Aug. 7
TEXAS:
Prosecutors consider death penalty
The Cameron County District Attorney's Office has 2 weeks to decide whether it
will seek the death penalty for 1 of 3 men accused in the 2004 shooting death
of Tomas Hernandez Zapata.
1 of the suspects, Jose Nicolas Acosta, 29, pleaded not guilty in the 103rd
state district court Thursday morning.
Hernandez Zapata's body was found Sept. 9, 2004 on Houston Road , between North
Dakota and Vermillion roads. Authorities said he suffered severe head trauma
and received 5 gunshot wounds to the front of his body and 1 shot to the back.
Acosta, Alejandro Gutierrez Hernandez ( aka Alejandro Teran Teran ) and Jose
Luis Garcia were named in a 2009 indictment, which alleges the 3 kidnapped and
fatally shot Hernandez Zapata.
In 2010, Garcia pleaded guilty to capital murder and was sentenced to 35 years
in an Texas Department of Criminal Justice institution. In 2010, The
Brownsville Herald reported Teran was arrested in Mexico City in connection to
an unrelated murder.
A status hearing is set for Aug. 20 at which time the DA's office will
determine whether or not Acosta will face the death penalty if convicted.
Acosta is set to go to trial for Hernandez Zapata's killing in November.
(source: The Brownsville Herald)
NORTH CAROLINA:
Jury selection in capital murder trial concludes
20 weeks of jury selection concluded Thursday when attorneys selected the 3rd
and final alternate in the triple murder capital case for 45-year-old Carl
Kennedy, according to court officials.
Kennedy and 2 others - David Earl Manning and Leigh Williams, both 44 - have
been charged with 3 counts of 1st-degree murder in the November 2011 deaths of
Sharon F. Rushing, 61, Angela Dawn Soles, 43, and Gary Lynn Seward, 52, all of
101 Rotary Lane, Thomasville. The state is seeking the death penalty against
all 3 people, but Kennedy's case is being tried 1st.
The lengthy time to select jurors was due to an individual voir dire process.
The process meant each juror was questioned individually. Christopher Bragg,
the presiding judge, has maintained it was his decision to question jurors this
way.
Some jurors have been questioned for over 3 hours before they were seated as a
juror. Hundreds of Davidson County residents were called for jury duty.
Robert Campbell, 1 of Kennedy's attorneys, has said he believes the jury
selection is the longest ever for a capital case in North Carolina. The actual
trial is expected to begin early next week, and procedural hearings for the
case will be heard Friday morning.
(source: the-dispatch.com)
*******************
McCrory signs executions, gun bills
Gov. Pat McCrory on Thursday signed into law a bill keeping secret the drugs
used in lethal injections of death-row prisoners.
House Bill 774 also removes the requirement that physicians be present during
executions. That provision is meant to eliminate one of the legal hurdles that
currently block the death penalty in North Carolina.
The ACLU and a national organization of conservatives who question the death
penalty had asked the governor this week to veto the bill.
McCrory also signed HB562, a once controversial gun bill that had all its
controversial parts stripped out as it made its way through the legislature.
Gone is a provision that would have repealed the state's pistol permit system,
and allowed lawmakers and their staffs to carry concealed weapons in the
legislature.
SB233 allows for the automatic expunction of criminal records in cases of
mistaken identity. The law in this state already allows for expunction in cases
of identity theft. This new law includes mistaken identity in the
identification of the person who committed a crime, or when a witness or law
enforcement officer has been given the wrong information about a suspect.
The bill came about because of the false arrest of a Durham native mistakenly
identified as a bank robbery suspect in California. He had to go through a
lengthy process to have the arrest record sealed and destroyed.
The bills were among 27 he signed on Thursday. He issued a statement on the
record expunction bill, but not on any of the others.
(source: The News & Observer)
TENNESSEE:
Judge to Rule on Use of Pentobarbital for Death Penalty
A trial challenging Tennessee's method for executing prisoners concluded
Wednesday with attorneys for 33 death row inmates asking a judge to declare the
lethal injection protocol unconstitutional. Throughout the trial that began
July 7, attorneys discussed technical aspects of the procedure, including the
role of compounding pharmacists in producing the lethal injection drug
pentobarbital. Those discussions were rehashed during closing arguments
Wednesday in Davidson County Chancery Court. The judge has 30 days to rule in
the case.
About 2 years ago, the state moved from a 3-drug lethal injection method to a
one-drug method using pentobarbital. However, plaintiffs' attorneys say the
compounded form of the drug is likely to cause a condemned inmate to suffer
extreme pain and can cause a lingering death. Tennessee's protocol calls for
the use of pentobarbital mixed to order by a pharmacist. That's because the
only commercial producer of the drug has placed restrictions on its
distribution to prevent it from being used in executions.
Plaintiffs' attorney Kelley Henry said Wednesday that a manufactured drug is
safer than the compounded version because it contains "additional stabilizers
that help make sure that the drug acts as intended. Those stabilizers are not
going to be present in the compounded pentobarbital," she said. "The risk of
using this drug is extremely high."
The trial began weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Oklahoma's lethal
injection procedure, which uses different drugs than Tennessee, but the case
considered some of the same broad issues. Lawyers for the Tennessee inmates say
the claim of lingering death is a novel one. It is based on the theory that an
overdose of sedatives can put inmates into a death-like coma without truly
killing them for hours.
Earlier in the trial, one witness who is an expert in resuscitation testified
that it might be possible to revive an inmate who had been declared dead half
an hour later or more. Another witness who is an expert in anesthesiology
suggested that an inmate could recover spontaneously. Attorneys for the state
say the idea of spontaneous recovery is pure speculation and there is no chance
an inmate will be resuscitated once an execution has started. They also say the
U.S. Supreme Court has ruled inmates are not entitled to a pain-free death.
Although Tennessee has yet to carry out an execution using compounded
pentobarbital, state attorney Scott Sutherland said Texas, Ohio and Georgia
have had more than 30 successful and painless executions with the drug.
"There's not one single execution ... where there was a problem," Sutherland
said Wednesday. "I think it's fair to assume, that if there had been, this
court would have heard about it."
Tennessee last executed a prisoner in 2009. Since then, legal challenges and
problems obtaining lethal injection drugs have stalled new executions. In 2013
and 2014, state lawmakers tried to jump-start the process by moving from the
3-drug lethal injection method to the 1-drug method and reinstating the
electric chair as a backup. But both of those changes brought new legal
challenges, and all scheduled executions have been put on hold while those
issues are sorted out.
(source: Associated Press)
OHIO:
Man faces death penalty in slaying of wife and her brother
A Columbus man accused of killing his estranged wife and her brother could face
the death penalty.
Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien says 25-year-old Roy Harvison was
indicted Thursday on 2 counts of aggravated murder with death-penalty
specifications.
Police say Roy Harvison shot and killed 29-year-old Jenea Harvison and
23-year-old Donell McDonald in a parking lot on April 1.
Authorities say Roy Harvison shot McDonald in a parked car, then turned the gun
on Jenea Harvison, who was walking toward the car. They say she tried to run
but collapsed on a street. Police say he then fired more shots as she lay on
the street before walking back to the car and firing more shots at McDonald.
Court records show Jenea Harvison had filed for divorce in September.
(source: Associcated Press)
OKLAHOMA:
Death Row Inmate Thanks Sarandon For Her Help ---- Richard Glossip calls Sky
News to express his gratitude to Susan Sarandon, who is doing everything she
can to save his life.
A death row prisoner who is facing execution in 6 weeks has spoken live on Sky
News to thank the Hollywood actress who is supporting his campaign.
Richard Glossip phoned from Oklahoma State Penitentiary after hearing Susan
Sarandon had been interviewed on Sky and said he was "clearly innocent".
The actress won an Oscar for her role in Dead Man Walking, in which she played
a nun who accompanies prisoners to the death chamber.
Glossip, who was convicted of hiring a colleague to kill their boss, has always
maintained his innocence.
Susan Sarandon: 'Richard's case is so typical'
He was convicted largely on the testimony of the man who carried out the
killing, Justin Sneed, who received a prison sentence rather than the death
penalty.
Glossip told Sky News: "I'm truly happy that Susan Sarandon is speaking out for
me.
"It's really crazy that it's gotten to this point. She can see for herself that
this is truly a case of an innocent man who is going to be executed.
"And I couldn't ask for a better person to stand up and speak out for me, and
I'm glad that she has and I hope that she'll continue to do so.
"For some reason Governor (Mary) Fallin is not looking at it the way that she
should be looking at it.
"She should be looking at the fact that an innocent man is about to be executed
and she should be doing everything in her power to stop that from happening."
In an exclusive interview with Sky News, Sarandon said Glossip's scheduled
execution shows everything that is wrong with the death penalty in America.
She also described the Oklahoma governor as a "horrible person" for refusing to
intervene.
Glossip has been on death row for 17 years and has exhausted all appeals,
including to the US Supreme Court.
Sarandon told Sky News: "Richard's case is so typical. Bad representation; 2
trials that were ridiculous, no physical evidence.
"He's put there by a snitch who actually did kill the person, and then the
snitch has life and this guy is being put to death on the 16th (September).
"Once a mistake has been made within a judicial system, people just do not want
to admit that mistake has been made and it becomes impossible to readdress
them.
"And the only thing now that is going to give him a chance to survive is public
opinion - is public embarrassment."
The actress is urging people to write to Mary Fallin, asking her to intervene
and grant a stay of execution.
So far she has refused to do so and rejected Sky News' requests for an
interview about the case.
"The governor of Oklahoma is just a horrible person, and a woman, so it's even
more discouraging," Sarandon said.
The Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt has also declined to be interviewed,
but his office issued a statement.
"A jury has twice convicted and sentenced Richard Glossip in the murder of
Barry Van Treese.
"Glossip has challenged his conviction all the way to the US Supreme Court,
exhausting all appeals, and has been unsuccessful at each challenge.
"The attorney general's office will continue its work to protect the state's
ability to ensure the sentence handed down by a jury can be carried out so that
after nearly 20 years, justice can be served for the family of Barry Van
Treese."
(source: Sky News)
NEBRASKA:
Gov. Pete Ricketts talks death penalty on 'The Bottom Line'
Nebraska lawmakers repealed the state's capital punishment law over Gov. Pete
Ricketts' veto. Here's how it happened and what's next.
If Nebraska succeeds in importing the $54,400 in lethal injection drugs it
ordered from India, Gov. Pete Ricketts said Thursday he's confident he won't
need to seek a refund.
During an interview Thursday on "The Bottom Line," The World-Herald's Internet
radio broadcast, the governor was asked what happens to the state funds if the
death penalty repeal ultimately remains in effect. Death penalty supporters are
collecting signatures in an effort to let voters decide the fate of capital
punishment in 2016.
"Would we then be able to sell it back to the people who sold it to us?" host
Mike'l Severe asked. "Would we get our money back?"
The governor, a major contributor to the petition drive, said the state will
need the drugs for the 10 men on death row, regardless of the drive's outcome.
"The Legislature actually doesn't have the authority to go back and change
sentences that have already occurred," he said. "We're still working under the
premise that we're going to continue to carry out the sentences for the inmates
we have."
State Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha, the chief sponsor of the law, has said that
while the Legislature cannot change the death sentences of those already on
death row, the repeal removed the statutory means for conducting an execution.
That, he has said, leaves the death row inmates with a sentence that can't be
carried out.
The state has not yet imported the drugs it bought in May from a broker in
India. An official with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has said one of
the 2 drugs Nebraska purchased can't legally be imported.
Ricketts said Thursday that state officials remain in discussions with the Drug
Enforcement Administration to get the drugs shipped. He offered no timeline,
however, on when the drugs could arrive.
A DEA official has said the agency is working in tandem with the FDA on the
issue, suggesting Nebraska would not be able to use one federal agency to go
around another.
The governor repeated his stance that the death penalty is a necessary policy
for public safety. In particular, he said he believes it's important to protect
law enforcement and correctional officers who work with inmates serving life
terms.
"That's why I feel so strongly the folks in Nebraska should have a chance to
vote on it," he said.
(source: omaha.com)
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