[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, ALA., OHIO, TENN., NEV.
November 15 TEXASexecution Mexican citizen executed in Texas for killings of wife, kids A Mexican citizen on death row in Texas was executed Wednesday night for the sledgehammer killings of his wife and 2 children more than 26 years ago. Roberto Moreno Ramos was condemned for the 1992 deaths of his 42-year-old wife Leticia, 7-year-old daughter Abigail, and 3-year-old son Jonathan at their home in Progreso, located along the Mexico border. When asked by the warden if he had a final statement, Ramos thanked the Mexican consulate for assisting with appeals in his case and said he was grateful for “the humane treatment I got in prison in Texas.” “I’m getting my gold watch that it took the governor 30 years to forge,” he said without elaborating. “Thank you God. Lord, send me a chariot. I’m ready.” As the lethal dose of the powerful sedative pentobarbital began taking effect, the 64-year-old Ramos took a couple of deep breaths, sputtered once and began snoring. Within seconds, all movement stopped. 11 minutes later, at 9:36 p.m. CST, Ramos was pronounced dead. He became the 21st inmate put to death this year in the U.S. and the 11th given a lethal injection in Texas, the nation’s busiest capital punishment state. No friends or relatives of Ramos or his victims witnessed the execution. Mexican officials had called for his execution to be stopped, arguing he was part of a group of Mexican citizens condemned in the U.S. who were never told when first arrested that they could get legal help from the Mexican government. The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday night cleared the way for the punishment when it denied two appeals seeking to halt the lethal injection. Ramos’ attorney on Wednesday asked the Supreme Court to stop his execution, arguing that Ramos’ constitutional rights were violated as lower courts refused to fully review his claims that his trial lawyers failed to present any evidence about his mental illness and abusive childhood that could have persuaded jurors to spare his life. 3 retired justices who had served on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals filed court documents with the Supreme Court on Wednesday in support of stopping the execution. The ex-judges alleged the appeals court appointed an incompetent appellate attorney who early in the post-conviction process failed to investigate Ramos’ case. Also Wednesday, a federal judge in Austin dismissed Ramos’ request to temporarily block the execution. The request had been part of a lawsuit Ramos filed against the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals a day earlier. The suit alleged the appeals court had not allowed Ramos to present claims he had ineffective trial and appellate lawyers. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals had previously turned down requests to halt Ramos’ execution. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles on Monday declined to recommend either a commutation of his sentence or a six-month reprieve. In court documents, Ramos’ appellate attorney, Danalynn Recer, had argued Ramos suffered from bipolar disorder most of his life, including during the time of his family’s killings, as well as brain damage that affected his ability to control his impulses and regulate his emotions. Recer said Ramos was also brutally beaten as a child by his father. Ramos was born in Aguascalientes, Mexico, and grew up in Guadalajara and Tijuana before his family moved to the United States in 1970. “No fact-finder or decision-maker entrusted with Mr. Moreno Ramos’ life has ever been provided with evidence of (his) ‘diverse human frailties’ to assist them in dispensing the most severe punishment under law,” Recer said. But the Texas Attorney General’s Office said Ramos’ death sentence was appropriate due to his “violent and dangerous nature.” Authorities said Ramos bludgeoned his family members and then buried them underneath his home’s bathroom floor so he could marry the woman he was having an extramarital affair with at the time. In court filings, the attorney general’s office highlighted testimony from Ramos’ then-19-year-old son, who told jurors at Ramos’ 1993 trial that his father “would continue to commit criminal acts of violence.” In 2004, the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, found Ramos was part of a group of 52 Mexican citizens awaiting execution in the U.S. who weren’t advised of their consular rights under the Vienna Convention when first arrested. It recommended they be tried again to determine if consular access would have affected their cases. Then-President George W. Bush directed states to reopen the cases. But the Supreme Court in 2008 overruled Bush’s directive, saying only Congress can require states to follow the international court’s ruling. Including Ramos, 6 Mexican citizens have been executed since being named in the international court ruling and all the executions were
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, ALA., OHIO, ARK., NEB.
April 15 TEXAS: Texas seeks to fast-track executions A request by Texas to opt in on the 1996 Federal Anti-terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act is drawing sharp criticism from civil rights groups and local defense attorneys. According to the state Attorney General's office, the move would avoid "stressful delays" and "excessive costs" associated with executions. Defense attorney Raymond Fuchs said opting in to the act is "a horrible idea." "Texas spends very little money on counsel, on investigators, on mitigation experts, on psychologists and psychiatrists," he said. "They're as penny-pinching as you can get. "When I read that (U.S. Attorney) Jeff Sessions is actually considering Texas' application for this fast track, I thought it was a joke. We now have people running this state, who I guess think it's a Wild West show where the idea is, 'Let's have a trial and string 'em up.'" Whether Texas gets to opt in on the federal law is up to Sessions. (source: KSAT news) ALABAMAimpending execution Walter Leroy Moody seeks stay of execution for judge's pipe bomb slaying Walter Leroy Moody Jr., 83, the oldest inmate on Alabama Death Row, is waiting to see if a court will block his execution by lethal injection Thursday for a bombing nearly three decades ago that killed a federal appeals court judge. Moody maintains he didn't do it. And in the past few months since his April 19 execution date was set he and his attorneys have filed a flurry of appeals in federal and state courts. Last week both he - in a hand-written motion - and his attorneys filed requests for stay of execution. And now he and his attorneys are awaiting a ruling by the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, which listened to arguments in the case last Thursday. U.S. 11th Circuit of Appeals Judge Robert Vance Sr. was killed Dec. 16, 1989 in a blast from a pipe bomb hidden in a package sent to the judge's Mountain Brook, Ala., home. The judge's wife, Helen, was seriously injured in the blast. In 1991, a federal jury convicted Moody of 71 charges related to the pipe-bomb murders of Vance and Georgia civil rights attorney Robert E. Robinson, who also was killed in a pipe-bomb blast two days after the judge. That federal trial was conducted in Minnesota. Moody was placed on death row after a jury convicted him of capital murder at a trial in Alabama five years later. The jury recommended 11-1 that the death penalty be imposed and the judge agreed. Alabama asked that an execution date be set for Moody on Jan. 9, the day after the U.S. Supreme Court denied his request to consider an appeal. Moody recently argued to a federal appeals court that the federal government which convicted him first on non-death penalty charges should have him in custody instead. Both the Alabama Attorney General and U.S. Justice Department have said that the federal government had the right, under an agreement, to allow the state to take custody of Moody and have him serve his state sentence first. "Moody cannot challenge any determination by the United States or Alabama as to the order in which he will face his federal and state sentences. The comity rules that govern priority of jurisdiction between the United States and Alabama do not confer on Moody any legally enforceable right that he may assert in a federal habeas proceeding," according to a federal appeals court brief filed April 10 by the U.S. Justice Department. Moody lost his appeal on another issue in January before the U.S. Supreme Court. He had appealed an 11th Circuit decision in March 2017. That appeal was about his decision to represent himself at his 1996 capital murder trial in Alabama. After convicting him, the jury voted 11-1 to recommend a death sentence. Courts have found that the trial judge did not err in allowing Moody to represent himself. Much of prosecutors' evidence centered on the similarities between pipe bombs Moody had previously been convicted of using. According to a summary of the bombings and investigations in one federal court document, prosecutors claimed that in May 1972, a bomb exploded in Moody's home in Macon, Ga. "The bomb, contained in a package addressed to a car dealer who had repossessed Moody's car, exploded when opened by Moody's wife. Moody was convicted in federal court in Macon for possessing the bomb, although he was acquitted of manufacturing it, and he served three years in federal prison." "Moody eventually became obsessed with overturning his 1972 conviction. He devised an elaborate story to shift the blame to a mythical "Gene Wallace," who Moody had claimed at trial had been attempting to assist him in regaining possession of his car and was responsible for the bomb," according to the court document. "Moody recruited a witness to substantiate his account, a destitute, young handicapped woman, Julie Linn-West, and he paid her in small monthly installments as
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, ALA., OHIO, KY., ARK., UTAH, USA
August 26 TEXASimpending execution Texas Prepares for Execution of Juan Castillo on September 7, 2017 Juan Edward Castillo is scheduled to be executed at 6 pm CDT, on Thursday, September 7, 2017, at the Walls Unit of the Huntsville State Penitentiary in Huntsville, Texas. 36-year-old Juan is convicted of the murder of 19-year-old Tommy Garcia, Jr., on December 3, 2003, in San Antonio, Texas. Juan has spent the last 11 years of his life on Texas' death row. Juan had previously worked as a cook and a laborer. He was previously convicted of deadly conduct with a firearm. During the trial, witnesses also testified that Juan was a violent man, threatening and beating the mother of his child. Additionally, he had previously shot a man during a road rage incident, boasted about similar crimes, and bragged about committing home invasions and robberies. In December 2003, Juan Castillo was dating Debra Espinosa. Late on December 2, and during the early morning hours of December 3, 2003, the couple was with Francisco Gonzales, a friend with Castillo, and Gonzales' girlfriend Teresa Quintero. The 4 of them created a plan to rob Tommy Garcia, Jr., with who Espinosa had previously been intimate. Espinosa was to take Tommy to secluded spot in a residential neighborhood in San Antonio, Texas. Castillo and Gonzales, in masks and armed with guns, would storm the car and rob Tommy. Espinosa would play along, as if she were a victim too. Quintero would serve as the get away driver from Castillo and Gonzales. During the ensuing robbery, Tommy was shot and killed by Castillo, according to the others. Gonzales was arrested by the police as he fled from the scene, with Espinosa arrested a short time later. Both agreed to testify against Castillo in exchange for a reduced charge and a sentence of forty years in prison. Gonzales and Espinosa testified that Castillo took the lead in planning the robbery. They also testified that he was the person who shot and killed Tommy. Some of Gonzales's family members also testified that they heard Castillo confess to the crime and speak of how he hid the evidence. 2 of Tommy's friends testified that they were with him when he received a phone call to meet up with Espinosa. Shortly thereafter, they received a phone call from a hysterical Espinosa, who said that Tommy had been shot. Castillo had also been seen wearing a distinctive necklace that Tommy had been wearing the night he was killed. Castillo was convicted. During the punishment phase of the trial, Castillo elected to represent himself, a move that was allowed after the court determined Castillo was making a knowing and voluntary decision. His 2 appointed attorneys remained as stand-by counsel. Castillo was sentenced to death. Please pray for peace and healing for the family of Tommy Garcia. Pleas pray for strength for the family of Juan Castillo. Please pray that Juan is innocent, lacks the competency to be executed or should not be executed for any other reason, that evidence will be presented prior to his execution. Please pray that Juan may come to find peace through a personal relationship with the Lord, if he has not already. (source: theforgivenessfoundation.org) *** Cruel and unusual - the case of schizophrenic death row inmate Scott Panetti In 1999, Texas death row inmate Scott Panetti talks during a interview in Huntsville, where he is on death row for the 1992 murder of his wife's parents. It was obvious he was not fit to stand trial. Scott Panetti was just hours from death on Nov. 29, 2014. Not because of some rare disease with an unpronounceable name but, sadly, because of a not-so-rare disease with a name that can strike terror in the heart of the patient's loved ones: Paranoid schizophrenia. Inmate No. 999164, the other label by which Panetti goes, received the sentence of death in 1995 after murdering his in-laws during a psychotic episode. What makes his case newsworthy is not the heinousness of the killings, which they were, not the outlandish behavior of Panetti at trial, which it was, and not the multiple attempts to subpoena the pope, Jesus Christ and President John F. Kennedy, which he did, but the fact that his case progressed to within mere hours of his execution before the courts acknowledged that his consistently disturbing behaviors, over more than 19 years as a diagnosed schizophrenic, signaled that he may not have been competent to stand trial in the first place. Virtually every country in the world prohibits pursuit of the death penalty against the mentally ill. The United States, however, has yet to uniformly abolish the practice. The U.S. Supreme Court in 1986 definitively ruled in Ford vs. Wainwright that the execution of the insane - by definition, someone who does not comprehend the reason for, the reality of, nor the gravity of his or her crime and the subsequent punishment - violates
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, ALA., OHIO, CALIF., USA
June 20 TEXAS: Thousands in jury pool for Zoe Hastings murder trial Work has started on finding a jury for the trial of a man accused of killing an 18-year-old Dallas woman in 2015. About 3,000 Dallas County residents will be called in and fill out questionnaires so prosecutors and lawyers can find 12 people in the death penalty case of Antonio Cochran. He's accused of stabbing Zoe Hastings to death and dumping her body in the minivan she was driving in a creek after kidnapping her from an East Dallas Walgreens in Oct. 2015. The trial is set to start in late October, but to get there the jury selection process is starting 4 months out. The goal of the 19 page, 200-plus question document is to help prosecutors and defense attorneys know who the jurors are. Nearly 1/4 of the questions are about potential jurors' views on capital punishment. Jury consultant Kacy Miller analyzed the questionnaire. "The state is looking for jurors who are willing to give the death penalty," Miller said. "The defense also needs jurors who are willing to give the death penalty -- but maybe just not as frequently." Recent Dallas County juryies have said no to the death penalty for quadruple murderer defendant Erbie Bowser and another convicted killer, Juan Andrade. Both juries in those cases opted for life in prison without parole. When there is a guilty verdict in a death penalty case jurors must then answer 2 questions: Is the person a continuing threat to society? Is there no reason worth saving their life? Heath Harris, former First Assistant Dallas County D.A. who is now in private practice, has tried death penalty cases from both the prosecution and defense table. "Seems like there's an increase in whether people feel like the death penalty is a deterrent," Harris said. But the death penalty and how it's administered has also itself, seemingly, been on trial of late. Some courts are debating whether its practice is humane. Plus, several exonerations across the country - including death row inmates ??? are also impacting potential jurors and making it more difficult to get a unanimous death penalty verdict. "It's absolutely more difficult today," said attorney Robert Udashen. "When I first started practicing law police and prosecutors always wore the white hats and juries trusted anything prosecutors and police officers said." Udashen says the overall climate change towards police grand juries and prosecutors has caused jurors to think long and hard before voting yes to the ultimate punishment - death. (source: Fox News) *** HCSO: Mom charged with capital murder in daughter's death A mother has been charged with capital murder in the stabbing death of her 4-year-old daughter in west Harris County. According to the Harris County Sheriff's Office, 34-year-old Laquita Lewis was charged with capital murder Monday morning. The single mother of 4 has been denied bail and faces life in prison or the death penalty if convicted. Prosecutors said that Lewis allegedly stabbed her child, Fredricka Allen, multiple times in the chest and left her on the floor of the master bedroom. Neighbor Burim Hoax is having a tough time dealing with the news. "I couldn't believe that happened. Bad news. I didn't have any idea what happened last night and I still don???t believe," he said. Hoax says 4-year-old Fredricka would greet him in the apartment complex parking lot almost every morning. "She would say to me, good morning." Family members say they got some text messages from the Lewis. She basically told them she hurt Fredricka. Those family members called 911 and urged deputies to come check on the girl at the Timberwalk Apartment Homes located in the 5600 block of Timber Creek Place. Deputies found that little girl dead inside her home just before 9 p.m., but investigators think she was stabbed to death earlier in the day. Investigators said the mother was in a car accident and rushed to a hospital around 6 p.m. It was there at the hospital that deputies say the mother started texting family, apologizing for what she had done. Deputies also say, earlier in the day, the woman got into a fight with her boyfriend. "We don't really know what the catalyst of that argument was," said Thomas Gilliland, spokesman for the Harris County Sheriff's Office. "Obviously it was some sort of, enough to escalate to where she killed the 4-year old. Now, Lewis is in custody. The scene was so bad that chaplains were out here to console family members of the little girl, as well as the deputies who discovered her body. "There's not enough words to describe the horrible death of this child," said Gilliland. According to the Harris County DA's office, Lewis was charged in November for making a terroristic threat during a Thanksgiving incident in which she brandished a knife at her 16-year-old son. Lewis, who at the time had no prior
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, ALA., OHIO
Nov. 19 TEXASnew death sentence Death sentence for Fort Worth man who killed pregnant girlfriend, 2 others A Tarrant County jury sentenced a Fort Worth man to death Friday in a 2013 triple slaying. Amos Wells was convicted on Nov. 3 of capital murder in the deaths of his pregnant girlfriend Chanice Reed, 22; her mother, Annette Reed, 39; and Chanice Reed's 10-year-old brother, Eddie McCuin, on July 1, 2013. The jury deliberated for about 4 hours Friday afternoon before reaching the decision. "This has been a long trial," said Kevin Rousseau, Tarrant County prosecutor. "The family is happy that justice was served. Nothing will replace the lives that were lost. But this was a necessary first step in the healing process." Prosecutors argued that after Wells shot his girlfriend and her mother, he chased Eddie through the house and shot him while he cowered on the floor. A woman who identified herself as Chanise Reed's cousin said during her victim impact statement that she forgave Wells but still could not understand why he killed the woman and the unborn child he claimed he loved. "There have been 6 deaths in our family between 2010 and 2012," the woman said. "All we have left is memories that will never fade away." State District Judge Ruben Gonzalez allowed Wells' family to speak to him after his death sentence was announced to a packed courtroom. Wells, who barely showed any emotion as his sentence was read, broke down in tears as they said their goodbyes. One man said that he would do all that he could for Wells, including take care of his mother and daughter and supply him with whatever he needed while he was in prison waiting for the state to carry out his sentence. "I did this," Wells told his relatives. "I'm an adult. Don't bear this burden. This burden is mine. The more you see me, the more you do for me, the more I will feel like I am putting this burden on you." On July 1, 2013, while first responders surrounded the residence in the 2900 block of Pate Drive where the shooting happened, Wells had already turned himself in at the Forest Hill Police Department. Video surveillance showed Wells leaning on the counter top in front of a window that led to the police communication division. One officer leveled his service weapon at Wells, who begged for the police to take his life, according to testimony. The last man to be sent to death row by a Tarrant County jury was Cedric Allen Ricks, who received a death sentence on May 16, 2014. Ricks got into an argument with Roxann Sanchez, his 30-year-old common-law wife and grabbed a kitchen knife and began stabbing the victim and her 12- and 8-year old sons. Before Friday's verdict there had been 3 death sentences handed down in Texas this year, according to The Texas Tribune. Last year, Texas sent 2 convicted killers to death row, the fewest since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the state's capital punishment statute nearly 4 decades ago, according to a Texas-based group that opposes the death penalty, the Tribune reported. The state has scheduled executions for 6 offenders next year, according to Texas Department of Criminal Justice records. 3 are from Tarrant County, 2 are from Dallas County and 1 is from Collin County (source: Fort Worth Star-Telegram) * Judge rules child-killer Battaglia competent to be executed After months of uncertainty, the fate of convicted child killer John Battaglia was sealed in a Dallas County courtroom on Friday. Judge Robert Burns ruled Battaglia's scheduled execution date of Dec. 7 will stand after the court found him competent to face the death penalty. The judge's ruling concluded 'Battaglia does understand that he is to be executed and that his execution is imminent, and he does understand the reason for his execution." Battaglia committed one of the most heinous and unthinkable crimes in Dallas history back in May 2001. He shot and killed his two little girls, Faith and Liberty, while on the phone with his ex-wife Mary Jean Pearl. Back in March, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals granted a stay of execution. Court documents at the time stated Battaglia claimed his lawyer abandoned him and failed to call into question his mental competency. In a jailhouse interview with News 8's Rebecca Lopez, Battaglia blamed a list of people he called "demons" for his conviction in the murders. Prosecutors believed Battaglia was attempting to game the system while the defense team argued 3 out of 4 experts concluded he was delusional and should not be executed. In court, it was revealed Battaglia read books and case law on how he could fool doctors into believing he was too incompetent to be executed. (source: WFAA news) *** Deadly Question Bill Meier says he can't remember exactly how he arrived at the deadly question, back in 1973. "I frankly don't have the kind of memory that would allow
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, ALA., OHIO, NEB., CALIF., USA
Nov. 4 TEXAS: North Texas man found guilty in shooting deaths of 3 people A North Texas jury has convicted a 26-year-old man of capital murder in the shooting deaths of his estranged girlfriend, her mother and young brother. The punishment phase of the trial for Amos Joseph Wells III is scheduled to begin Friday, a day after he was found guilty of the July 2013 slayings. Tarrant County prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. The shooting at a Fort Worth home was preceded by an argument between Wells and 22-year-old Chanice Reed, who was pregnant at the time. Authorities say Wells retrieved a handgun and killed the three. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports (http://bit.ly/2fjyJIE ) the evidence included shells found at the home that matched ammunition kept by Wells. Wells later surrendered to police by asking to be shot and killed. (source: Associated Press) ALABAMA: Death Row Inmate Narrowly Escapes Execution for the 7th Time Thomas Arthur has escaped death for the 7th time. US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts issued a stay from the Court late Thursday evening delaying Arthur's scheduled Nov. 3 execution. The Court's stay marks the seventh time 74-year-old death row inmate Arthur has avoided an impending execution date. Attorneys for Arthur filed briefs before the Court Thursday. One of the petitions asked the Court to review Arthur's request for an alternative form of execution beside lethal injection, because Arthur believes Alabama's 3-drug lethal injection regimen would be cruel and unusual. The 2nd asked the Court to review Alabama's death penalty sentencing laws, which Arthur argues are unconstitutional based on the Supreme Court's January decision in Hurst v. Florida, which overturned the Sunshine State's sentencing laws. The US Supreme Court ruled Florida's former sentencing laws, which allowed trial court judges to overrule the decision of a jury in a death penalty case, were unconstitutional. Alabama is now the last state with judicial override for the death penalty. And since 1976, more than 92 % of 107 overrides have resulted in a judge imposing the death penalty when a trial jury voted against recommending the death penalty, according to Montgomery's Equal Justice Initiative. Arthur's case would not usually warrant a stay, Chief Justice Roberts said in the order, but he agreed to vote for the stay because he wanted the other justices of the court to have time to review the case. Associate Justice Samuel Alito voted against granting the stay, along with Associate Justice Clarence Thomas - who granted a temporary stay earlier in the evening before Arthur's 6 p.m. scheduled execution. Arthur's stay will terminate when the court decides on the 2 petitions for writs of certiorari, which ask the Court to review the constitutionality of Arthur's case. If the Court denies the petitions for writs of certiorari, deciding not to take up Arthur's case, the stay on his execution would terminate. If the Court decides to review the case, which Roberts in his order hinted was unlikely, the stay would be extended until the Court hands down a final ruling on his appeals. If the stay is terminated by the Court's refusal to take up his case or the Court affirms the previous decisions of lower courts, which have all gone against Arthur, Arthur's execution will be rescheduled by the Alabama Supreme Court. The Alabama Supreme Court has set seven different execution dates since Arthur was first convicted of the 1982 murder-for-hire of Muscle Shoals businessman Troy Wicker, and he outlived them all. Roberts said he believed the case does not warrant the US Supreme Court's review, writing: "The claims set out in the application are purely fact-specific, dependent on contested interpretations of state law, insulated from our review by alternative holdings below, or some combination of the 3." The Supreme Court has not yet issued a decision on whether to review Arthur's challenge, which originates from an appeal in a US District Court in Alabama that was denied and later appealed to the US 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. In his appeal in the US District Court based on a 2014 US Supreme Court Decision in Glossip v. Gross, Arthur suggested a firing squad or another lethal execution drug, Pentobarbital, as alternatives to the state's controversial 3-drug regimen. Arthur's attorneys argued that Midazolam, the 1st of 3 drugs in Alabama's cocktail, would fail to do its job of sedating the inmate to prevent pain during the induction of the 2 other live-taking drugs, violating the Eight Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. In Glossip v. Gross, the US Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the use of Midazolam as a sedative was not unconstitutional, allowing its use to continue, but Arthur argues that his preexisting heart condition would render Midazolam ineffective. The federal judge hearing
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, ALA., OHIO, NEB., CALIF., USA
Nov. 1 TEXAS: Man accused of slaughtering '3 generations out of one family' This article contains graphic description. Amos Joseph Wells kept his head down as video of the carnage he is accused of causing flashed across a courtroom screen Monday morning. As the victims' family members cried - some so distraught that they left the courtroom - jurors watched as emergency crews worked desperately to save the lives of Wells' estranged 22-year-old pregnant girlfriend, Chanice Reed, her 10-year-old brother, Eddie McCuin Jr., inside the family's east Fort Worth house. The video was shot by a police sergeant's body camera. Outside the home, other paramedics tended to the wounded pair's mother, Annette Reed, who had been crying for help when officers first arrived - despite a gunshot wound to the face. Despite their efforts, all 3 would die, as well as Chanice Reed's unborn son. "This defendant slaughtered 3 generations out of 1 family," Lloyd Whelchel, who is prosecuting the case along with Kevin Rousseau, told jurors in opening statements Monday. "He took 4 innocent lives that day." Tarrant County prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Wells. He has been jailed since shortly after the July 1, 2013 slayings, when he walked into the Forest Hill Police Department and announced, "I've done something bad." Though Wells is on trial for the deaths of Chanice Reed and her mother, Annette Reed, jurors also learned about the 2 other lives lost that day. Reed's unborn son would be 3 today had he lived, Whelchel told jurors, likely getting ready to go trick or treating with his cousins. McCuin would have been 13 and in the 7th grade, his life still wide open before him. Instead, the 10-year-old boy was chased down by Wells and executed inside the house after first witnessing his sister being shot, Whelchel told jurors. Wells' defense attorneys, Bill Ray and Steve Gordon, did not give an opening statement Monday. 'They're dying' In an emotional day of testimony, jurors heard from those who heard or witnessed Chanice Reed and Wells arguing moments before the triple shooting occurred. They also heard Annette Reed's own voice as she called 911, asking for assistance at the home in the 2900 block of Pate Drive, in a chaotic call drowned out by screams and the shouts of "No!" and "Stop!" in the background. Annette Reed later updates the call taker that "He's going to his truck" followed by more screams of "No!" before the call abruptly ends. Joylene Parsons, Annette Reed's aunt, testified she had also heard shouting in the background when her clearly troubled niece called, asking her to come over and explaining that Chanice Reed and her boyfriend were arguing. Esqual Martinez said he was working 2 houses down, patching up a driveway, when he saw and heard a man and woman arguing in the nearby front yard. He said it sounded as if the man wanted to the woman to come with him, but she kept yelling no and telling the man to go. Martinez said the man walked to the driver side of a Tahoe parked on the street in front of the home. "At first I thought he was leaving but he came back with a gun in his hand," Martinez testified. Martinez said he watched as the man shot the woman he had been arguing with multiple times. He said he then saw the man approach an older woman with the gun. He said the older woman was trying to bat the gun away but the man kept repositioning it toward her until shooting her too. Scared, Martinez said he grabbed a shovel and hid in a corner of the house he was working at for fear that the gunman might come after him next. "I heard some more shots," Martinez testified. "I didn't know what was going on." 'Just pray for her' Before emergency crews could arrive, another of Annette Reed's son arrived at the home after his own worrisome conversation with his mother. Kenneth Speed, 21, testified he had called his mother to seek permission to go swimming but heard his sister, Chanice Reed, arguing with Wells loudly in the background. He said he and other relatives and friends rushed to his home after hearing his mother curse at Wells and the call ending. He said they arrived to see the home's front door and screen door open and a neighbor standing in the yard. "I opened the door and said, 'What's going on?'" Williams recalled. "He said, 'Someone got shot.'" Williams testified he looked to the left and saw his mother on the ground. "I ran up. She was choking on her own blood," Williams testified. "I looked to the left and I saw my sister in the doorway with a hole in the head." After seeing bullet holes inside the home's walls, Williams said he headed down toward the hall to find his little brother. "I looked down the hallway. He was on the ground," Williams testified. "I rolled him over. He had 3 bullets in his chest." By the time Parsons arrived at her niece's home, police cars already packed the
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, ALA., OHIO, NEB., ARIZ., USA
Aug. 24 TEXASimpending execution An Austin Resident is Scheduled for Execution This Week A Harris County resident, Bernardo Aban Tercero, is scheduled for execution after 6 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2015, pursuant to a court order by the 232nd District Court, said a press release from The Attorney General of Texas Ken Paxton's office. A Harris County jury found Tercero guilty of murdering a man by the name of Robert Berger during an aggravated robbery in October 2000. According to the facts of the case, Berger, on March 31, 1997, and his young daughter entered a Park Avenue Cleaners in Austin near closing time, and at about the same time, an employee, Ricardo Toruno, unlocked the back door of the cleaners to take the trash out to the dumpster. As Toruno made his way back inside, one of Tercero's accomplices put a gun to Toruno's head and accompanied him through the door. Tercero then entered the cleaners and proceeded to the front of the store where the manager, Michelle Johnson, testified that Tercero said something to Berger, but the man did not respond. Tercero then grabbed Berger by the arm and pushed him back. Berger attempted to get away from Tercero, but the gunman shot him in the back of the head, and he fell to the ground. During this exchange, one of the robbers with Tercero demanded money. Afterward, Tercero and his accomplice fled the cleaners through the back door with a cash drawer each in hand. The press release stated that during his testimony, Tercero said he robbed the cleaner because he and his live-in girlfriend, Marisol Lima, were having economic difficulties. Lima, who worked for Park Avenue Cleaners with her sister told Tercero that he could easily get money from it and the 3 of them discussed how to commit the robbery. Tercero and the sisters cased the dry cleaners the day before the incident and devised a pager code so Lima's sister could page Tercero and his accomplice when there were no customers in the shop. Tercero also testified that when he pulled out his gun in the dry cleaners, waved it in the air, and asked for money, Mr. Berger began to advance on him. The 2 men began struggling over the firearm and the gun went off. However, Tercero's story did not coincide with witness testimony. According to this testimony, after the robbers escaped the dry cleaners with the money from the cash drawers, Tercero stayed with another woman, Sylvia Cotera, who he later told about the shooting. He told her he did so because the person didn't have any money and that made him mad. He also told Cotera that he shot Berger because he was afraid he had seen his face and could identify him. He then threatened Cotera with burning down her apartment if she said anything. Additional evidence in the case showed this incident wasn't Tercero's 1st run-in with the law for a similar crime. Tercero previously robbed 3 men at gunpoint in his home country, Nicaragua, where he shot 1 victim and kidnapped his 4-year-old son. He also shot at officers who pursued him. On November 20, 1997, a Harris County grand jury indicted Tercero for the capital murder of Robert Berger during the robbery. He was sentenced to death on October 20, 2000. Tercero filed an application for state habeas corpus relief and pro se petition for a write of habeas corpus, but was denied. On May 19, 2015, the 232nd state district court issued an order setting Tercero's execution date for Aug. 26, 2015. (source: sanangelolive.com) *** see: http://www.amnestyusa.org/get-involved/take-action-now/ usa-stop-the-execution-of-bernardo-aban-tercero-ua-17615 (source: Amnesty International USA) ALABAMA: Dad potentially faces death penalty in death of toddler son The Houston County District Attorney Doug Valeska called the case filed against a Dothan father potentially a death penalty case in connection to the death of his 2-year-old son. Valeska spoke shortly after the 1st appearance in court for Jose Rosales, 25, of Fortner Street, held Monday morning in front of District Court Judge Benjamin Lewis. Lewis informed Rosales he currently faces a felony 1st-degree domestic violence-assault charge. Valeska told the court during the hearing he expected to hear results from the victim's autopsy later Monday. Deputies with the Houston County Sheriff's Office arrested Rosales late Saturday night. Rosales, son, Jose Rosales, Jr. was pronounced dead in the emergency room at Flowers Hospital at 4:54 p.m. on Saturday afternoon. Houston County Coroner Robert Byrd said Saturday rescue units were called to a home on Fortner Street at about 4:18 p.m. Following the death, the Houston County Sheriff's Office initiated an investigation. Valeska said Sheriff Donald Valenza, Sheriff's Capt. Bill Rafferty and the case investigator contacted him multiple times over the weekend about the circumstances surrounding the death of the 2-year-old boy. We'll
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, ALA., OHIO, KAN., MO., COLO., ARIZ., CALIF., USA
Oct. 16 TEXAS: Call for Texas to follow Missouri in returning execution drugs to suppliers The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) is facing calls to return medicines it purchased for use in executions using misleading methods, after Missouri finally handed back drugs to their supplier last week. Missouri returned its supplies of propofol, an anaesthetic used in large doses to carry out lethal injections in certain states, after manufacturer Fresenius Kabi warned of terrible consequences if they were used to carry out the death penalty. Fresenius, which has its headquarters in Germany, argued that the use of propofol in US executions would trigger European export controls which could lead to shortages of the life-saving anaesthetic across the USA. Missouri's Governor said on Friday that executions using propofol should be halted in the interests of making sure justice is served and public health is protected and instructed the Department of Corrections to return Fresenius' drugs. Meanwhile, Texas is continuing to refuse to return its supplies of pentobarbital, another anaesthetic used in executions, to Woodlands Compounding Pharmacy - despite the supplier writing to demand that TDCJ immediately return them. The owner of Woodlands has complained that the State of Texas misrepresented [the facts] when purchasing the drugs. Another compounding pharmacy, Pharmacy Innovations, blocked shipments of pentobarbital to Texas after discovering the state's intention to use them in executions - which TDCJ had attempted to disguise by ordering them under the name of a hospital which closed in the 1980s. (http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/19186) A spokesman for the compounding industry, David Ball, told Reuters yesterday that No compounding pharmacy that I know of is actively seeking this business, adding: Every pharmacist that I know chose their profession in part out of a desire to help people, and that is what they focus on in their work. Maya Foa, Director of legal charity Reprieve's death penalty team, said: Executioners everywhere need to learn that responsible pharma firms and pharmacies do not want to be involved in the death penalty. They are in the business of saving lives, not ending them. The abuse of medicines in executions not only undermines the purpose for which these medicines were produced, it also puts the lives of patients and citizens all over the US at risk. Texas needs to follow Missouri's lead and hand back the drugs they acquired by underhand means - and which the suppliers are reasonably asking to have returned. (source: Ekklesia) ALABAMA: Jury recommends death penalty for man convicted of 2011 Decatur Krystal murders A Morgan County jury has convicted Jordaan Stanley Creque in the slayings of 2 Krystal employees and is now recommending a sentence of death, reports AL.com's news partner, WHNT News 19. Creque, 23, was charged in the shooting deaths of Jeffrey Mark Graff and Jesse Jose Aguilar. Both were working at a Krystal restaurant in Decatur when they were shot to death during a robbery. Creque, along with Ezekiel Marquez Gholston, 22, and Cassandra Rayann Eldred, 24, were charged in the crime. The jury convicted Creque of 3 counts of capital murder on Friday. The 3rd count stems from the fact the murders occurred during a robbery, according to an earlier AL.com report. The jury voted 11-1 in favor of the death penalty on Monday. Circuit Court Judge Glen Thompson scheduled the formal sentencing for January 15, 2014, WHNT reports. The news station reports Creque did not appear to react at the jury's recommendation but did apologize to the families in court earlier on Monday. I just wanted to have the opportunity to say I'm sorry for my actions and participation in such an event, he said. I know there's nothing I can say or do to bring any kind of relief that would comfort you. I just wanted to say I'm sorry for the lives that have been taken from you. Gholston and Eldred are also charged with capital murder and will be tried separately. Their trial dates have not been set, WHNT reports. (source: al.com) OHIOimpending execution Condemned Ohio man who raped, killed 3-year-old girl seeks mercy, cites childhood abuse A death row inmate who raped and killed his girlfriend's 3-year-old daughter was sexually, physically and verbally abused during his childhood, according to attorneys asking the Ohio Parole Board to spare him before next month's execution. No judge or jury ever heard the full story of the abuse suffered by Ronald Phillips, which included being repeatedly raped and beaten by his late father, according to a document filed with the board ahead of Wednesday's clemency hearing. Ronald Phillips is not and was not a monster, his attorneys said in the filing. Ronald Phillips instead was a 19 year old high school student, who had experienced nothing but violence, chaos,
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, ALA., OHIO, IDAHO, WIS.
Oct. 26 TEXAS: Justices signal dismay at Texas Decision to hear capital cases may suggest high court questions handling The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear 3 Texas death penalty cases in its new term, a move that veteran court watchers called the latest signal of the court's increasing frustration with how condemned inmates' appeals are handled by Texas' highest criminal judges and the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The appeals of 3 Texas inmates one of them convicted of killing a woman in DeSoto will be among only about 70 to 80 cases the Supreme Court will consider this year. Most of the roughly 8,000 cases petitioned to the high court are rejected. Unfortunately, it's become business as usual that the Supreme Court is paying a disproportionate amount of attention to capital cases out of Texas, said Mark Osler, a law professor at Baylor University. Considering there are entire realms of law in which no cases are taken, such as bankruptcy, the fact that so much of their effort is going to this one area and from one state is highly unusual, he said. At issue is whether the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and the 5th Circuit are adhering to the Supreme Court's previous orders in capital cases or interpreting those orders so narrowly that the court's intent is not being followed. All three Texas cases involve questions of whether trial judges gave juries proper instructions on mitigating evidence, such as the background or IQ of the accused. DeSoto case University of Pittsburgh law professor Arthur D. Hellman points to the case of LaRoyce Smith, who was convicted of killing Jennifer Soto at a DeSoto fast-food restaurant in 1991. Mr. Smith's attorneys argued that jurors were not properly instructed on mitigating evidence during the sentencing. The Supreme Court, on a 7-2 vote, sent Mr. Smith's case back to the Court of Criminal Appeals for review in 2004 without even scheduling oral arguments. Mr. Hellman called the action a very clear signal that the court perceived a significant error in how the Court of Criminal Appeals handled the case. It's especially surprising that the Texas court didn't get the message, Mr. Hellman said. Rather than grant Mr. Smith a new sentencing hearing, the Texas court determined the faulty jury instructions did not harm Mr. Smith. This month, the Supreme Court took the unusual step of accepting the case a 2nd time, and justices will decide whether the Texas judges applied the wrong standard. The other 2 cases, involving killings in San Angelo and Amarillo, were appealed on similar grounds and rejected by the 5th Circuit, the next stop for inmates rejected in the Texas court. Edith Jones, chief judge of the 5th Circuit, declined to comment on the Supreme Court action. Sharon Keller, presiding judge of the Court of Criminal Appeals, acknowledged a lot of activity in the Supreme Court, but said she doesn't think the Texas judges are out of step with their judicial superiors. We try to accommodate them, and sometimes we don't anticipate what the Supreme Court is going to do, Judge Keller said. But some law professors say Judge Keller's court and the 5th Circuit have received and ignored direction from the Supreme Court in certain cases. Notably, the high court considered the Texas death penalty cases of John Penry and Thomas Miller-El twice each in recent years. The Penry case, out of Livingston, involved whether jurors were adequately instructed on evidence of mental retardation, while the Miller-El case, out of Dallas, centered on racial discrimination in jury selection. In the first Miller-El decision, in 2003, the Supreme Court questioned the lower courts' dismissive and strained interpretation of evidence. 2 years later, justices reviewed the case again and called the lower courts' decisions unsupportable. The most blunt assessment of the lower courts' approach to death penalty cases probably came in 2004, in a case involving Robert Tennard, convicted of a 1985 fatal stabbing in Houston. On Mr. Tennard's appeal, the Supreme Court declared that the 5th Circuit's review method has no foundation in the decisions of this Court. 'Pattern of defiance' Differing interpretations of the law are not unusual; what has startled experts is the apparent unwillingness of the Court of Criminal Appeals and the 5th Circuit to follow the Supreme Court's direction. What is unusual is that there is a persistent pattern of defiance requiring repeated correction, said Eric M. Freedman, a professor at Hofstra School of Law in New York. The Texas Legislature remedied the inadequacy of jury instructions in the early 1990s, so the Supreme Court is not addressing a current legal issue but a past one. What that tells you is their problem is not with the statute necessarily, since the law has changed; it's with the Court of Criminal Appeals and the 5th Circuit, said Mr. Osler, the Baylor law professor. Mr. Freedman said lower courts will be disappointed
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news---TEXAS, ALA., OHIO, CALIF., USA, IOWA
Jan. 16 TEXAS: Judicial system won't work if jury box is empty Inconvenient. Can't afford it. Too busy. Boss won't give me time off from work. A summons for jury duty - the invitation to participate in a cornerstone of democracy that people in most countries can only dream about - too often inspires only excuses. Studies have found that one of the greatest barriers to serving on a jury is economic. People simply cant afford to take time off work - in many cases without pay - for the grand sum of $6 per day. That doesnt pay for courthouse parking and a sandwich for lunch, much less make a dent in the monthly rent or utility bill. But Texas lawmakers are offering a helping hand. On Jan. 1, a new law, Senate Bill 1704, increased juror pay from $6 to a minimum of $40 per day after the 1st day of service - a 500-plus percent increase. The new provision, long recommended by the Texas Supreme Court and various legal organizations, should take some of the economic sting out of jury service. Too busy? Most of us have many demands on our time, and thats showing up in declining jury participation. In Texas' largest counties, almost 3/4 of all those called for jury service simply don't show up. Yet our highest elected leaders have found time to serve. Recently, President Bush said he intends to answer a jury summons from McLennan County, where his Crawford Ranch is located. And Texas Gov. Rick Perry reported to the Travis County Courthouse in 2002 when called for a municipal trial. Their willingness to serve despite many pressing demands highlights the importance of citizen participation in preserving the rule of law in our democratic system. They recognize that our judicial system will not work if the jury box is empty. Our founders treasured the jury trial, along with voting, as the two great pillars of citizen control over government. Thomas Jefferson described the system as the only anchor ever yet imagined by man by which a government can be held to the principles of its constitution. In the 19th century, Alexis de Toqueville observed: The institution of the jury . . . places the real direction of society in the hands of the governed . . . and not that of the government. The Texas Constitution has 2 separate guarantees of the right to a jury trial. Texas jurors decide not only guilt or innocence but assess punishment as well. They decide more types of civil disputes than jurors in most states. If your life and property were at stake, youd want the best possible jury, not just the best that could be obtained among the one in 4 citizens who bothered to show up. We talk a lot about how to get and keep good judges in Texas, but good juries are just as important. When large numbers of people avoid jury service, we all suffer. Obviously, the plaintiffs and defendants in a particular lawsuit need good jurors. But the entire public depends on a strong, honest jury pool to render verdicts that keep us safe, secure and prosperous. At a time when our soldiers are risking their lives, the least we can do for our country is to sacrifice a little time and money to keep our justice system strong. Lets each resolve to make answering the call to jury service a New Years resolution for 2006. (source: The Amarillo Globe-News - Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, is a state senator who represents Senate District 25 and is co-author of SB 1704. Fred Heldenfels IV, president and CEO of Heldenfels Enterprises Inc., is a member of the board of directors of Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse of Central Texas) ALABAMA: Text of Justice Parker's op-ed page article The text of Alabama Supreme Court Justice Tom Parker's op-ed page article: In 1997, a vicious thug entered the home of a pregnant Alabama woman. He raped and repeatedly stabbed her, then fled, leaving her to die in a house with three other children. Police acted swiftly and caught the attacker, Renaldo Adams, literally red-handed with blood. After a fair trial, Adams was convicted of rape and murder and given the death penalty. It took the jury less than 30 minutes to recommend his execution. As an Assistant Attorney General under then Attorney General (now U.S. Sen.) Jeff Sessions, I helped prosecute Adams and was satisfied that the Alabama jury chose the punishment that best fit his crime. Consequently, I was shocked to learn that the Alabama Supreme Court just freed Adams from death row. Although I am now a justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, I had to recuse from any involvement in Adams' case because I helped prosecute him. Because I believe the Court's decision illustrates a serious problem with our judicial system, however, I write to explain what I regard as a failure to defend our constitution and laws against activist federal judges. You see, my fellow Alabama justices freed Adams from death row not because of any error of our courts but because they chose to passively accommodate - rather than actively resist - the unconstitutional opinion of
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----TEXAS, ALA., OHIO, FLA, VA.
Nov. 3 TEXASexecution Killer of 9-year-old in West Texas executed In Huntsville, convicted child killer Melvin Wayne White, apologetic and prayerful, was executed this evening for the 1997 abduction, sexual assault and beating death of a 9-year-old girl who lived in his West Texas neighborhood. In final comments on the death chamber gurney, White told witnesses to tell Beth and them I am sorry, truly sorry for the pain that I caused your family. He was referring to the mother of his victim. I truly mean that, too. She was a friend of mine and I betrayed her trust. White told the witnesses that he loved them and asked that they tell his mother that he loved her. Then, he began reciting the 23rd Psalm, which begins The Lord is my shepherd and recited the Lord's Prayer. All right, warden, he said at the conclusion. Let's give them what they want. As the drugs began taking effect, he remarked, I can taste it. He then sputtered and gasped. 9 minutes later at 6:21 p.m., he was pronounced dead. White confessed to the slaying of Jennifer Gravell, blaming a lifelong drinking problem for his attack on the young girl whose family lived two houses away from him in Ozona, about 200 miles west of San Antonio. Prosecutors insisted White was a pedophile who used the alcohol explanation as a convenient excuse for his actions. In a death row interview last week, White, 55, acknowledged the slaying, expressed regrets, said he didn't want to die but figured the state was doing him a favor by executing him. I look at it as relief, just to get out of here, he said. I've got to live with this for the rest of my life. It's not an easy deal to do. The U.S. Supreme Court, which last month refused to review White's case, rejected an 11th-hour appeal about an hour before his scheduled execution time. White's lawyers had challenged procedures barring them from filing a suit related to the constitutionality of the lethal combination of drugs used in the injection by prison officials. Earlier this week, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles declined a pair of requests to delay White's punishment for 90 days or commute his sentence to life. This was a guy that was supposed to be their next-door neighbor, Dottie Elrod, the slain girl's grandmother, told the San Angelo Standard-Times this week. I've fought for eight years to get this done. Ori White, the district attorney who prosecuted the case, said the murder was a heinous crime that left Ozona, population about 3,500 and the only town in Crockett County, a town that will never be the same. Melvin White attended a neighborhood barbecue the evening of Aug. 7, 1997, and went home after downing several drinks. Jennifer also attended with her family, then was noticed missing later in the evening. Evidence and testimony showed White took her in his pickup to a roadside rest area outside Ozona where she was bound with black electrical tape, had a sock stuffed into her mouth and was sexually assaulted with a screwdriver. Then she was hit repeatedly with a tire iron before her body was dumped behind a water tank. Authorities found in a trash can in White's house the girl's underpants, sandals and a ball of tape with her hair on it. White confessed to a Texas Ranger and told where the body could be found. A witness had told authorities, after the girl was reported missing, that he saw White in his truck with what he believed was a blond person. The victim had blond hair. I don't remember much about it because I was drinking, White said last week, saying he'd been a drinker since he was 13 or 14. At his trial, prosecutors showed White had assaulted an underage daughter, forced her to perform oral sex, raped her and offered to pay her $50 a week to perform sexual favors. He also had been accused of fondling a female cousin and teenage girl who had been visiting his home. In May 2003, Charlie Gravell, Jennifer's father, shot himself to death, a suicide Elrod blamed on the loss of his daughter. He just couldn't handle it, Elrod said. Next on the execution schedule is inmate Charles Thacker, facing injection Nov. 9 for strangling a Houston woman while attempting to rape her. 2 more Texas inmates are set to die the following week, another in December and 5 have execution dates for early next year. White becomes the 16th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 352nd overall since the state resumed capital punishment on December 7, 1982. 3 more executions are set to be carried out in Texas later this month. White becomes the 113th condemned inmate to be put to death in Texas since Rick Perry became Governor in 2001. White becomes the 46th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 990th overall since America resumed executions on January 17, 1977. There are 11 more executions currently scheduled in America this month, and if all are carried out, the USA will execute its 1000th condemned inmate on November 29, in Ohio.
[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----TEXAS, ALA., OHIO
August 6 TEXAS: Death-row inmate wins appeal A man facing the death penalty for an Amarillo businessman's 1990 stabbing death should receive a new sentencing hearing or a life sentence, a federal judge has ruled, but prosecutors plan to appeal the decision. In a ruling issued Monday, U.S. District Judge Mary Lou Robinson cited a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision and said Randall County jurors should have had special instructions to consider mitigating evidence before sentencing Brent Ray Brewer, 34, to death. In the appeal, Brewer's attorney, Michael D. Samonek of Dallas, claimed the trial court's refusal to permit a special issue or instruction on mitigating evidence violated Brewer's constitutional rights. In 1991, Brewer, then 21, was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death for the stabbing death of Robert Doyle Laminack, 66. On April 26, 1990, Brewer and Kristie Lynn Nystrom persuaded Laminack to give them a ride to the Amarillo Salvation Army, and the pair rode in the back seat. After traveling about a block, Brewer stabbed Laminack several times in the neck while Nystrom held Laminacks arm to prevent him from fighting back. Brewer and Nystrom took about $140 from the victims wallet. Nystrom pleaded guilty to capital murder and received a life sentence. According to federal court records: During his trial, witnesses testified Brewer was severely depressed and was involuntarily committed to a psychiatric hospital three months before the slaying. While undergoing treatment, Brewer met Nystrom, a topless dancer, and witnesses later testified Brewer was dominated and controlled by Nystrom, who continued to have a romantic relationship with him after he was released from the hospital. In her ruling, Robinson cited previous Supreme Court rulings, one of which clarified standards affecting some death penalty cases. The evidence petitioner presented at trial - his abused childhood, his severe depression, his involuntary commitment shortly before the murder, and his domination by Kristie Nystrom - fits within this expansive definition, Robinson's ruling says. This evidence is the sort that might serve as a basis for a sentence less than death. Robinson's ruling says jurors could have viewed evidence presented at Brewer's trial as either mitigating or aggravating. The mitigating evidence presented may have served as a basis for mercy even if a jury decided that the murder was committed deliberately or that (Brewer) posed a continuing threat. Without an instruction, much less a special issue on mitigation, this evidence was out of the jury's reach, Robinson's ruling says. Failure to submit an instruction on mitigation evidence was an unreasonable application of federal law and Supreme Court precedent. Randall County Criminal District Attorney James Farren on Thursday questioned Robinson's ruling. Farren said his office and Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott's staff will appeal the decision to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. We believe that this is clearly contrary to existing law. We believe the court has misread the law and we feel confident that on appeal the 5th Circuit will read the law differently, Farren said. (soure: Amarillo Globe News) ALABAMA: JOINT PRESS RELEASE AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF ALABAMA 207 Montgomery Street, Suite 825 Montgomery, AL 36104 (334) 265-2754 Contacts: Kimberly Parker, Staff Attorney 334-265-2754 x203 ACLU of Alabama Lucia Penland, Executive Director 334-264-7416 Alabama Prison Project Esther Brown 334-499-0003 Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty ACLU OF ALABAMA, ALABAMA PRISON PROJECT AND PROJECT HOPE TO ABOLISH THE DEATH PENALTY CONDEMN THE EXECUTION OF JAMES B. HUBBARD MONTGOMERY, ALA. --James Barney Hubbard was executed in the name of the citizens of the state of Alabama today, August 5, 2004 for the murder of Lillian Montgomery. Our thoughts go out to the families of both Mrs. Montgomery and Mr. Hubbard. Mr. Hubbard was 74 years old and was terminally ill as the result of prostate and colon cancer, hepatitis A, B and C. He spent twenty-seven years on Alabamas death row; he did not present a danger to society. There was evidence that Mr. Hubbard was also borderline mentally retarded and suffered from dementia, calling into question whether he was competent to be executed as is required under the law. In Ford v. Wainwright, decided in 1986, the Supreme Court held that the execution of the mentally ill was unconstitutional and that this prohibition was firmly rooted in law. Justice Thurgood Marshall wrote, Whether its aim be to protect the condemned from fear and pain without comfort of understanding, or to protect the dignity of society itself from the barbarity of exacting mindless vengeance, the restriction finds enforcement in the Eight Amendment. We will never know if Mr. Hubbard was incompetent to be executed. When the state filed its motion to set an execution date for Mr. Hubbard, his
