Sept. 30
OHIO:
Martin daughter: Wait will be worth it if killers get max
The daughter of slain real-estate agent Vivian Martin says the time it's taking
for the murder suspects to be brought to trial is frustrating, but the wait
will be worth it if the 2 men are convicted and get either the death penalty or
life in prison.
Davida Brown said what scares her most, as the 3rd anniversary of her mother's
murder came earlier this month, is if the defendants, Robert Brooks and Grant
Cooper, somehow go free.
"We want justice for my mom," Brown said. "We want the death penalty or life in
prison."
Martin, 67, a cancer survivor and owner of Essence Realty, was found in a
burning home in the 3600 block of Nelson Avenue on Sept. 20, 2010. Arrested in
the crime a few days later were Brooks, 28, and Cooper, 24. They are charged
with aggravated murder and aggravated robbery and could face the death penalty
if convicted.
Police said the pair lured Martin to the home to rob her, then killed her and
set the home on fire to cover up the crime.
They were both indicted Oct. 13, 2010, and the case was assigned to Judge James
Evans of Mahoning County Common Pleas court, but the case has yet to come to
trial.
Court records show 26 pretrial hearings have been set in Cooper's case, and a
motion to suppress evidence will be heard Oct. 24. His trial date is set for
March 17, 2014.
One of Cooper's attorneys, Thomas Zena, said the case is taking so long because
of the number of complicated motions that need to be filed because it is a
death-penalty case. Zena said any continuance Judge Evans has granted in the
case has been made at the joint request of lawyers on both sides.
One motion to suppress was heard in Brooks' case in October 2012, and Judge
Evans ruled that a statement Brooks made to Brookfield Township police cannot
be used in the trial. That's because Judge Evans ruled police there did not
inform him he had a right to remain silent before he was questioned about the
case, although statements he made to Youngstown and Boardman police about the
case were allowed in.
Brookfield police had arrested them on unrelated charges and asked them
questions about the Martin case.
Assistant Prosecutor Rebecca Doherty, the lead investigator on the case, said
death-penalty cases always take a lot of time, and Martin's case is compounded
by 2 defendants facing death in separate trials.
Brooks next has a pretrial hearing Oct. 28. Court records show he has had 22
pretrial hearings scheduled.
The time since her mother died has not been easy, Brown said.
"Hell," she said when asked what it has been like. "I need my mom to ask her
questions. I miss talking to her and everything. I miss her so much."
Brown said her mother was a strong woman, who was even thinking about going
back to school because she wanted to be a teacher.
(source: The Vindicator)
INDIANA:
Jury selected for S. Ind. man accused of killing 3 Testimony is expected to
begin in 3 weeks in the 1st murder trial of a southern Indiana man charged with
killing three women over the course of a decade.
The trial of William Clyde Gibson of New Albany is set to start Oct. 21 after
prosecutors and defense attorneys completed picking 12 jurors and 5 alternates
from Dearborn County near Cincinnati last week. They will be brought to New
Albany and sequestered during the trial.
The 55-year-old Gibson is first facing trial for last year's death of
75-year-old family friend Christine Whitis. Gibson also is charged with killing
a Charlestown woman and a Florida woman since 2002.
A Floyd County judge decided to pick jurors from Dearborn County because of
extensive news coverage about Gibson in the Louisville area.
(source: Associated Press)
KENTUCKY:
Federal judge wants lingering death-penalty case moving
A long-running death penalty case from eastern Kentucky is getting a kick-start
from a federal judge.
U.S. District Judge Karen K. Caldwell has set a November meeting date for
prosecutors and attorneys for 54-year-old Karu Gene White to lay out a schedule
for resolving his appeals, which have been pending in federal court for more
than a decade.
White arrived at the Kentucky State Penitentiary in Eddyville in 1980, when he
was 21. Since then, he's fought his conviction in state and federal courts.
Caldwell halted proceedings in his most recent federal appeal in 2002 while
White sought funding in state court to test if he has a mental disability.
White killed 75-year-old Charles Gross, his wife, 74-year-old Lula Gross, and
79-year-old Sam Chaney during a February 1979 store robbery in Haddix, an
Appalachian mountain community of about 2,270 people in Breathitt County.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that people with mental disabilities were
ineligible for execution. White raised the claim shortly after that decision,
prompting the federal appeal to be delayed while White sought funding for tests
in state court.
Caldwell ruled Friday that the mental disability claim could proceed in state
court while the rest of White's appeal could move forward in federal court. The
judge also noted that White's case isn't anywhere near being resolved, with
several years of appeals left to be pursued.
White's case has been delayed multiple times by multiple issues.
"For instance, White himself was responsible for a considerable portion of the
delay when he defied a court order to participate in a mental retardation
evaluation in a state run facility," Caldwell wrote. "On the other hand, the
Commonwealth caused significant delay when it failed to appoint a new presiding
judge for 16 months."
White's case languished in limbo after the retirement of Special Judge Gary
Payne of Lexington. The state appointed a new jurist in April, after The
Associated Press questioned why the case did not have an assigned judge.
White has been on death row for more than 3 decades - twice the average 15-year
stay for a condemned inmate in Kentucky.
The federal Bureau of Justice Statistics lists 3,158 people on death row as of
Dec. 31, 2010, the last year available. Only about 100 are as old as White's
case.
White's guilt is undisputed. During his trial testimony, he admitted robbing
the store and answered, "I must have," when asked whether he struck the
victims. And in a legal brief filed nearly a decade ago, his own attorneys
acknowledged that he participated in the robbery and the beatings.
Chaney and the Grosses lived at the store and residents knew that even if it
was closed they could make an after-hours purchase simply by knocking on the
back door.
At his trial, White testified that he had known the victims all his life and
considered them "real good people." But he also acknowledged that he wanted
their money - rumored at the time to amount to $60,000 or more in cash stored
in hidden jars and wallets. The take, however, was just $7,000.
After the killings, White said he bought marijuana and went home to bed.
White has raised numerous issues over the years, including the long delay in
implementing his death sentence and the fact that he was sentenced to death
while 1 co-defendant, Chuck Fisher, received immunity in exchange for his
testimony, and the other, Tommy L. Bowling, was paroled after serving just 8
years of a 140-year term.
Fisher was only 16 at the time of the murders; Bowling was 17. Bowling, now 52,
was convicted in Florida of 9 counts of molestation and sexual battery of a
child and sentenced to 20 years in prison. His current release date is in 2025.
(source: Associated Press)
COLORADO:
Lawyers for James Holmes seek to throw out the death penalty
Lawyers for Aurora movie theater shooting defendant James Holmes want the judge
in the case to declare Colorado's death-penalty laws unconstitutional.
In multiple motions filed Friday and made public Tuesday, lawyers for Holmes
say the state's death-penalty laws are unconstitutionally arbitrary, that the
jury-selection process unfairly skews the jury pool, and that the punishment is
sought and used so infrequently in Colorado as to make it cruel and unusual.
"Imposition of the death penalty is rare, unusual, freakish, and inconsistently
applied throughout the State of Colorado," the defense lawyers write in 1
motion.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Holmes, whose lawyers have
admitted that he killed 12 people and wounded dozens more in an attack on the
Century Aurora 16 movie theater last summer. Holmes has pleaded not guilty by
reason of insanity.
A number of the motions are based on the findings of a study by 2 University of
Denver law professors - a study commissioned by the defense team in another
murder case - that found that almost all murder cases in Colorado are eligible
for the death penalty.
According to the study, 92 % of the 544 1st-degree murder cases in Colorado
between 1999 and 2010 were eligible for the death penalty. But prosecutors
pursued the death penalty at trial in only 5 of those cases, according to the
study. Based on those findings, Holmes' lawyers argue in the motions that
Colorado's laws don't limit the use of the death penalty enough to comply with
U.S. Supreme Court rulings. They also argue that, when the death penalty is
used, it is applied inconsistently. The only district attorney's office to take
death penalty cases to trial in the past decade is the 18th Judicial District
attorney's office, the same one prosecuting Holmes.
And the defense attorneys say the process of selecting a jury in a
death-penalty case - known as "death qualifying" the jury - results in a jury
biased against the defendant. Any juror selected for a death-penalty case has
to be willing potentially to impose capital punishment, meaning people opposed
to the death penalty are disqualified from service. Citing "social science
research," Holmes' attorneys say that selection process results in jurors that
"are both partial to the prosecution and prone to convict."
Finally, Holmes' attorneys argue evolving attitudes toward the death penalty
should render the punishment inapplicable in the case.
"The death penalty is in steep and consistent decline in Colorado," the
attorneys wrote in one motion. "Thus, even if this Court restricts its view to
the Colorado Constitution, it should strike the death penalty as inconsistent
with the evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing
society."
Prosecutors are due to respond in court filings to the motions later this
month, and a gag order in the case prevents them from commenting publicly about
the case. In past statements, 18th Judicial District Attorney George Brauchler
has said the death penalty is used fairly and cautiously in Colorado.
"Our elected prosecutors prudently exercise discretion as to which few murder
cases truly warrant the pursuit of the death penalty," Brauchler wrote earlier
this year in an editorial in The Denver Post. "Which killer currently facing
death in Colorado deserves a lesser sentence?"
The motions were filed Friday to meet a deadline for raising death
penalty-related issues in the case. They are scheduled to be debated in
December.
(source: The Burlington Record)
ARIZONA:
Jodi Arias Trial Update Today: Is Jodi Arias Headed for a Settlement?
Conference Scheduled for Oct. 24
It is not yet clear whether the latest wrinkle in the Jodi Arias trial is
standard procedure or if an out of court deal might replace a retrial of the
penalty phase.
According to her case calendar on the Maricopa County Superior Court website,
Jodi Arias is scheduled to sit down in a settlement conference with prosecutors
on Oct. 24. Lawyers for Jodi Arias have not disclosed what they will be talking
about.
Usually, settlement conferences are handled by a different judge than the one
who presides over the trial. Maricopa County Attorney spokesman Jerry Cobb said
the Jodi Arias settlement conference will be made in front of retired Maricopa
County Superior Court Judge James Keppel. Cobb said "The court asked if the
parties would be willing to discuss a potential settlement. Consistent with
what the County Attorney has said all along, the State is always willing to
discuss possible resolutions to the case. Neither side has presented an outline
of an agreement or an official position to the court."
In May, the jury found Jodi Arias, 33, guilty of 1st-degree murder. In the
penalty phase a new jury will have three sentencing options: death, natural
life in prison, or life with a chance of release after 25 years. To get a death
penalty, under Arizona state law, prosecutor Juan Martinez and County Attorney
need a jury. But not to give Jodi Arias a life sentence. If the prosecutors
drop the intent to seek the death penalty, the decision will be made by Judge
Sherry Stephens. If the Jodi Arias judge imposes a sentence of 25 to life,
there is no mechanism for a shorter release unless she gets clemency by the
governor.
In 1994, the option of parole for 1st-degree murderers was eliminated in 1994
but "life with chance of parole" is still part of court language.
Jodi Arias may be given the opportunity to waive appeals in exchange for a life
sentence, but she can immediately appeal her sentence is she is sentenced to
death. Death sentences go directly to the Arizona Supreme Court for review.
They then can be taken directly to the U.S. Supreme Court. If Arias is
sentenced to life in prison, her appeals would go to the Arizona Court of
Appeals, then to the Arizona Supreme Court and then back to Superior Court for
what is referred to as "post-conviction relief."
On May 8, 2013 Jodi Arias was convicted killing her ex-boyfriend Travis
Alexander in an "especially cruel" manner, which carries a possible death
sentence. Jodi Arias' lawyers want the court to set aside the earlier
determination that Travis Alexander's killing was done in an "especially cruel"
manner. This was the aggravating factor that the State of Arizona required for
the prosecution to pursue the death penalty. The Jodi Arias trial lasted about
5 months. Jodi Arias was convicted of 1st-degree murder May 8 in the 2008
stabbing and shooting death of boyfriend Travis Alexander in his suburban
Phoenix home. The jury convicted Jodi Arias of 1st-degree murder in May. The
Jodi Arias jury found her eligible for the death penalty, but could not
unanimously agree to sentence her to death.
The Jodi Arias settlement hearing will be sealed.
(source: KPopStarz)
MONTANA:
Hearings scheduled in Spell case
2 hearing dates for Michael Spell, 1 of the 2 men charged with kidnapping and
murdering Sidney teacher Sherry Arnold, have been scheduled by District Judge
Richard Simonton.
A hearing at 9 a.m. on Nov. 4 in Sidney has been designated to cover the
"Atkins Motion." The motion deals with stating that the death penalty for
mentally retarded individuals is cruel and unusual punishment. Written
arguments by both the Defense and the State regarding the matter have been
sealed.
Other matters, such as a change of venue and whether Spell's statement to
police should be suppressed, are scheduled to be heard during a hearing
starting at 9 a.m. Oct. 24.
The Defense has stressed that a change of venue is required because it is not
possible to have a fair and impartial jury in Richland County. A survey
conducted by Dr. Richard Seltzer, political science professor at Howard
University, is being utilized in the request to show that an impartial jury is
not possible in Richland County.
Survey results show that 97.5 % of respondents in the Seventh Judicial District
have heard about the case. Of those, 79 % felt Spell is guilty. The survey was
conducted from April 15 to May 2.
"This case involves such extreme circumstances that an impartial jury cannot be
seated in light of the pretrial publicity," the document reads.
In the Defense's argument, it noted that 2 Richland County commissioners
provided comment before the Montana House Judiciary Committee in support of the
death penalty on Feb. 14. One commissioner testified, "it would be a blow to
the community if the death penalty was reversed."
In the State's opposition, the State suggested Dawson County or Custer County
as possible venues for the trial if the court determined the jury pool in
Richland County is too contaminated. The Defense proposed having the trial in
Bozeman.
The State argued what is not addressed by survey responses is the ability of
jurors, despite preconceived notions, to lay aside their pretrial impressions
and render a verdict based on evidence presented in court. "Oaths have a
serious effect on Richland County people," Richland County's deputy county
attorney Tom Halvorson wrote. "They will answer truthfully and openly."
The State also argued that having the trial as far away as Bozeman could create
safety issues for the oil-impacted Sidney area.
"The defendant's proposal entails a significant logistical problem of
scheduling the testimony of local law enforcement officers to make them
available across the state," Halvorson wrote. He noted if the trial was held in
Bozeman, law enforcement would be required to leave Richland County for a
longer time period. That would translate into a force reduction during the
trial in Richland County that features "oil boom levels of criminal activity
and serious traffic collisions." That, the State argued, would be an
unreasonable burden upon public safety.
The Defense's reply to the State's opposition to the change of venue was
sealed.
The Defense is also seeking to suppress Spell's statement to police. "It will
be established at the motions hearing that Mr. Spell is incapable of making a
knowing and intelligent waiver of his rights. He is intellectually disabled
with an extremely limited vocabulary. He does not grasp the concepts of
constitutional rights and waiver of those rights. The officers would have known
this had they enlisted the assistance of trained mental health professionals
before proceeding with their interrogation. Instead, at 3:47 a.m., they rushed
forward with their interrogation."
The Defense states an officer asked Spell whether he understood the Miranda
rights the agent just read, and that Spell answered, "a little bit." Spell
added, "I'm not really smart, you got to help me out."
The State argued, "The form was read to him. He was informed. The core object
of his signature was to document his acknowledgement that he was informed and
that he waived. He was informed, though not by reading the form himself.
Miranda requires that he be informed. It does not require that the method by
which he was informed is reading a form himself."
The State also argued, "Before the interview, the defendant had told people
that he and Waters had taken a woman, killed her, buried her and that they had
done more than that. Wouldn't he know why he was in custody? Because of
what???s missing from the moving brief, to suppress, either we must leap the
canyon from the literature of intellectual disability cited in the moving brief
to the conclusion that because of that disability he did not ask why he was in
custody, or we must leap over the evidence of his consciousness of guilt."
(source: Sidney Herald)
USA:
Hearing in federal death penalty case in Memphis
Claims that a former Tennessee prison guard charged with killing 2 postal
workers is mentally disabled and ineligible for the death penalty are the
subject of a court hearing.
Federal prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Chastain Montgomery,
charged in the fatal shootings of Paula Robinson and Judy Spray in October
2010.
Prosecutors say the women were working in the Henning post office when they
were shot during a robbery that netted $63.
A hearing to address Montgomery's mental status is scheduled to begin Monday in
Memphis. In a court filing, defense attorneys say Montgomery had 2 IQ tests in
which his score fell below 70.
The U.S. Supreme Court and federal law bar the imposition of a death sentence
against a mentally disabled person.
(source: Associated Press)
*************************
Use of Propofol In Executions Could Result In Anesthetic Shortage, EU Sanctions
The state of Missouri plans to execute a death row inmate next month using for
the 1st time a lethal dose of the widely-used anesthesia drug propofol. The
European Union (EU), where most of the U.S. propofol supply is manufactured and
capital punishment is banned, is warning that export sanctions may be imposed
on the drug, which could cause shortages in the U.S. that may endanger
patients' lives.
Propofol made headlines recently for being the drug that claimed the life of
Michael Jackson. In clinical practice, propofol is the anesthetic of choice,
used in 4 out of 5 anesthetic procedures. Every year, 50 million vials of
propofol are administered in 15,000 hospitals and clinics throughout the U.S,
according to the Associated Press. Anesthesiologists prefer using propofol over
other sedatives because it works quickly and patients wake up sooner with less
side effects.
As for death by lethal injection, propofol has yet to be tested much less
studied. Opponents to the death penalty and the drug's use point out that using
the anesthetic does not guarantee that prisoners will die a pain-free death.
Furthermore, it is unknown what dose of propofol is required to execute a
person.
Allen Nicklasson, the prisoner on death row, is scheduled to die at 12:01 a.m.
Oct. 23. He was convicted of killing a man who stopped on the side of the road
to help him with his car in 1994. On Nov. 20, Joseph Franklin is scheduled to
be executed, also by lethal injection. Franklin was convicted of a series of
racially-motivated killings and the bombing of a synagogue.
About 85 % of the U.S. supply of propofol is manufactured by Fresenius Kabi, a
German company. The European Union (EU) not only opposes the death penalty, but
also prohibits the trade of goods that could be used for capital punishment.
The EU has expressed that the drug could be subject to tighter regulations if
Missouri follows through with the execution as planned.
"It's our belief they would be compelled to impose export controls," said Matt
Kuhn, spokesman for Fresenius Kabi USA, in an interview with the Associated
Press. "How soon it would be after an execution is not clear."
The regulations would not be a complete ban. Instead manufacturers would have
to apply to export authorities in Europe for each shipment, which can be a 3-6
month process. The delay could lead to widespread propofol shortages
nationwide. Propofol shortages have occurred in the past due to manufacturing
level issues such as recalls, but have been resolved. The American Society of
Anesthesiologists has stated that interruptions in the propofol supply caused
longer recovery times for patients and even deaths.
"We do consider this a critical need," said Erica Jefferson of the FDA.
"Without the drug we're concerned that surgeries would be delayed and patients
would be at risk."
Prison officials have turned to propofol after manufacturers of sodium
thiopental, the drug traditionally used for lethal injections, stopped selling
the drug to prisons in opposition to their use in executions.
(source: Medical Daily)
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