[Deathpenalty] death penaty news----TEXAS, PENN., FLA., OHIO, TENN.
September 13 TEXASnew execution date Execution date set for East Texas man who beat, killed 13-month-old during 'exorcism' An execution date is set for a Rusk County man accused of the beating death of a 13-month-child. Blaine Milam, 28, was sentenced to death in 2010 for the death of 13-month-old Amora Carson during an alleged exorcism. According to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, the execution date for Blaine Keith Milam, 28, is set for Jan. 15, 2019. Amora died in December 2008 after she was fatally struck by Milam to rid her of demons. She was also bitten multiple times and beaten with a hammer. (source: KTRE news) Executions under Greg Abbott, Jan. 21, 2015-present35 Executions in Texas: Dec. 7, 1982present-553 Abbott#scheduled execution date-nameTx. # 36-Sept. 26---Troy Clark--554 37-Sept. 27---Daniel Acker555 38-Oct. 10Juan Segundo556 39-Oct. 24Kwame Rockwell--557 40-Nov. 7-Emanuel Kemp, Jr.558 41-Dec. 4-Joseph Garcia---559 42-Jan. 15Blaine Milam560 43-Jan. 30Robert Jennings-561 (sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin) **impending execution Execution delay sought for man convicted of hijacking bus, raping and killing passenger The lawyer for a Tarrant County man set to be executed in November for hijacking a city bus, then raping and killing a passenger in Fort Worth in 1987 is seeking a delay in the execution as he fights for DNA testing to be done in the case. In a motion filed Friday, attorney Greg Westfall argues that DNA testing has never been done in the capital murder case that sent his client, Emanuel Kemp Jr., to death row. He argued the case against Kemp was largely circumstantial and relied heavily on the testimony of a single witness - bus driver David Jeanfreau. Westfall also filed a separate motion asking the court to withdraw Kemp's execution date - set for Nov. 7 - until the DNA motion and related issues "may be fully litigated." County criminal court Magistrate Charles Reynolds issued an order Monday, giving the District Attorney's office 60 days to file a response to Westfall's motion. Westfall declined to comment to the Star-Telegram, adding "the motion kind of speaks for itself." Samantha Jordan, a spokeswoman with the Tarrant County District Attorney's office, said she could not comment on the motion Wednesday. Reached by phone Wednesday, Jeanfreau said he remains sure of Kemp's guilt in the rape and fatal stabbing of Johnnie Mae Gray, a 34-year-old emergency room clerk at John Peter Smith Hospital who was a regular on his bus. "I never had any doubt that this is the right guy," said Jeanfreau, who now resides in Colorado. The crime Kemp, who had a past history of aggravated robbery, had been released from prison days earlier when, officials say, he boarded a city bus late on May 27, 1987. David Jeanfreau, the bus driver, testified he was approaching the stop for Gray, a regular passenger, when he heard Gray say something about her purse and turned to see Kemp standing over his shoulder with a knife. "This is a robbery," he testified Kemp told him. Jeanfreau said he initially cooperated with Kemp because he believed it would save him and Gray, his lone passenger. He said he followed Kemp's order and drove to a secluded parking lot inside Trinity Park. There, he testified, Kemp raped Gray on a bus seat, then began stabbing her. Jeanfreau testified that when he yelled at Kemp to "Just get out. You got what you wanted. Why don't you just leave?'," Kemp turned the knife on him, stabbing him in the neck. Jeanfreau told jurors he was able to escape out the back door of the bus, jumped into the river, and then hailed down a passing motorist. Police arrived in the early morning hours of May 28, 1987, to find Gray dead aboard the bus from multiple stab wounds. 4 days after the attack, Jeanfreau picked Kemp out of a police lineup as the person responsible, telling jurors he was "absolutely sure" he had picked the right man. Kemp's defense attorney at the time, Leon Haley, argued that police never fully investigated other potential suspects in the case, including the bus driver. The argument In his motion, Westfall points out that Kemp never confessed to the crime and that another rider on the bus, who'd been dropped off before the hijacking, failed to identify Kemp in a police lineup. "This was, for the most part, a circumstantial case," Westfall states in the motion. "The bus driver was the only person to make an identification at the lineup, which was a cross-racial identification. He was the only identity witness to testify." West
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----MO., ARIZ., NEV., CALIF., USA
September 13 MISSOURI: MO Supreme Court to Consider 21 Year Old Death Penalty Case The Missouri Supreme Court heard arguments in Jefferson City Wednesday in a death penalty case that has bounced up and down through the state's court system for 20 years. In 2001, Terrance Anderson was convicted for the 1997 killing of his girlfriend's parents, Stephen and Debbie Rainwater. He was sentenced to death for the 1st-degree murder of Debbie and life in prison without parole for the death of Stephen. Initially, the Supreme Court upheld the lower courts decision. But it ordered new sentencing in 2006 when it was revealed that a juror had indicated Anderson's attorneys would have to prove he didn't deserve the death penalty. The lower bench again sentenced him to death in 2008, and the Supreme Court affirmed that penalty in a 4-3 decision. But in 2013, the high court again found his sentencing to be unfair, this time because the judge had conversed about the case extensively as it was ongoing with the jury foreperson. The case was once again sent to the lower court with a replacement for the judge who was instructed to recuse himself. The Supreme Court left the death sentence in place but ordered a new hearing on Anderson's request to have his case canceled. Anderson has appealed to the high bench once again after the circuit court denied his request. The murders occurred in southeast Missouri's Poplar Bluff, but the case was tried 85 miles away in Cape Girardeau on a change of venue from Butler County to Cape Girardeau County. Anderson's attorneys originally sought a 2nd-degree murder conviction after what happened on July 25, 1997. According to court documents, Anderson took a gun to the home of his girlfriend, Abbey Rainwater, who lived with her parents, Stephen and Debbie. Earlier in the day, Abbey had told Anderson that she had gotten a restraining order to keep him away from her and their 3-month-old daughter and that visitation would be arranged through the court. After arriving at the residence, Anderson kicked in the door. Mother Debbie was holding the baby and told Abby to run. Debbie then got on her knees and begged for her life, but Anderson placed the gun against the back of her head and fired it, killing Debbie instantly. Anderson subsequently took the child and went into the front yard. He pointed the gun at the baby's head and yelled that he would shoot if Abbey did not come out. Father Stephen, who had been driving around the neighborhood with a gun after becoming suspicious when he previously answered the door to find no one, returned home. The 2 men got into an argument resulting in Anderson shooting Stephen in the forehead, killing him. Court documents reveal bad blood existed between Anderson and Stephen. Stephen had been on disability and suffered from bipolar manic depression. Anderson had moved in with the Rainwaters for 4 months but was asked to leave because of conflict. According to court filings, in previous testimony, one of Anderson's friend answered the phone with Stephen on the other end. Stephen thought he was talking to Anderson and referred to him as "nigger" and said he was going to "whoop your ass". The friend said Stephen further stated that the "black and white thing" didn't work and Terrance (Anderson) and Abbey shouldn't be together and Abbey needed "to be with her own kind." Anderson still was holding the infant after killing Stephen on the night of July 25th. The police arrived quickly after neighbors called 911 when hearing a disturbance of pounding on a door while the doorbell was ringing. Anderson initially yelled at the police to put down their guns but surrendered on their command and handed over the baby. At this week's Supreme Court hearing, Anderson's attorney, William Swift, argued that the lower court had made mistakes that kept juries from reversing his death sentence. He said the lower bench erred in denying his claim that a previous lawyer had been ineffective in several ways. He claimed the defense team in Anderson's 2nd trial failed to investigate the proceedings of his 1st trial, notably what the original lawyers in his 1st trial did or did not do in representing him. Among other things, Swift said a psychiatrist and clinical specialist at Yale University, Dr. Dorothy Lewis, was not called in the 2nd trial to testify about the impact on Anderson of his stepfather Robert's violent, abusive behavior. Lewis' background history investigation of Anderson found no prior history of violence before the murders and suggested Robert's abusive behavior was linked to Anderson's unstable state of mind at the time of the crime. She had noted that one of the numerous child injuries suffered by Anderson, a spiral tibial fracture, can only be caused by intentional child abuse. Before the high court, Swift said the injury conclusively proved that Anderson was mistreated at a
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
September 13 BARBADOS: Debate on abolishing automatic death penalty on hold in Barbados Parliament Lawmakers on Tuesday came as close as they have ever done to striking down a key provision of capital punishment - the abolition of the automatic death sentence - before putting a pause on the measure. The Lower House withdrew the proposed amendment to the Offences Against the Person Act for further consideration by government. The amendment was to bring the law in line with a Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) ruling that struck down the mandatory death sentence in the appeal cases of Barbadian murder convicts Jabari Sensimania Nervais and Dwayne Omar Severin. Their separate appeals were consolidated because they both challenged the constitutionality of the mandatory death sentence for murder in Barbados. The justices ruled that a section of the Offences Against the Person Act was unconstitutional because it provided for a mandatory sentence of death. But legislators left a clear message that the death penalty will remain the law of the land. "Let there be no doubt that the Cabinet of Barbados has not made a decision to abolish the death penalty. ... What we are doing simply is abolishing the mandatory nature of the death penalty and making corrections and amendments to legislation to give effect to that," said Member of Parliament for Christ Church East, Wilfred Abrahams, who piloted debate on the measure. "It is not as if we had a choice. While we might have delayed in following the dictates of the Inter-American Human Rights Court or following the dictates of the conventions that we are signatories to, from the time the CCJ made the ruling that the mandatory death penalty was unconstitutional the CCJ set out what the new law for Barbados was going forward," he added. But the amendment to the law was shelved immediately following concerns expressed during the speeches by 3 Members of Parliament (MPs) - Ralph Thorne, Housing Minister Charles Griffith and Maritime Affairs Minister Kirk Humphrey. At the end of those contributions, acting leader of Government Business in the Lower Chamber of Parliament, Lt. Colonel Jeffrey Bostic rose to table a successful motion that debate be suspended. Leading off the discussion when the House resumed its post-lunch session, an emotional Thorne was adamant that the provision in the bill which empowers a judge solely with the responsibility of sentencing a convicted person to death, should be removed. The senior attorney suggested that the decision should be made by jury, contending that it was too heavy a burden to place on the shoulders of one man or woman. "I want to submit to you, your honour, and I want the public that feels very, very strongly on the issue of the death penalty, to consider whether the responsibility, the heavy and final responsibility of passing a sentence of death should fall on one person ... whether it should fall alone on the shoulders of a judge or whether, as in some jurisdictions in the United States ... that grave and weighty decision ... should be made by a panel of 12 persons, and whether that panel of 12 persons would be allowed only to pass that sentence of death if they are unanimous," suggested the MP for Christ Church South. He pointed to a murder case which was sent on appeal to the CCJ, in which it was the jury who had not only convicted the person but also condemned him to death. "Under the system that we are changing ... at the urging of the Caribbean Court of Justice, in a very real sense, it was the jury that was not only convicting but was condemning that man to death. As I said, the judge's role was ritualistic. This amendment ... places that entire responsibility on the judge himself," he said, adding that parliamentarians must now invite the wider public into this discussion. While the lawyer was quick to point out that this discussion had no political borders but was a matter of conscience, he stressed that the masses now ought to have a say in whether a judge alone or jury by unanimous verdict should decide if someone should be executed. The senior lawyer also had issue with section 26 of the Constitution - the "savings clause" introduced in the Independence Constitution of 1966 to keep in force the full body of colonial law as the country ended 339 years of unbroken rule from London. Thorne explained that this provision ensured that the country maintained any "bad or unjust" laws which existed prior to independence in 1966. He recalled that a few weeks ago, the CCJ reminded Barbados that the clause should "not hold the country's legal system hostage indefinitely. "That court remarked that in Belize, when they introduced their independence constitution, their savings law clause was expressed to be for 5 years. In other words, it was transitional. What the savings law clause does in Belize and what it ought to have done in Barbado
