[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----N.C., KY.

[Rick Halperin]

Nov. 24


NORTH CAROLINA:

Cop killer faces new sentencing


Timothy Lanier Allen, the man charged in the 1985 fatal shooting of a N.C.
Highway Patrol trooper, is tentatively scheduled for a resentencing
hearing March 21, Halifax County District Attorney Bill Graham said
Monday.

The hearing date was set by presiding Superior Court Judge Thomas D.
Haigwood in a Nov. 12 order.

The order also sets certain deadlines that must be adhered to by the state
and Allen's defense attorneys.

The resentencing hearing is the result of a possible error in the
sentencing phase based on a Supreme Court ruling in 1990 that found the
jury instruction that jurors must unanimously find mitigating factors to
be unconstitutional. "That brought into question whether Timothy Lanier
Allen would be entitled to resentencing," Graham said.

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals found Allen was entitled to a
resentencing hearing which will determine if he receives life or death in
the murder of Trooper Ray Worley. "Our intent is to seek the death penalty
in the pre-sentencing hearing," said Graham, who was not the DA at the
time of Allen's trial.

Worley was killed during a traffic stop on Interstate 95 near Enfield.
Allen was scheduled to die Dec. 12, 1997, but just as he received his
final meal, an appeals court upheld a federal judge's order stopping the
execution.

Haigwood's order follows an order by U.S. District Judge Malcom Howard
signed on Oct. 27 that gives the state 260 days from July 8, when Allen's
death sentence was vacated, to resentence Allen.

Haigwood's order sets the following deadlines:

- By no later than Jan. 1, the state shall provide discovery material to
the defendant.

- By no later than Feb. 1, the defense shall provide reciprocal discovery
to the state.

- All pretrial motions must be filed no later than Feb. 21.

- Pre-trial motions shall be heard on Feb. 28.

- Resentencing shall be held during a special session of court and
scheduled to begin March 21.

(source: Daily Herald)






KENTUCKY:

Governors office reviews execution stays in Bowling case


Gov. Ernie Fletcher said Wednesday that his staff is reviewing the stays
of execution issued by two courts Tuesday that postponed the lethal
injection of convicted murderer Thomas Clyde Bowling Jr.

But the governor said he still plans to set a new execution date if and
when the courts rule to allow the execution to proceed.

"Once they relieve the stay, clearly I will do what is necessary to go
ahead and implement the jurors decision," Fletcher told reporters outside
the Shelby County rest stop on Interstate 64, where he unveiled "Unbridled
Spirit" as the states new brand.

Fletcher signed Bowlings death warrant early this month for a scheduled
Nov. 30 execution.

Bowling, 51, was convicted of killing Tina and Eddie Earley outside their
Lexington dry cleaning business on April 9, 1990.

But in separate rulings Tuesday, the state Supreme Court granted a stay of
execution so it could finish writing an opinion on Bowlings argument that
he is mentally retarded and should not be put to death.

Earlier in the day, Franklin Circuit Judge Roger Crittenden granted a
stay, saying the state should further review its method of executing
prisoners through lethal injection.

Fletcher declined Wednesday to comment on those court orders.

(source: Herald-Leader)