August 19
TEXAS:
Young widow at center of Houston 'honor killings' speaks out to raise awareness
Nesreen Irsan finally had a night without nightmares.
The 30-year-old widow at the center of Houston's 2 "honor killings" 6 years ago
was able to sleep peacefully Tuesday night, the day her Jordanian father was
sentenced to death row.
It was the 1st time since running away from home and converting to Christianity
in 2011 that she did not have nightmares about being hunted by her father and
other family members, an ordeal she detailed exclusively for the Chronicle this
week.
"I grew up with this murderer and he boasted about it. I was terrified of him,"
she said from an undisclosed location. "You don't have anywhere to run. You're
a prisoner. You're a prisoner in your own life."
Despite getting restful sleep, she will likely never stop looking over her
shoulder or carrying a gun. Nesreen continues to fear the friends and family
members that her father, Ali Mahwood-Awad Irsan, enlisted to help stalk her for
leaving Islam. She is taking appropriate precautions, including not talking
about what part of the country she lives in or using social media.
Still, to help deal with the grief, sadness and guilt she has about what
happened, she spoke out to raise awareness about honor violence in America.
"I think the story needs to be told. There are things that are going on that
people need to know about," she said. "Even today, people are still terrified
of him, even though he's on death row. There are people who still believe in
what he was doing."
On Tuesday, Irsan, 60, sat at the defense table in a Harris County courtroom
and bowed his head slightly as he was sentenced to death for a pair of 2012
"honor killings" that were part of an extensive plot to ultimately take the
lives of 5 people, including Nesreen, then 24. The devout Muslim patriarch was
able to kill her husband, 28-year-old Coty Beavers, and close friend, Gelareh
Bagherzadeh, a 30-year-old medical researcher and Iranian activist who
championed women's rights.
As she works to put her life back together, there have been bright spots
including reconnecting with her mother who left her father 22 years ago and an
older sister. But it's a bittersweet reunion after everything that has
happened.
"I will carry this guilt forever," she said. "I think the Lord will take the
bad things and heal you and I think that good will come out of this and I pray
for that."
Nesemah, her older sister, also expressed deep relief by the death sentence
given her father and wants to spend her time helping people understand that
honor killings are real.
"The world is a safer place knowing that a man who was capable of anything and
everything will no longer hurt anyone else," Nesemah said in a statement.
"Living through this ordeal has made me stronger and I would like to help
others who are currently in this type of situation."
For Nesreen, it's tough to have friendships or relationships.
"I want to make friends, but I'm afraid because I don't want something to
happen to them," she said. "Even when I make friends, they're scared to be my
friend. They're scared to hang out with me."
She said it has also been hard to find gainful employment in the medical field
because of her connection to a murderous father.
Andy Kahan, director of Victim Services and Advocacy at CrimeStoppers of
Houston, said it was common for family and friends of murder victims to blame
themselves or feel guilt.
"Sometimes the 'survivor's guilt' becomes overwhelming and can sometimes even
become obsessive," he said.
Kahan said he'd never heard of a victim losing out on job opportunities because
of their connection to a high-profile defendant. "You can only hope that time
will heal and she'll be able to resume her life without being tainted or being
seen in the same light as her father," he said.
The United Nations released a report in 2000 estimating about 5,000 honor
killings around the world every year, but women's right's groups say the number
is closer to 20,000. A report commissioned by the U.S. Department of Justice in
2015 estimated that there are 23 to 27 honor killings each year in the U.S.
every year.
And in the last 10 years, there have been well-publicized honor killings in
Arizona, New York and north Texas.
"Unfortunately, honor killings are happening in the United States. We hope that
law enforcement agencies are paying attention and are taking the necessary
steps to train and educate their personnel about the culture, so that senseless
killings can be prevented one day," said Anna Emmons, one of the special
prosecutors who put Irsan on death row along with Marie Primm and Jon
Stephenson.
During her father's capital murder trial, Nesreen was called twice to testify
about the daily beatings and threats on the lives of his children if they left
his rural Montgomery County compound or violated any of his rules. 2 of his
sons disputed this account and testified in support of their father, as did
several of his family from Jordan.
But Nesreen said she took the threats seriously because her father had
previously shown what he was capable of doing.
In 1999, Irsan fatally shot a different son-in-law in his living room after his
oldest daughter married without his approval. Irsan testifed that he killed in
self-defense but other witnesses said it was planned. They said the father of
12 planted a handgun on the dead man to convince authorities he was in fear for
his life.
Nesreen was 12 years old when her father convinced police and Child Protective
Services that it was self-defense.
"He manipulated the police, he manipulated CPS," she said. "Law enforcement
didn't understand the culture, so they didn't understand what was going on."
She ran into the same difficulties a decade later when she ran away from home
to marry Beavers.
Her father called the police and falsely claimed she was on drugs and asked
that she be returned to his rural Montgomer County homestead where he raised a
dozen children he had with 2 wives.
"I said, 'No that's not true. I'm just leaving. I'm scared. They're going to
kill me.'" she said. "I don't think think the officer understood what grave
danger I knew I was in, but I knew because I lived in that house all those
years."
Testimony during Irsan???s trial showed that she and Beavers filed a protective
order and no-contact order that Irsan regularly violated. A police officer told
Nesreen there was little that could be done about him constantly driving by the
Beavers' house where she was staying.
"I don't think he understood what lengths these people will go through for
their honor," she said. "It's very scary. I was in love with Coty and I didn't
want anything to happen to anybody but nobody was helping us, as far as law
enforcement. We had a protective order and it wasn't doing anything."
In January 2012, Ali Irsan, his wife and oldest son followed Bagherzadeh from
the Beavers home to her parents Galleria area townhouse, testimony showed.
Nesreen's brother, Nasim, allegedly fired the shot that killed the activist as
Irsan and his wife encouraged him. Nasim Irsan remains in the Harris County
jail awaiting trial on a charge of capital murder.
Nesreen told police she believed her father was responsible, and he was
questioned. There was not enough evidence to arrest and he went free.
6 months later, Nesreen and Coty, who were deep in the throes of first love,
were married at the courthouse and rented an apartment in northwest Harris
County, far from Irsan's compound in Montgomery county.
"You try to be optimistic and say they haven't been around for awhile and
that's when they swoop in and wreak havoc and start murdering people," she
said. "Then you feel guilty because in your mind, had you not run away none of
these people would have been killed."
On November 12, 2012, Nesreen's husband walked her from their apartment to the
car so she could go to her job at MD Anderson.
At the same time he escorted his wife, intruders crept into their apartment and
hid in a bedroom.
Testimony showed that Irsan wanted to kill them both but when Beavers returned
alone to the apartment, Nesreen's father unloaded a .22 revolver, hitting
Beavers with at least 5 bullets. Beavers fell dead just inches from the assault
rifle he kept for home protection.
Nesreen and other members of the Beavers family immediately went on the run,
refusing to spend 2 nights in the same place for months. That caution and fear
about being tracked continues to this day, she said.
"These people are not like normal people, it's not normal." she said. "It's not
jealousy, it's an anger thing about honor. You're hurting their honor and for
them, honor is what they live for. It's a very strong thing for them to believe
in."
Nesreen said she hopes her plight sheds light on honor violence, especially in
raising awareness among law enforcement about what runaways may be going
through.
"Honor killings in America are real," she said. "When an American from this
type of culture screams 'I'm afraid' or 'My family will kill me,' it is
imperative that authorities take the threat seriously and be proactive instead
of reactive. Police cannot wait for something bad to happen before they get
involved."
She hopes for a future where authorities will help victims with relocating to
another part of the country or even create a "re-identity package" to change
what family members know about their victims.
"They have your social security number, mother's maiden name, everywhere you've
ever lived and every detail about you, they know it, because you grew up
there," she said. "We need to help other girls."
(source: Houston Chronicle)
PENNSYLVANIA:
4 men testify about alleged killer's confessions in Reading double homicide
Editor's note: The Reading Eagle is withholding the names of some witnesses at
the request of the district attorney's office because of prosecutors' concerns
for their safety.
A man who described himself as a lifelong friend of Norman M. Vega Jr. told a
jury Thursday that he and Vega went on a trip to Florida in October 2004,
shortly after the murders of Miguel Colon and Jason Stief.
The man said he was going to Florida to visit his father for his birthday and
Vega asked if he could come along.
"He had some money, paid for the gas and was like, let's go," the man said.
During the drive, he said they talked about the arrest of their friend Hector
Soto Jr. in Colon's murder during a home invasion on Perry Street on Oct. 3,
2004. He said they also talked about Stief's murder at the McDonald's
drive-thru on Oct. 14, 2004.
"I don't remember word for word what it may have been, but I know a
conversation came up about the McDonald's," the man said. "That everything was
taken care of. It was good."
He said Vega told him that in the home invasion, the guy ran out, he followed,
fired a few rounds, hit the guy and he fell. At the McDonald's, he said that
Vega said they surrounded the car and he shot Stief 6 or 7 times.
The witness said he knew about both murders from the news and didn't ask any
more questions.
"I mean, what do you think at that point?" he said. "Like, whoa, crazy. Just
keep your mouth shut."
Vega, 35, is on trial this week for the murders of Colon, 38, and Stief, 20.
Stief identified Soto from the home invasion and authorities believe Stief was
murdered to prevent his testifying.
Vega faces 1st-degree murder charges in both slayings, witness retaliation and
related offenses. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
On cross-examination, defense attorney Douglas J. Waltman grilled the witness
about how much testimony was based on things Vega said or from what the witness
heard in the news.
Waltman also noted that when the man first gave a statement to detectives, he
was in jail. He also asked the man, who had testified before the grand jury
that later recommended charges against Vega in 2013, if he knew he could be
charged with perjury if he changed his testimony.
The man said he did.
"It's all over TV," he said. "I know what perjury is."
???Take him from his mom'
Another witness testified that Vega confessed he shot Stief while they were
inmates at Berks County Prison. The man, who will be finishing up the minimum
of a 12 1/2- to 25-year sentence next year, said he met Vega and Soto at the
prison in September 2005.
Soto, now 34, was convicted in July 2007 of 2nd-degree murder in Colon's
killing and is serving a life sentence.
The witness said he, Soto, Vega and another inmate were discussing another
homicide when Vega said he shot Stief. He said Soto said they had to "take him
from his mom" because he was the only one who could identify him from a home
invasion.
The man said Vega told him it was at the McDonald's at Ninth and Spring streets
and that he wore a hooded sweatshirt to hide himself from the other people in
the car. He said Vega told him he filed the serial numbers off the gun and got
rid of it.
The man gave a statement to Detective Sgt. Harold T. Shenk about the
conversation in January 2006. He said when he then passed Vega in a hallway at
the prison some time later, Vega told him he was a dead man.
The witness said he's given statements in four homicide cases and has had
problems at every prison at which he's been.
More jailhouse confessions
2 other men testified that Vega confessed to them while they were incarcerated
with him after he was charged in the case.
The 1st man said he was cellmates with Vega for about two weeks in 2016. He
said Vega wasn't happy to have a cellmate and was nervous about him being
there.
He said Vega asked him if he knew who he was, and when the man said no, Vega
had him sign a piece of paper indicating that anything they talked about
couldn't be used against Vega.
"After I wrote that, he put it away with the rest of them that he had," the
witness testified. "He said, 'Don't take this personal. I do this with everyone
in the cell with me.' He said, 'there were people I trusted in the past and
they burned me.'"
The man said he quickly realized that Vega was "the shot caller on the
(cell)block," but that they got to know each other well and Vega was teaching
him how to play chess.
He said one day they were talking and Vega asked him if he knew about what
happened at the McDonald's. The man said he knew something happened years ago
and said Vega told him he's "the one who peeled the dude's cap back at the
drive-thru."
The man said he knew that meant Vega shot someone in the head and said that's
when he became fearful.
"I didn't want to be a part of this no more," he said.
He said he didn't tell anyone about the conversations until December 2017.
The other witness said Vega confessed to him in August 2017 when Vega was
placed in his housing unit. He said he knew Vega because he dated Soto's sister
for a few months in high school.
The man said Vega pulled him aside to ask what he was in jail for. He said Vega
said he was there "because he killed someone for Hector Soto."
"He said, 'You know, the jawn from McDonald's,'" the man said.
The witness said he was shocked by the confession.
"I couldn't believe he just came out and said it like that," the man said. "I
really didn't want to know. ... That's why I'm here today, because he gave me
information that I wish he never told me."
The man said he was hoping his cooperation would result in leniency in his open
drug-trafficking case.
During cross-examination, Waltman questioned both men about why Vega would so
quickly and openly confess a murder to them.
6 fatal shots
The jury also heard from Dr. Barbara K. Bollinger, the forensic pathologist who
performed Stief's autopsy. She said there were 6 gunshot wounds clustered on
Stief's left cheek and neck area and that any one of the shots could have
killed him.
Bollinger said 4 bullets were found in his body and there were 2 exit wounds on
the right side of his neck.
She also found stippling on his skin caused by unburnt gunpowder that comes out
of a firearm. She said such an injury indicates that the gun was 6 to 30 inches
away.
The prosecution is expected to complete its case Friday.
Uncooperative witness
After testimony concluded Thursday, a man who failed to appear Wednesday on a
subpoena to testify for the prosecution appeared before Parisi on a bench
warrant.
The man went on a rant before Parisi, saying that he felt his arrest was
overboard and ridiculous and that he was being railroaded.
"I'm a witness in a murder trial where a witness was killed for testifying," he
said. "Does anybody even in here care that people can die for something that I
feel I'm being forced to do?"
Howard asked the man be held through the rest of the trial in case he is needed
as a witness and to be held in contempt of court for failing to appear. Parisi
agreed to keep the man in custody.
As he was escorted from the courtroom, the man yelled several expletives at
prosecutors, telling them he hopes they're proud of themselves.
(soruce: Reading Eagle)
FLORIDA:
Lawyers, judge hammer out details of the upcoming Jonchuck trial
The logistics of putting John Jonchuck on trial for the 2015 murder of his
5-year-old daughter were hammered out in a courtroom on Friday.
It is one of the most infamous crimes to be tried in Pinellas County in years,
with the trial set to start Sept. 24 at the Pinellas County Justice Center.
But first Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge Chris Helinger had to address several
unusual requests from the defense. The prosecution and even the Pinellas Clerk
of the Circuit Court's office also took part in Friday's negotiations.
Jonchuck's public defenders had filed motions related to summoning prospective
jurors for the trial and the questioning of those jurors during voir dire, a
process through which attorneys select jurors who will hear the case.
Jury selection will take about 3 days, the judge said. After that, she
anticipates up to 8 days of testimony before the case goes to the jury.
Then, if Jonchuck is found guilty of 1st-degree murder, the trial will move to
the penalty phase. The jury will hear aggravating and mitigating factors before
deciding to recommend that Jonchuck be sentenced to life in prison without the
possibility of parole - or be sent to Florida's death row.
Jonchuck, now 28, is accused of dropping his 5-year-old daughter Phoebe off the
Dick Misener Bridge, north of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, just after midnight
on Jan. 8, 2015. The girl fell 60 feet to her death. The case has been delayed
as doctors have worked to restore Jonchuck's mental health. In Florida, a
defendant must be mentally competent to stand trial.
The public defenders told Helinger they will need 500 prospective jurors to
seat a jury, which in capital cases requires at least 12 jurors and several
alternates. However, it can be difficult to seat a jury for a capital case,
even more so when the case is as infamous as the Jonchuck case.
Assistant State Attorney Doug Ellis said he believes they'll only need a pool
of 150 jury candidates. Ellis said it took that many to seat a jury in another
recent high-profile case: Marco Parilla, who pleaded guilty to killing Tarpon
Springs police Officer Charlie Kondek in 2014.
Parilla's lawyers decided to go straight into the penalty phase, and on March
23 the jury spared Parilla the death penalty and he instead received a life
sentence.
Helinger directed Pinellas County Clerk of the Circuit Court Ken Burke, who
attended the hearing, to call 200 prospective jurors to the courthouse on the
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of trial week, with the assumption that about 100
will show up each day. If needed, they will summon another 200 jurors for
Thursday. Jury summonses will go out Thursday, Burke said.
All those jurors will be earmarked for the Jonchuck case. That's in response to
a request by the defense to call fresh jurors for the trial, rather than jurors
who cycle through other jury pools in the courthouse that week.
In a motion filed last week, Jonchuck's lawyers asked for the opportunity to
review the reasons prospective jurors may give for why they will be unable to
serve on the jury. Helinger said the defense could have a list of those called
for jury service, as well as a list of who among those jurors asked for
postponements and the reasons those people gave.
"In theory if there was going to be a challenge to the entire panel, we would
need to know who was excused," said Assistant Public Defender Jane McNeill.
McNeill and her team had also filed a motion last week requesting voir dire be
conducted with each prospective juror individually, and video recorded. The
judge said all the jurors will sit together in the courtroom during that
process, as is customary, and if the lawyers need to discuss something
privately with a particular juror, they would do so in front of the judge in a
private bench conference.
There are still several other defense motions left to be heard, both regarding
more jury selection issues and the reading of victim impact statements. Those
are usually read to the court by victims at the end of the trial about the
impact of the crime on their lives. But in this case the defense wants them to
be read after sentencing, not before.
Those motions will be heard at an Aug. 27 hearing.
(source: tampabay.com)
TENNESSEE:
Executions have no place in civilized world
Thank you for the front-page story about the possible use of black market drugs
to execute people in Tennessee. People often think that those of us opposing
executions are mere do-gooders or bleeding hearts. I am neither of those, but I
was raised as a Christian and learned that killing is wrong no matter who, what
or when, so it seems to me the government should not take part either. The U.S.
is 1 of only 5 countries that perform 95 % of all executions: China, Iran,
Saudi Arabia, the U.S. and Pakistan. That's not company I like being in.
As for not caring about the victims in often horrible crimes, nothing could be
further from the truth. Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights says there is
no such thing as "closure" when one loses a loved one, and that killing one
more doesn't mitigate the horror. The death penalty is no penalty on justice
but rather vengeance. I can think of no worse sentence than to spend the rest
of one's life in a 6-by-8-foot metal box, and I have no doubt there are people
who deserve just that.
The use of state executions in the U.S. has declined consistently the last few
years. There are only 10 states that have executed someone since 2013, and
until Billy Ray Irick was executed this week, Tennessee had not done so since
2009. Tennessee isn't going in the direction of the rest of the civilized
world.
Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights advocates putting the exorbitant cost
of executing someone toward the cause, not the symptom: abused children, drug
abuse, families in poverty and lack of education. There is no asterisk beside
the commandment that says "Thou shalt not kill."
Julia Guthrie, Tellico Plains
*****************
Execution of Irick was long overdue
After 3 decades the sentence handed down by the court was carried out. Billy
Ray Irick was executed for the horrific rape and murder of 7-year-old Paula
Dyer.
That's 33 years that taxpayers like you and me and, yes, even the parents of
the little girl paid for his upkeep: food, lodging, entertainment, lawyers and
medical bills. Ironic, isn't it?
Then came the Bible thumpers screaming Scriptures of how wrong execution is,
but isn't it written somewhere in the good book "an eye for an eye, a tooth for
a tooth"?
Now justice has been served, and lovely little Paula Dyer can rest in peace.
Geoff Shuman, Knoxville
(source: Letters to the Editor, Knoxville News Sentinel)
ARKANSAS:
Judge Griffen Granted Hearing Before Judicial Discipline for Death Penalty
Protest
Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen has been granted a hearing before
the Arkansas Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission (JDDC) for his
anti-death penalty protest in April 2017.
The hearing will take place Friday, August 17 at 9:30 a.m. at the office of the
JDDC.
According to the filed court documents, Special Counsel and one counsel
representing Respondent will be given twenty minutes each for argument.
(source: KARK news)
***********************
7 women, 5 men selected to serve as jurors in death penalty case
Prosecutors will begin opening statements in the capital murder trial against
Scotty Gardner on Monday.
After 20th Judicial District prosecutors and the defense counsel representing
the 57-year-old capital murder suspect spent 4 days selecting a jury to serve
in the county's 1st death penalty trial in more than 30 years, court officials
are now ready to move forward with opening statements and witness testimony.
As of Thursday afternoon, 10 jurors -- 6 women and 4 men -- had been selected
to serve in the Gardner trial. As of 7:30 p.m. Friday, the 2 remaining
vacancies on the jury panel were filled and 3 alternates were also selected.
Jurors that were selected Thursday were sworn in shortly after 2:30 p.m. At
7:35 p.m. Friday, another man and woman were sworn in to serve as jurors in the
Gardner trial. 2 men and 1 woman were also sworn in Friday night to serve as
alternate jurors in the case.
Jurors, attorneys on both sides of the case and Circuit Judge Charles "Ed"
Clawson Jr. will come together Monday morning as the capital murder trial gears
up.
Gardner is suspected in the March 6, 2016, hotel slaying of Susan "Heather"
Stubbs.
He was accused in Stubbs' death after a hotel clerk found her lying facedown in
Room 114 of Days Inn on Oak Street in Conway. When police arrived, she was
found strangled to death from a cord.
According to an affidavit, Gardner told prosecutors that anger and jealousy
caused him to snap the day he allegedly killed Stubbs.
The two had been staying in Room 114 since Feb. 21 and Gardner said he became
upset when he noticed Stubbs talking to other men walking past their room on
the day in question.
Gardner told officers he was still upset with Stubbs from a previous incident,
"but had been trying to forgive her for it until this new incident happened,"
referencing a Dec. 19 incident where Stubbs filed a 3rd-degree battery report
against him.
"He said he knew that he could not just grab her and throw her on the bed
because she would go and tell on him. He said everything just kept building up
and he had just snapped. Scotty said the only thing he knew was that he 'was
not going to let Heather go tell the police nothing,'" the affidavit reads.
At one point during the heated argument, Gardner "eventually grabbed a nearby
cord and 'wrapped it around her neck'" when she tried to scratch him in
defense, according to the affidavit.
"I might have killed her ... I don't know,' he said, adding he then left to go
gambling to avoid thinking about the situation.
Gardner has been charged as a habitual offender in the past. He was sentenced
to Arkansas Department of Corrections (ADC) in October 1991 and served 23 years
of his sentence.
On Nov. 8, 1990, Gardner was charged with 2 counts of criminal attempt to
commit 1st-degree murder.
He was sentenced to 2 30-year concurrent terms, with 7 years of each term
suspended.
The case was later reopened and he was convicted of 1st-degree criminal attempt
to commit murder and 1 count of 1st-degree battery for shooting his then-wife,
who was pregnant.
He was paroled from ADC on Dec. 4, 2015, about 3 months before he allegedly
killed Stubbs.
Jury selection began Tuesday morning in the current capital murder case. Each
day court officials and potential jurors filled the courthouse at 8:30 a.m. and
continued the voir dire process into the evening hours. The trial is expected
to run through Friday, Aug. 24.
(source: Log Cabin Democrat)
COLORADO:
Colorado Springs attorney weighs in on Watts facing death penalty
The Weld County District Attorney's office likely has weeks to determine
whether to seek the death penalty for 3 counts of 1st-degree murder and 3
counts of tampering with a deceased human body.
Reportedly, Christopher Watts admitted killing his pregnant wife and 2
daughters the night he was arrested.
But is that enough to get him the death penalty?
It will still be weeks before we learn what prosecutors decide, but Criminal
Defense Attorney, Jeremy Loew says it's a tough sell in Colorado.
He's no stranger to defending bad guys.
"I've defended people who have murdered people, have sexually assaulted
people," said Jeremy Loew.
So as he learns more about Christopher Watts and the gruesome details that keep
coming out, he says it only becomes more clear how difficult it will be for
watts' defense team.
"Anything he said to the police, or to the news is going to be able to be used
against him in the trial if it goes to a trial and it's going to challenging
for the defense team to overcome," he said.
The body of his wife, Shanann, was found in a shallow grave. His daughters in a
filled drum of oil.
As their bodies were recovered on the grounds of his former work site,
prosecutors were already building their case -- asking for dna swabs to prove
strangulation.
But Loew believes it won't prove helpful.
"His DNA is going to be all over the property and potentially all over the
victims in this case," he said.
Watts will at least spend the rest of his life behind bars if convicted.
Loew won't rule out the possibility of the death penalty, but says it's very
difficult in Colorado.
"The last three death penalty trials that have happened, the district
attorney's office has put in a lot of funding ad haven't had any success."
A big part of deciding the death penalty is proving a motive -- something that
hasn't been clear in this case, but everyone is speculating about.
On Monday we will learn what charges Watts is facing. But he won't be
officially charged until Tuesday.
The last death penalty case in Colorado was a double-murder by Glen Galloway
here in Colorado Springs.
Before that, James Holmes, the Aurora theatre shooter.
(source: KRDO news)
ARIZONA:
In dissent, Arizona Appeals Court judge calls death penalty unconstitutional
The Arizona Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the convictions and death
sentences of Jason Eugene Bush, an anti-immigrant militia member who killed 2
people in Pima County in 2009.
It was no surprise.
If the death penalty is truly reserved for the most heinous murderers, few
people are more qualified than a man who shoots a 9-year-old girl in the face
as she pleads for her life after he just shot and killed her father and wounded
her mother in front of her.
What was a surprise was a dissent from an Arizona Court of Appeals judge asked
to fill in for one of the court justices who had recused himself from the case.
In recent years, the Arizona Supreme Court has dodged questions about the
constitutionality of the death penalty. It's an issue that was knocking at the
door of the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year but was sent packing by a
message from Justice Stephen Breyer to come back with a better case.
On Thursday, in comments reminiscent of Breyer's remarks on the death penalty,
Judge Lawrence Winthrop declared in a dissent to the Bush opinion that the
death penalty as imposed in Arizona violates the state Constitution.
Winthrop referred to the botched 2014 execution of Arizonan Joe Wood, who
gasped and snorted on the gurney for nearly 2 hours, as evidence that execution
is cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment of the
U.S. Constitution.
He cited costs and discrepancies as to who gets the death penalty from county
to county in Arizona, criticized the length of time it takes before an
execution takes place, the number of sentences overturned, and its failure as a
deterrent.
"The death penalty not only inflicts unnaturally cruel punishment, but the
application and implementation of the death penalty is, at best, arbitrary and
capricious, and therefore constitutionally 'unusual,' and violative of (the
state Constitution)," he wrote.
Is the death penalty in Arizona on life support?
The response from the court majority was chilly.
"The dissent is odd on several levels," said a response authored by Justice
John Pelander within the majority opinion. "It purportedly rests on the Arizona
constitution's prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment because, as the
dissent acknowledges, binding United State Supreme Court precedent has rejected
Eighth Amendment challenges to the death penalty."
Winthrop did not cite standing Arizona law precedents, Pelander continued, but
rather Supreme Court dissents.
"This approach is fruitless," Pelander wrote for the majority. And he concluded
that the Bush case "is not the appropriate case to address or decide the
validity of capital punishment under Arizona's Constitution."
What did Jason Bush do?
It was a brutal set of murders with the sort of aggravating factors that
qualify it as a capital case.
Bush was 1 of 3 would-be militia members who came to the door of Raul Flores'
house in Arivaca, Arizona, in 2009, claiming to be law-enforcement officers. He
and his co-defendants, Shawna Forde and Albert Gaxiola, thought they would find
drugs and money they could use to fund their anti-immigrant agenda. But there
were no drugs or money.
Flores asked why Bush's gun was covered in duct tape, according to Thursday's
opinion, and Bush answered, "Don't take this personally, but this bullet has
your name on it." He shot Flores several times.
Bush also shot Flores' wife, Gina Marie Gonzalez, who pretended to be dead.
Then Bush told the child, Brisenia, that he wouldn't hurt her, then shot her
twice in the face.
Gonzalez was able to find a gun and shoot back, wounding Bush in the leg.
Forde and Bush were sentenced to death and Gaxiola to natural life in prison.
Death penalty under scrutiny
Direct appeals to the Arizona Supreme Court are mandatory in death-penalty
cases. The justices affirmed Bush's convictions on 2 counts of 1st-degree
murder, aggravated assault, armed robbery and other charges. They also affirmed
his death sentences.
Winthrop's dissent does not occur in a vacuum.
Arizona's sentencing in first-degree murder cases - both life and death
sentences - has been under attack in the courts.
In recent years, parole eligibility was restored for juvenile killers because
of a U.S. Supreme Court decision.M
Earlier this year, parole eligibility was restored for people with certain plea
agreements after a sentencing issue was raised in an Arizona Republic series.
Death sentences have been knocked down because Maricopa County prosecutors let
jurors believe they had to impose death sentences, lest the killer someday be
granted parole - which was abolished in 1993.
Arizona Supreme Court tosses 4th death sentence for misleading statements
And in March, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to take a case alleging that
Arizona death sentences are sought largely at the whim of prosecutors. Usually,
cases are rejected without comment, but Justice Breyer added a note scolding
the attorneys for not having an adequate record of evidence to go forward.
Fewer capital cases tried in state
No one has been put to death in Arizona since the Wood execution. And though a
federal injunction against executions has been lifted, there are none scheduled
at present.
Also, the number of capital cases tried in the state has diminished greatly.
According to figures discussed Friday at a meeting of the state Capital Case
Oversight Committee (composed of judges, administrators, prosecutors and
defense attorneys and convened by the state Supreme Court), Maricopa County
Superior Court has 47 death-penalty cases in progress. That is down from 58
last year - and down from more than 120 a decade ago.
Maricopa County still has the most capital cases by far. Pinal County has 8
cases, mostly that come out of the prisons in and around Florence, Yavapai
County has 2. The rest of the state's counties, including the larger Pima and
Yuma counties, have none. In some smaller counties, there are no capital cases
because they don???t have the money to try to defend them.
Anti-death penalty group calls on Arizona to end capital punishment
In an article published in 2015 in a national law journal, 2 other Arizona
Court of Appeals judges, Paul McMurdie and Kent Cattani, called attention to
the cost of defense, the cost of incarceration for the 20-plus years it takes
to carry out an execution, the number of overturned sentences and the motives
of the people making the decisions about which cases to try.
"Given the current cost of pursuing the death penalty and given the current
rate at which the punishment is actually carried out, maintaining the status
quo makes little sense," they concluded. "The time has come to rethink the
process by which the decision to seek the death penalty is made, including the
determination as to how often and in what cases capital punishment should be
sought."
Both judges declined to comment on Friday. Before they were judges, McMurdie
handled death-penalty appeals for the Maricopa County Attorney's Office and
Cattani for the Arizona Attorney General's Office.
These are thorny issues in a tough-on-crime state.
The Attorney General's Office declined to comment on Winthrop's dissent, and
the Pima County Attorney's Office (which tried the Bush and Forde cases) did
not respond to requests for comment.
Dale Baich of the Federal Public Defender's Office did comment.
"Over the last 45 years, Arizona has been trying to make the death penalty
work," he said. "Those efforts have largely failed. The dissent provides a
framework for a fair and honest debate in Arizona as to whether the death
penalty is sound public policy or is a relic from our past that we should
abandon. Let's hope our leaders in the Legislature will take serious strides to
begin the discussion."
(source: infosurhoy.com)
CALIFORNIA:
Condemned California man seeks special DNA investigation
A California death row inmate with some high-profile supporters on Friday asked
Gov. Jerry Brown to appoint an independent special master to reinvestigate the
case and oversee new DNA testing.
Kevin Cooper's lawyer says the extraordinary steps would show Cooper is
innocent and that law enforcement officials planted false evidence.
Cooper is awaiting execution for the 1983 Chino Hills hatchet and knife
killings of 4 people. He escaped from a nearby minimum-security prison east of
Los Angeles 2 days before the slayings of Doug and Peggy Ryen, their
10-year-old daughter Jessica and 11-year-old neighbor Christopher Hughes.
California's former attorney general and now U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris and New
York Times' columnist Nicholas Kristof are among those calling for new DNA
testing.
"Nothing could be more important to the integrity of our justice system than
ensuring that an innocent person is not executed," Cooper's attorney, Norman
Hile, wrote.
The 45-page letter he sent to Brown on Friday asks for "a broader innocence
investigation to be overseen by a special master appointed by the governor."
The filing came in response to the governor's request last month for more
details in Cooper's clemency petition. The governor's office said Friday the
response was being reviewed.
San Bernardino County District Attorney Mike Ramos did not immediately respond
Friday. Ramos has opposed additional testing and says Cooper, now 60, is
indisputably guilty.
Brown was asked to order new DNA testing that Hile says would be 5 to 6 times
more sensitive than the tests on evidence that implicated Cooper in 2002 and
2004.
It also claims that 2 witnesses recently came forward with details of separate
confessions by the real killers. Hile wouldn't provide their names or
declarations "due to considerations for their personal safety."
Hile says he also has obtained a DNA sample from a man they say was the real
killer to be compared to the new DNA samples they want Brown to order as part
of his clemency consideration.
(source: Associated Press)
***********************
Judge rules in favor of media in death-penalty case----Lawsuit by 48hills, LA
Times, and KQED demanding access to all stages of California executions will
now move forward
A federal judge heard arguments Thursday afternoon to dismiss a lawsuit brought
by several media outlets over the right to observe executions in California and
quickly ruled against dismissal.
The lawsuit, filed by 48 Hills, KQED, and the Lost Angeles Times in April,
argues the press has the right to observe every stage of an execution as a
surrogate of the people, but key parts of the execution process currently take
place behind closed doors.
Judge Richard Seeborg did not issue a ruling from the bench but filed his
decision today. It clearly states that the plantiffs have a valid claim that
the press, as the representative of the public, has a right to view all parts
of the execution process, including the mixing of the chemicals and the medical
intervention if the condemned inmate doesn't die from the lethal injection.
Current execution protocols say an inmate may be injected up to 3 times with a
lethal dose of an approved chemical. If 3 doses not kill the prisoner, the
execution is halted, and "medical assistance" is provided. But at that point
the curtain is closed and whatever medical assistance take places happens with
no observers.
"Rendering medical aid isn't part of the execution," said Deputy Attorney
General Jay Goldman, representing the California Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation. "By definition, they're trying to aid."
Goldman said inmates have the right to privacy, and at that point the inmate is
not in the "execution process." Keeping the curtain open, he said, violates the
prisoner's right to medical privacy.
As part of providing medical assistance, the inmate may be transferred to a
hospital, he said.
"Does the press get to ride in the ambulance to the ER?" he asked. "If you get
to that point you know the execution process didn't succeed, and the execution
process is what they're able to watch."
Judge Seeborg wasn't convinced. If an execution is suspended and medical aid is
provided, but the inmate dies shortly thereafter, it could be argued the death
is directly related to the execution, he said.
"You're saying that essentially the execution (process) is constrained by the
actual injection of the chemicals ... even if the inmate dies from the effects
of being injected with all those chemicals, and even if the inmate does not die
immediately," he said. "That's why it gets a little fuzzy for when the
execution ends" - and the people are entitled to see the end of the process.
In his ruling, he notes that
At the hearing the State repeated argument that [a previous case] does not go
as far as a right of access to observe things outside the execution process,
including medical assistance in this case because the intent changes from
attempting to execute to attempting to provide medical aid. This argument,
however, appears to be premised on the flawed notion that the condemned is no
longer at risk of dying as a consequence of the execution process being
suspended.
Attorney Christopher Sun, arguing for the plaintiffs, said the state is trying
to prevent the public from observing the consequences of a failed lethal
injection, and that observing the chemicals failing to kill the inmate is when
the right of access is most important.
"The public has a right to witness what happens when something goes wrong and
not rely on the state's representation," he said.
The lawsuit also seeks the right to observe the preparation of chemicals for
injection, which under current execution protocols takes place 3 hours earlier
and out of view. Sun said if the mixing of chemicals is observable, the state
would have more of an incentive to do it properly.
Goldman said there's no tradition in the 40 years of lethal injections of the
public observing the preparation of the chemicals - or before that, of
observing the gas canisters. Or even before that, "of the rope being examined
by the public to look at the efficacy and relative painlessness of using that
type of rope."
"What are they going to look at?" argued Goldman. "What are they going to see
that would tell them there is going to be a problem or mistake?"
But we know mistakes in the execution process happen - and we know that since
California has had trouble finding execution drugs that aren't expired, the
potential for problems with the pre-execution process is very real.
In the past few years alone, several executions carried out by lethal injection
in other states have not gone according to plan. In 2014, a condemned inmate in
Arizona reportedly gasped for breath for more than 90 minutes before being
pronounced dead.
We also know the state currently doesn't have a reliable supplier of either of
the 2 chemicals - thiopental or pentobarbital - that the current execution
protocols allow to be used. Thiopental is not sold in the US and by law can't
be imported into the country, and FDA approved manufacturers of pentobarbital
won't sell it for use in executions.
So how the chemicals are obtained and mixed - and whether the technicians in
fact have unexpired containers the come from a legitimate source - ought to be
something the public understands.
The case will now move forward - and the judge's ruling on the issue of
dismissal seems very favorable to the news media groups' overall arguments.
(source: 48hills.org)
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