November 29
TEXAS----impending execution
"Texas 7" Escapee Set for Execution----Inmate challenges original conviction,
post-escape “law of parties” verdict
Joseph Garcia is infamous for his role in the biggest prison escape in Texas
history. For that crime and a murder that followed, Garcia is facing an
execution date of Tuesday, Dec. 4, where he would become the fourth of the
"Texas 7" to be put to death. But with 2 appeals and a stay pending before the
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and a clemency petition before the Board of
Pardons and Paroles, Garcia's placement on death row remains controversial.
On Dec. 13, 2000, the Texas 7 broke out of a maximum-security prison near San
Antonio with stolen weapons in a prison truck. Once free, the men committed
several robberies across the state, including at a sporting goods store near
Dallas on Christmas Eve, where they ran into police officer Aubrey Hawkins and
fatally shot him 11 times. A month later, after making national news, the men
were captured in Colorado. All, save 1 who killed himself, were sentenced to
death under the Texas "law of parties," though Garcia maintains he never fired
his weapon that night. State statute allows accomplices to another crime - such
as robbery - that results in murder to be held responsible even if they were
not involved in the slaying, and Garcia's lawyer Dale Baich said, "Joseph was
sentenced to death even though the state could not prove that Joseph killed,
intended to kill, or was even present when the co-defendants killed Officer
Hawkins."
Garcia's concurrent appeals touch on more than the law of parties. Before his
escape, Garcia was serving out a murder sentence from Bexar County; the 1st
matter pending before the CCA argues he was denied his Sixth Amendment right to
effective counsel in that case. Garcia insists he acted in self-defense, but
his trial attorney failed to investigate or present that claim to the court,
and the filings allege Garcia continued to receive shoddy counsel through his
appeals.
A subsequent petition at the CCA argues Garcia's death sentence in the Hawkins
case was a result of "misleading evidence" presented by the state, ineffective
counsel, and a "racially prejudiced judge" who tainted the case, in addition to
its challenge to the law of parties. Via email, Baich stressed that there
remain "significant legal issues before the courts that have not been presented
until now because of procedural technicalities and bad lawyering."
Garcia has been fighting his sentence for nearly 2 decades. In April, the U.S.
Supreme Court denied his last appeal and he was scheduled for lethal injection
in August, but was spared due to a technical issue. If a stay or clemency is
not granted, Garcia will be the 12th Texas inmate executed in 2018. Before the
year is up, 1 more - Alvin Braziel Jr. - is scheduled to die, on Dec. 11.
(source: Austin Chronicle)
******************
Inmates Said The Drug Burned As They Died. This Is How Texas Gets Its Execution
Drugs.----Greenpark Compounding Pharmacy gave kids the wrong medicine. It
forged documents. Its employees didn’t wash their hands adequately. So why did
the state with the most executions hire it to make lethal injection drugs?
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice, which has carried out more executions
than any other state, has for the last 3 1/2 years bought drugs for lethal
injections from a pharmacy that regulators have repeatedly cited for dangerous
practices.
The source of the state's execution drugs has until now been a closely guarded
secret. Texas, like other death penalty states, has a law that prevents the
disclosure of that information, making it impossible for the public to learn
about the manufacturer's safety record. But documents obtained by BuzzFeed News
indicate that one source is Greenpark Compounding Pharmacy in Houston, which
has been cited for scores of safety violations in recent years. Its license has
been on probation since November 2016, when the Texas State Board of Pharmacy
found that it had compounded the wrong drug for 3 children, sending 1 to the
emergency room, and forged quality control documents.
Questions about the source and quality of Texas's execution drugs have been
particularly acute in the past year, since in their final moments of life, 5 of
the 11 inmates who Texas put to death in 2018 said the drug they were injected
with, which is supposed to be painless, felt like it was burning as it coursed
through their bodies.
"I can feel that it does burn. Burning!" Anthony Shore said, his voice rising,
as he died in January. 4 months later, Juan Castillo swore and said the drug
burned and that he could taste it in his throat. In the next few months,
inmates Troy Clark, Christopher Young, and Danny Bible all made similar
statements as they were dying. A 6th inmate, William Rayford, writhed and shook
on the gurney after the drug began to flow into him.
2 more inmates are scheduled to be executed in coming days: Joseph Garcia on
Dec. 4 and Alvin Braziel on Dec. 11.
Texas has faced growing difficulties in securing supplies of lethal drugs in
recent years, as manufacturers have become increasingly unwilling to be
associated with capital punishment, and the Food and Drug Administration has
blocked surreptitious attempts to get the drugs from overseas. The manufacturer
of pentobarbital, the substance Texas uses in executions, requires its
distributors to sign agreements that they will not sell their drugs to death
penalty states. So Texas sought out a compounding pharmacy, which can combine
the basic ingredients of known drugs according to a prescription for a specific
patient - for example, a child who needs a medicine in a liquid rather than
pill form. (The state has also tried importing drugs from a supplier in India,
but the FDA seized the shipment.)
Compounding pharmacies are not subject to the same stringent federal standards
as large manufacturers, and the products they make have a significantly higher
failure rate and shorter shelf life, one measured in days, than conventionally
manufactured drugs.
Attorneys for death row inmates have long warned that compounded pentobarbital
could expire or degrade over time, putting their clients at risk of a painful
death that would amount to torture.
"Improper compounding and testing procedures may leave fine particles
undetectable by the naked eye in the solution, or larger particles that would
not be detected by an untrained eye," Dr. David Waisel wrote in a 2016
affidavit. "These particles can cause great irritation to the vein, resulting
in extraordinary pain."
In inspections by state regulators, Greenpark has been cited for 48 violations
over the past eight years, according to documents obtained by BuzzFeed News.
The violations included keeping out-of-date drugs in stock, using improper
procedures to prepare IV solutions, and inadequate cleaning of hands and
gloves.
Federal documents show that in November 2014, the Texas Department of Criminal
Justice obtained, from an unnamed source, enough of the raw ingredient in
pentobarbital to be used in hundreds of doses. The documents indicate that over
the years, the state has transferred fractions of the ingredient to 2
compounding pharmacies, which use it to produce pentobarbital. The department
first transferred 50 grams of the raw ingredient to Greenpark in April 2015,
then again in February 2016. The documents indicate the state has not sent any
of the ingredient to any other compounding pharmacy since then.
In a declaration it submitted under a pseudonym in June, Greenpark said it had
supplied lethal injection drugs to Texas, and that the relationship "was and is
contingent on" the pharmacy's "identity remaining a secret." If its identity
became public, Greenpark wrote, it "will no longer conduct business with the
Texas Department of Criminal Justice."
The other pharmacy that the documents indicate received shipments of the
ingredient (80 grams of it in August 2015) remains unidentified. It's unclear
which pharmacy supplied the compounded drugs for each execution, but over the
last three years Texas appears not to have acquired the drugs from any other
sources.
BuzzFeed News shared the documents with two pharmaceutical experts who are
familiar with such records. The experts confirmed the methodology behind the
reporting.
Speaking by phone to BuzzFeed News, Ken Hughes, Greenpark's head pharmacist,
said that his pharmacy had performed drug testing for the criminal justice
department, but added, "It's none of your business what I do." Asked about the
compounding of execution drugs, Hughes repeatedly said, "I don't do it."
When asked if that meant that the pharmacy, which also operates as a gift shop,
does not do it currently or if it has never done so, Hughes said that he had
two other calls on hold and ended the conversation. He did not respond to
repeated follow-up emails or phone calls.
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice declined to comment.
It's unclear how the state selected Greenpark. Of the state's nearly 200
pharmacies that perform this sort of high-risk compounding, Greenpark is 1 of
only 8 that currently have their licenses on probation or revoked.
That probation, which is scheduled to expire at the end of this month, was put
in place after a pharmacy technician made a mistake in compounding a batch of
lansoprazole, a drug that can be used to treat high levels of stomach acid.
Instead, the pharmacy gave 3 children lorazepam, a benzodiazepine similar to
Xanax.
The state board found that 1 of the children had to receive "emergency
treatment in a hospital after experiencing adverse effects," and that the
pharmacy technician forged quality-control documentation. Without admitting or
denying guilt, Hughes agreed to implement new procedures to prevent dispensing
errors.
The parents of the child who went to the hospital after taking Greenpark's
drugs sued the pharmacy in September 2017. Without admitting liability, the
pharmacy settled, agreeing to pay $55,000 toward the child's college saving
fund.
The FDA also inspected Greenpark in October 2017, and cited the pharmacy for
several potential sterility violations. Greenpark said that it adhered to state
pharmaceutical guidelines. Hughes added that the inspection has "given us an
opportunity to review our procedures and look for improvements."
The FDA told BuzzFeed News it could not release its full report on Greenpark
because doing so "could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement
proceedings."
(source: Chris McDaniel is an investigative reporter for BuzzFeed News)
PENNSYLVANIA:
Proposed expenses adding up for Luzerne County death penalty cases
A 3rd Luzerne County department request for more funding in 2019 due to capital
cases - this time for $70,000 - prompted citizen Mark Rabo to question the
sense of even pursuing the death penalty.
Speaking during public comment at this week's council budget work session, the
Hazleton man believes it would be more feasible for the district attorney’s
office to settle for seeking life without the possibility of parole, largely
because Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf was elected to another 4-year term and has
said he won’t sign off on an execution.
"That would be more cost effective, and you wouldn't be able to get the death
penalty in Pennsylvania because the governor put a moratorium over it," Rabo
said.
The DA's office is pursuing the death penalty against 52-year-old Joseph John
Marchetti and Anthony Spudis, 36, citing the severity of their alleged crimes.
District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis said Wednesday her response is the same
as it was when Councilman Stephen A. Urban raised the same issue earlier this
year: She has a legal obligation to seek the death penalty if certain factors
are met.
"As stated in the past, I follow the law," she said.
Salavantis said she strives to save tax dollars when possible but cannot allow
the cost of prosecuting or defending cases to drive decisions on seeking
justice.
Prosecutors also sometimes use the death penalty as a bargaining chip to obtain
a life sentence plea, which could save the time and expense of a trial.
Marchetti is accused of beating and then shooting his girlfriend, Antoinette
Wilkinson, 46, at their Foster Township home in January. Prosecutors also say
Marchetti beat Wilkinson’s mother, Barbara Wilkinson, 72, with a lead-filled
club, then dragged her into the room where her daughter lay before shooting
himself in the face. The younger woman passed away as a result of the attack.
Spudis faces criminal homicide, burglary and robbery charges for allegedly
breaking into 97-year-old Gertrude Price’s Nanticoke home in 2013 and stabbing
her several times in the head when she confronted him.
The public defender’s office is representing Marchetti, and the county court
retained outside legal counsel in the Spudis case due to a conflict with the
public defender and conflict counsel offices, officials said.
Expenses adding upM
A council majority had approved an $80,000 budget reserve transfer in July to
cover public defender's office expenses for expert witnesses and a mitigation
specialist in the death penalty case it is handling.
The public defender's proposed 2019 budget seeks a $15,000 increase for experts
and a mitigation specialist for the capital case, which would raise its
examinations/witnesses budget category from $85,000 to $100,000.
In the DA's office, Salavantis is requesting $100,000 more for expenses related
to both pending capital cases next year, for a new total of $110,000.
Court administration presented its request this week for $70,000 more due to
the capital case defense it must fund.
Councilwoman Sheila Saidman sought an explanation of that expense.
Court Administrator Michael Shucosky said the courts must secure and fund
private outside defense counsel when it cannot be provided by the assistant
public defenders or conflict counsel. He estimated only approximately 20
outside attorneys in Northeastern Pennsylvania have the required certification
in death penalty cases, which creates a “seller’s market” commanding higher
fees in addition to other litigation expenses.
The courts have retained attorney Robert Saurman, of Monroe County, to
represent Spudis, records show. Shucosky said he cannot discuss the amount of
the fees because payment records have been sealed, which is common before a
capital case is adjudicated.
Council is set to vote on the 2019 budget Dec. 11. The administration proposed
a 3 % real estate tax increase.
(source: timesstandard.com)
FLORIDA:
Attorneys for suspect in killing of 2 cops will need more money for defense
Lawyers for the man accused of fatally shooting 2 Kissimmee police officers
will need more tax dollars to defend him.
Everett Miller's attorneys need the money to hire a private investigator to
find mitigating evidence to keep Miller off death row.
In the case against accused Miller, it seems there is no shortage of evidence.
There was cellphone video of him challenging Kissimmee police Officer Matthew
Baxter in the minutes before investigators said he shot Baxter and Sgt. Sam
Howard to death.
Baxter's DNA was on Miller's nail clippings, his revolver, tank top and
necklace. Howard's DNA was on Miller's shoes and his car.
Newly released cellphone records show Miller's phone was in the area around the
time of the shootings.
His defense team has already hired a private investigator for a hundred hours
of work, and new court records show Miller's attorney is asking the court for
more money to pay the private investigator for and additional 300 hours of
work.
WFTV legal analyst Bill Sheaffer said in a death penalty case, an investigator
will spend much of their time looking for evidence and information about the
defendant that could be used if he's convicted.
It would be presented in the penalty phase of the trial to try to keep him from
getting the death penalty.
"The majority of this investigation is going to be focused on keeping their
client off death row," said Sheaffer.
Miller's trial is expected to begin in March.
(source: WFTV news)
ALABAMA:
Prichard murder suspect gets hefty bond, may face death penalty
A Prichard murder suspect is sitting in jail on a hefty bond.
Marquiel Manassa was in court this morning.
Police say he killed Xydarius Harrison back on November 10th on Peterson road
in Prichard.
According to court documents, Manassa supposedly jumped into the back seat of
the car that Harrison was in to Rob Harrison and Harrison's brother in the car.
Harrison's brother was able to get out of the car and run away to get help.
Authorities say Harrison was shot and killed inside the car.
Both murder during a robbery and murder in a car, make the case eligible for
the death penalty.
No word from the District Attorney's office if they will pursue the death
penalty.
The assistant DA says more arrests are possible.
Manassa's bond was set at $150,000 bond with $10,000 dollars of it in cash.
He'll be back in court Thursday.
(source: WPMI news)
OHIO:
Man Faces Potential Death Penalty, Charged In Massacre Of Ohio Family
The 1st of 4 family members charged with killing 8 people from another Ohio
family has pleaded not guilty to aggravated murder and other charges in the
potential death penalty case.
26-year-old Edward "Jake" Wagner acknowledged the 23 counts against him but
said little else Tuesday in Pike County court. He's being held without bond.
Wagner, his parents and his brother are charged in the 2016 shootings of 7
adults and a teenager from the Rhoden family.
The Wagners will be arraigned over the next week. An attorney who's represented
them has said they'll be vindicated.
Authorities say a custody dispute was a possible motive. Jake Wagner shared a
daughter with 1 of the victims.
The judge says he's prohibiting lawyers and authorities involved from publicly
discussing Wagner's case.
*******************
Ex-governors: Inmate execution decisions a tough burden
Ohio's 3 living former governors have no trouble agreeing on the toughest
burden they faced in office: deciding whether someone should live or die.
And after a collective 20 years as Ohio's governor, Richard F. Celeste, Bob
Taft and Ted Strickland all wish they had spared more people from execution.
The 3 are in Columbus for a new exhibit of both the original 1802 and 1851 Ohio
constitutions now on permanent display at the Statehouse Museum.
As snow fell softly outside, they sat with The Dispatch for 80 minutes Tuesday
afternoon in a vacant Statehouse hearing room to chat about today's corrosive
politics and talk about what they now view as their biggest accomplishments -
and where they'd like a "do-over."
Strickland brought up the death penalty under the latter category: "I wish I
had done what my friend Jay Inslee, who's the governor of Washington state, did
when he became governor. He just said, 'There will be no executions as long as
I'm the governor of the state of Washington.'
"And I wish I had had the courage to make that decision."
Strickland, 77, who was a prison psychologist before becoming a congressman and
then, from 2007 to 2011, governor, says he is especially relieved that he
commuted the sentence of Kevin Keith, whose bid to challenge his conviction for
killing three people in Bucyrus in 1994 is now before the U.S. Supreme Court.
"I'm just convinced as long as we have the death penalty, innocent people are
going to lose their lives ... our judicial system has serious problems that
need attention," the Democrat said.
Republican Taft said that when he was governor from 1999 to 2007, his attitude
toward capital punishment was that "it was the law of Ohio. It had been enacted
by the people's representatives. My job was to carry out the law unless there
were extraordinary circumstances that would call for a commutation."
Even though he granted only 1 commutation, reviewing the files of death row
inmates who pleaded for leniency slowly caused a transformation in his
thinking.
"Going through all those cases as governor, and the time you spend on those
cases, really changed my attitude in certain ways. So I have growing
reservations about the death penalty," he said.
Taft, 76, who has taught at the University of Dayton since shortly after
leaving the governor's office, supports a ban on executing the mentally ill, a
lower bar for the defense to establish than insanity. Plus, he would eliminate
a section of Ohio law allowing the death penalty for so-called "felony murder."
"I think there is great disparity, there is great inequality, there are great
differences between the counties in how that's applied."
Taft still backs potential capital punishment for those convicted of such
offenses as murder for hire, killing a law enforcement officer, or causing
death by an act of terrorism.
Celeste, a Democrat who served from 1983 to 1991, said he was given advice by
the longtime counsel for his GOP predecessor, James A. Rhodes, about potential
executions: "You shouldn't let it happen."
The attorney told Celeste that Rhodes had sent him to witness an execution, and
the counsel came back and told Rhodes that he would quit rather than watch
another, saying "If you want to let somebody die in the chair, you go watch
it."
Celeste ignited major controversy near the end of his second term by ordering
the first mass prison release of battered women in this country, granting
clemency to more than two dozen who were in Ohio's prison for women in
Marysville.
And a couple of weeks later, Celeste commuted the death sentences of 4 men and
all 4 women on death row.
"Not because they were necessarily innocent, actually. I knew several of them
weren't," Celeste conceded Tuesday.
"As I look back on it, if I had really would have been bold, I would have done
what Toney Anaya did in New Mexico (as governor at the same time as Celeste)
and the governor of Illinois did later, just say, 'I'm going to commute them
all to life (sentences), without the benefit of parole.' You save the state a
lot of money in the process."
Celeste, who turned 81 this month, retired in 2011 after serving as president
of Colorado College in Colorado Springs for nine years. He now consults for
businesses and nonprofit organizations.
All 3 former chief executives agreed that even the rough-and-tumble politics of
their eras featured bipartisan agreements and personal relationships across
party lines. Interestingly, both Taft and Strickland - whose families have
grown close over the years - agreed that the invective and stridency of the
Donald Trump era began with the ascension of Georgia Congressman Newt Gingrich
to U.S. House speaker in 1995.
Taft also cited the decline of "moderating institutions" such as major
newspapers that no longer have influential editorial voices, political parties
that are overshadowed by super-PACS, and unaccountable independent campaign
groups getting undisclosed cash.
Celeste pointed to familiar targets to explain the decline of civility and
bipartisanship: the state legislature's term limits that eroded both experience
and any incentive to take more than a short-term view, a more partisan national
press trying to fill a 24/7 news cycle, the constant yammering of social media,
and gerrymandering that has pushed both parties to their extreme in both Ohio
and Congress.
"If I could wave a magic wand and make every district 51-49 (% partisan split),
I would," Celeste sai
****************************
Man convicted in slayings faces death penalty at sentencing
A 3-judge panel has decided an Ohio man who pleaded guilty to killing a woman
and her 2 daughters will face the death penalty at his upcoming sentencing.
The Cuyahoga County judge on Monday set Dec. 28 for the formal sentencing of
George Brinkman Jr.
Brinkman pleaded guilty this month to aggravated murder charges in the June
2017 slayings of 42-year-old Suzanne Taylor, 21-year-old Taylor Pifer and
18-year-old Kylie Pifer at their home outside Cleveland
Authorities say the 46-year-old Brinkman was a family friend. No motive has
been determined.
A woman answering the phone Tuesday at Brinkman's attorney's office said
attorney Fernando Mack had no comment.
Brinkman is charged in Stark County with fatally shooting a couple at their
Lake Township home where he was house-sitting in June 2017.
(source for all: Associated Press)
TENNESSEE----impending execution
Murder victim's mother has no plans to witness David Earl Miller execution
If David Earl Miller dies in Tennessee's electric chair next week as scheduled
for the 1981 murder of Lee Standifer, the slain Knoxville woman's mother won't
be there to witness it.
Helen Standifer won't say exactly how she feels about the execution, but she
knows she doesn't need to see it.
"I'm not vengeful like that," she said in a phone interview from her home in
Chandler, Arizona, adding that her presence at the execution "won't help my
daughter at all."
Court documents say little about Miller's 23-year-old victim, other than noting
she had "diffused brain damage when born" and was "mildly retarded."
But her mother's memory is far more nuanced, and she has wondered over the
years whether that was the right diagnosis.
She said her daughter was good at certain things, like reading, and was very
verbal, but other things challenged her. For instance, if told an event would
happen next week, she might not comprehend how long she'd have to wait for it.
Because of her difficulties, Lee Standifer didn't attend college and she didn't
drive. Her mother said there weren't many options for someone with her
daughter's special needs at the time, but they found a place for her to live at
the Knoxville YWCA. From there, she would ride the bus to work at a food
processing plant.
"It was repetitious work that would drive most of us out of our heads," but Lee
Standifer liked the work, her mother said. In turn, "They just loved her. She
was never late and never missed a day."
According to court records, Miller was a drifter who had been living in the
home of a man who picked him up hitch-hiking.
Lee Standifer had been dating him, and the two were seen together around town
the evening of May 20, 1981. The young woman's body was found the next day in
the yard of the home where Miller had been living. She had been beaten,
possibly with a fire poker, and stabbed multiple times.
Miller later said he was on drugs at the time and didn't remember the crime. He
was sentenced to death in 1982, and again in 1987 after the first sentence was
thrown out. The jury found the murder was "especially heinous, atrocious, or
cruel."
Asked to describe her daughter, Helen Standifer says what a positive person she
was.
"She was a bubbly, happy character from the time she was very small. ... She
used to embarrass her sister around Christmas time. She would put jingle bells
on her shoelaces."
When she was little she used to always greet the mail man and have "big
conversations" with him, her mother said.
Born in West Virginia, Lee Standifer spent most of her school years in
Colorado, where she was active in 4H. Her mother still has a gold medal she won
for backstroke in an early version of the Special Olympics.
The family moved to East Tennessee during Lee Standifer's senior year of high
school. She loved going to Tennessee craft shows where her mother sold wire
sculptures.
As a young woman, "She was very confident in who she was. She wasn't bothered
by comparing herself to others," Standifer said.
Even after she started living at the YWCA, up until the time she was killed,
she would spend most weekends at her parents' home in Farragut, about 20 miles
west of Knoxville.
Helen Standifer says the pain of her daughter's loss never leaves.
"You're always missing that person. It's not as every day, not as constant a
pain as it was early on, but it doesn't go away."
She honestly can't remember whether Miller ever offered some kind of apology.
She adds, "... So much of that, I just lived through - barely."
(source: Associated Press)
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