gutierrez was 18 at the time. Just 2 weeks before the shooting, he had been released from a 2-month stint at a prison boot camp for a burglary conviction. He acknowledged shooting Cobo and expressed no remorse saying he fired at the military officer because he didn't want to go back to jail for another robbery. The Colombia-born Cobo, 39, was a 13-year Air Force veteran who was chief of maintenance training at the Inter-American Air Forces Academy at Lackland Air Force Base. Gutierrez becomes the 10th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Texas and the 389th overall since the state resumed capital punishment on December 7, 1982. Gutierrez becomes the 150th condemned inmate to be put to death in Texas since Rick Perry became governor in 2001; a record 152 executions were carried out during the tenure of then-Governor George W. Bush. Another execution is scheduled for Wednesday night in Texas. Gutierrez becomes the 11th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1068th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977. (sources: Associated Press Rick Halperin)
