April 18
TEXAS----new death sentence
Isidro Delacruz gets death penalty in Naiya Villegas murder
In the end, the photographs of a smiling 5-year-old girl juxtaposed with a
menacing-looking Isidro Delacruz - staring straight into the camera on the
night of the child's murder - might have helped jurors decide Delacruz needed
to die.
A Tom Green County jury sentenced Delacruz, 27, to death late Tuesday in the
slaying of 5-year-old Naiya Villegas after more than 3 years of trial delays.
The jury of 8 women and 4 men went into deliberation at 10:30 a.m. to answer
the special issues questions that resulted in the death penalty on the 5th week
of trial.
Delacruz appeared emotionless when 119th District Judge Ben Woodward read the
sentence in the courtroom, with relatives of both families present alongside
half a dozen Tom Green County Sheriff's deputies.
Delacruz grinned when staff on the defense team patted his shoulders as he
walked out of the courtroom in handcuffs.
Family members had been meandering in and out of the courtroom throughout the
day as they waited for the jury to make a determination.
The same jury found Delacruz guilty of capital murder last month in the child's
death. Naiya died in an ambulance on the way to the hospital after her throat
was slit twice in the middle of the night at her mother's home in the 2700
block of Houston Street on Sept. 2, 2014.
Delacruz's parents declined to comment Tuesday evening as family members hugged
each other outside of the courthouse. Members of Naiya's family said they are
thankful justice was served, adding they were planning to hold a vigil on the
courthouse lawn when the case concludes.
"In the ultimate betrayal, Naiya's short life was brutally, maliciously ended,"
51st District Attorney Alison Palmer said in a statement after the sentencing.
"No family should have to endure the loss of a child, especially in these
circumstances, at the hands of one who professed to love her.
"To the family of Naiya Villegas, you have my deepest sympathies. I hope this
resolution brings them some measure of closure, and that they will remember the
beauty of Naiya and know that she has found justice."
Delacruz's defense team declined to comment.
Attorneys took less than an hour each to argue their case Tuesday morning.
Court-appointed attorneys Robert R. Cowie and William P.H. Boyles said Delacruz
experienced personality disorders, learning disabilities and physical abuse
during his upbringing, which affected him in adulthood. The defense told jurors
life imprisonment is itself a death sentence in prison.
Palmer said Delacruz has proven he is incapable of accepting responsibility for
his actions and can't follow rules. She argued a sketchy work history, drinking
while on probation, numerous run-ins with the law and destructive conduct such
as making shanks while he was awaiting trial in the Tom Green County Jail were
all examples of impetuous behavior.
The punishment phase of trial had 2 delays when it began this month. Woodward
halted trial for several days the first week of April because an official gave
prosecutors new school records on Delacruz.
Defense attorneys immediately filed for a mistrial and a 6th continuance based
on the receipt of the additional school files, but Woodward ultimately turned
down their motions. Woodward also delayed proceedings for a day last week for
undisclosed reasons.
About 100 witnesses were called to testify, including the child's mother, who
broke down and nearly collapsed in the courtroom when she saw a picture of
Delacruz's bloody hand print inside her house.
Trial began in January when some 350 San Angelo residents reported to the
McNease Convention Center for jury duty.
"It was common to hear prospective jurors say they did not want to serve on
this jury, but they would because it is their responsibility as a citizen,"
Palmer said. "Many said they knew the case would be difficult, but if their
friends or family were involved as a victim or defendant, they would want
responsible citizens on a jury to hear the case. I am humbled by this sense of
civic duty and community."
12 jurors and 2 alternates were eventually impaneled after more than 7 weeks of
tedious individual examination by attorneys.
"I thank all of the venirepersons who took time for jury selection, and I thank
the 14 who so diligently served on this jury," Palmer said. "They have my
deepest respect."
This was the 1st time Palmer had prosecuted a capital case seeking the death
penalty that had gone to trial.
The last death penalty trial San Angelo saw was in May 1999, when a Tom Green
County jury sent Luis Ramirez to death row when he hired a hit man who shot and
killed fireman Nemecio Nandin because Nandin was having a relationship with
Ramirez's ex-wife.
Delacruz's case will automatically be filed for appeal.
(source: gosanangelo.com)
************** ---- impending execution
Texas Prepares for Execution of Erick Davila on April 25, 2018
Erick Daniel Davila is scheduled to be executed at 6 pm CDT, on Wednesday,
April 25, 2018, at the Walls Unit of the Huntsville State Penitentiary in
Huntsville, Texas. 31-year-old Erick is convicted of the murder of 48-year-old
Annette Stevenson and 5-year-old Queshawn Stevenson on April 6, 2008, in Fort
Worth, Texas. Erick has spent the last 9 years on Texas' death row.
Growing up, Erick did not have a close relationship with his mother, as he was
conceived during a rape when she was 13. Erick was diagnosed with Attention
Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and had a low IQ. He grew up in a
high-crime area that had several gangs.
On April 6, 2008, Erick Davila and Garfield Thompson drove to the home of
Annette Stevenson, who was throwing a 9th birthday party for her granddaughter
Nihtica Stevenson. After driving past the house, Davila got out of the vehicle
and Thompson drove off. Davila was observed by neighbors, who later identified
him in a line-up, to be carrying a large gun, with a "red dot beam."
A group who was in the neighborhood attending another party, observed Davila
walk between two buildings. The group followed Davila as he walked between 2
homes and took aim at Annette's house across the street. Davila shot Annette
several times before running into the middle of the street and shooting into
the house several more times.
Thompson then returned, driving the car. Davila got into the driver's side of
the car. He fired more shots at the house as he drove away.
By the time the police arrived at the scene, Annette had already died from her
injuries. Queshawn was seriously injured and several other children had various
injuries.
Police were tipped off about Davila's involvement in the crime by his
girlfriend Nichcole Blackwell, Davila's girlfriend. Davila had borrowed her car
the day of the murder and he was gone from the house most of the afternoon and
evening. Davila was arrested 2 days later.
Davila eventually confessed to the crime, saying he was trying to hit the only
adult male attending the party and that he never meant to harm the women and
children. The other man with him in the car, Thompson, knew about his plan to
shoot at the house and agreed to drop him off and pick him up.
Davila was convicted and sentenced to death in 2009. During his trial, it was
revealed that Davila was also charged with the 2 other murders, just days
before the murders of Annette and Queshawn. Additionally, while in jail
awaiting trial, Davila, with 2 other inmates, attacked 2 guards and 2
maintenance men in a failed escape attempt.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has rejected a request to halt the
execution of Erick Davila. The court did not a provide a reason for their
ruling. Erick will likely appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States
before his execution.
Please pray for peace and healing for the families of Annette and Queshawn.
Please pray for strength for the family of Erick. Please pray that if Erick is
innocent, lacks the competency to be executed, or should not be executed for
any other reason, that evidence will be presented prior to his execution.
Please pray that Erick may come to find peace through a personal relationship
with Jesus Christ, if he has not already.
(source: theforgivenessfoundation.org)
****************************
More than 230 prospective jurors in Rico Doyle capital murder trial
The capital murder trial of Rico Doyle, 38, of Killeen, will take longer than
other trials because it is a death penalty case, according to the Bell County
District Attorney's Office on Tuesday. Doyle is being tried in the 426th
District Court of Judge Fancy Jezek.
The jury selection process started April 2 followed by interviews of
prospective jurors, a process that could take 2-3 weeks, said Henry Garza, Bell
County District Attorney.
"Because this is a capital murder case in which the death penalty is being
sought, individual questioning of prospective jurors is required," Garza said.
"As a result it takes a longer period of time." More than 230 prospective
jurors are involved in the process.
After the jury selection interviews, a jury can be seated and the trial will
begin, which is expected to last about 2 weeks, he said.
Doyle pleaded not guilty in September, 2015, to the charges of capital murder
of Kysha D. Edmond-Gray, 42, and Deanna Louise Buster, 38, in downtown Killeen
on April 21, 2015. He also pleaded not guilty to aggravated assault with a
deadly weapon on allegations of wounding 3 other people during the same
incident, according to court records.
Doyle has been in the Bell County Jail on bonds totaling more than $1.2 million
since being arrested in April, 2015.
(source: Killeen Daily Herald)
NEW HAMPSHIRE:
Lawmakers delve deeper into debate over whether to repeal N.H. death penalty
In a half-hour discussion, the House Criminal Justice Committee debates a bill
repealing the state's death penalty, April 17, 2018.
The House Criminal Justice committee threw its support behind a bill to repeal
the death penalty Tuesday, voting, 12-6, to recommend repeal the government's
ultimate punishment after lengthy debate.
In a half-hour of measured discussion, committee members dove into what have
become well-trod arguments, weighing the moral costs, the potential to deter
other criminals, and the costs of carrying out capital punishment. Several
members said they came in undecided, wrestling with the question out loud to
the committee.
"I assume everyone's changed their minds several times," quipped chairman David
Welch, R-Kingston, ahead of the vote.
The legislation, Senate Bill 593, would strike the words "may be punished by
death" from the state's capital punishment statute, replacing them with "shall
be sentenced to imprisonment for life without the possibility for parole." New
Hampshire is 1 of 31 states to have the death penalty, according to the Death
Penalty Information Center.
The bill passed the Senate in March, 14-10 - a historical first for the
chamber. But ahead of that vote, Gov. Chris Sununu vowed he would veto the
bill, saying it would send the state "in exactly the wrong direction" and go
against the wishes of law enforcement and victims.
On Tuesday, arguments for and against fell into familiar grooves.
Some dwelled on blame. Rep. Frank Sapareto urged the committee to vote against
repeal, arguing that those who didn???t would be partially responsible if
someone imprisoned for life killed again. "Everyone who does vote yes to this,
you're going to bear that responsibility for the rest of your life," he said.
"I don't want to be responsible for those deaths. I'll vote no."
Rep. Linn Opderbecke, D-Dover, countered that allowing a law that could lead
the state to execute someone innocent also carried moral consequences.
"On the other side are the mistakes that we make," he said. "And I think that's
a great concern."
Others pointed to costs. Rep. Roger Berube, D-Somersworth, said the appeals
process for death penalty cases can rise into the millions. Rep. Carolyn
Gargasz, R-Hollis, while supporting repeal, made note that life in prison also
carries high costs for the state.
A few more said they were conflicted.
"I am truly on the fence with this one," said Rep. John Burt, R-Goffstown. He
ultimately voted in favor of repeal, citing examples of cases where those
convicted have been exonerated via forensic evidence.
Rep. Dennis Fields, R-Sanborton, said he was similarly undecided, but ended up
voting against repeal, influenced by the rise of school shootings and the need,
he said, for justice.
And one, Rep. Renny Cushing, D-Hampton, spoke to his unique trauma. In 1988,
Cushing's father was murdered on his doorstep, killed by shotgun in front of
his mother. But Cushing's experience informed his views against the death
penalty, not in favor, he said. For decades he???s been pushing for repeal in
New Hampshire, arguing that the measure is not necessary to deliver justice for
surviving victims.
On Tuesday, he pointed to the millions in legal costs incurred by the appeals
surrounding New Hampshire's only death row inmate, Michael Addison, convicted
for the 2006 killing of Manchester police officer Michael Briggs. That money
could have been used toward tackling the state's remaining 119 cold cases, or
funding victim support services, he argued.
"They're wondering: Why all the attention is being paid to one killer, when 119
other families are seemingly forgotten?" he said of the families. "It creates a
hierarchy of victims."
It was a perspective that appeared to resonate. After a roll call vote - some
shouting out their vote, others pausing before making the call - the bill moved
forward as "ought to pass."
It now heads to the House floor.
(source: Concord Monitor)
SOUTH CAROLINA:
This candidate running to be SC governor calls for return of firing squad
In the wake of Sunday's deadly riot at a South Carolina prison, one of the
Republicans running for governor has called for bringing back firing squads.
On a radio program, Catherine Templeton said firing squads should be revived in
the Palmetto State. The Republican made the comments Tuesday on the Bob Mclain
Show.
"Criminals legally sentenced to death are getting an unofficial reprieve right
now as South Carolina goes without the drugs necessary for lethal injection,"
Templeton said. "We must make the death penalty swift and final. I will push
for legislation allowing firing squads for court-ordered executions. And I will
also seek to deny condemned inmates their choice of execution."
Templeton, who was a Cabinet director under former S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley, made
her comments a little more than a day after the riot at Lee Correctional
Institution in Bishopville late Sunday that left 7 inmates dead.
The Charleston attorney is not the first politician in South Carolina to try
and revive the use of the firing squad. S.C. Rep. Josh Putnam, R-Anderson,
filed a bill in February that called for firing squads to help execute the
state's death row inmates.
Mississippi, Oklahoma and Utah are currently the only states that have
execution by firing squad, according to deathpenaltyinfo.org.
Use of firing squads was banned in Utah in 2004, but revived in 2015, when
legislation was enacted to allowing execution by firing squad if the drugs used
for lethal injection are unavailable.
In November 2017, Gov. Henry McMaster announced that South Carolina does not
have the drugs necessary to carry out lethal injection. The deadly mix requires
3 drugs - pentobarbital, pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride - all of
which the state does not have.
Templeton has been critical of McMaster on this issue, and for his handling of
the criminal justice system.
"Under Henry McMaster's watch, prisoners have been rioting and jumping fences.
They use cell phones to get access to drugs and contact criminal cronies,"
Templeton said on the radio program. "When I'm governor, once criminals are put
in prison, they will no longer dictate or demand special favor."
McMaster's campaign responded to Templeton's remarks, disputing some of her
attacks on the governor.
"Governor McMaster has locked up scores of criminals during his career as U.S.
attorney and South Carolina attorney general, and as governor he has led the
charge in giving prisons the resources they need to be secure and keep
contraband out of the hands of prisoners," Campaign Communications Director
Caroline Anderegg told The State. "Catherine Templeton's false and misleading
attacks are nothing but a cheap political gambit by a candidate with zero
understanding of or experience in law enforcement.
"The only people responsible for this horrific violence are the criminals who
perpetrated it, and for Templeton to suggest otherwise is a disgusting new
low."
Including Templeton and McMaster, there are 5 Republicans running for governor.
That also includes Lt. Gov. Kevin Bryant, former Lt. Gov. Yancey McGill and
businessman John Warren.
3 Democrats - Charleston businessman Phil Noble, state Rep. James Smith of
Columbia and Florence attorney Marguerite Willis - also are running for
governor.
(source: thestate.com)
GEORGIA---new and impending execution date
Man convicted in killing of Ga. CO set to be executed----Robert Earl Butts Jr.
was convicted of killing an off-duty CO after asking him for a ride outside a
Walmart in 1996
A man convicted of killing an off-duty prison guard after asking him for a ride
outside a Georgia Walmart store is scheduled to be executed next month.
Robert Earl Butts Jr., 40, is scheduled to die May 3 at the state prison in
Jackson, state Attorney General Chris Carr said in a statement Monday. Butts
and Marion Wilson Jr., 41, were convicted and sentenced to death in the March
1996 slaying of Donovan Corey Parks.
Wilson's case is currently pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Attorneys for Butts have argued that his trial defense was ineffective and
failed to thoroughly investigate his case or to present mitigating evidence,
including a childhood characterized by abuse and neglect, that could have
spared him the death penalty. State and federal courts have rejected his
appeals.
But his lawyers argued in a federal court filing last week that a Georgia
Supreme Court opinion published in January opens the door for a federal judge
to consider his claims of ineffective assistance of counsel.
Authorities said Butts and Wilson were gang members, and evidence was presented
at Butts' trial that showed the two had gone looking for a victim when they
drove Butts' car to a Walmart store in Milledgeville, in central Georgia.
A witness saw the pair standing behind Parks in a checkout line, and the
store's receipts showed Butts bought a pack of gum right after Parks bought pet
supplies, according to a Georgia Supreme Court summary of the case.
A witness heard Butts ask Parks for a ride. Parks agreed and Butts climbed in
the front passenger seat while Wilson sat in the back behind Parks.
After they'd driven a short distance, Butts showed Parks a shotgun and ordered
him to stop the car, the summary says. Parks was dragged from the car, ordered
to lie face-down on the ground and was killed with a single shot to the back of
his head.
Butts and Wilson then drove to a service station in Gray and put gas in Parks'
car before driving to Atlanta to try to sell the car. Unsuccessful, they bought
two cans of gasoline, drove to a remote part of Macon and set fire to the
vehicle. They walked to a nearby public phone where Butts called his uncle to
arrange a ride back to the Walmart to get Butts' car.
Investigators recorded the license plate numbers of the vehicles in the Walmart
parking lot that night, including Butts' car. They found a shotgun loaded with
unusual ammunition under Wilson's bed, and a witness said Butts had given it to
Wilson to hold temporarily, according to the summary.
Butts would be the 2nd inmate executed by Georgia this year. Carlton Gary,
convicted of raping and killing 3 older women and known as the "stocking
strangler," was put to death March 15.
Georgia executes inmates by injection of the barbiturate pentobarbital. Since
2013, the Department of Corrections has gotten the drug from a compounding
pharmacy whose identity is shielded by state law, and department records from
past executions show the drug is generally produced within the 2 weeks leading
up to an execution date.
(source: correctionsone.com)
ALABAMA----impending execution
Vengeful Alabama to kill 83-year-old man----Alabama currently has 182 inmates
on death row, with an average age of 32.
Barring intervention by courts or its governor, Alabama will kill an
83-year-old man on April 19; long-incarcerated for the 1989 mail-bomb killings
of United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit Judge Robert S.
Vance and civil rights attorney Robert E. Robinson, Walter Moody, Jr.'s
wizened, withered body, will, three decades after his crimes, be strapped to a
gurney, pricked with a sharp needle (possibly many, many times), and pumped
full of chemicals until he is dead.
Why? Other than the reactionary, regressive idea of "retribution" - whose
flawed moral underpinning is interchangeable with bloodthirsty, wild, wild West
revenge - how will justice be served? And, for whom?
The premeditated, state-sponsored senicide of the most senior of senior
citizens on Alabama's death row won't make anyone - not anyone in Alabama, and
not anyone anywhere in the United States or the world - safer.
As I have written elsewhere, the myth that capital punishment - in this
instance for an old man at the tail-end of a tortured existence in
"hell-on-earth" Holman prison - provides deterrence, is an outmoded shibboleth.
No mentally disturbed person intent on a bombing rampage will be dissuaded by
Alabama prosecutors' tri-decade pursuit of Moody's execution. (As the
Tuscaloosa News editorialized in a piece titled "Attempts to carry out the
death penalty have gone from bad to worse":
"30 years is a long time to wait to die, but the State is persistent. Alabama
has spent a lot of money and a lot of energy to usher out these old and infirm
inmates before nature takes its course.")
Additionally, and arguably most important, Alabama's unrelenting desire to
exact violent vengeance for the deaths of Judge Vance and Attorney Robinson is
improper because of: (1) who these champions of justice were, their respective
legacies of honor, and the principles of equality their lifework embodied; and
(2), because it is undesired by the people whose opinion should matter the most
- the family members of the victims - who have spoken publicly about this.
A crusader for civil rights in the segregated South, Robert Robinson served on
the executive board and as general counsel of the NAACP, and so it seems
certain he would not favor the death penalty - for Moody, or for anybody - the
practice having been hewn from the hell of slavery, subjugation and the
suffering of black people.
Interviewed for a 2016 essay called "Celebrating Black History: Remembering
Robbie Robinson," Robinson's widow, Ann, "says she may never know the reason
why her husband lost his life to such a heinous crime but she harbors no ill
feelings towards Moody. Instead, she's focused on keeping [her husband's]
memory alive."
By the same token, Judge Vance's wife Helen, who was seriously injured as a
result of the bombing that killed her husband, told reporters after Moody's
1991 conviction in federal court that, "she wouldn't press for a state
death-penalty case" (Helen Vance died in 2010).
And recently, in March, Robert Vance, Jr., Judge Vance's son and a circuit
judge in Alabama, told a news reporter: "We achieved peace when [Moody] was
convicted," later saying "he's not sure what can be gained from the execution
of his father's killer."
This ambivalence and distaste for executing an impotent, likely
soon-to-die-anyway old man, would undoubtedly have been shared by his father.
For as now-deceased former acclaimed death penalty attorney and law professor
Michael Mello wrote about Judge Vance, for whom he clerked, in his book "Dead
Wrong: A Death Row Lawyer Speaks Out Against Capital Punishment":
"Judge Vance personally did not believe in capital punishment; if he were a
legislator he would vote against it; if he were an executive he would commute
death sentences; and if he were a Supreme Court Justice, he might well hold it
unconstitutional. Robert Vance's personal opposition to capital punishment was
genuine and heartfelt ... He did not believe that the death penalty was a
proper form of punishment."
Which brings us full-circle to the questions I posed earlier: Why is Alabama
intent on killing an octogenarian who can no longer hurt anyone? And, who on
God's good earth will benefit from such ghastliness?
For as renowned Christian author, ethicist, and theologian Lewis Smedes once
powerfully observed: "The problem with revenge is that it never evens the
score. It ties both the injured and the injurer to an escalator of pain. Both
are stuck on the escalator as long as parity is demanded, and the escalator
never stops."
This is why Sir Francis Bacon once counseled that "in taking revenge, a man is
but even with his enemy; but in passing it over, he is superior."
If Alabama does not spare Mr. Moody, this time-tested wisdom, together with
whatever honor and capacity for human dignity that exists within the office of
Alabama's governor, its Department of Corrections, and its Office of the
Attorney General, will be lost.
(source: Guest Opinion; Stephen Cooper is a former D.C. public defender who
worked as an assistant federal public defender in Alabama between 2012 and
2015. He has contributed to numerous magazines and newspapers in the United
States and overseas----Montgomery Advertiser)
OHIO:
Hamilton death penalty trial: Witnesses fear for their safety
As jury selection in the death penalty trial stemming from a 2016 shooting
entered its 2nd day, police officers were still looking for two witnesses who
did not show up.
A jury was selected late Tuesday afternoon in the trial of Michael Grevious II,
who is facing the death penalty if found guilty of aggravated murder for the
retaliation shooting that followed a shootout at the former Doubles Bar in
Hamilton's West Side.
Grevious, 25, is also charged with felonious assault and having weapons under
disability for violence at the bar.
7 others, including 3 also charged with a capital offense, have all had their
cases heard and are serving prison sentences.
While the prosecution, defense and the judge questioned potential jurors, law
enforcement officers were looking for 2 material witnesses who did not show up
when issued a subpoena by the prosecution.
Assistant Prosecutor Brad Burress said he was concerned after 2 women who had
been subpoenaed did not appear Monday in court.
By lunch time Tuesday the women had been located.
One woman cried as she stood before Stephens. The officer who took her into
custody said she and her family expressed concern for her safety because of the
magnitude of the trial.
"You have nothing to be afraid of while you are here to testify," Stephens
assured her.
The judge told both women they were to return Thursday to testify and if they
did not, another warrant would be issued.
"I will send people out to get you ... we can do this the easy way or the hard
way," the judge said.
Both women said they understood.
According to court records, Grevious was part of the violence at Doubles,
standing on a pool table inside the bar and opening fire, along with others.
In the end, Kalif Goens, who did not have a gun, was dead and his brother,
Mondale Goens, was facing two felonious assault charges in the shooting of
Katrina Price and Jariaus Gilbert.
Cornell McKennelly II shot and killed Kalif Goens, according to Butler County
prosecutors.
During the same shootout, 3 other people shot and wounded members of the
Gilbert family, according to court documents that said: Rodrick Curtis Jr. shot
and wounded Tavaris Gilbert; Cory Cook II shot and wounded Orlando Gilbert, who
was killed days later in the Central Avenue drive-by shooting.
After the Doubles Bar shooting, Grevious recruited Zachary Harris to kill
Orlando Gilbert for $5,000, according to prosecutors.
Harris and 2 ex-convicts, Tony Patete and Melinda Gibby, drove about 90 miles
from Fairfield County, Ohio, to Butler County and spent several days driving
around Hamilton in search of their target, investigators alleged.
Then on Aug. 3, a Chevrolet pickup truck driven by Gibby pulled up next to a
black Ford Mustang occupied by Orlando Gilbert and Todd Berus. Patete, the
front seat passenger of the truck, opened fire with an AK-47 multiple times,
killing Gilbert and Berus, according to court documents.
Prosecutors said that Harris orchestrated the drive-by shooting from the
backseat of the pickup truck.
(source: Dayton Daily News)
ARKANSAS:
Judge barred from Arkansas execution cases participates again in death-penalty
protest
An Arkansas judge barred from presiding over death-penalty cases participated
in a vigil marking the 4 executions the state carried out over 2 weeks last
year.
Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen lay motionless on a cot Tuesday
night outside the Arkansas governor's mansion while about 40 opponents of
capital punishment gathered nearby.
Griffen rose from the cot shortly after 7 p.m. Asked why he participated in the
protest again and whether he was concerned with the perception, he repeated the
same answer twice.
"We are still killing," he said.
Griffen, who is also a Baptist minister, has sued the state's Supreme Court
justices, claiming they violated his constitutional rights by imposing the ban
in response to his participation on Good Friday last year in an anti-death
penalty rally on the steps of the state Capitol and later in a protest at the
Governor's Mansion during which lay on a cot "in solidarity" with Jesus.
Earlier that same day - on April 14, 2017 - Griffen had issued a temporary
restraining order that prevented the state from using the drug vercuronium
bromide in executing death-row inmates. The ruling was made in response to a
lawsuit filed by the drug's manufacturer, which said the state had illegally
obtained the drug.
Last week, a federal judge refused to dismiss the lawsuit against the 7
justices of the Arkansas Supreme Court, but the high court itself was dismissed
from the case.
(source: arkansasonline.com)
***************
Arkansans reflect 1 year after historic series of executions
Many Arkansans are reflecting on the values of justice and mercy. On this date
one year ago, the State of Arkansas began a historic series of executions.
Executions were scheduled for eight men between April 17-27, 2017. One, Jason
McGehee, received clemency from Gov. Asa Hutchinson, 3 were granted stays by
the courts, and 4 were executed.
The 1st of the men to be executed was Ledell Lee.
"We've been going through this since last year," his sister, Patricia Young,
said Tuesday. "And it has not been a easy process for us. And we're trying to
cope with it as best we can, but it's very hard."
Young joined a couple dozen people for a vigil outside the gates of the
Governor's Mansion Tuesday evening. The event was organized by the Arkansas
Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, which staged similar protests several
times in April 2017.
"The State of Arkansas, they need to abolish the death penalty," Young said.
"Because you're not helping nobody in this situation."
The most visible attendee at the vigil was Pulaski County District Judge
Wendell Griffen. Griffen brought a cot, had someone tie him to it with a rope,
and laid silently for an hour. He wore a button that said, "end the death
penalty," along with an identification badge and a hat he placed on his lap.
A similar demonstration during an anti-death penalty rally last year led the
Arkansas Supreme Court to remove Griffen from cases related to executions.
Griffen sued the justices to be fully reinstated.
After the demonstration, State Sen. Trent Garner (R-El Dorado) wrote on his
Facebook page that Griffen should be removed from the bench.
"What a pathetic and depressing display by Judge Griffen," he wrote. "He has
disgraced the office that he holds for years and now is using a desperate,
attention-seeking move to further bring shame on himself. I'm calling on House
leadership to bring articles of impeachment immediately."
Griffen's attorney, Mike Laux, said in a statement that Judge Griffen has the
constitutional right to demonstrate, and they will prove it, if necessary.
Young said she and her family were not allowed to be at the Cummins Unit when
Lee was executed. She said the last year has been very difficult for them. They
do not understand why Lee did not receive the same stay as some of the other
inmates and they were saddened by the fact that his time of death was 11:56
p.m., just 4 minutes before his execution order would have expired.
"My family hates the fact that the justice system failed my brother," Young
said.
James Phillips said last year that the justice system failed him and his
family, too, though in a different way. His wife was killed and his daughter
was attacked by Jack Jones. Jones was executed on April 24, 2017.
"I hope the state of Arkansas, and the government, and the court system learns
from this: it don't take 22 years to get something done," Phillips said. "Get
it done right, and people don't have to live like this or think like this for
20-something years."
A spokeswoman for Attorney General Leslie Rutledge said in a statement Tuesday
that Rutledge will keep supporting the death penalty, as it is her job to
enforce the sentence given by juries. "The Attorney General fights to ensure
justice is carried out for the victims and their families, who continue to
suffer through delay after delay," Nicole Waugh added in the statement.
Critics thought last year's process was rushed and flawed. They argued that
scheduling so many executions in such a short period of time, and planning 2 of
them per day each time, was inhumane. They also said that a couple of the
inmates felt undue paid during their executions. But Governor Hutchinson said
at the time that the executions were a good moment for our state.
"My goal was to make sure that we did justice in Arkansas in a way that
reflected well on the state," he said the day after the final execution. "I
think that was accomplished."
Gov. Hutchinson has continued to push for the death penalty, scheduling another
execution in November 2017 for Jack Greene, Jr. before it was halted by the
courts. The state's supply of vecuronium bromide expired earlier this spring,
so no more executions can be scheduled until the Arkansas Department of
Correction acquires a new dose.
(source: thv11.com)
COLORADO:
Death Penalty Considered for 2 Colorado Springs Men
Prosecutors are considering pursuing the death penalty for 2 Colorado Springs
men accused of pulling the trigger during the executions of a pair of high
school students.
The Gazette reports Prosecutor Jim Bentley said Monday the District Attorney's
Office hasn't ruled out death penalty bids against 1st-degree murder suspects
Diego Chacon and Marco Garcia-Bravo.
The men's arraignments are scheduled for May 7. If the men plead not guilty,
prosecutors would have 63 days to file notice of a capital case under Colorado
law.
Garcia-Bravo and Chacon are among 10 people charged in a conspiracy that
culminated in the March 2017 abductions and shootings of Derek Greer and
Natalie Cano-Partida, two Coronado High School students, at close range over a
gang rivalry.
5 people were charged with 1st-degree murder in the teens' slayings.
Prosecutors cut plea deals for 2 of them.
(source: Associated Press)
CALIFORNIA:
Suspect In Fatal Studio Arson May Face Death Penalty
A 28-year-old man was charged Tuesday with capital murder for allegedly setting
fire to a music studio in Studio City last Saturday, killing 2 men and leaving
a 15-year-old girl and a man in his 20s critically injured.
Efrem Zimbalist Demery Jr. of Los Angeles is set to be arraigned Tuesday in a
Van Nuys courtroom on 2 counts each of murder and attempted murder and 1 count
of arson of a structure.
The murder charge includes the special circumstance allegation of multiple
murders. Prosecutors will decide later whether to seek the death penalty
against Demery, whom police said may have had a prior dispute with at least 1
of the 2 men who was killed.
The criminal complaint also includes allegations that Demery used an accelerant
and committed great bodily injury during the commission of the crime.
Investigators believe that Demery knew and had been together with the 2
deceased victims -- DeVaughn Cemar Carter, 28, and Michael Pollard Jr., 30,
both of Los Angeles -- and that a dispute erupted with one or both of them,
according to Los Angeles Police Department Chief of Detectives Justin
Eisenberg.
Demery then went across the street from Top Notch Recordings at 3779 N.
Cahuenga Blvd., bought gas at a Chevron station and returned to torch the
interior of the building before fleeing out a rear door, Eisenberg alleged.
Firefighters were dispatched at 6:54 a.m. Saturday to the building and had the
greater-alarm fire out within 28 minutes of their arrival.
A K-9 on loan to the Los Angeles Fire Department's Arson/Counter- Terrorism
Section from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
detected an accelerant, and forensic evidence, surveillance video and witness
statements caused investigators to zero in on Demery, according to Capt.
William Hayes of the LAPD's Robbery-Homicide Division.
Demery, who is believed to have been friends with at least 1 of the dead men,
allegedly poured fuel in a hallway and set it ablaze, Hayes said, adding that
Carter and Pollard were in 1 room and the 2 injured victims were in separate
areas of the studio at the time.
Responding firefighters found all 4 victims down inside the building.
The injured girl and man appear to have no connection to Demery or the dead
victims, police said.
Carter and Pollard were pronounced dead at the scene and the 2 injured victims
remain hospitalized in critical condition with "significant burns," Eisenberg
said Monday.
The nature of the possible dispute between Demery and the other 2 men remains
under investigation, Hayes said.
Demery -- whose prior criminal history includes burglary and selling
counterfeit goods -- was arrested on suspicion of murder about 7:30 p.m.
Saturday in the area of 135th Street and Avalon Boulevard in the Willowbrook
area when a California Highway Patrol officer stopped him for a traffic
violation, according to Eisenberg.
By the time he was stopped, Demery had already been identified as a suspect in
the Saturday morning fire, which Eisenberg called a "senseless and horrific
crime."
Demery has been held without bail since his arrest.
The building houses independent producers and studios, Shad Rabbani, the
leasing agent for the building, told the Los Angeles Times. The facility has 13
studios, he said.
"They have a lot of clients and it's 24/7, so I have no idea who is coming and
who is going out," Rabbani said.
Songwriter and artist L.A. Pryce said he had worked all night in one of the
studios, fallen asleep and was awakened by a friend.
"My boy was like, `Yo wake up. Smell That?' So I opened the door. It's just
blacked out smoke," Pryce told the newspaper. "And then I see flames. I broke
for the door and got out. I lost everything, hard drive, computer, everything's
gone."
(source: patch.com)
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