[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, VA., GA., FLA., OHIO, KY.
Jan. 7 TEXAS: Jury selection in long-delayed Delacruz capital murder trial to begin next week Jury selection is around the corner in the trial of a San Angelo capital murder suspect who stands accused of killing his ex-girlfriend's daughter in 2014. Some 350-400 residents are set to appear at the McNease Convention Center on Thursday morning to serve in the process of impaneling 12 jurors. Typical jury pools are 50-100 people. Potential jurors will then be divided into panels that will undergo individual examinations by attorneys for a duration of 6 to 7 weeks at the Tom Green County Courthouse. 119th District Judge Ben Woodward will preside over the case. Isidro Miguel Delacruz is accused in the slaying Naiya Villegas, 5, after he allegedly broke into her mother's home in the 2700 block of Houston Street on Sept. 24, 2014. Villegas died at Shannon Medical Center from a neck wound. The case stretched more than 3 years because 5 continuances were granted. Trial had been slated to begin July, but Woodward granted a continuance because of some last-minute disclosures of evidence by local law-enforcement agencies. Defense attorneys are court-appointed from the Regional Public Defender for Capital Cases: lead counsel Robert R. Cowie and William P.H. Boyles. 51st District Attorney Allison Palmer is seeking the death penalty in Delacruz's trial. Delacruz has been held at the Tom Green County Jail in lieu of $1 million bail since his arrest the day of the girl's slaying. (source: San Angelo Standard-Times) ** Houston murders drop 11 % in 2017Acevedo says focus on domestic violence, assaults helped lead to dip Houston rang in the new year logging 33 fewer murders in 2017 than it recorded in 2016, an 11 % decrease the city's top cop credited in part to an intense police focus on assaults and domestic violence. "The way you reduce murders is to solve attempted murders," Houston Police Department Chief Art Acevedo said in a recent interview. "If you think about people who shoot people, frequently it's not the 1st person they've ever shot, and in many cases it won't be the last person they will shoot." Acevedo is already putting potential violent criminals on notice in the new year with this warning: "You may end up beating the charge later on, but you ain't gonna stop from taking a ride to jail," he said during a presentation to City Council. HPD's preliminary estimates put the number of murders in 2017 at 269 - down from 302 during the previous year. Using the U.S. Census Bureau's most recent population estimates, that would equate to about 11.7 murders for every 100,000 city residents. That's a significant upswing from the city's 25-year low of 9.2, set in 2011, according to data from the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program. But while some of those numbers are preliminary, they're nonetheless consistent with a 2-decade nosedive in the city murder rate, as well as decadeslong drops in crime in most American cities - trends that have forged together an unlikely cohort of right- and left-wing activists and researchers in their calls to end mass incarceration. New year, same issues Despite fewer murders, Houston's year end was punctuated by a spate of horrific violence: In a 3-day period in late December, a 13-year-old boy and 3 others were killed in 2 separate shootings, and a woman was "nearly" decapitated by her samurai sword-wielding boyfriend, officials said. Hours after the 13-year-old boy was killed on Dec. 28, Acevedo wrote on Twitter that "we need to come together to hold anyone who commits aggravated assault especially with firearms accountable." "We have shootings in our city almost nightly," he wrote. "Too many lives are being cut short." Acevedo cited the Thanksgiving's day death of Texas Department of Public Safety trooper Damon Allen, who was fatally shot during a traffic stop on Interstate 45 in Freestone County. Allen's alleged killer, Dabrett Black, had 2 previous arrests for assaulting a police officer and was out on a $15,500 bond at the time. "We're starting to find a myriad of cases where individuals that have committed aggravated assaults are out on relatively low bonds, and while out on relatively low bonds they are committing other aggravated crimes," Acevedo said. Officials with the HPD union have voiced similar concerns, with its new president saying last month that "we can't have predators out here preying on people of this community." "I understand the justice system wants to be fair to folks," said Joseph Gamaldi, president of the Houston Police Officer's Union."But you have to be fair to the victims, to the community. You can't just keep letting people out." It's an issue that is central to HPD's relationship with the Harris County District Attorney's Office under Kim Ogg, who like Acevedo is a reform-minded leader entering her 2nd year at her agency's helm.
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, VA., GA., FLA., OHIO
Nov. 11 TEXASnew execution date Lubbock judge signs death warrant for Rosendo Rodriguez Lubbock Judge Jim Bob Darnell issued Wednesday an order of execution for 37-year-old Rosendo Rodriguez III, who was convicted and sentenced to death for the 2005 slaying of a pregnant woman whose body was stuffed inside a piece of luggage found at the Lubbock city landfill. Darnell's order comes 2 weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Rodriguez's appeal and sets a March 27 date for his execution by lethal injection. Rodriguez, who became known as the "Suitcase killer," was convicted of the 2005 beating and choking death of 29-year-old Summer Baldwin, who was 5 weeks pregnant. Her body was stuffed inside a piece of luggage found at the city landfill in Lubbock. Baldwin lived in Lubbock and Rodriguez was training here as a Marine reservist. Court records show Rodriguez was linked to at least 5 other sexual assaults and to the disappearance of 16-year-old Joanna Rogers, who had been missing more than a year. He confessed to killing the teenager, whose body was also found in a suitcase in the Lubbock landfill. Rodriguez is 1 of 3 Texas death row inmates convicted in Lubbock County. Joe Franco Garza, who was convicted in the 1998 killing of Silbiano Rangel, is awaiting results of a post-conviction DNA testing filed in 2015, according to court records. Brian Suniga, who was convicted in the 2011 slaying of David Rowser, is in the midst of appealing his death sentence. (source: Lubbock Avalanche-Journal) *** DA will not seek death penalty in murder of Zoe Hastings Dallas County District Attorney Faith Johnson will not be seeking the death penalty in the case of Antonio Cochran, charged with the murder of Zoe Hastings in 2015. Police allege that Cochran kidnapped Hastings in her family's minivan from Walgreens on Garland Road and Peavy Drive, killed the teenager, then dumped her and the vehicle in a creek in Lake Highlands. Hastings was on her way to church. Dallas County District Attorney Faith Johnson said that the Cochran had an "intellectual disability," which makes him ineligible for the death penalty. On Friday, the Dallas County District Attorney's Office released the following statement: "It came to our attention that the defendant may have had some intellectual challenges. As a result, we were pro-active in requesting the court's permission for an evaluation. Our expert's findings are such that the defendant does fit the current legal definition of a person with an intellectual disability. We are not seeking the death penalty in this case because the current law states an individual who has been diagnosed with an intellectual disability is not eligible for the death penalty. However, we remain committed to seeking justice on behalf of Zoe Hastings and her family." WFAA discovered Cochran has an extensive criminal history in Bowie County that includes multiple felony arrests. (source: WFAA TV news) Former partners, jailers give testimony during punishment phase in Hudson capital murder trial Prosecutors rested their case late Thursday afternoon after calling 8 witnesses during the 2nd full day of the punishment phase of a capital murder trial for an East Texas man facing the death penalty for killing multiple members of 2 families in one night in November 2015. William Mitchell Hudson, 35, of Tennessee Colony was indicted on 3 counts of capital murder in connection with the slayings of Thomas Kamp, 45; Austin Kamp, 21; Nathan Kamp, 23; Kade Johnson, 6; Hannah Johnson, 40; and Carl Johnson, 76 at a campsite in Anderson County. Jurors convicted Hudson of capital murder in less than 20 minutes Tuesday for killing Hannah Johnson and her father, Carl Johnson. The case was moved to Brazos County because of pre-trial publicity in Anderson County, which is more than 100 miles northeast of Bryan. The Johnson and Kamp families met on Nov. 14, 2015, at a campsite on land in Anderson County that Thomas Kamp had recently purchased from a distant relative of Hudson's family, a transaction that Hudson reportedly was not happy about. Jurors convicted Hudson for shooting and beating to death Carl Johnson and his daughter, Hannah; prosecutors also argued that Hudson had shot and killed the 4 others in the woods while they were looking for firewood, shortly before he had returned to the campsite to kill Hannah and Carl. Jurors heard testimony Thursday from Suzanna Reed, one of Hudson's ex-wives, and from Amanda Hyden, Hudson's ex-girlfriend and mother of one of his children. Both women painted similar pictures of Hudson: a violent and erratic alcoholic. Reed said Hudson had threatened to shoot himself, but had never threatened to shoot her, when he brought his guns out to demonstrate his commitment to suicide. Reed said Hudson hadn't drank much when they were
