April 14
VIRGINIA:
End the death penalty in Virginia
Personally opposed to the death penalty but bound by law to uphold it, Gov.
Terry McAuliffe, D, may have backed into a way to end state executions.
Early this week, McAuliffe rejected a General Assembly bill putting the
electric chair back in use, even if a condemned inmate requests the lethal
injection method. Many European firms have refused to sell the drugs needed for
lethal injection, resulting in a shortage.
McAuliffe says the electric chair is inhumane and instead recommends that the
Department of Corrections be allowed to obtain the drugs from hidden
contractors and then pharmacies compounding the drugs also be kept secret.
In theory, the secrecy would exist to protect the contractors and pharmacies
from civil lawsuits.
In reality, states who have enacted such laws - including Arkansas, Ohio and
Missouri - are facing legal challenges. Secret government contractors? What a
bad idea for everyone except lawyers hired to preserve government transparency,
already in short supply in Virginia.
McAuliffe says if legislators don't agree to this change when they reconvene
April 20, executions will effectively end in Virginia. They have already
slowed. Since the death penalty regained national use in the 1970s, Virginia
has executed 110 people, but only 3 in the past 4 years, with only 7 men
waiting on death row.
Even if legislators agree to McAuliffe's secrecy, the certain legal challenges
will curtail what few executions are on the horizon.
We want Virginia to end the death penalty altogether.
The public - including pro-life, small-government conservatives - has come to
increasing understanding that death penalty doesn't save money or reduce crime.
Even worse, as part of a flawed justice system, it can result in the execution
of an innocent person. Just last week Virginia released Keith Allen Harward
from prison, after he spent 3 decades locked up for a crime he did not commit.
Given the choice between life without parole and the death penalty, a clear
majority of surveyed Virginians choose imprisonment over execution.
We are puzzled when McAuliffe or anyone says the electric chair is barbaric,
but lethal injections are not. No matter the method, the death penalty reduces
us all and is a surrender to our baser instincts of vengeance. We're a better
state than that. Aren't we?
Forget arguments about electric chairs and lethal injections. For the sake of
public safety and human dignity, the only answer to the vilest of crimes is
life without parole.
Virginia should abolish the death penalty. Nebraska did so last year. We can
think of much better use of Virginia's limited resources.
(source: Editorial Board, The News Leader)
FLORIDA:
Clearwater man who pleaded guilty to murdering his girlfriend dragged to
hearing by SWAT team
Craig Wall, a Clearwater man seeking the death penalty for himself in the
murder of his girlfriend, was escorted to court Thursday morning by six
Pinellas Sheriff's deputies in SWAT gear when he refused to leave his jail
cell.
"I figured we make it interesting for once," said Wall, who was handcuffed and
in restraints. "What do you think about that?"
Last February, Wall pleaded guilty to killing his girlfriend, Laura Taft, 29,
and pleaded no contest to murdering their infant son, who died after having
suffered broken ribs and brain trauma.
Typically, during the penalty phase of a case, prosecutors present evidence in
favor of the defendant's execution and defense attorneys present evidence
against the death penalty.
But in Wall's case, he is representing himself and wants to be sentenced to
death. Federico assigned an independent counsel to present evidence against the
death penalty on Wall's behalf since he declined to do that.
That hearing is scheduled to take place Thursday and Friday.
It was supposed to begin at 8:30 a.m., but was delayed about 2 hours when Wall
refused to leave his cell. He had filed a motion to reschedule the hearing,
asserting that he did not get the chance to review new records filed in his
case, but Federico denied the motion.
"If I was a Florida Bar member with a bar number," Wall said as he slammed a
stack of papers on a table, "you would not be treating me like this."
Wall cursed at Federico several times this morning and disrupted the day's
first testimony several times, at one point bursting into laughter and
clapping.
Shortly after 1 p.m., Federico had had enough.
"I'm not going to put up with it any longer," Federico said.
"Later, dude," Wall said. Seven bailiffs escorted Wall out of the courtroom,
placing him in a nearby room. As a court-appointed attorney represented his
case, Wall could monitor from a TV.
Yet his disruptions didn't stop. As Wall screamed from the nearby room,
testimony continued. Federico said he was trying to ignore Wall's muffed wails.
Wall spent 14 years in prison for robbery with a deadly weapon and armed
burglary. He met Taft after getting out of prison in 2008.
Their baby, Craig Wall Jr., was born shortly after Christmas 2009.
Five weeks later while under Wall's care, the boy went into cardiac arrest and
died at a local hospital.
When Wall was arrested a few days later on an unrelated charge, the arrest
affidavit noted that he was a suspect in his baby's death, but that fact was
never mentioned in court and he was released on $1,000 bail.
Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney Bernie McCabe later acknowledged the case was not
handled properly and reassigned one of his prosecutors.
3 days after getting out of jail, Wall crashed through a sliding glass door of
Taft's apartment and stabbed her to death.
(source: Tampa Bay Times)
LOUISIANA:
Murder, execution take center stage in Dead Man Walking
Shreveport Opera is making daring moves in its upcoming production, "Dead Man
Walking" - a story based on true accounts of a nun counseling death row
inmates.
The risque production makes a statement that the opera company is ready to
attract new audiences and make bold decisions in the name of art.
The opera tackles the subject of the highly debated death penalty and includes
violent scene and nudity. It opens with the audience witnessing the murder of 2
teenagers by Joseph De Rocher, which leads to the on-stage execution scene.
It will be an emotional roller coaster for audience members. And it's been just
as challenging for the cast and directors to prepare for the telling of the
story, based on real-life experiences of Sister Helen Prejean, a nun and
advocate against the death penalty.
"There have been some challenges because it is an adult-themed opera," said
artistic director Steve Aiken. "On the flip side, for our younger audience
there seems to be an excitement of seeing something new and different, and what
I think of as being a very historical piece for Shreveport Opera."
In the April 23 production of "Dead Man Walking," Shreveport Opera is ready to
take a leap of faith.
Art imitating life
Before "Dead Man Walking" was an opera, it was a fictional movie starring Susan
Sarandon and Sean Penn. And before the movie, it was an autobiographical book,
"Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United
States" by Sister Helen Prejean.
The book is about her correspondence with an Angola State Prison death row
inmate Patrick Sonnier, who was convicted of killing 2 teenagers in New Orleans
in the 1980s.
The retelling of her stories take some creative licenses to fit the art form,
but Prejean said the messages remain true to itself in each medium.
"It's a drama told in both the dramatic art form and music. (It's) about love,
death, violence, solutions, hurting victims' families, a mother with a son
who's done an unspeakable thing, and a nun who's in over her head," said
Prejean, a member of the Congregation of St. Joseph in New Orleans.
In 2000, composer Jake Heggie and libretto Terrence McNally debuted "Dead Man
Walking" with the San Francisco Opera. It has become what's said to be the most
popular modern opera to be performed, with more than 40 productions on record
around the world.
The story centers around Joseph De Rocher on death row at Angola and counseled
by Prejean. But it's a story much bigger than the highly controversial issue of
the death penalty, Prejean said.
"The opera tells the story in its art. It's not to wage up a debate about the
death penalty," she said. "It's a deeper story than about an issue of the death
penalty, whether you're for it or not."
Pushing the limits
Director Dean Anthony, conductor Jerome Shannon and artistic director Steve
Aiken have worked with the cast to prepare for the one night showing of "Dead
Man Walking."
The Shreveport Opera is taking a big chance by doing the production, said
Anthony, but it's a necessary risk.
"This is our period, our generation, our time when this piece was written and
it's amazing," he said. "This generation has something to show for it for the
opera world and it needs to be done."
Discussing the death penalty is a heavy topic for the stage, but it's not too
far out of the realm of classic operas, which are known to have murders,
suicides, theft and rape.
However, the directors recognize this is the first time the local company has
pushed boundaries so far with the graphic subject matter, violence and even
some nudity.
The opera opens with the murder of the 2 teenagers and the execution of De
Rocher, which are acted out on stage. It's staged in a way necessary for
staying true to story and messages - something Aiken said Prejean is adamant
about keeping.
"This decision was made because the opera company needed to try to do something
different that wasn't completely safe," said Aiken. "Opera right now in America
is moving into trying to create experiences for a younger audience that is
closer to home for that age group."
It's appropriate for most teenagers 17 and older, he said, but not recommended
for children.
It's a modern opera - which is rare all of its own - written in English. It
takes place in present day and composed with current styles of music, such as
spiritual, rock and roll and a full chorus, which makes it ideal for novice
opera-goers, said Prejean.
"The music is so wonderful, I've heard maybe 50 times now. It's deep and the
perfect match to the script," she said.
It's not often that an opera company can perform a piece in which the composer
is still alive as well as the character in the script, Anthony said.
When Prejean attended other cities' productions, she said the audience members
- and even herself - are usually moved to tears from the depth of the emotional
experience.
"It's very powerful and I'm struck every time I go through it. While I went
through the original experience, to see something performed in an art form, I
have to navigate it, too," said Prejean. "The story is so much bigger than me,
it's bigger than all of us, so it brings me to a place of reflection as well."
Hitting close to home
Shreveport Opera's selection of "Dead Man Walking" for their 67th season had
nothing to do with the fact that Caddo Parish has one of the highest death
penalty rate in the U.S., Aiken said. The statistics weren't even available
when the decision was made more than two years ago. But the statistics does
press the relevance of the topic on a local scale.
The Times previously reported approximately 20 percent of the people on death
row are inmates convicted of crimes in Caddo Parish, the highest rate of any
other parish.
"It makes this piece even more poignant to the situation we have here," said
Aiken.
Prejean doesn't get to every production, but the Baton Rouge native made it a
priority to attend the show in her home state of Louisiana where the death
penalty is an issue she works to dismantle.
"Caddo Parish is one of the worsts" said Prejean.
Prejean continues to serve as a spiritual adviser for inmates - both for those
she believes to be guilty and innocent.
"The system is so broken and innocent people are going in with the guilty and
there's a structural reason," said Prejean.
But the opera's is not scripted in a way to sway the opinions of audience
members. The opera is meant to provoke conversation, not preach. The story
presents the viewpoints of the convicted murderer, his family, the victims'
families and Prejean.
"Whether you have the death penalty or not, it's that human story of 'What do
you do if someone hurts you badly or hurt someone you love or takes their
life?' Do you get even? Or do you try to heal? What's the path? And that's what
the opera brings out," she said.
Preparing for the final hours
The Shreveport Opera production will be Anthony's 1st time directing the show,
but in a previous production he played Howard Boucher, a parent of one of the
victimized teenagers.
It was upsetting for him as he went through the lines and found a connection to
his role, he said.
"I broke down and I walked away," he said. "I had a whole different epiphany
about the piece because I had to live it through their eyes again in a
different way."
It is the Shannon's 3rd time to work on a production, but it shook him the
first time he conducted the opera, to a point where he almost didn't make it to
the 3nd run.
"I didn't think I ever wanted to do it again," he said. "I went too far into it
emotionally."
And it's Gordin's 2nd time playing the role of De Rocher, the first being for
the Dayton Opera last year. He found himself falling deep into the role, but
found ways to balance it while being able to portray the character, whom the
audience knows is guilty from the first scene.
From the past production, Gordin has been able to witness the impact the
journeys of the murderer, Sister Prejean and others in the story can have on an
audience.
"You get to see all these different angles of this situation and it's even
pretty open ended in this story," said Gordin. "It doesn't tell you what to
think about the death penalty, it doesn't tell you how you should feel, it just
presents this broad situation and you can draw your own conclusions."
Prejean will be in the audience that night and has worked with the company and
the actress playing her role, resident artist Gillian Lynn Cotter.
"This is the largest and most important role I've ever assigned to a resident
artist," said Aiken. "When she was awarded that last year, she just broke down
in tears. She was so excited to do this."
Cotter has been preparing for more than a year and it's been a welcomed
challenge to portray a living person while learning to navigate a huge role.
"The music is perhaps the most difficult music I've had to learn and there's a
lot of it," said Cotter.
It's been a emotional roller coaster for her, as well.
This will be Cotter's 1st time performing in "Dead Man Walking," so to prepare
she had a 1-on-1 conversation with Prejean about how she could best embody the
nun's characteristics.
"She made it clear to me she just really want to present the facts and let the
audience take that away and decide for themselves, mainly because a lot of
people are severely uneducated about the death penalty - what the costs are and
how effective it is and all these sorts of things," said Cotter. "We also
talked about the overarching idea that the piece is very much about the idea of
forgiveness."
The night is meant to be unforgettable for the Shreveport Opera and the mission
is to make it a long-lasting memory and conversation starter for the audience.
"If people will come out and see it they have the opportunity to have a real
change in their life," said Aiken. "This is a show that can be more impactful
than just having a great night at the opera. This is emotionally impactful in
one's life."
If you go
What: Dead Man Walking: The Journey Continues - A lecture by Sister Helen
Prejean
Where: First Presbyterian Church, 900 Jordan St.
(source: Shreveport Times)
OHIO:
Pilkington's defense wants confession thrown out, no death penalty
In a new set of motions filed in the case of a Bellefontaine mother accused of
smothering her three young sons to death over a 13-month-period, her defense is
once again asking for the death penalty specifications to be removed.
They are also seeking to sever the charges and hold 3 separate trials as well
as to have her confession thrown out.
Brittany Pilkington's legal team submitted 6 motions on April 1, and Judge Mark
O'Connor ordered on April 6 that the prosecution had 20 days to respond. If
further hearings are required on these motions those will be scheduled at that
time.
Pilkington, 23, allegedly confessed to killing 3-month-old Niall Pilkington in
July 2014, 4-year-old Gavin Pilkington in April of last year and 3-month-old
Noah in August, authorities said.
She has pleaded not guilty to 3 counts of aggravated murder.
The 1st motion requests that public access to the online court docket be
blocked during the trial, currently scheduled for October, so the jury cannot
view it and improperly infer information from prior motions and rulings.
The 2nd asks to sever the 3 counts arguing that trying all 3 cases together
creates undue prejudice and interferes with Pilkington's right to a fair trial
on each count.
The defense is also asking that all statements Pilkington made to law
enforcement be suppressed because they were made involuntarily, violating her
rights under the 5th, 6th and 14th amendments.
Pilkington's defense previously asked the judge to remove the possibility of
the death penalty, but was denied. In a new motion they again are seeking to
dismiss the capital components of the case, this time citing a January U.S.
Supreme Court decision Hurst v. Florida.
That case held that Florida's capital sentencing laws violated the 6th
amendment right to trial by jury because a judge, not the jury, made
determinations about the death penalty. Pilkington's team argues Ohio's laws
are similar enough to Florida's to call into question their constitutionality.
Another motion asks that all prospective jurors be required to complete a
detailed questionnaire prior to jury selection.
The final motion filed requests additional evidence discovery and lists a
number of specific items and documents the defense is asking to have access to.
Pilkington's lawyers have also asked for her trial to be moved out to Logan
County and that motion has not yet been ruled on.
(source: Dayton Daily News)
*********************
Prosecutors seeking death penalty against man accused of killing 5 in Cleveland
The Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office confirms it is now seeking the death
penalty against James Sparks-Henderson.
A new 46-count indictment was filed Thursday morning. Henderson is accused of
killing 5 people in November 2014 at a house on East 92nd Street in Cleveland.
The victims included a pregnant woman. Investigators said Sparks-Henderson
wounded a 9-year-old child and even ate at the murder scene after the
shootings.
Multiple sources told the I-Team earlier about plea talks, but those have not
developed into a deal.
Defense attorney Rufus Sims complained police forced a confession from his
client.
(source: Fox News)
KANSAS:
Kansas murderer who faced death penalty after Wichita decapitation slaying dies
in prison; KBI is investigation circumstances of death of Douglas Belt, 54
Douglas Belt, 54, a Kansas prison inmate facing the death penalty for capital
murder, died Wednesday at El Dorado Correctional Facility, the Kansas
Department of Corrections reported.
A Kansas prison inmate facing the death penalty for capital murder for the 2002
decapitation slaying of a Wichita housekeeper died Wednesday at El Dorado
Correctional Facility, the Kansas Department of Corrections reported.
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation was investigating circumstances regarding
the death of Douglas Belt, 54, said Adam Pfannenstiel, spokesman for the
department.
Belt was pronounced dead about 4:30 p.m. by the correctional facility's medical
staff, Pfannenstiel said.
No further information was being released, he said.
Belt was sentenced to death by lethal injection after being convicted in
Sedgwick County of capital murder, attempted rape and aggravated arson in the
2002 slaying of 43-year-old Lucille Gallegos in west Wichita.
The killing took place inside a vacant apartment building where Gallegos worked
as a maid, authorities said.
(source: Topeka Capital Journal)
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