Nov. 13
TEXAS:
Some changes would improve the death penalty process
There is little common ground between those who favor the death penalty and
those who want to abolish it.
Still, if we assume that only guilty people should be punished and that
taxpayers want to save money, the system can be improved.
Cost is always an issue. In 1992, The Dallas Morning News calculated that the
cost of an average Texas execution was $2.3 million compared to $750,000 for
life imprisonment.
Since 1992, the costs of lawyers, extra time in jury selection, inmate housing
and appeals have risen substantially.
Data reported by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice show Tarrant County
has had 38 offenders executed since 1976, the 4th-most in the state.
Dallas County ranks 2nd with 55 executed, while nearby Parker County has had 2
and Denton County 6. Johnson and Hood Counties have not fulfilled a death
penalty sentence since 1976.
Some suggestions:
-- Videotape all confessions. Many states and the U.S. Department of Justice
already require this, but not Texas.
According to the Innocence Project, false confessions were a factor in 25 % of
convictions overturned after DNA testing.
Younger offenders, those who have mental or emotional handicaps, those "under
the influence" or faced with law enforcement pressure have all falsely
confessed. In the past, videotape would have been costly and cumbersome, but
smart phones, tablets and the like have foreclosed any excuses.
-- Require regional mental health panels.
When the mental state of the accused is an issue, experts are hired by both
prosecution and defense. As most capital murder cases involve indigents,
taxpayers pay for both sides of the fight. Smaller counties often have no
resident experts.
Regional, neutral panels nominated by their peers could review the defendant's
interview and other evidence, yet only one would testify. While not totally
dispositive of other experts, their objective views would carry great
credibility.
-- Set national standards for scientific testing.
I once defended a murder case in Corpus Christi in which the main issue was the
defendant's location. The state's expert used cellphone "pings" and tower
locations to demonstrate that the defendant was in the wrong spot at the right
time.
We had an attorney who rattled off scientific terms and numbers that no one
understood, resulting in a costly, hung jury and re-trial.
Other "science" such as hair microscopy, bite mark analysis and shoe print
comparisons have all resulted in errors. Faulty analysis is behind 47 % of
wrongful convictions, according to the Innocence Project.
-- Have a fair division of costs.
To "get away with (capital) murder" in Texas, or at least not be executed,
commit your crime in an average or small county.
A Texas Tribune study found more than 1/2 (135) of Texas counties have never
executed anyone, and 60 % of the death sentences in the past 5 years have
originated from 2 % of our counties.
The state, not the county, needs to pick up the tab.
Without more safeguards, innocent people will inevitably be executed.
We can't placate those with extreme positions, but we can cut costs, improve
our justice system and enhance our reputation as a state.
(source: Opinion; Steve Fischer of Rockport has been Willacy County district
attorney, a criminal lawyer and a professor of criminology----Fort Worth
Star-Telegram)
************
Jury delivers verdict in death penalty trial
A Houston man escaped the death penalty Thursday when jurors opted for a
punishment of life without parole.
Jurors deliberated more than 12 hours over 3 days before deciding to spare
Johnathan "J-Boi" Sanchez in the shooting deaths of 3 people.
The same jury convicted the 27-year-old last week of capital murder for killing
3 people and wounding 2 others in a Copperfield-area apartment on the afternoon
of Nov. 20, 2013.
Sanchez went to an acquaintance's apartment and opened fire, killing Yosselyn
Alfaro, who was celebrating her 21st birthday, and Daniel Munoz and Veronica
Hernandez, both 17.
The 2 survivors, who were also shot in the head, were able to tell police
Sanchez was the gunman.
The trial, in state District Judge Mark Ellis' court, was the 1st death penalty
trial in Harris County this year.
(source: Houston Chronicle)
CONNECTICUT:
Crime and punishment in Connecticut
In 2012, Connecticut's Democrat dominated General Assembly abolished capital
punishment but carved out an exception for convicted murderers awaiting the
death penalty on death row. The carve-out for the 11 death row prisoners was a
blatant violation of what used to be called the natural law, a series of
political, philosophical and penological assumptions that informs all laws,
statutory and constitutional.
The abolition should have been applied retroactively to Connecticut prisoners
awaiting death, for reasons lucidly stated by Samuel Johnson when he was
reporting on debates in the House of Commons. The Nulla poena sine lege
doctrine - "where there is no law, there is no transgression" - Mr. Johnson
wrote, "is a maxim not only established by universal consent, but in itself
evident and undeniable; and it is, Sir, surely no less certain that where there
is no transgression, there can be no punishment." By abolishing the death
penalty yet leaving the penalty in force for those convicted of capital murder
then awaiting punishment on Connecticut's death row, the General Assembly and
Mr. Malloy were arranging to execute prisoners in the absence of a law
prescribing the death penalty for capital felony. But - where there is no law,
there can be no punishment.
The carve-out, however, was POLITICALLY necessary. The abolition bill was
signed into law only 5 years after a horrific murder in Cheshire, and wounds
were still bleeding. Time, the old adage has it, heals all wounds. In the
fullness of time - only 5 years after 2 parolees had invaded Dr. William
Petit's home, beat the doctor senseless with a baseball bat, forced his wife to
withdraw money from a bank account, raped and murdered both his wife and one of
his younger daughters and murdered 3 women by setting fire to the house - the
General Assembly and Mr. Malloy at long last had achieved their purpose.
In due course, the Connecticut Supreme Court vacated the death penalty for the
11 death row inmates - for the wrong reason. The court did not argue that it
was a violation of justice itself to execute a capital felon in the absence of
a law prescribing the death penalty for felony murder; instead, adopting a
sociological pretense, the court arbitrarily ruled that "the death penalty was
an outdated tool of justice at odds with today's societal values," a judgement
correctly characterized by Chief Justice Chase T. Rogers as "a house of cards,
falling under the slightest breath of scrutiny."
Those politicians favoring abolition of the death penalty most vigorously -
co-chairs of the state's judiciary committee Michael Lawlor, now Mr. Malloy's
undersecretary for criminal justice policy and planning, and Andrew McDonald,
recently appointed to Connecticut's Supreme Court by Mr. Malloy - argued
implausibly that the death penalty had no deterrent value. If the prospect of
death is not a deterrent, then NO PUNISHMENT may be regarded as a deterrent;
such is the ruling in the court of common sense. Actually, it was the failure
to impose capital punishment, a feature designed into Connecticut's rococo
death penalty process, that made deterrence less effective. Mr. McDonald has
yet to be asked why he did not recuse himself in the death penalty abolition
decision.
Death penalty abolition is only one of the carrots in Mr. Malloy's penological
reform quiver. Mr. Lawlor, also a prosecutor, has constructed a Rube Goldberg
penological machine that permits violent criminals such as rapists to earn
get-out-of-jail-early credits while in prison. One of his students, a
card-carrying member of a violent gang who burned his mattress while in jail,
served as a drug mule and assaulted guards and other prisoners, Frankie "The
Razor" Resto, acquired an illegal weapon on release - not, one may be sure, at
a gun show -- waltzed into an EZMart store in Meriden, and shot and murdered
the co-owner of the store AFTER the victim had obligingly turned over his cash
register receipts to Mr. Razor. The vicious murderer plea bargained his
sentence and, in any case, presently has nothing to fear from Connecticut's
repealed capital punishment law - or, for that matter, from Mr. Malloy's
penological reforms, which are all carrots and no stick. Michelle Cruz,
Connecticut's Victims Advocate at the time, who performed her duties much too
conscientiously, was effectively replaced by pro-abolition activist Malloy and
his factotums.
Mr. Malloy's latest attempt to repeal reality by redefining settled concepts
involves proposed legislation that would redefine the parameters of juvenile
behavior, and never mind that including convicted criminals up to age 24 in the
juvenile law bucket is itself a juvenile attempt to change reality through
magic thinking - which has little to do with genuine penological reform. A more
comprehensive penological reform would abolish ALL punishments on the grounds
that only therapeutic forgiveness deters crime. The Malloy administration is
not there yet.
(source: Don Pesci; Middletown Press)
NORTH CAROLINA:
'Tarboro 3' members reflect on SPLC case, life after death row
They were sentenced to die in 1973 for a rape they didn't commit, but found
freedom after Morris Dees and the SPLC took on the racially charged North
Carolina case.
Jesse Walston sounds like many men in their 60s when he speaks.
He talks about life in semi-retirement. He talks about spending time with
family and friends. When he speaks about his grandchildren, his voice swells
with pride. And when he reflects on life, he speaks with the authority that
comes only from life experience.
But what sets him apart from many men his age is what he has experienced.
4 decades ago, Walston and 2 other men were sentenced to die in North
Carolina's gas chamber. The black men were wrongly convicted of raping a white
woman in Tarboro, North Carolina. Walston and the others - who became known as
the "Tarboro 3" - might have remained in prison awaiting their execution had it
not been for the Southern Poverty Law Center, which appealed the case and freed
them.
"There's no point in feeling bitter about it," said Walston, 65. "You just have
to be happy that things turned out the way they did. I don't hold no grudges or
no ill feelings for anybody. I'm just glad that the truth came out."
But it took time for the truth to come out.
Walston and his 2 friends - Vernon Brown and Bobby Hines - spent 2 years in
prison before they were freed. Convicted of rape in 1973, they remained
steadfast in declaring that they had not raped the woman they had given a ride
to a popular late-night hangout after spotting her walking alone at night. They
even rejected a plea deal that would have spared them the death penalty.
After the story of the Tarboro 3 reached SPLC founder Morris Dees, he took the
case.
"When I met these men, they were locked up only 30 feet from the gas chamber,"
Dees said. "I am so proud that the Southern Poverty Law Center was able to free
them and give them a 2nd chance at life. I only wish that the racial injustice
at the heart of this case was no longer an issue today. Unfortunately, our
nation is still grappling with many of the same issues that almost cost the
Tarboro 3 their lives."
Dees found evidence that wasn't introduced at the trial, winning a new trial.
Rather than retry the men, prosecutors agreed to release them from prison if
they pleaded "no contest" to reduced charges. They accepted the offer, even
though they had earlier refused to plead guilty to rape charges in exchange for
a lighter sentence, saying they could not admit to a crime they didn't commit.
"When Morris stepped in we felt a little more relaxed and we knew it was just a
matter of time that the truth was going to come out because he let us know that
he was going to get to the bottom of it," said Walston, who still remains in
contact with Dees today.
Life after the Tarboro Three
Once the case ended and the headlines faded, the Tarboro Three had to resume
their lives. Walston was reunited with his wife, daughter and 2-year-old son,
who was born just before he went to prison. He was even rehired to the job he
held before the ordeal.
Today, he's a part-time truck driver and lives in Camp Springs, Maryland, with
his wife. A proud father of 6 adult children and grandfather of 10, Walston
exudes a content and grateful demeanor. He speaks about summer vacations in
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and Virginia Beach, Virginia, as well as visits
with family - time that he clearly savors.
"The whole life after that [case] has been happy," he said.
On Labor Day, Walston visited Brown in Tarboro. The 2 men's friendship, which
began in high school, has endured over time.
"I guess we'll be friends for life," Walston said. The 3rd member of the group,
Hines, died in a work-related accident years after the case.
'Looking forward'
As for Brown, he found work shortly after being released from prison. He took a
job at a factory that created pressboard for use in furniture and worked there
for 31 years. At age 64, this father of 3 adult children and grandfather of 7
now works part-time at a rental car company.
"I'm so grateful for Mr. Morris Dees," he said. "I'm indebted to him for the
rest of my life. I'm just glad everything is behind me. I'm just looking
forward."
But Brown also admits life is never the same after such an experience.
"I'm never going to forget it," he said. "But I'm doing OK."
Brown still lives in Tarboro, which keeps him near family and friends. He
describes himself as a "homebody" - echoing a comment his mother made in a
story published by the SPLC 4 decades ago where she questioned how her son, who
"stuck by the house," could have ended up in prison.
There are still people who recognize Brown as a member of the Tarboro 3 today,
something that's to be expected in a small town of about 11,000 residents. The
younger generation, however, seems unaware, he said. Brown just pushes on with
life, possibly finding strength and resolve from the memory of the day he was
released.
"It looked like a whole new world," he said of that day. "The air was sweet -
everything!"
Despite the decades that have passed, both men recognize that the issues at the
center of their case are still relevant today, issues such as the mass
incarceration, racial injustice and the death penalty. Walston believes there
have been some improvements to the justice system since the case but that there
is still more work ahead. Brown is more apt to point out that the justice
system doesn't always work equally for everyone.
"I hate that it happens to people ... but I know it can happen," he said of
people wrongfully convicted.
Walston offered one piece of advice for someone in a similar situation as the
Tarboro 3.
"Never plead guilty to something you're not," he said. "Never."
(source: splc.org)
SOUTH CAROLINA:
Judge sets hearings for defendants in SC church shooting
A federal judge has set hearings in the cases of the 2 men facing various
charges in the shooting of nine parishioners at Emanuel AME Church in
Charleston.
U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel meets Friday with attorneys representing
21-year-old Joey Meek to discuss the status of his case.
Prosecutors allege Meek lied and failed to report all he knew about Dylann
Roof's plans for the church shooting. Meek's attorneys want his trial delayed.
Roof, also 21, faces 9 counts of murder in state court and dozens of federal
charges, including hate crimes. Gergel meets with attorneys in that case on
Dec. 1.
During a similar hearing last month, the judge urged prosecutors to press for a
Justice Department decision on whether the government will seek the death
penalty against Roof.
(source: Associated Press)
FLORIDA:
Florida Supreme Court overturns death sentence of former Jabil executive
3 years ago, Patrick A. Evans stood before a judge as he received his sentence
for the 2008 murders of his wife and her friend: death.
But Evans will now get a 2nd chance.
In an opinion released Thursday that cited errors in the testimony of a
detective and a prosecutor's remarks during Evans' trial, the Florida Supreme
Court overturned his 1st-degree murder convictions and death sentences.
They remanded the former Jabil Circuit executive, now 48, to receive a new
trial.
"The whole thing is disappointing," said William Loughery, the Pinellas-Pasco
assistant state attorney involved in the 2011 trial. "These families have to go
through this all over again. The person is clearly guilty."
Evans was a Jabil vice president, earned a 6-figure salary and lived in a St.
Pete Beach waterfront home. His wife, Elizabeth Evans, was a sales director and
had a daughter. They did not have children together.
They were married for about 3 years when they separated in 2008. Evans, who had
been married twice before, filed for divorce, but later dismissed his petition.
Elizabeth Evans, 44, later filed for divorce and moved out. She rented a condo
at 6080 Gulfport Blvd. S in Gulfport.
On Dec. 20, 2008, she was on a date with a co-worker, Gerald Taylor, 43. At her
condo later that day, Evans showed up and confronted them inside her bedroom,
prosecutors said during his trial.
Someone called 911, but hung up. When a dispatcher called back, the call was
picked up. Although no one answered, the call recorded Elizabeth as she said
"Rick," a name that Evans went by. A man can be heard on the audio ordering
them to sit on the bed. At one point, Taylor can be heard ordering the intruder
to put the gun down.
Moments later, shots were fired.
Pinellas sheriff's deputies found Elizabeth and Taylor. Both had been shot in
the neck. She died at the scene. He later died at a hospital.
The recording was among the strongest pieces of evidence in the case. Shell
casings at the scene also matched shells fired from the .40-caliber Glock
handgun that Evans owned.
Evans was arrested and indicted on 2 counts of 1st-degree murder. A jury
convicted him and recommended the death penalty in 2011. The next year,
then-Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge Richard Luce sentenced him to death, calling
the murders "premeditated . . . without any provocation."
Luce, now retired, could not be reached for comment.
An appeal was filed in October 2012. Cynthia Dodge, an assistant public
defender in Polk County who handled the appeal, did not return a reporter's
call for comment.
3 justices dissented in the 52-page opinion, but the others questioned Pinellas
sheriff's Detective Edward Judy's testimony and several remarks by Loughery,
the prosecutor.
Judy testified that he believed the voice of the intruder in the 911 call was
Evans because he had listened to his jail phone calls several times and was
familiar with Evans' voice. But the court ruled that Judy "did not have prior
familiarity with Evans or special training in voice recognition."
"It's extremely disappointing, a huge waste of taxpayer money," Judy said
Thursday. He retired from the Sheriff's Office in 2013. "My opinion is it's
still his voice. That doesn't change. I did say it, and I'm saying it again."
The Supreme Court also flagged the prosecutor for being too speculative.
While cross-examining Evans, Loughery asked if he had hired a private
investigator to spy on Taylor. The court ruled that the question was "based on
hearsay," and "inadmissible."
The court also took issue with other comments, including Loughery failing to
explain to the jury that manslaughter is also considered a "heat of passion
killing" or his remarks about the defense's theory, at one point saying "that
wouldn't even make it on TV" and "only in a world populated by defense
attorneys would that be true."
Reached by phone Thursday, Loughery said: "As a prosecutor, I don't think it's
my duty to acquiesce to absurdities, which is apparently what the court is
asking us to do."
David Parry, the attorney who represented Evans during the trial, said he was
pleased to learn of the court's decision.
"There's so many easier ways to do a case where you don't have to degrade the
defense and the defendants," he said. "I'm glad that the court was able to look
at it."
Loughery, who retired this year, said that several people had told him
Elizabeth believed Evans had hired an investigator. The jury receives
instructions, he added, which would have clarified his statement about heat of
passion killings.
"That was totally made in good faith," he said of his question to Evans, "and I
would ask it again."
(source: Tampa Bay Times)
OHIO:
Prosecutor seeks death penalty for 2013 murder and shooting
The man recently arrested for the 2013 murder of a woman and shooting of her
boyfriend in Norwood, could face the death penalty if he's convicted.
Prosecutor Joe Deters announced Jaleel Smith-Riley was indicted on charges of
aggravated murder, murder, felonious assault, attempted murder and aggravated
robbery.
Police say Smith-Riley shot Porshia Brooks and Aron Martin as they sat in a car
on Carthage Avenue on November 16, 2013 during a robbery. According to Deters,
Smith Riley ordered Martin to get out of the car. He held Martin at gunpoint
and searched him. When he didn't find anything of value to steal, investigators
say Smith-Riley shot him in the head. He then reached into the car and shot
Brooks. Brooks died from her injuries. Martin survived, but suffered
devastating injuries.
Recent leads and Crimestoppers tips led police to Smith-Riley and 2 other
suspects. 1 of the other suspects is in jail on other charges. The 2nd is dead.
Says Deters, "We don't seek the death penalty unless the perpetrator is the
worst of the worst and proof is not an issue. Smith-Riley and his case fit both
criteria."
(source: WKRC news)
****************
Warren man could face death penalty
A Warren man has been indicted by a Mahoning County grand jury with the
possibility for the death penalty.
46-year-old Lance Hundley was charged with aggravated murder with a death
penalty specification, attempted murder, felonious assault, and aggravated
arson.
Hundley's charges are in connection to the killing of 41-year-old Erika Huff.
Prosecutors say Hundley attacked Huff at her home on Cleveland Street.
Youngstown police say the victim's mother encountered Hundley and assaulted.
Police say they believe Hundley set the house on fire to cover the up crime.
(source: WFMJ news)
TENNESSEE:
State not yet decided on death penalty in Jonesborough triple murder case
State prosecutors are deciding if they will seek the death penalty in the case
of a Jonesborough man accused of killing 3 of his family members.
Daniel Henry is charged with 3 counts of 1st degree murder in the deaths of his
parents and aunt last month.
Henry was back in court Thursday.
A judge reset his preliminary hearing date for the 2nd time.
We asked District Attorney General Tony Clark if he is seeking the death
penalty for Henry.
"We've discussed that but we have not made a decision on that. There's a lot of
factors that weigh in as far as his mental capacity and other factors, prior
criminal history, and all that's being looked at right now, but we've not made
a decision yet on the death penalty," Henry said.
After the murders, Henry sparked a multi-state manhunt that ended in New
Orleans.
Clark also tells us they may bring in the officers from New Orleans who took
statements from Henry right after his arrest to testify at the preliminary
hearing.
Though we won't know until the hearing what Henry has told officers, we do know
after his arrest he told investigators he threw the gun off a Greene County
bridge.
Henry's preliminary hearing is now set for December 15.
(source: WJHL news)
_______________________________________________
A service courtesy of Washburn University School of Law www.washburnlaw.edu
DeathPenalty mailing list
DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu
http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty
Unsubscribe: http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/options/deathpenalty
