[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, N.C., S.C., FLA., ALA.
Feb. 9 TEXASdeath sentence thrown out College Station Man Resentenced For Murder After Appeals Court Throws Out Death Penalty In September 2012, a Brazos County district court jury gave a College Station man the death penalty, a decision that was thrown out 2 years ago by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Another jury took an hour and a half Thursday to re-sentence 52 year old Stanley Griffin to life in prison for the strangulation murder of Jennifer Hailey in her home almost 7 1/2 years ago. Griffin will have to serve 30 years before he becomes eligible for parole. (source: WTAW news) ** Father And Victim Kent Whitaker Calls For Son Thomas Whitaker To Be Spared Death Penalty Texas death row inmate Thomas Whitaker's father, Kent Whitaker, is pleading for his son to not face the death penalty on Feb. 22 for arranging the murder of Kent Whitaker's wife and other son in 2003. Thomas Whitaker took his family out to dinner and let a friend into the house to murder them. Kent Whitaker himself almost didn't survive. Thomas was motivated by his dad's $1 million insurance policy. Thomas was a suspect for several months after the attack, during which he lived with Kent. Thomas was convicted of orchestrating the murders in 2007, and a jury sentenced him to death. Kent is now calling on the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles for clemency for his son after already trying and failing to have the prosecution advocate for a life sentence instead of the death penalty, citing his Christian faith. "We're not asking them to set him free," Kent told My Statesman. "We're not asking them to forgive him. I mean, that's not their business, but what we are asking them to do is to correct a legal overstep that never should've happened in the first place." In a petition for the board to resentence his son to life in prison, which was published in the Austin American-Statesman, Kent called on the board to make a moral decision in light of the suffering and grief he would suffer further if Thomas were to face the death penalty. "There is only 1 person on Earth who is intimate with the murderous attack, the lives and deaths of the other victims, and the life of Thomas Whitaker - Mr. Whitaker's father, Kent," the petition read. "Kent was there. He speaks to clemency with a moral force and detail of experience that no district attorney or judge or anyone else can possess. For the rest of us, the case against commutation to a life sentence seems clear. We can't forgive; we have no sympathy. But clemency is not about something so simple as sympathy or as formidable as forgiveness. Clemency is about lenity, and it is a moral question rendered far more complex by the unique circumstances of this case." The petition also said there is no advocate for Thomas's execution. "No one close to the people involved in this case want it to happen," the petition reads. "Some passionately oppose it. Other simply wish their lives could be restored to the time before the crime. It is only the State of Texas, through its employees and representatives, that mechanically marches forward onto the date of death." The petition also included multiple letters from Thomas's fellow inmates, some of whom said they were thankful to meet him, that he had worked the hardest out of other inmates on the farm to rehabilitate himself and that he inspired inmates to become better people. (source: uinterview.com) NORTH CAROLINA: The only death row inmate should be the death penalty itself One year ago, I spent five weeks in a Raleigh courtroom listening to Wake County residents talk about the death penalty. As a defense attorney for Nathan Holden, who was facing the death penalty for killing his mother- and father-in-law and shooting his wife, I had the fascinating opportunity to talk to potential jurors and hear dozens of them respond to probing questions about their views on capital punishment. Mr. Holden's jury voted unanimously for life. And when another Wake County jury recently rejected the death penalty for Donovan Richardson, the ninth life verdict in a row, I wasn't surprised. My conversations with jurors in the Holden case had already convinced me that the death penalty is effectively over in Wake County. I grew up in Raleigh, and have spent the past 14 years working as a capital defense lawyer in my home state. I've learned a lot about the past and the present of the N.C. death penalty. In addition to recent cases like Mr. Holden's, I represent defendants who were sentenced to death in the 1990s, when N.C. juries returned 25 or 35 death verdicts a year. Since then, new death sentences across the state, as in Wake, have dropped to near zero. There are many likely reasons for this decline: better legal representation, open file discovery, prosecutors being granted greater discretion over which cases to try capitally. But sitting
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, N.C., S.C., FLA., ALA., OHIO
Oct. 13 TEXASstay of impending execution Texas Appeals Court Stays Julius Murphy Execution The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Monday stayed the execution of Julius Murphy, 36, which was set for Nov. 3, after his legal team presented claims of prosecutorial misconduct in his 1998 Bowie County capital murder trial. Murphy was convicted of killing a stranded motorist. His attorneys, seeking access to the district attorney's files in the case, claimed in court filings Friday in Bowie County that prosecutors threatened and coerced witnesses to testify against Murphy. They filed similar claims in late September in a petition to the Court of Criminal Appeals, citing a new statement from a witness who testified against Murphy at his trial. “Mr. Murphy’s conviction and death sentence were procured through prosecutorial misconduct. Jurors considered evidence from two key witnesses while the prosecution unlawfully concealed the fact that those witnesses were pressured into testifying with threats of prosecution and promised leniency if they testified," Cate Stetson, one of Murphy's attorneys, said in a statement. "And one of the witnesses has now identified Mr. Murphy’s co-defendant as the true shooter. We look forward to continuing to raise the constitutional infirmities underlying Mr. Murphy’s conviction and death sentence before the courts.” Murphy was convicted of fatally shooting Jason Erie, a man who was stranded on the side of a road in Texarkana. In fall 1997, after helping Erie with his stalled vehicle, the 18-year-old Murphy robbed, shot and killed Erie, prosecutors argued at his trial. Others present that day testified against Murphy, including his then-girlfriend and a friend from whom he supposedly borrowed the gun used in the killing. But Murphy's trial lawyers were not told that two of those witnesses had been threatened with prosecution for murder or conspiracy if they did not testify to Murphy's guilt, his lawyers now claim. One has since recanted his testimony, saying Murphy was not the killer. (source: Texas Tribune) * Texas court halts execution of inmate after questions raised on testimony The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Monday halted the planned execution next month of a death row inmate whose lawyers argued he was sentenced to death based on tainted testimony from major witnesses. The court stayed the Nov. 3 execution of Julius Murphy, without elaborating on its decision. Murphy, 36, was convicted in 1998 of fatally shooting Jason Erie in the head during a 1997 robbery. Lawyers for Murphy asked the court last month to put the execution on hold, saying they had new evidence that pointed to evidence that prosecutors forced false testimony. "Mr. Murphy’s conviction and death sentence were procured through prosecutorial misconduct," said Catherine Stetson, a lawyer for Murphy. The Office of the Texas Attorney General was not immediately available for comment. It previously said Murphy was properly convicted. Murphy's lawyers said prosecutors relied heavily on the testimony of two witnesses, Javarrow Young and Christina Davis. The lawyers said they had sworn statements that show the two witnesses were unduly coerced into testimony and also provided false testimony. The lawyers said Young was threatened with a murder charge if he did not testify against Murphy. In his new statement, Young said one of Murphy's co-defendants was the actual shooter. The other witness was threatened with a conspiracy to commit murder charge if she did not testify, they said. Lawyers for Murphy have tried unsuccessfully to halt the execution by arguing he was mentally disabled and that putting him to death would be unlawful. Since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, Texas has executed 529 inmates, the most of any state. The state has also instituted reforms in the judicial process in recent years designed to increase financing for public defenders and provide greater oversight of prosecutors. (source: Reuters) *** Texas Prepares for Execution of Licho Escamilla on October 14, 2015 Licho Escamilla's execution is scheduled to occur at 6 pm CDT, on Wednesday, October 14, 2015, at the Walls Unit of the Huntsville State Penitentiary in Huntsville, Texas. 33-year-old Licho is convicted of the murder of 34-year-old off-duty Dallas police officer Christopher Kevin James on November 25, 2001, outside of a nightclub in Dallas, Texas. Licho has spent the last 12 years on Texas’ death row. Licho alleges he grew up in an abusive home. Licho’s father testified that Licho’s personality drastically changed after the death of his mother, with whom he was close. Licho also started drinking after his mother’s death. At the age of 11, Licho was physically assaulted by two adult males at a party. They had mistaken Licho for another individual.
