[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., OHIO, TENN., OKLA., USA
December 4 TEXASimpending execution 'Texas 7' Member Set To Die Under Controversial Law A San Antonio man is set to die by lethal injection on Tuesday for a murder he didn’t actually commit. As part of the notorious “Texas 7” escape, Joseph Garcia was convicted and sentenced to die under a controversial law some say is unconstitutional. “Why am I here? Why am I on death row? You know, I don't get it," said Garcia from death row Wednesday. "... Why are you trying to kill me for the actions of somebody else?” Garcia was sentenced to death under the “Law of Parties,” which holds a non-shooter accomplice just as criminally liable as the person pulling the trigger. Stephanie Stevens, law professor, and supervising attorney for the St. Mary's University Center for Legal and Social Justice, said the law is broader in Texas than in other states. “If you and another person were going to go rob a convenience store. If during the course of that robbery, your friend inside the store shot and killed the convenience store clerk, you would be guilty for capital murder as well, even though you sat in the car the whole time,” she said. On Dec. 13, 2000, the group of inmates, known as the Texas 7, broke out of the Connally Prison Unit in Karnes County. The escape triggered the largest manhunt in the state’s history. 11 days later, on Christmas Eve, members of the crew fatally shot and ran over Irving Police Officer Aubrey Hawkins during a robbery of a sporting goods store. “He was very nice and easy to get along with — very unassuming,” said Jeff Spivey, chief of the Irving Police Department, of Hawkins. But Garcia said he shouldn’t be executed because he didn’t actively take part in the fatal shootout Hawkins. "You have the testimony of these people who did actually kill," Garcia said. "... They did it. And so, I mean, I think what it all boils down to ... is that I'm one of the Texas 7.” Garcia said his version of events is supported by the testimony of others — he was inside the store and never fired a gun. “I don't know. I don't know what caused them to start firing at the officer," he said. "By the time I got out there on the back dock, it was over.” But Chief Spivey says that makes no difference. Garcia directly participated in the murder of Hawkins in other ways. “Joseph Garcia, due to his accomplice testimony is either credited with pulling Officer Hawkins’ dead body out of the car and moving the car so that they could then escape in the Ford Explorer," he said. "So I think it's a little self-serving for Joseph to say that.” Nevertheless, some anti-death penalty activists say using the Law of Parties in death penalty cases might be a violation of the Constitution’s 8th Amendment, prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment. And with last-minute appeals filed the courts could intervene. Garcia is scheduled to be executed Tuesday at 6 p.m. (source: tpr.org) * Texas’s Death-Penalty System Is a Travesty. Joseph Garcia Is Proof. Texas’s death-penalty system is a travesty. It is racist; kills people who are probably innocent at an alarming rate; and has used drugs sourced from a pharmacy that, according to BuzzFeed News, was “cited for scores of safety violations,” forged quality control documents, and sent at least 1 child to the emergency room because it had improperly compounded their medication. 5 of the 11 Texas inmates executed in 2018 said the drugs used to kill them felt like they were “burning” them internally, even though they were supposed to be pain-free — reflecting a nationwide pattern of excruciating deaths by lethal injection. Perhaps even worse is that Texas is not unique. These issues illustrate an ethical and logistical crisis facing the American death-penalty system as a whole, from Tennessee to South Dakota to Oklahoma. Yet barring a miracle, December 4 will be business as usual. Joseph Garcia is set to be executed in Texas for his role in the Christmas Eve 2000 murder of Irving Police Officer Aubrey Hawkins, which occurred during a shoot-out after Garcia and 6 other men broke out of a maximum-security prison in Kenedy and robbed a sporting goods store. There is no proof that Garcia pulled the trigger. In fact, he was inside the store while the shooting unfolded outside, making his guilt unlikely. But Texas’s Law of Parties holds that he could be convicted of a crime his associates had committed simply because he was present. Details from Garcia’s tragic personal story cast doubt on whether he should have been in the prison he escaped from in the first place. Sister Helen Prejean, a Catholic nun and prominent death-penalty abolitionist, outlined it in a Twitter thread on Sunday: The thread is worth reading in its entirety, but includes accounts of Garcia’s trauma-filled childhood, including several instances of sexual abuse and his first criminal conviction, for which he received a
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., OHIO, TENN., OKLA., NEB., UTAH, NEV., USA
July 29 TEXAS: Death Row Sentencing In Texas Has Significantly DecreasedTexas carried out its 5th execution of the year Thursday night, but overall executions are dwindling, and that trend is likely to continue. Last year, Texas executed 7 inmates on death row. That was the lowest number in the past 20 years. Kristin Houle suggests that the state will keep following that trend. She is with the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. "Well, Texas like the rest of the United States has been experiencing a steady decline in use of the death penalty," Houle says. This decline can be attributed, in part to sentencing. Houle says there is a big difference from 1999 when Texas peaked at sentencing 48 people to death row and only sentencing 3 in the past 2 years. She says what's led to the decrease in sentencing is cases being put on hold and advancements in forensic science. "Where the science that was presented at the original trial has been called into question or even debunked," Houle says. Although, executions are decreasing in the U.S., she says Texas continues to account for about 1/3 of them. "This year so far Texas has carried out five of the 16 executions nationwide," Houle says. In the state, there are 5 more executions scheduled for this year. (source: houstonpublicmedia.org) FLORIDA: Woman charged in Jupiter homicide to see psychiatric test results Prosecutors agreed Friday to give notes and test results from a state-order psychiatric evaluation to lawyers for Kimberly Lucas, the Jupiter woman charged with the 2014 drowning of her 2-year-old daughter and attempted murder of her then-10-year-old son. That agreement regarding Dr. Wade Myers' evaluation of Lucas comes less than 2 months before the long awaited death-penalty case is scheduled to go to trial in front of Judge Charles Burton. Confusion surrounding Florida's death penalty law had stalled Lucas' case from moving forward. That trial now is slated to begin Sept. 14. Lucas, 43, was not present for the brief hearing Friday. She has been in custody since her arrest May 27, 2014, on murder charges to which she has since pleaded not guilty. Jupiter police say Lucas drowned her 2-year-old daughter, Elliana Lucas-Jamason, May 26, 2014, in a bathtub and attempted to kill her son, Ethan, and herself by overdosing on Xanax. Lucas' suicide note blamed her actions on Jacquelyn Jamason, her then-separated partner and the biological mother to Elliana and Ethan. On that day, Ethan, then 10, woke up drowsy from the drugs, found his sister unresponsive in the bathtub and called 911. Lucas and Jamason, the children's biological mother, had been together for more than 20 years and joined together in a 2001 civil union, but were estranged at the time of the killing. Jamason has said that Lucas suffered from complications from gastric bypass surgery and had subsequently developed a prescription drug problem that contributed to their split. Lucas' attorneys plan to pursue an insanity defense, arguing that she suffers from dissociative identity disorder - formerly known as multiple personality disorder - and that one of her alternate personalities committed the crimes. Her attorneys wrote in a 2015 pleading: "The defendant was receiving mental health-care treatment long before, as well as the time of, the events which resulted in her arrest." Jamason is anxious for the case to go to trial. "I think that once trial is over, Ethan and I can finally have more peace, and not put it behind us, but look to the future," Jamason told The Post in May. (source: Palm Beach Post) * Judge rejects challenge to new execution drugs A death row inmate scheduled to be executed next month failed in a bid to get a Jacksonville judge to delay his execution because of the state's new triple-drug lethal injection protocol. Duval County Circuit Court Judge Tatiana Salvador on Friday rejected a request from Mark James Asay to put a hold on an Aug. 24 execution date scheduled by Gov. Rick Scott. Asay's appeal included a challenge to a new lethal injection protocol --- which includes a drug never used before for executions in Florida, or in any other state --- adopted by the Florida Department of Corrections earlier this year. In its new protocol, Florida is substituting etomidate for midazolam as the critical first drug, used to sedate prisoners before injecting them with a paralytic and then a drug used to stop prisoners' hearts. In a 30-page order issued Friday, Salvador ruled that Asay failed to prove that the new three-drug protocol is unconstitutional. Etomidate, also known by the brand name "Amidate," is a short-acting anesthetic that renders patients unconscious. 20 % of people experience mild to moderate pain after being injected with the drug, but only for "tens of seconds" at the longest, the judge noted. "Defendant has only
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., OHIO, TENN., OKLA.
June 30 TEXAS: Nicaraguan on Texas death row loses at high court A Nicaraguan man sent to Texas death row for fatally shooting a customer during a robbery at a Houston-area dry cleaning store has lost a U.S. Supreme Court appeal that contended he was under 18 at the time of the slaying, making him ineligible for the death penalty. Prison records show 36-year-old Bernardo Tercero gunned down Robert Berger during a struggle more than 17 years ago as Berger's 3-year-old daughter stood nearby. Tercero and a companion then fled with 2 cash registers. Tercero wound up in Nicaragua and was returned to Texas to face trial. Tercero had conflicting birth certificates. He insisted the accurate one showed he was younger than 18 at the time of the shooting. The Supreme Court, without comment Monday, refused to review his case. (source: Associated Press) ** Death-row inmates 'A blessing to me' I am a Southern Baptist and a missionary kid from Mexico. My parents served there 36 years as missionaries. I had no idea Baptists supported the death penalty and was shocked when I found that out upon moving to the United States. I totally agree with Pastor Jeff Hood's view of the death penalty as a Christian. I am ministering to 7 death-row inmates at Polunsky Unit. There were 9, but 2 have gone to be with the Lord through execution. It is a ministry God put on my heart when I moved to the United States 7 years ago. I can tell you that seeing the spiritual growth, changes, peace and joy in these men is the greatest joy in my life. They are a blessing to me. I want to commend Jeff Hood for being so brave and standing for what a true follower of Jesus Christ is. Dorothy Lee RuelasRosenberg (source: Letter to the Editor, Baptist Standard) FLORIDA: Judge blasts lawyer in Rasheem Dubose death-penalty case as status of appeal becomes muddied One of the most high-profile murder cases in recent Jacksonville history has devolved into an ugly death-penalty appeal with the trial judge accusing the defense lawyer of misleading him and the Florida Supreme Court in an effort to get his client off death row. Circuit Judge Lawrence P. Haddock accused attorney Richard Kuritz of hiding the fact that he simultaneously represented Rasheem Dubose and 1 of the jurors in the case after that jury convicted Dubose and recommended he be sentenced to death. Kuritz declined comment. Attorney Bill Sheppard, who is representing Kuritz, said his client did nothing wrong. I'm confident this lawyer with 20 years' experience knows what he's doing, Sheppard said. Death penalty cases tend to bring out the worst in people when it comes to anger and allegations, and that's what's happening here, Sheppard said. Dubose, 30, was convicted of killing 8-year-old DreShawna Davis and sentenced to death. DreShawna, who died in 2006 protecting her cousins from a hail of bullets into her home, became the face of Jacksonville's state-leading homicide rate and galvanized city leaders to do something about it. The Jacksonville Journey anti-crime initiative was launched soon after DreShawna's death and is credited with helping lower the homicide rate. Kuritz represented juror Tomi Chavez for 2 traffic tickets and in a civil personal injury lawsuit while he was handling Dubose's appeal, which hinged on Chavez's claim that juror misconduct occurred. Kuritz said in court filings that he did his legal work for Chavez after she was a juror in the case. The days I served as a juror are a blur, Chavez said in an email to the Times-Union on Thursday. It was stressful and done wrong. Chavez said other jurors, in a racist manner, made fun of the way Dubose spoke, researched the case on their cellphones while they deliberated and debated whether a teardrop tattoo on Dubose's face was a gang symbol or a sign that he'd killed someone. In her email to the Times-Union, Chavez, who now lives in Hawaii, said jurors were already familiar with the case before the trial began. The other jurors had knowledge of this because they watched the news and lived in Jax, Chavez said. Haddock declined comment for this story because he said the 66-page order he wrote on these claims was under seal and not supposed to be released to the public. The Times-Union obtained multiple documents in the case from the Florida Supreme Court after making a public records request, including Haddock's order. The Times-Union chose to publish this story, which extensively quotes Haddock from that order, because of the seriousness of the allegations by a judge against a lawyer in a high-profile case. In his order, Haddock said Chavez was not credible and blasted Kuritz for his conduct. Kuritz took Chavez's concerns of misconduct to the Florida Supreme Court without ever revealing she was his client in unrelated cases because he knew it was a conflict of interest, Haddock said.
